By 1993 Capcom were looking into making arcade games featuring licensed characters. One of their most successful ventures would be with Marvel Comics, and May 1993 saw the release of The Punisher. The game ran on the CPS-1 system, which had previously seen games like Final Fight, Street Fighter II and 1943 on it. The scrolling beat 'em up genre was still popular at the time so Capcom decided to play it safe with this one. Featuring either Punisher or Nick Fury as playable characters, the game has 6 levels of explosive fighting action.

Most scrolling beat 'em ups before this game had a limited number of moves a character could use. In this game, however, both Punisher and Nick have got a large selection of techniques. They can punch, jump kick, roll, throw grenades, throw an opponent in the air and more. Each level also has many objects either character could pick up and throw at enemies, plus there were standard weapons such as swords and axes, to projectile weapons such as uzis. If an enemy came onto the screen wielding a gun, both Punisher and Nick will whip out their own handguns, and you can gun down opponents.

The Punisher won't convert anyone who hates the genre, but if you enjoyed the likes of Final Fight or Streets of Rage then this is certainly worth checking out. The game is challenging and beating it on one credit would take a lot of skill. It's also satisfying to beat up one thug, then throw a barrel at another, then cut up another with a sword, then get into a gun fight with a small gang of opponents -this kind of thing happens every few seconds! The only let down of the game has to be the music, which only has a couple of tunes I liked.

But the main problem is that Capcom had already released another licensed scrolling beat 'em up a month before this which I'd rather play. Cadillacs & Dinosaurs has four playable characters, just as many moves and weapons, along with faster action, more interesting levels and a fantastic soundtrack. The Punisher is good, but Cadillacs & Dinosaurs is better. Still, as far as games based on Marvel characters go this was the best available at the time and it marked the start of something great for both companies.