The friendly neighborhoodSpider-Manfirst appeared in the Amazing Fantasy comic book in August 1962. At the time, the superhero was popular for his cool concept but only had a few powers. These included basic web shooting jets, web crawling, and superhuman strengths. However, Peter Parker’s alter ego has come a long way since the 1960s, and so have his powers. In the 1994 cartoon series,Spider-Man became famous among the tv audienceand popularized the symbiotic powers.
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Six years later, he became a popular part of the video games industry when Activision released the first major 3DSpider-Mantitle in 2000. The friendly neighborhood superhero has since evolved a lot, especially regarding powers. Let’s examine some of hisunique abilities in video games.
10Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows (Instant Symbiote Suit)
Spider-Man: Web of Shadowsis a 2008 game that has aged well for its time. After all, the game offered some of the best gameplay mechanics inany open-world superhero game sinceSpider-Man 2. In the game, players could do all kinds of things like web-swinging freely, running on walls, using amazing combos in combat, and crawling around the city.
The game also featured an amazing story, with characters such as Luke Cage, Marie Jane, Wolverine, Black Cat, Moon Knight, Kingpin, etc. However, the one feature that made the game stand apart was the instant symbiote suit, where players could switch between the powers with a button push.
9Marvel’s Spider-Man (Spider-Drone)
The 2018Spider-Mangame is possibly the best implementation of the character in a video game so far. The game does everything right, from the emotionalstorytelling to the iconic Spidey quotes. The game also offers a completely overhauled gameplay that takes inspiration from the best parts of Spider-Man titles released till now.
For example, the amazing web-swinging inMarvel’s Spider-Manis very much a refined versionof the one in the cult-classicSpider-Man 2. Moreover, the 2018 game builds upon everything, including the abilities of our friendly neighborhood superhero. One such power is the Spider-Drone, which lets players go spec-ops on enemies without coming into sight.
8Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Bio-Electricity)
WhileMarvel’s Spider-Manpicked the best part of older games for inspiration,Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Moralestook what establishmentsof the 2018 game and kicked it up a notch. The 2020 spin-off to the oncePlayStationexclusive title does everything the original game does but makes it much faster than ever.
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InMarvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, players can swing around quicker, fight in style, and traverse with “The Exaggerated Swagger of a Black Teen.” Miles has many unique abilities in the 2020 spin-off game. However, the best one is his bio-electricity, which lets him use it as a Venom Blast at will.
7Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (Noir - Night Vision)
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensionsis a spider-verse action-adventure game and probably a big reason why theMarvelmultiverse became so popular over the years. The 2010 game offered four playable versions of Spider-Man from different timelines. One such alternate Spidey was the Spider-Man Noir from Earth-90214.
This version of the friendly neighborhood superhero had a much more realistic vibe, as players would have to rely on stealth to avoid getting killed. Moreover,Spider-Man Noir came with his own set of abilities, one being the night vision that would help him locate the targets in the darkness.
6Spider-Man (Web Cocoon)
The 2000Spider-Mangame was the first one where our friendly neighborhood superhero went from 2 dimensions to 3D verse. It was a highly anticipated game of its time and one of the most popular superhero games on the PlayStation console. The good oldSpider-Mangame took inspiration from comic books and told a story full of various characters such as Venom, Doctor Octavious, Daredevil, and many more.
Thegame also implemented free swinging and added different Spider-Man abilitiesthat were pretty new. One such power was the web cocoon ability, where Spider-Man could use the web to create a protective shield around him and then explode it for maximum carnage.
5Fortnite (Using Guns)
Who knew the day would come when players wouldplay as Spider-Man in a multiplayer game all about shootingguns?Fortniteis a 2017 builder-shooter game known for its free-to-play battle royale mode, allowing up to 100 players to square off and win the round by proving their skills. Fortnite is also famous for its silly dance moves, taunts, ridiculous microtransactions, and character skins.
Over the last five years, Fortnite has featured various superheroes such asBatman, Black Widow, Captain America,Deadpool, Ghost Rider, The Flash, Venom, etc. However, the wildest entry has been Spider-Man, as he can swing in the game and shoot guns to kill the opponents.
4Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (2099 - Slowdown Time)
As the previous entry established,Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensionsisa spider-verse title that features four alternate versionsof the superhero. Three of them are Amazing, Ultimate, and Noir, while the fourth is Spider-Man 2099. The cyberpunk interpretation of Spider-Man isn’t a Peter Parker from the future.
Related:Strongest Multiverse Versions Of Spider-Man
Instead, he’s Miguel O’Hara, a new character and an extremely fast superhero. Since this version of Spider-Man is from a technologically advanced timeline, he uses unique abilities such as slowing down the time to get the better of the enemies.
3Marvel’s Avengers (Wrecking Ball)
For good reasons,Marvel’s Avengerswas probably the most anticipated superhero game of the last decade. The game’s promotional material to its voice cast screamed it would be a success. Unfortunately,Square Enixdropped the ball by implementing unnecessary microtransactions in this story-driven co-op multiplayer game. While the in-game characters are really good, and the combat animations are super cool, the gameplay design makes it fall apart.
Still, there are a few good things to experience in the game, including the character of Spider-Man.Marvel’s AvengersSpider-Man might have terrible web-swinging mechanics, but he has great combat skills, including the “Wrecking Ball” move, which is a massive web ball.
2Spider-Man: Edge Of Time (Accelerated Decoy)
Spider-Man: Edge of Timetakes the formula from its predecessor, Shattered Dimensions, and introduces new gameplay design players have never experienced. The 2011 spider-verse game focuses on two versions of Spider-Man. One is the usual friendly neighborhood superhero, while the other is the futuristic Spider-Man 2099. The game’s formula relies on players' actions between different timelines, where a change in the past means predictable results in the future.
The true star of Edge of Time is Spider-Man 2099, who saves Peter on multiple occasions, and uses his abilities to beat crazy supervillains. One of his powers includes an accelerated decoy, allowing him to simultaneously appear in two places and deal damage with an invisibility camouflage.
1Spider-Man: Return Of The Sinister Six (Square Web Projectiles)
Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Sixis the first big Spider-Man game that came out in 1992. This 2d side-scroller featured supervillains such as Electro, Sandman, Mysterio, Vulture, Hobgoblin, and Doctor Octopus. While the Return of the Sinister Six game is pretty basic in terms of gameplay, it offers a piece of memorable music, a fun ambiance, and the ability to be Spider-Man, especially for its time.
In the game, players can pull a few tricks with the 8-bit superhero, which includes kicking, punching, jumping, web-swinging, web-crawling, and more. However, the one ability that stands out is the unique square web projectiles that Spider-Man has never reused to this date.
