Fresh from the critical and commercial success of “Tony Hawk’s Pro Sakter,” now defunct video game developer, NeverSoft announced they’re developing Spider-Man as the first Spidey game in three-dimensional format. Fans and gamers saw ads for the game. They were stoked to play as the wallcrawler.
Released in 2000 (same year Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker came out) on PlayStation & Nintendo 64. It received positive reviews from critics, fans and gamers alike. Plus, it made enough revenue. A sequel, “Spider-Man: Enter Electro”came out a year later. Speaking of Spidey, Insomniac Games is currently working on third main Spider-Man game. As of late 2026, no release confirmed.
Today’s review contains no SPOILERS.
Strong & Weak Aspects
Strong: Rino Romano did a great job for his voiceover performance as the titular character.
Other Cast Members such as Jennifer Hale, Darren Norris Dee Bradley Baker & Efrem Zimbalist Jr. all did a decent job for their respective voiceover performances.
Stan Lee provides narration. He even comments on the character viewer.
Graphics for a game in 2000 still holds up.
Gameplay/Mechanics
- Presented as a third-person action-adventure game, you play as Spider-Man traversing his way on foot and web swing to complete objectives in a series of levels
- Run, jump, pick up objects, crawl on walls/ceilings/vents and swing from building to building.
- Difficulty Modes are Easy, Normal & Hard. Kid Mode’s the easiest one.
- Combat simply lets you punch, kick and fire web.
- Enemy variety consists of humans, lizards and symbiotes.
- Web Powers come in handy. A personal favorite of mine, fire impact web which is a ball of web. You can make boxing gloves and igloo shields unleash a shockwave.
- Find comic books in various levels. Each one is actual cover of a Spider-Man comic.
- Question Marks provide tips.
- Blue spider symbols refill web cartridges. White spider symbols restore health.
- Boss Fights are fun. My favorite is Venom.
- Spidey Compass points any direction where you need to go.
- Alternate costumes sometimes have a special power. For example, black suit Spider-Man has unlimited web.
- Character Viewer is a gallery of heroes and villains.
- Storyboards break down frame by frame.
- Typing in Cheat Codes unlocks neat stuff.
Tommy Tallarico orchestrated the soundtrack.
Daredevil, Punisher, Human Torch & Captain America make brief appearances.
If you’re a huge Marvel fan like me, Easter Eggs are found in random levels.
Funny Moments made me chuckle. Especially the final scene in the main story. If you know, you know.
A remix of the 1960s cartoon is played during the End Credits.
Entering the right cheat code unlocks “What If Mode.” Replaying the entire game in the aforementioned mode contains surreal moments.
Fun Facts
- Rino Romano voiced Spidey in the short-lived cartoon, “Spider-Man Unlimited.”
- Jennifer Hale & Efrem Zimbalist Jr. voiced Black Cat & Doctor Octopus in “Spider-Man: The Animated Series.”
- Ads for “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2,” are found in random levels and cutscenes.
- You wanna know why there’s fog in the game? Technical limitations at the time made it difficult to recreate Manhattan. Until the 2004 game based on Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2”perfected it as an open-world map. It’s my all-time favorite Spidey game.
- A train fight predates the iconic train fight in Spider-Man 2.
Random Thoughts
- There’s a train level with Spidey fighting lizards. Trains were a trend in movies released in 2000 such as “Unbreakable,” “Final Destination,” “Little Nicky,” “Thomas and the Magic Railroad,” “Shanghai Noon,” & “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
- I used to play Spider-Man on PS1. I got this game in 2001.
- I never played Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro. I played the games based on Sam Raimi’s movies, “Ultimate Spider-Man,” “Spider-Man: “Shattered Dimensions” “Spider-Man: Edge of Time” The Amazing Spider-Man 1-2 and Insomniac Games’ iteration.
Weak: It took me 4 hours to find beat the main story on normal difficulty. Another 4 hours on What If Mode rounds up a total of 8 hours.
Playing on a DualShock controller or normal controller doesn’t feel smooth. Later games and controllers perfected two birds, one stone.
Nintendo 64 version lacks cutscenes. Because of hardware limitations, they’re replaced by still images and dialogue texts mimicking a comic book.
The Final Verdict: B, FOR BIGGER AND BETTER! (PlayStation version)
Spider-Man on PS1 still holds up. If you still have a copy and preserved a PS1 console, relive the good old days. Which Spider-Man video game is your favorite? Please leave a comment and don’t forget to subscribe.
