Developer EA Tiburon focused solely on console architecture. However, in 2006, a "PC version" did exist—but it wasn't what you think. It was a drastically different, browser-based promotional tie-in game titled Superman Returns: Fortress of Solitude , a simplistic 3D obstacle course. Many gamers who searched for the "real" game ended up with this demo and felt cheated.

But for a specific breed of PC gamer, the game has achieved a strange, near-mythical status. Ask about a Superman Returns PC download, and you’ll ignite a firestorm of conflicting information, dead links, and old forum arguments. Was there ever a PC version? And if so, why is it so impossible to find? Let’s clear the air immediately. There was no official, retail PC port of Superman Returns: The Videogame .

Despite its flaws, the flight mechanics in the 2006 game were groundbreaking. Using the right analog stick to boost, hover, and weave through Metropolis at supersonic speed felt more like Superman than any game before or since (except possibly Superman: Shadow of Apokolips ). PC gamers, deprived of a true open-world Superman title, have spent years trying to emulate that feeling.

But thanks to modern emulation, you can play it on your gaming laptop or desktop today. It won't have native mouse controls, and you’ll need to map a controller, but the ability to lift a cruise ship over the Daily Planet globe is finally just a few clicks away.

In the sprawling, often disappointing history of superhero video games, the name Superman Returns carries a unique weight. Released in 2006 alongside Bryan Singer’s polarizing film of the same name, the console versions (Xbox 360, PS2, Xbox, GameCube) became infamous for one bizarre feature: the "health bar" was the entire city of Metropolis. Fail to catch a falling landmark, and you failed the mission.