For years, developers made several attempts to crack Spider-Man ‘s video game formula through a plethora of different titles. Sadly, many early 8 and 16-bit Spider-Man titles were just generic beat ’em ups and platformers with Webhead slapped on them as an afterthought. However, the mid-90s saw a few games that successfully turned the hero’s abilities into genuinely fun game mechanics.
These older games pointed the way toward Insomniac’s phenomenal Spider-Man titles. With the franchise’s second entry on the way, it seems fitting to look back at the Wall-Crawler’s catalog of games that would benefit from a re-release or even a full-on remake.
RELATED: 10 Best Licensed Games You Can’t Play Today
10 Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro
While Neversoft was busy with the Tony Hawk franchise, Vicarious Visions provided the sequel to their PlayStation Spider-Man title, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro. The sequel introduced some improvements, like the ability to explore the streets and more detailed character models, but never fully exploited them.
Enter Electro‘s short length, underwhelming narrative, and reproduction of the first game’s camera woes made for a rather middling follow-up. It didn’t help that much of the game had to be hastily reworked following the tragic events of 9/11. While not quite a superior Spider-Man title, Enter Electro provided enough web-slinging action to tide players over until its PlayStation 2 iteration. However, a remake of this game could make up for these shortcomings, giving the game the time and attention it needed to really succeed.
9 Spider-Man: The Video Game
Sega’s coin-op, Spider-Man: The Video Game, was an interesting mix of beat ’em up and platformer. Players could choose between the aforementioned Spider-Man, Black Cat, Hawkeye, and the Submariner with up to 4 simultaneous heroes. Each crime-fighter sported their own unique abilities, such as Spidey’s web shooting, Hawkeye’s arrows, and Black Cat’s grappling hook.
Throughout the game, players brawled with some of the most infamous villains in Marvel Comics’ history, including The Kingpin, Doctor Octopus, and even Venom. The game’s presentation was full of with vibrant comic visuals and an energetic score by Kazuhiko Nagai. Though Spider-Man’s lethargic walk was a little distracting, a remake of this title could deal with this issue while reinventing the title’s unique dynamic.
RELATED: 10 Best Sega Genesis Titles Released During Its Twilight Years
8 Spider-Man: Mysterio’s Menace
The sequel to Enter Electro on the PlayStation, Mysterio’s Menace successfully transported Neversoft’s web-slinging gameplay to the Game Boy Advance. The game followed Webhead taking on his colorful rogue’s gallery, led by the titular master of illusions.
Though Mysterio’s Menace took on a 2D perspective, it still adopted many of the gameplay elements and visual flair of its console forebears. The game was developed by Vicarious Visions, who had experience in squeezing NeverSoft’s Tony Hawk titles onto Nintendo’s portable platform. While it might run out of steam before the end credits, it’s still worth a look for any true believer and a remake could bring its best elements to modern consoles.
7 Marvel Super Heroes: War Of The Gems
A spiritual successor of sorts to X-Men Mutant Apocalypse, Capcom’s Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems continued that game’s mixture of platforming and brawling. The game was a loose adaption of the Infinity Gauntlet storyline from the comics.
In contrast to the X-Men’s adventure where each level was tailor-made for the characters’ abilities, War of the Gems allowed each playable hero to tackle any stage. Each character had their own respective strengths and weaknesses that could help with certain levels. While not quite on par with Capcom’s other Marvel titles, War of the Gems is still filled with cathartic action and the MCU’s success makes this title more relevant than ever, making it a great pick for a remake.
RELATED: 10 Best SNES Games Released During Its Twilight Years
6 Spider-Man Vs. The Kingpin
Developed by Technopop, Spider-Man Vs. The Kingpin was one of the first games that let players truly do whatever a spider can. The game saw the aforementioned hero framed for a crime he didn’t commit and forced to disable several bombs planted in the Big Apple. Players could fully harness the Webhead’s gifts as they effortlessly stuck to walls, swung around, and shot webs at various hostiles.
Spider-Man Vs. The Kingpin was updated for the Sega CD, which added fully animated cutscenes and gave the game a non-linear sandbox structure that gave players a lot more choices. It provided the first tentative steps toward the ultimate Spider-Man experience. A remake with today’s technology could give gamers an even more interesting Spider-gaming experience.
5 Spider-Man (2000)
After the success of the first Tony Hawk’s Pro-Skater, Neversoft Entertainment provided the blueprint for future Spider-Man titles in the third dimension. Spider-Man for the PlayStation gave players all of Peter Parker’s amazing abilities while accommodating the hardware limitations of the system.
While the world of polygons would still provide some hurdles such as an uncooperative camera, the 2000 Spider-Man game’s web-slinging and combat mechanics were fun and satisfying. The plot was also pretty entertaining, weaving in several characters from Marvel history and even giving the game a narrative justification for its low draw distance. Bolstering the cutscenes were quality voice-overs from the likes of Rino Romano and Jennifer Hale. Voice acting in video games has only improved since 2000, so a remake would provide a lot of great opportunities for a new cast to shine.
RELATED: 10 Best PS1 Secrets, Ranked
4 Spider-Man (2002)
Developed by Treyarch, the game adaption of the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man flick was a substantial improvement over previous Spider-Man titles. The game added further refinements to the PlayStation title, including the ability to zip up walls while climbing and a more robust combat system.
2002’s Spider-Man loosely followed the events of the first Raimi film while adding in villains like the Shocker, the Vulture, and the Scorpion. While Spidey still couldn’t take to the streets in this game, the Big Apple certainly benefited from the added horsepower of the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Gamecube. A remake taking advantage of the power modern consoles provide would be incredible and actually could let Spider-Man roam New York’s streets unfettered.
3 Spider-Man 2
Much like the film it was based on, Spider-Man 2 was a major step up from its predecessor and changed the way future titles would approach the character in the medium. For the first time, players had all of New York City to explore at their leisure, using their web-slinging and wall-crawling powers the way they’d always wanted to.
While previous Spider-Man games essentially treated Spidey’s swinging like flying, the sequel required the webs to actually attach to something. This provided a new sense of challenge unmatched by any previous superhero title. While the game’s combat and certain side missions sometimes felt repetitive, this game provided the perfect template for Spidey’s further adventures.
2 Ultimate Spider-Man
Based on the then-concurrent Ultimate Marvel continuity, Treyarch successfully built upon the strengths of their previous superhero sandbox in Ultimate Spider-Man. The web-slinging mechanics were a considerable improvement and the game provided a wider variety of missions that full advantage of them. This game eschewed the realistic visuals of its predecessors and adopted a much more stylish, cel-shaded comic book look.
Ultimate Spider-Man was an upgrade for Spider-Man games in almost every way. A later release of the game even added Venom as a playable character, with his own exclusive missions. Unfortunately, it’s one of the many titles starring the Webhead that’s not playable on modern machines, so it needs a remake more than almost any other Spider-Man game.
Marvel Vs Capcom 2 was the culmination of everything the crossover fighting franchise had been building up to. The roster was Brobdingnagian, featuring various iconic characters from both brands. Tag teams were bumped up to three fighters and the game brought back the Variable Assist mechanic from Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter.
With its simplified 4-button system and customization options, Marvel Vs Capcom 2 was the ultimate pick-up-and-play experience. While the character sprites were certainly showing their age in a sea of more graphically cutting-edge environments, the visuals were still vibrant and flashy. With Street Fighter 6‘s successful release, the fan-favorite Marvel Vs Capcom franchise is overdue for a remake.
Games as diverse as Capcom Vs. Marvel and Sega’s early 2000s Spider-Man games would be game-changers if developers remade them for modern consoles. Read More