''The Punisher'' is a 1990

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Beam Software Krome Studios Melbourne, originally Melbourne House, was an Australian video game development studio founded in 1980 by Alfred Milgrom and Naomi Besen and based in Melbourne, Australia. Initially formed to produce books and software to be pub ...

and released by LJN, which stars the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

anti-hero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform action ...

, the

Punisher The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher made ...

. It is one of the few

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

rail shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a Video game genre, sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certai ...

s. Also in 1990, an unrelated ''The Punisher'' for Amiga and

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

was released by MicroProse.

Premise

The Punisher's origin has been slightly altered to a former detective, from the original comic books as a

US Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

who served in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

Gameplay

The player controls the Punisher from an over-the-shoulder

third-person perspective Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

through various

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

locations, shooting thugs and battling supervillains

Hitman Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may ...

, Jigsaw, Colonel Kliegg, Sijo Kanaka, and Assassin as bosses. The final boss is the Kingpin. Power-ups can be obtained by shooting them and include extra ammunition, a med kit,

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...

, a

bazooka Bazooka () is the common name for a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was among the ...

, a

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

, and grenades. ''

Daily Bugle The ''Daily Bugle'' (at one time ''The DB'') is a fictional New York City tabloid newspaper appearing as a plot element in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The ''Daily Bugle'' is a regular fixture in the Marvel Universe, mos ...

'' newspapers appear with gameplay tips.

Reception

In 2013, Fred Rojas of Gaminghistory101 said he was quite impressed with the graphical prowess and praised the interesting addition to the traditional light gun format and the brawler element, which is key to completing two of the boss battles, that requires the player to have more than crack shot skills. Conversely he criticized the lack of music: "All of the levels seem eerily quiet and the saxophone player that shows up in the most odd of times and location provides the only break from the action, but his song is neither interesting enough nor is there any incentive to keep him alive." He criticized the boss battle with the Kingpin for being frustratingly difficult but still considered the game to be as it was when it first came out and that it is a gem among Nintendo's initial console. Videogamechoochoo.com's reviewer Ryan expressed disappointment at the developers' decision to lock the Punisher into the bottom of the screen and let the player slide him around, ending up as "one of the few" rail shooters for NES. He said, "It's easy to see why- attempting to both dodge bullets and position the crosshairs with just the D-pad is an obtuse, miserable experience." He criticized the lack of soundtrack: "There's a title theme, and a menu theme that gets re-used for boss fights, and that's about it. The only sounds that accompany you through the levels are those of gunfire and explosions. Occasionally a bluesy jazz man will spawn and play you a morose 8-bit saxophone tune, but like everything else in the game, you can just blow him to shreds, silencing him for good." He praised the accurate portrayal of the Punisher, the violence he commits, his antagonists, and the graphics. He was surprised at how much simultaneous action was onscreen. Blair Farrell of Comic Gamers Assemble stated that the game would have benefited from the

NES Zapper The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

but that the game's design added depth to the simple shooting mechanics.

Game Boy version

In 1991 the game was converted to the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

, titled ''The Punisher: The Ultimate Payback'', with several differences, including an appearance from Spider-Man.

References

External links