Welcome to 16-Bit Brawl, a series where we pit two Sega Genesis and Super NES games against one another to see which one comes out on top. Let's talk X-Men… AGAIN! 

I really didn’t plan on revisiting this one again so soon, but after I made the video version, the comments were overwhelmingly loaded with people saying I should have compared Clone Wars instead. The only problem was, I had never put much time into Clone Wars. That, however, HAS CHANGED! 

So, now that I’ve spent some time with the superior Genesis X-Men game, let’s see how it stacks up against Capcom’s SNES classic. 

First up, we have our reigning champion, X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse. This is a Super NES action game made by Capcom at their best. This game in particular isn’t their best, but it’s still pretty darn cool. It’s got a great look, some thrashy music, and the gameplay is awesome. The character selection is pretty nice too, and it’s already soundly beaten the first X-Men for Genesis. Can it do it again? 

Next, we have the challenger, X-Men 2: Clone Wars. Honestly, with all the praise this game was getting in the comments I was sure I was walking into a genuine masterpiece here, but well… it’s better than the first one, I’ll give it that. 

X-Men 2 is a weird game, and a very ambitious one. It takes the general ideas of the first game and attempts to refine them into something genuinely cool. It’s got a pretty vocal fanbase, and it’s not hard to see why. You can play as Magneto once you unlock him, the visuals are pretty cool, the music is memorable, and it’s got this wacky cold open where the game just starts without any title screen or anything. It’s no doubt a very cool game, but is it better than Mutant Apocalypse? 

Now that we’ve taken a closer look at the combatants, let’s see how they fare. It’s time for a 16-Bit Brawl… REMATCH!

Graphics (1 point)

Now this is a close one. On one hand, Mutant Apocalypse looks fantastic. On the other hand, Clone Wars is no slouch either. The SNES game is definitely brighter, which was Capcom’s style at the time. Clone Wars has a more gritty look, which definitely works in its favor. 

In terms of art direction, I might give the slight edge to Clone Wars. Characters look super cool in Mutant Apocalypse, but while they’re more detailed overall, their proportions are better in Clone Wars. Everyone’s heads are too small on the SNES for some reason. 

However, in terms of animation, the SNES definitely has the edge. Not only do the characters themselves move more fluidly, but the animation of the action itself is far more effective. Capcom’s always been good at making things feel more tactile, and the animation has a lot to do with that. Cyclops’ optic blasts are a perfect example. They look and feel extremely powerful on the SNES, but they just kind of zap around on the Genesis. 

On the other hand, Clone Wars has some really cool environmental effects. The snow in the first level, the exploding Sentinel escape, that wacky spinning floor, this game is brimming with some truly excellent tricks.  

But in terms of overall presentation, the SNES game has the advantage. The story sequences in Clone Wars are just these boring text crawls, while Mutant Apocalypse has these great-looking still shots. Even the character select screen looks cooler on SNES. 

They both succeed at different things in different ways, and it honestly evens out in the end. This one's a tie. 

X-Men 2: Clone Wars - l

X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse - l

Sound (1 point)

Yet another tough category, or at least tougher than last time. Mutant Apocalypse has some great sound design. Some of its sound effects could be better, but the vast majority of them are very effective. The music is also pretty cool, if a little on the forgettable side (except Beast’s smooth tunes). Some of the instrument choices come off as a little bit weird too, but overall the music never gets in the way. 

Clone Wars, though, is a decent step up from the first X-Men on Genesis. The title screen music in particular is absolutely killer. There are some other great tunes too like the escape music in the Sentinel stage and the Brood Queen, but some of the other tunes can get really grating, especially that Sentinel Complex tune. It’s all ambitious though, so I can respect that. 

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But where I think the Genesis game loses this battle is in the sound effects. Mutant Apocalypse isn’t exactly perfect in this regard, but some of the effects in Clone Wars are just plain silly. The Avalon soldiers' guns? What in the world is going on there? And again, Cyclops’ optic blasts. They sound so weak in this game, which is especially bothersome because in practice, they’re absolutely not. 

Of course, when the sound effects do work, they work great, especially the extremely crunchy explosions. I think this one’s yet again too close to call. 

X-Men 2: Clone Wars - ll

X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse - ll

Gameplay (2 points)

I can’t stress enough how many chances I gave Clone Wars to wow me. I put some real time into trying to figure out why so many folks were so adamant about this game being great, and I honestly never got it. It’s fine, but it never actually feels good to play. Your characters lose health way too quickly, none of the mutant powers are all that rewarding to use, and the level design is kind of bad. The camera is also a real issue. It’s almost like the game wasn’t designed to take into account how zoomed in on the action you are. There are constantly enemies just off screen ready to deal damage to you until you memorize the stages. 

Yes, it’s extremely cool that you can play as Magneto, and Clone Wars has Nightcrawler in the mix too, but you want to talk about mutant power that I could never find an actual use for, it’s his teleporting. Now, that’s not to say it’s all bad. I liked how there was a degree of experimentation involved in learning which characters are right for which stages, and some of the ideas behind the things you do in the game are really cool, but I can’t say I had all that much genuine fun going through it. Also, and maybe it’s just because I’m old, but this game is HARD. 

Then there’s the multiplayer, which I thought for sure was going to give this game an edge. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Not only does the performance take a noticeable hit when a second person joins in, but the already iffy camera becomes a complete disaster. It frequently has no idea what to do, and requires you to be way too close to the edge of the screen to actually make it move. 

Meanwhile, Mutant Apocalypse is pretty solid. It’s not without its problems either. It can also be punishingly difficult at times, but again, maybe that’s just me being old. The character movement is also a bit sluggish sometimes. Take Cyclops’ optic blasts again. They’re super powerful, and you have to perform Street Fighter moves to pull it off which is fun, but it’s also pretty limited. In Clone Wars, his blasts may look weak and sound like a whole lot of nothing, but they’re way more useful. You can shoot them at all angles, and they’re much quicker to use. 

The level design is a lot more straightforward too, which makes sense given how much emphasis is put on combat in this one, but it’s never as simple as a typical beat-em up. It doesn’t nail everything, but it comes close. 

Clone Wars is a super ambitious game, and it has my respect. But at the end of the day, I’d much rather be playing Mutant Apocalypse. 

The points go to SNES. 

X-Men 2: Clone Wars - ll

X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse - llll

And there you have it, folks. I was so ready to fall in love with Clone Wars as this great masterpiece I completely missed in my youth, and while I’m glad I can finally say I’ve played it, I can’t say I really enjoyed my time as much as I had hoped. It’s got a lot of cool ideas, but it just doesn’t quite pull them off. Mutant Apocalypse, on the other hand, gets just enough right to pull out on top once again. Granted, I’d much rather play Marvel vs. Capcom 2 or X-Men: The Arcade Game, but as far as mutant-related action at home on a 16-bit machine goes, Capcom has my money for sure. 

The winner is X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse. 

And that’s it for our first rematch on 16-Bit Brawl. I once again can not stress enough that this is just my opinion, and it’s all in good fun! If you like clone Wars better (which I suspect a great many of you do) then good for you! Enjoy it! 

If you have a pair of games you’d like to see us pit against one another, or just genuinely disagree with my assessment here, let us know. See you next time!