Print-N-Pixel: X-Men the Arcade Game – Part 3

Is the pixelated and physic defying world of video games a perfect playground for the over-the-top characters found in comic books? There is only one way to find out:

What is Print-N-Pixel?

Print-N-Pixel is an in depth Group look at Comic Books In Video Games. Print-N-Pixel is more than just playing comic book related video games, its also a “book club,” a month long video game AND comic book club.

Even if you don’t play video games and you only read comic, or vise versa, stick around and participate in thediscussion of either the game or the comics. And if you missed the introduction to Print-N-Pixel you can find it here.

Part 3: A Review of the Game

The game has been introduced, the plot explained, the characters listed, and my favorite X-Men vs Magneto comics reviewed, now it’s time to put the focus back on the game. If you have not started, there is no better time than now to start playing.

In this edition of Print-N-Pixel:X-Men the Arcade Game, I will be looking at the game’s levels in detail while reviewing the game. Remember Print-N-Pixel isn’t just about me, it’s about the discussion, so make sure you chime in with your opinions and views of the levels and the game as a whole. While you’re at it, go ahead and chime in on the Recommended Reading too.

The Game Level By Level

Level 1: The Street

Magneto somehow gained control of the mutant hunting sentinels and sent them to attack and destroy a large city (which I assume is New York City) to start his master plan. The X-men arrive on the scene smashing sentinels and armored gunmen. After fighting along a street full of enemies, Pyro bursts through a wall and begins shooting flames at the hero.

Like most video games, this first level can seem hard when playing it for the first time, but after you get the hang of controlling your character and a strategy for taking down each kind of enemy the level becomes simple. The most effective strategy for the projectile shooting enemies, the goons with guns and the level’s boss Pyro, is to approach them from the top or bottom and avoiding being in their direct line of fire.

Level 2: Sentinel Factory

The first time I played this game I was wondering how Magneto had hundreds of the mutant hunting robots at his disposal. I also wondered why they were all human sized and standing around 3 stories. The answers to my questions are simple; Magneto took over the Sentinel Factory. The X-men travel through the factory fighting the same enemies featured in the previous level while dodging flame spewing exhaust vents on the floor and welding robots with the hopes of shutting down the manufacturing of Magneto’s army. Within the factory lies the second member of the “Brotherhood of Terrorist Mutants” – the Blob.

The enemies of this level are as easy as the previous level, but the challenge is greater because their number is greater. With more enemies on the screen at once it is harder to maneuver out of the the line of sight of those enemies who shoot projectiles. The welding robots also cause problems because they also shoot projectiles, but their fire takes off double the health. With the difficulty of the level increasing, its nice to know that the difficulty of the boss did not. I personally think the Blob is the easiest of the bosses. If you can stay out of his reach directly in front of him you can easily take him down. Approach the Blob from the top or bottom of the screen and hit him once to knock him down, literally. After a successful hit the boss falls and just sits there for a small amount of time allowing you to get three or more hits on him before he stands. Wile the X-Men were busy beating down robots, Magneto doubles back to the X Mansion and captures Professor X and Kitty Pryde.

Level 3: Island M

With the Blob not Magneto at the Sentinel Factory, Professor X psychicly suggests that his team tries looking on Magneto’s personal island – Island M. I understand looking for Magneto at the Sentinel factory before checking his base of operation since the majority of his army is composed of the robots, but rushing off before totally destroying the factory was not a good idea. Island M, like the other levels, is crawling with Sentinels, but there are also mutant Bees and Alligator Men who attack the heroes. Near the end of the level Magneto shows up and seems to be ticked that the X-Men are almost inside his base on the island, he shows up and and crumbles the cliff the hero(es) are standing on. After surviving the fall the X-Men realize that they landed right at the front door, or cave, to his secret base. At this point I was expecting the “Game Over” screen since Magneto dropped the X-Men directly where he didn’t want them and this could be a good sign that he is incapable of planning a successful planetary takeover. But I was wrong and there was no “Game Over,” instead Wendigo come crawling out of the cave.

To beat Wendigo, I used the same strategy that I used on the Blob and Pyro of attacking from a diagonal direction. With the same types of enemies attacking and the same strategies being used on all bosses up to this point the game sounds repetitive, but it’s not. The sheer number of attackers has increased and so the the player adrenaline because of the ramped up challenge, there is no time to think about anything other than your mutant’s survival.

Level 4: Inside Magneto’s Island Cave Base

After pummeling Wendigo it’s time to save Kitty, who according to Professor X is inside, and defeat the Master of Magnetism. Inside the Cave Base it seems as if every enemy now shoots some kind of projectile whether it’s the gun toting goons from the early levels, fire breathing Alligator Men, Sentinels with missile fists, or Bonebreaker the Reaver… well not just Bonebreaker but an army of his clones too. After defeating a wave of Bonebreakers and more sentinels it’s time for the heroes to save the day. Kitty Pryde is being held in a cell at the end of this level, but before you can save her you have to take out her prison guard – Nimrod.

Nimrod, a more advanced sentinel from the future, can be easily disposed of in the same manner as the previous bosses – approach from a diagonal direction, attack, retreat, and repeat. Like the Blob, Nimrod will grab you if you are too close and I found many of my attacks thwarted immediately followed by my character flying across the screen. Nimrod also has a damaging long range attack, so the best way to approach and avoid him is to constantly move in a zig-zag patter from the top of the screen to the bottom.

Level 5: Outside the Cave Base

With Kitty safe it’s time to save the Professor. The X-Men exit the cave and continue to fight their way to the left. The number of enemies shooting projectiles at this point is almost ridiculous, there is no way I could ever beat this level with only one quarter – I probably would have spent $5 in quarters (total for the whole game) at the arcade by the time I reached the next boss: The White Queen Emma Frost.

For being one of the most powerful mutants in the X-Men universe, Emma Frost is pretty easy to defeat in this game. Like the other bosses a diagonal attack, retreat, and repeat works just be aware that she can shoot projectiles at both short and long ranges.

After taking down the White Queen the level does not end there are more monsters, sentinels, and a wave of Bonebreakers that emerge from the mouth of a super-sized (or normal sized based on the comics) sentinel. After fighting what seems like hundreds of enemies in a short time our heroes read the final boss of the level – the Juggernaut.

Like the other bosses you use the diagonal strategy to defeat him, but beware when running away because the Juggernaut will charge at fast, so fast that you may not have time to dodge. I think that the Juggernaut is one of the hardest of the level bosses, not because of his super strength, but because he has a Bazooka! Up until this point most of the bosses either pummeled you to death or shot projectiles, the Juggernaut does both! Beating the Juggernaut is either real easy or super hard. If you can get a good position close enough to him, but not too close, you can land a decent amount of attacks and take him down quickly… but getting that good position seems to take more luck than skill.

After taking down the Juggernaut Professor X shows up. Apparently he was not in any type of cell and the only thing stopping him from rolling away was the Juggernaut… or was it?

Level 6: Underneath the Cave Base

The X-Men and Professor X start to walk away from the Cave Base into the sunset toward a happy ending when suddenly the Professor is no more, instead it’s Mystique in the wheelchair. Duped by the shape shifter the X-Men walked right into her trap and she sends them tumbling down a pit to the lower level of Magneto’s Cave Base.

Underneath the Cave Base things get crazy. There are literally swarms of enemies and machines that continually shoot at our heroes. Surviving this level is a challenge, but these enemies are nothing compared to four flame shooting pyromaniacs.

Yeah, level one’s boss Pyro returns with three copies of him. Take the traditional way of defeating him and throw it out the window. There is almost no way to attack him from a diagonal because as you attack one at a diagonal you are almost certain to be in the line of fire of at least one of the other three. After using all of my special mutant power and a continue or two to defeat these four foes continue your way though more enemies and the level boss.

The boss at the end of this level is not one I recognize from the comics. This boss consists of three stone statues. Remember the trouble fighting four Pyros… yeah now imagine fighting three more powerful and dangerous of a boss. After defeating the statues any way possible Professor X telepathically reviles his true location at Magnetos’ main base of operation – Asteroid M.

Level 7: Asteroid M

Upon arriving at Asteroid M, our heroes are greeted by some sentinels, laser shooting welding bots, and some more Bonebreakers. These enemies are pretty easy to take out, but what comes next is the hardest part of the game. After taking out a couple waves of lackeys all of the bosses show up again: The Blob, Wendigo, the White Queen, and Nimrod to fight again. If you are not careful and walk too far to the left, you can end up having all four of the bosses attacking you at once. The best strategy to winning this battle is to stay to the right and try to take down one boss at a time the same way you did before.

If you survive the onslaught of the four bosses you will reach the Professor X’s cell and the Master of Magnetism himself – Magneto. You might expect more from the main baddie of the game than a barrage of punches and kicks, but that is all Magneto throws at you. Using the diagonal strategy the battle is pretty easy and somewhat disappointing, but…

The fallen body of Magneto morphs into a KOed Mystique. Again Mystique tricked the X-Men by posing as someone else. With Mystique down for the count and the Professor free, it’s time to take down Magneto for real!

If you thought Mystique’s version of Magneto was easy to beat and somewhat disappointing, the real Master of Magnetism will try your patience. Magneto speaks proclaims himself the “Master of Magnet!” shields himself in an electromagnetic bubble and shoot some short of laser or projectile at you. While he is in that “bubble” you can not touch him or you will be damaged. There will be short periods of time, and I mean real short, where he is not shielded. Using the diagonal attack strategy along with lots of running and dodging is the slowest and most “credit” friendly way to defeat the self proclaimed “Master of Magnet!”

If you were successful at defeating Magneto and saving the world you will be rewarded with a short cut-scene showing the X-Men escaping Asteroid M as it explodes. To reward you for saving the world the arcade game rewards you with a new title screen to start the game over with your remaining credits.

Conclusion of the Review:

I love this game, but when writing this review, I noticed how repetitive it seems. The great thing about this game is that it never seems repetitive. While the characters may not be perfect matches for those found in the comics and the skewed physics of the Marvel Universe may not be accurate, with human size sentinels and multiple incarnations of the same character on screen at once, the game’s furious action and adrenaline rush overshadows it’s downfalls. It was not until writing this review that I really noticed, or was annoyed, with the continuity problems or the bad English that Magneto spoke, which says to me that the game play and fun factor make this one of the most fun comic book based beat ‘em up game I have ever played.

How To Play

If you have not played the game, there is still time.

MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a great way to play older arcade games. If you are using a Windows based computer I recommend downloading and using MameUI to play X-Men the Arcade Game. Once you have some version of MAME you will need to locate a working ROM. Please don’t ask me where to find the ROM for this or any other game, instead use google and search for either “xmen.zip” which is the 4 player single screen rom and/or “xmen6pu.zip” which is the double screen 6 player game perfect for widescreen monitors.

For a more detailed guide on running this game in MAME read the “How to Play” section of Print-N-Pixel: X-Men the Arcade Game Part 1.

If you have any problems with the emulator check out the Emulation thread in the forums.

This week’s SpaceBooger Achievements

SpaceBooger Achievements are earned by playing the featured game, and also for comic book related tasks such as reading and obtaining recommended comics. SpaceBooger Achievements can be earned for any game or comic at any time, but I encourage all participants to attempt to earn the achievements when they are posted.

This week’s SpaceBooger Achievements are:

“1-3″

Defeat Three Levels with One Quarter or No Continues. (Hard)