The Uncanny X-Men (video game)

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The Uncanny X-Men
The Uncanny X-Men
North American cover art
Developer(s) Unknown
Publisher(s) LJN Toys Ltd.
Series X-Men
Platform(s) NES[1]
Release date(s)
  • NA December 1989
Genre(s) 2D action platformer
Mode(s) Single-player or cooperative[1]
Distribution 4-megabit cartridge

The Uncanny X-Men, sometimes referred to as Marvel's X-Men, is an action video game released by LJN for the NES in 1989.[1] It is a licensed game based on the series of X-Men comics of the same name by Marvel Comics. The lineup of characters in the game is very close to those appearing in the 1989 animated pilot X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men.

The Uncanny X-Men is one of the handful of titles by LJN that was developed by an undisclosed external developer. It has been speculated to be developed by Atlus, however. It is also the second-to-last game to be released under the Enteractive Video Games label and the last to be released before LJN was sold to Acclaim Entertainment.


Fighting against robots in the Future City Street Fight level

The object is to use several X-Men characters, each with special powers, to complete a series of missions. The powers of each character come in handy on particular missions. The game allows for either one or two players.[1] If the 1-Player mode is selected, the player will be joined by an AI ally. The playable characters available are Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Iceman.[1] There are five bosses in order of appearance: Boomerang, Sabretooth, Juggernaut, The White Queen, and Magneto.

Each character has an unlimited attack (either a punch or some type of projectile) and a special move that uses their energy and would kill the character if it was used up too much. The game required the player to fight their way to the boss in each stage, sometimes requiring the collection of items such as keys. After the boss is defeated, the player has to quickly fight their way back to the beginning of the level before a bomb goes off. There are five missions: "Practice", "Future City Street Fight", "Search And Destroy The Robot Factory", "Subterranean Confrontation" and "Battle Through A Living Starship".

A sixth mission where the player battles Magneto can be accessed after the first five levels have been completed; to access the level the player must press Select, B, up on the control pad, and Start simultaneously on the game's level selection screen. A label is printed on the back of the cartridge telling players how to access this final level, but the label does not display the full combination of button presses needed. This is because the creators originally meant for parts of the text displayed at the end of each level to provide the player with the missing part of the code, as well as instruct the player to combine the revealed information with the label on the cartridge to discover the full code.[2]


  1. ^ a b c d e f "The Uncanny X-Men for NES - GameFAQs". Retrieved 2012-01-09. 
  2. ^ "X-Men (NES) - The Cutting Room Floor". Retrieved 2013-07-15. 

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