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A History of Stupid Superman Games
Superman's Buns of SteelIn honor of the newly released movie, 1up has a very colorful feature up called Gamer's Kryptonite: Superman's 10 Worst Games. The article starts with Superman for the Atari 2600 and covers titles from many computers, consoles, and arcade machines. It's really curious how easy it is to take a big budget and really make a cringe-worthy game based on a mega-popular franchise. I mean, how hard can it be to get a Superman game right? I distinctly remember playing Superman: Man of Steel on my Amiga and thinking how lousy it was. Then again, Superman's powers don't necessarily lend themselves very well to a videogame--he's simply too powerful. It's hard to translate his powers into compelling gameplay. About the only challenge left would be strategic ones--assuming Superman can only be in one place at the same time (an assertion challenged in the movies). Should you save a bus from going over a bridge or Lois Lane from an earthquake?
Although I've always been a fan of comic heroes like Batman, Spiderman, Daredevil and the Hulk, I just never got into Superman. Again, it seemed like a case of super-power overkill. A really good hero has to have a tragic flaw, and Superman ain't got one (and no, the b.s. about "Your goodness is your fatal flaw!" is just too silly). I think this is why a character like Wolverine is more interesting than Superman. Wolverine isn't all-powerful (though in the last movie, he almost seems to be), and he doesn't have crystalline virtues. Somehow he seems more realistic to me than the boy from Krypton.
Anyway, what's your favorite (or least favorite) Superman-based videogame?
- Matt Barton's blog
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Comments
Cap America + Avengers for the Arcade/SNES
I have to say the Captain America & The Avengers game for the Arcade, SNES, and Genesis was a fine game full of derring do. The NES port had RPG elements that were interesting, but it took forever to level up.
Reading that 1UP article reaffirms my belief that 1UP is the best written out of the major video game sites. It also has some nice video features.
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=- Mat Tschirgi =- Armchair Arcade Editor
Hear my gaming podcasts!
The Super Koopa Troopa Show
Played to Death
I actually like the Superman
I actually like the Superman game for the NES. It has missions that are assignments from the Daily Planet and there is a large world to explore. It's too bad the hit detection is so cheap; if you get a chance, play the Japanese version that has a NESified take on John Williams' Superman score. The American port of the game doesn't have the Williams music.
My favorite Superman game is The Death and Return of Superman for the SNES. It was produced by Blizzard and featured nice variety for a Beat-em-Up.
I don't like Superman as a character too much though... Batman or Punisher has been my favorite. The recent Punisher game was fun, but was censored a good deal from the original 'cut' of the game. The Batman Animated Series game for the SNES had wonderful animation, but had a few annoying levels.
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=- Mat Tschirgi =- Armchair Arcade Editor
Hear my gaming podcasts!
The Super Koopa Troopa Show
Played to Death
Cool Comic Heroes that Need their Own Game
Bill mentioned that Green Lantern hasn't got his own game yet, but I've also been thinking of some other comic book characters (some of them lesser known) that would have the potential for great adventure games.
Speedball--Little known Marvel character whose power is bouncing around like one of those little rubber balls you can buy for a quarter (or probably more like fifty cents now). It's a fun comic, and I bet it'd translate well into an action game (perhaps one like Tomb Raider).
Iron Man. Iron Man has been in plenty of games, but a game based solely on Iron Man seems like a no-brainer. He's a regular guy with a super robotic suit. That could translate into a variety of good games. In the comics, Iron Man is always updating and upgrading his suit, which could translate into power-ups or level-ups in a game. Can you imagine the fun of hacking Iron Man's suit in a game??
Submariner. This guy's been around forever, but tends to get overshadowed by DC's Aquaman. That's a shame, because Sub is a more interesting character. I could see a variety of games emerging from this, but I hope they'd feature lots of underwater action. I've seen few underwater games that were much fun to play...
Doctor Strange. What a weird guy! He's got a lot of very interesting powers that could yield a very sophisticated videogame. Let's just put it this way--you thought Half-Life 2's gravity gun was cool? Check out Dr. Strange and tell me if his powers wouldn't make for compelling gameplay and strategy.
Justice League Heroes
By the way, "Justice League Heroes" from Snowblind Studios and published through Warner Bros. Interactive, is supposed to see release in Fall of this year (for at least Xbox and PS2, as far as I know). Snowblind is the same studio that brought us the game/engine for Baldur's Gate and X-Men Legends, among others. Justice League Heroes will be in the same format, so while no doubt it will be a superb multiplayer adventure action game, it will still obviously put limits on the powers of both Superman and the Green Lantern. At least they both have a great shot at being part of a really good game...
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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
[ My collection ]
[ http://www.MythCore.com ]
Green Lantern
Wow, Green Lantern. I haven't heard his name in awhile, although he was always one of my dad's favorite comic book heroes. Probably the most obvious genre for him would be a graphical adventure of some sort, though it'd have to be pretty innovative to handle his power. Definitely some potential there for creative puzzles and problem solving. Of course, if it ever got done by the big boys, they'd probably make a stupid first person shooter out of it...
It is sad that indeed the
It is sad that indeed the classic 1979 Superman game for the Atari 2600 is among the most faithful and best games made for the subject, even though on its own it's not that great. I remember enjoying the Superman arcade game by Taito I think - I'll have to try it again on my cabinet - but even that was a simple beat-em-up. I agree that basing a game around Superman and his limitless powers is much like basing a game around The Green Lantern - technology would need to jump ahead quite a bit to do the subject true justice without placing the hero in any "artificially" limiting scenarios, which all Superman games have done to date (and no one has attempted a Green Lantern game).
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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
[ My collection ]
[ http://www.MythCore.com ]