The Nintendo Switch 2’s game library is steadily growing two months after its launch. Players are still destroying environments in search of bananas in Donkey Kong Bananza, and future first-party games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will surely grab just as much attention. But one thing the Switch 2’s game library is missing at the moment is a killer superhero title.
The original Nintendo Switch received Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order two years after it launched. I’m hoping a fourth entry arrives on Switch 2 much sooner than that.
The Marvel Ultimate Alliance series, which gave comic book fans the chance to bring their favorite Avengers, X-Men, and more together for some good ol’ dungeon crawling, launched in 2006 and became an instant favorite of mine. 2009’s Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 upped the ante by adapting Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s Civil War storyline (the same one that was loosely adapted in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War) and offering players two different campaigns based on which side they wanted to join. Joining one side would lock you out of heroes from the other, granting the choice a real weight to it, as well as reason to revisit the game for a second playthrough.
Despite solid reviews and decent sales numbers (Halo 3 dropped just a few weeks after MUA 2, so, tough) the series pulled a Captain America and went on ice. Licensing properties like Marvel characters for a game is surely a corporate nightmare, and we don’t need to get into how publisher Activision has delisted the original games (like it did Deadpool), but I’m sure there were reasons this series didn’t continue for a decade.
2019’s Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order revived the series with a new developer and for a new console. It’s a Switch exclusive from Team Ninja, which always takes me by surprise when I remember that — the studio behind Ninja Gaiden and Nioh made a Marvel game? Far out.
Arriving when the Marvel Cinematic Universe was at its peak, just three months after the Infinity Saga-capping Avengers: Endgame, synergy is abundant in The Black Order. You play as your favorite Marvel heroes chasing after Thanos and his Black Order as they gather the Infinity Stones. Synergy! Disney had been in the process of purchasing 21st Century Fox while The Black Order was in development, so the X-Men and Fantastic Four aren’t completely ignored (like they were in 2017’s Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite), though the First Family is only available via paid DLC.
The Black Order is essentially a Marvel-styled dungeon crawler. You clamber through levels, punch through goons on your way, and encounter boss fights like Green Goblin or Ultron. As Alliance is the name of the game, you had to synergize (our word of the day!) your team to unleash powerful special abilities together. With the roster featuring dozens of characters, they didn’t all feel unique and gameplay could get a tad rote, admittedly, but no less fun.
Six years later, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 hasn’t been ported to any other platform, leading me to once again wonder if there are licensing or exclusivity deals at play preventing another entry. Potentially the game may not have reached the sales expectations publisher Nintendo was aiming for. Hopefully that’s not the case and, with the Switch 2 here, there’s no better time than the present to bring this series back.
The MCU has moved past the Infinity Saga and is fully entrenched in multiversal plotlines that’ll culminate in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, the latter of which is expected to take heavy inspiration from the 2015 Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić event series of the same name. The Secret Wars comic would act as the perfect staging ground for a Marvel Ultimate Alliance game; it sees Marvel’s heroes strewn across the patchwork Battleworld, a mish-mashed planet stemming from various multiverses.
Of course, Doctor Doom — or, should I say, God Emperor Doom, clad in white — is the architect of Battleworld and the main antagonist of Secrets Wars. Like how Thanos was the Big Bad of the MCU before starring in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Doom will be the end boss of the current MCU. It only makes sense that he’d be the prime choice for an antagonist for a hypothetical fourth MUA entry.
As it stands now, though, there’s no indication a Marvel Ultimate Alliance 4 is on its way. Team Ninja is currently working on next year’s Nioh 3 while Nintendo’s plans remain an enigma. Still, I won’t stop wishing for this great, underappreciated Marvel series to make a return, and I’ll keep enjoying Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 until it does.
