Spider-Man is a action game based upon the Marvel Comics character, Spider-Man. It was developed by Neversoft, using the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater engine. Released originally for the PlayStation, in 2000, the game was ported to PC, Nintendo 64, and Sega Dreamcast.
Plot
Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spider-Man) is at Dr. Otto Octavius' exposition, who is reformed from being the villain, Doc Ock, and is explaining his new machine to many people in the crowd that came to his expo. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock, who is in the crowd, is taking pictures so he can get his job back at the Daily Bugle. But before Octavius can fully explain his device, "Spider-Man" appears, knocks out a few guards and is revealed to be evil to all the people to the crowd. They all start running and Peter realizes that this one was an impostor. He tries to get free from the crowd so he can get into his Spider-Man costume but the crowd is too powerful. Brock can't get a picture with the crowd running and soon, the two (Peter and Brock) bump into each other and Peter realizes it was Brock. Brock tries to figure out who he was because he looked familiar but is too late to find out as Peter completely disappears from the crowd. Brock then forgets about trying to remember Peter and gets back to taking pictures of Spider-Man stealing Octavius' machine. But Spider-Man spots Brock, destroys his camera and runs off.
Later on, Brock is still at the empty exposition room where Spider-Man pulled off the machine heist. He realizes his picture-taking career is over for him again and sees visions of J. Jonah Jameson firing him. Eddie gets completely angry and the alien symbiote takes over Brock and the two form the supervillain Venom. He promises that both Spider-Man and Jameson will die.
Meanwhile, two mysterious masterminds release a fog from a machine, covering New York City entirely and laugh with evil.
As Spider-Man goes off to find the impostor who framed him of stealing Octavius' new machine, his friend, the Black Cat, stops him and warns him that there's a bank heist going on and there are hostages. Cat leaves Spider-Man on his own and the wall-crawler goes off to find the bank. As he gets closer to the bank, a few police choppers, who are looking for Spider-Man, get involved to stop the bank heist as well. But a chopper that's on the robbers' side shoots down the police choppers. Spider-Man then realizes that the robbers are serious and continues his journey to the bank. By the time he arrives on the top of the building that's two roofs away from the bank, Spider-Man complains to Black Cat that not only will he be blamed for the heist the impostor did (as already he has been blamed) but he will also be accused of taking down those choppers. After that, the Black Cat warns Spider-Man that there are robbers on the rooftop of the bank and they are heavily armed. She leaves Spider-Man on his own again and he swings to the roof of the bank, taking down the five robbers guarding the bank top. After their defeat, Spider-Man then goes down through a destroyed glass window he broke.
Spider-Man arrives down into the bank and saves the five hostages that are being held captive by more robbers. Once he succeeds, he goes into an elevator one floor down to save more hostages. After that, he manages to take out a few more robbers and get of them to open a door for him. The final hostages are being held with the final crooks with a bomb. Once Spider-Man alerts the robbers' attentions, they start the timer on the bomb and begin to take out the hostages. Spider-Man defeats the crooks, frees the hostages and places the bomb in a safe place to explode inside a vault. Spider-Man then swings away.
Later on, when Peter starts to give a call to J. Jonah Jameson, Jameson quickly interrupts him and warns Peter that Scorpion is with him and will kill him! The Scorpion destroys Jameson's cellphone, Peter quickly becomes Spider-Man and swings off to the Daily Bugle to rescue Jameson. He arrives and begins fighting Scorpion, also defending Jameson from certain death. Spider-Man succeeds but Jameson still doesn't thank Spider-Man as he won't forgive him after when the impostor stole Octavius' device. The police arrive and Jameson tells them to grab Spider-Man. He escapes only to confront Daredevil who wants to know Spider-Man's side of the story. Spider-Man explains that an impostor framed him and he has to figure out why before the police take him out and everything is too late. Daredevil believes Spider-Man. The wall-crawler asks why and Daredevil answers, "Let's just say you got your super powers and I've got mine." (Unbeknownst to Spider-Man, Daredevil has the ability to hear the speed of Spider-Man's heartbeat to see if he's lying or not). Daredevil promises he will spread the word of Spider-Man's innocence and leaves.
Then Spider-Man is left to run, swing, jump and crawl to avoid being killed or captured by a police chopper and other police cops.
Spider-Man avoids being killed from rooftops, a totally ruined apartment, construction sites and many more. Finally, Spider-Man loses the police chopper on one last rooftop when it strikes a tower and needs to land to be repaired. The Black Cat then arrives and tells Spider-Man that Venom has a message for him in Times Square on its big screen. And not only that but the Rhino is causing trouble at Omnitech. Spider-Man then chooses to get Venom's message first then arrive to defeat the Rhino.
Later, Venom's message on the Times Square big screen explains that he has Mary Jane Parker, Peter Parker's wife. Venom then says that Spider-Man can come and save her ("So, just in case someone, and I know who it could be, if any of you tight-wearing freaks out there wants to save little Miss Fashion Model (referring to Mary Jane), then bring it on! Meanwhile, New Yorkers, the Venom Marathon will continue!"). The Black Cat then explains that Spider-Man should go save Mary Jane while she can fight and defeat Rhino on her own. But Spider-Man explains that he won't let the Black Cat take on Rhino by herself. He explains why:
Look, being Spider-Man has given me a lot and taken a lot away from me. I swore to use my powers for others before myself no matter what the cost. There are innocent people at Omnitek and they need our help right now! I won't let you alone, Cat. Then I'll stop Venom. And this time, it'll be the last time.
Spider-Man and the Black Cat arrive too late at Omnitek and a group of technology robbers have taken away the machinery. Then the Rhino unexpectedly appears and wounds the Black Cat, leaving Spider-Man to take on the villain alone. Spider-Man outsmarts the Rhino into electrocuting himself. Once the energy from the machines has been completely drained out, so has the Rhino's as he's too weak to fight anymore. Then Dr. Octavius and the police arrive and take away the Rhino. Now with the Rhino out of the way, Spider-Man changes back into Peter Parker to find out what happened to the Black Cat (when she was wounded, she flew into the air and out of the arena where Spider-Man and the Rhino fought). Peter finds the Black Cat being taken away on a stretcher by paramedics. The Black Cat tries to tell Peter something but is too late when the paramedics (who 100% resemble the thug enemies) close the doors ("Peter, help me—they're not really parame- (doors close)). At the front of the ambulance truck, Octavius appears driving and his passenger right beside him is a mysterious figure. They then drive off, laughing menacingly.
The story later shifts to Spider-Man talking with the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four on the Statue of Liberty about everything he experienced so far. Torch then explains Spider-Man should find Venom, despite Venom's ability to slip past Spider-Man's spider sense. Torch tells Spider-Man to at least let Venom find him instead. "Have faith, Spidey," Torch says, and then flies off. Spider-Man then swings away, telling himself he has to find Mary Jane. Venom appears and invites him in the game of Cat & Mouse where Spider-Man has to catch Venom to find Mary Jane. After many rooftop travels, Spider-Man finally catches Venom right on top of a building and Venom explains that they will have a fight and Spider-Man should follow him. Spider-Man and Venom then get into a battle (this takes place outside the Hellfire Club). After a short fight, Venom escapes through a manhole he opened and lets himself drop through the sewers with Spider-Man still chasing him. As the chase continues, Spider-Man also encounters the Lizardmen who appear to be "leftovers from one of The Lizard's experiments". Spider-Man then jumps on top of a moving train and has to confront as many Lizardmen as he can. Venom then appears, catches Spider-Man off guard and punches him right through an open manhole.
Spider-Man then lands in a deeper part of the sewers, fights off more Lizardmen as he travels through more of the sewers, presses buttons to open doors, climb through tunnels and finally, he gets answers from the Lizard, who's stuck behind a cage, and tells him where Mary Jane is. Spider-Man locates her in the technology part of the sewers and she's under a glass, holding onto a hook, keeping her from falling into the water below. Venom appears again and activates all of the levers that slowly makes the water underneath Mary Jane rise to drown her. Spider-Man turns off all of the levers and finally defeats Venom in battle. Spider-Man asks why Venom returned (also punching him) and he explains that he saw, as Eddie Brock, Spider-Man stealing Dr. Otto Octavius' device earlier. Spider-Man punches him again and reminds him that when he was Brock, he bumped into Peter Parker (Venom knows who Spider-Man is since many years before, Spider-Man had the symbiote as a costume before it got to Brock). Venom then apologizes for his misunderstanding and they return to the surface after freeing Mary Jane.
On top of a rooftop, Spider-Man and Venom talk to figure out what's happening and guess who framed Spider-Man. After all this, Spider-Man and Venom decide to forget all their rivalry and work together to solve the mystery of the heist.
They go to the Daily Bugle to search the Web about the expo heist. But just when they arrive, Venom senses another symbiote villain, Carnage. Venom leaves Spider-Man on his own and Spider-Man, hearing a hissing sound and warned by his spider-sense, turns to see a pack of hostless, Carnageish symbiotes have taken over the Bugle. Now he has to take down the group of cloned symbiotes that are coming from an unknown location. Spider-Man fights off the symbiotes, freeing a group of trapped employees and turns on the air conditioners in the Bugle. He then goes into the elevator shaft and fights off even more symbiotes. Finally, Spider-Man goes through a door that leads into the Bugle paper room, figuring out the symbiotes are coming from machines that are cloning them. Spider-Man destroys five generators (even taking out a few of the symbiotes using a chemical that makes his webs combustable). Just after the generators have been destroyed, the wall-crawler heads down to the basement to take out more symbiotes and two more generators. Once he succeeds, he runs into the Spider-Man impostor who has followed him into a different part of the basement where the impostor reveals himself to be Mysterio, who then grows to the size of King Kong. Spider-Man destroys the laser generating eye shaped bolts that hold onto Mysterio's cape and his helmet machine, decreasing him back to his normal size. Spider-Man then asks Mysterio who's behind the heist that framed Spider-Man. Mysterio vows never to tell but does tell Spider-Man that there will be a symbiote invasion that will render New York and the rest of the world helpless. Spider-Man then asks where the symbiotes are coming from (after punching through his helmet). The Master of Illusion then explains they are coming from the waterfront at Warehouse 65. "On the waterfront, Warehouse 65. Oh, how I wish I could see them destroy you."
At the waterfront, Spider-Man confronts the Punisher, after the latter attempts to shoot him, and they travel to Warehouse 65. Spider-Man leaves Punisher out of the plot because "I'd like to keep the bodycount low". The Punisher agrees and stays out of Spider-Man's way. Spider-Man goes through the warehouse inside and goes through the air vent. He travels millions of feet underwater in a base, avoiding lasers. Then he arrives inside a hall where endless symbiotes are multiplying from a machine that can't be stopped. Spider-Man goes into a room and finds the Black Cat who's helplessly stuck inside a force field tank. He finds a machine that helps deactivate the lock on the machines that are creating the fog. Then Spider-Man goes into the rooms where the machines are and turns them off, closing the machines that create the fog in New York. Once he completes the task, the Black Cat is free and the two say farewell to each other as the Black Cat leaves yo get help and Spider-Man continues his journey to finally find out who is behind this insidious symbiote invasion plot. Spider-Man then runs into Dr. Otto Octavius, who is still Dr. Octopus, and his assistant, the symbiote villian Carnage, who earlier in the game Venom had left the Bugle to pursue. (Ironically, the symbiotes Spider-man faced were clones of Carnage's alien costume) Venom then appears and gets into a battle against Carnage that leads away from Spider-Man and Ock. Both of them get into a final battle where Ock is protected behind a ray shield. However, Spider-Man turns off the generators that temporarily shuts down the shield. Spider-Man pummels Ock long enough and takes out Ock, permanently destroying the shield and knocking Ock out.
Venom is then found wounded by Spider-Man after he fought Carnage. Then Carnage unexpectedly attacks Spider-Man and gets into a final battle with him. Spider-Man defeats Carnage by having him suffer from a sonic machine numerous times until he drops into unconscious. The symbiote then pours from Cletus Kasady and slides away.
Just when Spider-Man thought it was all over, Doc Ock and the Carnage symbiote combine and create Monster-Ock, a powerful creature that is likely to kill Spider-Man in battle. Unfortunately, before a fight even begins, it is determined that Ock's base is about to blow up. Then Spider-Man flees and Monster-Ock chases him, going up vents. Spider-Man escapes, avoiding a wave of fire that Monster-Ock is caught in. Doc Ock, himself, survived thanks to the symbiote and was only knocked unconscious as the symbiote slithers away. Spider-Man takes Ock's unconscious body and with the underwater base quickly exploding, assumes he's doomed. However, Venom, the Black Cat and Captain America appear in America's hovercar, save Spider-Man and Ock from certain death and flee the explosion.
Later on, Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Punisher and Captain America are seen playing poker. Then the Black Cat and Human Torch are seen dancing in the same room.
Meanwhile, all the villains (minus Carnage) Spider-Man fought against are seen in the same jail cell. Ock keeps on hitting his head against the jail cell bars, not only realizing that he was defeated again by Spider-Man but he's stuck in a cell full of idiots like Scorpion, Mysterio and especially Rhino.
Characters
- Spider-Man - The alter ego of Peter Parker, Spider-Man is one of New York City superheroes, until he was framed by an impostor who dressed up like him. Despite all the obstacles that got in his way, he found out Doc Ock and Mysterio framed him. Spider-Man has now currently been cleared of all charges after the events of this game. He became a crime fighter after he failed to stop a burglar that later killed his beloved Uncle Ben with this tragedy, he learned that with Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility
- Venom - Formerly Spider-Man's costume, the alien symbiote Spider-Man wore since the Secret Wars has been rejected by him and bonded with Eddie Brock. There is nothing more than Venom and Brock would like to see Spider-Man dead. But in this game, when Spider-Man was framed, Venom turned into the "good guy" and kidnapped Mary Jane Parker. When Spider-Man defeated him, Venom became a temporary ally until they find out what was going on. After Doc Ock's plan of having symbiotes bond with humans was foiled, Venom, Black Cat and Captain America saved Spidey and an unconscious Doc Ock.
- Doctor Octopus - Pretending to have reformed, Doc Ock set up a plan to frame Spider-Man with the help of Mysterio. While the police are distracted of getting Spider-Man, the process of symbiotes bonding with humans would occur, but the plan was foiled by Spider-Man and Ock was taken to jail.
- Mysterio - While Doc Ock pretended to New York he reformed, Ock hired Mysterio to frame Spider-Man by stealing an invention Ock created. Spider-Man figured out it was Mysterio who framed him and the two battled with Mysterio being fifty feet tall. Despite size, Spider-Man defeated Mysterio and got information that would stop the symbiote-human-bonding process. Mysterio was taken to jail afterwards.
- J. Jonah Jameson - Jameson is Peter Parker's boss of the Daily Bugle, hater against Spider-Man and creator of the Scorpion. Despite Spider-Man saving Jameson from the Scorpion when he defeated him in battle, Jameson was completely aware that Spider-Man stole Dr. Octavius' device (unbeknownst that Spidey was framed) and didn't see Spider-Man as a hero, no matter what.
- Scorpion - Originally an private detective sent to spy on Peter Parker under J. Jonah Jameson's orders, the Scorpion saw himself as a freak and would kill Jameson for revenge, and Spider-Man for repeatedly stopping him. After another failed attempt to have killed Jameson, Spider-Man defeated Scorpion in battle, in which Scorpion was incarcerated.
- Carnage - As a spawn of the villainous symbiote Venom, Carnage bonded with insane serial killer, Cletus Kasady, making him one of the most dangerous foes Spider-Man has ever fought. In this game, Carnage is Doc Ock's "pet". What happened to him here was while Spider-Man defeated Doc Ock in battle, Carnage defeated Venom in battle and fought Spider-Man. Unfortunately, Carnage was embarrassingly defeated by someone who was weaker than Venom.
- Monster-Ock - After Spider-Man defeated Carnage in this game, the symbiote crawled off of Cletus Kasady and to Doc Ock, creating the villain hybrid Monster-Ock. Both fled the destruction of Doc Ock's lair but while Spider-Man wasn't caught in any fire, Monster-Ock was. Luckily, Doc Ock wasn't killed, thanks to the symbiote that saved him and it slithered away.
- The Black Cat - The Black Cat was a former burglar and current friend of Spider-Man. When she tried to help Spider-Man defeat Rhino, the villain punched her out somewhere else in New York, leaving Spider-Man to fight Rhino alone. Luckily, Spider-Man defeated Rhino in battle and Peter Parker saw that the Cat was being taken to a hospital. However, she knew she was being taken away by thugs and they drugged her, having her later encased behind a glass wall. Eventually, Spider-Man saved her and foiled Doc Ock's plan of having symbiotes bond with humans. She, along with a reformed Venom and Captain America, saved Spider-Man and Doc Ock from Ock's exploding lair. She was last seen dancing with the Human Torch.
- Mary Jane Parker - When Spider-Man was framed, Venom kidnapped Mary Jane Parker. Spider-Man followed Venom into the sewers in which when Spider-Man defeated Venom in battle, Venom saw Spider-Man was framed and saved MJ, bringing her back home.
- Daredevil - Alter ego of Matt Murdock. After being blinded after saving an old man walking across the street from being hit by a truck which contained radioactive waste, from which the waste splashed him in the eyes, Matt's remaining four senses functioned with superhuman sharpness which together gives of a radar sense more accurate then human sight. With these powers, and super martial arts skills, he battles the injustice of New York's CD underworld of Hell's Kitchen by night, and battling evil in the courtroom as a lawyer by day as seemingly blind Matt Murdock. Spider-Man was framed, Daredevil found out Spider-Man was framed when listening to his story, also hearing his heartbeat, knowing he wasn't lying. He would promise to tell New York about his innocence and after Spider-Man was proven framed, he was cleared of all charges. Daredevil was last seen playing cards with the web-slinger, Captain America and the Punisher.
- The Punisher - After Frank Castle's family was wiped out in a mob hit, he used his combat skills and training to punish his family's killers. He know roams New York City, employing his own form of justice against the bad guys using their rules. Spider-Man found the Punisher and the criminal-killer helped the web-slinger find Warehouse 65 to stop symbiotes from bonding with humans, as explained by Mysterio in Spider-Man's previous battle with him. Spider-Man had the Punisher backed down because he wanted to "keep the body count low". The Punisher left Spider-Man on his own as he wished. After Doc Ock's plan was foiled and Spider-Man was proven framed, the Punisher was last seen playing cards with Spider-Man, Captain America and Daredevil.
- Captain America - The star spangled Avenger who was famous for aiding the allies against the Nazi war machine in World War 2. When Spider-Man stopped the process of symbiotes bonding with humans, Captain America, Black Cat and Venom all saved Spider-Man and Ock from Ock's exploding lair. America was last seen playing cards with Spider-Man, Daredevil and the Punisher.
- The Human Torch - The hot headed member of the world famous Fantastic Four. He is Spider-Man's best superhero friend and is always ready to aid him. When Mary Jane was kidnapped by Venom and the Black Cat was taken to the hospital (or so it seemed), the Human Torch comforted Spider-Man, telling him he'll find Venom or Venom will find him, flying off. The Human Torch was last seen dancing with the Black Cat.
- The Rhino - When Spider-Man and the Black Cat went to Omnitech to stop Rhino, Rhino snuck up on Black Cat and used his horn to send her flying to another part in New York. Spider-Man was left alone to fight Rhino and easily defeated him. Spider-Man hid and watched as pretended-reformed Doc Ock carried off Rhino, putting him to jail.
Differences
This game was released at 2000 and Mysterio, the villain who framed Spider-Man in this game, was featured in this game. In the 1990s during the Spider-Man Clone Saga, Mysterio commited suicide while fighting Daredevil. It is unknown why this is as Mysterio is still deceased in 2006 during the 1990s events but this game portrays Mysterio as alive. But there maybe three explainations; One: This game would have taken place before the Clone Saga, but during this game, when J. Jonah Jameson was pleading for his life to the Scorpion, he said it was a new millenia, so scratch that explaination out. Two: Daniel Berkhart, Quentin Beck's, the original Mysterio's friend, would have taken up the role, as he did. Or three: This game may not canon to the comics. Suggestion number three is more likely because in the gallery section of the game where the characters of the game are shown, it says this is the Quentin Beck Mysterio. It would have been epic to know how Beck came back from the dead, but it didn't, confirming this game isn't canon at all in the comics.
Public Response
The game was very popular with fans of the comic book, as it is often felt that video games based on Spider-Man have treated the character properly. The game included numerous secrets such as the ability to change Spider-Man's costume to the various different versions he has had over the years. As often occurred in the comic books, other superheros such as the Human Torch appear to move the storyline along, and the dialogue between the levels was widely seen as true to form.
Cast
| Character | Voice Actor (English) |
|---|---|
| Spider-Man / Peter Parker / Bank Robbers | Rino Romano |
| Dr. Octopus / Dr. Otto Octavius | Efrem Zimbalist Jr |
| Mary Jane Watson-Parker / The Black Cat | Jennifer Hale |
| Carnage /Rhino /J. Jonah Jameson /Daredevil / The Lizard | Dee Bradley Baker |
| Venom / Mysterio /Scorpion / Punisher / Johnny Storm /Captain America | Daran Norris |
| Narration | Stan Lee |
Trivia
- If one types in GBHSRSPM in the cheat screen then the game will change slightly. For example when the cheat is active, at the part where Spider-Man fights Scorpion in Jameson's office Scorpion will shout "Here's Johnny!" as he crashes though the wall. Other examples include a tiny Doc Ock to fight against and a high pitched Carnage.
- Some of the many billboards around the city are advertising Tony Hawk games, also the TV in Jameson's office is showing a Tony Hawk game in action. One other billboard advertises a TV special featuring Cletus Cassidy, AKA Carnage.
- The first time Spider-Man is running away from the police chopper, there is a crane you can go into which has pumpkin bombs, a Goblin Glider and a Green Goblin poster inside. Also if you look there are many pumpkin heads graffitied around the city. This is referring to the Green Goblin and his many hideouts dotted around the city. Spiderman says "Gee...I wonder who all of These Pumpkin bombs belong too..."
- In certain parts of the game, if Spider-Man jumps on the advertising side of a billboard he will say something relavent to what it is advertising.
- In one part of the game, you can find the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four's skyscraper, which has a comic book cover on top.
- Voice actors Jennifer Hale (Black Cat) and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (Dr. Octopus) reprise their roles from the original 1994 Spider-Man cartoon Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Hale also played Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man Unlimited which she also does in this game. Rino Romano, the voice of Spider-Man, also did the voice in Spider-Man Unlimited.