 Ssssssssssss not a s-drunk. When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of fighting games. I loved everything from Street Fighter II to Mortal Kombat II, to the art of fighting arcade game that my local video update store had. And I also loved X-Men. I was huge into the comics in the early 90s, so what I wanted more than anything was an X-Men one-on-one fighting game. I even wrote a letter to Nintendo Power begging someone anyone to make this game. It didn't even need to be anything original, just a Street Fighter style game, but with mutant powers. Well, it turns out some other kid wrote a letter, only they asked for a fighting game starring DC characters, because what we ended up getting on the Super Nintendo in 1995 was Justice League Task Force, made by Sunsoft and Blizzard Entertainment. Okay, there probably wasn't a kid writing a letter involved, but that's how I perceived it back then, and man oh man I was disappointed. This was exactly the kind of game I wanted as a kid, just with X-Men instead. And yeah, for better or for worse, this is essentially a Street Fighter II clone made at the time to specifically cater to fans of the DC Comics universe. There's nothing newer or anything spectacularly original here, and there doesn't really need to be. To this day, the appeal of this one is pretty simple. Do you like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and The Flash? And do you like fighting games? Then you'll probably dig this one. You can also play as the villains like Dispero and Darkseid, which is cool. And all the pertinent locations are here too, like Gotham City, Atlantis, and Metropolis, complete with stuff that gets smashed if you get thrown into it. Like I said, the controls are very simple if you're used to Street Fighter-style games. For instance, Batman's Batarang is the same as Ryu or Ken's Hadoken. He also has a grappling hook maneuver where you roll the bottom of the D-Pad from front to back before kicking. And it's the same thing with Wonder Woman. Her Hadoken move is a lasso and kick, and she can also produce a shield with another simple move as well. Every character is like that. And I guess that's the main flaw here. The fighting combat here is just more of the same, so it's kinda boring. Take a game like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters from Konami. That's another game that, on the surface, looks like your typical licensing cash-in, but the combat is actually really well done, because while the moves feel very familiar to the Street Fighter-style, it's not a total rip-off, and there's some new and original stuff thrown in, plus each character has their own unique range, size, and speed. Justice League Task Force? Not so much. Every character has a very similar feel, size, and all have the same inputs. Another big flaw here, however, is that the special move inputs are inconsistent. They don't always work as advertised, and this is especially annoying considering the computer can rattle off three straight moves, no problem. So yeah, this game, when playing against the AI, is really freaking tough. There is a story mode here, so you can pick your superhero and go through a gauntlet of fighters before a final showdown with Darkseid. Or you can just play the computer one-on-one, or of course play a second player one-on-one. There is a Sega Genesis version of this game as well, and while it plays pretty much the same way, there are some key differences. There's different backgrounds, certain characters like Wonder Woman have more moves, and you can also adjust the combat speed from slow, normal, or fast, and that's really a nice touch. The thing is, I still prefer the Super Nintendo game because the special move inputs are even more inconsistent, to the point that you just forget about using them and start button-mashing. Anyway, going back to the beginning, I did eventually get my X-Men fighting game, Children of the Atom for Arcade, and later Sega Saturn in PlayStation, but as a kid, I still would have loved an X-Men fighting game for Super Nintendo, even if it turned out like Justice League Task Force did. What I mean to say is, if you dig this game, I get it. It's really fun to play as these superheroes kicking each other's asses with special moves, so if you're a fan of DC Comics, you'd like this one. But if you're strictly looking for a fighting game, this one is a disappointment. And I gotta say, if you're looking for an under-the-radar fighting game, you're better off with something like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters, but Justice League Task Force, eh, it's just okay at best.