20) Spider-Man (Gameboy Color, 2000)
The Neversoft Spider-Man games were crafted with love and care. With a creative original plot, this game already had a lot going for it, but it’s actually quite a lot of fun! Web-swinging pushed the Gameboy Color to its absolute limits, as did the graphics. While it’s overshadowed by the rest of this list, it’s a neat little game with quite a bit going for it.
19) Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (2008)
Was there ever more wasted potential in a superhero game than Web of Shadows? It had a genius premise- the symbiotes have gotten loose and Venom-ified everything in New York. When it came out, it was one of the best-looking games on the market. It had a good/evil system that was actually supported by the story. And yet… this game isn’t ever all that much fun. The fighting and the swinging was all iterations of things we had seen before and frankly, done better by earlier games. And while it was cool to Venom-ify everything and everyone, the danger never felt real. You know what this game could have used? A Venom T-Rex.
18) Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six (Gameboy Color, 2001)
Almost identical to the 2000 Gameboy Color game, the sequel tightened up the screws and refined the formula. It had the advantage of not tying into anything else, so it was free to express itself however it wanted. That manifested as a fun little action game with some pretty good boss fights!
17) Spider-Man: Web of Fire (Sega 32X, 1996)
The chances you played this game were slim, but I swear it exists! On the one hand, this game is a weird weird product of its era, what with its motion-captured graphics and all. On the other hand, it’s a weird weird product that doesn’t fit in any era. You have to collect coins to summon Daredevil. You fight unforgettable Spider-Man foes like HYDRA and um, Dragon Man. The Eel? Super Adaptoid? As a rare and mostly forgotten curiosity, this game is fascinating, but honestly, it looks and plays as well or even better than similar games of the era.
16) The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes (Super Famicom, 1995)
A Japanese adaptation of an American comics miniseries. But actually… it’s sort of great! For my money it was one of the prettiest platformers ever released on the SNES, and it had a great ensemble of heroes and villains, some of whom are realized through boss fights and some of whom just kind of show up. It’s one of the games that makes you feel the most like Spider-Man of the entire 2D era.