(XBLA) X-Men Arcade

X-Men...UNITE!!!!!!!!

Posted 2 years ago By - Jay Acevedo

I remember playing X-Men with my school-skipping buddies at the arcades in between serious sessions of Mortal Kombat II and Killer Instinct. I can’t say it was my favorite coin-op game, but it was certainly one of those where I could easily loose myself into. I even remember finishing the game with a single quarter at one point.

It never came up as an XBLA/PSN wish until someone actually mentioned it to me a couple of years ago. Then it became clear that I wanted it...but when? Two years after that conversation, my friend and I found ourselves playing X-Men Arcade, while giggling at the corny dialog and simplistic combat mechanics. Still, we had an amazing time with it...and so will you.

Playable with up to five other mutant lovers via Playstation Network and Xbox Live, Backbone Entertainment’s take on the 1992 beat’em up classic is all about banding together and fighting Magneto’s evil forces; whom are planning to wreak havoc on mankind. The story is uber-thin, just like any other old school side-scrolling game. Punch and kick your way through waves of enemies, beat the cheesy-voiced boss at the end of each level. Save your friends. Realize that Magneto has a secret hideout on an Asteroid. Beat him...done.

I may be (or not) among those who finished the game thrice in less than two hours and you shouldn’t be surprised if that happens to you once you’ve spent the 800 Microsoft Points (roughly $10) for it. Wait? Did I just assume you were going to buy it? Well, to tell you the truth: X-Men Arcade is a guilty pleasure of mine as much as a lot other arcade ports like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Contra, Double Dragon, Final Fight, etc are. I don’t why someone wouldn’t. Plus, this game was never released on a home platform up until now. This is it’s living room debut. We’ve all been confronted with the idea of buying a tenth version of Street Fighter or a fifth version of Bejeweled. This isn’t the case with X-Men Arcade.

With that being said, it doesn’t mean Konami gave it the full HD revamp either. Its a straight - and ultra simplistic - port with the obvious texture upgrades, selectable difficulty levels, leaderboards, in-game voice chat, re-recorded voice acting, improved music and the obvious drop-in/drop-out six player support available both locally and online. If you get the XBLA version, the only way to start a six player match is via Xbox Live, since the console can’t support more than four controllers in local play. However, six player local play can be achieved on the PSN since the Playstation 3 can support up to seven controllers via Bluetooth (we all laughed when the feature was announced back in 2005...who’s laughing now?!). The game also features both the North American and Japanese versions, with the only difference being the health packs and power-ups in the Asian one. This is actually one of the most forgiving and easiest versions to play.

Conclusion

I’m not going to lie about the fact that my X-Men Arcade review sounds incredibly fanboy-ish but in reality, the game is just too awesome to be ignored. Of course, if you’re a “younger” gamer and don’t give a hoot about playing a 16-bit classic, I can understand being hesitant. Give the demo a go if that’s the case. If you bought Scott Pilgrim and enjoyed the throwback experience, see it as the same...only instead of Pilgrim, you get Wolverine.

But, if you’re 30 years old or older and played this game at the arcades, I don’t see why you would overlook it. In fact, I implore you not to.