''Superman'' (known in Europe as ''Superman: The Man of Steel'') is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

released by

Sunsoft , is a Japanese electronics manufacturer, video game developer and publisher. They are known for their video games under the brand name Sunsoft. History In April 1971, Sun Electronics Corporation (alternatively called Sun Denshi) was founded i ...

for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1992. It is based on the

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

character of the same name. It is a traditional single-player

side-scrolling A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling grap ...

arcade game where the player controls Superman through various levels in an effort to defeat the evil supervillain named Brainiac. Other super villains, as bosses, include The Prankster,

Metallo Metallo () is the name of different supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an List of Superman enemies, adversary of Superman. All versions of the character are powered by kryptonite and are partially ...

and

Mister Mxyzptlk Mister Mxyzptlk ( or ), sometimes called Mxy, is a character who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is usually presented as a trickster in the classical mythological sense. Mxyzptlk possesses reality-warping powers with ...

. This game was planned to be released on the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

, but was cancelled before it was completed. Versions of the game for the

Master System The is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console manufactured and developed by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series ...

and

Game Gear The is an 8-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth-generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990 in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and in 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily ...

were developed by Graftgold and published by Virgin Interactive in Europe as ''Superman: The Man of Steel'', which was also the title received by the European Mega Drive version published by Virgin.

Gameplay and plot

Each level of the game begins with a front page of the Daily Planet announcing that some supervillain is wreaking havoc on the city, and with

Clark Kent Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

changing into his

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

costume in order to start the level. The game limits the powers of Superman to jumping, punching and kicking (he cannot fly except in cutscenes). He can only use his superpowers by collecting certain icons scattered throughout the level that are required to accomplish a certain task, e.g., a superpunch icon to break down a wall in order to further advance in the level. At the end of each level, Superman battles a super villain from the comics, and the intermission between each level is a congratulatory message from the Daily Planet newspaper. The final level involves Superman flying up into Brainiac's space station for a repeat battle with the previous super villain bosses and then a final battle with Brainiac.

Reception

The game received from generally mixed to negative review. While the game was noted for its decent

16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two ...

graphics and sound, critics panned the game for its limited usage of Superman's powers and for having a limited storyline. As the player could only have one super power icon at a time, a glitch in the pre-production editions of the game (fixed before its release but still a problem in the edition that was reviewed by many video game critics) forced the player to reset the game if they collected the wrong icon.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Video games, 1990s 1992 video games Cancelled Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Game Gear games Graftgold games Master System games Sega Genesis games Sega Genesis-only games Single-player video games Sunsoft games Superhero video games Superman video games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Kenji Yamazaki Video games set in the United States Thinking Rabbit games

Gameplay and plot

Reception

See also

Notes

References

External links