8. Ultimate Spider-Man (DS)
Ultimate Spider-Man came out in the first year of the Nintendo DS, using the game's touchscreen to add a little bit of pizazz to the game's frequent Venom fights. There's even a multiplayer mode, in which players can have head-to-head fights in an arena against other DS-owning, Spider-Man-loving pals.
7. The Amazing Spider-Man: Ultimate Edition (Wii U)
Developed by Beenox (who also made Shattered Dimensions and Edge of Time), this 'Ultimate Edition' is a little bit of an odd one. The Amazing Spider-Man game that came out on the Wii took away the free-roaming, open-world environment that the console versions had, but the Wii U more closely resembles those versions than it does the Wii game. Also, now Spider-Man can use Bullet Time!
6. Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (SNES)
Another side-scrolling beat-'em-up Spider-Man game, Maximum Carnage is the predecessor of Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety that takes its cues from games like Double Dragon. Its cutscenes, which are presented in comicbook style, are often directly taken from the comics they were based on, which meant a lot of tiny, pixel-wide text to read on a CRT screen.
However, the game is generally appreciated as an all-round pretty good SNES game, even making it onto IGN's Top 100 SNES Games Of All Time list at #85 in 2021.
5. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (Wii)
Shattered Dimensions is a bit of a diamond in the rough when it comes to Spider-Man games. Inspiring the comicbook that would eventually become Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the story deals with multi-verse Spiders-Men who team up to stop a whole horde of supervillains, including some multi-verse versions of familiar faces like Doc Ock, Hobgoblin, and Hammerhead.
While the DS version is a relatively limited side-scrolling brawler, the Wii version is more ambitious: A third-person action-adventure game with four characters to choose from, each one with different abilities. Regular Spider-Man has web-slinging and punching (controlled by the Wiimote and Nunchuk, of course); Noir Spider-Man is stealthy; Ultimate Spider-Man has increased strength thanks to the symbiote suit; and 2099 Spider-Man can slow down time itself.
4. Spider-Man (GCN)
Spider-Man might have been a popular super hero for decades, but the character's popularity shot into the stratosphere with the release of Sam Raimi's 2002 movie and thankfully the tie-in game wasn't a bad one.
That's not to say it was perfect. Spider-Man's compartmentalised levels, a dodgy camera, an overall short length, and comparatively primitive web-slinging mechanic (which had Spidey casting webs into the thin air above him, regardless of whether there was anything for them to stick to) meant there were plenty of improvements to be made, but it captured enough of the spirit of the character — and the hit mainstream movie — to feel like much more than a phoned-in licensed game.
Throw in Bruce Campbell's comic relief narration and you've got a solid tie-in that laid the foundation for a better sequel — a game that turned out to be one of the best super hero games ever made.
3. Spider-Man (N64)
This pre-Maguire era entry in the Spider-Man catalogue never released in Europe, unfortunately. Developed by Neversoft, this was ported to N64 by Edge of Reality, the same team that brought Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games to Nintendo systems. Indeed, this runs on the Tony Hawk's engine.
Neversoft's Spider-Man stood as probably the best Spider-Man game going back in 2000 — it certainly did more than cram the character into a 2D side-scroller, at least. Serving up a colourful, characterful 3D game, the tech advancements of the coming PS2/GameCube generation would expand the webslinger's horizons, but this was serviceable in its day.
2. Ultimate Spider-Man (GCN)
Sandwiched in between Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3, Treyarch eschewed the Raimiverse and went to the Ultimate Spider-Man comics for inspiration for this 2005 entry. It takes the open-world element from the previous game and layers comic book shading with thick black outlines for a great-looking and satisfying, if samey, Spidey experience.
You get to control Venom here, too, which makes for a nice change. If you're more into the comic book visuals or a younger, snappier version of the character than Tobey Maguire's movie take on Peter Parker, this is probably the best example of web-slinging you'll find on a Nintendo platform.
1. Spider-Man 2 (GCN)
Spider-Man 2 took the basic premise of Treyarch's first Spider-Man movie game and fixed practically everything that was wrong with it. Spidey no longer shot webs into the clouds and magically traversed the sky — each web shot connected to a point on a building in a properly open-world New York, and for the first time swinging around the city just felt right.
The inimitable Bruce Campbell returned for comical narrator duties, and all the leads from the film provide their characters' voices with varying levels of enthusiasm/success. If we're honest, we've always had a soft spot for Maguire's delivery, although some people find it flat.
Regardless of its flaws, the success of that core web-swinging mechanic and the satfistfaction derived from simply swinging around the city helped gloss over the bog-standard and repetitive fetch quest gameplay and delivered the finest example of a Spider-Man game available on a Nintendo platform. In fact, there's an argument to be made that this game's webslinging wasn't bettered until Insomniac's PS4 entry in the Spider-Man canon a whopping 14 years later, and it still holds up today.
Wow, that was a lot of Spider-Men! Let us know your thoughts on your favourite Spider-Men below. Also give us a shout if — perish the thought — we missed one. The Spiderverse is infinite so it's possible!
Comments (50)
Spiderman 2 wasn't really a very good, the fact that it's number 1 tells you the low expectations of Spiderman games prior to the Sony one
Bro edge of time was my jam I 100% that game 3 times it's beautiful
I think I remember the GameCube versions... I am not really familiar with any of the rest.
Did I dream that this same article was posted a week or so ago?
Anyway, Spiderman 2 on the PS2/Gamecube may not have been the greatest game story-wise, but it was the best game where you actually got to feel the freedom of being Spiderman. I remember losing my teenage mind when I could actually go inside some of the buildings. The Spiderman games before this were super limited with the world, you'd "die" if you dropped down to street level. I do remember that one Spiderman game that actually let you play as Green Goblin with the hoverboard and everything, thought that was a cool bonus for beating the game.
I love Spider-Man the Return of the Sinister Six on the NES. It is easy and very fun to play
The best has always been to me the original Spiderman game from PSX. Neversoft nailed it with that game back then.
I still have to play the PS4 game though.
O H N O D O C T O R C O N N O R S C L A S S
This ranking has huge issues. Why is Spiderman Edge of Time on 3DS so bad ranked? This was the best 3DS Spidey. Mysterios Menace on GBA should be in top 10.
And Web of Shadows on DS is total crap and ranked way to high.
Spider-Man 2 swinging physics are still a joy, and the silly added villains like Mysterio are a great diversion. Still love this one to bits, ugly character models, pizza song, and all.
I've got Maximum Carnage on snes, love that red cartridge. It's a tough game, don't think I've ever actually beaten it.
SM2 was so groundbraking for its time and its web swinging is still the best and most technical even today. While the Insomniac games are clearly the best i do think Spider-Man 2, Web of Shadows (well the PS3/360 versions) and Ultimate Spider-Man are also pretty great.
@Big_Fudge I mean the reviews were great, its loved by fans and is still held in high regard now but yeah sure its "not very good".
2 of the TOP 5 are in my collection, so it's cool.
Played the heck out of the game boy spider man when I was young and had no concept of a bad game lol
@Big_Fudge
But you have to remember that Spider-Man 2 set the standard for how web swinging should be like. Its physics and mechanics were replicated in the modern, Insomniac Spider-Man games because they were simply the best out of all the games.
Besides, I'm mildly annoyed that Insomniac Spider-Man games are PlayStation exclusive.
@WallyWest It was great for a movie tie in. But it was still just a movie tie in with decent web swinging
Donno how the N64 version compares but I really like the 4th one on the list, the PS1 version of it anyway.
@Big_Fudge I mean, that game has a lot going for it like with the story presentation and graphics but the combat is really stiff and boring compared to prior Spider-man games, if we're being honest.
I find it especially funny how Spider-man punches a guy so hard square in the jaw that he is launched 20 feet into the air and is slowly suspended in the air for minutes while Spidey pummels the life out of him until he falls to the ground and he is still alive.
Everything in the combat you witness is so easily choreographed-looking that when he fights it looks like I'm watching a ballet recital or a generic hollywood movie fight scene where there feels like little weight being shown in the fights.
Compare the weird attempt at Insomniac's Spider-man for doing DMC-inspired combat to previous games like Web of Shadows or Shattered Dimensions and the absolute power and finesse witnessed in the attacks Spider-man can preform, you'll look and say "Huh, I guess Spider-man PS4 doesn't have the greatest combat."
Spiderman 3 on Wii always felt like such a ripoff, it's just the PS2 port with motion controls slapped in — it's lazy and it underperforms. While SP2 for GameCube ran great, looked great and overall felt more fun.
The N64 version of TASM is surprisingly an accurate port, but I feel this game is largely well regarded because of nostalgia.
Just hearing Scorpion go "Your time is running out, hahaha" and "Where ya hiding?" is iconic, but the gameplay is stiff and punishing at times.
So yeah, SP2 and Ultimate Spiderman are without a doubt the best games, GameCube is king.
@Astral-Grain it threw me off at first too but I think what happened is a week ago they posted an article basically telling people to vote for their favorite Spider Man games and now this is the results.
The top 8 here are quite solid video games that I have good memories of. However, I think I only saw half until the end. I agree with the top game here but I would put shattered dimensions and the amazing spiderman wii u a bit higher up in the rankings.
Someones trying to take advantage of the SpiderMan Google Searches related to Fortnite.
@Big_Fudge It had a sizeable open world what was a first, the best web swinging ever, decent combat and some good bosses. 80% on MC and 8.7 user score, so clearly it was loved.
Damn right it’s Spider-Man 2, the only game where you could piledrive a guy off a skyscraper
wow....you can change the title of the article with: find the differences
There used to be a great Spider-Man game called Total Mayhem (had a final fight or streets of rage style feel) on iOS years ago on the App Store. With bosses and fun combos to perform.
Spiderman Return of the Sinister Six
"He doesn't do Spider-Man things like swinging, web shooting and climbing walls"
Actually he does everything in the game
Lethal Foes should’ve been way higher up the list
We need more spider man on switch
@CheekyZelda not happening. Sony has a grip on the character. Unless if they relent which they won’t
I'm happy to see Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six (GBC) decently high.
WEB OF SHADOWS on the DS is incredibly underrated. It's a MetroidVania style game with an amazingly fluid combat system that for my money is the best Spidey-combat to date. Griptonite would use the same engine for SHATTERED DIMENSIONS, IRON MAN 2, and CAPTAIN AMERICA. The best of that lot being (the also underrated) IRON MAN 2. Oh, and swinging with the Wiimote and Nunchuck in SM3 was incredible.
@ModdedInkling The Insomniac swinging comes close, but it's not quite the same.
@WhiteTrashGuy Edge of Time DS is by Ocean Interactive tho.
I love NintendoLife and I never suggest a correction, but team you completly overlooked another Spidey Game that came to the Wii U: Disney Infinity Marvel Super Heroes (2.0 Edition) Spider Man Play Set.
This is a full Spider Man game. The web slinging was really excellent. I thought the game was enjoyable and got about halfway through it.
I think this should be added as it is indeed playable on the Wii U.
Is it me or was Lethal Foes listed twice?
@PtM
Well I guess it is! SHATTERED DIMENSIONS must have been the only other Spider-Man game Griptonite made.
@PtM
Yes, but the developers did say that they tried to emulate the physics.
@ModdedInkling It does look pretty sweet, ngl.
I am genuinely surprised that Arcade's Revenge for SNES ranked as high as it did. I thought it was one of the worse games, even though I owned this one.
But yeah... Pretty rad soundtrack.
Somehow I have never played any of these games except for PS4 Spider-Man (which is pretty cool) and one of the games on Gameboy that I can't even remember exactly, but it was not great.
I've always loved Spider-Man in comics, and I've seen every one of the movies - I'm massively hyped for the new movie! But games, not so exciting.
If your jonsing for a Spiderman fix the only way to fix that is to play it on PlayStation... Its good enough to buy a ps4 just for that...as are the uncharted games and God of War 4.. the Spiderman movie games were okay for the times nothing to be excited about...but the one on ps1 and n64..that was pretty great for what it was
@Big_Fudge You mean a top tier movie tie-in (of an outstanding movie) with excellent web-swinging.
@Nintendo4Sonic These are community rankings. Obviously, your opinions on those 3 games don't match the general Nintendo Life user consensus. Feel free to rate them yourself though, and maybe it will be enough to slide one or more of them a spot in these rankings.
@Big_Fudge That's your opinion and I disagree. I loved the Spider-Man games based on the movies and having Bruce Campbell as the tour guide along with the Actors from the movies playing the voices made them even more fun. The Amazing Spider-Man was also a great 3D Spider-Man game and many people I know liked that and some even liked it more than the movie.
I lost count of how many times I played that.
@Debbiee They're not great games though. Just cos you enjoy them, doesn't make them great, surely you can look at it more objectively and see their many faults. I enjoy plenty of games that I'm well aware aren't actually very good. Licensed stuff is especially bad for it, but you put up with the faults because you have a fondness for the license.
@Big_Fudge Specifically what faults, though? Most people consider them to have excellent gameplay, graphics, and voice-acting (irregardless of them being licensed games), specifically the web-swinging in the 2nd game that holds up to this day as one of the best examples of the mechanic ever developed. They also naturally have excellent stories, having been based on such excellent movies.
Personally, I haven't played the second game, but I was extremely impressed at how well Spider-man's abilities were incorporated into the gameplay of the first GameCube movie game. You can't just go in fists swinging all the time, or you'll just get yourself killed, yet it still feels really nice to just punch out a bad guy on occasion. You have a lot of freedom in sticking to various surfaces. The acrobatics and various web abilities control extremely well, yet aren't too complicated, and they really make you feel like you're actually Spider-man. Then the Spider Sense is also implemented well, with set places where it acts as a warning siren that tells you to quickly get out of the way of a surprise attack.
@ThomasBW84, 3DS Amazing Spider-Man skipped the free-roaming just like the Wii version.
❗️I have all Spider-Man Games CIB on GBA, 'Amazing' and Web Of Shadows' on DS and both 'Amazing' Games on 3DS. (I did have ALL Spider-Man Games on DS but sold the ones I didn't like)
I WISH they'd re-release the N64 one (which was also released on the PS1 and where I played it).
It was a good Game and needed only a few QOL updates.
My overall favourite SpM Game is 'Spider-Man: The Movie 2' [GameCube] and my favourite Handheld SpM Game is the above GBA version.
@the_beaver It needed a re-release with a few QOL updates.
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