What Is X-Men: Children of the Atom?

X-Men: Children of the Atom is a fighting game Capcom released for arcades in 1994, on the same CPS-2 board as Super Street Fighter II. It is the first game in the grammar that later becomes Marvel vs. Capcom. The roster is the X-Men, drawn with the color and silhouette of the 1990s comics and cartoon.

The card runs from the heroes to the threats. Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Psylocke, Iceman, and Colossus share a select screen with Sentinel, Spiral, Silver Samurai, Omega Red, and Juggernaut. Magneto waits as the final boss, and he can be played. Akuma shows up as a hidden guest — the first time a Street Fighter character steps into a Marvel game.

The systems are the part that lasted. You can dash. You can super jump. Normals chain, and those chains climb into the air instead of ending on the ground the way a Street Fighter combo does. A mutant-power gauge fills as you fight and spends into hypers. Street Fighter II is a duel on a floor. Children of the Atom is a duel in a column of air.

That grammar is the family tree. Children of the Atom in 1994, then X-Men vs. Street Fighter in 1996, which puts both rosters in one match because Akuma had already opened the door. Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom follow. Marvel Super Heroes, in 1995, is the sibling that keeps the Marvel side and drops the X-Men-only rule. If you have watched the versus clears on this channel, you have been looking at a language this cabinet invented.

The videos below are Arcade Mode with no commentary: Iceman and Juggernaut, Cyclops and Wolverine, Magneto, and the Akuma guest spot that points straight at the next game. Browse the Children of the Atom page for every clear, and read the X-Men vs. Street Fighter piece if you want the follow-up.