Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is an action role-playing game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. Ultimate Alliance is set within the fictional Marvel Universe and features many of the superheroes, supervillains, and supporting characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. It shares many similarities with Raven Software's previous Marvel titles, X-Men Legends and X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, in that it allows players to select from its vast cast to create the ultimate superhero team. The game features an original plot in which the heroes of the Marvel Universe must join forces to defeat Doctor Doom and his Masters of Evil and foil their plans for global domination.

The PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360 versions (developed solely by Raven Software) were released on October 24, 2006. Additional versions for PlayStation Portable (ported by Vicarious Visions) and Microsoft Windows (ported by Beenox) were released on the same day, as well as a distinctly different Game Boy Advance version, developed by Barking Lizards Technologies. Shortly thereafter, Ultimate Alliance was released as a launch title for both the PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles in November 2006, the latter ported by Vicarious Visions; the PlayStation 3 version was one of three launch games for the system (along with NBA 07 and Ridge Racer 7) to run at 1080p resolution.

Upon release, the game was met with largely positive reviews from critics, who praised its simple but entertaining gameplay, and its impressive selection of Marvel characters. A sequel, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, was developed for multiple platforms by Vicarious Visions, n-Space and Savage Entertainment and released in 2009. A third game, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, was developed by Koei Tecmo's Team Ninja and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch in 2019. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance was re-released in 2016, ported by Zoë Mode, on Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Like the X-Men Legends series, Ultimate Alliance is an action role-playing game and retains much of the same gamplay and combat. However, some of the role-playing elements have been simplified. Character powers can still be upgraded as the characters gain experience points, but there are fewer powers compared to X-Men Legends II, and the game now defaults to automatically upgrading them. Character stats are only upgraded automatically.

All of the main versions of the game allow the players to select a team of four characters from a roster of at least 23 playable characters. Some characters from the base roster are not initially available and need to be unlocked, and certain consoles feature additional exclusive characters. Players can create their own superhero teams or recreate famous teams from the comics. Bonuses are also available if forming certain groups (e.g. the Avengers, Defenders, Fantastic Four, Marvel Knights, or X-Men).

All versions of the game (except for PSP) feature local multiplayer with up to four players playing at once, and many contain online multiplayer as well. The game has multiple possible endings depending on which optional missions the player completes. Throughout the story, the player can play trivia and collect concept artwork and "simulator discs", which unlock additional comic book missions that take place outside of the story.

Each character also has four alternate costumes that offer different bonuses. The bonuses can also be leveled up using the in-game currency. The initial costume is unlocked from the beginning of the game, while the latter three costumes must be unlocked through specific conditions. Certain costumes change the character's appearance to resemble other characters who have held that mantle in the Marvel Universe, including Iron Man as War Machine, Thor as Beta Ray Bill, Spider-Woman as Spider-Girl and Julia Carpenter from Secret Wars, Ghost Rider as Phantom Rider, and Ms. Marvel as Sharon Ventura.

Visually, the versions of the game can be broadly classified into last-gen (PlayStation 2, PSP, Wii, and Xbox) and next-gen graphics (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, and re-releases). The last-gen graphics are more simplified, lacking complex lighting and using less detailed character models. The next-gen graphics are improved for the more powerful consoles and feature more detailed character models and advanced lighting.