Spider-Man: The Video Game

Spider-Man: The Video Game is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up released by Sega for arcades in 1991, arriving at the height of the genre's popularity when cooperative brawlers filled arcade floors. It capitalized on both the enduring appeal of Marvel's web-slinger and the four-player cabinet format, letting a group tackle waves of enemies together. Alongside Spider-Man himself, the game featured other Marvel characters as playable heroes, giving each participant a distinct fighter to control.

In classic beat-'em-up fashion, players move through scrolling stages punching and kicking through crowds of foes toward end-of-level bosses drawn from Spider-Man's comic-book rogues. Sega mixed in some variety beyond the standard brawling to keep the pace lively across its levels. While it never reached the iconic status of Capcom's or Konami's licensed brawlers of the same era, it is a solid, colorful example of the four-player arcade experience, and a fun bit of Marvel gaming history for fans of the character and the genre.