Overview
X-Man was the brainchild of Alan Roberts (not to be confused with Codemasters' Alan Roberts), a once- and future- director of soft-core pornography. The only other name listed as being responsible for the game is "H. K. Poon," who appears to have had no previous or subsequent video game credits.
In the wake of Atari's unsuccessful legal challenge against Activision, many small publishers and individuals realized that a market for third-party Atari games was now open, and they rushed to fill that market with products that Atari could not or would not provide. X-Man's raison d'etre was not an advance in gameplay or technology, but rather pure sexual titillation pandering to adult owners of the supposedly family-friendly console.
The gameplay itself resembles a simpler version of Maze Craze, the goal being to direct the titular X-Man to the center of the screen where an anonymous (but titular) woman awaits him. At that point, congress begins, represented by the sort of rhythm minigame that would later be featured in such AAA titles as God of War and RapeLay. Once the player is finished earning bonus points during this phase (30 seconds), the next maze is initiated.
The game sold incredibly poorly--a fact which Roberts blamed on the controversy surrounding the recently-released Custer's Revenge--and Universal Gamex closed its doors soon after. Roberts returned to the cinema, to direct the cinematic classic The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood.
The fate of H. K. Poon is currently unknown.
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