[Playing…] Death and Return of Superman

One of the most striking events of the 90s (as far as comics are concerned) was the death of Superman at the hands of Doomsday and the appearance of 4 substitutes who would try to continue the legacy of the man of steel.

Somehow and with the help of Sunsoft and Blizzard Entertainment, that story reached Super Nintendo and Mega Drive/Genesis. I admit that I was surprised to see that The death of Superman in video games since it is not common for a specific story of an American comic book character to reach consoles (normally superhero games were based on movies or directly on the character, without worrying about representing any specific stage) although it is also true that the same year a game based on the saga was launched. Maximum Killing from Spider-man.

Both versions of the game are identical in development and the differences lie especially in the visual and sound sections, like almost all the games that came out on both platforms. However, it is worth clarifying that some versions of Mega Drive They have a bug that freezes the game, something to keep in mind if you want to play it.

This game is a beat ’em up style Final Fight, TMNT: Turtles in Time, Streets of Rage either Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. Perhaps this genre is not the most suitable for a Superman game, as it is a bit strange to see him on dry land beating up punks with a clean punch when he is supposed to be able to fly at full speed and destroy them in a second. It is also true that if we stick to that, it would be very difficult to make a game about this character.

Because the game levels are based on The death of Superman and the Reign of the Supermans, the characters to control in this game are Superman, Superboy, Eradicator, Steel and Cyborg Superman.

Unfortunately We cannot choose our favorite superman, since in each level we will have to control one different as the story requires.

Our character can hit, jump, fly (by pressing the jump button twice), shoot (a slow ranged attack, which slightly slows down enemies) and use a super attack that will clear the screen of enemies (as long as we have some, since they are limited).

I would love to say that the characters are controlled completely differently, but the truth is that pThey are practically all the same. Visually they are different, but they are not significantly differentiated when it comes to controlling them, it doesn't even give us the feeling of controlling a faster and weaker or a heavier and more powerful character, as if it happened in other beat em ups (like the aforementioned Final Fight).

Beat'em ups are a type of game with relatively limited development, which can make us tired of doing the same thing over and over again. This is where the expertise of the programmers has to be seen to create situations, enemies, varied scenarios and provide the player with various ways to beat their rivals.

Unfortunately in this game that remained an intention, because although it is true that there are some different levels in development (ship shooter type) the vast majority of the game's levels are clones of themselves, thanks to the repetition of scenarios (both in appearance and development), music and enemies. It happens that there are 2 or 3 levels that are practically the same with the only notable change being that we control a different character or that the same enemies are constantly repeated during levels, always following the same order of appearance.

The shooting phases should make the game more enjoyable and they almost succeed, unfortunately the first phases of this type are also copies of themselves, since the same enemies appear in the same order and they also last very short compared to the beat'em up phases. The only phases that manage to convey variety are some of the latest (when we have to destroy the missile with Superboy and the core of Engine City with Steel).

Having made it clear that the characters are all almost identical, that the scenarios and enemies are constantly repeated and that the shooter phases are not a big deal, it only remains to evaluate the gameplay itself.

On the one hand, it is worth clarifying that the difficulty of the game ends up being quite high in its last levels and that some enemies are tremendously annoying and harmful (as I hate damn robots that grab you from afar).

When it comes to surviving the waves of enemies, there are several tricks, such as jumping and diving, grabbing them and throwing them at each other, flying and causing them to do their attacks from a distance so that they hit each other, but none of these strategies are going to make the game excessively easier for us, because when the enemies die they do not leave items to replenish our lives.

The way to obtain items is in turn one of the most satisfying and necessary things when progressing in this game, as it consists of grabbing and throwing enemies against the walls of the stage (something similar to what was seen in the Batman Returns de SNES), ya que muchas de ellas soltarán iconos de Superman azules (energía) rojos (un súper ataque extra) o vidas extra al romperse. Por si no se os da demasiado bien esta clase de juegos, no os preocupéis porque hay continuaciones infinitas.

Superman nunca ha sido un personaje con mucha suerte en los videojuegos, y Death and Return of Superman no pudo cambiar eso pese a ser uno de los mejores juegos protagonizados por el personaje. Lo cierto es que aunque el juego tiene puntos buenos (como las ilustraciones de los personajes que aparecen mientras nos cuentan la historia) es un beat ‘em up del montón por culpa del repetitivo desarrollo de la mayoría de sus niveles, la nula diferencia de sus personajes y la falta de cualquier modo de juego alternativo o multijugador.

En aquella época existían beat ’em ups mucho mejores que este, de manera que no es extraño que nadie recuerde Death and Return of Superman, que solo resultará llamativo a los fans del personaje que quieran recordar (de aquella manera) la etapa donde murió.