Reviews View More
Superman on the NES is a classic example of a terrible superhero game. It's slow, clunky, and the levels are so confusing you'll want to cry. Even flying feels awful, and the bosses are just cheap. The only reason to play this is if you're a masochist or want to see how bad licensed games could be back in the day. It's one to avoid unless you're specifically in the mood for a frustrating throwback.
Third time's the charm, right? "Wrong!" says Kevin Spacey.
An action platformer with horrible collision detection, clunky controls and boring gameplay that follows a tedious loop. Having upgrades that permanently improve your powers is a cool idea, but the gameplay is so miserable that none of the additional stuff they try here pays off in execution.
An action platformer with horrible collision detection, clunky controls and boring gameplay that follows a tedious loop. Having upgrades that permanently improve your powers is a cool idea, but the gameplay is so miserable that none of the additional stuff they try here pays off in execution.
superman has a super meter in this game and if it runs out he turns into clark and this game is hard so if you turn into clark and you're surrounded by guys you're probably dead
This is 8 year old me's rating. It may not have been great but I played the hell out of it.
Kemco's Superman is a very unimpressive looking NES game. The characters are all drawn in a terrible looking SD style, animation is limited, backgrounds are either fairly bland or nonexistent, and to top it all off the framerate dips terribly similar to Ikari Warriors or The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout (another Kemco game).
You'll also be greeted by a fairly annoying music track upon beginning the game. The rest of the soundtrack is alright fortunately from what I heard. Weirdly this track is actually in Superman III, which kind of astounds me. So no main theme from the movie, but we'll put in some random music from a scene where a kid almost gets mutilated by farm equipment. I guess that makes sense. Hilariously, the Famicom version does have the theme which means they must've had legal trouble when bringing this over here. At least that's what I would assume.
The jumping is terrible here, not exactly because you have to press up on the dpad, but because Clark always jumps at least 40 feet into the air and it always feels super floaty thanks to the framerate. One nice thing at least is that your punch seems to have a hitbox the size of a van, which will help when the enemies all home in on your ass as soon as you enter a room.
Also, for some reason when you take too many hits as Superman you turn back into Clark Kent. The devs know Superman is just Superman right? Clark isn't a magical girl who transforms into Superman or whatever. Why does he need a subway pass? What dickbrained asshole is asking him for it? Sorry Supes, no exceptions! These are things that linger in your mind a lot as you're playing this because it's just really boring and not that fun, which is probably the highest sin any game could commit. It's not the worst game or anything, but I definitely didn't enjoy it.
Maybe you do? Nah, no way.
You'll also be greeted by a fairly annoying music track upon beginning the game. The rest of the soundtrack is alright fortunately from what I heard. Weirdly this track is actually in Superman III, which kind of astounds me. So no main theme from the movie, but we'll put in some random music from a scene where a kid almost gets mutilated by farm equipment. I guess that makes sense. Hilariously, the Famicom version does have the theme which means they must've had legal trouble when bringing this over here. At least that's what I would assume.
The jumping is terrible here, not exactly because you have to press up on the dpad, but because Clark always jumps at least 40 feet into the air and it always feels super floaty thanks to the framerate. One nice thing at least is that your punch seems to have a hitbox the size of a van, which will help when the enemies all home in on your ass as soon as you enter a room.
Also, for some reason when you take too many hits as Superman you turn back into Clark Kent. The devs know Superman is just Superman right? Clark isn't a magical girl who transforms into Superman or whatever. Why does he need a subway pass? What dickbrained asshole is asking him for it? Sorry Supes, no exceptions! These are things that linger in your mind a lot as you're playing this because it's just really boring and not that fun, which is probably the highest sin any game could commit. It's not the worst game or anything, but I definitely didn't enjoy it.
Maybe you do? Nah, no way.