There's the last lady, then. So what's the ending, eh?
There you have it. The finest misspelling of 'Congratulations' in video game history.
... But I'm lying to you. This end screen is from the Japanese version! What about the US one?
Ohoho. Normally I'd put this down to some kind of MAME glitch, as the emulated home versions (which we'll get to later) use the correct profile picture here. That said, looking on MAME Testers shows that this is an established bug, and it could be that way in the original US version as apparently those graphics just aren't in the US ROM at all. I guess it was fixed for the home releases.
Now, credits. Not much to say here!
In any case, once you're done, get ready for the second loop
The game starts again with increased difficulty. Beat the second loop and the game is truly over.
In lieu of our traditional emulator snapshot HIGH SCORE TABLE TIME!!!, though...
Here's a bit of Phot-O-Time with the version on Capcom Arcade Cabinet.
That's me, at lucky number nine! NINE!
That was quick. We've beaten Avengers and saved Paradise City!
Now, I'm going to be blunt, in case you couldn't tell from this little playthrough. Avengers isn't a very good game. True, it was released during the great Scrolling Brawler Mystery Zone of 1987-1989, and it's hardly a traditional entry in the genre, but it's still not much fun to play. By the end of my time with it, I was going through the motions, and I have absolutely no urge to play it again. This is mostly because of the loose, unsatisfying feeling of punching/kicking dudes, the ropey collision detection, and the fact that you spend too much time waggling free from grabbers. Let's compare it with P.O.W. - Prisoners of War for a second, shall we? P.O.W.'s strengths are its amazing sound and satisfying game feel (for the first five minutes anyway). Avengers has poor sound- none of the music beyond Stage 1 is memorable, and the sound effects are missing a feeling of impact- and the game itself doesn't feel satisfying to play. On the other hand, it does some things slightly better than P.O.W.- it's not nearly as long, as an experienced player could feasibly clock it in less than 20 minutes, and it actually has interesting bosses (shame they don't take up enough of the game!). However, these things don't save it- the fact that the weapons are in short supply and mostly useless, and that you'll basically be kicking everyone (and it doesn't even feel fun!) mean this is a standard 2-star game. Of the two, I'd sooner replay P.O.W.... So, doesn't that mean Avengers needs a lower score?
... Well, nah. I think you should play Avengers at least once, because it has... I'm not sure charm is the word, but visually, it's this crazy mix of urban decay/oriental/the wild west/random caves with some odd Fist of the North Star-esque enemies, it's got that hidden whack-a-mole game and that wizard who seems to come from out of nowhere... It's such an odd, ill-fitting mash-up of these ideas, combined with the odd perspective leading to some truly bizarre sprites, that there's something slightly endearing about it. A bit like Crime Fighters, then. However, Avengers isn't as bad as that game, just... Well, dull. Maybe next time, eh, Capcom?
And now, it's that time, folks!
EXTENDED PLAY!
It might be obvious, but Avengers was never given a contemporary home port. Not even the home computers, which received conversions of the likes of Final Fight and Psycho Soldier, got a look-in. Instead, the game's first proper home port- emulation, to be exact- was for the PS2 and Xbox as part of Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2, developed by Digital Eclipse. I'm currently unable to vouch for the quality of this port, however, as I collected all my retro sets on the Xbox... And the Xbox version of CCC2 was never released in PAL territories, as the system was considered 'dead' over here when it was released in 2007. Typical. No, of course I'm not still annoyed about it, why would you say that?
Next, it went portable, as it was included in Capcom Classics Collection Remixed for the PSP, again by Digital Eclipse. The first PSP Capcom set, it's essentially a rejig of the two home CCC sets, taking all the non-Capcom Generations games from CCC1 and adding in every title from CCC2 minus Eco Fighters, The King of Dragons, Knights of the Round, Tiger Road and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. This port is decent enough, but it's done in by the screen size. You can, at the very least, play the game vertically by flipping the PSP on its side, and there's a few screen options such as having your score and health on a separate status bar to the side.
In both the aforementioned collections, you can unlock a couple of things:
Gameplay tips - score over 20,000 points; artwork - beat the fourth stage; music player - beat the game.
Finally, most likely the definitive version of Avengers appeared in Capcom Arcade Cabinet, a Game Room-style 'buy the games you want' deal for Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network. Why do I say definitive? 'Cause it's ported by M2, grand masters of emulation (see also: Sega Vintage Collection, Neo Geo Station, Fantasy Zone II DX) and they know how to get things done. This version is faithfully emulated and has online leaderboards, online co-op, fully customisable dip-switches, a gallery with unlockable artwork, a training mode to practice previously-beaten stages, and a 'casual' mode which changes many of the rules of the game (including letting you use weapons in boss fights, yesssss) to make things easier. Finally, it lets you select either the Japanese or International version, if you're that fussy. Avengers costs 400 MS Points as part of the starter-pack set with 1943 and Black Tiger, or paying 2000 MS Points from May 21st 2013 onwards gets you all 15 games in the package, plus bonus games Vulgus and 1943 Kai.
This version unlockables too:
Beat the game for the first set of artwork, then play for 90, 180 and 300 minutes to unlock more artwork.
Finally, some notes about Avengers in MAME.
To start, the current version of MAME at the time of writing (March 2013) is very buggy when it comes to emulating the game. It's currently riddled with slowdown that happens whenever there's more than three characters on-screen. Needless to say, this makes the game much less fun to play, and renders two-player mode nearly unplayable. This slowdown even happens during the attract mode! This made getting these screenshots more arduous than usual.
... Or is it? We got an email from a reader, Felix, who noted that since we're unable to see the game running on the real hardware and Avengers is shoddily coded anyway (that collision detection, man), the slowdown may have been how the game runs anyway, but was just fixed up for the M2 and Digital Eclipse ports. Until we see an Avengers cab in the flesh (uh, anyone got one of these in the UK? No?) then this is always a possibility, so thanks for the tip, Felix.
Secondly, there's something funny about Set 2 in MAME.
This version doesn't let you move while kicking. You can only move and attack by punching when you have the Power icon.
Needless to say, the game isn't much fun like this. At all.
Oddly, in MAME the Japanese ROM acts the same, but the Japanese version in Capcom Arcade Cabinet doesn't.
Once again, ReplayBurners reuploaded HYO's super-play which taught us some tips.
Also, the mysterious Xbox Live player whose one million point run taught us some boss strategies.
... If this game has had one effect on me, it's made me want to watch Fist of the North Star, like properly this time.
Really, though, is there ever a time NOT to watch FOTNS? Back to the index, then....