Spider-Man and The X-Men had the potential to be an awesome superhero crossover game. Sadly, this wasn’t the case.

For any comic nerd in 1992, the thoughts of a game featuring Spider-Man trying to save the X-Men from the (questionable villain choice) Arcade was enough to make them moist. The game promised the ability to control Spider and the featured X-men in genre crossing levels. The game turned out to be more frustrating than fun.

In the first level, you will control Spider-Man as you disarm bombs around an awkward level, married with awkward controls and an awkward arrow navigation system which points to the bombs. After completing this, you then learn that Arcade has nabbed the X-Men, and it’s up to you to save them.

From here, you can choose either Wolverine, Gambit, Cyclops, Storm or Spider-Man. Each character has their own unique levels and play style, as each member has to escape Arcade’s ‘Murderworld’ (kind of like a virtual reality he has trapped the heroes in).

Storm’s level plays in an underwater maze, Wolverine’s is a freaky circus fun house, Cyclops’ level is set in a Sentinel mine, Gambit’s are set in Doom caves (with Indiana Jones style boulders chasing him) and reliable Spider-Man’s levels are set in New York City.

Instead of mastering one control type and genre, the developers opted to create a mashup of styles to suit each individual hero. A great idea on paper but the execution seems sloppy. The game feels awkward and levels become frustrating (particularly Wolverine’s and Cyclops’ levels). Credit needs to be given though for the opening music and soundtrack throughout the game.

Tags: snes, spider-man, X-Man