Franchise Retrospective: X-Men's Gaming Legacy Part 6 -- X-Men 2: Clone Wars

Though it was immensely popular during its release, the first X-Men for Genesis doesn't receive too much praise these days. But that's not because it hasn't aged well; in fact, it's perfectly playable today given you're in possession of a Genesis that has a reset button. It's actually because a sequel exists, and it's one that far outclasses its predecessor in pretty much every way conceivable.

The leap from X-Men to X-Men 2: Clone Wars, interestingly enough, parallels the leap from Revenge of Shinobi to Shinobi III. They're similar in the way that both sequels represent a mastery of development for the Genesis, and the sequel is the message they gave to us and Sega saying that "yeah, we've really gotten the hang of it now." Both games use the original as a template to further expand on the mechanics established within them, and the result is a more polished product that's about two times better from a gameplay perspective and much easier on the eyes. They're also a bit easier, but "easier" in the sense that the controls are more fluid; and that just makes the previous iterations feel stiff in comparison.

For all intents and purposes, Clone Wars takes everything the first game did and exacerbates it to the second power, making it infinitely more appealing to fans of the series (big or small) because of its features and fan service (you know, the genuine kind). All four of the first game's playable characters - that's Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit, and Nightcrawler -- reappear for this game, along with the addition of Beast, Psylocke, and, interestingly enough, Magneto. The inclusion of the X-Men's most venerable foe is part of what makes it such a stand-out product. And as a bonus, using mutant powers no longer consumes your health, making the experience that much more fun, believable and logical.

But that's not all that it should be known for, of course. When I was younger, I had a difficult time deciding whether this game or Mutant Apocalypse was better. I adored the general aesthetics of Mutant Apocalypse mainly because they were similar to a bunch of older Capcom titles - especially Mega Man X - but I can't ignore the fact that Clone Wars looks unbelievable for a Genesis game. As a platformer, it definitely has the edge, and the game also has the edge in terms of pacing. The fact that this one also has co-op seals the deal: Clone Wars is definitely the better game.

Like the previous Genesis game, this one also has a unique gimmick that would undoubtedly be frowned upon today. Fortunately, it's nothing quite as bad as what was in the previous game (you know, that "reset" thing). Just about every game you play, old or new, shows you who the developer is and then provides either the intro or title upon start up. Not this game. When you boot Clone Wars up, you're immediately trust into action as a random character right in front of an enemy who's willing to shoot you down. It's a nice idea for the prologue, but unless you know it's coming, it's also a nice cheap hit for the first enemy you see. An admittedly minor problem, yes, but it's a good enough "well, gee" moment that it deserves to be mentioned.

Honestly, that's the only large fault that I can find with this game, which is a testament to how great the overall product is. If you're an X-Men fan, this game is very necessary for you to play. Heck, even if you're not, it's still recommendable based purely on how much fun it is. It's possible that many people missed it back in the day because of companies and especially people reeling from the high price of cartridges. Clone Wars' gameplay has a lot in common with Shinobi III's in terms of how fluid both attacking and jumping are. It also has some high replay value due to how unique every character plays. It's definitely one of the best platformers on the Genesis, the very best X-Men platformer on any console, and one of the best licensed games around.