Spider Man: The Video Game

Plot

Spider-Man and his allies must retrieve a mystical artifact from first the Kingpin, then Doctor Doom.

Gameplay

The game was released as a coin-operated arcade title based on the Sega System 32 hardware. The game can be played as a single player game or up to a four players cooperatively. Each character can do a special move related to their super power which reduces their health.

During levels the game changes from a side-scrolling beat 'em up into a platform game as the camera zooms to a far-away view of the characters in miniature. Later it zooms back in for the much larger and more detailed characters to continue the brawling.

The game was divided into four acts, meeting various villains, including Kingpin, Venom, Doctor Octopus, Electro, Lizard, Scorpion, Sandman, Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, and finally Doctor Doom. High scores are separated by character; so a high score on Spider-Man may not be a high score on Hawkeye or Black Cat.

Spider-Man: The Video Game's soundtrack is also partially comprised from tunes from Sega's 1986 arcade game Quartet. Notably the tunes "Oki Rap" and "FM Funk" (For instance, "FM Funk" appears in the second stage in Spider-Man, while it is featured in the third stage of Quartet).

Characters

The game allows the user to play as one of four heroes: Spider-Man, Black Cat, Sub-Mariner, and Hawkeye. Unlike many games of this type which assigned a certain character to a certain joystick, any player can choose any character (as long as another player isn't already controlling them).

Each hero has a unique set of moves and attacks/abilities, which could be used to beat up the bad guys, that suited their powers and characteristics, as well as basic attacks and jumps (assigned to each of the two buttons).

Spider-Man

Everyone's favorite Web-Head, Spider-Man is the game's main hero and protagonist of the game, as well as one of four playable characters. Spider-Man's move list and attacks consist primarily of moves which revolve around his web-based spider powers, such as swinging from webs and shooting webbing blasts.

Black Cat

Black Cat is one of the other three playable characters. Athletic and acrobatic like a cat, Black cat uses a combination of her claws, grappling hook and cables to defeat enemies throughout the game.

Hawkeye

Recognizable as one of the Avengers, Hawkeye is the third character in the game out of the four playable heroes. As evident by his weapon of choice, the bow and arrow, Hawkeye's attacks and abilities revolve around the use of his bow in order to defeat the enemies of the game.

Sub-Mariner

Being a citizen of Atlantis, Sub-Mariner uses water based projectile attacks (such as a hydro-electric blast) in order to help him defeat enemies throughout the game.

Reception

The game was reviewed in 1992 in Dragon #177 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.

The November 1991 issue of Sinclair User gave it the shared award for "Games Most Likely To Save The Universe" as one of the best superhero games, along with Captain America and The Avengers and Captain Commando.

The January 1992 issue of Computer and Video Games gave it a positive review, praising the four-player gameplay, the "incredible graphics" with "huge, beautifully animated sprites and an impressive zoom in/zoom out effect" and the "16 different stages" with "enough to keep you pumping in the credits."