Spider-Man

Spider-Man, released in 2000, was one of the titles on the Dreamcast that showed a licensed comic-book game didn't have to be a quick cash-in on a movie. The game was made by Neversoft, at the time famous for the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, and its experience with fluid character movement through space was obvious at first glance — swinging on webs between the skyscrapers of New York was one of the best feelings the game offered players, and it's still remembered today as one of the better attempts at capturing the feel of Spider-Man's movement.

The story drew on comic-book mythology and offered fights against a whole gallery of villains — Venom, Carnage, and Rhino among them — with the individual chapters tied together by a narrator in the form of Stan Lee himself, who commented on the game between levels and gave the whole experience an almost documentary feel. Besides classic movement through the city, the game alternated platforming sections, fistfights, and hidden collectibles in the form of comic issues, which unlocked alternate costumes for the web-slinging hero and bonus content.

On the Dreamcast, the game benefited from sharper graphics and faster loading than on the older console generation, which showed especially during flights between buildings and in the smoothness of the animations, letting players enjoy the panoramas of New York's skyline without significant frame-rate drops. Thanks partly to titles like this, the Sega Dreamcast earned a reputation as a console particularly well suited to superhero action. The structure, unlike the later, freely open Spider-Man 2, was still linear, divided into self-contained levels with clearly defined goals, which made the game accessible even to players just starting out with action titles and also contributed to its favorable reception among reviewers. The fixed progression also meant a player could be sure they wouldn't miss any important part of the story or any boss fight.

Why play it: It offers one of the best web-swinging experiences from the era of 3D games, plus fights against classic Marvel villains.