In the 1990s, comics enjoyed a boom, and the early 1990s saw a myriad of
video games based on high-profile comic story lines and the 1994
Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
Home computers The Amazing Spider-Man was the first game of the decade released, a puzzle oriented action game developed by
Oxford Digital Enterprises and released in 1990 for the Amiga and ported to MS-DOS, Commodore 64, and
Atari ST. The title was published by
Paragon Software Corporation and features over 250 screens.
Game Boy The Amazing Spider-Man, developed by
Rareware and released in 1990 was the first in a trilogy for the newly introduced
Game Boy. The game was published by
LJN (a subsidiary of
Acclaim), the first of a series of games published based on licensed Marvel characters. The game play involves running across
New York chasing supervillains to locate
Mary Jane Watson.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was developed by
Bits Studios and released in 1992. The game is a side-scrolling
beat-'em up. Spider-Man attempts to clear his name after he is accused of a crime committed by the
Hobgoblin.
Spider-Man 3: Invasion of the Spider-Slayers, the third in the series, was released in 1993 by
Bits Studios.
The Punisher: The Ultimate Payback! by
Australian company
Beam Software was released in 1991 for the Game Boy. The game is much like
Operation Wolf, with the Punisher shooting villains while protecting the innocent. Spider-Man appears between the action to offer advice on how to beat upcoming levels and swings in to rescue hostages once their captors have been shot.
Games for the Sega family of consoles The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin, developed and published by
Sega and released in 1990, was the first game featuring
Spider-Man on
Sega consoles. The game premiered on the
Master System and
Genesis in 1991, followed by the
Game Gear in 1992, and to the
Sega CD in 1993. Fundamentally, the game is the same on each platform with each iteration including new levels, enhanced graphics and a few incremental improvements to the game play. The story involves Spider-Man trying to collect six keys from six villains to defuse a bomb in New York planted by the
Kingpin. Spider-Man has a finite supply of web fluid and the only way to replenish is to take photos, most profitably of the supervillains, to sell to the
Daily Bugle.
Spider-Man: The Video Game was released in 1991 for coin-operated
arcades. Developed by
Sega on
Sega System 32 hardware, the game is a four-player, platform beat-'em-up similar to
Data East's
Captain America and the Avengers released the same year. The player plays as Spider-Man,
Black Cat,
Namor the Sub-Mariner, or
Hawkeye, with the game divided into four acts.
Nintendo Entertainment System Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six, developed by
B.I.T.S. and released in 1992 for the
Nintendo Entertainment System, is the first game featuring Spider-Man on the NES. It is an action platform game that involves Spider-Man swinging across various levels to defeat each one of the Sinister Six; Electro,
Sandman,
Mysterio, Hobgoblin,
Vulture and Doctor Octopus. Ports to the
Master System and
Game Gear followed in 1993.
Genesis and Super NES ''
Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge'', the first Spider-Man cross platform game, was released on the
Super Nintendo Entertainment System and
Sega Genesis. It was first developed for the
Super NES in 1992 by
Software Creations (who went on to produce several games for Marvel) and published by
LJN. The game was later ported to the
Genesis in 1993. The game involves rescuing four of the
mutant superhero
X-Men (
Wolverine,
Cyclops,
Storm,
Gambit) from an
assassin named
Arcade. The player must navigate Spider-Man in search of the captured heroes (who join Spider-Man when found), fighting a variety of super villains. Software Creations later adapted the game to the Game Boy in 1993 and to Game Gear in 1994.
Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage, released on Super NES and Genesis in 1994, was the first one of two major Marvel comic book storyline adaptations by
Software Creations.
Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety released in 1995 for Super NES, Genesis and PC was the sequel. Both games are side scrolling beat-'em up action games where the player controls either Spider-Man or Venom, fighting various villains from the comic book plotlines.
Spider-Man from 1995, was developed by Western Technologies and published by Acclaim on the Genesis, and by
LJN on the Super NES. It marked the beginning of a range of software incorporating elements from the
Spider-Man cartoon. The game is a side scrolling action platformer. The Super NES game features six levels, five bosses, and fourteen sub-bosses. The Genesis game features five levels, five bosses, and thirteen sub-bosses. The game also features the Fantastic Four.
Super Famicom The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes was released in 1995 for the Super Famicom exclusively in Japan, very loosely based on the mini-series
The Lethal Foes of Spider-Man.
Tiger's LCD games Over the years
Tiger Electronics released several handheld
LCD Spider-Man games.
Spider-Man Cartoon Maker Spider-Man Cartoon Maker, released in 1995 by
Knowledge Adventure, is a software package that allowed the user to create films by utilizing an archive of backdrops, animations and props from the
Spider-Man animated series. The game featured the voice of
Christopher Daniel Barnes, who played Spider-Man in the series.
Marvel CD-ROM Comics featuring Spider-Man That same year Marvel attempted to release classic comic books onto
CD-ROM. Only four were ever produced, based on Spider-Man, the X-Men,
Iron Man and the
Fantastic Four. The Spider-Man one titled,
Marvel CD-ROM Comics featuring Spider-Man included animation from the series, trivia games, and four complete issues of the comic narrated by
Christopher Daniel Barnes.
Capcom's arcade fighting games Marvel Super Heroes for the
CPS II arcade hardware was a result of the success of Capcom's
fighting game X-Men: Children of the Atom. It was developed by Capcom, released in 1995, ported to
Sega Saturn,
PlayStation and
MS-DOS and features Spider-Man as a playable character.
Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems, an unrelated action game, was released for the
Super NES in
1996. The game involves utilizing each of the Marvel superheroes through each of their levels to collect one of the Gems needed to complete the game. The game features Iron Man,
Captain America,
Hulk,
Wolverine, and Spider-Man. After
Children of the Atom and
Marvel Super Heroes, a partnership between Marvel and Capcom began, combining the two universes into the
Marvel vs. Capcom fighting game series. Spider-Man would appear as a playable character in several titles: •
Marvel Super Heroes (1995) (voiced by Patrick Chilvers) •
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997) •
Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (1998) •
Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000) Venom also appears as a playable character in the latter two games. Spider-Man later returns in
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. This version of Spider-Man was seemingly killed by Morlun during the events of
Spider-Verse.
The Amazing Spider-Man: Web of Fire Spider-Man: Web of Fire was developed by
BlueSky Software and
Zono in 1996 and published by Sega for the
Sega 32X, as one of the final titles for the add-on. The game is a platform action game similar to the previous Sega title,
Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin. This time Spider-Man teams up with
Daredevil to prevent the invading forces of
HYDRA from taking over New York City. The game is broken into six levels with bosses such as the Eel, Tangle, and the Super-Adaptoid.
Spider-Man: The Sinister Six Spider-Man: The Sinister Six, developed by
Brooklyn Multimedia was an
adventure game for the PC. The game was released in 1996 and published by
Byron Preiss Multimedia. The game allowed the user to choose the path the narrative would take, interact with characters as Peter Parker, collect items, and confront various puzzles, boss battles, and mini games. In the game, Spider-Man is voiced by Buster Maxwell.
Marvel Creativity Center Marvel Creativity Center, released in 1997 for both
PC and
Apple Mac by
Cloud 9 Interactive, teaches the user how to create comics, the 'Marvel Way' with Stan Lee and Spider-Man acting as guides. The "story" involves Marvel studios being infiltrated by a mystery villain who has broken contact with all the regular Marvel artists and writers, leaving it up to the user to plot, script, illustrate and letter a comic. ==2000s==