X-Men 2: Clone Wars

X-Men 2: Clone Wars is the title of a video game released in 1995 by Sega of America for its Mega Drive/Genesis. The game is a sequel to its 1992 side-scrolling video game titled X-Men. The game was given a KA (Kids to Adults) rating by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. It garnered some attention when it introduced the X-Men enemy Magneto as a playable character.

Storyline
The technorganic alien race known as the Phalanx return and are seeking to take control of Earth by assimlating all of its inhabitants. They've also captured and cloned several mutants for experimentation. Only a select group of X-men (Beast, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Wolverine, Cyclops) have avoided capture and, temporarily united with their oldest foe, Magneto, they must defeat the Phalanx before all of humanity is assimilated. Along the way, they will travel through familiar landscapes including the Savage Land and Avalon, and battle powerful adversaries such as Apocalypse, the Sentinels, Exodus, Deathbird and more.

Soundtrack
The game's music was composed by Kurt Harland, of electronica band Information Society. A soundtrack album was released in 1996.

Gameplay
This game was innovative in that the player was immediately thrust into the game; the first level begins as soon as the game loads with a random character. The first level comprised of only one stage, allowing players to switch out characters after the opening stage. The title screen and credits roll only after completing the first level.

Playable Characters
The character lineup for the game includes Beast, Gambit, Cyclops, Wolverine, Psylocke, and Nightcrawler. Upon defeating the third level, Magneto becomes a playable character.

Each character has a "mutant power" which can be used in fighting. Some of these can be charged to a greater effect by holding down the power button, and all of them are increased in power when the character has nine or ten bars of health. In addition to these powers, some characters are capable of climbing the walls and ceiling, or grabbing onto the wall. These powers can be used to reach hidden health (which is in the shape of a double helix) or as a shortcut. Also, some characters had attacks that propelled them forward, enabling them to jump further. Finally, some characters had double jumps, useful for shortcuts.


 * Beast's mutant attack is to pound the ground with his fists, damaging anyone near him. This attack cannot be charged, but when his health is at its peak, two shockwaves are shot away from him along the ground, giving the attack a projectile element. Obviously, this move cannot be performed in the air; Apart from Mangneto Beast is the only character who cannot perform his mutant attack in the air. Beast can also grab onto or bounce off vertical walls, but not climb them. Beast has the strongest regular attacks of any playable character in the game, equal to the charged mutant attack of many other characters, and their range is second only to Gambit, so he can usually clear levels the fastest, however he requires an experienced player as his sheer size compared to the other characters means he is difficult to maneuver to avoid damage from enemies. He can also perform a non-offensive fixed distance leap forwards, which can be useful to quickly escape danger, quickly get through a closing door on level 2, or when clearing short jumps.


 * Gambit's mutant attack is the power to throw explosive cards. The base attack is for one card to be thrown, although two cards are thrown simultaneously if the attack is charged, or if the character has 9 or 10 health bars. If the attack is charged when Gambit has 9 or 10 health bars three cards cards are thrown simultaneously. Gambit's regular attacks are performed with a wooden stick (bo), which has the longest range of any regular attack in the game, making him perhaps the easiest character to play for beginners. He can also perform a flying kick. Gambit cannot, however, grab onto walls, so cannot take advantage of short cuts.


 * Cyclops's mutant attack is to shoot a red optic blast that travels most of the length of the screen before him. The obvious advantage of this attack is lessened somewhat by making his base mutant attack do only half as much damager as a regular attack, unless it is fully charged or Cyclops has 9 or 10 health bars, when his optic blast becomes stronger and slightly thicker. When he is fully charged and at full health, his attack is very strong and about three times as thick as his standard blast. Cyclop's projectile attack can be repeated more quickly than Gambit's, however this was counterbalanced by making his regular attacks have the shortest range out of all the playable characters. Like Gambit, he cannot grab onto walls.


 * Psylocke's mutant attack is a telepathic knife punch. At its peak this attack is the second most powerful attack in the game (after Wolverine's peak mutant slash) and in some ways the better move as Psylocke remains stationary when she performs it, and so does not risk damage by lunging forward into the enemy. The move is however slow to pull off and only effects humanoid enemies. Her regular attack is to slash her sword twice, which is much faster and capable of damaging enemies both in front and behind her, but has a fairly short range. She can grab onto vertical walls, but not climb them. Psylocke has the highest jump of any character in the game, however it is also has the shortest range, and she can easily fall short of the long jumps in the game. Jumping and performing the pyschic knife gives her jump greater horizontal range. Her regular aerial attack is to curl into a ball and somersault holding her sword out, effectively giving her a full 360 degree slash that has a 100% defense rate against regular aerial enemies. She also has a non-offensive short slide, which can be used to to duck under enemy projectiles or stationary obstacles whilst still moving forward.


 * Nightcrawler's mutant attack is teleportation. He disappears and reappears in a cloud of smoke, damaging all enemies surrounding him. However, unlike in the first Genesis X-men game, he cannot use this ability as a shortcut device and teleport through walls, although it can be used to dodge projectiles or damaging obstacles. He can also climb walls and ceilings. Charging his attack increases the distance which Nightcrawler travels when performing it. Although the fastest character in the game, his mutant attack when not at peak health is weak, although not as weak as Cyclops or Gambit's base mutant attacks.


 * Wolverine's mutant attack is to lunge forward and swiping his claws. This move is the strongest in the game when performed when Wolverine has 9 or 10 bars of health, capable of defeating some of the minor bosses in a few strikes. The move's weakness is that it always requires Wolverine to move forward; if not judged correctly the move can force Wolverine to make contact with a enemy which may injure him. He can climb walls and ceilings by sticking his claws into them, and he has a double jump. Wolverine also has the ability to heal himself when he has only one or two bars of health remaining, although this takes some time. Once he reaches three bars Wolverine will not heal anymore unless his health is knocked back down to one or two bars. Wolverine's speed is fairly similar to Nightcrawler's, however his attack range is average, requiring him to engage in close combat with enemies, thus exposing him to greater risk of damage. When not at peak health Wolverine's attack strength is average. Unlike in the first Genesis X-men game, the player does not have the ability to sheath or unsheath Wolverine's claws - they are always out.


 * Magneto's mutant attack is to produce a magnetic orb in front of him that explodes after several seconds. Holding the attack button increases the distance Magneto sends the orb out. When at 9 or 10 bars of health the explosion range and strength of the orb is increased, encompassing effectively the entire screen. This move is possibly equal in strength to Psylocke's telepathic knife. Magneto cannot produce an orb in the air. Rather, the mutant attack button lets Magneto hover in mid air, from which he can fire regular attack projectiles at enemies. Magneto will hover until the mutant attack button is pressed again. Magneto's jump possibly equals Psylocke's in height, yet he cannot grab walls. In order to prevent the character from from being too powerful the game's programmers made him very slow, to the point where he is arguable the worst character in the game. There are only one or two levels in which Magneto is a wise choice of character.

Level 1: Siberia
The first level in the game is Siberia. It consists of only one stage covered in snow, and acts as a short introduction to the game. The level is controlled by anti-mutant tanks and Hand Ninjas. You do not get to pick your character for this level, as it starts immediately upon booting up the game.

Level 2: Sentinel Complex
The second level in the game is the Sentinel Complex. It consists of four stages. The first stage is the lower level of the complex, the second is the upper level, the third is the Sentinel Core (where you face the first boss), and the fourth is running the second stage backwards to escape the exploding building. This stage has a (very generous) time limit.

Level 3: Avalon
The third level in the game is Magneto's Avalon, or Astroid M. The first stage is the Asteroid Surface, the second is inside the actual Avalon (where you face a gun-toting boss, Fabian Cortez), the third is the elevator shaft, the fourth is a showdown with Exodus, and the fifth is Magneto's quarters, where you face him as a boss. After defeating him, he joins you.

Level 4: Apocalypse's Fortress
The fourth level of the game is Apocalypse's Fortress. The first stage is The Climb, where you face a boss named Tusk. The second is inside the fortress, where you face multiple Tusks. The third is the Computer Room, where you will face off with Apocalypse.

Level 5: The Savage Land
The first stage is the Savage Land exterior, where you must maneuver through the trees and swamps. The second stage is the Savage Land interior. The third stage is the Flooding Fortress, and the fourth stage is the Flooding Fortress upper floors. The boss of the level is Brainchild.

Level 6: Phalanx Flagship
The final level in the game is the inflitration of the Phalanx Flagship. The first part of the stage is ascending the trap filled ship with a Phalanx General as the boss. The second part of the stage is an elevator fight. While standing on a platform, you are attacked by various robots and then you fight Deathbird as a boss. The third part of the stage is the clone factory itself. The final segment of the stage is the fight against the Brood Queen. After you kill the Brood Queen, you must defeat enemy clones of every playable X-Men, and then you have beaten the game.

Sentinel Core
The first boss of the game is a stationary computer inside a Sentinel. At the botton of the enemy lies rotating energy blocks which power the computer. You must destroy every block attached to the computer in order for it to be destroyed. While you attack it, it sends streams of electricity from the energy blocks as well as energy emission from the "eyes." Distance fighters such as Cyclops and Gambit work well here, or place Nighcrawler as far right as possible, crouching so that the electricity streams pass harmlessly overhead and simply teleport on the spot when the core fires an eye beam at you.

Fabian Cortez
After he breaks in from the background, he remains on the far right side of the screen the entire time. Using his jetpack he moves up and down shooting his gun in fixed intervals. Cyclops or Wolverine are good choices for this boss.

Exodus
Exodus spends most of his time floating in the center of the screen. He shoots out energy beams using his hands which can go directly down or diagonally either side. He also occasionally shoots beams at the walls which shake the whole room and will injure the player unless the jump from the floor before the beams hit the walls. As he is progressively defeated he will move to one of the walls either to the left or right and destroy the floor beneath him, creating an damaging obstacle that characters like Beast, Wolverine and Psylocke can easily fall into given they need to jump at Exodus to attack him. Best strategy is to have Nightcrawler stand directly under Exodus and simply teleport up (roughly half-charge) to attack - he will teleport through any directly down attack Exodus may make and all other attacks miss him.

Magneto
There are two parts to this boss fight. Magneto will always float at the top of the screen. The first part is running away from him, where you must break through certain walls as you run to the right. As you run, he shoots beams of energy in fixed intervals. Eventually you come to a wall that you cannot break. You must distract him so he shoots beams at you but misses so he hits the wall. After the wall is hit numerous times, you move on to the second part of the fight. The second part of the fight requires you to knock Magneto onto a platform. All you must do is hit him to the right, and he will slowly decend onto the platform. His only attacks are single energy beams. Wolverine is recommended.

Tusk
Tusk stands in the center of a raised platform and never gets off of it. His only attacks are throwing rocks at you, summoning mini-tusks to attack you, and a counterattack that occurs once you've dealt damage to him. If you hit him on his right side, he will charge to the right in an attempt to hit you. If you attack him on his left, he charges to the left. If you jump onto his platform he will not throw rocks or summon mini-tusks, but will charge at you. Best strategy is to jump onto the platform, strike Tusk, jump over him as he charges at you onto the other side of the platform and repeat. Confident players would use Beast as he will destroy Tusk the quickest, although first timers may want to use Wolverine given his healing factor.

Apocalypse
In this fight, the majority of the stage is jumping and ducking over explosive orbs. Orb bombs come down from the air and circle around the main computer. To end the orb rotations faster, you must hit the red and blue orb that comes down. Occasionally Apocalypse comes down on a floating platform. His only attack is using his extendable arm to attack you diagonally. As you deal more damage to him, he becomes faster and more aggressive. Wolverine is the optimal character here as it is not hard to maintain peak health and striking Apocalypse with his peak mutant slash will make Apocalypse flee before the computer is even destroyed. Magneto can be made to hover above the bombs out of harms way, however it can be difficult to shoot the blue orb, his regular attack is very weak so the battle is needlessly prolonged and occasionally Apocalypse can strike at an angle that clips the hovering Magneto. Psylocke would be a better bet (her high jump comes in handy) or else Cyclops.

Brainchild
This multipart boss fight doesn't take too long. When the fight starts, all that's on the screen is a simple floating device that drops rockets that slowly shoot toward you. When you destroy it, Brain Child emerges as just a simple enemy firing a gun. After some damage he transforms into the basic enemy from the previous stage, then the basic enemy from the proceeding stage, then a bizarre vehicle that shoots projectiles, charges at you, extends its neck out a bit like a club horizontally then diagonally, charges again, the teleports to the ceiling, where it fires rockets down vertically at you. Psylocke is the optimal character. When the initial vehicle is destroyed several pieces of health emerge and so she she easy to keep at peak health. Brainchild and his subsequent two transformations are destroyed by one peak psychic knife and the vehicle beast transformation can be destroyed (via psychic knife) before if finished the head thrust attack.

Phalanx General
At first glance this boss is nothing more than a bigger normal enemy you face faced before reaching him. The General has beams that he can shoot across and diagonally, but this time he can turn into a circle of balls and teleoprt across the room. He has transformations similar to Brainchild's, and isn't too hard either.

Deathbird
This boss's only attack is a cloud of needles she throws. She occasionally swoops in, and when she does you must hit her before the leaves the screen again. When she throws the needles it's easy to dodge. Sometimes when she appears she doesn't even attack. Pretty much every character except Magneto would be useful here.

Brood Queen
This is a very intense boss fight that requires quick reflexes and thinking. She emerges from the right in an explosive entrance, and you must ALWAYS remain mobile unless she stops. It's important to dodge her potent beams. When you defeat her, remain aware, because you will be chased by her claws when she's dead.

Clone Wars
The final fights of the game are against clones of your playable characters. They contain all the powers you have become familiar with over the course of the game. Use strategy and remember the strengths and weaknesses of each and you should win and beat the game!