Best SpiderMan Games
Image: Nintendo Life

As a nod to the long-awaited cinematic release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, we're republishing this list of the best Spider-Man games on Nintendo systems. Enjoy!

You feel that? That's your spidey senses a-tinglin'. Why? You're jonesing to play a game with a friendly neighborhood webslinger, probably.

There has been a whole load of Spider-Man games over the years, and most (but not all, of course) have appeared on Nintendo consoles. Switch owners might only be able to play as him in Lego Marvel Super Hero form or in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 (or in Fortnite, naturally), but there are plenty of other options on older Nintendo platforms.

But what's the best Spider-Man game ever? Which Spider-Man games are worth revisiting? Well, we enlisted the help of our friendly neighborhood readers and asked you to rate and rank your favourite Spider-Man games on Nintendo platforms — the results are below. These are games where Spidey takes a title role, rather than appearing as part of an Avenging ensemble.

Before we go any further, though, it's best we address the Rhino in the room. Insomniac's PlayStation-exclusive Marvel's Spider-Man is one of the best interpretations — perhaps the best — of the most Amazing of superheroes in game form, not to mention the excellent Miles Morales add-on. They're certainly the best-looking Spider-Man games you'll find, and any Spider-Fan will want to check those games out on PlayStation 4 or 5. They're available on PC, but you won't be seeing them on any other consoles, unfortunately. You can read more about them on our lovely sister site, Push Square:

With that caveat covered, let's dive off the building and swing our way through a whopping 38 Spider-Man games that have appeared on Nintendo consoles over the years...

Note: Remember that ranking here is updated in real-time according to each game's corresponding User Rating in the Nintendo Life game database. Even as you read this, it's entirely possible to influence the order below. If you haven't rated your favourites yet, simply click the 'star' of the game you wish to rate and assign a score right now.

38. The Amazing Spider-Man 3: Invasion of the Spider-Slayers (GB)

The Game Boy had a surprising number of Spider-Man games, though this one didn't go down particularly well at the time. In terms of the story it tied in with some of the comics at the time, which is a nice touch, but was a tricky and rather awkward game to play with its mix of combat and platforming / vertical traversal. Not a classic.

37. Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six (NES)

This NES entry looks suspiciously like a few other licensed LJN titles of the era, as a rather small Spidey run, jumps, punches and kicks enemies. He doesn't do Spider-Man things like swinging, web shooting and climbing walls, at least not as much as we'd like, but it's a reminder that the early '90s had plenty of games for the franchise and gave a lot of young gamers good memories.

36. Spider-Man: Friend Or Foe (DS)

In theory this should be an excellent game; it remixes encounters from the Sam Raimi trilogy of films but with new locations and ideas, and all the while Spidey recruits various allies (and even villains) to help him along. Despite the fun idea and even the flexibility to play as different characters, the DS version was rather rough around the edges and the gameplay didn't truly live up to the concept.

35. Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge (GB)

Considering the limitations of the Game Boy this had an ambitious idea, with each level giving you control of a different hero including Spider-Man, Cyclops and Storm. Spidey was the star to open and close the game, but like a few others on this list this probably can't be considered a good game, with various quirks and frustrations common in the era. Still, the X-Men are cool.

34. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (GB)

A game that tormented many young players with some cruel difficulty spikes, it nonetheless does its best to provide an exciting Spider-Man adventure on humble technology. You climb walls, swing around, and there are even puzzle aspects to solve. It had some clever ideas and even story cutscenes, even if many never got to the end credits.

33. Spider-Man (SNES)

This was supposed to draw inspiration from the mid '90s animated series, and there would have been high hopes with it utilising the SNES. The end result is an action platformer that is pretty average all told, and wasn't particularly warmly received when it launched. Some will have fond memories, no doubt, but clunky controls and limited creativity in terms of enemies and settings hold it back.

32. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (3DS)

Developed by High Voltage Software (well known for The Conduit on Wii), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on 3DS was not the same game that graced other platforms, in fact at the time plenty felt it was a notable downgrade on its portable predecessor. With disappointing presentation and a focus on rather dull 2D action platforming (aside from some scruffy web swinging segments), this 3DS port is not fondly remembered by many Spidey fans.

31. Spider-Man 3 (GBA)

Another one developed by Vicarious Visions and tying in with the final Sami Raimi movie, on GBA this was a 2D sidescrolling beat 'em up with a decent amount of web grappling and wall climbing. With the technical limitations of the system this was nothing like the console versions and had a mixed response at the time. Not amazing Spider-Man, but has its charms.

30. The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes (SNES)

This doesn't seem to be a bad Spider-Man game, with some colourful and chunky 16-bit visuals and a whole lot of encounters against iconic foes. The issue for this one is that it was only released for the Super Famicom in Japan, so unfortunately a very decent Spidey game passed a lot of us by in the mid '90s.

29. Spider-Man: Battle for New York (GBA)

A sidescrolling beat 'em up that is pretty familiar to some other GBA entries (unsurprisingly), and it was a prequel to 2005's Ultimate Spider-Man while being loosely based on comics of the same name. You get to play as multiple characters, which is a plus, but ultimately this is a rather basic entry that hasn't aged particularly well.