''X-Men'' is a video game that was released in 1994 for the Sega

Game Gear The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990, in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and during 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily competed with Nintendo's Game Boy, ...

featuring the

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

superhero team. In the game, most of the X-Men have been captured by

Magneto A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...

; only

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...

and

Cyclops In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; el, Κύκλωπες, ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguish ...

escaped the initial assault on X-Men headquarters and are available for play at the start of the game. Players rescue the other X-Men and use them and their abilities to defeat Magneto.''X-Men''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

Sega released a sequel in 1995, '' X-Men: Gamesmaster's Legacy''.

Gameplay

Players defeat enemies and navigate levels by punching, kicking, and jumping. Mutant abilities can be activated and deactivated. However, these mutant abilities drains the energy from the player's character. A new playable character is unlocked after finishing a level, including

Storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmos ...

, Rogue,

Psylocke Psylocke is the name of two connected fictional Mutant (Marvel Comics), mutant superheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. The first character to use the Psylocke moniker, Betsy Braddoc ...

, Nightcrawler and Iceman. There are several foes from the X-Men universe to defeat including

Callisto Callisto most commonly refers to: *Callisto (mythology), a nymph *Callisto (moon), a moon of Jupiter Callisto may also refer to: Art and entertainment *''Callisto series'', a sequence of novels by Lin Carter *''Callisto'', a novel by Torsten Kro ...

Sauron Sauron (pronounced ) is the title character and the primary antagonist, through the forging of the One Ring, of J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', where he rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Middl ...

, Sebastian Shaw,

Omega Red Omega Red is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. In 2009, Omega Red was ranked as IGN's 95th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time. Publication histor ...

, a Brood Queen and Magneto. Each boss has their own stage based on various diverse settings from X-Men, including the Morlock Tunnels, the

Savage Land The Savage Land is a hidden prehistoric land appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is a tropical preserve hidden in Antarctica. It has appeared in many story arcs in ''Uncanny X-Men'' as well as other related books. Pu ...

, the

Hellfire Club Hellfire Club was a name for several exclusive clubs for high-society rakes established in Britain and Ireland in the 18th century. The name most commonly refers to Francis Dashwood's Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe. Such clubs, ...

Madripoor The Principality of Madripoor or Madripoor is a fictional island located in maritime Southeast Asia appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, mostly associated with stories from the ''X-Men'' series. Based on illustrations, it ...

, the Brood homeworld and

Avalon Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...

. These levels are often

labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the ...

s of either technological wonders, biological wonders, or a mixture of both. As more X-Men are rescued, these allies can be called upon to take over as the player's character. Magneto serves as the final boss of the game.

Reception

In the United States, it was the top-selling Game Gear game in February 1994. ''X-Men'' received a highly positive review from ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'', who commented "X-Men Game Gear squeezes all the action and graphics it can into four megs of Marvel-ous comic book mayhem. The long levels are complex enough to keep your battery bill high, and the challenge is strong enough to keep you busy in the back seat for that long drive to Grandma's house".

References

External links

''X-Men''
at

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

{{X-Men media 1994 video games Game Gear games Game Gear-only games North America-exclusive video games Sega video games Video games based on X-Men Multiplayer and single-player video games Superhero video games Video games developed in the United States Video games set in Antarctica Video games set in Asia Video games set in New York City