Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects



"Clash of The Super Heroes."

- Back of the Box

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (2005) was a game that launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Cube, PSP, and Nintendo DS and was promoted by a comic miniseries. It is most similar to Power Stone, Ehrgeiz, and Super Smash Bros.. Gameplay consists of a fairly free form fighting system, complete with dodges, blocks, get-up attacks, uppercuts, and air tackles. Using the super button allows the super version of each of these abilities, being more powerful but also depleting the super bar.

The game structures itself around the city of New York falling into chaos with an alien invasion, where heroes such as Captain America (depending on the console) and the Hulk are seemingly killed, and the appearance of a mysterious new superpowered group called the Imperfects. This also sets the game up for its dark tone.

Nemesis was supposed to be followed up by a sequel in 2008, but EA and Marvel terminated their partnership following the game's disappointing critical reception.


 * Finishing Move
 * Evil Counterpart: Many of the Imperfects are clear parallels to the Marvel characters. Hazmat's a gooier Spider-Man or Venom, Solara's an alien-empowered Human Torch, Brigade is Wolverine with guns instead of claws, etc.
 * Never Trust a Trailer: The EA Hype Machine fully at work, the game was initially promoted as a fighting game akin to Capcom's Versus Series, but as time grew closer to the release date, previews made it more obvious that the game was closer in genre to a Beat'Em Up, and most of the fighting game elements were relegated to multiplayer (and being closer in style to EA's own Def Jam series.)
 * Original Generation: The Imperfects.
 * What Could Have Been: The Sequel.
 * The Worf Effect: Used to an absolutely shameless degree with Captain America, the Punisher, and the Hulk, the last of which was barely shown, to establish just how dangerous the aliens are.
 * Wolverine Publicity: The Trope Namer is in the game and prominently displayed in marketing as well as on the cover.