X-Men: Children of the Atom (video game)

X-Men: Children of the Atom
Arcade flyer
DeveloperCapcom
PublisherCapcom
DirectorsAkira Nishitani
Noritaka Funamizu
Kei Hiratou
Kiyoshi Nishikawa
T.H.T. Fuji
Atsushi Tomita
MS-DOS
Amy Smith-Boylan
ProducersMS-DOS
Tim Bradstock
SeriesX-Men
PlatformsArcade, Sega Saturn, MS-DOS, PlayStation
Release
December 1994
  • Arcade
    • JP: December 1994
    • NA: January 5, 1995
    • EU: 1995
    Saturn
    • JP: November 22, 1995
    • NA: April 3, 1996
    • EU: April 12, 1996
    MS-DOS
    • NA: June 1997
    • EU: 1997
    PlayStation
    • NA: March 3, 1998
    • EU: 1998
GenreFighting
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer
Arcade systemCP System II

X-Men: Children of the Atom (Japanese: エックス・メン チルドレン オブ ジ アトム, Hepburn: Ekkusu Men Chirudoren obu ji Atomu) is a 1994 fighting game developed and published by Capcom and released on the CP System II arcade hardware. It was released in December 1994 in Japan and in January 1995 in North America and Europe.

Based on the X-Men comic book, it is the first fighting game produced by Capcom using characters under license from Marvel Comics. Released around the time of the mid-1990s X-Men animated series, the game features the voice actors from the series reprising their roles. The game's plot is based on the "Fatal Attractions" story from the comics. Players control one of the X-Men or their enemies in their fight against the villain Magneto. They face each of the other characters in best of three one-on-one fighting matches, before battling Juggernaut and Magneto.

The gameplay has much in common with Capcom's previous fighting games, Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Darkstalkers (both 1994). Children of the Atom adds a combo system that features long combos that can even be performed in mid-air. Also featured in the game are various tactical maneuvers, including the ability for characters to roll. Children of the Atom introduced multi-tiered fighting environments in which the ground would crumble and characters would fall into lower parts of the level. These concepts and the fast pace of the game would provide the basis for Capcom's Marvel vs. Capcom series, which began with X-Men vs. Street Fighter in 1996.

Ports of the game were released for Sega Saturn, PlayStation and MS-DOS. Of these, the PlayStation version was not as well received as the other versions, suffering from slowdown and missing frames of animation.