Continuing the journey down comic book video game memory lane, this week I decided to focus on the 1982 release of Spider-Man for the Atari 2600. In my research I discovered that Spider-Man has, in a starring role, approximately over 30 video games to his credit.  Not to mention all the other titles in which he makes appearances or co-stars.  This makes Spider-Man the record holder for the most appearances in a video game by any comic book character.  This is, as far as I can tell, the second video game to be based on a comic book character, and probably the only other Atari 2600 game worth mentioning in this column.  However, if I am wrong and there is another comic book adapted game for the Atari 2600 that’s  worth mentioning before moving on to another video game platform, please feel free to drop me a line.

Parker Brothers released the first video game to feature Spider-Man in 1982, about four years after the release of the first comic book inspired video game, Superman.  In the terms of that time frame in today’s market, that would mean a world of difference in relations to graphics, game play, and even A.I.  In 1982, however, it seemed to have made little difference.  Spider-Man for the Atari 2600 in terms of those three aspects, especially graphics and artificial intelligence, is about on par with those of Superman. The concept of the game is pretty straightforward, the player takes control of Spider-Man as he clings to the base of a yellow skyscraper and needs to climb to the top where the Green Goblin is flying back and forth setting off timed bombs, and essentially defeat, or in this case, prevent him from destroying the building.  The only way Spidey can advance up the building is with his web, you can shoot a web straight up or at an angle.  People appear in the windows of the building and if one appears in the path of your web, the line breaks sending you tumbling to the ground.  The same thing also occurs if you get hit by the Green Goblin or one of his bombs.  However, you can save yourself by recasting a web before you hit bottom.  Once you reach the roof it’s up to Spider-Man to diffuse a super bomb all the while avoiding the Green Goblin as he flies around.  If you accomplish this goal the level starts over with a more difficult variation added to it.

In much the same way Superman gave players the opportunity to navigate a rudimentary construct to accomplish a goal with a light concept or theme of Superman imposed upon it, Spider-Man presents a small scenario in a small environment, with limited capabilities in relation to those aspects of Spider-Man that make his character super.  The video game is more of a goal to accomplish than a narrative to drive.  Our window into the world the character inhabits is one of primary colors, presenting the environment in a side view only and moving simply up or falling down.  Once again, like its predecessor there is little in the way of physical presentation that acknowledges or references the source material.  Spider-Man is a collection of red and blue pixels that shoots a black line out of his being.  He fights no one at all, including the Green Goblin, who also does little to resemble his comic book counterpart aside maybe from his glider.  The only opposition Spider-Man faces besides the Goblin are the citizens looking out their windows.

Where the Atari Spider-Man does succeed, especially over the preceding Superman, is in terms of addressing the player’s hand at playing a moment in the life of everyone’s favorite web slinger.  While still nowhere near a narrative in terms of plot, the game’s function is essentially to pit the player, as Spider-Man, in an altercation with the Green Goblin.  If we were to examine any idea of structure then this would be a stripped down short story, a moment in Spider-Man’s life that you control against one of his greatest adversaries.  Perhaps a scene from an issue, played out as an objective to be overcome by the gamer.  The arc of the story in this case–to stop the villain from destroying a building with people in it–is simply a MacGuffin.  Once the arc has been traversed, or the level beaten, the player is rewarded with another level of slightly greater difficulty.  Most early Atari and Arcade games were designed around this structure; the real reward for the player is to accomplish the goal the most times in a single game with the most points earned.

I feel a game like Spider-Man offers the player a slightly greater feeling of reward when defeating a level than its counterparts.  Here we have an opportunity to strap on the red and blue pixelated spandex that adorn Marvel Comics’ flagship character and prevent one of his greatest villains from committing a heinous act.  In Superman, part of your goal was to stop Lex Luthor, but as the form of both comic books and video games dictate, visual acceptance and recognition is part of the experience of the game play.  And in this case is especially important as the game was created to give animated life to an iconic character and the world he inhabits.  Therefore, the rudimentary representations of the characters in Superman, like Lex Luthor, being far less convincing than here in Spider-Man, mean that Spider-Man does do more to fulfill the fan’s desire to play as the Superhero.  While the game is still far off from the immersive experience modern video games such as Ultimate Spider-Man and Spider-Man 3 gave us, Spider-Man (1982) was a small yet nice step in a more engaging direction.

There is also a version of the game that can be played on the net here.

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