The Punisher was developed and published by Capcom, directed by Noritaka Funamizu with designers Akira Yasuda, Jun Keiba, and Junichi Ohno, and a score by Yoko Shimomura and Isao Abe, released to Japanese arcades on the CP System Dash board in May 1993 and reaching North America that July. It marked the start of Capcom’s arcade partnership with Marvel Comics, several years before the studio’s better-known Marvel vs. Capcom crossover series, and followed the same side-scrolling beat ’em up template Capcom had already refined through Final Fight and Captain Commando. Up to two players take control of either Frank Castle himself or NYPD detective Nick Fury, punching, kicking, and shooting their way through New York’s criminal underworld and a cast of Marvel villains on a mission to take down the Kingpin’s crime empire, with the option to pick up firearms scattered through each stage for extra firepower against tougher enemies. A separate Sega Genesis port developed by Sculptured Software followed but landed to a much cooler reception, leaving the arcade original as the definitive version of Capcom’s gritty take on the Marvel antihero.