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Sunman (video game)
Encyclopedia
Sunman was a video game developed by EIM
for Sunsoft for the Nintendo Entertainment System
in 1992. Despite being mostly complete, it was never commercially released. Also, unlike most video games of this time, it was never even announced. Most cancelled games saw months' worth of publicity in video game magazines before fading off the game-watch radars.
, in that the character can run, jump, punch, and duck, although in this game the player can also fly simply by pushing up. There are also some side scrolling flying levels where you can shoot laser/heat vision from your eyes. The game is divided into five scenes with one-four areas with a boss at the end of each area.
with his cape, and flying abilities, as well as the games title screen seems to match that of the Superman logo. Sunsoft's involvement with other DC Comics
character licenses lead some to speculate that that Sunman was intended to be a Superman game, but DC for whatever reason decided not to go along and the game had some changes made to lose the likeness. In an interview with planner/director Kenji Eno
, it was confirmed that this was originally intended to be a Superman game.
The game was obtained by The Lost Levels, a website that specializes in unreleased and prototype video games, from a European collector without any information on what it was. It was to much surprise to discover an unannounced, unreleased game that can be functionally played through from start to finish. The game was made available for play as a ROM
for use with an NES emulator
. The early, rough prototype of the ROM was also made for release on The Lost Levels, and it indeed had sprites of Superman as the original sprites for the main character, and the background music played in-game replaced with John Williams's
Superman Theme
.
Another unreleased Sunsoft cart in the US can be made to confirm that this was indeed Superman 2 originally, as the levels are identical to Sunman, however they are in a less finished form, and the player is able to skip levels by pausing and pressing the select button.
EIM (video game developer)
was a Japanese game development company established in 1989 by programmer/musician Kenji Eno, who later started WARP and fyto.-Games:*Casino Kid 2 *Juuouki...
for Sunsoft for the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
in 1992. Despite being mostly complete, it was never commercially released. Also, unlike most video games of this time, it was never even announced. Most cancelled games saw months' worth of publicity in video game magazines before fading off the game-watch radars.
Gameplay
The gameplay is very similar to Sunsoft's Batman games, Batman and Batman: Return of the JokerBatman: Return of the Joker
Batman: Return of the Joker is the follow-up to Sunsoft's first Batman game on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Unlike that game, which was based on the 1989 Batman film by Tim Burton, Return of the Joker is entirely self-contained and based more on the modern comic book iteration of Batman...
, in that the character can run, jump, punch, and duck, although in this game the player can also fly simply by pushing up. There are also some side scrolling flying levels where you can shoot laser/heat vision from your eyes. The game is divided into five scenes with one-four areas with a boss at the end of each area.
History
The game features a superhero, named Sunman. He is very reminiscent of SupermanSuperman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
with his cape, and flying abilities, as well as the games title screen seems to match that of the Superman logo. Sunsoft's involvement with other DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
character licenses lead some to speculate that that Sunman was intended to be a Superman game, but DC for whatever reason decided not to go along and the game had some changes made to lose the likeness. In an interview with planner/director Kenji Eno
Kenji Eno
is a musician and video game designer based in Japan. He is best-known for his cult survival horror series, the D games and his audio game series, Real Sound.-Childhood and early years:...
, it was confirmed that this was originally intended to be a Superman game.
The game was obtained by The Lost Levels, a website that specializes in unreleased and prototype video games, from a European collector without any information on what it was. It was to much surprise to discover an unannounced, unreleased game that can be functionally played through from start to finish. The game was made available for play as a ROM
ROM image
A ROM image, or ROM file, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge, a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's main board...
for use with an NES emulator
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
. The early, rough prototype of the ROM was also made for release on The Lost Levels, and it indeed had sprites of Superman as the original sprites for the main character, and the background music played in-game replaced with John Williams's
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
Superman Theme
Superman music
The various film and television appearances of the Superman character have been accompanied by musical scores.-Radio, cartoons, early films:*The radio shows of the early 1940s already had the famous phrases, "Faster than a speeding bullet... It's a bird... it's a plane... it's Superman!" uttered by...
.
Another unreleased Sunsoft cart in the US can be made to confirm that this was indeed Superman 2 originally, as the levels are identical to Sunman, however they are in a less finished form, and the player is able to skip levels by pausing and pressing the select button.