The Top Six Spider-Man 2 Games Of All Time

You may think that being arguably the best Spider-Man game ever made guaranteed Marvel Spider-Man 2’s top spot. In reality, it’s because it lives up to the number “2” better than any other title on this list by literally featuring two Spider-Men. That’s really all it takes, but somehow, only Insomniac understood the assignment. The game’s other high points, like the great action, incredible traversal, and strong writing, are just extra credit.

We all know Spider-Man 2 is the best of the Sam Raimi movie trilogy, so it only makes sense that its video game adaptation is the best of the three tie-ins. Yes, we all know about how it revolutionized web-swinging, but it gets brownie points for having the most exciting Mysterio boss fight ever and for getting the last semi-decent Kirsten Dunst performance in a video game (Spider-Man 3 would not be so lucky). Oh, and the pizza delivery jingle. Always remember the pizza delivery jingle.

We just replayed the entirety of Neversoft’s beloved Spider-Man game, but hardly anyone ever brings up its respectable direct sequel, Enter Electro. I’m not sure why that is; it’s the first 3D Spider-Man game to get his costume right by adding the web pattern missing from the first game (which drove me nuts as a kid), so it’s the more aesthetically pleasing of the two. In all honesty, we probably don’t remember it because the main villain is Electro, who is the definition of mid on the Spidey villain tier list – unless Jamie Foxx plays him. Then he’s top three*.

The Sinister Six could be nominated for the award of “Best Late Game Boy Color Game We Didn’t Appreciate Enough Because the Game Boy Advance Launched, Presented By Shantae.” Arriving in 2001 (the same year as Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro), it’s surprisingly cinematic for a handheld game at the time. It had digitized Doc Ock laughter and everything. Outside of that, the animation is impressively fluid, and the art direction included comic-accurate details such as Vulture’s defined butt cheeks you can admire in the photo above.

This game is most noteworthy for establishing that Spider-Man fires webs from his crotch instead of his wrists. I don’t know why Marvel hasn’t revisited this concept since then. Other than featuring some of the usual suspects like Hobgoblin, Lizard, and Mysterio, this game pits you against… Graviton? You know, that weird guy that controls gravity and was sort of in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. How the heck did he make the cut? I want answers.

Developer Beenox first cut its teeth on Spidey games by making the underrated Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, and moved on to the appropriately rated Edge of Time before wrapping up its time with the hero with a pair of mediocre licensed games based on the Andrew Garfield films. Neither entry is anything to write home about (which you could also say about the Marc Webb movies), but this bland sequel has as much soul as Uncle Ben does after Peter misses the part where it’s his problem.