In 1988, the Taito corporation charged arcade game players to take on the mantle of Superman and wage war against the evil Emperor Zaas. I do not know who Emperor Zaas is but I do know from firsthand experience that this game falls under the classification of quarter eater.
The game could be played with another player, one that became a red Superman, but if you look at the artwork on the control panel it bears a striking resembalance to Captain Marvel...perhaps Taito could not secure the rights to Shazam...or perhaps this is meant to be Mon-El? That would be weird indeed.
You visit a couple of different American locales in the game, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, San Franciso, and of course Metropolis.
Superman is able to fly, kick, and punch through his foes as well as use a sonic attack that will clear the enemies on screen for the price of a little of your health. By smashing certain enviromental objects, Superman might get a bit of his health back from picking up crystals that are left behind. A staple of late 80's and most of the 90's side-scrolling fight games. I guess it would have looked odd if Superman had broken open a mailbox and found a ham?
4 comments:
Zaas was made up for the game, which is odd. Why not use Luthor, or Brainiac, or...anyone else?
Man, who knows, it was 1988. Why have Superman fighting a helicopter in Las Vegas?
I'm pretty sure that this game was an experiment to see if they could take a very popular subject and make a video game that completely blew. If they had included a recognizable villain, or an explanation for Red Superman, then the project would have been in jeopardy... Fortunately for Taito, the project was a resounding success.
Lots of fat sweaty video-game critics love to pick on Superman's video-games, and that's because they claim none of them "capture the spirit of the character". What these morons fail to realise is that a game that captured the spirit of Superman would be boring as hell. Here's what a real Superman game would be like: you'd fly around beating up everyone and not taking any damage, then Lex Luthor would show up with a load of Green Kryptonite and you automatically lose. The End. Does that sound like a fun game? No, it doesn't.
I feel that people think a game being the real Superman would be fun, but it's not possible. A game needs to have difficulty and you need to be able to lose. If you really want to feel like Superman, then get a Game Genie, Action Replay, or Game Shark, put in an invincibility code, and presto, you're the invincible, real, Superman, and all the fun and challenge is gone.
On the other hand, the 1988 Superman arcade game by Taito, and The Death & Return of Superman for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, are both damn fun, so there!
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