Do you ever sit and wonder why we were all so quick to grow up? Perhaps it is nostalgia speaking but do you ever wish you could return to the days of only having to worry about what your mom was going to make you for dinner that night and how you would beat your two best friends on Goldeneye’s split screen mode.
As a part of our Back to Childhood series, allow me to take you back to your childhood now with what are my favourite comic book themed games. Of course, modern games based on Marvel comic books such as Spiderman and Batman continue to be popular to this day thanks to the immense popularity of the Marvel Hollywood blockbusters. A wide variety of industries have taken ingenuity from comic books – many modern TV shows have extracted large amounts of inspiration from comic books, as have modern movies and novels.
A great deal of the best slot sites in the UK have also looked to comic book imagery and design in order to create slots games that appeal to their audience. But as good as these modern games and movies are, nothing can compare to the times I spent as a child playing on games that just reminded me of reading my favourite comic books and immersing myself in a world that could have easily come straight out of a comic book. The four games below are a tiny proportion of the games that I played when I was a wee lad, but they live on in my heart as my favourite games that were either totally or partly inspired by comic books.
Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe
I loved spending my Friday nights playing this game. Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe is a crossover fighting game pitting Mortal Kombat characters against the characters of the DC comics fictional universe. Admittedly, I wasn’t exactly a child when I first played this game, I am 25 now so I was around 15 when the game was released, but this game satisfied me immensely. I had already been a huge fan of Mortal Kombat games throughout my life, I loved the TV show, and the thought of Mortal Kombat mixing in with the DC universe filled me with delight every time I played.
Often, I would play as the Mortal Kombat crew and beat up the DC superheroes, although I really liked playing as Wonder Woman and having her crush all her DC ‘team mates.’
Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe was and still is my favourite 1 vs 1 fighting game of all time, even though Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi comes close, very close. I have not played either game in years, unfortunately I do not own a PlayStation 1 anymore so I cannot play Star Wars, but I think the time is right to load up my Xbox 360 and kick some DC ass!
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction has everything that you could ever ask for in an Incredible Hulk game. Smash to smithereens absolutely anyone and anything that gets in your way, this game ticks off all the criteria that an Incredible Hulk game should be all about. This game allows you to explore an entire city although it was less about exploring it and more about demolishing it bit-by-bit. My brother owned this game and I loved watching him play it. There was something hypnotic about watching The Hulk take down a whole city.
There are all sorts of cool and unique little features that you can do whilst playing. With over 50 unique fighting manoeuvres, you can do things like jump and grab onto aeroplanes in the city and use a ball and chain to use as a weapon in the Badlands. As you progress through the game you will go from fighting small robots and fighter jets to coming up against mega-bosses such as titan sized robots. Any Hulk fan will enjoy this game thoroughly, even now it is so fun to play, the boss fights are genuinely very challenging, and you feel a sense of accomplishment as you progress through the game. I’m just waiting for the developers, Radical Entertainment to re-master it! HULK SMASH!
Grabbed by the Ghoulies
This game, I think, is one of the most underappreciated games of all time. Immensely fun game with hauntingly beautiful graphics, Grabbed By The Ghoulies immediately captured my imagination as a child. Whether it was interrupting a zombie pirate dinner, smashing up some skeletons with a snooker cue in the billiards room or being attacked by a haunted television, Grabbed by the Ghoulies was really a masterpiece in imagination. I was always interested in ghosts and scary things when I was younger so playing a game which is essentially a haunted house walk-through was so much fun.
Obviously, this game is not based on any comic books but the graphics and sound effects in Grabbed by the Ghoulies made me think that this is exactly what a scary comic book would be like. I loved the anticipation of what enemies I would face next and what ghosts I would disturb. Honestly, if you haven’t played this game then I would really advise you to. Grabbed by the Ghoulies was an original Xbox release but luckily, if you have an Xbox One then this game is available to play on RareReplay! But beware of Dr Krackpot!
Leisure Suit Larry
Leisure Suit Larry is like reading a seedy adult-themed comic book, only you got to control the character! Truth be told, I only ever played the demo version of this game on my Xbox when I was probably around 13 year’s old. I did not understand any of the humour and I had no idea why anyone would want to buy this game. But recently, I came across a YouTube video walkthrough of Leisure Suit Larry, the memories suddenly came back to me and I binge watched the entire YouTube series!
This game was only ever a fleeting memory from my childhood but for some reason it is still a big memory. I have absolutely no urge to play the game myself, but I thoroughly enjoyed seeing someone else playing the game. If there is a game from your childhood that you recall, I recommend you go on YouTube and watch a play through of the game if you don’t have the time or energy to play it yourself.