X-Men: Children of the Atom is the first in a series of fighting games from Capcom, based on characters from Marvel Comics. It follows the same conventions, and uses the same controls, as the Street Fighter II series and first came out in arcades in 1994 (1995 in North America and Europe).

In single-player mode you can choose one of ten playable characters and must fight against the remaining nine as computer-controlled opponents, and two non-playable boss characters, in a series of ‘best of three’ one-on-one matches. Two players can also fight against each other in versus mode.

The ten playable characters are: Colossus, Cyclops, Iceman, Omega Red, Psylocke, Sentinel, Silver Samurai, Spiral, Storm and Wolverine. The two non-playable boss characters are Juggernaut and Magneto, plus there’s a secret, hidden Street Fighter character (Akuma) who appears in match six if the requirements are met. Unlike in some fighting games, the player cannot play against a clone of their own character.

The plot is loosely based on the “Fatal Attractions” storyline from the comics, where Magneto plans to unleash an electromagnetic pulse that will disrupt the Earth’s magnetic field ushering in a new dark age.

Children of the Atom features manual or ‘auto guard’ blocking (if you choose the latter some features in the game become unavailable); ‘super jumps’; ‘super finishes’; projectile anticipation (the ability to predict where an opponent will shoot); recovery rolls after falling, and follow-up attacks after throwing an opponent.

Both combatants also have an “X-Power” bar that builds up as they perform regular and special moves. When the X-Power meter is half full an aura will surround a character until the meter completely fills to maximum, at which point they can perform an ‘X-Ability‘ or a ‘Hyper X‘ special move (which consumes a portion of their X-Power).

Compared to its successor (Marvel Super Heroes), X-Men: Children of the Atom looks a little rough around the edges. The graphics are not quite as ‘on point’ as they are in Capcom‘s later Marvel fighting games, but the gameplay is still fast, fluid and fun. It’s also damn challenging, requiring practise to make progress in.

Ports of X-Men: Children of the Atom were released for the Sega Saturn (in 1995/1996); for Windows PCs (in 1997), and for the Sony PlayStation (in 1998).

More: X-Men: Children of the Atom on Wikipedia