We're all sat looking at the shiny, new Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, when there’s a greater hero in our midst: Spider-Man on the PlayStation 1. Although it’s been 23 years since it first graced us with its aerobatic stunts and sprawling 3D cities, this game is timeless in its charm, not only for fans but for the devs who created it.
It’s all too easy to poo-poo on the way it looks, so dated are the graphics when compared to Insomniac Games’ rendition, but to just blindly write-off this PS classic because of the way it looks isn’t just foolish, it’s sacrilegious. Games like Spider-Man walked so that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 could swing across New York with as much grace (or lack of) as you want. We are, as always, indebted to everyone’s friendly neighbourhood spider.
Check out Marvel's Spider-Man 2 to see how it compares to its predecessor
When GAMINGbible got the chance to chat with Chad Findley, a former Neversoft dev and lead designer for the PS1 game, they spoke with such fondness for the game. “This was before the super-high costs and razor-thin margins of big projects today, before all-things-money was running every decision, and therefore it was exactly what one would hope it would be like! It was fantastic.”
Advert
Findley continued, "Especially for a comic nerd like me - and I was a Spidey fan in particular. I got to include most of the characters we wanted, we got to add our what-if mode for tons of other cameos, and I got to voice direct Stan Lee!" Honestly, it's hard not to smile when hearing the sheer joy the game brought Findley. Though, while those memories are fond ones, there were also difficulties in creating such an advanced game for the time.
“Doing a full 3D city was one big one in particular - hence the story point that has the ground level of the city being fogged out. We just couldn't pull off a full 3D city with pedestrians and vehicles as our first outing,” they revealed.
“Wall crawling on real architectural surfaces was another - we got a good pass at wall crawling done and thought, great! But then real buildings and rooms were getting built with weird angles and tight surfaces, and the lead programmer, Dave Cowling, had to tackle that too. Fortunately, he's a super smart dude and developed a secondary 'small surface' wall crawling mode that allowed us to keep moving forward.”
There’s a reason why classic Spidey still holds up, and now we know just who to thank for it. But now it’s time for that all-important question: would Findley do it all over again and remake the game? “While I would initially be reticent because of the nightmarish licensing and approval processes that are around these days... I absolutely would do it. I love Spider-Man. It was such a great, nerdy character with stories that always have positive messages and themes while also still being exciting and fun. Stuff we need these days.”
Advert
So there is hope, though hope doesn’t always translate into something tangible. We did get to, momentarily, see our beloved pixelated Spidey return (which sent fans wild), therefore proving that there’s a lot of interest in a remake.
Nevertheless, while we may never experience a Spider-Man remake, there’s always the awe of the newer models, the games that wow with some of the “best-looking” graphics we’ve ever seen, and the depth of their story. I’m not sure if that’s much consolation for classic gaming fans like myself, but I do find knowing that strangely comforting.
Featured Image Credit: Activision and NexusModTopics: Spider Man, Marvels Spider Man, Activision, PlayStation, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC