Nostalgic beat-‘em-up Marvel Cosmic Invasion is out on December 1

It’s shaping up to be a shockingly good year for former arcade-dwelling beat-‘em-up fans. This month saw the arrival of the excellent , which infuses old-fashioned 2D combat in a cartoony high fantasy setting with roguelike elements to great effect. And now we also have a release date for .

Out December 1 on practically every platform, Marvel Cosmic Invasion lets you choose a team of two superheroes from a playable roster of 15, and you can switch character mid-fight. The new release date trailer rounds off the roster with the Invincible Iron Man (heard of him?) and Phoenix/Jean Grey (played by Jennifer Hale, who also voiced Jean in ), who join a list of previously announced characters that includes Spider-Man, Wolverine and Captain America.

With its gorgeous pixel art visuals and obvious ’90s-era Marvel comics inspiration, it’s hard to see Marvel Cosmic Invasion being anything other than a hit, and it’s fair to say that the license is in very good hands. Developer Tribute Games’ last game was the excellent , while publisher Dotemu has already put out the aforementioned Absolum this year, as well as Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, which also got a from Engadget.

You can play with up to four players, local or online, with crossplay also supported. Marvel Cosmic Invasion will be available for PC, Switch, Switch 2, PS5/PS4 and Xbox on December 1.