The Punisher has had a decent video game career with some good, bad, and ugly games.
The Punisher was created by Jerry Conway, John Ramirez Senior, and Ross Andrew and first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man 129.
The Punisher had his own limited series in 1986 with awesome covers by Mike Zack, followed by his own unlimited series the following year.
The Punisher had his mainstream comic book peak in the early 90s where he had not one, not two, but three ongoing series and a few extra if you include the Armory one-shots.
In 1990, four distinct Punisher games were released on four different formats in a 12-month period, starting with The Punisher for MS-DOS developed by Paragon Software.
The Punisher on MS-DOS is a curiosity rather than a super fun polished experience, with slow movement, no music, and clunky gameplay, but it is still awesome because it is weird and different.
The Punisher on Amiga and Atari ST, released in the same year, is a completely different game from the DOS version, developed and published by a different company called The Edge.
The Game Boy port of "The Punisher: Ultimate Payback" was much harder than the NES version because the limited screen real estate makes it a first-person game with no way to dodge fire, no visibility of incoming bullets, and no power-ups that stand out due to the limited color palette.
Despite its faults, "The Punisher: Ultimate Payback" had music in every stage that kept the game lively and interesting.
"The Punisher" (1993) is a beat-em-up game that represents one part of the Holy Trilogy of Capcom licensed Brawlers that have rarely, if ever, seen any ports in their 30-year existence.
While playing as Francis or Nicholas in "The Punisher," you only have two buttons to work with: jump and attack. However, Capcom made sure to utilize these two buttons in every conceivable way. The game has an assortment of melee weapons and powerful firearms to kill crime in a more stylish and Punisher-like way.
Enemy variety in "The Punisher" is off the charts, with everything from street thugs and punks to sexy ninja ladies, 1930s gangsters, martial artists, awkward robot men, and giant max pulled from different games, making them feel out of place.
While the music in "The Punisher" is fine, it isn't Capcom's best and isn't very memorable.
The game's bosses are a bit of a letdown, with few memorable ones like Kingpin, Mr. Fisk, and Bushwacker. There are also some strange choices like Bone Breaker, an X-Men villain with no prior relationship with the Punisher. Capcom could have included Mr. Jiggy Face, Bullseye, Hitman,
The game "The Punisher" had to compromise and add filters and camera movement to get a lower rating in most countries.
"The Punisher" Java version was not well-received and was essentially a mobile shooting gallery.
A sequel to "The Punisher" game was being worked on but was never officially greenlit.
The game "The Punisher: No Mercy" was poorly received and was delisted, with the last standalone game ever made about the Punisher.
