In 1962, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko introduced
Spider-Man, breaking new ground by making
the character significantly younger than most
other superheroes.
Typically characters of Peter Parker’s age
would have been sidekicks, but Spider-Man
fought crime his own way, often without assistance,
ultimately responsible for his own success
or failure.
He’s remained one of the most popular and
beloved superheroes for decades, with many
portrayals spotlighting how difficult it is
for Spidey to balance his daily heroics with
jobs, school, relationships, financial problems,
and everything else a young man has to face.
He also struggles with feelings of inadequacy,
and if he’s taking the quality of his video
games into account, well… he might actually
be on to something.
Today we’ll look at every one them, and
rank them from worst to best.
We’ll consider how innovative they were
at release, how well they’ve held up since,
and how much they actually have anything to
do with Spider-Man… which shouldn’t be
a concern but, as you’ll see, definitely
is.
As always, we have a few ground rules, and
they’ll be very much in line with what we
established for our list of Batman games.
That is to say, we are excluding mobile games,
online Flash games, handheld LCD games, and
one-off plug-and-play games because I don’t
want this in my house.
Secondly, if the game isn’t truly about
Spider-Man, we won’t include it.
That sounds like it should go without saying,
but there are a huge number of Marvel games
marketed as “featuring Spider-Man” when
his role is more of a cameo, so we’ll be
ignoring those for now.
We are, however, including games in which
Spider-Man shares equal billing.
And, finally, we will not be ranking Spider-Man’s
educational games, largely because we really
don’t want to.
Let’s rank ‘em.
I’m Peter, and I’m Ben from TripleJump,
and this is every Spider-Man game ranked from
worst to best.
#57: The Amazing Spider-Man: Web of Fire
32X
Web of Fire was released after Sega announced
they would no longer support the 32X, which
led to the game only having around 15,000
copies produced.
We’re glad we aren’t collectors, because
if we paid around $2,000 for this, we’d
be institutionalized.
The game’s animation and soundtrack are
fine, but the developers seemed to believe
that Spider-Man’s superpower is running
annoyingly fast on surfaces made of butter.
Controlling him is both slippery and requires
superhuman reflexes.
Walking really shouldn’t be this challenging
for Peter Parker.
Spider-Man in this game also has the irritating
tendency to cling to the sides of obstacles
that are a fraction of his own height, and
the level designers somehow got it into their
heads that every platforming section should
consist of nothing but blind jumps.
The first stage does end with Spider-Man punching
Dragon Man’s head clean off of his body,
though, so that’s nice.
#56: Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s
Revenge
Game Boy, Game Gear
It’s never a good sign when a game’s box
art can’t get its own title right and, sure
enough, Spider-Man and the X-Men in The Return
of the Curse of the Creature’s Ghost is
a gigantic mess.
It’s not exclusively a Spider-Man game,
but being as no human being will play beyond
his opening level before calmly destroying
the cartridge with a hammer, we’re counting
it.
Spider-Man animates and controls like he’s
just eaten a three-day-old sausage roll, and
the opening bomb-deactivation stage appears
to have been scientifically designed to be
as frustrating as possible.
The developers included a Spidey Sense indicator
at the bottom right of the screen, which seems
like a nice touch until you realize it’s
because they couldn’t even design a basic
left-to-right platformer without resorting
to clunky waypointing.
The game doesn’t get any better from here.
Unless you turn it off, at which point the
experience improves substantially.
#55: Spider-Man
HyperScan
Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a hypers…can.
Yes, Spider-Man had the misfortune of appearing
on Mattel’s legendarily terrible HyperScan.
It was the fifth game released for the system,
making it…let me just check my notes here…the
very last game released for the system.
It comes with all of the HyperScan’s predictable
issues.
Maddening loading times, a reliance on scannable
cards – a number of which were never even
released – and the fact that the console
itself often refused to work.
Actually that’s probably the HyperScan’s
best feature.
The fact that the controls are barely responsive
is more or less a given, but we do have to
wonder why Spider-Man himself is the size
of a broken toenail.
Sorry to nitpick; we just tend to prefer it
when the camera is in the same time zone as
our protagonist.
#54: The Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America
in Dr. Doom's Revenge!
Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64,
MS-DOS, ZX Spectrum
Spider-Man and Captain America are two very
different kinds of heroes with very different
abilities.
Don’t worry, though; in this game they’re
equally dull to control.
The game is split into a series of one-on-one
fights and “superhero challenges,” meaning
for half of the game you punch and for the
other half of the game you jump.
Not sure who told the developers that those
actions qualify as separate game modes, but
here we are.
You control Captain America at the start,
which means you’ll be bored to tears long
before you get to play as Spider-Man.
Critics at the time didn’t exactly shower
the game with praise, but they did have a
few nice things to say about the way it looked
and sounded.
Being as the game looked and sounded different
in each of its six versions, though, that’s
hardly a recommendation for the game as a
whole.
#53: Spider-Man 2
Mac, PC
If you remember Spider-Man 2 being a good
game, you clearly didn’t play the PC version,
later ported to Mac.
It still has some Bruce Campbell narration
– the only reason it’s as high on this
list as it is – but that is the only thing
it has in common with the PlayStation 2 game
of the same name.
This version of Spider-Man 2 is an almost
insultingly buggy mess, made all the more
surprising by the fact that much of the gameplay
boils down to simple quick time events.
There was so much less to go wrong here, so
why does it play like an ancient curse?
Enemies spawn on the wrong plane of existence,
characters disappear, the game has no idea
what to do with its own physics, and characters
are about as animated as Hummel figurines.
Now let’s go back to never, ever speaking
of this game again.
#52: Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six
Game Gear
We don’t expect much from the Sega Game
Gear, but we have to admit we prefer games
that…y’know, react to the buttons we press.
Return of the Sinister Six is so stiff and
unresponsive it feels like our older sibling
has given us an unplugged controller to shut
us up.
The game seems distracted, like it’s trying
to remember that girl it had to leave behind
in Normandy when the war was won but you keep
interrupting it.
Spider-Man needs to crouch to collect items,
and heaven help you if you’re just a pixel
away from where the game would prefer you
to be.
He can climb walls in the background, except
for those that he inexplicably can’t.
And if you press the attack button, Spider-Man
will absolutely take your suggestion on board
and really give it some solid consideration.
Also, you only get one life.
Actually, that’s true outside of the game
as well, so please spend it playing something
else.
#51: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
3DS
It’s audacious how little The Amazing Spider-Man
2 for the 3DS even bothers to try.
It’s as though it was built by felons who
managed to get game design to count as community
service.
The story is that Spider-Man beats somebody
up, then takes a few steps to beat somebody
else up, then keeps doing this until there
is nobody left to beat up.
A classic tale, we admit, but it makes for
a far-from-memorable experience.
The combat and platforming manage to be even
more boring than they look, and the visual
design is little more than a test of how many
different shades of grey the 3DS can produce.
Enemies are grey, environments are grey, backgrounds
are grey, walls are grey…if it weren’t
for the colors of Spider-Man’s costume,
this game would be a great way to trick your
friends into thinking they went suddenly colorblind.
#50: Spider-Man 3: Invasion of the Spider-Slayers
Game Boy
First impressions are important, which is
why Invasion of the Spider-Slayers opens with
the worst first level in gaming history.
We’ve got to admire the developers’ honesty.
The game starts with Spider-Man having to
stop 20 muggers.
At least, the game calls them muggers.
They aren’t actually mugging anyone; they’re
pulling firearms out of their coats and firing
blindly.
You’ll wander back and forth waiting for
someone to spawn, then you’ll have to wait
even longer to see if he has a gun.
While you do this, children on skateboards
eat away at your health and, oh, did we mention
there’s a time limit and you’ll have to
start from the beginning when it expires?
Come to think of it, Spider-Man really shouldn’t
be worried about Spider-Slayers at all, being
as he’s not actually a spider.
You know what you should be worried about,
Pete? 20 active shooters in a park!
#49: Questprobe Featuring Spider-Man
Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Commodore
64, Dragon 32, MS-DOS, MSX, ZX Spectrum
Intended to be a 12-game series with each
installment focusing on different superheroes,
Questprobe ended after only three entries.
Unfortunately for Spider-Man, that mercy-killing
came too late.
Questprobe Featuring Spider-Man existed in
a number of different versions with the only
real difference being the quality of their
graphics.
As the gameplay consists entirely of text
inputs, though, that’s largely irrelevant.
Nothing about this game is specific to Spider-Man.
In fact, the entire adventure – we use the
word loosely – takes place within a single,
nondescript building.
You explore it and solve various simple puzzles
to collect gems for no reason whatsoever.
Baddies show up over the course of the game,
but you won’t be fighting any of them; they
just represent further puzzles to be solved.
We will give the game credit for including
one very innovative feature, however.
With just a few keystrokes, you can convince
Spider-Man to commit suicide.
He’s nothing if not accommodating.
#48: Spider-Man 2
N-Gage
Have you ever played Spider-Man 2 on the PlayStation
2 and thought, “This is fine, but I wish
the controls were worse and it was really
difficult to see”?
If so, the N-Gage had you covered.
Well, alright, it’s not exactly the same
game; it’s definitely been scaled down and
redesigned and…made awful, to be frank.
It’s stiff, confusing, and has the same
frame rate of an actual comic book.
Loading times regularly exceed 30 seconds
as well, just to ensure the game sapped the
maximum amount of life away from those unfortunate
enough to play it.
We will say that it’s genuinely impressive
that any version of Spider-Man 2 existed on
an N-Gage – a handheld system less powerful
than the microchip in your dog – but beyond
that it’s probably most notable for being
mocked by Ed Helms on The Daily Show.
#47: The Amazing Spider-Man
Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS
This is…a thing.
That’s about all I can say with certainty,
to be honest.
It’s a sort of…maze game?
It takes place across a number of interconnected,
themed stages, each with a different title
displayed on screen.
It’s a bit like Manic Miner or Jet Set Willy,
but somehow even stranger.
The game might take place in outer space.
Or it could just be night time.
Either way, gravity here works like it does
nowhere else in the known universe, so it
probably doesn’t matter.
Spider-Man does whatever a spider can, so
long as the spiders you know can walk around
flipping switches and outwitting mummies.
There is a story here involving Mysterio kidnapping
Mary Jane, but I think one look at this footage
is all it takes to realize any narrative logic
must have been forcibly applied after the
fact.
#46: Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace
Game Boy Advance
From the muddy graphics to the repetitive
combat to the same three-second bass loop
that drones endlessly through every stage,
Mysterio’s Menace seems to have been designed
for the sole purpose of giving players a Mysterio’s
Migraine.
Nothing about the game feels as though it’s
received any amount of polish, and even simple
things, such as picking up items, feels finicky
and untested.
Spider-Man’s moveset is almost comically
dull, and every single enemy gets its own
health bar, ensuring you’re always acutely
aware of just how tedious each encounter is.
We will give credit where it’s due; the
web swinging works well enough, and there
are a number of minor jumping puzzles throughout
the experience – something you’d really
think we’d see a lot more of in Spider-Man
games.
You can also choose which level to play next
at certain points, meaning every time you
replay it you’ll get to hate them in a different
order.
#45: Spider-Man 2
DS
Why is it that the great – some might even
say “Amazing” – Spider-Man 2 on the
PlayStation 2 got so many terrible equivalents
on other systems?
The answer of course is that they were handled
by separate developers working with completely
different hardware but my question was meant
to be rhetorical.
The DS version of Spider-Man is a sidescrolling
beat-‘em-up, which just so happens to control
horrendously and look even worse.
It’s not the ugliest game on this list,
but it sure looks lifeless, and it’s one
that has had absolutely no attempt to inject
it with personality.
Just a peekat the combat and its big, empty
stages reveal how little care went into this.
Unless you live in some region of the world
that obligates you by law to purchase this
game, we can’t recommend it.
And even then…it’s probably best if you
move.
#44: Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage
SNES, Mega Drive
Beat-‘em-ups don’t need to do much in
order to be fun, but they sure need to do
more than this.
The game consists entirely of taking a few
steps; waiting for waves of repetitive, uninteresting
enemies to spawn; fighting them; and repeating
the process.
Words cannot convey how utterly boring it
is.
It’s not especially difficult, but every
time you think a particular brawl should be
winding up about now, it makes sure to continue
well beyond the bounds of decency.
Then you shuffle forward and do exactly the
same thing with exactly the same enemies all
over again.
You can choose to play as Venom, which you’d
think would add some interesting wrinkles
to the game by default, but no.
Same plot, same stages, same enemies.
He’s just a palette swap, right down to
having the same moves as Spider-Man.
They must have been as bored making this game
as we are playing it.
#43: Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety
SNES, Mega Drive, PC
This is…uh, the same game.
Like, literally the same game we just talked
about, just with a different name and a few
very, very minor tweaks.
Just like Maximum Carnage, Venom Slash Spider
Hyphen Man Colon Separation Anxiety takes
the already boring idea of Spider-Man walking
down the street punching people and manages
to fail to live up to even those low expectations.
Once again, the fighting isn’t even executed
well.
Typically brawlers will give you a little
bit of vertical leeway, since lining yourself
up pixel-perfectly with your enemy would be
finicky to the point of distraction.
Here, though, there’s no leeway.
If you’re just a hair too far north or south
of your opponent, you’ll be swinging away
at the empty air.
How in the world Acclaim had the gall to release
the same game twice – right down to the
locations and enemies – within one year
of each other is beyond us.
#42: Spider-Man 2
Game Boy Advance
If you’ve ever wanted to play a Spider-Man
game in which our hero controls like a sack
of bowling balls, this is the game for you.
Everything about the experience feels clunky,
and we’re still not sure if the game suffers
from input delay or just excessively slow
animations.
Perhaps it’s both; the game is optimized
very poorly, with swinging from webs nearly
always introducing a full second or more of
slowdown.
Of course, maybe we’re just picking nits;
who would ever want to swing from webs in
a Spider-Man game?
It’s a very glitchy experience; we got stuck
in ceilings and phased through solid walls
a number of times.
We’ve certainly seen worse – many times
on this very list, in fact – but every bit
of the presentation feels just a bit off,
such as Spider-Man making a sound like he’s
passing a stone every time he jumps.
#41: The Amazing Spider-Man
DS
As we’ll see much later, the proper Amazing
Spider-Man film tie-in was ported more or
less intact to the 3DS.
Whose idea was it then, to create a far inferior
version for a dead system?
To start with the good aspects of this game,
it controls fine.
Also… actually, that’s about it.
Sorry for using “aspects” as a plural.
That was very misleading now that I think
about it.
The game rarely aspires to more than having
you fight your way through baddies until you
find a key to a door, at which point you fight
through baddies looking for another key.
It’s the very definition of an inessential
game.There is nothing redeeming here, aside
from the fact that when you die in the game,
you don’t die in real life.
#40: Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin
Master System, Game Gear
Spider-Man fans had a fair number of titles
to choose from on Sega consoles.
Of course picking one is about as pleasant
a choice as selecting the manner of your own
execution, but, still, variety is nice.
Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin is artfully misleading.
It makes you believe that your main struggle
in this game will be against hairless cigar
aficionado Kingpin.
That’s because he’s a cigar aficionado
who is bald, by the way, not because he’s
an aficionado of hairless cigars.
Though, to be honest, hairless cigars are
probably preferable in general.
Where was I?
Oh, right.
It’s not actually Kingpin who is the main
villain: it’s the controls.
Spider-Man pops on and off surfaces that he
should be able to climb easily, and only periodically
will the game allow you to “shot web,”
as though Spider-Man can’t control it any
better than he can control a sneeze.
#39: Spider-Man: Edge of Time
DS
This version of Edge of Time is a platformer
that unfolds over a series of interconnected
areas…something we’d call Metroidvania
if it wouldn’t do irreparable harm to the
genre.
The areas don’t really stand out, though,
which is a crucial failing in that kind of
game.
Granted, Edge of Time has a map, which helps
a lot, but players should at least be partially
able to navigate by visual landmarks.
Of course, the gameplay could still be fun,
even if exploration isn’t.
Then again, we’re still in the dredges of
this list so I think you know that’s not
the case.
Enemies are too easily avoided to present
any kind of real obstacle, and they’re dispatched
easily enough with your basic attacks so the
powerups never feel as satisfying as they
should.
This is definitely the worst version of Edge
of Time…and Edge of Time isn’t that great
in the first place.
#38: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
DS, PlayStation Portable
Technically these are two different games
that share a title, but we’d have put them
back to back anyway, as they also share the
same strengths and weaknesses.
In each version you’ll combine forces with
a friend or a foe—an ally or an adversary,
a companion or a criminal, a buddy or a bully—from
within the Spider-Man universe and fight your
way through stages that, to be frank, should
be far more varied than they really are.
It’s an excellent concept for a game but
it rarely feels tailored to these characters
at all.
The DS version of the game offers a vertically
oriented field of play with the ability to
move between both screens to fight baddies
and accomplish objectives, and it also has
the requisite touch-screen minigames.
Whether these things qualify as a bonus or
a drawback comes down to personal taste.
But let’s be clear: it’s a drawback.
#37: Spider-Man
SNES
Spider-Man for the SNES opens with the 1994
cartoon series theme song fed through what
can only be the acoustics of Hell.
10-hour loop when, Youtube?
Anyway, Spider-Man is…not good, and it doesn’t
seem to understand who Spider-Man is.
Here’s a hint: He’s not a walking tank.
Just look at this absolute unit.
Of course, a Spider-Man built like a brick…erm,
stinkhouse doesn’t necessarily make for
a bad game.
Never fear, though, because everything else
about the game does!
For instance, objectives are needlessly obtuse.
You can’t smash your way through this grate.
Fine.
So you head off to look for some other way
of opening it.
Instead, though, you have to destroy a completely
unrelated robot.
Once you do that, the grate suddenly can be
smashed.
There is no logical way for a player to make
that connection, because, well, there isn’t
a connection.
Anyway, have fun with the rest of the game!
#36: Spider-Man: Battle for New York
Game Boy Advance
Battle for New York seems to actively dare
you to enjoy it.
For starters, it doesn’t even let you play
as Spider-Man until you complete a series
of extremely tedious levels as Green Goblin.
Don’t get us wrong; playing as a supervillain
should be fun, but here it feels more like
a chore.
You search for keys and light Bunsen burners
to progress, because, you know, that’s definitely
the only stuff you’d want to do as a gigantic
monster in a video game.
Admittedly you do get to punch passersby to
death, but even that feels a little…pedestrian.
That’s good wordplay, trust me; you’ll
laugh tomorrow.
Playing as Spider-Man is more fun by default,
but it’s still not great and you’re periodically
punished by having to play as Green Goblin
again.
For a game about the inevitable collision
between good and evil, Battle for New York
succeeds only in convincing us we don’t
care who wins.
#35: Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six
NES, Master System
Return of the Sinister Six on the NES is quite
similar to the Game Gear version, with the
notable difference that this one is playable.
Spider-Man even has some additional moves
in this version, which is odd as the NES had
the same number of buttons as the Game Gear.
In addition, the hit boxes are better defined
and the boss fights are better balanced.
The stage design is still rather uninspired,
though, and there’s at least one area in
Sandman’s stage that softlocks the game
if you happen to stumble into it.
On the bright side, the game does an excellent
job of capturing Peter Parker’s famous 20-foot
vertical, and when you punch people they explode
into showers of burnt meat.
The Master System version of the game is almost
identical, so don’t accidentally play that
one, either.
#34: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Game Boy
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released in North
America simply as Spider-Man 2, a tacit admission
if we’ve ever heard one.
We will give it a bit of respect for trying
new things—we’ll discuss its predecessor
in a bit—but it’s difficult to argue that
it did any of those new things well.
This game tasks Spider-Man with exploring
larger levels to find objects and complete
objectives; it’s no longer as simple as
moving to the right and punching a boss.
The problem is that those levels aren’t
much fun to explore and the objectives are
rarely clear.
Players will experience a lot of backtracking,
further hampered by respawning enemies and
frequent slowdown.
Still, though, it tried, and the soundtrack
isn’t half bad.
#33: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
DS
Web of Shadows exists in a few different versions,
and this one is safely the worst.
It’s the sort of game you assume can’t
be boring forever, and then it works really
hard to prove you wrong.
One very nice thing about the game is that
the combat and web slinging are both smoothly
executed.
They’re never fun, mind you, but they work
well and deserve a much better game built
around them.
Here, Spider-Man fights anonymous baddies
on flat planes, and though he gains abilities
that allow him to access new parts of the
map, none of them feel worth exploring.
There are multiple endings—two is a multiple—so,
that’s something.
Also, when you die, you get to play a touchscreen
minigame to revive yourself.
It’s a unique feature, because no other
game in history was stupid enough to include
it.
#32: Spider-Man
Mega Drive
At first glance this looks like the SNES game
of the same name, but it’s actually a lot
different, with redesigned stages, clearer
objectives, and slightly improved controls.
All of this adds up to a much better game
that still, to be clear, is not good by any
stretch of the imagination.
Spider-Man moves a bit more fluidly here,
controlling less like a brick and more of
a… sort of mound of boiled beef?
The animations are also nicer, though the
stages are often too busy, visually, and there’s
no clear way of telling which walls are climbable
and which objects you can walk through.
Our favorite part of this game is the death
animation, which makes it look like Spider-Man
is deflating.
If you would like to reinflate him afterward,
just, uh… promise us you won’t use your
mouth.
#31: Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s
Revenge
SNES
It says a lot when “I assume somebody playtested
it” counts as a recommendation, but so it
goes in the world of Spider-Man games.
Much like the Game Boy game of the same name,
the SNES version is hot garbage.
But here, at least, the opening stage is completable
without exhausting your entire stock of profanity.
The Spidey Sense returns, but this time with
an obnoxious aural cue that makes it sound
more like Spidey Flatulence.
The stage may be easier to traverse, but the
developers made sure it would be no more pleasant.
Beyond that, the game opens up substantially.
Spider-Man can continue on his adventure,
but you also get the option to play as four
of the X-Men (OR X-WOMEN) through their own
stages.
The Mega Drive version, released the following
year, has an improved soundtrack… not least
because the Spidey Sense is now completely
silent.
Possibly still deadly though, so look out.
#30: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox
360, Xbox One, PC
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released on a
series of platforms with a wide range of processing
power, so in a strict sense, it’s impressive
that each version looks, feels, and plays
very similarly to each other.
It doesn’t do any of those things well,
but points for consistency.
Every version suffered from glitches, technical
issues, and slowdown, with performance only
ever stabilizing long enough for players to
realize the game wasn’t any good.
The critical consensus was that it was a less
interesting and barely functional version
of previous Spider-Man titles…some of which
were actually developed by the same team,
making this big step backwards even more puzzling.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was so disappointing,
it caused Polygon to lament that there would
probably never be a “truly great Spider-Man
game.”That provides a good idea of just
how cold this one left Spidey’s fans.
#29: Spider-Man: Battle for New York
DS
We know it’s not saying much that the DS
version of Battle for New York is better than
the GBA version, but it’s the most we can
say so you’ll just have to live with it.
The animation has been improved, the controls
feel a bit better, and the cutscenes feature
voice acting.
Not good voice acting, but that’s sort of
why we love it.
A few of the objectives make more sense than
they did in the GBA version as well, such
as Green Goblin actually…you know, smashing
stuff up, as opposed to breaking into Peter
Parker’s school to, uh, light candles.
Spider-Man and Green Goblin have both been
given special moves accessible via touchscreen,
and because I used the word “touchscreen”
you can also be certain this version of Battle
for New York contains unnecessary minigames.
It’s an improvement, but we certainly wish
it were more of one.
#28: Spider-Man
Atari 2600
This one isn’t remembered with much fondness,
but it’s better than its reputation suggests.
You scale buildings with your webbing – though
the sound effects makes it seem more like
Peter Parker is vomiting – and try to reach
the top, where Green Goblin has planted some
bombs.
That’s…pretty much it, really, but there’s
more depth than it seems.
If a criminal in one of the many windows severs
your web, you’ll fall…but if you touch
them physically, you’ll get points for apprehending
them.
Grabbing bombs also nets you some points,
but if you wait until they’re about to explode,
you’ll earn even more.
And when you’re falling, you can grab back
onto the building and save yourself.
Or you can let Spider-Man fall and break his
spine.
Yeah, he’s…he’s never walking again.
If you ever wonder how Spidey has been treated
overall by the industry, just think of this
– THIS – and remember that it’s better
than a full half of his games.
#27: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox 360, PC
Spider-Man is recruited by Nick Fury to seek
out pieces of the meteor that brought the
Venom symbiote to Earth, forcing our two-legged
eight-legged friend to team up with friendly
and not-so-friendly faces from his past in
a globetrotting co-op adventure.
That’s the concept behind Spider-Man: Friend
or Foe, and as a concept we couldn’t ask
for much more.
As a game however… well…
It’s something of an achievement to have
squandered so much potential.
Spider-Man’s “global” adventure unfolds
over only five areas – a mere 20 stages
in total – and the combat is tedious from
the get go.
What’s more, you never really get to use
anybody’s special abilities outside of predetermined
moments.
Sure, their punches and kicks all look different,
but that’s hardly what should set them apart
as characters, and Friend or Foe stands as
little more than a testament to the failure
of imagination.
#26: The Amazing Spider-Man
Game Boy
At last, a sidescroller that actually does
the things we like sidescrollers to do.
It’s not exciting or innovative in any way,
but it’s competent, and at this point I
see this as an absolute win.
Wait… wrong Avenger… let’s start again.
This game isn’t anything revolutionary,
but it has its heart in the right place.
Spider-Man may spend most of his time slapping
anonymous baddies around, and he may look
like he’s played by Napoleon Dynamite, but
swinging through the air works quite well
and is a fair amount of fun.
The best part of the game is the soundtrack
by the legendary David Wise, but there’s
also some truly enjoyable cheese.
For instance, in this scene Spider-Man laments
that Mysterio didn’t give him any useful
information.
We’d lament right alongside you, Pete, but
we watched you blow him up instead of asking
him any questions so, frankly, we think this
one is on you.
#25: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable
When Web of Shadows was released for the PS3,
Xbox 360, and the Wii, it was pretty clear
which system would get a downgraded version.
What wasn’t clear was what the PS2 would
get.
Would it be the faithful but less visually
impressive Wii version?
Or would it be the completely different, far
inferior beat-‘em-up that the PSP was getting?
It was, of course, the PSP version that nobody
wanted in the first place.
It was a good way of punishing anyone who
hadn’t upgraded to the new console generation,
we suppose.
This version does at least pay lip service
to the main game’s basic morality system,
allowing players to choose between different
lines of dialogue, but that’s of little
comfort and not much of a selling point.
On the positive side, players can summon 30
different allies to help them fight – more
than the main game offers.
On the less-positive side… everything else.
#24: Spider-Man 3
DS
No version of Spider-Man 3 is particularly
good—we’re definitely including the film
in this statement—but the DS version is
likely the worst.
It’s one of many games on this list that
reduces Spider-Man to running back and forth
while punching people, and it’s also one
that can’t rely on looking good, sounding
good, or controlling well.
Nintendo’s consoles get a lot of guff—sometimes
well deserved—for breeding games that make
poor, mandatory use of control gimmicks.
Spider-Man 3 is one of those games, requiring
touch-screen input for attacking and webbing
enemies.
The best DS games use the touch screen either
sparingly or wisely.
Spider-Man 3 uses it constantly and idiotically.
If you can adjust to the controls, you’ll
find a perfectly competent game underneath.
But the time you spend adjusting could be
much better spent with any of the remaining
games on this list.
#23: The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes
Super Famicom
One of the better-looking 16-bit Spider-Man
games, Lethal Foes is an overall proficient
yet thoroughly forgettable adventure.
It’s a by-the-numbers platformer slash brawler
with just a bit of web slinging thrown in.
The controls are clunky and Spider-Man is
nowhere near as responsive as he should be.
It’s nothing you can’t adjust to, but
the fact that each stage has a fairly strict
timer means that you don’t really have enough
time to adjust.
Those who are willing to stick with it and
master it will probably have a decent enough
time, but we certainly won’t blame anyone
who bails on it in favor of something better.
Lethal Foes never left Japan, which means
no official English version exists.
That’s fine, because no translated version
could be as entertaining as seeing J. Jonah
Jameson shouting in Japanese about pictures
of Spider-Man.
I mean, it’s fairly safe to assume that’s
what he’s shouting about.
#22: Ultimate Spider-Man
DS
A console Spider-Man game got a disappointing
handheld equivalent?!
Call the Daily Bugle!
I’m joking, of course; it’s not surprising
at all and the Daily Bugle is a fictional
newspaper that only exists within the world
of Spider-Man and therefore cannot accept
your call.
Ultimate Spider-Man is less a bad game than
it is a thoroughly inessential one.
It looks fine, plays fine, and sounds fine,
but it never gets much further than that.
The Venom stages are welcome—there’s something
automatically satisfying about SUCKING THE
LIFE OUT OF INNOCENTS on a Nintendo handheld—but
the Spider-Man stages sometimes involve timed
puzzles with unclear solutions…basically
a recipe for frustration.
One nice detail is that while playing as Spider-Man
you focus on the top screen, and while playing
as Venom you focus on the bottom.
That’s the most creativity demonstrated
in the entire game, however.
#21: Spider-Man 3
Game Boy Advance
There’s little about Spider-Man 3 on the
Game Boy Advance that sets it apart, though
it is at least a competently made little adventure.
It’s a decent timewaster, but nothing we
imagine will bring people back again and again.
On the negative side, the fighting could do
with being much quicker.
Also, a few moves that should be basic – such
as dashing and evading – require some pretty
uncomfortable fingerings (quiet back there)
to pull off.
(I said quiet back there.)
The puzzles, such as they are, also don’t
extend beyond finding a key or a switch to
open the next passage.
On the bright side, though, there are some
nice-looking sequences, such as an early fight
that takes place atop moving vehicles.
You can also upgrade Spider-Man with permanent
powerups, giving the experience a genuine
feel of progression.
But if you have a Game Boy Advance, you can
do better than this.
For instance…
#20: Spider-Man
Game Boy Advance
Many Spider-Man games paint our hero as a
brawler, which leads to them feeling untrue
to the character.
In fact, Spider-Man’s lack of brutality
is what clues Mary Jane in to the fact that
the vicious Kraven the Hunter has replaced
Peter Parker in Kraven’s Last Hunt.
Yes, Spider-Man physically beating people
to a pulp is so far outside the character’s
normal behavior that it should serve as a
canonical red flag.
Spider-Man for the Game Boy Advance, though,
is smarter than that.
The bulk of the game is designed around swinging,
climbing, and crawling through tight areas.
It’s one of only a few games on this list
that asks, “How can we make a game for Spider-Man?”
as opposed to “How can we put Spider-Man
in a game?”
The boss fights can be quite annoying, with
noticeable hit-detection issues in the fight
against The Vulture, for instance, but it’s
a fun little adventure that deserves more
attention than it gets.
#19: Spider-Man 2
PlayStation Portable
The PSP version of Spider-Man 2 has ambition,
we’ll give it that.
It was never going to handle the large, freely
explorable environments of the PlayStation
2 version, but it attempts to retain at least
some of that game’s spirit.
Smaller, more limited open-world segments
are parceled out throughout the adventure.
It doesn’t scratch the same itch as the
PS2 original, but it’s nice to see it try.
The rest of the game consists of 2D and 3D
fighting segments, which the PSP is better
suited to handling, but those little glimpses
of city exploration are easily the most memorable
parts.
The game is a bit too short, a bit too easy,
a bit too confusing, and far too buggy, but
it’s not terrible.
Which isn’t saying much, I know, but we’re
getting so much closer to the games that are
actually good now and I’d just like to move
along.
#18: Spider-Man
Game Boy Color
As the Play-Station, Nintendo 64, and Dreamcast
were getting a taste of a great Spider-Man
adventure, developer Vicarious Visions decided
the Game Boy Color should have one, too.
Miraculously, it’s a pretty darned good
one.
It sounds great – enjoy the chiptuned version
of the 1960s Spider-Man theme in the pause
menu – and looks genuinely impressive in
the cutscenes.
That would of course matter very little if
it didn’t play well, but it does!
Sort of.
For the most part.
Maybe.
Spider-Man controls fluidly, with clean movements
and smooth animation.
He’s even able to swing in a far more satisfying
way than should be possible on the Game Boy
Color.
The bad news is that his jumping is an annoyance;
you’re locked into a direction as soon as
you press A, Castlevania-style, making Spider-Man
feel far less graceful than he should.
And unless you rely on projectile combat,
you’ll get very tired of the hand-to-hand
fighting quickly.
Still, those small complaints would be resolved
in…
#17: Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six
Game Boy Color
The fighting is better, the jumping is better,
and you now have to hold down the A button
rather than just press it to swing from webs,
which actually goes a long way toward making
the experience feel more dynamic.
Also, the boss fights are improved and if
you remain still for a few seconds, giving
Peter Parker a chance to concentrate, his
Spidey Sense will kick in and show you where
your objective is.
It’s a smart and organic in-game hint system
we quite enjoy, and it works well with the
large levels here, which are designed to give
players multiple paths to progress.
The Game Boy Color was not a powerful system,
and we’d have guessed Spider-Man games this
fun would be far beyond its capabilities.
This thing has open-world sections, for crying
out loud!
It’s not a game that will change your life,
but it sure will give you a greater appreciation
for what this little handheld could achieve.
#16: Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro
PlayStation
Enter Electro isn’t great, but it’s also
by no means bad.
It’s just mediocre, stuck between two much
better games it can’t possibly live up to:
Spider-Man PS1 from the year previous, and
Spider-Man PS2 which came out about six months
later.
Compared to both of those games, Enter Electro
feels unnecessary.
It looks really great for a PS1 game, and
the soundtrack is stellar, but Spider-Man
himself controls like he’s in the late stages
of arthritis, and New York feels bland and
lifeless.
There could be a reason for that latter fact,
however; Enter Electro was redesigned after
the September 11 terrorist attacks brought
down the World Trade Center…a location that
figured prominently in the game’s original
design.
How much those understandable changes affected
the experience we can’t know for sure, but
the developers definitely had to stitch things
together to some extent, and the final game
certainly feels that way.
#15: Spider-Man 3
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
One thing we appreciate about Spider-Man 3
is that while it’s recognisably faithful
to the film of the same name, it puts forth
a lot of effort to craft several shorter stories
of its own, using unique characters.
One thing we don’t appreciate about Spider-Man
3 is…the rest of it.
Okay, that’s a bit harsh, but the game is
frustrating because of how much better it
should be.
It was developed by Treyarch—the same developer
as the previous two movie games—but either
their heart wasn’t in it or they all suffered
concussions at the same time and forgot what
they were doing.
The controls are less precise, the camera
less helpful, and the character models and
animations represent a huge step backward.
It has enough in common design-wise with its
far-superior predecessor that it’s not a
complete waste of time, but we definitely
wish it had built on that game’s accomplishments
rather than turning in a lesser imitation
of them.
#14: Spider-Man: Edge of Time
3DS, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360
Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 team up to
solve a cross-generational crisis, which they
accomplish by… beating people up and collecting
keys.
So, almost exactly the same as most other
games on this list, then.The developers even
coined the phrase “quantum causality”
to describe the gameplay.
Or perhaps they coined it to trick people
into thinking the gameplay was far more interesting
than it actually was.
What happens in Edge of Time is what happens
in any time-travel story; changing something
in the past affects the future, but in Edge
of Time it tends to happen passively.
You control one version of Spider-Man performing
an action, and the other tells you in voice-over
what changed.
Not very exciting stuff.
It’s repetitive, and critics griped rightfully
about the out-of-character behavior of Peter
Parker.
Even the opportunity to play as two different
versions of Spider-Man isn’t impressive…especially
since Shattered Dimensions, released the previous
year, allowed us to play as four versions.
#13: Ultimate Spider-Man
Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance excelled at comic-book-style
graphics, and Ultimate Spider-Man plays to
that strength perfectly.
It looks and sounds great, and gives Spider-Man
an impressive amount of options for both movement
and combat, making it feel suitably specific
to the character.
And while it’s nice to see a game that captures
Spider-Man’s abilities so well, it’s even
nicer to see one that captures his specific
weaknesses.
Spider-Man can go head to head against his
foes in this game, but nearly always he’ll
take a beating in the process.
At least, that’s the case unless you fight
strategically.
Peter Parker’s strengths are in his agility,
and keeping on the move during combat is a
must.
It’s a great design choice that forces you
to play like Spider-Man rather than simply
pound away at buttons.
It’s also fun…something that really shouldn’t
be worth mentioning but, well, you’ve seen
some of the other nonsense on this list.
#12: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
DS
The DS version of Shattered Dimensions will
never see the same level of appreciation as
the main console game… and, actually, that’s
fine as it’s nowhere near as good.
But it does deserve at least some degree of
recognition.
This version completely reimagines the experience
as a Metroidvania…something Nintendo’s
handheld systems have nearly always handled
very well.
Unfortunately, this version of Shattered Dimensions
just about trips over its own gimmick; whereas
the console version famously brought four
versions of Spider-Man together, this one
has only three, leaving out Ultimate Spider-Man
entirely.
It’s also extremely short, clocking in at
around five hours if you take your time.
Still, the combat is good and if you’re
a fan of both Spider-Man and the genre, this
is an easy recommendation.
#11: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, PC
In the majority of these games, it’s Spider-Man’s
job to prevent tragedy.
And, that’s good because it’s sort of
his job.
In Web of Shadows, however, tragedy has already
struck.
New York is infested with symbiotes.
He and others – not all of them friendly
– fight desperately to beat back the invasion,
with the odds stacked massively against them.
It’s a moodier and more atmospheric approach,
and it works very well.
It even ties into the gameplay, with Spider-Man’s
black suit serving as both a necessary tool
for battle and an example of the darkening
of his morality.
From a narrative standpoint, this could have
easily been the best Spider-Man game.
Unfortunately, the narrative is all that the
game gets truly right.
The morality system that was central to the
game’s plot is sadly quite limited, the
gameplay and objectives get repetitive quickly,
and the camera seems to be working for the
symbiotes considering how uncooperative it
is.
Fans should seek it out, certainly, but they
should also know going in that it won’t
live up to its own high promise.
#10: Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin
Mega Drive, Sega CD
Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin is not much in
the looks department, but it plays well, with
an impressive amount of grace in Spider-Man’s
movement when he’s swinging from webs and
climbing buildings.
He’s a bit less impressive on the ground,
but – deliberately or not – that suits
the character, and it encourages players to
actually experiment with the abilities that
made him famous.
Whenever you need a break from kicking seven
shades of Fisk out of the bad guys, you can
take photos of them for extra cash… a long
overdue nod to Peter’s day job.
There are also smaller crimes you can stop
on your way to larger objectives.
It’s a nice way to actually portray the
character as “your friendly neighborhood
Spider-Man” as opposed to “some video
game character who murders the citizens of
New York one by one.”
If you’re looking for an early console game
that does Spider-Man any justice whatsoever
as a character, this is the one to seek out.
#9: Spider-Man 3
PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii
We’re as surprised as you are that the version
of Spider-Man 3 released for these systems
is better than the one released for the PS3,
360, and PC, but here we are.
Here, the rival gangs fight for control of
New York, and it’s up to you to help police
claim it back…a nice way of feeling as though
your actions are making a difference.
You earn the black suit much earlier in this
version and can switch between suits more
or less at will.
Weirdly, even the cutscenes look better here.
Whether or not they look good is a matter
of taste, but they at least look like the
polygons fit together.
Without question, the city feels far less
lively than on those more powerful systems,
but that tradeoff leads to a smoother experience.
Is this version of Spider-Man 3 much better
than it should have been?
Or is the HD version just that much worse?
#8: The Amazing Spider-Man
3DS, PlayStation 3, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox
360, PC
Serving as a sort of alternate-universe follow-up
to the film, The Amazing Spider-Man is destined
to be mainly of interest to fans of the movie.
It should also, however, be of interest to
fans of Spider-Man on the PS4, as a number
of the ideas in this game would be refined
and improved on for that one.
This includes the faux social-media feed that
updates as the game progresses, collectibles
and costumes from Spidey’s history, and
an early attempt at borrowing the celebrated
combat from Rocksteady’s Arkham series.
And before anyone gets upset with us for drawing
that comparison, the developers themselves
cited Arkham Asylum and Arkham City as direct
inspirations, so settle down.
The 3DS and Wii ports are largely the same
as the other versions, with the differences
coming in the controls and the lack of an
explorable open world.
Because, hey, who wants an open-world in a
Spider-Man game anyway?
We can’t imagine that ever catching on.
#7: Spider-Man
PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, PC
The earliest Spider-Man game most people remember
fondly is 2000’s Spider-Man for the PlayStation.
Making the necessary allowances for the early
polygon era, we think the game holds up quite
well.
The web-slinging is smooth, Spider-Man’s
agility comes through perfectly, and the soundtrack
– by esteemed video-game composer Tommy
Tallarico – is better than we mortals deserve.
Many of the voices from the 1990s Spider-Man
cartoon reprised their roles for this game,
and there’s even narration by some weird,
virtually unknown voice actor named Stan Lee.
Hmm.
Wonder who that guy is…
The Nintendo 64 version has improved loading
times, as you might expect, but you also lose
the FMVs and a significant chunk of music
quality.
The Dreamcast version got better models and
textures however, so that’s definitely the
way to go if you’re one of the 11 people
who still owns a Dreamcast.
#6: Spider-Man
GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC
Often referred to as Spider-Man: The Movie,
this one still holds up well today.
The game shines its brightest when Spider-Man
is allowed to swing from building to building,
exploring bits of New York that honestly look
quite good considering the hardware limitations
of the time.
In fact, it’s worth spending as much time
as possible simply enjoying these moments
of freedom, as the game itself is quite short,
clocking in at well under five hours.
It also however, has a fairly terrible camera,
and controlling Spider-Man in the narrow indoor
sections is nightmarish, but those things
don’t hurt the experience much, and it’s
a game that clearly had a lot of love invested
in its development.
Of course, just about any complaint is balanced
out by the great Bruce Campbell’s narration
in the tutorial though - a role he’d reprise
in this game’s two sequels.
#5: Spider-Man: The Video Game
Arcade
Sega’s 1991 Spider-Man arcade game is still
one of Spidey’s strongest outings.
It’s a relic from the golden age of arcade
co-op, and it holds up beautifully.
Its visuals are great, its combat satisfying,
and its stages are just varied enough to keep
the experience from growing stale.
It supports up to four players, as well, which
greatly increases the fun factor.
Black Cat, Hawkeye, and Sub-Mariner are the
other playable characters, each of whom come
with their own attacks and abilities.
Unlike some of this game’s contemporaries
– The Simpsons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,
and X-Men for instance – Spider-Man: The
Arcade Game doesn’t seem to come up as frequently
in nostalgic reverie.
That’s unfortunate, because it deserves
to be held in about as high a regard.
#4: Ultimate Spider-Man
GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC
With the possible exception of the PS4 game,
Ultimate Spider-Man might have the best story
of any game on this list.
That shouldn’t be surprising, as Brian Michael
Bendis—who cowrote the Ultimate Spider-Man
comic—wrote this game.
As a result, the characters are true to themselves,
funny, and feel like they’re part of a coherent
universe.
That’s nice and all, but it wouldn’t matter
much if the gameplay were disappointing.
Fortunately, it’s not.
Players control either Spider-Man or Venom
at various points in the story, and they both
feel unique.
Additionally, the stylized graphics have aged
better than most games of its era, and the
voice acting is surprisingly strong.
Ultimate Spider-Man isn’t celebrated as
much as a certain PS2 sibling, but it’s
worth a spin.
Which is what a spider does.
It spins webs.
Please clap.
#3: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, PC
When Shattered Dimensions was announced, anticipation
was high.
Not one, not two, not three, not five, but
four versions of Spider-Man playable in a
single game, each with their own worlds, mechanics,
and visual styles.
It was either going to be too ambitious for
its own good, or it was going to be one of
the best Spider-Man games ever made.
Miraculously, it ended up being the latter.
How the developers of the Bee Movie game came
this far this fast is beyond my ability to
comprehend.
After a battle with Mysterio in which Spider-Man
punches a hole through the fabric of reality—sort
of the most villainous thing in this game
but you do you, Spidey—it’s up to The
Amazing Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man
2099, and Spider-Man Noir to restore balance.
The adventure that follows is uneven, admittedly,
but it’s carried by how much fun and how
creative it is.
#2: Spider-Man 2
GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
For a small group of fans, Spider-Man 2 is
still the best Spider-Man game.
We respectfully disagree, but we do understand
the enduring love for and appeal of this PS2-era
web-slinging adventure.
It was the very first game to get the feeling
of swinging around New York exactly right,
giving us the truly enjoyable open-world experience
we always knew Spider-Man could deliver.
Taking off the nostalgia goggles we can admit
that the graphics haven’t aged all that
gracefully and the combat is largely mindless,
but those things do very little to hamper
enjoyment of the game all these years later.
The city is still impressive in its size and
density, and we actually got to feel like
a hero, swinging down from the rooftops to
clobber street thugs, rush somebody to the
hospital, or simply deliver some pizzas.
It says a lot that Spider-Man 2 remained untouched
as the greatest Spider-Man adventure for so
long.
All the way, actually, until 2018.
#1: Marvel’s Spider-Man
PlayStation 4
It really had to end this way, didn’t it?
The PlayStation 4-exclusive Spider-Man is
a masterpiece.
The exploration, the combat, the voice acting,
the story… everything is just perfect, and
the entire game is littered with things to
discover, to the point that a number of YouTubers
have dedicated videos to doing nothing but
sightseeing.
We’ve seen bigger open worlds, but very
few that have felt this real, this cohesive,
and this alive.
And that’s just the superficial stuff!
The moment-to-moment gameplay is every bit
as satisfying as we could hope.
Whether that’s getting joyously lost while
searching for collectibles, stopping street
crime, meeting adoring fans, or just swinging
through the city, everything fits perfectly
together into the definitive Spider-Man experience.
And Insomniac deserves massive credit for
adapting the gameplay of the Arkham series
for Spider-Man rather than simply lifting
it wholesale.
The games share a lot of DNA, but it’s impossible
to argue that it doesn’t feel perfectly
at home here, and at one with the stellar
quality of the game itself.
Marvel’s Spider-Man isn’t just the best
Spider-Man game; it’s one of the best superhero
games of all time.
And there you have it: every Spider-Man game
ranked from worst to best.
Do you have a personal favorite you think
should have been ranked higher?
Do you there were any high entries that should’ve
been ranked lower?
If you could be bitten by something radioactive,
what would it be and why?
Let us know in the comments below.
Also, if you have suggestions for other “Every
X Ranked From Worst to Best” videos, give
us a shout.
If we like your idea, we just might pretend
we came up with it ourselves.
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I’m Peter, and I’m Ben from TripleJump,
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