Play Sunman Online

Summary

Sunman is a curious footnote in NES history—a nearly finished action title that never saw the light of day. Developed by EIM and slated for a Sunsoft release in the early ’90s, the game slipped through the cracks without ever being announced, leaving only a handful of prototype cartridges to hint at its existence.

Gameplay mirrors Sunsoft’s Batman entries: you can run, jump, punch, duck, and even take to the skies simply by pressing up. Certain sections turn into side‑scrolling flight stages where Sunman blasts laser‑like heat vision from his eyes, and each of the five stages—composed of one to four areas—culminates in a boss fight.

Visually, Sunman wears a cape and sports a logo that echoes Superman’s emblem, and early builds actually used Superman sprites and John Williams’s theme. An interview with planner Kenji Eno confirmed the original intent was a Superman game, but licensing hurdles forced a re‑skin. Decades later, a ROM‑hack restored the Superman identity, swapping title screens, cutscenes, and sprites back to their heroic roots.