20 Comic Book Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

16. X-Men: Children Of The Atom

Superheroes and 2D beat 'em ups go together like hilts and Kaiburr crystals. There's just something about watching Capcom's patented 2D combat engine twinned with designs you're more used to seeing on the page, that when they come to life, really elevates the experience to a whole new level. For Children of the Atom it'd end up being a precursor to the Marvel Vs. Capcom series, but more a proof of concept that showed Capcom's Street Fighter mould could transfer across effortlessly onto another property. Many critics of the time derided its existence as "just Street Fighter with X-Men characters", but honestly - that's exactly why it works so well. In many ways it's simply more enjoyable than Street Fighter on a subjective level, purely because of a roster than includes everyone from Wolverine to Psylocke, Galactus to Juggernaut and more. Special attacks fill the screen in explosions of colour and neon-burst finishers, animations and movement are as fast and responsive as you can push the button - all-round this hasn't aged a day, and if not for the followup MvC games that would expand the roster, would be the definitive Marvel-themed fighter of all time.