5/5 ★ – RawMetal's review of The Punisher.

System: Arcade Started: April 13, 2023 Ended: April 13, 2023 Free Play Arcade Session - April 13, 2023: 3/12 When it comes to Arcade games in the 90’s based on popular Comic Books, Capcom and Konami were always neck-on-neck on this trend of the beat em ups genre. Konami has their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and X-Men while Capcom has their signature Marvel vs. Capcom games and Cadalliacs and Dinosaurs (I’ll get to that review soon). For Capcom side, I finally got the chance to play the 1993 Arcade version of The Punisher very recently and this game ends up as one of my absolute favorite Arcade Beat-em Ups based on Story thanks to the Attract Mode Cutscene, its Story that has grittiness based on the comic book series of an anti-hero, and its Gameplay that has guns, blood, explosions, Thugs, Cyborgs and Ninja Chicks in latex. Plot of this game is straightforward as the Vigilante Anti-Hero is on a warpath as he fights Mafia gangs in the criminal underbelly of New York and other locations in the States and eventually fights the notorious overlord, Kingpin. Since this is an Arcade Beat em’ Up, you need a player 2 to join you and they can play as none other than Nick Fury. This Arcade game has that certain grit that resembles the Punisher Comic Books at the time. Combat, Music and Comic Book Aesthetics of this game resembles an action comic such as Punisher and Fury throwing a Grenade and literally dove for cover and protect their heads from the shrapnels, End Level Story Presentation, and you occasionally fire your Pistols, Uzis, Assault Rifles and even a flamethrower to start blasting thugs. I really have nothing that is flawed about this game. Although there is one but I am actually cool with it: Compared to other great Arcade Beat em Ups the Punisher is only for two players compared to others that only is up to 3 players, Ninja Turtles has even up to 4 players, even the X-Men Arcade game can go up to 6 Players. However, I can still let this game slide as a two-player only beat-em up due to The Punisher being a one-man army and he is always the type of person that is a lone wolf unless there are circumstances based on events. Nick Fury was a great choice for the second player to choose from making it an Arcade game for Bros and Men alike. If this game was released today, Capcom would have added Black Widow as Player 2 to avoid Sarkessian knocking down their door in the name of GamerGate. This is my current standing as my favorite Arcade game out of the other 11 games I played that day on April 13th. If you want a gritty and mature Arcade Beat em up with guns, The Punisher Arcade hits close to home compared to its home port on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive that was released soon after, except they have to tone the game down with its grittiness such as Nick Fury not having a Cigar and the limitations of hardware making the art design and sound feel downgraded. So, It will be wise to play the Arcade Version over the home console by searching this game in the wild at your local Arcade, Emulate, or an Arcade 1Up machine of this and definitely save up money to get that so you can brag to your friends that you have the official Punisher Arcade Machine at your very own home.