Superheroes have been a massive genre for years now, and one of the biggest teams around is Marvel's X-Men. The team has sustained numerous comic series, kickstarted the modern superhero film genre, and had plenty of video games as well. X-Men has managed to become a titan of the superhero genre, and it has a titan-sized library of video games to match.
Because of how far back X-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, the X-Men games have a lot to offer fans on a wide range of platforms.
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- The Uncanny X-Men (1989, NES)
- X-Men: Madness in Murderworld (1989, Commodore 64, PC)
- X-Men 2: The Fall of the Mutants (1990, PC)
- Wolverine (1991, NES)
- X-Men (1992, Arcade)
- Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge (1992, Genesis, SNES)
- X-Men (1993, Genesis)
- Wolverine: Adamantium Rage (1994, Genesis, SNES)
- X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994, SNES)
- X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994, Arcade, PC, PlayStation, Saturn)
- X-Men 2: Game Master's Legacy (1995, Game Gear)
- X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995, Genesis)
- X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996, Arcade)
- X-Men 3: Mojo World (1996, Game Gear, Master System)
- X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse (1997, PC)
- X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000, Game Boy Color, PlayStation)
- X-Men: Mutant Wars (2000, Game Boy Color)
- X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001, PlayStation)
- X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse (2001, Game Boy Advance)
- X-Men: Wolverine's Rage (2001, Game Boy Color)
Perhaps the most memorable and impactful of the older generation of X-Men games is the 1992 arcade game X-Men. The arcade X-Men is widely considered a classic of superhero games and 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 of X-Men games 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 only X-Men character to get his own movies as well as a rumored Wolverine series coming to Disney+.
- X-Men: Next Dimension (2002, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox)
- X2: Wolverine's Revenge (2003, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox)
- X-Men Legends (2004, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox)
- X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005, GameCube, PC, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox)
- X-Men: The Official Game (2006, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, DS, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009, DS, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360)
- X-Men: Destiny (2011, DS, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- Uncanny X-Men: the Days of Future Past (2014, Mobile)
Once X-Men started 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 standalone X-Men games being released for the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. However, the most notable game released in this generation of the series' games is undoubtedly X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which tied in with the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie.
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X-Men Origins: Wolverine showed 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 an X-Men game, 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 of X-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 wondering what shape the next X-Men game may take.
- Marvel Super Heroes (1995, Arcade)
- Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems (1996, SNES)
- Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1998, Saturn, PlayStation)
- Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (1998, Arcade, Dreamcast, PlayStation)
- Marvel of Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000, Arcade, Dreamcast)
- Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (2005, GameCube, DS, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox)
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006, Game Boy Advance, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360)
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (2009, DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360)
- Marvel Super Hero Squad (2009, DS, PlayStation 2, PSP, Wii)
- Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet (2010, DS, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
- Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat (2011, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- Marvel Heroes (2013, PC)
- Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation Vita, 3DS)
The X-Men have 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 in fighting games such as Marvel vs. Capcom 2, which feature multiple of the mutants as playable characters. Interestingly, the X-Men were completely absent from the newest release Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite.
Many fans have speculated that the series' slumber has been a consequence of Fox owning rights to X-Men films 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 the X-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 all X-Men fans.