X-Men 2: Clone Wars

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X-Men 2: Clone Wars
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sega Ballistic (US re-release)
Developer: HeadGames
Supporting companies: Zono (design), Nu Romantic Productions (audio), Sega of America (assistance)
Distributor: Majesco Sales (US Mega Hit Series re-release), Ecofilmes (PT), Sega-Ozisoft (AU), Tec Toy (BR)
Licensor: Marvel Entertainment Group
Sound driver: GEMS
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code US 1995-02 1550 US (Mega Hit) 1997-09 $19.9919.99 EU 1995-04 1550-50 PT 199x UK 1995-04 £44.9944.99 1550-50 AU 199x $89.9589.95 FXME02SMC AU (Mega Booster Pak) 199x FXME03SMC BR 199x 046770

X-Men 2: Clone Wars is the sequel to the Sega Mega Drive game X-Men, released in 1995 by Headgames and Sega under license from Marvel Comics.

Story

The game is based on the current story arc from the comics at the time of development. The plot is narrated through the Cerebro and Professor X's communication with each other. Cerebro detects that the techno-organic alien race known as the Phalanx have returned and have contaminated a sentinel manufacturing facility. Learning this, Professor X sends the X-Men (Beast, Psylocke, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, and Cyclops) to destroy the Phalanx virus, but discovers that the virus has spread to Avalon, home of Exodus and Magneto.

Gameplay

Character select

The game is an action platformer like its predecessor. Characters walk with and and crouch with . They jump with and jump down from platforms with +. Characters do a basic short-ranged attack with , which can while crouching with + or directed upwards with +. Each character also has a unique mutant ability that is performed with . Unlike the preceding game, special powers do not require energy to use. Some special abilities can be charged by holding .

Characters have a health bar consisting of multiple segments. They lose segments as they take damage from enemies. When the character has high health (indicated by the two yellow segments at the top of the bar), his or her attacks and abilities are especially powerful. If a character loses all of his or her health, the player loses a life and must restart the stage. The player can choose another character to play. The game ends if the player runs out of lives.

The game supports two-player simultaneous play, with each player controlling a different character.

Characters

Beast, Psylocke, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, and Cyclops are initially playable, and a seventh character becomes available midway through the game. The assist characters from the first game are no longer available.

	Beast
	Real Name: Hank McCoy
	Beast is the son of an American astronaut who was subjected to cosmic radiation. Originally depicted as a likeable brute, he was later retconned to be a smart and talented scientist. He gained blue fur thanks to a medicine he developed and used on himself. In addition to his sharp intellect, Beast is a formidable fighter thanks to his large muscles and surprising agility. Beast attacks with his claws with . He does a low slap with +, which hits foes beside him, and a vertical mule kick with +, which hits enemies directly above him. He performs a leaping dive and a roll with + or +. He can also stick to walls by pressing the D-pad in the direction of the wall and holding (or jump off walls with the D-pad and ). His mutant ability is slamming the ground with , which sends shockwaves around him. He does a somersault spin kick with when airborne.
	Cyclops
	Real Name: Scott Summers
	Field leader of X-Men. Calm, reserved and responsible. His parents were kidnapped while traveling in a plane and both Summers and his brother parachuted off. A head trauma during landing made his optic blasts uncontrollable, so he has to wear specially designed ruby quartz goggles in order to prevent accidental discharges. Cyclops attacks by punching with ; he does a combo punch by pressing twice in quick succession. He performs a flying kick by pressing + or + while airborne. His mutant ability is firing optic blasts from eyes with . He can charge the beam for a larger and more powerful attack by holding . The beam can be aimed in any direction except directly downward by holding while standing. It can also be fired while crouching (though only horizontally) or jumping.
	Gambit
	Real Name: Remy LeBeau
	Former member of New Orleans thieves' guild, Gambit joined to X-Men simply to have fun. While he cares about his friends, he is mostly in it for a ride and to spend more time with Rogue. He is intensely agile thanks to his training as a thief. His mutant power allows him to empower physical objects with kinetic energy, which allows Gambit to detonate them when thrown. He generally uses a staff and his deck of 52 cards as his signature weapons. Likeable, roguish, and a ladies' man. Gambit attacks by swinging his staff with ; he does a double staff swing by pressing twice in quick succession. He performs a flying kick by pressing + or + while airborne. His mutant ability is throwing kinetic cards with . He can charge the cards for a more powerful attack by holding . The charged attack throws two cards in a slight spread. The cards can be aimed in any direction except directly downward by holding while standing. They can also be thrown while crouching (though only horizontally) or jumping.
	Nightcrawler
	Real Name: Kurt Wagner
	Wagner was taken in by a group of gypsies and worked as an acrobat for a traveling circus before being recruited into X-Men. His mother is Mystique, cunning and calculating lackey of Magneto, which might explain his physical appearance. In addition to his natural agility, Nightcrawler is an expert fencer and can crawl over many solid surfaces. His mutant power is his ability to teleport short distances. Deeply religious and has a strong sense of justice. Nightcrawler attacks by punching with . He performs a flying kick by pressing + or + while airborne. He does a spinning jump by pressing twice quickly. He can also stick to walls or ceilings by pressing the D-pad in the direction of the surface and holding and then climb along the surface with the D-pad. His mutant ability is teleportation, in which he disappears and reappears in a nearby location by pressing and using the D-pad to choose the direction. He can charge the ability to teleport father by holding . Teleporting damages or kills enemies that are in the way.
	Psylocke
	Real Name: Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock
	Braddock is a very powerful psychic from Britain. After a certain event, Psylocke changed bodies with a female assassin from Japanese criminal organization called "The Hand". Psylocke is a very powerful telepath and capable of projecting pure psionic energy from her hands. She is also a very talented and agile close quarters combatant thanks to the skills she inherited from the owner of her new body. Psylocke attacks with a katana slash with ; she does a double sword slash by pressing twice in quick succession. She can swing her sword in a full circle by pressing while airborne. She does a spinning jump by pressing twice quickly. She can slide along the ground with + or +. She can also stick to walls by pressing the D-pad in the direction of the wall and holding (or jump off walls with the D-pad and ). Her mutant ability is her "psychic knife" with , which is a short-ranged but powerful telepathic energy blade that can phase enemies out of existence. If used in the air, she charges forward with it.
	Wolverine
	Real Name: Logan
	Wolverine is a small-framed but lethal mutant. Before joining the X-Men, he worked as a secret agent for Canadian government. With years of experience under his belt, Wolverine has several other abilities that make him the toughest mutant alive. His "healing factor" allows him to recover even the most severe wounds and significantly slows down his aging process. His signature weapons are claws retracted into his knuckles when not in use. Every bone in his body is laced with "Adamantium," one of most resilient metals in existence, making his bones extremely difficult to break. Wolverine also has an extremely strong sense of smell, making it very difficult to ambush him. Wolverine attacks with his claws with ; he does a double slash by pressing twice in quick succession. He does a spinning jump by pressing twice quickly. He can also stick to walls or ceilings by pressing the D-pad in the direction of the surface and holding and then climb along the surface with the D-pad. His mutant ability is a claw swipe with . Wolverine jumps forwards and slices the enemy, causing massive damage of killing them instantly. He also recovers health slowly when not engaged in combat.
	Magneto
	Real Name: Erik Lehnsherr
	A concentration camp survivor, Magneto dedicated to mutant race just like Professor X, even though his depiction of ideal world is much more different than him. Unlike Professor X, Magneto is a much more hardened and ruthless character because of terrible experiences he suffered in the past. He believes that mutants should rule the human race, rather than living together in peace with them. Despite being one of most relentless enemies of the X-Men, Magneto is a pragmatic man and in some instances he joined forces with his enemies in order to eliminate a much more powerful threat. Magneto is capable of controlling magnetism, which makes him one of the most powerful mutants in history since pretty much everything contains some amount of metal in it. Magneto attacks by shooting energy orbs with . The orbs can be aimed in any direction except directly downward by holding while standing. They can also be shot while crouching (though only horizontally) or jumping. He can also levitate by pressing while in the air. He can attack in any direction while levitating. He stops levitating if he is attacked or if the player presses again. He also has a very high jump. His mutant ability is the magnetic destruct orb, which is fired across the screen with and explodes after a duration for large area damage. The orb can be fired a longer distance by holding .

Items

	Small DNA Strand
	Restores one bar of the current character's health bar.
	Large DNA Strand
	Restores three bars of the current character's health bar.
	Sparkling DNA Strand
	Restores the current character's entire health bar.

Missions

	Siberia
	The game starts the player on this stage with a random character as soon as the console is powered on. The Sega logo and the title screen appear after this stage is completed.
	The Sentinels
	Avalon
	Fabian Cortez, Exodus, and Magneto appear as bosses.
	Apocalypse's Fortress
	Tusk and Apocalypse appear as bosses.
	Savage Land
	Master Brain appears as a boss.
	The Phalanx Mothership
	Deathbird appears as a boss. After defeating the alien creature, the player must face clones of all of the playable X-Men.

History

Development

During development, the game was known as X-Men 2: The Bio-Wars.

Production credits

• Developed for Sega of America by: Headgames, Inc.
• Producer: Ed Annunziata
• Associate Producer: Stephen Patterson
• Project Managers: Dan Rosenfeld, Jonathan Miller
• Art Direction: Steven Ross
• Animations & Backgrounds: Steven Ross, Spencer Boomhower, Doug Nishimura
• Programming: Dan Rosenfeld, Alex Tyrer, Meilin Wong, David Eader, Jay Carlson, Josua Singer
• Design: Novak of Zono, Inc., The Headgames Team
• Design Consultant: Josua Gordon
• Level Layout: Joshua Gordon (Lead), Doug Nishimura, Steven Ross, Dan Rosenfeld, Alex Tyrer
• Sound Design by: Neuromantic Productions, Mark Steven Miller, Kurt Harland, Jim Hedges
• Additional Art: Scott Anderson, Robert Hanon, Yongki Yoon, Brandon McKinney
• Business Affairs: Ed Zobrist of Zono, Inc.

Testers

• Lead Tester: Tony Lynch
• Assistant Leads: Steve Bourdet, Rey Alferez, Caroline Trujillo & Dave Dodge
• Mike Baldwin, Sancho Martinez, Leonard Sayers, Tracy Johnson, Nathan Clark, Lloyd Kinoshita, Lorne Asuncion, Mark Griffin, Janine Cook, Christina Watson, Tim Spengler, Rob Owen, Joe Cain, Nick Katakis, Dave Wood, Howard Gipson, Leroy Tripette, Jenniver Vernon, Chris Lucich, Ben Cureton, Jeff Loney, Al Dutton, Ed Chennault, Maria Tuzzo, Rick Greer, Atom Ellis, Aaron Loichinger, Sean Doidge, Nathan Tan, Steve Wong, Jeff Junio & all of the rest of the Sega 24 Hour Test Crew!

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: X-Men 2: Clone Wars/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

NL flyer

Print advert in Sega Visions (US) #23: "February/March 1995" (199x-xx-xx)
also published in:

• GamePro (US) #68: "March 1995" (1995-xx-xx)

Print advert in AS Magazin-Video Igrice (YU) #13: "Jul-Avgust 1995" (1995-xx-xx)

Television advertisements

File:X-Men 2 MD US TVAdvert(Alt).mp4

US TV advert

File:X-Men 2 MD US TVAdvert(Alt).mp4

Merchandise

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  Badge

Artwork

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Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source GamesMaster (UK) 57 №28, p56/57 Games World: The Magazine (UK) 70 №11, p79

	64
Based on 2 reviews

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 70 Alaab Alcomputtar (SA) 80 Consoles + (FR) 87 Cool Gamer (RU) 80 Computer & Video Games (UK) 90 Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U 50 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 68 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 70 Freak (IL) 85 GameFan (US) NTSC-U 91 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 76 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 80 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 78 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 70 Mega (UK) PAL 84 Mega Force (FR) PAL 86 Mega Fun (DE) PAL 68 Micro Kid's Multimédia (FR) 50 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 87 Next Generation (US) 25 Player One (FR) 89 Play Time (DE) 71 Power Up! (UK) 70 Sega Magazine (UK) PAL 80 Sega Power (UK) PAL 63 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 80 Sega Mega Drive Review (RU) 72 Top Consoles (FR) 75 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 70 Video Games (DE) PAL 69 VideoGames (US) 80 VideoGames (US) 80

	74
Based on 32 reviews

X-Men 2: Clone Wars

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US (Mega Hit Series)
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US (Mega Hit Series) (Majesco Sales)
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, PT
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, AU
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, AU (Mega Booster Pak)
Cover
Contents

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Manual

Technical information

Main article: X-Men 2: Clone Wars/Technical information.