X-Men the arcade game review

The 1992 arcade classic, X-men has returned for XBox Live and PSN.


Here's another arcade game I've been playing since I was a kid. I'm glad there's no way to find out exactly how many quarters I've pumped into this game. I'm sure that figure would be upsetting. At least now with this version you can own the game and play as much as you want (for the roughly 10 dollar price to download).

The first place I saw this thing was in the Bristol Mall arcade, right in the middle of the game floor and taking up a space that 3 other machines could have been.




This monster machine sported 6 arcade sticks for 6 simultaneous players. Gameplay wise, this was your typical early 90's beat em up. But the draw was the fact that 6 friends could play together at once and the sprites and animation were just beautiful for the time.

But does it stand the test of time?

Yes and no. The game is pretty short, only sporting 8 stages. For the time this was plenty. Due to the high difficulty, most players usually didn't have enough money on them to be able to make it all the way through the game. Let's face facts, arcades were a place of business and they didn't want people staying on the machines for extended periods of time. So obviously the game was designed to take your quarters. No matter how good you get at this game, the high cost of using your mutant power coupled with cheap boss shenanigans had you paying to continue fairly often.

With this new version, continues are infinite and don't cost you precious quarters. As a result I've noticed that players tend to play a lot more recklessly than they did in the arcade. For example, spamming mutant powers until their health runs low and then dying on purpose to regain them. These tactics make short work of the game's stages, making them seem pretty meager. In a few online games, I've run through the game start to finish with a full group in roughly 15 minutes or so.

Regardless of scrubby player shenanigans, the gameplay is intact and arcade perfect. The netcode seems pretty solid. I've only experienced slight lag in a 6 player match with low ping. But even then it wasn't all that noticable and it's not going to really affect the game anyway. It's not like it's a competitive game.

The only thing that is a little glitchy are some of the achievement requirements. There's one particular achievement that I have met the goal for a few times but the game will not award it to me. I'm not sure if it's an actual glitch or if there's some unknown condition the description isn't mentioning. I'll do more research on this.

The menu's are easy to navigate and the player lobby thankfully displays the ping rate of each game so you can avoid laggy matches. On top of that, all versions of the ROM are available, including the USA and Japanese versions of both 4 player and 6 player versions of the game.

This was the first time I had ever played the Japanese version. The only major differences I've noticed so far are the inclusion of powerups. There are energy pills and mutant power pills that give back your health and restock your mutant power. It actually allows you to survive longer in this game. If you play as careful as you did in the arcade you can do really well. Being able to play for a longer amount of time wasn't favorable in US arcades, so the powerups were removed. Not to mention the whole "winners don't use drugs" campaign that frowned upon powerups in the appearances of pills.

All of the music and sound effects are in tact, including the laughable voice acting. With favorites like "X-Men! Welcome to die!" and "I am Magneto, master of magnet!" you may either find it hilarious or poorly done.

You may or may not enjoy this release depending on when you were introduced to the game. I personally think the game is awesome and love playing it, but if you don't have childhood memories of it like me you might just feel like this is an attempt to cash in on people's nostalgia.

Pros:
It's X-Men! C'mon!
Great beat em up action. If side scrolling beat em ups are your thing you can't pass this up.
Controls are solid.
Netcode works great.
All ROMs of the game are available 4/6 players and Japanese and US versions.
Six player simultaneous action, with plenty of people online to play with.
Animation and graphics are still top notch despite the game's age.
Has great music and sound effects.

Cons:
Might run into a lot of shenanigans online.
Game is very short by today's standards.
Character costumes and storylines are dated. This is negligible but may turn off younger players.
Possible bugs with achievements/trophys.

X-Men assemble!!!