Spider-Man on PlayStation

Your friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler may be from New York, but PlayStation is where he makes his home.

Spider-Man lends himself perfectly to video games, with his incredible powers, terrifying enemies, and wise-cracking patter. It's only natural then, that Spidey has had a long and illustrious history on PlayStation. Here are some of the highlights:

Spider-Man (PS one)
Based around the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater engine from developers Neversoft, Spider-Man was the first game to allow Spidey to navigate New York in full 3D. featuring incredible graphics (for the time), Spider-Man was the first video game to really give you the feeling of being able to do whatever a spider could.

Spider-Man the Movie (PlayStation 2)
Building on Neversoft's foundation, Spider-Man the movie improved the formula in every way, taking full advantage of the PlayStation 2 system's 128-bit power to create a game that was better looking, more fun to play, and way bigger than many games that had gone before it.

Spider-Man 2 (PSP)
The first handheld game to let you swing through New York in 3D, Spider-Man 2 on PSP was a class production in every way. New levels, new voice-overs, new missions and brand new stories set Spider-Man 2 apart from the pack and marked the newly-launched PSP as a console capable of great things.

Ultimate Spider-Man (PS2)
Taking the series in a new direction, Ultimate Spider-Man was based on Brian Michael Bendis' re-imaging of the Spider-Man comic books starring a much younger Peter Parker and a host of revamped friends and foes. With a cartoony style, moving comic book panels to frame the story and two playable characters (Spidey and his dark alter-ego, Venom), Ultimate Spider-Man has everything a true spider-fan needs.

Spider-Man 3 (PlayStation 3)
Taking the Spider-Man gaming experience into the Next Generation, Spider-Man 3 sees the web-head updated into glorious High Definition and a massive, sprawling New York two and a half times bigger than anything seen before in a Spider-Man game. Add to this voice-overs from the film's stars, 42 missions and a slew of new spider-abilities and you've got the recipe for an incredibly fun and authentic Spider-Man experience.

Movie Magic
Of course, it's not just games. Both Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 are available on DVD to play on your PS2 when you're at home and UMD to play on your PSP when you're on the move. Both are excellent films, with Spider-Man telling the story of how Peter Parker came to acquire the powers of a spider before fighting the insane Green Goblin, and Spider-Man 2 showing Peter fighting the troubled scientist Doctor Octopus and wooing the love of his life, Mary Jane Watson. So if you haven't seen either film, then what are you waiting for? Grab your PSP or PS2 and get up to speed!