10 Marvel Superhero Video Games You Never Knew Existed
1. Questprobe Featuring The Hulk
Developed by the legendary Scott Adams for his own company Adventure International, this title was the first game to be published in the now obscure Questprobe Series. It was released for the Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, PC, Dragon 32 and ZX Spectrum in 1984 to critical acclaim.
The game takes the form of a text adventure with graphical interludes depicting key parts of the story. All commands are entered through the keyboard and require you to use a series of predefined words and phrases that, depending on what you put, alter the path of the story in different ways. These include movements, for example “Move west”, as well actions such as “Pick up” or “Kill”.
The other Marvel characters to feature in their own Questprobe games were The Human Torch, The Thing and Spider-Man. Another game featuring the X-Men was programmed but never released due to the sad demise of Adventure International in 1985. All of the games are still highly regarded by text adventure fans.
Modern gamers may find the Questprobe series a bit clunky and unappealing compared today’s big budget productions. But there is actually a great game in each one that stays authentic to the subject matter and they will certainly please all the true fans of the Marvel Universe.
Did you play any of these? Which other obscure Marvel games deserve resurrecting for one last playthrough?