♦ Livestream of 4 ZZT worlds. ♦
♦ Stream Contents ♦
• (1:22) "X-Factor: Part 1" by MDBowers, SMokey666 [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/xfactor/]
• (20:01) "After Xavier: The Age of Apocalypse" by Brutalhulk [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/afterxavier/]
• (30:30) "Ultimit-X (X-Men 4)" by Unknown [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/ultimitx/]
• (55:20) "X-Men: The Adventures of Bishop" by Unknown (1995) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/xmenbishop/]
Four different X-Men adventures of varying quality.
X-Factor is a recolored-border romp through the danger room as Havok as you rescue captured X-Men including Polaris and "Strong Guy" which, as an outsider to the series, is a hilarious name to me. Navigate a few boards of simple obstacles including finding the real key, dodging spinning guns, and tunneling through slime. Then, a sudden ending to promote parts two and three.
After Xavier is a BrutalHulk game, whose comic book adaptions we've seen before. This means some nice little stick-figure doodles of various characters, and the ability to pick which mutant you wish to play as. Special "Mutant Power" objects on certain boards allow you to use a unique ability depending on your choice, ranging from clearing the screen of enemies to shooting a missile that will destroy whatever it hits. Some cutesy ruined-buildings for backgrounds and fun ideas with the unique powers make the game easy to appreciate despite its simplicity. There's a fantastic no-STK depiction of Professor X's school for the gifted in the end sequence as well!
Then we jump into "Ultimit-X" [sic]. It too has the same style of art and ability system, yet with no credited author or reliable timestamp, it's hard to say if this is perhaps an earlier BrutalHulk game or a game inspired by his works.
The format of this one quickly changes, as the city goes away and is replaced with less impressive obstacles: large blocks of lions, a multi-board maze, and that's before things get baffling. Soon players are in a gymnasium playing dodgeball, then executing various characters as punishment for their misdeeds. These crimes range from having a long name, being a bomb that can't blow up, or just having a TV too large to own in this city without a license. Obi Wan also makes an appearance.
Oh, and then you fight Apocalypse and save the day because this is supposed to be an X-Men game.
Lastly, "The Adventures of Bishop", the most impressive of the set. Still little more than basic ZZT action screen challenges, but with a little bit of heart put into them. Reasonable amounts of enemies, rooms that aren't just full-screen rectangles, and a number of boss fights as you deal with Magneto and anti-mutant society members. It's a story!
Most impressive are the number of endings available. Players can choose who to team up with, who to fight, or just doom everyone if they aren't careful.
It may be a bit messy, but this one feels the most approachable of the set by far.
♦ Play these worlds directly in your browser ♦
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/xfactor/
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/afterxavier/
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/ultimitx/
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/xmenbishop/
♦ Originally streamed on July 7th, 2024 ♦
