Gourt Home::Gourt :: X-Men: Children of the Atom (arcade game)
"X-Men: Children of the Atom" was also the name of a sourcebook for the Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game.
X-Men: Children of the Atom is an arcade game that was produced by Capcom and released on the CPS-2 arcade system in 1994. It is the first fighting game produced by Capcom using characters under license from Marvel Comics, widely praised for its faithfulness in capturing the spirit of its namesake comics, by using colorful animation and voice actors from the X-Men animated series, such as Cathal Dodd as Wolverine.
The ultimate object of the game is to defeat the mutant supervillain Magneto, who wishes to eliminate the human population to free the oppressed mutants. The player selects from members of the X-Men (Cyclops, Psylocke, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus and Iceman), who have set up a fighting tournament to determine who is strong enough to challenge Magneto to battle.
Unlike previous X-Men video games, Children of the Atom also allowed players to helm popular X-Men villains; such as Omega Red, the mutant hunting android Sentinel, Spiral (lackey of Mojo), and Silver Samurai. The Juggernaut is also included as a sub-boss. This game was released around the same time as Super Street Fighter II Turbo, the game that introduced the world to Akuma. Due to his popularity around this time, and as a bit of a Capcom inside joke that Akuma is an "X" man (due to the X in his first game's title), he was included as the secret final boss.
The game, along with SSFII Turbo, is considered one of the first fighting games to popularize the now often-used ideas of super jumps, super combos, and Tech. Hit, which meant that an attempted grab or throw had been negated by the opponent. However, a player must have at least a Level 2 Gauge (about half the total bar), and while some characters simply land on their feet or recover in mid-air (like Wolverine or Omega Red), other characters escape the throw entirely and a select few can even reverse the grapple (like Iceman). Furthermore, the game was the precursor to the Marvel vs. Capcom series, with elements and characters from this game having been combined with Street Fighter Alpha to create X-Men vs. Street Fighter. Ports of Children of the Atom were later released to PC, Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn.
Characters
X-Men
- Colossus is the slowest, but strongest X-Men member. His stage is a city under siege by Sentinels.
- Cyclops relies mainly on his optic blasts. His stage is the Danger Room. It is also arguably the second best animated background of the game (behind Magneto's stage), constantly morphing and changing colors.
- Iceman attacks his enemies with ice beams or ice balls. An interesting point is that he takes zero chipping damage when blocking a projectile attack. His stage is a tropical beach, filled with icebergs.
- Psylocke, relies on "Psi-Blasts" and psychic illusions. Her stage is a skyscraper.
- Storm is the only X-Men member who can fly and mainly attacks with wind and lightning-based attacks. Her stage is on top of the Blackbird.
- Wolverine has moves related to his powerful brawling and clawing skills. He can also heal part of his damage. His stage is the Savage Land.
Villains
- Omega Red mostly makes use of his tentacles, draining either the life- or X-energy or whipping them at the player. His stage is an undersea laboratory.
- The Sentinel is the largest regular character. He is slow and awkward, but features a vast array of intimidating short- and long-range weaponry, and powerful blows. His stage is Genosha.
- Silver Samurai features an array of Kendo strikes and throwing stars. His stage is a Kodokan.
- Spiral uses her long, powerful six arms. She is a great grappler, and can teleport at will. Her stage is Mojo world. Her stage is unique because the floor will break up to 2 times, and is popular because of it.
Bosses
- Juggernaut is the first boss character which the player encounters after defeating six opponents. He is a slow, but very powerful character with huge range, three blows dispose of almost everybody. His stage is a space ship launching bay. He is also arguably the first character in fighting games to use in-stage objects as weapons (the I-beams in the foreground).
- Magneto is the final boss. He is capable of flight and immensely powerful. In addition, his super bar fills automatically. His stage is Avalon, his space station. It is arguably the most spectacular stage of the whole game, featuring lush graphics, state-of-the-art 2D animation and fluid changes between different parts of the space station.
Secret Character
- Akuma aka Gouki is very similar to his SSFII Turbo incarnation. His stage is the Danger Room. He is selectable via a code at the character select screen.
Endings
In all endings, Magneto and his Acolytes show up, and Avalon is destroyed.
X-Men
In all X-Men endings, the particular X-Man converses with Magneto and cannot prevent that Magneto would rather perish with his station than come with him/her. Then, the X-Men reunite and fly back to Earth in the Blackbird.- Colossus has the deep desire to work out in the Danger Room.
- Cyclops is happily reunited with Jean Grey, and fights Omega Red alongside the X-Men.
- Iceman goes to a beach and makes ice sculptures of his foes.
- Psylocke goes back to being a model, gets teased by Cyclops, and incapacitates him.
- Storm is reunited with her lover Forge.
- Wolverine has to witness Jean Grey making out with Cyclops, and then goes to Japan to fight Silver Samurai.
Villains
- Omega Red retrieves the carbonadium synthesizer, which enhances his power. He then fights Cyclops.
- Spiral mocks Magneto as just another attraction on "Mojovision". Then, she and Mojo plan a new show, "Earth Destruction".
- Sentinel goes into mass-production, and mutants are swiftly eradicated. Then, the Sentinel decides that baseline humans have to be eliminated, too.
- Silver Samurai takes over the Yakuza and vanquishes Wolverine.
Secret Character
- Akuma simply says "I am the master warrior" and jumps away.
Trivia
- The animations of Children of the Atom, which was published in 1994, have stood the test of time so well that they are still widely used in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. The Sentinal, is actually composed of many smaller sprites that are individually animated. This allows its large size, and fluid animation. This technique is also used with the Playstation Gundam Battle Assault and Rumble Fish games.
External links
1994 arcade games | 1996 computer and video games | Arcade games | DOS games | PlayStation games | Sega Saturn games | Capcom games | Versus fighting games | X-Men games
"X-Men: Children of the Atom (arcade game)"