$20 Game of the week and lost classics special: Spider-man video games

As you no doubt know, Spider-man returns to theaters this weekend in a big way. In honor of his return, this week’s extended Lost Classics and $20 GOTW will take a look at some of the best games featuring the web slinger. So click below for some interactive web slinging action.


Spider-Man and the X-men: Arcade’s Revenge (Super Nintendo, Game Gear, Genesis, Gameboy)
This Acclaim developed game teamed up Spider-man with Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, and Gambit as they must escape from Arcade’s Murderworld. After a introductory level, players make their way through 10 different levels (2 for each character) as they face villains such as Carnage, Juggernaut, Apocalypse, and even N’Astirth from the Inferno crossover. You can choose which order to play them in, similar to Mega Man, and a final confrontation with Arcade awaits at the end. Players either found this game all to easy or way too hard to beat. If nothing else however, it had some pretty cool music.

Maximum Carnage (Genesis, SNES)
A few years later, Acclaim followed up with this beat-em up featuring Spider-Man and Venom based on the comic storyline of the same name. It was difficult, with only one player and 3 continues, but the comic-book style graphics and Green Jelly supplied soundtrack made it enjoyable. A cool feature about this game is being able to call on superhero allies such as Captain America and Deathlok for assists. It was followed up a year later by Separation Anxiety, also released on SNES and Genesis. Although it went a step backwards from Maximum Carnage by removing the comic book intermission panels, it added in a password feature and two-player co-op, allowing players to team up with a friend in order to battle 5th-tier Spidey villains such as the life foundation and the Jury.

Spider-man (Ps1, Dreamcast, N64)
For the next few years, all Spidey fans had to tide over their gaming fix (besides his appearance in various Capcom fighting games) was a rather mediocre game based on the animated series. However, Activision scooped up the rights to the IP, and gave us one of the best games based on the web-slinger. The game was basically the ultimate fan service, as fan favorite villains such as Venom and Doc Ock made appearances, and allies such as Daredevil, Black Cat, and Captain America gave their assistance. Players can even unlock several costumes that Spidey has worn in the comics, such as the Scarlet Spider, the Black Costume, and Captain Universe. It was followed up a year later by “Enter Electro”, a less than stellar sequel that seemed to be more of an expansion pack than a full on sequel. However, appearances by the X-men and even more unlockable costumes made this game appealing to Spider-fans.

Spider-man the movie (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC)
The next round of Spider-man games were based on the movies. This game was basically a next-gen upgrade of the PS1 Spider-man games, but since they were quite good, there was nothing wrong with that. Rather than strictly follow the movies plot about Spider-man’s creation and battle with the Green Goblin, Activision and Vicarious Visions decided to pad it out with some source material borrowed from the comics. Along with Mr. Osborn, players also fought the Shocker, the Vulture, Kraven the Hunter, (Xbox only), and the Scorpion. There was a heavy focus on aerial combat, and the level designs had more variation than previous Spider-man games. The Shocker’s level had players rescuing civilians from a bank robbery, while the Vulture’s level had you climbing an old clock tower. Completing the game allowed players to play as the Green-Goblin (actually Harry Osborn attempting to clear his family’s name). It was followed up of course by the sequel, a game based on the Ultimate Spider-man comic, and of course the most recent movie tie-in.

These are all pretty good games for fans of the web-slinger to check out. There are also plenty of other Spider-man games not featured in this article that aren’t bad either, and you can find them in any good game store for under $20. However it should be noted that there is very little chance for the Nintendo and Sega games to make Virtual-Console re-appearances, seeing as Acclaim no longer holds the rights to make video games based on Marvel properties. If anything, Activision could bring over the N64 Spider-man game to the Wii virtual console, but I doubt it. So, if you still have your old gaming consoles, do yourself a favor and track these down.