Marvel Land
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (December 2016) |
| Marvel Land | |
|---|---|
 Arcade flyer | |
| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Sega Mega Drive |
| Release |
|
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Arcade system | Namco System 2 |
Marvel Land[1] is a platform arcade game released by Namco in 1990; it runs on the Namco System 2 hardware, and was later ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1991 (the EU version was also released under an alternative name of Talmit's Adventure.). It also shares its name with the fictitious kingdom in which the 1986 Japan-only Famicom game Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu took place but has no connections with it otherwise - and it does not have any connections with Marvel Comics and any of the superheroes associated with them, either.
Gameplay
In Marvel Land, the player must take control of Prince Paco (Talmit in English), who's on a quest to save Princess Luxie (Wondra in English) from the evil Mole King (Japanese: 魔王モウル; Maō Mōru); the gameplay is similar to that for Nintendo's Super Mario Bros.. Powerups include dragon wings which allow Prince Paco to jump higher and fly (to a certain extent), shoes that can allow him to walk faster for a while, and a clone powerup which allows him to whip multiple copies of himself at enemies in a line - and collecting these powerups makes it easier for Prince Paco to defeat enemies and collect various items to increase his score. Each of the game's four worlds take place in an amusement park (which is the eponymous "Marvel Land"), and most areas are set outside with various obstacles that must be overcome; other areas include a ride on a roller coaster, and even a walk through a funhouse. At the end of the regular outside levels, Prince Paco must jump through a huge target to earn between 100 and 7650 (Namco's goroawase number) extra points - and his remaining time will also then be added.
The game's enemies are an army of moles known as "Mogles", and a wide range of other creatures; a boss must also be fought at the end of the last area of all four worlds. They are unique in that they are played more like a minigame (rock paper scissors for Worlds 1 and 4, and tug of war for Worlds 2 and 3). After Prince Paco defeats a boss he rescues a fairy (Princess Luxie after he defeats the Mole King), and is treated to a bonus stage where he must catch falling stars for points in a float parade at night - and some rides featured in areas, along with the bonus stage parade floats contain several of Namco's earlier characters, such as: Pac-Man (1980), Pooka from Dig Dug (1982), Solvalou from Xevious (1982), Mappy (1983), Grobda (1984), Gilgamesh and Ki from Tower of Druaga (1984), Paccet from Baraduke (1985), Valkyrie of Valkyrie no Bōken (NES, 1986), Wonder Momo (1987), Amul (in "one-headed" form) from Dragon Spirit (1987) and Beraboh Man (1988). The pink-and-silver female robot who appears at the start of each world, 受付小町 (Uketsuke Komachi) also appears in the Namco System 12-era World Stadium games as the Nikotama Gals' catcher and in the Namco Museum series at the information desk.
Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Marvel Land on their March 15, 1990 issue as being the eighth most-successful table arcade game of the year.[2]
Legacy
Marvel Land reappears as the setting of one of the chapters of the 2015 Nintendo 3DS game, Project X Zone 2. The game's party ends up visiting the park due to the park's name being confused with Marvel Land from Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu. The game also showed up as an occasional Video Challenge on the early-1990s Nickelodeon game show Nick Arcade.