[Capcom] The Punisher

(Arcade, Genesis; 1993)
1-2 players:
Arcade forces player 1 to be Punisher and Player 2 to be Nick Fury(old fashioned, white Fury). Genesis gives the players a choice in the options menu.

Controls:
Button 1/A: Attack/pick up items
Button 2/B: Jump
(Genesis control scheme is adjustable in the options menu)

After connecting with at least 1 strike, press forward & 1/A, for a straight punch, that knocks the enemy down. Double tap, and hold Left, Right, Up, or Down to roll, for up to 3 seconds. When rolling, you can change directions as much as you want(Arcade only), and before it ends, press 1/A to kick. Down, Up & 1/A for a kick that can be 2 hit combo if aimed precisely(Fury backflips on his. The timing is much quicker/less relaxed on the Genesis). 2/B, 1/A to jump kick, no directional variants, and you always move forward. You can wall jump kick(actual walls, not the edge of the screen. Arcade only) by pressing 2, holding Left/Right toward the wall and pressing either 1 or 2. Walk into enemies to grab them. During a grab press 1/A to attack, or any direction, except Down(which still strikes), & 1/A to throw(Up throws forward). During a grab, you can jump with the enemy by pressing 2/B, and during mid jump press 1/A to throw(Left/Right to pick a specific direction), or Down & 1/A to slam the enemy on the back of their neck. 1/A & 2/B simultaneously(or C, if you set it up in the options for the Genesis) to leg sweep(Fury will crouch and swing a belt around him), which drains health. 2/B, 1/A & 2/B simultaneously(or C, if you set it up in the options for the Genesis) to use a grenade, of which you have a limited amount. 1/A & 2/B simultaneously(or C, if you set it up in the options for the Genesis) on the ground at low health will use a grenade that will attack everything on screen, without risking your health. During a grab, pressing 1/A & 2/B simultaneously(or C, if you set it up in the options for the Genesis) will swing an enemy around, and throw him(Fury slams them once on each side, then jumps and slams them on the side he started with), with no cost to health. Press 1/A by a fallen enemy to pick them up(I don't know what the trick is to pulling it off on the Genesis, but it is possible), and either press 1/A again to throw him, or press 2/B, 1/A to jump and throw him.

There are moments when the game decides you're going to pull out a hand gun, and shoot. This is very different from picking up a gun during the course of the game, as it also auto targets for you.

As with most ports from an arcade cabinet, before the Dreamcast, the Genesis versions suffers from a few things. It doesn't have all the moves, the controls are a little more stiff, graphics are scaled down, cut scenes are missing, some larger enemies are redesigned(stage 2 boss comes to mind), the gore from the arcade versions seems to be missing, and it becomes one of those games that pulls the good-ending-is-only-available-on-the-hardest-difficulty thing. At that, it may be impossible to see that good ending in 1 player mode, without a time stopping cheat code.

One overall general issue is that Capcom has the Punisher in blue, instead of black. They would repeat this with Venom in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. I'm not sure what their color palette issue was when it came to characters that wear black and white.

This may be the first beat 'em up, or at least the first that isn't ambiguous about what genre the game is, that incorporated gun usage.