The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin

The Good
Spiderman as the most popular comic book character in the world has had his share of video games based on his exploits. The Amazing Spiderman vs. The Kingpin, is not only his finest 2D game, but is even good compared to the new 3D Spidey games.

Spiderman has been framed by the Kingpin. Now the whole city is out for his blood. Spiderman must find and defeat the real villains and clear his name. Traverse the Big Apple and so battle with classic Spidey villains such as, The Lizard, Venom, Hobgoblin, Sandman, Electro, and The Kingpin himself! The plot is enhanced by FMV sequences that are played throughout the game.

The Graphics in Spidey are quite good for the time. And the Sega CD version looks even better than it’s Sega Genesis counterpart. Spidey and all of his foes look good. And the FMVS while not the most impressive seen for the Sega CD are still pretty good.

In the department, you have voiceovers during the FMVS, and music provided by Mr. Big. The VO’S are good and of consistent quality. The music is a little more of a mix. While most of it is good, the few songs with lyrics are quite lame, and invoke a cheesy 80’s feel.

The Gameplay is pure 16-bit fun. New York is on a map, you use it to find the villains and complete levels. Many levels do not have to be done to finish the game, they are just extra. And there are a lot of them. As well as mini-games to play. Some bosses like Venom and Sandman require a special means to defeat making the game more like the Spidey comics.

The Bad
The lyrics are corny. No save feature only crap ass passwords.

The Bottom Line
Overall this is one of Spidey’s best games, even when put up against his newer titles.

The Good
When it is initially released for the Sega Genesis, "The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin" was the best Spider-Man video game around. Even today, it remains one of the better platform games made for the system. While the Sega CD version follows the same basic storyline, it features improved animation, graphics and sound along with more non-linear game play, extra levels, fighting moves and new items to collect.

The Bad
The Sega CD version does not allow you to return to your New York City apartment to rest. Nor can you take photographs for money. Both were nice features in the Genesis version that have been left out. Instead, you can restore your health and webbing by collecting strange, red and blue circular icons.

The Bottom Line
The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin is, probably, the best single player, platform game for the Sega CD. For the most part it takes what was great about the original version and greatly improves upon them.

The Good
Spider-Man 's Sega CD outing is pure spun gold. It is a well-designed, action-packed platformer that improves upon the Sega Genesis version. This is arguably Spider-Man's greatest 16-bit video game, and one of the best Sega CD games.

Spider-Man looks great, is easy to control and has a wide range of attacks at his dispoal. The CD game has hundreds of possible levels that you can explore, fun animated sequences to help move the story, and a cool, rocking soundtrack.

Basically, it feels like the designers looked at the Sega Genesis Spider-Man and asked, "How can we make it better?" They added more levels, more bosses, more character animation, more attack moves, better music, better intermission sequences and more non-lineral gameplay.

The Bad
Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin has elements of non-lineral game play, but they don't amount to much.

Collecting digital images of classic comic books is fun, but doesn't actually impact the gameplay. The game does have different endings, depending on whether or not you get to the kingpin, defeat him and save your wife.

Most of the levels that you can play, in addition to the required levels, get repetitive quickly. It was an fun concept in 1993, but it has not aged especially well.

Quite a few aspects of the game have not aged well. The intermission sequences looked cool back in 1993, but not so much in 2018.

The voice acting is, mostly, ok, although sometimes it sounds as if actors were cut off mid sentence.


The Bottom Line
The Sega CD edition of Spider-Man vs The Kingpin is certainly the superior version. The cartridge version ain't shabby, but the CD edition controls better then the cartridge version. It has more levels, more bosses, more character animation, better music, better intermission sequences and multiple endings.