New beat-’em-ups inspired by the vintage ‘80s and ‘90s arcade classics of yore have been a constant trend in video games, but one game in recent memory achieved a level of quality I don’t think any other similar game has truly rivaled. 2022’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge was a perfect encapsulation of what was fun and memorable of Turtles in Time and other TMNT arcade games, but it also was extremely approachable to players of all ages and had an extremely smart, modern style. So when the teams at Dotemu and Tribute Games revealed their follow-up to Shredder’s Revenge in the form of Marvel Cosmic Invasion, my anticipation soared. Cosmic Invasion delivers in so many ways, feeling inspired by the likes of the X-Men arcade game, Marvel vs. Capcom, and the developer’s past work on Shredder’s Revenge. It doesn’t feel like a nostalgic riff though; Cosmic Invasion feels like a fully thought-out and unique beat-’em-up that brings new ideas to the table while also celebrating the comic books the characters and storyline comes from.

At the core of this is the game’s primary “Cosmic Swap” mechanic. You select two characters from the deep and varied 15-character roster and then have the ability to swap between them at any point. This both gives you a wider variety of abilities at any point and lets you swing together cool combos and special moves. It’s a relatively straightforward idea, but it adds so much to the vibrantly colored comic book feel. Every playable character fits into a certain type but all of them are unique. Wolverine is a melee-heavy bruiser who can jump around the screen clawing foes and throwing them around. Captain America and Beta Ray Bill both have ranged weapons they can throw, but even those similar ideas are very different in practice. Captain America’s shield bounces around foes and returns to you in short order. Beta Ray Bill’s Stormbreaker instead hovers in place when you throw it and does damage on the other side of the screen. Beyond that, you have characters like Storm and Nova who can fly and then Spider-Man and Venom who can both swing on webs across the screen quickly.

It’s dazzling how good every character feels and while I found a few mainstays I would settle into playing (Wolverine’s healing factor helped a lot in this review), I didn’t have any I disliked using. Also the idea that each of the 15 characters can be paired with any one of the 14 other characters creates so much strategy in who their swapping partner is. This more or less directly addresses one of my small issues with Shredder’s Revenge as well. The swapping encourages you to try more characters, which in turn helps to level up those characters and makes them more formidable by increasing their health and special meters.

That level up system where playing as characters increases their potency comes into play heavily here because in general, I found the main campaign far more challenging than Shredder’s Revenge. While I do think that the campaign could benefit from mid-level continues, none of the levels are really longer than 10 minutes so getting to the end of a level and failing on a tough final boss isn’t necessarily a lot of lost time, especially since the characters still can level up. This all helps to stress some of the clever ways you can leverage heroes in tandem. And beyond the main campaign, you can also play the game in an arcade mode with a variety of unlockable modifiers that make the game far easier or way harder.

The story borrows a lot from the Annihilation comic book arc, which essentially is just a narrative pretense for the levels to be a bunch of wild space-faring nonsense with a lot of bug enemies to mow down. That does lead to some quasi-boring generic foes, but there are enough swerves like Sentinels and symbiotes that it stays fresh. The bosses are sometimes frustrating because if you’re not near full health when you get there, you might get goosed before you discover what the trick is, but also that’s life sometimes. The levels feature colorful and playful comic book panels to start and end them, complete with incredible voice acting from a veritable who’s who of comic character voice actors. Cal Dodd and Alison Sealy Smith (‘90s X-Men cartoon) voice Wolverine and Storm respectively. Josh Keaton (‘00s Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon) voices Spider-Man. Beyond that are excellent voice actors like Jennifer Hale, Matthew Mercer, Steve Blum, Brian Bloom, and so many more. The story sequences and mid-level banter while you Cosmic Swap reminded me a lot of the X-Men arcade game. This isn’t some deep narrative, but it’s a lot of fun as background dressing. The soundtrack, from Shredder’s Revenge composer Tee Lopes, fits the vibes perfectly as well.

Local and online play works with up to four players at once (crossplay for online!), so essentially eight heroes across the screen at once. Online play worked fine for me pre-launch, but a day one patch should smooth out some reported issues before launch. The Switch 1 version starts to crumble under this load with some slowdown, but not in a fully negative way. Not to be dismissive of the nearly-a-decade-old system, but I’d wonder what Doctor Strange-esque sorcery Tribute Games unleashed if this game’s maximum mayhem didn’t have slowdown issues on Switch 1. On Switch 2, it’s not 100% flawless but it's definitely improved. The Switch 2 version also has GameShare capabilities, which is neat.

Cosmic Invasion as currently constructed is relatively straightforward, with a campaign and an arcade mode filled with the same levels. Each stage has challenges to complete, typically requiring specific characters, and there are harder-to-find objects in each level as well. You can unlock data files, arcade modifiers, and new skins as you complete stages and challenges. There’s a lot of replayability here, but most of that is best found in multiplayer sessions.

Pound for pound, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is an amazing follow-up to Shredder’s Revenge, taking the smart nostalgic foundation of an old arcade license (this time X-Men, Maximum Carnage, and the like) and building it into a brilliant modern experience. The Cosmic Swap mechanic lets you play as more characters while adding a lot of depth and strategy. The lively spritework pops off the screen like it is a comic book come to life (it kind of is), emboldened by the stellar voice work and banger of a soundtrack. Cosmic Invasion rules.