Marvel Super Heroes in War of the Gems Redux is a patch for Capcom’s 1996 underrated (and underbaked) brawler that leaves the core structure alone but rebalances buffs and changes a few character mechanics to make the game feel more, well, heroic.
The work comes from BillyTime! Games, a prolific ROM tinkerer who has made a career out of tuning old licensed games instead of gutting them. He even made the Game Boy Skate or Die entry not suck! Wolverine now has passive health regeneration on his yellow life bar, nodding to his healing factor instead of treating him like any other brittle melee pick. Captain America and Hulk both get small defense buffs, which helps them feel sturdier without breaking the game’s difficulty curve.
The Infinity Gems themselves also feel a bit more rugged. Equipping the Soul Gem now stacks another defense boost and doubles the effect of health pickups, while the Reality Gem doubles item drops. The Space Gem now gives Iron Man infinite jumps and grants infinite air in underwater stages, while the Power Gem lets you smash specific walls that were previously impassable, creating entirely new routes.
None of this turns War of the Gems into a different game, but it does smooth out some rough spots and makes each character/gem pairing feel more distinct. There is even a cheat to unlock all the gems right away by holding Select and pressing Start at the intro, so returning players can immediately mess around with different loadouts instead of grinding. For a one‑player licensed brawler that always felt a bit undercooked compared to Capcom’s Marvel output, this is a tune‑up that regenerates some health for the title.
Source: Rom Hack Plaza
