The Punisher was originally released as an arcade game and ported over to the Sega Genesis in 1993. Unfortunately, the Punisher was released at a time when the video game industry was under severe scrutiny by the media and general public for creating “Violent Video Games”.
The ESRB (video game rating system) was forming in 1993 and the Punisher fell victim to the media hype as subtle, yet, noticeable changes were made to the home version release that left many gamers disappointed.
For example, in the arcade release you could destroy a car with enemies in it and after a fiery explosion a charred corpse remained, this was removed on the Sega Genesis version.
Other noticeable changes concerned the end boss on level one: in the arcade version you shot him because he refused to answer questions about King Pin but in the Sega Genesis version you just toss him out of a window (Apparently tossing someone out of a window is a more humane way to kill rather than a bullet.)
Another noticeable change was the final boss: In the arcade he’s smoking a cigar but in the Sega Genesis version he’s suddenly a “non-smoker”. Nick Fury also made the transition from chain smoker in the arcade version to “non-smoker” in the Sega Genesis port. Apparently, crime bosses and crime fighters feel that smoking gets in the way of kicking the hell out of each other.
Yet, despite these changes the Punisher is still a solid beat ‘em up side scroller that you can really enjoy alone or with a friend.
What makes it even more collectible is the registration card and Punisher tattoo that originally came with the game (pictured above). I guess someone felt that while it wasn’t acceptable to promote smoking it was alright to promote tattoos; either way this is a must have for the Sega Genesis collector because it’s a fun and challenging game.
