Superheroes have been a massive genre for years now, and one of the biggest teams around is Marvel’sX-Men. The team has sustained numerous comic series, kickstarted the modern superhero film genre, and had plenty of video games as well.X-Menhas managed to become a titan of the superhero genre, and it has a titan-sized library of video games to match.
Because of howfar backX-Men’s video game presence goes, the series' games have evolved alongside the industry as a whole and have taken some interesting shapes over the years. Whether it be some of the game’s classic Arcade cabinets, its more awkward Game Boy Color games, or other random titles, theX-Mengames have a lot to offer fans on a wide range of platforms.
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Older X-Men Titles
Perhaps the most memorable and impactful of the older generation ofX-Mengames is the 1992 arcade gameX-Men. The arcadeX-Menis widely considered a classic of superhero gamesand arcade games as a whole. It has thankfully been released numerous times since so it is easier for fans to get their hands on it, but when it was first released into arcades it redefined what players expected from a beat ‘em up. The game features a number of different characters all with their own move sets and playstyles and is also just a ton of fun, which helps explain why it can still be found in many arcades to this day.
The older generation ofX-Mengames is also interesting for how early the series seems to have embraced Wolverine as one of its strongest and most popular characters. It only took four entries for Wolverine to get a standalone game, and no other character from throughout the series ever has since. Of course, Wolverine has managed to maintain his popularity over the years as he is also the onlyX-Mencharacter to get his own movies as well as arumored Wolverine series coming to Disney+.
Modern X-Men Titles
OnceX-Menstarted approaching more modern times, video games based on the characters began to slow down. The series even completely skipped the last console generation with no standaloneX-Mengames being released for the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. However, the most notable game released in this generation of the series’ games is undoubtedlyX-Men Origins: Wolverine, which tied in with theX-Men Origins: Wolverinemovie.
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X-Men Origins: Wolverineshowed Wolverine from an entirely new perspective for video games. With a Mature rating, the game was gory, with parts of Wolverine being shot off from damage while he tore through enemies like they were nothing. The game was a much darker and mature approach to anX-Mengame, and it attracted a lot of new players to it for that very reason. It also allowed the game to stand out from other games from the series, which started to play it much safer around the time ofX-Men Origins: Wolverine’s release. With how long it has been since the series got a proper new video game release, however, many fans are wonderingwhat shape the nextX-Mengame may take.
X-Men Appearances in Other Games
TheX-Menhave also popped up in plenty of crossover titles over the years, but their appearances have also slowed down in recent years.X-Men’s biggest impact on these games is infighting games such asMarvel vs. Capcom 2, which feature multiple of the mutants as playable characters. Interestingly, theX-Menwere completely absent from the newest releaseMarvel vs. Capcom Infinite.
Many fans have speculated that the series' slumber has been a consequence of Fox owning rights toX-Menfilms while Disney nearly owns the rest of Marvel. However, now that the mutants have returned to Marvel with Disney’s purchase of Fox, many fans have begun wondering how theX-Men will be integrated with the MCU. Hopefully, Disney’s ownership of the property will see them returning to the games industry in a meaningful way again for allX-Menfans.
