Released in 1995 by mighty Capcom, this game is an adaption of a 1994 arcade game. It is based, of course, on the top Marvel Comics anti-hero: the Punisher. Punisher is alongside Spawn the most ruthless mainstream hero. Anyway,I consider the original arcade game the best final-fight style game ever, better even than the king itself (of course I mean Final Fight). The arcade game had great graphics, great action and was unbelievably addictive. It is one of the very few scrolling beat'em ups that I completed it more than 10 times! Unfortunatelly this version disappoints....

GRAPHICS:
Remember the great graphics of the arcade? Well, forget them here. The graphics are sub-standard even by Genesis standards. And when we consider top games like Streets of Rage 2 the graphics of this game have no excuse for their mediocricy. In my opinion it's not the fault of the machine's capabilities, but perhaps the programmers did not try too hard to adapt them properly. The sprites are of fair size but a bit blocky with average animation. The backgrounds look dry and in many cases the colours used are not more than 10!

   

SOUND:
Just awful. The SFX do their job fine but the music is some of the most irritating I have ever heard. It is taken from the arcade, but the music was not one of the arcade's strong points...Personally, when I was playing the arcade I was listening to Sepultura.

GAMEPLAY:
If you played Final Fight or Streets of Rage you know what to expect here. All the levels as well as the two-player mode of the arcade are translated here. You control Frank Castle aka the Punisher or a military character (I can't remember his name) and you face countless similar enemies. There are 6 levels total (5 in easy mode). The action of the arcade has been adapted pretty faithfully. However it is even tougher than the arcade. You have only two lives, and there are not any power-ups to collect more. At the end of each level there is a boss. The bosses are taken from the arcade but they are dissapointing in their looks.

   

OVERALL:
Just disappointing. If you have the arcade ROM just avoid it. If you are a fan of the hero, and you can't find the arcade ROM you might want to see it. The rest of you better play Streets of Rage 2 or one of the many good scrolling beat'em ups for the SNES.

GRAPHICS:60
SOUND :30
CONTROL :75
FUN :70
OVERALL :67