STACK #258 April 2026

GAMING FEATURE

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books, and trying to find some designs in there that adapt well to pixel art, because that's what we're known for. How does character selection work? You can choose two characters, and those two characters will really affect how the game is played. So, you can go more strategic, choosing a character that can fly and a character on the ground, or a melee character and a ranged character. But you can also choose characters that you prefer and recreate those classic team-ups that you saw in the comics or in the cartoons or movies from Marvel as well.

GENRE: Fighting MULTIPLAYER: Yes

FORMAT:

What are your personal favourite characters in Marvel Cosmic Invasion ?

My favourites include She-Hulk and Rocket Raccoon. She-Hulk because she's just a massive character that can throw enemies

around and chain some insane combos. Rocket Raccoon because he's an agent of chaos. Every time you throw a grenade, it's randomised, so you don't know what you're going to get. He's really quick – he can do jump attacks that can combo easily between different enemies. So, both really have something a bit more unique that I like. What sort of environments can we expect to fight in? There are a lot of different environments to explore. We decided to expand on the comic book and add a few different environments, most notably Marvel's New York City, Wakanda, Genosha, Savage Land… They’re all places on Earth, but also the story takes you to the cosmos, so you'll move on to the Blue Area of the Moon and then Klyntar, Asgard, and a bunch of different places in the cosmos. Ultimately, what was your main goal in making Marvel Cosmic Invasion ? Obviously, we wanted to build on Marvel's legacy with arcade games. And you can see that with our retro pixel art style, but we wanted to infuse it with some modern game design as well. It's a really fun game to pick up and play if you have no experience

Classic arcade-styled beat ’em up Marvel Cosmic Invasion hits in physical form this month. Created by Montreal-based brawler kingsTribute Games, producer Remi Lavoie tells us more about their latest creation… Words Bec Summer

What promptedTribute to get involved in creating a Marvel game? I think we have a lot of Marvel fans here at Tribute, myself included. I grew up watching the cartoons – Spider-Man, X-Men – and I also grew up reading some comic books, and now with the shows and all the movies. I've been a fan since as far back as I can remember.

DYK?

How was it working with Marvel? Our relationship is really good. There was a lot of collaboration between Marvel and Tribute. Their feedback was fantastic and it was just a great partnership and a great fit for a beat ’em up game. Everything was made in collaboration with Marvel. Every

Data East’s 1991 arcade release Captain America and the Avengers is regarded as the first Marvel side-scrolling beat ’em up game.

I think we have a lot of new characters, or characters that don't really get the spotlight that often, that we'd like to introduce to new

players as well.

at all. But if you are a seasoned player, it's really something that you can go deep with the strategic aspects as well. So, our goal was really to try to

character design was reviewed and reworked to make sure that it works. It stays on brand with Marvel and it also works well within the game. How would you describe the game? We bring that old-school retro feel, but modernised for today's audience. I think the beat ’em up is a genre that Marvel hasn't really touched in a long while, so bringing that experience to new players is fantastic.

How did you decide upon the initial 15 main character designs? Our main throughline for the character designs was really a

• Marvel Cosmic Invasion is out Apr 17

make the experience as accessible as we could, and to make it an experience that you can share with your friends and family, whether online or on your couch at home.

blast from the past, from the ’90s mixed with a cartoony style. Most of our inspiration comes from the comic books, really old school comic

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12 APRIL 2026

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