Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge
Image: Acclaim/ LJN / Marvel

Retired game developer Kevin Edwards has recently been taking to Twitter to share his experience of the industry in the 1990s. While these posts certainly provide a deep dive into the intricacies of building a video game, so too do they demonstrate the trials involved when the development team is placed under high pressure and restrictive deadlines.

One such post has been unpacked by the good folks over at Time Extension, in which Edwards shares a less than forgiving fax concerning the 1992 SNES title, Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge. Sent from Arcade's Revenge publisher, Acclaim (via its LJN label), the note details what changes needed to be made to the superhero platformer.

These notes range from gameplay tweaks to outright calling out individual members of the development team, though the one that really caught our eye sees Acclaim insist that the team change the central location's name, 'Murderworld', to something a little less stabby, we guess.

The full, caps-lock engaged note can be found below.

NINTENDO HAS INFORMED US THAT WE CAN'T USE THE TERM 'MURDERWORLD' PLEASE REMOVE IT FROM THE ARCADE TEXT. YOU SHOULD JUST DELETE THE SECOND PART OF THE SENTENCE THAT INCLUDES THE WORD MURDERWORLD, 'HORRORWORLD' WON'T WORK.

We understand the desire to keep things child friendly, but come on. Nintendo was just fine to release titles like Super Castlevania IV for crying out loud - 'Murderworld' seems like a nice warm hug by comparison to that Dracula-hunting horror fest. Combine that with the fact that the location has appeared many times throughout Marvel comics as Arcade's central hunting ground, the fact that it is missing from the game is a little suspect. Got to keep them little 'ens safe!

Our Time Extension friends have delved deeper still into Edwards' notes, detailing the other requests that were made of the dev team. Check out their full article to find out more.

Do you remember Arcade's Revenge fondly? Thwip on down to the comments and let us know!

[source twitter.com, via timeextension.com]