Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six

The Good
This is a game that I used to play on my NES way back when I was a kid, I still have it, though haven't played it in years, so I busted it out to give it another whirl. Now I have found that much of the time going back and playing a game that you loved back in the day turns out to be less than thrilling, comparatively, because games have come such a long way since then. However this game is just as addicting as it was then. It is challenging, but not so much so that you want to through your controller into to wall in frustration.

The action is fast paced, and at times you really get the feel that you are Spider-Man. You can climb certain walls, and use your web to swing from buildings and other objects (this ability is unlimited, and does not need web cartridges). Most of the boss fights are pretty entertaining, the hit detection is fairly good, and the enemies explode into little pieces when they die, which I actually think is kind of satisfying, although I know another reviewer here thought it was kind of dumb, which is understandable (because it honestly doesn't make any sense) but keep in mind many of these types of games back then would have the enemies just fall down and flicker a bit and then disappear, and in the Master System version of this game they disappear in some kind of lame very small puff of smoke or something. So I kind of like the exploding.

The Bad
The game though is not without it's faults. The attacks you can perform are limited, a punch, a jumping kick, and if you are lucky enough to find a web cartridge you can shoot web projectiles. Although at least he does actually jump when he kicks in this version, as he does not in the Master System version, which is a big deal, because this is the only attack you can perform while moving.

The Bottom Line
There are some things that are not necessarily good or bad. The music is catchy, but repetitive. There are only 3 different tunes in this game, the title screen theme, and 2 other themes that they alternate between the stages, which isn't too horrible, since this game isn't really all that long anyway, but I'm sure they could have fit a few more on to the cartridge. The graphics are okay, but nothing to write home about, you could certainly do worse on the NES. The controls are tight enough to get the job done, but sometimes they can be flaky, like when you are trying to swing with your web, or every once in a while a punch won't register, but nothing game breaking or anything. It is overall a very playable game, even in 2009, which is saying something. Just stay away from the Master System version, this is much better. If you want to know why, you can read my review of the MS version on this site as well.