Why is there no excellent Superman game?
Blog Andrew Joseph 12 Jul , 2025 0
Superman may be widely regarded as one of the greatest pop culture icons of all time, but in one field, even the Iron Man is trying to fly. Why haven't there been any Superman video games over the years? Where is Superman’s answer to Rocksteady Studios’ Batman Arkham series or Insomniac’s Spider-Man Games?
With James Gunn's Superman film bringing Kal-El back into focus, let's take a step back to explore Superman's incredible history of rock games and why there's still no great Superman game after all.
Superman's ugly game history
In many ways, the problem of correctly portraying Superman in the game is no different from movies, TV, and even comics. He is a very powerful character. Some would argue that he was overwhelmed. When a person has this level of power, speed and invincibility, not to mention all other convenient forces (such as flight and thermal vision), it is difficult to portray him as a weak person. How do you build a game around a basically all-rounder, but still bring challenges to players?
The issue of superhuman power
Some Superman games make the mistake of weakening Superman or getting rid of him. The history of this problem can be traced back to the first Superman game, the 1978 Atari 2600 Superman. Like many licensed games on this system, you have to squint and even identify those blocky, original materials in the original graphics. But this is not the core issue of the game.
Superman asked the player to fix Lex Luthor's damage to the metropolis and capture the villain and his escorts as short as possible. Exposure to Kryptonite causes Superman to lose power, and the only treatment is Lois Lane's kiss. It's not the most auspicious beginning for Iron Man.
NES gaming is the perfect example of this frustrating trend. Similar to contemporaries like Castlevania II: Simon's Mission and Zelda II's Legend: Link's Adventure, NES Superman uses a top-down Overlld Map, which transforms into various side-scrolling action levels. However, the game committed the same sin as many superhero games of the time by locking Superman's various powers behind a limited-used special meter. Combining the difficulty level of universal bluntness and punishment, make sure NES Superman has never played much fun.
You don't really get your feeling as a superman when your flight, thermal vision, X-ray vision and other forces are associated with a special instrument that is quickly exhausted. It seems like he doesn't usually have to evaluate his power in comics and movies.
Superman's Ordinary '90s Stage
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, some new Superman games were released, including Taito's 1988 Superman Arcade Game and 1992's Sega Genesis Side-Scroller. These games don't hide superhuman powers like their predecessors. The problem during this period is that Superman has been relegated to the universal side roller and jump champion – the same fare gamers are flooded throughout the industry.
The most famous release of this crop is the 1994 “The Death and Return of Superman”. Based on popular comic crossovers, the game actor plays Superman and his comic replacements such as Elimination and Steel. Basically, this is DC's answer to Spider-Man: The biggest slaughter, i.e. the wisdom of a current superhero game is “making an arcade-style cape if in doubt.” Can keep Superman public consciousness, but not suitable for games that really take advantage of his vast power. It's hard to really feel like an Iron Man when you just move right and slam the endless universal enemies.
The Notorious Superman 64
Superman's game fate seemed to be slow in the 90s, just to get the franchise to 1999's Superman: New Adventure. Or we all know, Superman 64. In short, Superman 64 is still widely regarded as one of the worst games of all time, with clumsy flight controls, frustrating difficulties and more bugs, even more than Superman's hot visual hopes melt. This doesn't look exactly the same either.
Superman 64 highlights the problem that no game really nails the art of controlling Superman in a 3D environment. Superman 64 forces players to guide a clumsy Steelman in a foggy metropolis through a series of endless rings and obstacle courses. Later, Superman’s rewards will emerge with better, more intuitive flight control systems, but the lack of Superman games means no one iterates on that design.
Fortunately, the series did rebound with the release of 2002's Superman: Shadow of Apokolips on PS2 and Gamecube. Compared to Superman 64, the game does a better job of capturing the look and feel of the animated series. That is, the gameplay has never matched the production value. If it is usually considered the best Superman game ever, it still condemns it with faint praise.
Superman Protector
Some more modern games go in a different direction by making Superman himself invincible but centered on saving civilians and protecting metropolises. In some ways, it feels like a step in the right direction. The key to understanding Superman is to realize that despite being powerful, he can’t save everyone. He does have limitations.
For example, Xbox got its own Superman game in 2002, appearing in the form of Superman: Iron Man. Based on comics rather than animated series or movies, the game brings Supers to Brainiac. Although the game successfully provides players with control of various super abilities, poor control and emphasis on protection tasks is a doom or two.
Then there is Superman Reward in 2006, a game with interesting ideas but underexecuted. The game features the movie’s characters along with other iconic Superman villains like Bizarro and Metallo. To its credit, the game does not have the ability limits to Superman as it introduces an open world version of the metropolis. In fact, Iron Man himself is actually invincible, and the Metropolitan itself has a health plan. But between the bad controls, the same bad graphics, and the last boss of the game is a literal tornado, Superman’s return is finally cut.
Building the game around rescuing innocent bystanders (such as Superman: Iron Man) or protecting the metropolis itself (such as Superman Returns) can be a frustrating exercise. The protection mission in the game is always a tough sell. Without fine-tuned controls and NPC AI, you can't always actively fight players, these tasks can be exacerbated at best, and at worst it can cause total anger.
How should Superman franchise move forward?
Shockingly, this is Kal-El's gaming career. It's almost 20 years since Superman Returns was released, and Iron Man hasn't appeared in another dedicated game. His subsequent game appearances are limited to Justice League-centric series such as Injustice: The Gods among Us and Lego Batman. Superman can also be played in Fortnite, but he is basically just a guy who flies and shoots lasers. At some point, it seems that the developers have given up trying to crack Superman code.
The gaming world has not yet provided a satisfying superhuman experience that embraces all his incredible power while still creating a sense of danger. What is a key? Do you load enemies with k-stone weapons? Did you follow the example of the unfair game and create a super-intensity best MacGuffin to upgrade the game venue?
Maybe there is a better question to ask. Does Superman really need combat? Of course, Telltale has achieved the success of the Batman series in the adventure game environment. Can Superman benefit from a similar narrative-driven approach? Can a mature Superman click adventure game go? Maybe, but there are other ways to underestimate the superhero game.
We are seeing modern AAA games (like Death Stranding, which starts to emphasize combat power) support other mechanics (some would say that if you avoid combat completely, Death Stranding will be better). Perhaps the key is to get rid of the focus of traditional action games in search of other ways to explore and harness the power of Superman.
The 2005 Colossus provides another possible way forward. The game isn't without action, but it does break the traditional mold by focusing on exploring and limiting combat to battles with a handful of large boss characters. Maybe that's the key to getting Superman right. Rather than comparing him with a general fool like Parademons or Intergang agents with his attitude, it should be a focus on a handful of epic, long boss fights. Imagine Kal-El's battle with Kaiju in James Gunn's Superman movie, and you'll get a little bit about how Superman's performance is.
Ultimately, flying rather than fighting is the most important part of Superman’s game. Flying in Superman is indeed the key to overall success, just like the web play in Spider-Man games. Activision identified this element in Spider-Man 2 in 2004, which paved the way for Insomniac to play Spider-Man. We can't say the same for Superman. Without more modern Superman games to take risks and explore possibilities, the characters have completely stalled in this medium.
This may go through some trial and error before the developers hit Kal-El's perfect, Arkham-style formula. This requires DC to prioritize Superman in the video game world again. Fortunately, James Gunn's Superman movie will be a major success, thus becoming the catalyst needed for characters in the game world.
For more information, please check it out The History of Wolverine in Video Games and The long way to perfect Batman in the game.