Coming completely out of nowhere, Konami has just released an iOS port of the classic 1992 arcade game X-Men. The game was just released in the New Zealand App Store a few hours ago, and will slowly filter out to the rest of the world during the course of the day, finally arriving in the US at 11pm Eastern time.
In case you didn’t already know, the thing to do back in the late 80s and early 90s was release side-scrolling beat ‘em up games. The genre really took off after the success of games like Double Dragon and Final Fight, but there were tons of other great beat ‘em ups during the era as well. X-Men is one of the great ones.
One of the great things about these games in the arcade was the ability to play simultaneously with your buddies. Hopefully the iOS X-Men utilizes some form of multiplayer to take advantage of up to 4-player co-op, whether it be locally via WiFi or Bluetooth, or – dare I say it – online through Game Center. Unfortunately the app description doesn’t say.
Another thing to consider is how well the game will control using virtual buttons, though if the recent releases of Final Fight in Capcom Arcade [Free] and the remake of Double Dragon [$3.99] are any indication, then there is hope that the controls will be just fine.
At any rate, I’m stoked to get X-Men on my iPhone and iPad (it’s universal). Of course, that brings up the question of whether this opens the door for Konami to release The Simpsons Arcade Game or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, two other beloved beat ‘em ups from that era. Only time will tell, and at the very least X-Men is a great place to start.
You can check out early impressions from international gamers in our forums, and the New Zealand App Store link is below. We’ll take X-Men for a spin when it hits the US App Store later tonight and let you know how it turned out.
International App Store Link: X-Men, $2.99 (Universal)
This is hysterical, it covers most of the screen.
I'd agree with this evaluation.
Although I have actually ordered one of the iPad flings, but then that obscures proportionally very little of the display.
Would it not have been better to rethink the design ie. as two parallel flexes curving _under_ the display, rather than just reusing the same spiral?
If you want it, it could be done, and done so much better.
I guess they couldn't quite make it block the entire screen...
or I could use my thumbs and actually see what i'm doing
Wow i have a feeling they spent more developing the thing than they will ever make in sales...why would anyone want a pair of joysticks that blocks the view of mostly everything on the screen? I wish apple would just stop being so damn stubborn and release a proper bluetooth api I know they want to dictate how and what you do on their devices but all it would do is help sales and all the touchy stuff that is out there now would continue to be cranked out.
YES!!! I totally agree with your last point. If Apple released an API for controller it could truly rule the handheld gaming market. That's all it's missing. Aaaargh!
Fling tagline should read: Now with smaller suction cups!
Not a chance, its a phone not a portable game system.
iPod Touch, and iPad are phones??? They are certainly not designed as dedicated gaming machines if that's what you mean, but for many, gaming is the primary function of these devices.
No need for BT necessarily: Apple officially supports custom hardware, so controllers (Gamebone etc.) are possible. The sky is the limit! And those things don’t need separate charging/batteries. I can see the appeal of BT as well, but I think I’d prefer a dock-connector accessory.
I think the advantage of a standard API created by Apple is that it would create a standard for both hardware manufacturers and game developers to use, rather than a fragmented market where certain games work with certain controllers.
Wireless or no, we do need a standard, I agree! I’d be OK with some non-Apple companies coming together to agree on the standard; it could be Apple’s doing, but it doesn’t have to be. If such a standard emerges, I hope it supports multiple analog and digital axes.
I'm not sure they spent much developing this version; just scaled the known-to-work iPad design, while a rethink would easily come up with a better option for the smaller displays.
..mini? that's too big for the screen! i can see almost nothing on the screen other than that "mini" pad!
and bullshit that's a "mini" version, I bet its the same exact size as the ipad one with "mini" written on it.
Incorrect, here are two Fling controllers for the iPad-
http://i.imgur.com/jm731.jpg
Love that pic! Too funny.
Can't really see myself using these on my touch, but they might be better for an iPad verus the original Fling.
NO.
Is it April 1st already?
Ha...really, someone thought this was a good product..? It's got to be a joke. I hate to use these overused words....but EPIC FAIL! Even if it works good, it looks like hell and you can't see the screen.
Ohhh yeah it's comming. I am so getting this enless I get an ipad first
I don't think they are necessary anyways.
iPads or iPhones work fine with touch controls. If a game is made poorly those won't help. And sadly that's the reason so many games with touchpads don't work well.
It's not the physicality but rather bad programming that makes games clunky.
That aside they are kind of neat. I can't see that that takes up much more space than my fat non-transparent thumbs :)
Personally, I'm not interested in anything that makes the iPhone fatter, less pocketable, or harder to see. So cases, screen protectors, camera mounts, bluetooth thumb-boards, and this crazy thing are of no interest to me.
At least it looks cheap enough to manufacture so there's a fat margin on the $25 asking price. I can't imagine they'll sell a lot of these.
For what it's worth, they've sold a ridiculous amount of the iPad version and now they're even sold through Apple Stores. I know it's cool to scoff at these around here, but $25 isn't exactly out of line for iOS accessory pricing.
Which only proves P.T. Barnum was right.
You can simply say "they pay for ad on our site, so we must support them somehow".
I've read a bunch of negative comments for this thing.
The only awkward defensive comments are from you and from the creator of this thing pretending to be random users.
I don't think there's ANYTHING "cool" happening here, sorry. :-)
Glad they're selling through. I'll wait for something that doesn't ruin the nice lines of my precious little machine.
$25 for suction cup apparatuses that look like cancerous growths coming out of the screen
I think the Fling folks have lost some credibility with these things. Ridiculous.
I might actually try this out, but I''m not preordering. I'll wait for reviews to see if they are as obstructive as they appear in the picture. Maybe they're more transparent in person than they appear to be in the photos? But yeah pretty dang big contraptions...
Like our thumbs didn't cover enough
Yeah, but if I want to see whats going under my thumbs it is much more easy to take out my thumbs from the screen than these things.
Waiting for the Nano edition.
this is silly. Really. I think the point is, devs need to concentrate on making games which properly take advantage of the touchscreen (or motion sensing) interface rather than rely on such ludicrous hackery. Of course I recognize this contraption's "right to exist," but any developer who expects this to be used to actually derive some sort of a decent experience with their app.. well, I don't see it happening (pun most certainly intended)
I can only assume this article is some sort of practical joke. If not, then that has to be the most ridiculous iAccessory I have ever seen. The thing covers most of the screen. Seriously, I would be amazed if they sold many of these. And $25? For the privilege of having most of my screen covered? No thanks.
LMAO
Ridiculous.
"...it seems like every time I post about this we get comment threads full of naysayers."
Case in point.
I was actually going to order when i see the articles but when i scroll down and see the pictures that cover so much of the iphone, i give up buying it. I hope there is a better version that dont cover so much!!!
Btw what is the game that has the mini controller on it? I wanna play that game!!!
+1 that! It looks like a game nitrome made a couple of months ago. Worm something...
What if your phone rings and you need to answer it? These things are nothing more than a nusance and a marketing gimmick. Just get a NGP and call it a day.
This controller reminds me of the 'facehugger' things from the alien movies, and its just as disgusting.
LOL, this is bordering on insane. Let's face it, you can't play all genres decently on a touch screen. So where's that official Apple games controller, come on now, this has gone on long enough.
am i the only one here who wants one???
Sounds like a pretty good plan when you think about it. Wow.
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