Print-N-Pixel: X-Men the Arcade Game – Part 2

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 comic book club.

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

Part 2: Recommended Reading

The last installment of Print-N-Pixel introduced X-Men the Arcade Game as the featured game and recommended a couple comics to read. This week we will be looking at the characters featured in both the game and the comics. We will also take an look at, and hopefully discuss, my favorite X-Men vs Magneto story that was featured in the “Recommended Reading” last week: Uncanny X-Men #112 and #113.

For more about the history and how to play the game check out the first installment of “Print-N-Pixel: X-Men the Arcade Game Part 1.”

Characters and Setting

Characters and settings in the Game:

Good Guys: Cyclops, Colossus, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Wolverine are all playable with Professor X, Lockheed the dragon, and Kitty Pryde.
Bad Guys: The Blob, Emma Frost, Juggernaut, Magneto, Mystique, Nimrod, hundreds of Sentinels, and Wendigo.

Characters and settings in the Comic:

Good Guys: Banshee, The Beast, Cyclops, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Wolverine are all featured in the comic with Professor X and Lilandra making a brief appearance.
Bad Guys: Magneto and his loyal robot Nanny

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:

“Recommendation”
SB_recommend
Suggest other comics that may be relevant to enjoying this feature. (Medium)

“Another Castle”
SB_castle
Short for “I’m sorry, the Princess is in another castle.”
Beat the Game using cheats, continues, or extra credits. (Medium)

“1-1″
SB_11
Defeat One Level with One Quarter or No Continues. (Easy)

“1-2″
SB_12
Defeat Two Levels with One Quarter or No Continues. (Medium)

Past Achievements:

“Member” – Become a member of the SpaceBooger.com forums. (Easy)
“Input” – Suggest a game and/or comics for upcoming Print In Pixel features. (Easy)
“Press Start” – Play the featured game at least once during the time it is featured. (Easy)
“Hard Copy” – Obtain and play an Original Hard Copy of the game. (Hard)
“Comic Book” – Read one or more of the “Recommended Reading” books. (Medium)
“Comic Collector” – Obtain a Hard Copy of one or more of the “Recommended Reading” books. (Hard)

Remember to leave a comment letting me know what achievements you earned along with posting them here in the forums.

Next on Print-N-Pixel:

An in-depth look at the levels in the game.
My review of the game.
And the final wave of “SpaceBooger Achievements” for this game.

References:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men_(arcade_game)

One Comment

Posted by Fred on January 21, 2010 @ 10:44 PM Under: Comics, Pint-n-Pixel, Video Games

Print-N-Pixel: X-Men the Arcade Game

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?

I hope that people join me in playing the featured games, but more importantly I hope people join in by discussing, reading, and recommending comics that correspond or inspired the featured games.

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

Part 1: X-Men the Arcade Game

Whether you were a hardcore or casual gamer in the 1990’s you probably have fond memories of mashing buttons and fighting off the Foot Clan in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game. For comic book fans and button mashing beat ‘em up video game fans, you probably have even fonder memories of the X-Men arcade game.

KONAMI’s X-Men arcade game was amazing. It was the first game, other than racing games, that I remember seeing that had two screens side-by-side. Two full size monitors full of mutant mêlée madness in widescreen with up to six-players fighting together at once put the four-player TMNT game to shame. As a kid, I spent many quarters and hours slashing sentinels as Wolverine on the smaller four player, one monitor version found at the local mall’s arcade. The X-Men arcade game was never ported to any consoles, and if it was, the consoles in 1992 couldn’t recreate the widescreen six-player action of the original arcade cabinet. With malls and arcades almost extinct in the US and no home console port of this game, we are not without the ability to play the X-Men arcade game. Using MAME, the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, we can relive and replay this great game. (Instructions and more information on getting MAME can be found later in this post.)

History of the Game

Based on an animated cartoon, the X-Men arcade game was released in 1992, eight months before the hit animated series debuted on the Fox Kids network. The arcade game’s look and design was not based on the popular 1992 cartoon series, but instead on a failed 1989 television pilot “Pryde of the X-Men.”

“Pryde of the X-Men” told the story of the X-Men thwarting Magneto and his “Brotherhood of Terrorist Mutants” plans of sending a comment on a collision course with Earth.

Watch “Pryde of the X-Men” Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

While the game is based on the cartoon’s story, the level settings, characters, and the animations are the only distinct similarity between the two. The story in the game, told during the intro, explains Magneto leads his army of sentinels and evil mutants against humanity – whom, by the way, we are told are powerless against him. After being told that humanity is powerless against Magneto, I feel it is our civil duty to deposit a quarters (or press the credit button in MAME) and take him down.

Game Play

To play the game, each player starts by choosing one of the six members of the X-Men featured in the cartoon: Cyclops, Colossus, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Wolverine to control in the quest to take down Magneto and his “Brotherhood of Terrorist Mutants.” The game plays similar to other popular beat ‘em ups like Final Fight, Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade Game with the player moving from left to right of the level using a three button setup: attack, jump, and mutant power.

How To Play

Most of us do not have an arcade in our basement, but if you are reading this you probably have a computer. 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 those of you who are new to emulation and MAME, here is a quick guide to running MameUI:

Download MameUI – http://www.mameui.info/
Unzip the using either Winrar or 7zip
Place the ROM into the “roms” folder inside the newly created MAME directory
Open MameUI.exe
Go to the File in the menu bar and click “Audit All Games”
Once the audit is done click to open the “Available” games using the menu on the left
Now you should see your available games, double click the name of the game to play it

MAME is setup to be used with a keyboard, but if you have a gamepad or a Xbox 360 controller I recommend configuring (by hitting the “tab” key while in game) and using that using that instead. If you don’t have a gamepad, here are the default keyboard controls for MAME:

1-4 are the Start buttons for players 1-4 and 5-8 are the Coin buttons to give players 1-4 credits.
The arrow keys are used to move and represent the joystick.
“z” is used to Attack
“x” is used to Jump
“c” is your special Mutant Attack

Remember you can change the setting for the controls at any time while playing by pressing the “tab” key. If you are used to playing games on your computer that used “w,a,s,d” and the mouse to move, I recommend that you reconfigure the controls to:

“w” for up
“s” for down
“a” for left
“b” for right
“4″ on the keypad for Attack (button 1 in MAME)
“5″ on the keypad for Jump (button 2 in MAME)
“4″ on the keypad for the special Mutant Attack (button 3 in MAME)

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

This week’s SpaceBooger Achievements

This week’s SpaceBooger Achievements are:

“Press Start”

Play the featured game at least once during the time it is featured. (Easy)

“Hard Copy”

Obtain and play an Original Hard Copy of the game. (Hard)

“Comic Book”

Read one or more of the “Recommended Reading” books. (Medium)

“Comic Collector”

Obtain a Hard Copy of one or more of the “Recommended Reading” books. (Hard)

Past Achievements:
“Member” – Become a member of the SpaceBooger.com forums. (Easy)
“Input” – Suggest a game and/or comics for upcoming Print In Pixel features. (Easy)

Remember to leave a comment letting me know what achievements you earned by using the “Comment” link at the bottom right of this post, along with posting them here in the forums .

Next on Print-N-Pixel:

An in-depth look at the characters in the game and the comics.
A look at the recommended reading from week one.
And the second wave of “SpaceBooger Achievements!”

References:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men_(arcade_game)
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pryde_of_the_X-Men
The Marvel Database: http://marvel.wikia.com/Main_Page

3 Comments

Posted by Fred on January 14, 2010 @ 6:25 PM Under: Comics, Pint-n-Pixel, Video Games

Print-N-Pixel: An Introduction

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:

Print-N-Pixel – An in depth Group look at Comic Books In Video Games.

What is Print-N-Pixel

As a fan of both comic books and video games, I am a sucker for games that are licensed by comic book companies. When I was younger I would spend all of my free time reading comics and playing games, just as I still try to do today. The difference between “then” and “now” is that now I have a family and more responsibilities that reduce the amount of free time I have to read comics and play games. Not only is my time for comics and games shrunk, so has the discussion with my peers. I have found that many times the discussion between people about comics and games can sometimes be more entertaining than the media itself. Since my friends can’t come over “after school” for an hour or so to play some SEGA Genesis everyday, and I have less people to discuss, brag, and compete against, I decided to start this series of articles where a group of people can read, play, and discuss specific comics and games. With a group focusing on one specific game and corresponding comic books, I am hoping that a community will grow from sharing our experiences and knowledge.

How the Print-N-Pixel Group Works

Boot up your game consoles, dig through your long boxes of comics and prepare to reread classic comics and replay comic based games complete with “SpaceBooger Achievements!” Each installment of Print-N-Pixel will be broken down into four installments with each one focusing on a specific topic related to both the game and the comics it is based on. The four different installments are created to start discussions and give specific goals, or “SpaceBogoer Achievements,” as I call them, that we can work on together.

The four installments of Print-N-Pixel will be as follows:

1st Installment: An introduction to the game and the comic(s) it’s based on, recommended reading material to enhance the game playing experience, the best way to play the game, and the first wave of “SpaceBooger Achievements!”
2nd Installment: An in depth look at the characters in the game and the comics, a comparison between the game and the recommended reading from week one, and the second wave of “SpaceBooger Achievements!”
3rd Installment: An in depth look at the levels in the game and how it relates to the comics, and the third and final wave of “SpaceBooger Achievements!”
4th Installment: Other peoples comments, quotes, achievements, and what ever else the community in the forums can come up with for the final post about the game.

How to Participate

If you are interested in participating in the monthly discussion about comic books and related video games you will need to sign up on the spacebooger.com forum. The forum doubles as the comments section for each installment post and is where our discussions will take place. The forum will host a place to discusses, debate, brag, and gain “SpaceBooger Achievements.” To keep updated on the comics, games, and discussions related to the Print-N-Pixels, posts make sure you visit SpaceBooger.com frequently, subscribe to the site’s RSS feed, or follow me on Twitter.

SpaceBooger Achievements

In modern video games, players are rewarded for not just beating the game, but also for completing other specific tasks. Achievements can range from simple tasks such as playing the game for a certain amount of time to more complex tasks like collecting a certain amount of hidden items that are not necessary toward the completion of the game. To motivate all participants of Print-N-Pixel, I will create achievements apropriately titled “SpaceBooger Achievements.” SpaceBooger Achievements will not be earned just by playing the featured games, they may also be earned for comic book related tasks such as reading and obtaining recommended comics. Every week new achievements will be “unlocked” or posted. 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.

Since this post is the first official week, here are the first two available achievements:

“Member”

Become a member of the SpaceBooger.com forums. (Easy)

“Input”

Suggest a game and/or comics for upcoming Print-N-Pixel features. (Easy)

Make sure you check back next week for the first game, set of recommended reading, and SpaceBooger Achievements!

No Comments

Posted by Fred on January 7, 2010 @ 10:26 PM Under: Comics, Pint-n-Pixel, Video Games

LexCorp Makin Money In The DCU

According to Forbes.com DC’s own Lex Luthor is the fourth wealthiest fictional character. Back when I read Forbes’ article I wondered how a career criminal who is always in and out of jail (sometimes by escaping) can still have so much wealth. You would think the court costs and federal fines he has accumulated during his years as a criminal mastermind would have bankrupted all his companies. At first I thought he just had some great money laundering schemes to protect his profits – until I noticed this in X-Factor #65 last Monday:

X-Factor 65

Here we have an image of Cyclops and Jean Gray discussing a recent training session, and while Cyke was ranting about the team not being able to afford mistakes in battle look closely at his computer:

X-Factor 65

The X-Folks buy their computers from LexCorp. It seems that Lex may be hiding some income in the Marvel Universe from the government and lawyers in the DCU. Now that’s how you launder money. No wonder he is the self proclaimed “Greatest Criminal Mind on Earth!”

X-Factor – #65
(from the “Wraith of Apocalypse” collection)
Lee, Portacio, and Claremont – Story
Portacio & Thilbert – Art

No Comments

Posted by Fred on December 3, 2009 @ 8:17 PM Under: Comics, Throwback

Six facts I didn’t know about Marvel

With this year being Marvel’s 70th anniversary the TimesOnline published a list of 70 facts that people may not have known about the comic company. Many of us comic fans are aware of numerous items found on the list, there were that I was not aware of or found interesting enough to share.

2 X-Men No 1, published in 1991, is the world’s biggest-selling comic book. It sold close to 8 million copies.

I knew people were buying comics hoping that they would be worth enough to pay for their child’s college education, but come on this stat is ridiculous since most people bought at least five copies of this issue to get one of each variant cover.

17 The Hulk that appeared in the classic TV series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno was almost made red in colour. In an interview with film website IGN, the show’s executive producer, Kenneth Johnson, said: “I asked Stan Lee, ‘Man, what’s the logic of green? Is he the envious Hulk? Is he green with envy or jealousy?’ The colour of rage is red, which I was pushing for because it’s a real human colour – you know, when people get flushed with anger.” Lee told him that the Hulk had in fact started out grey but due to problems with colour separation, grey would simply not print the same way each time. “Our printer came to us and said we can do a pretty consistent green, so we decided to go with green,” Lee said. Thus the Hulk was coloured green from issue two of the Incredible Hulk onwards, although without any explanation…

I always thought the Hulk was green since nuclear radiation/waste is usually portrayed as green in popular media.

24 Marvel once owned the rights to the word zombie. As improbable as it sounds, Marvel attempted to trademark the word zombie in comic book titles after publishing Tale of the Zombie in 1973. By the time the trademark was approved two years later, the series was coming to an end. Marvel lost the trademark in 1996 but it wasn’t long before it was once again trademarking the armies of the undead, registering the words Marvel Zombies to protect its comic series of the same name. With DC, Marvel also trademarked the phrase ‘Super Hero’.

I knew that Marvel and DC share the rights to ‘Super Hero,’ but had no idea about zombies…

33 The strip Stan Lee is most proud of is the one he wrote for the Incredible Hulk/Spider-man toilet paper.

Hmm… I don’t think I’ll be searching ebay for a used copy of comic!

34 Artist John Romita Jr based the Daredevil villain Typhoid Mary on his ex-wife.

I hope that was after the divorce and all settlements were signed off on.

44 A Fantastic Four film exists that is so terrible it will never reach a screen. In 1992 the production company Constantin Film was in danger of losing the film rights to the Fantastic Four unless it started production on the movie by the end of the year. Lacking the $40 million it needed to make a full-budget film, it turned to low-budget movie supremo Roger Corman for help. He spent just $1.98 million to crank a quickie Fantastic Four movie. Constantin never intended to release the film but it never told the director or the actors this. “Oh, that was a tragic event. I feel so sorry for the people involved,” Stan Lee remembered years later. “The director really tried his best, and so did the actors. They all thought that this was their big chance. But the movie was never supposed to be seen. Most people thought, “Jesus, what a terrible job that is! How corny! How cheap!” They didn’t realize that it wasn’t meant to be any better than that. Unfortunately, the people working on the project didn’t know that, and they tried their best. Really, I feel so bad for all of them.” Other low-budget Marvel misfires include the 1989 Punisher film starring Dolph Lundgren and the 1990 Captain America film – starring no one you’ve ever heard of.

Many of us knew about the FF film and have seen clips from it (if not check out below,) but what I never knew was that the actors and crew never knew that this film was ‘never supposed to be seen.’

Here are the trailers for the 1994 Fantastic Four, the 1990 Captain America, and the 1989 Punisher movies:

Bonus Video: OSCAR WORTHY SCENE FROM THE 1994 FANTASTIC FOUR MOVIE!

Posted by Fred on November 12, 2009 @ 8:13 PM Under: Comics, Throwback

Is the Tongue Really Necessary…

…To Show On The Cover of “Blackest Night: Titans #1?”

titan1

Wow talk about “Beer Goggles!”
Someone should have warned Gar that once the beer is out of his system the next morning she won’t be the looker he thought she was.

That’s some hardcore zombie lovin there… The use of the tongue does not make the cover creepier, just sillier.

Posted by Fred on August 26, 2009 @ 8:01 PM Under: Comics

Can You Guess What Happens Next?

wd1

I

Bet

You

Can’t

Guess

What

Wild

Dog

Does

Next.

wd2

OK, you probably guessed right. This and other predictable/unrealistic gun fights are why we love Wild Dog!

Posted by Fred on June 11, 2009 @ 6:32 PM Under: Comics, Throwback

LWIC: One Character, Two Deals With The Devil, and Three Batmen

First of all thank you for all the well wishes for my son and the family. Cal went under the knife at 7:30am and was home by 11:30am. He currently is sleeping off the leftover anesthesia and should be back to normal tomorrow with only some irritation in his eye.
Now for what you all really came here for; three reviews of three great comics:

Last Week In Comics:
A fresh take on 5 day-old comics.

Amazing Spider-Man #596

Last week I was praising issue #595 as a great “set-up” issue, and it seems that I was right. This week’s comic showed Spidey getting all emotional about Harry joining up with his father’s evil Avengers. This anger was the focus of the issue and moved the whole story forward from the interaction between all the supporting characters of the book along with the main plot of the book.

It was nice to see Spidey acting emotional and taking the fight to the bad guys, this not in his normal characteristics but desperate times equals desperate measures. With Spidey now on the offensive, I see him jumping back into comfortable territory and defending himself once the rest of the Dark Avengers notice his is masquerading as Venom.

Speaking about the supporting characters, this issue establishes or re-establishes some of the newest supporting characters. Pete and Jay Johna Jamison Sr. spend a moment telling stories from their past creating a little bit of a “father/son” bonding moment while Nora motivated by Pete’s rant on Norman Osborn decided to infiltrate Avengers Tower on her own. These two supporting characters add to the enjoyment of the book, especially the “father/son” relationship since he is J. J. Jamison’s biological father and Peter is always left heartbroken at the end of almost every story arc.

Batman and Robin #1

I may be crazy but I didn’t like this comic the first time I read it… not because of the story but because of the art. I know everyone else on the internet is raving about Frank Quitely’s art, but I found it distracting. Quitely’s art worked great for All-Star Superman and We3, but it was too distracting for a Batman comic. Now I do have an art compliment to give too: Dr. Pyg and his Dollamatrons are/were scary as hell. He drew them as men who looked genderless in doll clothes and it was creepy… real creepy.

Ok, now to the story. I don’t know how I feel about the new Dynamic Duo, I don’t dislike them, I like them they are, it’s just not what I am used to. I love Nightwing, and I think that personality caries over with Dick into the new Batman. As for Damian as Robin, I like it. When I first began to seriously read Batman comics Jason Todd was a brash and violent punk of a Robin, so I’m cool with Damian.

So, the art annoyed me slightly and I still need to warm up to the fact that there is a new Dynamic Duo, but in the end this was a great comic for two reasons:

Continuity! After reading this comic twice I went back and reread Batman #666. Everything set up in Batman #666 was set into motion in Batman and Robin #1. I know that Dick, like his mentor, will die and Damian will take over the mantel of the Bat. I also know that Jason Todd will be the new Batman’s arch enemy since he dons the same costume and dialog in #666 as he did in “The Battle for the Cowl.” I know how it all ends and that leads me to the second reason this was a great comic:
Must Read! The ending may have been spoiled in 2007 (Batman #666) but the ride will be exciting, especially with the new enemies specifically made for Dick and Damian. I mentioned earlier that Pyg and his genderless “robotic” dolls mad of humans creep me out, and as creepy as it is I am compelled to know/read more about them…

This comic felt light hearted and dark, was full of action and suspense, and leaves me wanting for more – A must read in my book.

Superman – World of New Krypton #4

So Superman is no longer a super-powered boyscout, instead he is just a boyscout.

I don’t know what else I can write abou this series that I havent already mentioned in my blurbs about the previous issues… This is Superman flexing his Super-Morals and Super-Strategizing brain to take down General Zod. The concept may be simple and the books not as mind blowing as Morrison’s Batman, but they are great paced reads.

Posted by Fred on June 8, 2009 @ 6:19 PM Under: Comics, Last Week In Comics

Vanilla Surfer – Word to Your Mother!

Marvel Adventures – Fantastic Four – #28
Fred Van Lente – Story
Cory Hamscher – Art

Posted by Fred on June 4, 2009 @ 6:11 PM Under: Comics, Throwback

When Batman Needs A Rush…

t571

Detective Comics #571 has many more “happy face” Batman panels that can easily be taken out of context, and the issue can easily be found in the “Batman in the Eighties” trade paperback.

Detective Comics – #571
(Batman in the Eighties)
Mike W Barr – Story
Alan Davis & Paul Neary – Art

Posted by Fred on April 30, 2009 @ 6:00 PM Under: Comics, Throwback

Next Page »

What is Print-N-Pixel?

Part 2: Recommended Reading

Characters and Setting

Recommended Reading: Uncanny X-Men #112 & #113

This week’s SpaceBooger Achievements

Next on Print-N-Pixel:

What is Print-N-Pixel?

Part 1: X-Men the Arcade Game

History of the Game

Recommended Reading

Game Play

How To Play

This week’s SpaceBooger Achievements

Next on Print-N-Pixel:

What is Print-N-Pixel

How the Print-N-Pixel Group Works

How to Participate

SpaceBooger Achievements

Bonus Video: OSCAR WORTHY SCENE FROM THE 1994 FANTASTIC FOUR MOVIE!

…To Show On The Cover of “Blackest Night: Titans #1?”

I

Bet

You

Can’t

Guess

What

Wild

Dog

Does

Next.

Last Week In Comics: A fresh take on 5 day-old comics.

Amazing Spider-Man #596

Batman and Robin #1

Superman – World of New Krypton #4

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Last Week In Comics:
A fresh take on 5 day-old comics.