Xboxist

X-Men Arcade on Xbox Live Brings Back Memories

When we were all of 12 years old, one of our favorite activities on a Saturday afternoon was to head down to the local arcade at the mall and line up to pump quarters into the X-Men arcade cabinet. The game might look dated by today's standards (screenshot below), but back in the early 1990s, this was truly an evolutionary step forward. The vibrant cartoon graphics and the flawless control scheme combined to make arcade beat-em-up bliss. Now Konami has announced that it plans to release an enhanced version of the classic X-Men Arcade game for the PSN later this year. Bring it on!

Developed by Backbone Entertainment, X-Men Arcade is the first ever home version of the popular 1992 cabinet arcade classic, and allows players to join their favorite X-Men characters in what is widely considered as their first great video game appearance.

In X-Men Arcade, Cyclops, Colossus, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Storm and Wolverine unite to use their special powers to save mankind from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and other terrible threats. Players are charged with fighting off hundreds of Sentinels - along with Super Villains such as Pyro, the Blob, Wendigo, Nimrod, the White Queen, Juggernaut and Mystique - as they battle their way to Island M to take down the Master of Magnetism, Magneto, and save Kitty Pryde and Professor Xavier. It was a real quarter gobbler back in the day, but now we'll be able to enjoy the whole thing without plowing through our weekly allowance.

We'll also be able to bring our friends along for a trip down memory lane. Players can engage in multiplayer action with 1-4 players supported locally and 1-6 players supported online. Online drop-in multiplayer is also implemented, allowing anyone to jump in on the battle at any time. High-definition heads-up displays, menus and local/online leaderboards have also been integrated to track statistics and scores.

Similarly, a Custom Match Mode will allow users to choose the kind of session they would like to join by setting the amount of players, difficulty and starting level to create a truly unique online experience. Players will also have the ability to select the Create Match Mode where they can act as the host and control incoming players, the number of players, difficulty setting, and starting level to have complete power of veto over the match. For players looking for the ultimate X-Men challenge, multiple difficulty modes will also be available.

"Just like with our comics, Marvel has a rich history of great video games, and we're happy to play our part with Konami in reintroducing this classic to fans of all ages," said Seth Lehman, Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs for Marvel. "Fans have been clamoring for X-Men Arcade to hit consoles for 18 years now, and we're confident they'll definitely find this re-release was worth the wait. The game looks and plays exactly like we remember it - all without the added worries of being low on quarters when you're closing in on Magneto."

Hell to the yes.