Spider-Man: The Video Game

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Spider-Man: The Video Game
Sega System 32

Spider-Man: The Video Game, also known as Spider-Man,^[a][1] is a 1991 arcade video game developed by Sega based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man.

Plot

Spider-Man and his allies must retrieve a mystical artifact first from the

.

Gameplay

The game was released as a coin-operated

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

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

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:

. 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

Spider-Man is the game's main hero and protagonist of the game. 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.^[4]

Black Cat

Black Cat is athletic and acrobatic like a cat, using a combination of her claws, grappling hook and cables to defeat enemies throughout the game.^[5]

Hawkeye

Recognizable as one of the Avengers, Hawkeye's attacks and abilities revolve around the use of his bow and arrows in order to defeat his enemies.^[4]

Sub-Mariner

A citizen of Atlantis, Sub-Mariner uses water based projectile attacks, such as a hydro-electric blast, in order to help him defeat his enemies.^[5]

Development

Spider-Man: The Video Game was showcased at the 1991 Las Vegas Amusement Expo.^[6][7]

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Spider-Man on their November 1, 1991 issue as being the fourteenth most-successful table arcade unit of the month.

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.^[7]

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.^[11]

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".^[12]

See also

• List of Spider-Man video games

Notes

References

External links

• Spider-Man: The Video Game at the
  Killer List of Videogames