Superman has never had much luck when it comes to solo video games, but it seems that a promising game starring the Man of Steel nearly happened more than 10 years ago. Video game developer @DevSalvatrix recently shared information on Twitter about a Superman game that she was the lead designer on around 2007/2008. The game was reportedly in development at Factor 5, which was responsible for the excellent GameCube game Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. The Superman game would have apparently coincided with the release of a sequel to Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns (which also didn’t happen).
According to @DevSalvatrix, the game would have taken a lot of inspiration from the Justice League Unlimited cartoon, allowing players to cut loose as Superman. “Aerial brawling, large urban environments, crashing through buildings, fast target engagement” and more were planned, and the goal was to give Superman enemies to fight in his weight class, with concept art shown of Darkseid, Livewire, and Brimstone. An early prototype of the game can be found in the Tweet below.
Videos by ComicBook.com
And videos! This was our first playable prototype during pre-production. Obviously art is still placeholder, though more polished assets are starting to get swapped in such as Supes and Zod.
But it shows brawling while crashing through offices!https://t.co/QI3wEdZBUD
— Salvatrix (@DevSalvatrix) July 14, 2021
From the way @DevSalvatrix describes the Superman game, it was pretty far along. According to the developer, Factor 5 “had it fully working as a prototype and were shifting to full production.” Alas, the project was never meant to be. The economic crash apparently led to the game’s cancellation, and Factor 5 closed in 2009. The developer went on to state that the biggest regret of her career was “not being able to see this through to release.”
The gaming industry is filled with stories like this one and promising games that never saw the light of day. It’s a shame that Superman is best known for one of the worst Nintendo 64 games ever made, when the Man of Steel clearly deserves better. Hopefully one day a developer will give the character the treatment he so richly deserves!
Would you like to see a good Superman video game made? Are you disappointed that this game never saw the light of day? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
[H/T: Reddit]
