Internet Culture

Fox’s viral marketing for ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ includes 1980s 8-bit arcade games

The X-Men franchise’s viral marketing efforts are still on point.

Photo of Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

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Never one to shy away from weird advertising tie-ins and viral marketing campaigns, the X-Men franchise is promoting its latest movie with 8-bit arcade games.

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X-Men: Apocalypse is set in the 1980s, so these three new mutant-themed games do have some basis in the movie.

On the Space Port Arcade site, you’ll find a trio of games called Revenge of Hero X, Mutant Conquest, and Mutant All-Stars Track & Field. They’re a pretty brilliant parody of vintage arcade games, combining hand-drawn poster art with lo-fi graphics.

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Mutant Conquest’s poster clearly depicts the supervillain Apocalypse and his four mutant horsemen, so we’re hoping someone mailed a copy to Oscar Isaac, who plays Apocalypse in the movie. He’d probably get a kick out of it.

(The game itself, by the way, is basically Pac-Man.)

Space Port Arcade

There were actually some real X-Men arcade games back in the ’90s, so these are not far off.

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