Marvel Cosmic Invasion Review: The Beat-’Em-Up You Can’t Put Down
Three years after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, Tribute Games and Dotemu return with Marvel Cosmic Invasion, a slick, nostalgia-charged beat ’em up that throws Marvel back under the arcade lights and is fun for all.
Tribute Games and Dotemu are back at it, three years after Shredder's Revenge, with a new licensed brawler that puts Marvel up front and goes big on space weirdness. Marvel Cosmic Invasion is basically a cosmic road trip with 15 playable heroes, built to be easy to jump into and surprisingly deep if you want to dig in.
How it plays
This is very much pick-up-and-punch. Every character gets a basic attack, a special that can be anything from a projectile to a leaping smash, a dodge/block, and a big super that burns a full energy bar. If you just want to mash with friends, that works. If you want nuance, each hero has a move list with enough wrinkles to make mastery feel worth it.
Smart touch: you bring two heroes into each stage and can swap mid-level. It turns encounters into little loadout puzzles, where you tag in whoever fits the moment.
Roster: mainstream faces, deep-cut favorites
The lineup hits both ends of the Marvel pool: crowd-pleasers for MCU-only folks and some wonderfully nerdy picks for comic readers. If names like Beta Ray Bill and Phyla-Vell send you to Wikipedia, you can always lean on Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man, or Spider-Man. On the cosmic-heavy end, Cosmic Ghost Rider, Nova, Rocket Raccoon, and Silver Surfer make total sense here.
- Roster and bosses at a glance: 15 playable heroes total (including Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Beta Ray Bill, Phyla-Vell, Cosmic Ghost Rider, Nova, Rocket Raccoon, Silver Surfer) and marquee villains like Thanos, Venom, Hela, and Knull anchoring boss fights.
Stages are the star
The level tour is where Cosmic Invasion really flexes. There are a couple Earth stops, including a slick Wakanda stage, but the fun is off-world. You get symbiote chaos on Klyntar, wild alien backdrops, and a standout Asgard run with a Bifrost sequence that just rules. You can feel Tribute cutting loose on the art and encounter design; this is the part that sticks with you.
Bosses and balance
Every stage ends in a boss fight, and they are legit tests. The big bads have playful move patterns that push you to either coordinate with a squad or learn the tells solo. One knock: the final boss doesn’t land as hard as a couple of the earlier dust-ups. It’s a little more 'oh, that was it?' than the kind of slam-bang finale you might remember from Super Shredder in TMNT.
Short run, strong replay
You can clear the 15 stages in under three hours, one sitting if you’re dedicated. The loop after credits is where it opens up: 15 characters to level, stage-specific challenges (down to using certain moves or specific heroes), and a pile of extras to unlock like color palettes and lore-y database entries. It’s also just fun to pass the controller around; this is an easy go-to with different friend groups.
Verdict
Cosmic Invasion nails what makes superhero beat 'em ups sing. It’s charming, light on friction, and still gives you room to tinker. Solo or co-op, it hits the sweet spot. Tribute builds smartly on what worked in Shredder's Revenge and keeps cementing itself as the studio you call when you want a brawler that actually feels good.
Score: 9/10 — On that scale, a 9 means 'Excellent' and sits at the gold-standard end of the genre.
Disclosure: The publisher provided a PlayStation 5 copy for this review. Tested on version 1.001.000.