Marvel Cosmic Invasion is Tribute Games and Dotemu’s arcade-style tag-team brawler, pulling from the Silver Age Marvel catalogue and running on the same design instincts that made TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge one of the most-played beat ’em ups of the decade. The Cyclops and The Thing DLC drops later this year, and the fanbase is already asking for the next wave. Everyone else is looking at the crossover-heavy roster, the four-player co-op, and thinking: what do we play while we wait for more?
We ranked seven Steam beat ’em ups that scratch the same itch. Some are the studio’s own back catalogue, some are the modern high-water marks for the genre, and one is the closest thing on Steam to a Marvel-branded predecessor. Pricing was current at the time of writing and shifts with Steam sales.
Quick comparison
| Game | Best for | Studio | Local coop | Online coop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Streets of Rage 4 | Modern beat ’em up template Cosmic Invasion follows | Dotemu, Guard Crush, Lizardcube | Yes, 4-player | Yes, 2-player |
| TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge | Same studio, same combat DNA | Tribute Games | Yes, 6-player | Yes, 6-player |
| Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game | Retro comic-book brawler | Ubisoft Chengdu | Yes, 4-player | Yes, 4-player |
| Fight’N Rage | Combo-depth for genre veterans | Sebagames | Yes, 3-player | No |
| River City Girls 2 | Bigger, longer beat ’em up campaign | WayForward | Yes, 4-player | Yes, 4-player |
| Castle Crashers Remastered | Cartoonish party brawler with light RPG | The Behemoth | Yes, 4-player | Yes, 4-player |
| Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection | Marvel-branded arcade fighting heritage | Capcom | Yes | Yes |
Why people are looking for Marvel Cosmic Invasion alternatives
Three reasons come up over and over. The DLC schedule is spaced through the year, and players who finished the base game are hungry for the next comparable experience before Cyclops and The Thing drop. The tag-team combat model rewards experimentation, and beat ’em up fans want to see what other games do with similar assist mechanics. And the price point (around $25 at launch) set the expectation that a good beat ’em up should cost less than a full-priced game — that filter reshapes the shopping list.
The other thing worth naming: Marvel Cosmic Invasion is not the first attempt to marry Marvel characters to arcade-style combat. The Capcom collection covers the historical lineage, and asking “what else is there” turns up a small but strong catalogue that beat ’em up fans keep quietly recommending to each other.
The alternatives
Streets of Rage 4 — best for the modern beat ’em up template Cosmic Invasion follows
Streets of Rage 4 is the game that proved the modern beat ’em up could work at retail scale. Dotemu, Guard Crush, and Lizardcube brought back the SEGA series with hand-drawn art, a jazz-and-electro soundtrack, and combo mechanics deep enough to keep fighting-game refugees engaged. Four-player local, two-player online, twelve playable characters after DLC, and a Survival mode that keeps landing new tricks even three years after launch. If you want to see where Tribute learned the recipe, this is where.
Where it falls short: Online is capped at two players, which is a real letdown after Shredder’s Revenge and Cosmic Invasion both hit six. Stages are shorter than the arcade classics; a full playthrough is a couple of hours.
Pricing:
- Free: no
- Paid: around $25, often lower in Steam sales; DLC (Mr. X Nightmare) around $8
- vs Marvel Cosmic Invasion: similar sticker price, more replay in the base game
Migrating from Marvel Cosmic Invasion: No data to migrate. Muscle memory transfers directly; the special-into-recover and combo-cancel systems are cousins.
Download: Streets of Rage 4 on Steam
Bottom line: The right first alternative pick, because it is the game Cosmic Invasion’s design team studied.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge — best same-studio combat DNA
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is Tribute Games’ previous release and the game whose combat vocabulary Cosmic Invasion extends. Six characters at launch with Casey Jones and Karai added through DLC, six-player local and online, and a Story mode with unlocks that push replay through New Game Plus. The pixel art is the loudest and most confident work Tribute has shipped, and the assist-and-taunt loop is where a lot of Cosmic Invasion’s tag mechanics started.
Where it falls short: Runs are shorter than the modern console norm; a full playthrough is under three hours. Some players find the difficulty curve at the top end more punishing than the marketing suggested.
Pricing:
- Free: no
- Paid: around $25 at launch, frequently around $10 in sales; the Dimension Shellshock DLC adds Survival mode and two new characters
- vs Marvel Cosmic Invasion: same pricing tier, same combat lineage
Migrating from Marvel Cosmic Invasion: Same studio, same directional vocabulary. Combo timings translate almost 1:1.
Download: TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge on Steam
Bottom line: The correct next-game if you liked Cosmic Invasion and want more of the same feel.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game — best retro comic-book brawler
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game — Complete Edition brought the Ubisoft brawler back from delisting purgatory with all the DLC bundled and a proper online mode added. The pixel art is Paul Robertson at his peak, the Anamanaguchi soundtrack is a shortlist for best game score of the decade, and the light RPG progression rewards repeat runs in the way most beat ’em ups do not. Four-player local and online, and the comic-book source material rhymes closely with the Silver Age Marvel material Cosmic Invasion pulls from.
Where it falls short: The RPG-lite systems mean the first hour is deliberately underpowered; new players sometimes bounce before the game opens up. Character balance is looser than the modern picks on this list.
Pricing:
- Free: no
- Paid: around $15
- vs Marvel Cosmic Invasion: cheaper, older, with a lighter combat system
Migrating from Marvel Cosmic Invasion: No data to migrate. Cosmic Invasion players will find the early game slow; the payoff arrives around Level 4.
Download: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World on Steam
Bottom line: The right pick when you want the comic-book brawler with the best soundtrack on Steam.
Fight’N Rage — best combo-depth for genre veterans
Fight’N Rage is the solo-developed love letter to the Sega Genesis brawler era, and it is the deepest combo system in this list. Three characters, dozens of branching endings, alt costumes that change movesets, a hard mode that expects you to actually cancel out of things, and a training arena that teaches you the mechanics through repetition. The whole game runs on eight-year-old hardware and stays sharp on a modern PC.
Where it falls short: No online co-op — three-player local only. The art style is intentionally retro and will read as ugly to anyone expecting Streets of Rage 4’s hand-drawn look.
Pricing:
- Free: no
- Paid: around $15
- vs Marvel Cosmic Invasion: significantly cheaper, dramatically deeper combo system
Migrating from Marvel Cosmic Invasion: No data to migrate. Cosmic Invasion players who enjoy the assist juggling will feel at home once they accept the local-only cap.
Download: Fight’N Rage on Steam
Bottom line: The right pick for beat ’em up players who want to keep learning combos years into the game.
River City Girls 2 — best for a bigger, longer campaign
River City Girls 2 is WayForward’s follow-up to the 2019 hit, expanding the map into something closer to a proper open-world beat ’em up. Four playable characters at launch, four-player local and online co-op, a fully voiced story, and a shop-and-food economy that rewards exploration. The combat system layers grapple mechanics, air combos, and character-specific finishers into a longer campaign than most modern brawlers try to sustain.
Where it falls short: Some players felt the sequel’s difficulty tuning ran uneven, especially in the mid-game. The English dub polarised long-time fans.
Pricing:
- Free: no
- Paid: around $30
- vs Marvel Cosmic Invasion: similar price, longer play time, less arcade pacing
Migrating from Marvel Cosmic Invasion: No data to migrate. The pacing feels closer to a Yakuza spin-off than an arcade brawler.
Download: River City Girls 2 on Steam
Bottom line: The right pick when you want a beat ’em up that lasts a weekend, not an evening.
Castle Crashers Remastered — best cartoonish party brawler with light RPG
Castle Crashers Remastered is the party-friendly brawler with a two-decade fanbase. Four-player local and online, a full campaign with level-based character progression, a truly absurd number of unlockable characters and weapons, and a co-op experience that stays fun regardless of skill mix. The remaster brought the game up to modern resolutions and improved the online matchmaking.
Where it falls short: Progression is per-character, so a group of four each playing their own save will grind separately. Some late-game bosses lean on the tank-and-spank pattern.
Pricing:
- Free: no
- Paid: around $15
- vs Marvel Cosmic Invasion: cheaper, more forgiving, closer to a family co-op game
Migrating from Marvel Cosmic Invasion: No data to migrate. Cosmic Invasion players will find the tempo slower and the mechanical ceiling lower, but the party fit is high.
Download: Castle Crashers Remastered on Steam
Bottom line: The right pick when four people want a brawler and the skill levels do not match.
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics — best Marvel-branded arcade fighting heritage
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is the closest historical companion to Cosmic Invasion on Steam. Seven classic 2D fighters including X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. Capcom rebuilt each with rollback netcode, added a museum’s worth of art and history material, and made the whole set easy to jump into. Fighting genre rather than beat ’em up, but the Marvel-brand overlap is exact.
Where it falls short: The base games are 4:3 sprite art from the 1990s. It is a fighting game collection, not a co-op brawler; the multiplayer is versus, not shoulder-to-shoulder.
Pricing:
- Free: no
- Paid: around $50, sometimes lower in Steam sales
- vs Marvel Cosmic Invasion: pricier, older art, different genre, same Marvel brand
Migrating from Marvel Cosmic Invasion: No data to migrate. Different genre entirely; treat as a companion, not a substitute.
Download: Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection on Steam
Bottom line: The right pick when the Marvel-branded arcade combat itself is the draw and you can accept a genre change.
How to choose
- Pick Streets of Rage 4 if you want the modern game Cosmic Invasion’s team studied.
- Pick TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge if you liked Cosmic Invasion and want another Tribute Games brawler.
- Pick Scott Pilgrim vs. The World if the soundtrack and comic-book art matter as much as the combat.
- Pick Fight’N Rage if you want the deepest combo system in this list.
- Pick River City Girls 2 if you want a longer campaign with an open-world feel.
- Pick Castle Crashers Remastered if the group is four people at mixed skill levels.
- Pick Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection if the Marvel arcade lineage itself is what you like about Cosmic Invasion.
Stay on Marvel Cosmic Invasion if the tag-team assist system with the Marvel-branded roster is specifically what you want; nothing on this list replicates that combination exactly.
FAQ
Is Marvel Cosmic Invasion getting more DLC?
Yes. The Cyclops and The Thing DLC pack is the first paid update, with more announced through the year. Base-game updates continue in parallel.
Which of these has the best online co-op?
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge tops the list for online — six players, stable netcode, and a lobby system that actually holds a group together across levels.
Can I play Marvel Cosmic Invasion on Steam Deck?
Yes. The game runs well on Steam Deck at native resolution and locked frame rate; the controller layout is close to optimal out of the box.
Are these all rollback netcode?
The beat ’em ups on this list use delay-based or hybrid netcode, which is fine for the genre. The Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is the outlier — Capcom added true rollback across all seven classic titles.
What is the closest thing to Marvel Cosmic Invasion for local co-op?
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge for the same-studio pedigree, or Castle Crashers Remastered for a couch party. Both scale to four players locally without the difficulty spikes some brawlers apply.
