It’s a good time to be into retro beat ’em ups based on classic toys and cartoons. We had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge in 2022, and developers Maple Powered Games just revealed a new trailer for G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra at IGN Fan Fest.
It’s a side-scroller in the tradition of arcade classics like Konami’s X-Men, Ninja Turtles, and Simpsons games, only in this one you can play as Duke, Scarlett, Roadblock, Snake-Eyes, Gung-Ho, and either Grunt or Ripcord, I can’t actually tell who the generic-looking last guy is. Everyone has a limited-use special attack, like Snake Eyes summoning his pet wolf Timber or Roadblock whipping out a huge gun, but it seems like we’ll spend a lot of time punching and kicking Cobra dudes.
Which is why it’s a good thing the punch is able to take out an armored vehicle, with Duke socking a HISS Tank at the 25-second mark. Makes sense to me, given that Cobra’s resident ninja badass Storm Shadow once took out a tank with his bare hands in the cartoon.
G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra will have local and online multiplayer, and a soundtrack of “classic G.I. JOE themes, reimagined by industry veterans at Kid Katana Records”. It also promises “extensive post-launch support, bringing more G.I. JOE heroes into the fray, adding new game modes, levels, and more”. It’s currently scheduled for a 2024 release, and will be out on Steam, GOG, and Epic.