The history of Superman the arcade game – arcade documentary

The history of the man of steel's arcade game

[zoesdada]

Christopher Reeves was born to play Superman. He is Superman.

[wcasey]

I remember playing this as a kid. It's really a forgotten gem.

[wmiekka]

Played this one quite a bit at a local party store back in the day. The repetitive gameplay is probably it’s worst fault, but being a Superman fan as a child I loved it and still enjoy it even now. That’s interesting to see an unused character in the code. Very cool!

[KevTheGalaxybender]

I used to think the second player was shazam when i was younger

[SDSOverfiend]

One of my favorite games Great review.. Music for ‘88 incredible during the flight stages. I love the Fireball move.. Uncharacteristic but powerful and sounds incredible.

[jeffreycoogan]

Not only was Emperor Zaas, quite possibly an alternate take on Brainiac. But his name was obviously a take on General Zod.

[stretchyhulk]

Great video. One of the few arcade games I actually played to the end. I always felt Death Of Superman on SNES was fairly close to the arcade game in terms of gameplay.

[NYKgjl]

Even for todays standard, Superman "88" arcade game still rocks and playable even to this day. I only wish they made this game for the 16 bit console.

[ZagnutBar]

The Atari VCS version of Superman was one of my favorites, and I still play it sometimes with emulator software and an Atari joystick USB adapter.

One correction, though. You don't rescue Lois Lane. She's invincible, in fact. Her purpose is to save Superman when he is struck by kryptonite, which makes him lose his flying power. When this happens, you have to find Lois Lane (who wanders through the city at random in a smart green outfit) and "kiss" her. She even kicks her leg up when they meet. This restores Superman's flying ability.

[MartyM.]

This has sound tones that are reminiscent of their Rastan game. Looks like it may have used the same System 16 hardware board as Rastan and Operation Wolf, for example. :)

[Lastjustice]

I really enjoyed this as a kid at the local pizza hutt. I didn't figure out about the power punch attack, where you charge it till much later. That makes such short work of most enemies. Like man would saved me alot of quarters. While a tad repetitive, the graphics and sounds really capture the look and feel of the character. They had a copy of this game when I went to the Galopping Ghost retro arcade in the Chicagoland area, so got to finnally complete first hand with a friend of mine a year or two ago when we went.

[jamiekelley]

Love this game. Literally the first arcade game I ever beat - with $5.25 (I think I was 9 or 10, so 1989 or 1990)

[alftanner]

I still love this game, the music, graphics, the different ways to play it & that shin kick. I remember playing this at a grocery store of all places as well as playing mk for the 1st time

[skeletordanzig]

This game was a bonding experience for my brother and I, we spent hundreds at the arcade during our parents divorce, Superman, Operation wolf, Golden Axe, spy hunter, Final Fight, and of course Elvira Pinball!

[rivjan]

maaaan i loved that game, everyday after school straight to the arcade.

[WarriorSmurf]

My friends and I swore back then that player 2 was Captain Marvel (aka Shazam!). Had they used him, Supes should have used heat vision while CM used the fireball and maybe some different moves to make them distinguishable from one another. Also, Brainiac should have been the main villain with other rogues gallery members appearing maybe even Black Adam and Mr. Atom from CM's rogues gallery.

[marlonsanchez]

Narrator has a kind grandfatherly tone to his voice, huh??

[madzilla]

Awesome videos!! All my favorite games!! Love your videos!! So much information! Keep it up!

[joshmiller]

We had this cabinet at our local YMCA where I played this all the time. What good memories! Thanks for the video!

[TheMathius]

You must be reading my mind, Pat, as I was just recently wishing that you would cover this Taito near-masterpiece. I played it every chance I got back in the day as it was a very common cab in my neck of the woods.