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[DESTROYA]

After putting some thought into it the only things I can think of is involving Darkseid and have it on Apokolips while sprinkling in some New Gods into the story line.
There are some great stories involving Cyborg Superman and the Eradicator that would equalize any power advantage Superman has.
Doomsday?
I don’t know how the story would play out but it could start with Darkseid attacking earth looking for the Anti-Life equation or whatever and going from there.

 

[manfestival]

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/a-look-back-at-superman-video-games.1228759/ dude already did the work and presented all the games here, see if any look good to you but I'm gonna guess, no.

That thread... is so depressing. I am not even a superman fan. I am not even a superman fan and looking at it horrifies me.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Sky is the limit for a Superman game, possible game changer.

 

[PocoJoe]

It is really simple:

A) he is too strong
B) he is too pure

Make him strong in game = no limits. Nothing would stop me to burn every man, woman and child alive while ripping everything into pieces.

Now how can you make a Superman game? It is impossible because Superman is the player, and player is or isnt as pure as Superman.

His pureness and kindness is the essense of the character and you just cant code that into game because nothing stops you to do evil shit

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

Should be pretty easy. I mean, just don't have him fighting bank robbers and stupid shit like that. In the comics he was always getting the crap kicked out of himself. He's super strong? Yea, so get an even stronger villain. Why is that so hard to do in a game but not other media?

 

[ZeMMiK]

all the budget goes in the cape and then the budget is gone and everybody in tears.

 

[PumpkinPie]

I think it was a missed opportunity not doing a Superman game in the style of the Arkham games.

 

[Lupin3]

In the comics he was always getting the crap kicked out of himself. He's super strong? Yea, so get an even stronger villain.

A steel bar will suffice.

 

[Guardian's Light]

I will never undestand why the hell they force themselves in making a Superman game because yes, when is a) clearly not a character Well suited for videogames and b) they literally have dozens of characters worth a shot as a protagonist in a videogame, like The Flash, Green Arrow, and so on

I read they tried to finish two or three concepts for a Superman game since 2013, then discarded them all
If is not working, simply go on with something else, dammit


Telltale games would have been a perfect candidate for a Superman game tho

 

[Gargus]

How can you be baffled?

It's simply because how exactly do you make a game where the character you play is indestructible by normal means, can run faster than sound, has heat vision, freeze breath, can fly, survive in space and underwater, can go into the sun, has super strength and endurance, and is highly intelligent?

Basically youd have to make a game where he is fighting things for 16 plus hours that are even more powerful than him. Unless you put him in a different galaxy where everything is a match for him which would be no fun because you cant include anyone else, or you make the entire game a non stop string of every DC villain in a row one after the other who can withstand at least one punch from him. Or you strip his powers but who the hell wants to play as a superman that can get his ass kicked by a hobo?

It's easy to figure out, superman is just too super for a conventional video game.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Think outside of the box.

1) have a superman game where X villain has taken over the military (or whatever) and supplied kryptonite guns to people invading metropolis or wherever.

2) A game that focuses on the soul and purity/kindness of superman. If you're a dick you become weaker and your powers are less effective.

3) Use supermans super abilities to help out bad shit going down. Just because you're superman doesn't mean every one else is. Start the game slow, you're saving kittens from trees, eventually you're saving building collapsing etc. Have a scene ala Dark knight where Superman is forced to make a decision and saves the wrong person (on purpose). The game would be superman going mental and losing grip on his reality because he can't save everyone.

Make it an emotional story where he battles against his own decency to be everywhere at once, until he takes a kryptonite loaded pistol from a draw and blows his own brains out.

 

[bitbydeath]

He’d only be good in a DBZ game but Goku would still smash him.

 

[FMXVII]

I fucking LOVED that game, back in the day

My local 7-11 was surprisingly legit.

 

[Ikutachi]

Think outside of the box.

Clark Kent segments.

 

[zcaa0g]

Superman may be over powered but it could work between creatively leveraging Kryptonite and having to make difficult decisions or puzzle scenarios regarding hostages and the like. Immersive flight characteristics for a flying person would be challenging though as you don't want it to be like controlling a flying camera or fly like a WW2 bird.

 

[Belmonte]

He is too powerful to have criminals and terrorists as enemies but did you guys played Injustice 2? Brainiac seemed so dangerous in the story mode that it convinced me he could wipe the floor with Superman. Destroyer and collector of worlds, ridiculously intelligent, with aeons of knowledge of every race and culture he enslaved, with an world size army of cybernetic enhanced zombies...

There are many entities bigger and more dangerous than Superman in DC Comics. At least is what my Superman specialist friend told me. And magic is also a weakness of him, not only kryptonite.

 

[Sejan]

Superman is not well designed to be a video game protagonist. He has too many powers and too few weaknesses. Thugs and criminals would make poor fodder for him to face in most cases because of the power differentiation. Because the sun is his source of power, it would take groan worthy contrivances to bring his power level to a point that would make the gameplay itself work. You can just give every criminal a gun and dozens of kryptonite tipped bullets when kryptonite is supposed to be incredibly rare and invaluable.

Superman served a great purpose with his creation, but he is not well suited to much of modern media with video games perhaps being the worst fit. The best option would be to give other heroes that better fit the medium the lime light.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

why dont put Superman in other planet or dimension with aliens or more enemies with more power?

 

[Scotty W]

According to the AVGN there is a leaked rom of a PS1 port of Superman 64, which is much superior graphically and gameplay wise... so it seems that the 64 version was force released early.

Still, why anyone would want to waste their time on it, I don't understand.

 

[abcdrstuv]

Yep. That's the problem.

Now, a Superman game that would actually work would be one where he's been stripped over most of his powers and gets them back over the course of the game. That way you're not overpowered from the very beginning. Recovering his powers allows for the whole Metrovania style of play, as well.

I've also thought it could work if you had something like districts of the city that had been kryptonite-ized in some way or variety of ways - so you start underpowered and then become superpowered when you clear the source of the kryptonite diffuser or kryptonite-charged radio waves or sun-blocking dome or whatever.

I also like the idea of having to "check in" as Clark every so often or suffer negative consequences - and maybe some kind of reputation meter based on how many cats you save from trees - in cleared districts it could be some kind of cut-scene like turbo mode where you just hold a button and zip from problem to problem.. and/or a "conscience meter" if you don't/can't intervene - the character is naturally "overpowered" but has limits, constraints and vulnerabilities anyway.

Seems like a lot to balance, though - so that you're not just re-skinning Arkham Asylum.. whoever gets it right will probably get it really right.

 

[abcdrstuv]

Like, the crux of the character is that 9/10 times he's overpowered, but also overburdened by responsibilities and dilemmas..

 

[BlackTron]

There is a scene in the first Tobey Spider-Man where Green Goblin says "This is why only fools are heroes - because you never know when some lunatic will come along with a sadistic choice". Spidey must choose between saving the girl he loves or a bus full of kids.

This is the template for a successful Superman game. Yes the dude is OP, but make it about your own attention management and multitasking ability as the gamer controlling Superman.

Imagine Crazy Taxi where there are fares popping up constantly everywhere and if you don't get to each one fast enough, they're dead!

 

[Diddy X]

Because he is too powerful, he can travel too fast, destroy anything, making that into a game seems complicated, I still think they will eventually come up with something interesting but will likely have superman nerfed so the game can make some sense lol

 

[daninthemix]

its the same reason why its hard to make a good superman movie. the big problem with superman is that hes too strong, he kills all tension and emotional value that can exist on a story. so a lot of the time in movies or media they create an artificial temporary weakness for him. which is just lame and often times the stake is not his life but others

its really hard to design a game around him because how would you go about it with the current superman? he can plow through the ground. survive being in the sun, shoot lasers out of his eyes and kill anything, out-strength anything and survive everything. how would you actually limit the player from doing anything they want without artificially making restrictions that just don't add up to the character?. to make a good superman game you'd have to make it a bit more comic-book style and child oriented rather than a gritty game like spiderman or batman

it won't work that way. you can make a good superman game, just not a gritty serious one. that one is not possible to make unless you change the lore of superman to make him a bit weaker.

All good points. As you say the only weakness would be saving other people before time runs out, which are among the worst kind of mission designs anyway.

It's an impossible task.

 

[GreenAlien]

Maybe not a Superman game.. but a Smallville one, where he is weaker because he has to learn to control his powers first. . Also, you could put the focus on character interaction and choice, staying "low key" to not be unmasked, make the game more about using your powers for investigation/covertly helping people instead of only combat..