Superman: The New Superman Adventures, commonly referred to as Superman 64, is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Titus Interactive for the Nintendo 64 and based on the television series Superman: The Animated Series. Released in North America on May 31, 1999, and in Europe on July 23, 1999, it is the first 3D Superman game. In the game, Lex Luthor has trapped Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, and Professor Hamilton in a virtual reality version of Metropolis that he created with the help of Brainiac, leaving it up to Superman to save them and break apart the virtual world. The game shifts between outdoor levels where the player flies through rings while saving civilians, and indoor levels where the player looks for access cards, activates computers, and fights villains such as Brainiac, Mala, Metallo, Darkseid, and Parasite. The development of Superman began in 1997 and was largely hampered by constraints between Titus and the game's licensors, Warner Bros. and DC Comics, leaving little room for polishing the gameplay. BlueSky Software attempted to redo the game for the PlayStation, but this version was ultimately canceled, as Titus's license with Warner Bros had expired by the time it was completed. With three E3 presentations and positive press coverage before its release, Superman 64 was released to strong sales and positive consumer reception; however, critical reviews were extremely negative, panning its unresponsive controls, technical flaws, repetitive gameplay, overuse of distance fog, and poor graphics, as well as calling it one of the worst video games ever made. Gameplay Superman is a three-dimensional action-adventure platform game, where the player acts as the titular hero saving the citizens of Metropolis, such as Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Professor Emil Hamilton, from a virtual reality of it created by Lex Luthor. Virtual Metropolis is filled with what the developers call "Kryptonite fog" in an apparent effort by Lex Luthor to diminish Superman's abilities (which is actually distance fog and is used as a technique to mask the game's poor draw distance). In the main single-player mode, the player assumes the role of Superman, who is challenged by Luthor to complete various tasks and puzzles. Superman can walk, fly, punch enemies, and use super-strength to lift and carry large objects. Superman's other superpowers, including Heat Vision, Freeze Breath, X-Ray Vision, Super Speed, and Reprogrammation (where Superman reprograms an enemy to help fight off other enemies),