This Week In Retro: Superman [1989] (Patreon)

January 1989: Neither a bird nor a plane, it's a mediocre game

by Diamond Feit

I love superheroes, though I don't really think I had a choice in the matter. The sheer timing of my birth meant I grew up as these characters exploded in popularity, both on the printed page and in other mediums. I've previously written about how Spider-Man introduced me to comic books, holding my hand and leading me down a path directly towards the Marvel Universe. However, Spidey wasn't my first superhero; that honor fell to the most famous and arguably most important cape-wearing crime-fighter of all time, Superman.

Superman's stranglehold on the top of the heap was hardly a fair fight. Not only did his 1938 debut make him one of the very first superheroes in the United States, but in 1978 he starred in his very own live-action movie. Director Richard Donner's big-budget affair carried the tagline "You'll Believe a Man Can Fly" and put young Christopher Reeve on the map as he perfectly embodied the earnest charm of the character on screen. The Warner Bros corporation spared no expense in promoting the film, including a previously unheard-of tie-in with Warner's video game division, Atari. While not based on the movie's story, a 1979 home cartridge translated Superman, Lex Luthor, and Lois Lane onto the small screen in an adventure that captured my young imagination.

A decade later, in a very different media landscape, Taito released Superman into arcades. Unlike the Atari game, this new version actually featured a recognizable image of the lead character on-screen along with music taken directly from John Williams' iconic film score. Unfortunately, Taito's take on the Man of Steel gets more things wrong than right, but this week I'm remembering the second time a Superman video game flew into my life and carried me away.

I'd like to start with some simple questions that I think everyone, no matter their familiarity with the character, can answer: What's your favorite Superman superpower? Do you envy his ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound? The ease at which he outpaces a speeding bullet? His knack for hitting harder than a locomotive? Perhaps you're more excited by his gorgeous blue eyes capable of seeing through any non-lead surfaces or blasting beams of heat.

Taito's staff considered all of these options and settled on "flying" as Superman's most important trait. Each level includes side-scrolling beat-em-up segments and auto-scrolling airborne segments but regardless of the setting, Superman can always freely fly around the screen—no jump button required. His strength and speed suffer significant downgrades, however; his punches and kicks may send enemies flying but ordinary objects like walls and fences withstand multiple strikes before they collapse. His attacks and mid-air movement likewise appear sluggish compared to his opponents'.

Whether he's walking the streets or soaring through the sky, Superman just doesn't seem up to the task of repelling this alien invasion. The game never reveals who these antagonists are or where they hail from—the arcade flyer says they work for "evil Emperor Zaas"—but every single member of their squad can injure Supes with their fists or feet. I realize combat without risk would make for a dull experience, but if you're playing a Superman game, seeing him struggle with basic grunts belittles his status as a defender of truth, justice, and the American way.

At the very least, Atari's 1979 Superman included small Kryptonite satellites menacing Metropolis, robbing our hero of his powers on contact and forcing him to seek Lois for help. In Taito's Superman, we get no such narrative; the Last Son of Krypton takes damage from every bullet, every missile, and every wayward rock he encounters. I suppose we should add "capitalism" to his list of weaknesses, as the demands of the cash box seemingly forced him to throw this fight unless players pony up more quarters to reach the end credits.

Superman the game arrived at an odd time in the character's history. The aforementioned motion picture made over $100 million at the U.S. box office, guaranteeing that sequels would follow—along with a Supergirl spinoff—but each subsequent release drew smaller crowds than the last. By 1987, the fourth film flopped so hard that the franchise came to a screeching halt; two years later Tim Burton's take on Batman would transform the Dark Knight into the leading superhero of the 90s.

While success in Hollywood has always proven fickle, even Superman's star status in the comic book world took a downturn as sales of his multiple titles all took a hit. This slump eventually drove the editors at DC to kill off the character in a massively-hyped 1992 issue. The company never planned to let their most-famous superhero rest in peace for long, but the fact that Superman's death struck his creative handlers as a viable solution to his image woes shows how desperate the situation truly was.

Of course, as a middle school student in 1989, I knew nothing about Superman's difficult future. I had seen his movie career descend into the toilet but that didn't tarnish the character's image in my eyes, it impacted my opinions of the filmmakers. So when I first saw a Superman arcade game that channeled the energy of Double Dragon, I couldn't wait to try it for myself.

All my criticisms of Superman as an arcade game come with decades of hindsight, because my memories of playing it at the time are all positive. Superman's nerfed abilities didn't bother me because the novelty of 8-way movement divorced from gravity kept me invested in the action. Likewise, the rotation of fighting stages and shooting stages injected enough variety into the experience that I always wanted to put in another quarter to try and reach the next area.

I didn't even mind the nameless monsters that throw themselves at Superman because most beat-em-ups at the time reused enemy sprites. Instead, I took the lack of directed narrative to make up my own backstory for the game. I even used to draw Superman and some of Emperor Zaas' goons in the margins of my notebooks at school.

I don't know if Taito's Superman fared well financially, but the company never brought it to home consoles or included it in any retro compilations. Presumably their use of the character was short-lived making ports or reissues too costly to justify the effort. Indeed, I'd wager at least a few readers had no idea Superman ever starred in his own 2D side-scrolling arcade game, not when other 1989 releases like Final Fight or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made such a lasting impression on the genre.

While I can't really recommend Superman on its own merits, it does hold certain charms as a licensed superhero game that jettisons so much of the character's signature trappings. No Metropolis, no Fortress of Solitude, and absolutely none of his famous foes or friends; just less-than-super punches and kicks.

At least you get to throw a car in one stage; that's crucial to Super-canon.

Writer/podcaster/performer Diamond Feit lives in Osaka, Japan but xer work and opinions exist across the internet.