X-Men

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Konami

Back in 1992, brawlers were pretty popular in arcades, and Konami had some luck in previous years with games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Turtles in Time, and The Simpsons…so, it's no surprise that when they obtained the X-Men license and plopped this game in arcades, it was a hit. Depending on the arcade cabinet, this game can be played with up to six players at once, with various X-Men filling the screen to pummel the bad guys. You've got six different X-Men to choose from: Colossus, Cyclops, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Wolverine. Each one plays differently and has his or her own unique moves and attacks…I've always been a sucker for Nightcrawler and Storm, myself, but the other X-Men are fun to play as, too. Along the way, you'll face WAY too many of the same kind of enemies, though…literally hundreds of sentinels will be smashed to pieces by you and anyone else playing with you. While Konami's earlier brawlers also had this issue, one would have hoped that over the course of three years, they would have found a way to include more variety in opponents. Thankfully, they do a decent job with that in the form of the bosses and minibosses that you encounter. The downside, however, is that nearly all of these bosses can be defeated very easily…if you position yourself just right, you'll be able to just mash the attack button over and over until the boss falls. Anyway, X-Men is still a solid brawler, and if you've got three friends to fight with, it can be quite fun. However, it also feels like more of the same if you're a veteran of Konami's other brawlers released prior to X-Men. But, if you're a fan of the franchise and/or just like beating stuff up in an arcade brawler, you'll probably still find plenty to enjoy here.

Review added: 11/20/2025

Xevious

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Namco

In Xevious, you control the Solvalou starship and fire away at the Xevious forces before they're able to destroy mankind. At your disposal are two different types of weapons: a zapper and a bomb. The two types of weapons are necessary because you'll encounter two classes of enemies. The zapper is used to attack the airborne enemies the zip through the skies. The bombs are needed to destroy the enemies on the ground, too low for you to hit with your zapper. The catch here is that Xevious is a top-down, vertically scrolling game. So, in theory, it may be difficult to determine what needs to be shot at and what needs to be bombed. Thankfully, Namco did a great job designing this game: even first-time players will find it pretty easy to know which enemies need to be hit with which weapon type. Speaking of destroying enemies, destroy enough of certain enemies and the game will replace them with more advanced versions of those enemies, increasing the difficulty of the game. Destroying red radars on the ground will cause the game to return easier enemies to the field, giving you an incentive to go out of your way to destroy them. Occasionally, you'll also come across a "boss fight" of sorts. The Andor Genesis mothership will appear, which is a giant UFO-looking ship. To defeat this beast, you can either destroy all four blaster receptacles on the ship or the ship's core. Xevious wound up being a huge hit for Namco, specifically in Japan, where it had record-breaking sales figures and was the biggest arcade game there since Space Invaders. Here in North America, the success wasn't nearly as huge, but the wild success in Japan alone was enough to cement Xevious as an important game in Namco's history. When it comes to early scrolling shooters, Xevious was one of the best…other games came along later to eclipse it, but for its time, you couldn't find too many better scrolling shooters than Xevious.

Review added: 09/20/2026