The Best of X

By - Posted Sep 16, 2004

Let’s face it, superhero games are often crap on a stick. For every surprisingly decent Spider-Man 2 there are five lousy Batman titles. This is especially true when you look back to the 8 and 16-bit eras of video gaming when just being released in a theater was enough to qualify for a video game tie-in (Baby's Day Out are you kidding me?), and no license was spared, not even the X-Men. But among the filler titles and cheap cash-in games, there have been at least five X-titles worth putting up some money for. Here they are for you in order, and I promise no lame X-puns.

5. X2: Wolverine’s Revenge (PS2, Xbox, GCN)

Let’s just get this out of the way right now, the game’s not great. Calling it “good” could be questionable, but it’s a whole lot better than some of the other X-Men titles floating around out there. This game puts you in control of Wolverine on a solo-mission to discover his origins and save himself from a virus that’s set to kill him in a matter of hours. Featuring the voice talents of Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier and Mark “Luke Skywalker” Hamill as the Canucklehead himself, the game has some decent production value in it. The most noteworthy aspect of the title from a gameplay standpoint is the use of stealth in order to trigger context-sensitive instant-kills, not unlike another Activision series, Tenchu. And oh yeah, you can unlock the best Wolverine costume ever, the good ol’ brown and orange.

4. X-Men (Sega Genesis)

Now we’re going a bit old school. Released in 1993, this side-scrolling platformer/beat-em-up featured four playable characters, Cyclops, Wolverine, Gambit, and Nightcrawler, as they were trapped inside the X-Mansion’s own Danger Room. As your chosen X-man, you set out to re-live some of the team’s greatest battles against baddies such as Apocalypse and Deathbird. This game also had one of the funkiest puzzles ever in a game as you had to literally press the reset button on your Genesis at the end of the Mojo’s Crunch level, a brain-bender that had more than a few young X-fans calling the 900 tips and tricks number.

3. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox)

While not technically an “X-Men” game per se, several X-Men characters including Wolverine and Cyclops are featured fighters in one of the best 2D fighters to grace Sega’s dying final console. While the game was later ported to the Playstation 2 and even later ported to the Xbox, little was done to revamp or improve upon the game, making the original Dreamcast version the one to beat. All of the classic Street Fighter-style action is in there making the fights fast and furious with some gorgeous, seizure-inducing graphical blasts and combos all over the place. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 remains one of the best 2D fighters available and is definitely worth taking out for a few rounds.

2. X-Men 2: Clone Wars (Sega Genesis)

That’s right, we’re back on the Genesis with one of the best X-Men games ever made. Using a lot of the same formula from its predecessor, Clone Wars eases up on some of the tough platforming elements and ditches the limiting of mutant powers. The level-design is much better, the difficulty is a little easier, and there are more playable characters including sometime ally Magneto himself. Once you unlock Magneto around the middle of the game, the rest is pretty much a cake-walk as the Master of Magnetism tears through levels as only a guy with a purple cape can. If you’re into retro gaming and are looking at a Genesis, X-Men 2: Clone Wars is one of the best titles available on the platform.

1. X-Men the Arcade Game

Some of you may remember a series of licensed four-player beat-em-ups from Konami hitting the arcades in the late eighties and early nineties. There was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Captain America and the Avengers, The Simpsons, and my favorite, X-Men. What made X-Men different from the others, besides the characters of course, was that there was a deluxe 6-player edition with two screens of gaming glory all in one cabinet. You could play as Wolverine (orange and brown costume, YES!), Colossus, Cyclops, Dazzler, Storm, or Nightcrawler. Unfortunately mutant powers were somewhat limited to special power bars and some of them made no sense (Colossus’ special could clear a good deal of the screen but had pretty much nothing to do with his real powers). The gameplay was a straightforward cooperative slugfest with a few bosses, but the game, especially with up to five friends along for the ride, was one of the most addictive experiences I ever had in an arcade. If I am ever blessed with the means to own an arcade cabinet, it would be this game.