Marvel Cosmic Invasion Review: Back to the 90s, with caveats

Beat ’em up games have seen a renaissance in the 2020s so far. With games like Streets of Rage 4 and Tribute Games’ successful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge making big impressions, more have followed suit. Marvel Cosmic Invasion is the next title from Tribute Games, building on the tropes and art style that followed its previous game.

Released on December 1, 2025, for Sony PS4/PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch, and Switch 2, as well as PC, Marvel Cosmic Invasion lets players select two of the 15 Marvel characters across 16 levels, with different enemies to face and some challenging bosses to defeat, with a few becoming playable. The title mostly does well to reflect the Marvel universe in the beat ’em up genre, but does fall short in some baffling areas.

Controlling your Saturday morning cartoons with ease

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is clearly built to appease 1995, instead of 2025, and that’s no bad thing. As soon as you start up the game, you can select ‘Arcade’ mode, which is a one-time playthrough of the levels until your characters are defeated. Or, you can go through Campaign, where your progress is saved at each level. There are branching paths, although you have to complete all of them to progress further.

Each of the 16 levels looks great, with different enemies to face and others like Galactus standing prominently in the background. However, as you progress, many of the levels start to feel like you’re running through the same designs, just with a different look. The enemies also suffer from this. The Sentinel, Lizard, and Symbiote enemies are all eventually given a darker lick of paint to signify that their health is much higher than before.

It can become tedious, but thankfully, the playable characters give so much variety that you end up not caring. Ghost Rider, Captain America, and many more have special attacks that can pummel many of the enemies in sight, with great controls that let you tag-team the two characters you pick with ease.

In addition, if you grew up in the 90s, you’ll likely be hit with waves of nostalgia as you make your way through Marvel Cosmic Invasion. Not only is the game’s art style gorgeous, but the voice acting mirrors that of the ’90s cartoon shows of Spider-Man and X-Men. You’ll hear Wolverine say ‘Berserker Barrage’ all over again, similar to what you hear in the first two Marvel vs. Capcom games, while Spider-Man has that cheeky wit that goes down a ‘storm’.

An Invasion of the 90s

But there are some faults, beyond the same enemies and the design of some of the levels. Some bosses are so frustratingly difficult that you’ll likely need to take a walk for five minutes. Venom and Annihulus spring to mind, where your characters will bounce and seemingly not respond to any button press, thanks to some projectiles.

Granted, Marvel Cosmic Invasion has ‘challenge’ at the forefront of its design, but sometimes it can feel overbearing, especially when you have to replay the whole level again to reach the boss. In addition, the three challenges in each level, which unlock music tracks and new colors for characters, are a nice touch, but a notification when one of these is achieved would be helpful.

But when you consider the mania of having your friends join the game, each with their two characters, Marvel Cosmic Invasion takes you right back to playing games like Golden Axe and Streets of Rage, but with a 2025 polish.

Beserker Barrage never sounded so good

Granted, Marvel Cosmic Invasion has some faults that seem baffling, especially with how boring some levels become. It would have been good to have some more platforming sections or more choices to change your route in other levels. Once you get to the final stage, you just want to complete the game for bragging rights, especially if you manage to defeat Annihulus.

However, Marvel Cosmic Invasion feels like the type of game that could have been made as a spinoff to Marvel vs. Capcom in 1999. With a fantastic art style, great audio, and lightning-fast attacks that make every punch and throw feel satisfying, you can see this game slotting into an arcade, with that ‘just one more go’ feeling.

Despite some faults, Tribute Games does it again with Marvel Cosmic Invasion, making it a perfect weekend game for friends and family. Just get ready to take the dog for a walk if you find yourself losing to Venom more than twice.

Code was supplied by the PR, and played on a Nintendo Switch 2 console.