X-Men (1992 video game)

X-Men is an Arcade game produced by Konami in 1992. It is a side-scrolling beat 'em up based on the Marvel Comics characters of the same name. The character designs of the X-Men and the supervillains in the game are based on the 1989 X-Men Pilot episode X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men. In the game, players control one of the six playable X-Men to defeat their enemy Magneto. Konami made a six-player version of the game utilizing two screens housed in a deluxe cabinet.

An HD port of the game by Backbone Entertainment was released by Konami on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade on December 14, 2010 and December 15, 2010 respectively, followed by mobile versions for IOS and Android devices.

Plot
The player chooses one of six X-Men: Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler or Dazzler. Their objective is to stop the villain Magneto from wreaking havoc on human civilization. They must fight through enemies from the comics such as an army of hundreds of Sentinels, the knights of the Hellfire Club, the Reavers and supervillains such as Pyro, Blob, Wendigo, Nimrod, The White Queen, Juggernaut, Living Monolith, and Mystique. Later, Magneto kidnaps Professor X and Kitty Pryde, prompting the heroes to go on a rescue mission. The heroes fight their way to Island M and ultimately to Magneto's base on Asteroid M where the final battle takes place.

Gameplay
The object of the game is to progress as far as possible while surviving attacks from Magneto and his minions. The character is controlled with a standard joystick, an attack button, a jump button, and a mutant power button. In addition to right and left, the character can move up and down the screen as well which adds a three-dimensional feel to the game. Every character is able to fight with punches, kicks, or other close combat attacks. Each character also has a unique mutant power which can be used to defeat multiple enemies on the screen at once. The use of a mutant power is very effective, but also costly since it causes a character to lose three health points. Normally, a character who drops below four health can no longer use any mutant powers, but it is also possible for characters to obtain bonus mutant powers which can be stored like items. In the Japanese version, the power items are used up before the health, and there are also power-ups and health packs throughout the levels.

Release
Depending on the machine, the maximum number of simultaneous players varies from two to six. The six-player version is particularly unusual because it has two contiguous screens (one screen in the usual place for an arcade game, and other in the cabinet below, reflected by a mirror one side of the screen) which created the effect of a single, "double-wide" screen set up, similar to Tecmo Bowl.

On October 9, 2010 Konami revealed that the game would be coming to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. The game was ported by Backbone Entertainment with the original US and Japanese ROMs and was released on December 14, 2010 and December 15, 2010 respectively. The Xbox 360 and PS3 port features drop-in local or online multiplayer for up to six players (only four local players possible on the XBLA version), as well as custom matchmaking and adjustable difficulty. Players can also choose between the USA and Japanese versions of the game, the latter of which features power-ups and health packs. All of the voices were re-recorded by Bang Zoom Entertainment due to licensing reasons, but the script retained the infamous lines from the original game, including "I am Magneto, master of magnet!" and "Welcome to die!". In the re-recorded script, only two voice actors were used for male and female characters (Kyle Hebert and Mela Lee, respectively). Other changes include a diminishing of Cyclops' optic blast, which now has a shorter maximum range. In the original arcade version, the beam would sweep to the end of the screen.

On June 2, 2011 Konami also released the game in the iTunes App Store to be played on IOS devices, as well as in the Android Market. The game remained largely identical to the original, with the addition of on-screen controls for smartphones.

Reception
IGN gave the HD port of the game a score of 7.5, saying "The game is incredibly simple and repetitive... And yet it works. It's simply a blast to play with friends." Many websites and reviewers such as Gouki.com stated that having unlimited Continues without penalty for all modes has cheapened the classic experience, especially Online play.