Spider-Man: The Video Game (Arcade) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Sega's 1991 arcade action game, Spider-Man: The Video Game.

Played as Spider-Man on the game's default settings.

Spider-Man: The Video Game was the fourth title to be released on Sega's cutting edge sprite-based System 32 arcade platform, and just like its Genesis cousin (   • Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (Genesis) ...   ), it turned a lot of heads when it was new.

The game plays across four lengthy stages, and in each, the gameplay regularly switches between playing as a belt-scrolling beat 'em up and a platformer.

With up to four players stepping into the roles of Spider-Man, Black Cat, Hawkeye, or Submariner, the aim is to recover a "mystic power stone" from several villains, including Venom, The Lizard, Venom, Dr. Octopus, Electro, Hobgoblin, Green Goblin, Sandman, Kingpin, and Dr. Doom.

The beat 'em up portions feel like a slightly simplified take on Final Fight - you can string punches together into combos, jump kick, and throw your enemies, and each character has their own unique special move. The platforming sections, on the other hand, resemble Shinobi - you attack by shooting at your enemies, and you can scale walls and the underside of platforms. In both sections, the controls are responsive and handle easily, and the difficulty level is quite reasonable for an arcade game. The enemies aren't damage sponges that can stun lock or corner trap you, and there are plenty of health items to be found. It's not a super easy game, but it is much fairer than typical arcade fare.

The graphics are the highlight, though. Making use of the horsepower afforded by the 32-bit hardware, Sega manages to bring Spider-Man's world to life here. The sprites are huge and colorful and the style closely mimics the look of Spidey's print adventures. Classic comic book onomatopoeia regularly flashes across the screen, and it's cool to see old favorites like "VOK!" and "THWIP" pop up as you go about taking out the trash. I also liked how the stages were designed to look like extended comic panels. The effect really pays off when the entire screen zooms when switching between the brawler and platformer modes. The sound is alright, but it's not quite on par with the graphics. I found the unusual music to be a bit off-putting, but the hammy voicework is fun.

As good as the beloved Sega Genesis game was, I much prefer this one. It's lacking the exploration elements of the home version, but in my opinion, it's much more exciting to play and it better captures the spirit of the Marvel comic.

Like most System 32 games, this classic never saw any ports to consoles, so it tends to be one of the more obscure games based on the adventures of Peter Parker. It also happens to be one of the best.

Far better than Maximum Carnage, at any rate.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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