Captain America and the Avengers (NES)

It's yet another Captain America game. But this one's on the NES this time so maybe it's not all bad.

They really should have called it 'Captain America and Hawkeye rescue the Avengers' though seeing as the others get captured in the intro.

At least Wasp's still around to give helpful info and... that's about it. Wasn't Wasp a fighter like the rest of them?

Also she keeps blinking all the time and it's weird.

Ah, suddenly I see why they chose Hawkeye and Captain America for this game. They've both got letters on their head, so they're easy to identify on the world map.

Hey, it's a platformer, and a reasonably slick one too. It's a massive step above Dr Doom's Revenge at least.

These floating S boxes contain a bunch of stuff, and I have to keep hitting them until they're empty to get everything inside. I've got no idea what these 5 star pick ups do, but I want them anyway. Annoyingly the S boxes stick around even when they're used up, so I can't tell which ones I've haven't hit yet. 

Excellent, the shield works as a shield. It just deflects enemy bullets away.

I can also throw it as a weapon as you'd expect, and it helpfully flies right back into my hand afterwards. Which is a definitely improvement over Captain America Defies the Doom Tube.

Plus even if I could lose the shield somehow, Cap's perfectly capable of punching people without it, so it's all good.

A white glowing ball? No 5 stars pick ups or hearts?

Hey, that white ball must have been the key crystal Wasp told me to collect to unlock the exit. It's lucky I've been hitting all these S things or else I could have walked right past it and never known it was there.

Oh also Captain America can spin in the air like he's Sonic the Hedgehog. Don't know why or if it does anything, he just can.

Oh shit, the platform moved at the last second!

Who puts floating jet platforms in a forest anyway? Why couldn't they have had a sensible, normal, old fashioned bridge that stays put and doesn't dive out of the way when I jump on it?

Well, now I'm in the water.

The good news though is that I'm totally unharmed! Turns out that I can just walk through the water no problem. I didn't even get washed away to the start of the level or whatever. So that's nice.

Finally I've found the exit to the forest. Don't know what the hell I was doing in the forest, don't know where I'm going next. I'm sure the fate of the world depends on me walking over there though.

Oh. This looks a little bit like... sewers to me. Though I could be wrong. Maybe it's just a dirty crumbling green warehouse. Which to be honest isn't much of a step up.

I've been hitting all the S blocks I can find but I haven't found the key yet. This level is a lot more sprawling than the horizontally scrolling forest level, so I may have more trouble finding it this time.

I'm sure I've been shot a couple of times, but I have no idea how much health I have left. I thought those red dots in the top left might be my hit points, but they haven't gone down as I've taken damage.

Ah, there it is. They've put my health bar on a separate screen for whatever reason.

Ah, the key must be in this side room!

Nope, total waste of time. Though it does provide more evidence to support the 'warehouse' theory.

Yeah, no exit this way until I've found the key first. So I've got to go backtracking through the level, hitting every S block in case it's the one I missed first time around.

I did find 'T.W.' hidden in the wall detail though. Coincidentally that's the artist's initials.

The contents of the S blocks don't respawn, but the enemies do. So I've got to be more careful to avoid taking damage, because there'll be no health pick ups this time around.

Another asshole platform. This time the one in the middle phases in and out of existence just as I try to jump on it. I have to time my jump correctly so I can land as it appears, and immediately jump off to the moving platform above it. There's no consequences other than a bit of wasted time, but I hate wasting time.

Who puts floating jet platforms in a sewer anyway? Why couldn't they have had a sensible, normal, old fashioned ladder that stays where it is and doesn't blink out of existence when I jump on it?

Awesome, I have found the key!

Now I just have to make my way all the way back around, fighting through all the enemies, and reach the exit again.

With Captain America victorious once again, I switched over to Hawkeye who seems to have found himself in a forest of his own. Actually I think this might be the exact same level Cap was just on. It's hard to say for sure though, it's pretty unmemorable.

Hawkeye has arrows instead of a shield, so he can fire diagonally... and possibly do other things differently too, I dunno. It's handy for getting a couple of the S blocks Cap wouldn't have been able to reach.

You know, usually I hate Hawkeye's outfit, but somehow as a tiny NES sprite it seems to work.


LATER.

Looks like I'm going to have to pass through a dangerous looking spinning spiky zone to get through to the next level.

Damn, this background is messing with my eyes. Where the hell am I, the chess dimension? Negative robot Donkey Kong is kicking my ass with these barrels so I need to get my head back in the game, and fast.



SOON.

Well Captain America totally failed, and got his ass captured. So it's down to Hawkeye to save the day. Unfortunately Hawkeye was put up against respawning enemies with 3 way shot rifles and rocket launchers, so he barely lasted as long as Cap did.


Do I want to continue? Okay fine, maybe I can somehow get around the spinning zone of inescapable failure this time around.

Wow, I'm back in the forest again. This level isn't getting any more interesting third time around.

Then after the forest I have to hike back through the sewer warehouse. But there's a free path on the map this time! I can make it through to the next level!

Shit, this is just as bad as the spinning checkerboard levels. Enemies keep spawning in and shooting me with rifles and shoulder mounted missile launchers, and I've only got one hit point left!

Though I seem to be safe down here in the water. Perhaps I can take them on one at a time in rapid hit and fade attacks. I'll jump up while their backs are turned, take one out, then disappear back into the safety of the water before they can retaliate.


Of course my plan turned out to a total failure. Continue, yes/no? Hmm, I think I'm done with this now. Next game.