The Best Spider-Man Game on Every Platform Part Two: Dreamcast to PlayStation 4

Here are the rest of the platforms that I didn’t cover in Part One here, as I try to find out what the best Spider-Man game is for each platform. That’s 107 games across 29 platforms!

Without further ado, and with a massive thank you to fellow writer Simon Brown, I continue the definitive list of the best games featuring Marvel’s wall-crawling, angst-ridden hero. By generation:

6th Generation

Dreamcast

Spider-Man

2000, Activision

A mysterious fog envelops the streets of New York, and Spidey wants to know what’s going on.

It may very well be the only one on the platform, and be the default winner, but you should really play this game!

Game Boy Advance

Spider-Man 3

2007, Activision

A new goblin has set fire to some buildings, Spider-Man has to get in there and save people!

Honestly, this was a tough crowd to pick from, as the Game Boy Advance games are all quite good. Spider-Man: Battle for New York (2006) is certainly the low point, but Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace (2001), Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Ultimate Spider-Man (2005) are all fun, and have their pluses. Spider-Man 3 gives you a number of different things to do in levels, rather than just head right and hit thugs.

GameCube

Spider-Man 2

2004, Activision

An experiment goes wrong, and Doctor Octavius is set on a path to villany - with only Spider-Man able to stop him.

It’s just a total joy to swing around New York City that you didn’t get in Spider-Man (2002), and that wasn’t totally weighed down by eating people as Venom in Ultimate Spider-Man (2005).

PlayStation 2

Spider-Man 2

2004, Activision

An experiment goes wrong, and Doctor Octavius is set on a path to villany - with only Spider-Man able to stop him.

Like the GameCube above, the perfect blend of action and fun beat out the cramped Spider-Man (2002), and the Venom-filled Ultimate Spider-Man (2005). However, it also destroyed Spider-Man 3 (2007) which tried too hard, the inexplicable team-ups of Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (2007) and the side-scrolling Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (2008).

Xbox

Spider-Man 2

2004, Activision

An experiment goes wrong, and Doctor Octavius is set on a path to villany - with only Spider-Man able to stop him.

As with the PlayStation 2, there was really no contest between this and Spider-Man (2002) where even the outdoors felt cramped, and those awful Venom sections of Ultimate Spider-Man (2005).

7th Generation

PlayStation 3

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

2008, Activision

Symbiotes are attacking, so Spidey must marshal the heroes of New York against them.

Much more action-oriented than the previous open world games, Web of Shadows builds on the groundwork of Spider-Man 3 (2007), and improves on it. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (2010) has a good story but suffers from being too contained, and Spider-Man: Edge of Time (2011) doesn’t have a good story while repeating the same mistakes. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) tried but failed to be a good open world, and while The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) was better it wasn’t better than Web of Shadows.

PlayStation Portable

Spider-Man 3

2007, Activision

A mysterious group have stolen something and set a building on fire, so it’s Spider-Man to the rescue.

This is probably the only platform where Spider-Man 3 is better than Spider-Man 2 (2004), because that is a very cut-down version of the console game, and Spider-Man 3 is just like on the bigger consoles. Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (2007) might have won, if I was more of a co-op gamer, but Spider-Man: Web of Shadows - Amazing Allies Edition (2008) is a basic side-scroller that just lumps in as many Marvel characters as it can and calls them power-ups.

Nintendo DS

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

2010, Activision

When a confrontation with Mysterio causes cosmic calamity, three Spider-Men must stop him.

This is a side scrolling metroidvania, with a really decent swing mechanic. The sequel Spider-Man: Edge of Time (2011) confused things with allowing you to switch between the two Spidey's at will, and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) has teeny tiny sprites, making it hard to see in suboptimal conditions. Spider-Man 2 (2004) has awkward controls, and what were they thinking when they gave Spider-Man 3 (2007) touch screen-only combat?! Spider-Man: Battle for New York (2006) is slow moving and awkward feeling, though it’s better than the GBA version, and Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (2007) is actually the best version of that game (that's not saying much). Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (2008) shows where Shattered Dimension comes from, as it refined it perfectly.

Wii

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

2008, Activision

Symbiotes are attacking, so Spidey must marshal the heroes of New York against them.

With Spider-Man 3 (2007) being a port of the watered-down PSP version, Web of Shadows is a delight with parity to the bigger console cousins. Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (2007) also had parity, but that also meant it was equally as repetitive. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (2010) and Spider-Man: Edge of Time (2011) don’t have as good fight mechanics, and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) really finds no love on this list at all.

Xbox 360

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

2008, Activision

Symbiotes are attacking, so Spidey must marshal the heroes of New York against them.

You would think that the games would get better as time went on, but after Spider-Man 3 (2007) set things up for the console, Web of Shadows took the crown and kept it. Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (2007) is too repetitive, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (2010) has a good story and not much else, and Spider-Man: Edge of Time (2011) tried to be Shattered Dimensions without the good story. The two latest, The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) & The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) just weren’t up to the same calibre with both substandard web swinging and fighting.

8th Generation

Android/iOS

Ultimate Spider-Man: Total Mayhem

2010 Activision

The Triskelion is under attack, and Spidey’s rogue gallery stands between him and helping those in need.

Honestly, this drew close with Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), but its open world couldn’t match Total Mayhem’s fun factor, especially with the heavy presence of microtransactions. Spider-Man Unlimited (2012) is an endless runner, so basically not even in the running (pun intended), and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) wasn’t up to snuff. We’ll ignore Kellogg's Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)...

PlayStation 4

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

2014, Activision

Electro is attacking, and the world needs to know whether to love or hate Spidey.

Honestly, this is only here because Marvel’s Spider-Man wasn’t out when I wrote this, so won by default.

Nintendo 3DS

Spider-Man: Edge of Time

2011, Activision

The future of 2099 has changed, so the Spider-Man of the future needs to help the Spider-Man of the past to return things to normal.

While Edge of Time doesn’t win any prizes on other consoles, it turns out that it’s better than The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) which is a unwieldy on the 3DS, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) which is a side-scrolling platformer that could be better.

PC

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

2008, Activision

Symbiotes are attacking, so Spidey must marshal the heroes of New York against them.

This was an easy choice to make, since Web of Shadows is basically a refined Spider-Man 3 (2007) with better fight mechanics. Spider-Man (2002) is in set levels, and Spider-Man 2 (2004) is just an awful, awful version of the game. Then you have the more recent open world The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) which doesn’t do anything special and over complicates things respectively. Going back, Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety (1995) is a simple scrolling beat-em up, Spider-Man (2000) is great but lacking, Ultimate Spider-Man (2005) has those Venom levels, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (2007) is far too repetitive and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (2010) would be better if it wasn’t in set levels.

Wii U

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

2014, Activision

Electro is attacking, and the world needs to know whether to love or hate Spidey.

The web swinging was improved over The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), and man if I don’t just like the ton of easter eggs they plonked all over the place.

Xbox One

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

2014, Activision

Electro is attacking, and the world needs to know whether to love or hate Spidey.

I won’t count anything that might be on the Backwards Compatible library, so this one wins by default too!

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There you go, a list of the best Spidey games. Not all of them are good games, but when there’s at least one game per platform you take what you can get. Some of them you should definitely check out - just make sure not to grab the handheld port by mistake! And stay away from Spider-Man 2 on the PC…

Fun Facts:

• The term “Spider-Man” appears in this article 136 times, including the one right here!
• “Spidey” appears 29 times, including that one!
• There are only nine games which are platform-exclusive (10 if you count Insomniac’s one)!
• I played 58 seperate titles for this list, not counting ones I had previously played or that were multiplatform!