Marvel Cosmic Invasion is an arcade-style
side-scrolling beat 'em up video game with a
pixelated artstyle. In the game, players control a variety of Marvel superheroes who must battle hordes of enemies in
locations ranging from
New York City to the
Negative Zone to thwart the villain
Annihilus' cosmic invasion. The game features both single-player and multiplayer modes, allowing players to team up with three other players in cooperative gameplay. Each player has to select two characters, and they can switch between the two characters anytime during combat. At launch, the game features a roster of 15 characters. The starting characters are
Beta Ray Bill,
Black Panther,
Captain America,
Cosmic Ghost Rider,
Iron Man,
Nova,
Rocket Raccoon,
She-Hulk,
Spider-Man,
Storm and
Wolverine, while
Phyla-Vell,
Phoenix,
Silver Surfer and
Venom are unlocked as the story progresses. Each hero has their distinct movement and combat abilities, though each has a primary, hero-specific attack, a regular melee attack, a defend mechanic (either a block or a dodge), and a screen-clearing special move that consumes "focus", gained through landing hits on enemies. They can also perform tag-team moves, which allow the hero character to summon the secondary character to perform a combo attack. ==Development==