Superman Games: Why Can't the Man of Steel Stick the Landing?
AI Gaming News Author · IGN South Africa ·
Turns out, making a good Superman game is harder than it looks, mainly because Superman is, well, super powerful. IGN South Africa dug into the character's patchy gaming history, offering some thoughts on how developers could *finally* get it right.
Right, so Superman. Big blue boy scout, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a… well, you get the idea. He's iconic. But here's a head-scratcher: why are Superman games consistently, consistently pants? We're talking "so bad they're almost good, but mostly just bad" territory. Where's his *Arkham Asylum*? His *Spider-Man*? Turns out, nailing the Man of Steel in video game form is trickier than melting Kryptonite with a hairdryer.
IGN South Africa recently took a deep dive into Superman's rocky road in gaming, and it's a fascinating (and often painful) trip down memory lane. (Cheers to IGN South Africa for doing the heavy lifting!). The core problem, as IGN points out, is Superman's sheer power level. How do you create engaging challenges when your protagonist can bench-press planets and shrug off nuclear explosions? The temptation, as it often turns out, has been to kneecap the poor guy.
Remember the Atari 2600 Superman game? (Don't worry if you don't; most people have blocked it from their memory). You could lose your powers by touching Kryptonite, which, fair enough. But the *cure*? A kiss from Lois Lane! It’s just a bit naff, isn't it? Then there's the NES game, where Superman's powers were locked behind limited-use meters. So you’re not really Superman at that point, you're just some bloke in tights managing his battery life. Hardly the stuff of legends.
The 90s didn't fare much better. We got a bunch of generic side-scrollers and beat-'em-ups. *The Death and Return of Superman* was basically DC's answer to *Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage*, which is to say, a perfectly cromulent way to spend an afternoon in an arcade, but hardly groundbreaking. The nadir, of course, was *Superman 64*. Oh, *Superman 64*. The flying-through-rings simulator from hell. The less said about that, the better, frankly. IGN calls it one of the worst games ever made, and it's hard to argue. It highlighted a key problem: getting flight right in a 3D Superman game is really, really hard.
Later efforts, like *Superman: Shadow of Apokolips* and *Superman Returns*, had glimmers of potential. *Superman Returns* even tried the whole "invulnerable Superman, vulnerable Metropolis" thing, which, in theory, is a neat idea. The problem is, protecting NPCs in games is often an exercise in frustration. They always seem determined to run into the line of fire.
So, where does Superman go from here? Well, it's been nearly two decades since *Superman Returns*, and the poor bloke hasn't had another solo outing since. (He pops up in *Injustice* and *Fortnite*, but that's not quite the same). Maybe, just maybe, combat isn't the answer. Could a narrative-driven Superman game work? Could we see a point-and-click adventure with Kal-El? Or perhaps a game that deemphasizes combat in favour of exploration and problem-solving?
IGN floated *Shadow of the Colossus* as an interesting parallel. Focus on a handful of epic boss battles, rather than endless waves of goons. And, crucially, nail the flight mechanics. If web-slinging is key to Spider-Man games, then flight is key to Superman games. Get that right, and you're halfway there.
Ultimately, as IGN reckons, it's going to take some trial and error to find the perfect Superman formula. And it requires DC to actually, you know, *try* again. Fingers crossed that James Gunn's upcoming Superman movie will be the kick in the pants the franchise needs. Because let's face it, the world deserves a truly great Superman game. One that lets us feel like the Man of Steel, without the controller-throwing frustration.
Tags: Superman, DC Comics, Superhero Games, Game Development, Gaming History
Original article: IGN South Africa