The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin Review

I wasn’t old enough to know anything about the Sega CD when it was released in North America. It wasn’t until Christmas 1993 that I received a Sega Genesis, so I was fully immersed in Genesis games. I had no idea it had different add-ons like the 32X and CD. It wasn’t until around 2007 or 2008 that I first saw a video from the Angry Video Game Nerd about the Sega CD, and I was instantly interested. One of the games I’ve always wanted to play is The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin, because I’m a huge Spider-Man fan. That’s why I decided to sit down one night and go through the game. Did it do the web-slinger justice? Find out below!

Story

The story in The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin centers around Spider-Man being framed for planting a nuclear bomb. Of course, it’s not Spidey at all. It was The Kingpin. This leads to Spider-Man having 24 hours to find the keys to deactivate the bomb. These keys have been dispersed to many of Spider-Man’s foes. It’s an impressive list of bosses that includes: Venom, Sandman, Doc Ock, The Lizard, Hobgoblin, Vulture, Mysterio, Electro, and even a large gorilla.

The story plays out on spots on a map of Manhattan that you must clear on your way to defeating the different bosses. There are even some levels that contain various comic books that you have to collect. If you miss one of those comic books, a marker will appear on the level you finished, indicating a comic remains. I appreciated how straightforward the game makes things, rather than requiring guesswork.

You can look at and read the comics you find in the gallery in the main menu once you collect them. I thought it was a nice touch to scan those in. In the other versions of the game, you’re tasked with taking photos of enemies to sell to J. Jonah Jameson at The Daily Bugle to purchase web fluid. Web fluid is just a pickup in the Sega CD version.

Gameplay

With Great Power…

I had a ton of fun playing this game. I wasn’t sure if I would because I’ve played some other Spider-Man games of that era lately, and I was less than impressed. The great thing about The Amazing Spider-Man vs. Kingpin is that you feel like Spidey. You can climb up the side or front of a building, you can hang from ceilings, and you can shoot and swing from webs. Everything you want to do, you’re able to do. He can even crawl or stand, so it gives you a lot of options when fighting enemies.

Control and Weapons

It helps that Spider-Man controls well. It’s easy to stick to walls or hang from the ceiling if you’re trying to escape a rat or something. You can shoot a long string of web to capture someone or a quick strike to stun them fully. You can even shoot it diagonally if you can line up your shot right. There’s even a web shield that makes you invulnerable for a few seconds. There is a secondary web that you have to equip from the menu, but it felt like more of a pain to use than it was worth.

Enemies

There are a handful of enemies in the game. The most common enemies are henchmen and police officers. There are also rats and what I refer to as frogmen in the sewers. Electrified birds appear on Electro’s levels, while bats are found in other levels. I even saw some mechs in some warehouse levels. I don’t feel like there’s a huge variety, but it was enough for what this game is.

Levels

You’ll spend the game going through different levels on the map where you’re taking down henchmen and police (who see Spider-Man as a villain). Those are the basic levels where you’re just trying to get to the end or maybe find one of the comic collectibles. The levels are non-linear (except for perhaps the sewers), so you can explore rooftops or stick to the ground. You can even swing all the way through if you don’t want to spend a lot of time getting through them.

Bosses

Where this game truly shines is when you get to the bosses. You have to fight through a bit of a level to get to the boss, and then they show up to try and take you out. You have the traditional ones, where you have to hit them multiple times, but then there are ones that require thinking outside the box. This was the case with Sandman, whom I had to lure to a fire hydrant to defeat him. There was also the battle with Venom, where I had to lure him to the bells of the cathedral.

Presentation

Level Design

There was a lot of variety in the level design in The Amazing Spider-Man vs. Kingpin. There were some levels set in Central Park, which was dark and full of trees. Some were set on skyscrapers, such as the Empire State Building. There was even a level where I could see the Statue of Liberty in the background. Not everything was outdoors either. There were also warehouse levels and sewers. The game did a decent job of trying to mix things up, even though there were duplicates in some regions of the map.

Graphics/Audio

Playing this on Sega CD is the way to go. The graphics are slightly sharper than those on the Genesis. There are campy animated cutscenes that, admittedly, have not aged well but were probably so cool to see in 1993. The music is fantastic on this version, and the title screen song has been in my head for hours at this time, “Swing Time!!!!”. The entire soundtrack is great to listen to. The Sega CD elevated the presentation to a new level compared to what people were accustomed to at the time, and this game is an excellent example of that.

Final Thoughts

The Amazing Spider-Man vs. Kingpin is a fantastic Spider-Man game from the early 90s. If you’re going to search this one out, I’d recommend grabbing the Sega CD version, as the experience is just that much better. This isn’t a particularly long game, so keep that in mind. It can be beaten in an afternoon, but it’s well worth playing through at least once, especially with the twist that I won’t spoil here. It’s a fun way to spend a few hours.