Mutation Nation

One or two players (Player 1 as Ricky and Player 2 as Johnny) fight their way through the six levels of various mutated and mechanical enemies, each level containing one or more sub-bosses before an actual boss appears at the end of each stage. The game plays close to the usual beat 'em up mold allowing the player to utilize various combos, jumping attacks, throws and special moves to utilize on the opposition. Rather than the standard fare of allowing players to pick up objects to use as weapons against the enemy, Mutation Nation instead uses a system where the player can pick up one of four elemental spheres that allow the player the ability to unleash screen-filling super attacks. There are also neutral spheres that will give life back to the player and increase the number of super attacks that they can use.

These are the various elemental spheres that can be picked up by the player and used for special attacks. Each sphere is represented by a letter and color that helps the player tell them apart. If the players do not have any spheres available, they can instead sacrifice part of their life meter to unleash a flurry of attacks.

In the year 2050, a mad scientist's superiors shut down his bizarre biological experiments. His lab later explodes, however, and the scientist himself mysteriously disappears. Several years later, new buildings exist within the forgotten slums where the experiments took place, and a genetic virus has suddenly started spreading among the tenants, turning them into vicious mutants. Two young locals, Ricky Jones and Johnny Hart, return to town after having been away for a long time, and when they see the chaos that's happening, they take it upon themselves to clean up the town before the mutants spread across the nation. Along the way, they come across not only the mutants, but also robotic foes that the mad scientist has created to stop them.

RePlay reported Mutation Nation to be the fifth most-popular arcade game at the time. In Japan, Game Machine listed Mutation Nation on their May 1, 1992 issue as being the sixteenth most-popular arcade game at the time. The title received generally favourable reception from critics since its release in arcades and other platforms.

AllGame's Kyle Knight regarded the sphere-based super-attack system as innovative but criticized issues with the controls, repetitive gameplay, enemy AI and average audiovisual presentation. Aktueller Software Markt's Hans-Joachim Amann praised the visuals and large character sprites but criticized the sound design. Consoles +' Marc Menier and Axel also commended the visual presentation, sprite animations, sound, playability and longevity. Computer and Video Games' Frank O'Connor gave positive remarks to the audiovisual presentation as well, stating that its gameplay is good for beat 'em up standards but criticized the lack of originality.