X-Men (Konami, 1992) – Arcade
Did Final Fight ever have six (!) playable characters at once on two screens? Hell no! That’s why the X-Men arcade game rocked. And it was the first time we really got to see what Wolverine looked like when taken directly from the comic page.

Above: No power on earth can move the Blob – cuz he’s fat

X-Men (Sega, 1993) – Genesis
Featuring Wolverine’s yellow and black costume (he’d been using the brown and tan one for the last few games), X-Men was Genesis-exclusive and featured hilariously bad music. Again, Wolvie’s claws are regarded as his mutant powers and deplete his mutant ability bar. Once it depletes completely, he goes into Berserker mode and slashes uncontrollably for a few seconds. That nugget of awesome depletes his health bar. Thanks! 

Above: Posing for the Heisman trophy

X-Men 2: Clone Wars (Sega, 1995) – Genesis
Based off the awesome X-Men cartoon series from the mid-nineties, this sequel consists of the alien race Phalanx attempting to take over Earth by assimilating every human. Known for starting immediately without a title screen as a random character and the ability to play as Magneto. Also, you can’t die by using Wolverine’s claws and his automatic healing ability (major plus!).

Above: Shouldn’t Wolverine always lose against Magneto?

X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (Capcom,1995) – SNES
Even with five playable characters, Wolverine’s still gonna be your best bet. His character model retains that slightly hunched over old man look, but he has a cool dashing strike that can take out like every bad guy. Side-scrolling action game and people thought Apocalypse was the main bad guy (the hint is in the title). But no! Perennial asshole Magneto showed up to lose yet again.

Above: Action! Excitement!

Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems (Capcom, 1996) – SNES
Seen as a spiritual sequel to Mutant Apocalypse, Wolvie’s appearance is completely unchanged. Again, five superheroes are selectable but this time the Infinity Gems (the wielder of every one would make that person omnipotent) are at stake. Fight some bad guys, defeat Thanos, save the world.

Above: Amazonian swamp women never fare well against blades