After watching the Angry Video Game Nerd's review of Superman, there comes a question of can there be a good Superman game made? It is possible but whether or not it gets done is another story. You would think making a game based off one of the most famous and popular superheroes of all-time wouldn't be difficult but alas it has proven to be just that. Everyone knows who the Man of Steel is and has been in multiple media adaptations outside of the video game world. He is in comic books, TV, and sometimes get parodied on TV shows like Family Guy for example.
The big question is what is the proper gaming style to put him in for it to work? You could try the action if that is the base. Certainly not RPG because it just wouldn't feel right at all and neither would be a FPS game. There is the style that was made famous with a popular franchise like Double Dragon with a Beat "Em Up Style or something like Gradius in a Shoot "Em Up going in either a horizontal or vertical direction. Of course, there is a popular genre called Fighting that could potentially work depending upon the type of game you are looking to see. Most likely, you could expect it like a Street Fighter-like concept. That's not necessarily a bad thing and can work if done right.
What type of story should be done that would be different? Well, this isn't going to be easy to be original but I will try and give it a go.
In this game, Superman is asleep and in this dream is a what-if scenario of Krypton not exploding and Superman living there. It would involve some evil Kryptonians such as Jax-Ur and Mala in the mix. Possibly even Brainiac into the mix as well and would probably make for an interesting battle. The basic plot would be simple, except instead of taking over Earth it would be Krypton. There may be a few others that could potentially work like Bizarro or the Cyborg Superman, maybe even an evil clone of the Man of Steel. Each would go into a story and would have a narration of The Man of Steel asleep and would then bring it into Krypton telling a story of what-if Krypton had never blown up in the first place.
The idea would be about a 4 or 5 level game depending upon the villain usage of course. Each will have a boss and could work as a 2D side scroller more so than a 3D aspect. It could have great graphics but what is that if the game isn't that good? As far as the right system, I don't think it honestly matters so much. Any of them could work at all.
Now, this idea is purely a coincidence to anything that may have been read in the DC Comics. I've never read it at all so that's not where it came from. Regardless, Superman is still one of the most popular superheroes of all-time. How long will this last? Nobody can say for sure. At this moment, you can find it on an animated series on Toon Disney and maybe on Boomerang with the old Super Friends shows. Maybe at some point there could become a time where Superman can become a hit in the gaming industry. While there are no apologies for the past, there is a way to make these games better for the future.
