Mindscape, located in Novato, California, is beefing up its CD-ROM library with the acquisition of the Marvel 2099 series of bigger, stronger superher’es, including Spider-Man, The Hulk and Ghost Rider. In total, the series consists of 50 characters, which allows Mindscape a lot of possibilities to develop characters in stronger roles in various titles.

‘We got very lucky with Marvel,’ says Jeffrey Shirk, Mindscape’s public relations manager for sports and entertainment, because the three-year-old property had yet to be exploited.

The first title, Marvel 2099 AD, has eight main characters, with the remaining cast either appearing as enemies or as cameos that enable the player to use the characters’ powers, such as Spider-Man’s ability to scale walls. The action takes place in nine American cities and five difficulty levels.

‘The strength of licenses gives us that immediate legitimacy,’ says Shirk, which is important for Mindscape in positioning the company as a software producer and publisher. Because the property has such strong brand recognition, Mindscape ‘put a lot of emphasis on creating these characters in a 3-D environment’ in order to portray them accurately and to convey their extraordinary capabilities.

Mindscape became the exclusive multimedia licensee of the Marvel 2099 series last June. Saffire of Salt Lake, Utah, will develop the title, targeted at players aged 14 to 34. Marvel 2099 AD will launch for Windows 95 in November and for the Sony PlayStation in December.