X-Men (Game Gear)

For the Sega Mega Drive game, see X-Men.

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X-Men
System(s): Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Sega of America
Developer: Sega of America, Paul Hutchinson
Licensor: Marvel Entertainment Group
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 1994-01 $44.9944.99 2505

X-Men is a Sega Game Gear action platform game developed by Paul Hutchinson at Sega of America, and published by Sega. Based on the Marvel Comics series X-Men, it was released exclusively in the United States in January 1994, with a planned European release failing to materialise.

Story

Most of the X-Men have been captured by Magneto. Only Cyclops and Wolverine have escaped the initial assault on X-Men headquarters, and they must rescue the others to defeat Magneto.

Gameplay

The game is a side-scrolling action platformer. Cyclops and Wolverine are initially selectable, but a new character is rescued and becomes available to play after each level is completed. The Danger Room acts as a hub and allows the player to choose the character and the next stage. There are two difficulty levels: "Piece o'cake" (the easier option), and "I don't think so" (the harder option). The former only has four stages (therefore also limiting which characters are available to play), while the latter has access to all six stages.

Characters move with and and crouch with . They can move while crouched with and . They attack with and jump with . Most characters additionally can double jump by pressing again in midair. The player can toggle the character's mutant ability by tapping  START , which replaces the character's regular attack. Using mutant abilities drains the mutant power bar. Storm and Rogue can fly using mutant power (instead of double jumping) by pressing again in midair and using the D-Pad to move around.

The player can pause the game by holding  START ; pressing while the game is paused returns to the Danger Room, allowing the player to change the character or play a different stage.

Characters have a health bar that goes down when they take damage from enemies or other hazards (including high falls). If a character loses all health, the character is lost for the rest of the game and the player must restart the zone with a different character. The game ends if the player loses every character.

Characters

	Cyclops
	Cyclops' mutant ability is the power to fire optic blasts from his eyes, which can be shot in any direction.
	Wolverine
	Wolverine's mutant ability is his adamantium blades and healing factor. Boasting average health, his claws can defeat most normal enemies with two hits, and he passively regenerates health at a slow rate.
	Nightcrawler
	Nightcrawler's mutant ability is short-range teleportation; enemies caught in the area of his teleport are damaged in the process. He also has the ability to climb walls and ceilings by pressing twice and holding it. Nightcrawler lacks a double jump, but can jump higher than other characters, and features relatively low health and power. He becomes available after completing the Hellfire Club stage.
	Storm
	Storm's mutant ability is the power of flight and projectile lightning bolts. Like Nightcrawler and Rogue, she also cannot double jump, but compensates with the fast mobility of her flight. She becomes available after completing the Morlock Tunnel stage.
	Psylocke
	Psylocke's mutant ability is the power to fire her "psi-blade," a psionic energy projectile. While boasting a good attack range and damage output, she has the least health of all the playable characters. She becomes available after completing the Brood Cave stage.
	Iceman
	Iceman's mutant ability is a projectile ice shard attack. He possesses the most health and power of all the game's playable characters. He becomes available after completing the Savage Land stage.
	Rogue
	Rogue's mutant ability is the power of flight and very hard-hitting melee attacks. Like Nightcrawler, she lacks a double jump, but compensates with the fast mobility of her flight. She becomes available after completing the Madripoor stage.

Items

	Heart
	Replenishes part of the character's health.
	Red X
	Restores part of the character's mutant power.
	Blue X
	Collect every Blue X hidden in the stages to unlock the good ending.

Combat zones

The player can choose to play the stages in any order (except for the last stage, which unlocks after completing the others). The Savage Land and Madripoor stages are only available on the higher difficulty.

	Hellfire Club
	Boss: Sebastian Shaw Character rescued: Nightcrawler
	Enter the elevators with . Shaw is immune to all types of attacks, and can only be damaged by luring him to the room's various traps.
	Morlock Tunnels
	Boss: Callisto Character rescued: Storm
	Callisto wields a staff, and utilizes hit and run tactics.
	Brood Cave
	Boss: Brood Queen Character rescued: Psylocke
	Similar to Callisto, Queen uses fast and aggressive melee attacks.
	The Savage Land
	Boss: Sauron Character rescued: Iceman
	Sauron flies around the stage and attacks very quickly. This stage is only played on the higher difficulty.
	Madripoor
	Boss: Omega Red Character rescued: Rogue
	Omega Red's attacks have a strong reach, and uses his carbonadium coils to engage from afar. This stage is only played on the higher difficulty.
	Avalon
	Boss: Magneto
	Magneto is invulnerable when he is surrounded by glowing energy, and is only vulnerable for a brief moment when he lands and fires an energy blast at the player character. His attack pattern is notably unpredictable.

Production credits

• Producer: Jerry Markota
• Product Manager: Ami Matsumura-Blaire
• Programmer: Paul Hutchinson
• Artists: Alan Murphy, Kim Biscoe, Paul Hutchinson, Norman Felchle, Jerry Markota
• Music & Sound: Paul Hutchinson
• Design: Steve Patterson, Jerry Markota, Mark Lindstrom, Ami Matsumura-Blaire
• Story: Steve Patterson, Jerry Markota
• Lead Tester: Conan Tigard
• Special Thanks To: Dan Chang of Echidna for LZDC and tUME

Source:

In-game credits

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• Producer: Jerry Markota
• Programming: Paul Hutchinson
• Art: Alan Murphy, Kim Biscoe, Paul Hutchinson, Norman Selchle, Jerry Markota
• Music & Sound Effects: Paul Hutchinson
• Design: Steve Patterson, Jerry Markota, Mark Lindstrom, Ami Blaire
• Story: Steve Patterson, Jerry Markota
• Marketing: Ami Blaire
• Lead Test: Conan Tigard
• Lieutenant: Jeff Loney
• Testers: Mike Baldwin, Greg Becksted, Blair Bullock, Janine Cook, Brian Dawson, J. Epps, Eric Fong, Ivan Foong, David Forster, Mike Gilmartin, Rick Greer, John Jansen, Dan Jung, Jason Kuo, Vasily Lewis, Simon Lu, Tony Lynch, Julio Martinez, Jim McCarthy, Loran Pudinski, Terry Thomas, Dave Wood
• Game Stills: Joe Jusko
• Cover Painting: Dave DeVries, after Jim Steranko
• Manual: Ami Blaire, Carol Ann Hanshaw, Neil Hanshaw, Jerry Markota
• Special Thanks: Mark Thomas, Dana Moreshead

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: X-Men (Game Gear)/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) #16: "January 1994" (1993-12-21)
also published in:

• GamePro (US) #54: "January 1994" (199x-xx-xx)
• Sega Visions (US) #17: "February/March 1994" (199x-xx-xx)

Artwork

• 

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Freak (IL) 84 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 83 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U 81 Sega Zone (UK) NTSC-U 55

	76
Based on 4 reviews

X-Men (Game Gear)

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, US (Fleer Ultra Cards Bundle)
Cover
Cart Manual Beast card Cable card Gambit card Magneto card Storm card

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 567a5ee6 MD5 21d75ed09b6f73037544894580933a0b SHA-1 215e5f761475ca17a091371e39f636718f213403	512kB		Cartridge (US)