Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin
System: Genesis
Release Date: August 1991
Developer: Technopop
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Action
Lately, there’s been rumors that the Kingpin is up to something in Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin! Wilson Fisk is back at it again having wrangled up six of the most sinister villains in New York City. They want to blow portions of the metropolis up and blame it on Spider-Man! As Peter Parker, you won’t be having any of that, so defeat the villains, grab the keys, and save the day. Is your Spidey Sense tingling yet?
Spider-Man punches with the B Button, jumps with the C Button, and uses webbing with the A Button. Spidey sticks to walls and ceilings, allowing you to crawl along them. Levels are much too tight to properly use Peter’s web slinging ability, which is incredibly disappointing, because this is the best part of Spider-Man. Enemies fire their weapons constantly, making certain jumps extremely difficult to clear without getting hit.
The levels are similar to the Master System version, but different. The first level where Spider-Man needs to get into the Daily Bugle requires you to stop a mugger from harming an old lady before you can get in. Icons found around the stage will refill some life or web. Very useful for survivability. You are allowed to continue if you die, but if I’m honest, I did a lot of time traveling to get through this one. If you find yourself running low on life, you can head back to Peter’s apartment and rest, at the consequence of having to start the level you were on over again. Pete needs to take pictures to earn money in order to afford web fluid. You only get a few photos on each level, and there are specific enemies like the bosses that will give you a bonus.
Bosses have their patterns that fall prey to specific tactics. You have to crawl under Doc Ock. You have to duck and stand to shoot the Lizard. You have to get the right distance from Electro and blast him. Sandman has to be sprayed with the fire hydrant. Hobgoblin needs to be shot up at to make vulnerable. Venom needs to be beat into unconsciousness, which was difficult for me, as I ran out of web!
The final level has you running a gauntlet of the bosses once again. Knowing their patterns makes it a bit easier. It took me awhile to figure out stopping the bomb required me to equip the proper colored key in order to use it. The final battle against the Kingpin requires you to jam up the chains lowering Mary Jane to her demise, while jump kicking Kingpin in the head. But succeeding saves your lady and gets the Kingpin put away… for now.
Graphics: 2.0
Animations are stiff and not pleasant to look at.
Sound: 1.0
Music and sounds are not really good.
Gameplay: 2.0
Controls aren’t tight. Corridors are too narrow for Spider-Man’s abilities to be useful.
Difficulty: 1.5
Levels are designed pretty poorly, with rude enemy placements, which is very disappointing.
Fun Factor: 1.5
There’s not a whole lot to get excited about. It’s a clunky platformer that had the ability to be much better.
Overall Rating: 1.6
Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin earns a C-. This is a prime example of a cross generational game being better on the weaker system. I can’t recommend this one.