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Marvel Database
Marvel Database
315,281
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in: Video Games, Video Game Gallery Page Needed, 2002, April,
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English

Spider-Man (2002 video game)

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Appearances

Main storyline[]

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Mary Jane Watson (First appearance)
  • Harry Osborn (First appearance)
  • Ben Parker (First appearance) (Death)

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Green Goblin storyline[]

Featured Characters:

  • Green Goblin (Harry Osborn) (First appearance)

Supporting Characters:

  • Mary Jane Watson (First appearance)

Antagonists:

  • Skulls (First appearance)
    • Spike (First appearance)
  • Shocker (Herman Schultz) (First appearance)
  • Vulture (Adrian Toomes) (First appearance)
  • Scorpion (MacDonald Gargan) (First appearance)
  • Kraven the Hunter (Sergei Kravinoff) (First appearance) (Xbox only)
  • Green Goblin (Mercenary) (First appearance)

Other Characters:

  • Bonesaw McGraw (First appearance)
  • Oscorp Technologies (First appearance)
    • Doctor Antower (First appearance)
    • Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) (Mentioned) (Deceased)
  • Vick (First appearance)
  • Peter Parker (Spider-Man) (Mentioned)
  • The Narrator (First appearance)
  • Super Soldier Robots (First appearance)
  • Super Mech (First appearance)
  • Hunter Killers (First appearance)
  • Hunter Killer Robots (Spiders) (First appearance)

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

GBA storyline[]

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Shocker (Herman Schultz) (First appearance)
  • Vulture (Adrian Toomes) (First appearance)
  • Scorpion (MacDonald Gargan) (First appearance)
  • Kraven the Hunter (Sergei Kravinoff) (First appearance)
  • Oscorp Technologies (First appearance)
    • Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) (First appearance)
    • Mendel Stromm (First appearance)

Other Characters:

  • Daily Bugle (First appearance)
    • J. Jonah Jameson (First appearance)
  • Harry Osborn (First appearance)
  • Quest Labs (Mentioned)

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Synopsis

The story begins as Peter Parker develops super-spider powers after being bitten by a genetically altered spider. After competing in a wrestling match as Spider-Man, Peter is devastated when his Uncle Ben is killed by the leader of the Skulls gang Spike. Peter hunts the killer and manages to defeat him and his entire gang. Peter then vows to use his powers for good and to fight evil in Manhattan. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn and Oscorp are investigating the appearance of this new hero. Anxious to develop his serum for human performance enhancers, the main goals of which are already exhibited by the super-hero, Osborn orders the capture of Spider-Man, deploying hunter-killer robots for this purpose. Spider-Man fights these robots and emerges victorious. Meanwhile, the Shocker has just robbed a bank, and is driving away with his thugs as Spidey lands, only to be hit by Vulture. Spider-Man goes after Shocker first. His battle with Shocker leads him through Grand Central Station, into the sewers and to a subway station, where Spider-Man defeats him in a climactic battle. Afterward, Shocker tells Spider-Man about Vulture's lair: an old clocktower on the Lower East Side of town. Spider-Man climbs Vulture's tower, but Vulture escapes. Spider-Man defeats Vulture atop the Chrysler Building.

Later, Osborn is informed by his subordinate Dr. Stromm that two individuals with arachnid DNA are now at large in Manhattan, and Osborn orders the capture of both. Hunter-killer spider robots pursue a desperate Scorpion through the sewers. Peter goes down to the subways to take pictures of his battle site with Shocker, when he runs into Scorpion. After Spider-Man helps Scorpion defeat the machines, the apparently paranoid and unhinged Scorpion turns on Spidey, and they fight. Spider-Man wins, but the Scorpion escapes. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn is fired from Oscorp and takes his own untested performance enhancers to become the forever-feared Green Goblin. Spider-Man defeats the Goblin at the city's Unity Day Festival. Later, Goblin confronts Spider-Man again and is defeated, but tells Spider-Man of bombs planted downtown. Spidey races against time to defuse the bombs, and is attacked again by Green Goblin, this time with deadly small devices called razor bats.

In the Xbox and GBA versions only, Norman hires Kraven the Hunter after the bomb threat to capture Spider-Man; having lured Spider-Man in, Kraven poisons the web-slinger with a lethal gas, forcing Spider-Man to track Kraven through the zoos' corridors filled with traps before he finally confronts and defeats Kraven in a cage match in the main area of the zoo.

After studying a wing of a felled razor bat and determining that it was manufactured by Oscorp, Spider-Man goes to Oscorp to research its connection with the Goblin. He discovers that the company is producing highly dangerous chemical weapons, and shuts down the operation. After finding out that the Goblin is after Mary Jane, Spider-Man chases him down to a bridge. Here, Spider-Man has his final battle with the Green Goblin, who is struck by his own glider. Spider-Man unmasks the Goblin to reveal Norman Osborn's face. Osborn's last words are, "Tell Harry, I'm sorry." Spider-Man replies, "I'm sorry, too." Mary Jane and Spider-Man are reunited, they kiss. Peter narrates the end of the story as the camera pans out, and he breaks the fourth wall saying "Looks like you're done now. Go outside and play."

Cast

Notes

  • Spider-Man is an action-adventure game loosely based on the film of the same name. It was developed by Treyarch and released in 2002 for multi-platform. The game includes many scenes and villains that did not appear in the film.
  • Josh Keaton and John de Lancie were originally cast as Peter Parker and Norman Osborn and had read through the whole script before Maguire and Dafoe signed on.[1]

Alternate Green Goblin Gameplay[]

If one defeats the game on the hard difficulty level, an option will be unlocked, allowing you to play the game again, this time as the Green Goblin (Harry Osborn).

The story follows Harry, using his father's old Goblin gear and tracking a trail of clues and loose ends left by his father to learn more on his legacy. His journey leads him into a fierce confrontation with a mercenary hired by his father. Balancing his own personal quest for answers with a growing desire to fight crime and help those in need, Harry learns to not just duplicate his father in his evil deeds and dark ways, but to become his own Goblin. A New Goblin.

The gameplay is very similar to that of the normal game, but with many of Spider-Man's powers replaced with similar traits of the Green Goblin, including flying on a glider, throwing pumpkin bombs, and commanding razor bats.

This mode originally would have not altered the story and was nearly axed from the game late in development by Sam Raimi who believed allowing the control of the villain would not be a good look. As such the developers quickly adjusted the storyline to be rough adaptation of the Hobgoblin and had Josh Keaton and John de Lancie return to record more diaogue to develop the story into the one released.[2]

Due to Sam Raimi's dislike of this, the creative team received explicit instructions not to do the same for Spider-Man 2.[3]

Differences from the film[]

  • In the game, the man who killed Uncle Ben is a member of a gang of thugs known as the Skulls gang. In the movie, he appears to operate alone, although Spider-Man 3 revealed he is in league with Flint Marko. In the game, he is referred to by gang members only as Spike, and in the game's artwork galleries as Butch. Spider-Man 3 refers to him as Dennis 'Spike' Carradine.
  • In the game, Norman sees Spider-Man as the key to completing the company's human performance enhancers, and sends Hunter Killer Drones to capture him. In the movie, this does not happen, and they both get their powers at around the same time.
  • In the game, Oscorp's board of directors fires Norman before he tests the performance enhancers on himself and becomes the Green Goblin. In the movie, Norman preemptively tests the performance enhancers on himself, but is nonetheless later fired from the board, when they decide to sell the company.
  • In the game, Spider-Man must rescue Mary Jane from atop a balloon at the World Unity Day Festival (the balloon will fall to the ground otherwise). In the film, she is trapped on a crumbling balcony of the Oscorp building. Also, it is night in the game, although the cinematic that introduces the level takes place during the day, which is the time the festival took place in the movie.
  • In the game, Norman never finds out who Spider-Man is, and kidnaps Mary Jane because one of his robots took a picture of her kissing Spider-Man. In the movie, Norman finds out Peter is Spider-Man when he sees the cut on his arm from the razor bat, and kidnaps Mary Jane after Harry tells him that Peter is in love with her.
  • In the game, Spider-Man was pursued by razor bats while swinging above the city. In the movie, he faces them in a burning building after being tricked by the Green Goblin.
  • Oscorp plays a bigger role in the game than it does in the film, as Spider-Man must investigate the company itself after discovering a connection between it and the Green Goblin.
  • At the end of the game, the Green Goblin is killed on the Queensboro Bridge by being run over at a fast speed by his glider. In the movie, he and Spider-Man fight first on the bridge, and then go to an abandoned building where the Green Goblin is impaled by the glider. The Roosevelt Island cable cars in the movie are also absent in the game. As he dies in the game, Norman tells Spider-Man to "Tell Harry I'm sorry". This is in stark contrast to the movie, in which Norman's last words are "Peter, Don't tell Harry".
  • Shocker, Vulture, Scorpion, and Kraven (Kraven is in the Xbox and GBA version only) never appear in the movie.
  • The GBA version of the game is a little more controversial: The final battle has Goblin being decked by Spider-Man first (in the playable boss level). Then the cutscene shows the Goblin get up and try to flee just as the glider swoops in and knocks him off the bridge, apparently killing him. But when Spider-Man and MJ hug at the end, MJ says that "Goblin and his cronies are in jail", implying that Goblin was recovered and arrested.

References to comic books[]

  • If one webswings low to the streets in city levels, people on the ground will see him and note his presence. One of these people will say "Look! It's The Spider-Man!", and Spider-Man will say "It's just Spider-Man, there's no The," an apparent reference to the line in the 1960s Spider-Man theme song "Look out, Here comes The Spider-Man!" Also, two men again reference the theme by going "Whoa, it's Spider-Man!" "Spider-Man? Is he strong?" "'Strong?' Listen bud, I heard he's got radioactive blood!"
  • Additionally, a civilian may say "Look, look up there, it's...Spider-Man" then Spider-Man says "Just stay away from that bird and plane metaphors, that's that other guy." in reference to the phrase commonly associated with Superman, "Look up in the sky. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Superman!"
  • In the Xbox version, Spider-Man complains a thing shaped like a spider on fire to get his attention and muses that he should "get a Spider-Signal". Kraven the Hunter did the "Spider-Signal" to lure Spider-Man after Norman Osborn hires him. This is a reference to both Batman and the classic piece of equipment Spider-Man uses in the comics. In the TV Series "The Spectacular Spider-Man", Spider-Man does have a Spider-Signal, which is a light on his belt.

Reception[]

The critical reviews were good, with many critics at the time considering it the best Spider-Man game yet.[4] However, criticism fell on the indoor levels,[5] Tobey Maguire's voice acting[6] and bad camera. As well as the fact that it was too short and could be completed in 3 hours[7] Even for these flaws, this game was good enough to get an 8.4 out of 10 from IGN, a 9.3 out of 10 from GamePro, and 4 out of 5 from GameSpy.

High sales (two million copies of the PlayStation 2 version[8] and over 400,000 on the GameCube and Xbox[9]) were sold in North America alone, allowing the game to enter the "Best-Sellers" of each console (PS2's Greatest Hits, GameCube's Player's Choice and Xbox's Platinum Hits). It was recently promoted to "Best of Platinum Hits" on the Xbox.

Trivia

  • First pressings of the game featured a cheat code allowing players to use a Mary Jane Watson costume. The code raised some mild controversy, as it allowed a "lesbian" kiss in a cutscene between the player, dressed as Mary Jane Watson, and the actual Mary Jane Watson. The cheat code was removed from later pressings of the game after complaints from parents.
  • It is mentioned in the game that Norman Osborn assisted MJ, Peter, and May in moving deeper into the city, and helped Peter get his job at the Daily Bugle.

See Also

Links and References

References

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