The Limited Run Games team had a near-final version of the Marvel MaXimum Collection available for hands-on at GDC, and I was able to spend a few minutes with the upcoming release.

My first question was if it supported proper ultrawide support for X-Men: The Arcade Game, and the answer is yes. You'll be able to play up to six players (four on PlayStation due to controller limitations) in all of the original arcade glory. On normal 16:9 screens, the game is displayed in a letterbox format to capture the full width of the playfield. If you're playing on PC and have an actual ultrawide monitor, you should be able to play in full, wide-screen glory.

For those unfamiliar with X-Men: The Arcade Game, the original arcade unit used two monitors (and creative use of a mirror) to create a very large and very wide screen that commanded respect as soon as you saw the cabinet. Walking into an arcade back in the day and seeing an X-Men cab with a full six players was a glorious sight. Yeah, there was a regular screen version, but that limits you to two players. This is a game that demands you go big or go home. It's also the marquee title of the Marvel MaXimum Collection.

In case you don't have six players on hand, you'll be able to go online to fill out an entire X-Men team before trying to save the city. Crossplay is supported, which also means we shouldn't see any dead lobbies, while rollback netcode promises to keep the entire experience smooth.

Since my time was limited (there were plenty of others waiting to play), I opted to sneak a peek at Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge. All four versions of the game are present, but it was the Game Gear port that the Limited Run Games developers were the most excited about. No, it's not the best version of the game, but they went to quite a bit of effort to accurately replicate the look of the Game Gear's physical pixels.

It may be a minor point for someone who just wants to play, but as far as replicating the original experience is concerned, seeing the faint outlines of each primary color cell in the pixel is something you'd see when playing on the original hardware. That said, displaying Game Gear resolution pixels on a large TV is a touch awkward. This is a game that was meant to be played on a 3.2-inch screen, not a 50- or 60-inch screen.

The last game I popped into was Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage, which '90s kids will remember as the game that came in a red cartridge as a nod to Carnage. While I'm not expecting the physical discs (or Switch cart) to be dyed red (though that would be super cool if Limited Run Games could pull it off), there is no denying that Maximum Carnage is probably the best of the 16-bit Spider-Man games. It doesn't hurt that the game is based on the 14-issue comic run of the same name. Incidentally, Maximum Carnage is also known for its soundtrack, which you can listen to at your leisure thanks to the Music Player feature.

Marvel MaXimum Collection doesn't go as deep as some of the Digital Eclipse retro releases when it comes to extras, but it does have a full soundtrack for every game in the collection (including multiple versions), manuals for the home console versions (the X-Men: The Arcade Game manual didn't make it), box art, official art, and advertisements. It also has a digital copy of the original design document for Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage.

It's not quite Criterion Collection level, but it is very much a special edition Blu-ray level. For anyone who appreciates the history of gaming, seeing these extras is a real treat. It's great to see companies including this ephemera in their retro collections.

On the quality of life front, Marvel MaXimum Collection features rewind (you'll need this for Silver Surfer), save states, and a configurable display filter. Limited Run Games has included some useful defaults to mimic the look and feel of a CRT, but you can also jump into the filter options and tweak individual settings to get it "just right" for your specific display.

Finally, Steam Deck owners will be happy to know that Limited Run Games chose to demo Marvel MaXimum Collection on a Steam Deck. It may not be officially certified yet, but I doubt the team would have chosen the Steam Deck as a demo platform if there were any performance issues. Marvel MaXimum Collection will likely be Deck verified by the time of release.

Marvel MaXimum Collection's release date is around the corner. Be sure to check back after we've had the chance to run the full collection through its paces.