There are bad, very bad games and then there is Superman 64 . Because there are catastrophes that not even the Man of Steel himself can fix and experiences that disappoint even when expectations are low. In fact, if we look at the box and the cartridge we will see that the game is not even called Superman 64 , but Superman . To dry. An absolutely bland name to crown a mediocre result.
Because the adaptation of the animated series that wrapped up the DC Comics standard-bearer (no less) to Nintendo’s 64-bit system does not have a single section that frees it from being considered nonsense. A total and utter waste of time.
Especially if we start from the fact that games like Metal Gear Solid, Half Life or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time hit the shelves in a flash, in a sensational time when it seems that everyone was determined to raise the bar of quality in video games. Everyone except Titus Games and Warner.
In fairness, it must also be said that DC comics heroes – and antiheroes – have no middle ground in video games: the creators of Mortal Kombat make you take your hat off with an Injustice 2 that Blizzard charges the League of Justice with Justice League: Task Force.
And if Rocksteady’s Batman Arkham trilogy is imposed as the ultimate superhero reference in video games, Titus is at the opposite pole with N64’s Superman.
We have run into experiences as bad as Superman 64 on Switch, with the addition of having been published many years later. ButSuperman 64is a resounding candidate for the worst ever released on N64 and any box with the famous Nintendo seal of quality.
An exaggeration? Absolutely. It is enough to see how the inaugural mission of Superman 64 is , which you can see just below, to begin to reel off all the shortcomings and errors that are displayed before this millionaire license only one year before Neversoft took Spider-Man with great success to N64, PlayStation, Dreamcast and other systems.
And yet, despite all the above -which is not little- Superman 64 has managed to awaken a certain fascination as a video game beyond the fans of the character created by Jerry Siegel, Wayne Boring and Joe Shuster . After all, and seen from another perspective, very few superhero games are so remembered decades later. Although, in this specific case, it is for the worse.
Superman, from the small screen to video games
Eric Caen , one of the original founders of France’s Titus, was tipped off in the mid-1990s: Following the huge success of Batman: the Animated Series, the cult animated series based on the Masked Crusader, Warner was preparing to repeat the play with Superman.
At this point it is worth making two points. At the beginning of the 90s the comic book industry suffered a deep crisis in all nuances: complicated sales, talent leaks, a certain collapse in terms of publishers and characters and, to top it off, many characters were worn out and some of the great stories were completely in the shadow of the wonders posted above.
This forced the great publishers of American history to diversify, exploring new business models.
However, there were a couple of great events called to make history and the most famous one was by DC Comics had an international impact: they had decided to kill Superman.
While the Death of Superman was a massive boost, that idea definitely established Superman’s preferred role among superhero comics. Revaluing it enough that Warner, now the owner of DC, wanted to bet even stronger on it through a movie that was never made, a new animated series and, of course, new video games.
For his part, Titus had previously developed adaptations to video games, so – with nothing to lose – Caen requested the license from WB Licensing to make the official video game of what will become Superman: The Animated Series , despite the fact that they were not even on his team. convinced that it could be obtained and were also not enthusiastic about making a video game based on the Man of Steel.
Despite everything, the agreement was possible: the division in charge of licensing the characters by Warner ceded the rights to the animated series to the French to develop four projects , including a Game Boy title that will arrive in 1997 and, later, a game developed in colossal three-dimensional settings and much more ambitious for Nintendo 64, PlayStation and SEGA Saturn.
Titus wasn’t a mediocre developer , of course, but she wasn’t a top developer at the EA or Activision level, either. Something that, according to Eric Caen himself told Playboy in 2015, ended up affecting the development of the game: when Warner closed WB Licensing – the company that transferred the rights to Titus – just a few days after closing the agreement, they hindered and delayed production of the same.
Warner’s licensing team was fired just days after our agreement was signed, and it seems that from the beginning, the people in charge who came after us hated us and our project. They believed that a major company like EA would pay more and create a better game.
They tried to stop the development [of Superman] in every way. “First, they asked us that instead of making an action game we make a game similar to Sim City, where Superman would be like the mayor of Metropolis. Honestly, that was pathetic. It took us months to get approval for every character in the game.
Caen’s theory was that the new licensees deliberately hindered and slowed down communications and game development. Gradually worsening the situation as it progressed and questioning the creative direction step by step . In a way, these had the upper hand.
They contested any decision we made in the game on the pretext that ‘Superman would never do that’. We had to show that Superman could [fly freely underwater], because they had doubts that it was acceptable in terms of the ‘legacy’. We had tons of documentation and we had to go through it to tell them ‘In the October 1957 comic on page XX, you can see that Superman was’ flying’ underwater.
I think they were trying to stop us, and we recently heard that WB even planned to pay a huge litigation settlement, because they forced us to remove the [PlayStation] version. But, we never end up suing them
Unfortunately for Warner, Superman fans and N64 owners, Superman 64 hit the shelves in 1999 after generating some buzz in trailers and expectations regarding its playability. It had been announced in the summer of 1998 and the first shots did not look bad, adapting in its own way to the aesthetics of the animated series.
However, the bad impressions generated by Superman 64 were inevitable: although visually it was nonsense and its plot was a joke – basically, Lex Luthor caught the friends of the last son of Krypton in a virtual world – in the playable game that game it was and still is indefensible .
Its proposal is reduced to going through levels going through hoops like a circus animal, as if it were a poorly designed bonus phase, or exploring environments in a clumsy and desperate way.
When not soaring through the skies Superman moves extremely slowly and unpredictably both in the air and on the ground. His blows are clumsy and almost random, the cameras used play against him, his free flight system is chaotic and, to top it off, he can only make use of his incredible powers, such as super breath or super speed, for a very limited time. after getting the corresponding booster.
Said in silver, if visually Superman 64 is disappointing, its playability is torture . And to show what a joke it is, here you can see 10 minutes of play in the second stage, the first one that does not involve going through hoops in the game.
Interestingly, poor set design further contributes to burying any hope of enjoying the experience. Offering together some finishes that look like a half-done pre-alpha at a time when the N64 catalog made us take off our hats and with a DreamCast already available. A total nonsense.
Superman 64: all wrong
At this point it might seem that we are exaggerating too much about how bad Superman 64 is and that, as a gaming experience, it does not add anything. In fact, we want to clear all doubts about it and affirm it in a blunt way with a selection of nine reasons that deservedly position it as one of the worst games ever published.
1. Visually, Superman 64 is a calamity
Superman 64 looks terrible . Although it is not necessary to get very close to the models and settings to see the seams, it is in the short shots where the lack of pampering and involvement is really evident by offering finishes that meet the minimum of what was expected from a video game in 1999 and remotely close to the weight of the DC comics character.
And while the level design is in line with that of the main characters, abusing the same resources until they become boring, the truth is that the enemy models created for the occasion are blatantly unimaginative: The main villains are dolls Hatted blacks and enemy robots look like failed experiments fiddling with a 3D tool.
2. Technically, Superman 64 is a fudge
The physics of Superman 64 are a clamor that affects the gameplay. However, despite the fact that the N64 had shown that it could do great things, Titus’ technical ceiling was very low. Especially in the flight phases.
For its part, Superman 64 hid behind the plot by showing the blatant fog and its questionable drawing distance indicating that the virtual Metropolis we are going through is invaded by a thick kryptonite cloud. Even so, the result is still bad.
3. Argumentally, it’s a joke
It is quite a paradox that Lex Luthor’s plan to end Superman is to take him to a virtual version of Metropolis to rescue Lois Lane and other characters from the series. Even worse is watching Darkseid lower himself as a third-rate baddie by kidnapping Diary Planet intern Jimmy Olsen to lure the Man of Steel.
While the premise is heartbreakingly bland , the dialogues – which are few and barely serve as an explanation and guide for the player – are even worse. Some of them are confusing and others function as reluctant premises for us to suffer from the gameplay traversing the screen.
What’s more, except occasionally, it’s the villains who explain to Superman what he has to do . And what happens if we don’t do what they tell us? That they win. Or, at least that’s what the screen says every time we fail. So why do they help us?
4. The variety of phases also plays against you
Basically, the Superman 64 experience is reduced to two level classes that are exchanged as the game progresses.
- On the one hand, the aerial phases consist of crossing rings scattered across the sky and under the water of the city of Metropolis against the clock. Which is as frequent as it is repetitive and, during the beginning of the game, frustrating.
- On the other hand, the indoor phases include more combats and, in essence, it is about going through huge rooms fighting with the gameplay itself in search of keys, codes or objects with which to open the next door or, failing that, an enhancer that allows us to overcome a threat.
In this way, the strongest man in the world and the champion of hope becomes sometimes the buffoon and sometimes the errand boy of his usual villains. And the worst thing is that the painful rhythm and the little variety of actions and scenes play even more against the cartridge.
5. The control system is disastrous
All of the above could be more or less overlooked if the gameplay worked in your favor. However, the reality is that it is the most punished section of Superman 64 : in the air it gives the impression that Superman is tied to a jetpack against his will, and indoors it seems that instead of Earth our protagonist is trying to fight with the gravity of Jupiter.
When it comes to attacking, not only does an eternity pass before he finishes giving a sad, badly animated punch , but sometimes he breaks the game camera. There is an alternative, of course: to carry out an air assault. Which brings us back to problem # 1 of the gameplay.
Fortunately, most of the lesser enemies are even clumsier and the final bosses a calamity. Which does not mean that we are completely at the mercy of a flurry of shots from time to time.
6. Superpowers? Yes, sometimes
Superman can fly whenever he wants . Clumsily and with a camera that plays against him, yes, but with a certain freedom. All the other distinctive features of the Steel Horme like super-speed or freezing breath (except for gimmick) will require us to use a power-up. There are very few scattered on the screens and it is very easy to squander them.
I would like to tell you that they make the experience more enjoyable, but it is not the case either: in several phases you need to use them to be able to follow the plot and the way they are implemented, without pointing adjustments and with painful mobility, they make your addition is more of an added counter to the game than an advantage.
7. Incomprehensibly, everything explodes and damages Superman. Even cardboard boxes
It does not matter if you have to launch a metallic enemy or lift a cardboard box that covers a key, when launching them both will generate a huge explosion that, in most cases, will leave our protagonist lying down for a while. With a smile, yes.
8. The progress system is twisted crappy
Although the gameplay is very reprehensible, there is something that makes it feel worse: sooner or later we will have to face a timer. Sometimes to defuse bombs and sometimes because it basically occurred to Lex Luthor that Superman had to do a certain action before then.
And if this reaches zero, the screen will melt and the message that is repeated the most in the game will jump out: LEX WINS . Other ways to waste time and the game are not to go through three of the rings in the aerial phases or to run out of health. Normally, because – as we said – almost everything in Superman 64 explodes.
9. When you finish a level, instead of celebrating it, you end up disappointed
You know that feeling of victory at the end of the motorcycle phase in Battletoads or a final boss in Dark Souls? Well, in Superman 64 you don’t have it . The closest thing to satisfaction in a game whose plot is a joke and its playability is torture is the possibility of being able to save the game. If you have a Memory Pak handy and want to continue playing, of course.
A super-nonsense for the Nintendo 64
How is it possible that Titus could have committed such an outrage with a license of the caliber of Superman ? Well, Eric Caen claims that he had really ambitious ideas for the project . What’s more, he set out to put Nintendo’s newly released 64-bit console on the ropes.
At that time there was only one game it was a real time 3D action adventure game: Tomb Raider. But each scene was confined to a small area.
My vision was to develop the first “real-time 3D open world” game. It would push the Nintendo 64 to its limits, feature Superman’s ability to fly and fight, and include all of his superpowers.
The development of Superman 64 began in 1997 – that same year its counterpart was put on sale on the Game Boy – and was in the hands of a team of 12-15 people.
However, in those two years of production they encountered many limitations from the licensees. Including the impossibility of destroying scenarios or establishing situations that would keep Superman from being a role model.
We develop a 3D world with large fully destructible parts. From doors to walls and floors [that could break when hit]. But DC was totally against that, arguing that Superman couldn’t ‘act like a bad person’.
We wasted too much time responding to the concerns and strange ideas of Warner Brothers and DC. Instead of those things that got us nowhere, we could have used that time to focus on the development of the game and its playability. We could have improved the controls and collisions, and made a better game.
The most curious of all? Unlike ET The Extraterrestrial , and despite bad reviews from the specialized media, the Superman 64 game was a commercial success . After all, Superman is a millionaire license.
What’s more, the PlayStation version was almost finished, and had it not been for DC, the game would have also reached Sony’s 32-bit version.
Sales were great, so we didn’t lose any money on the Nintendo 64 or Game Boy. But Warner Bros. and Sony blocked the PSX version, and that was a heartbreaker. It was 90% complete and we had half a million units planned to launch.
Although the development of Superman 64 was complicated, the palpable reluctance on the part of those involved in the production and the predisposition of Warner end up transcending beyond their own time. Creating a game that perhaps should never have been published.
A nonsense that no fan of the DC superhero can defend and that, somehow, passed quality controls that were too generous with the final result.
And despite everything, we are still here two decades later. Incomprehensibly fascinated by everything he does wrong and what he fails at. Strongly convinced that it is one of the worst video games in history. Serving as a (bad) example for the subsequent huge legacy of superhero-based games.
Because very, very bad it has to be a game based on The Last Son of Krypton to lower the bar on Superman 64. And, in its own way, that’s a milestone.
