Spider-Man is an arcade pinball game designed by Steve Ritchie, with art by Kevin O'Conner, Margaret Hudson, Marc Schoenberg and Mark Galvez. It was released in 2007 by Stern Pinball.
Based on Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy starring Tobey Maguire, the game pits the players against the villains of all three movies. Rock the Green Goblin by shooting his pumpkin bombs, build speed by whipping around Venom, then use the webslingers to launch balls across the playfield. Hit Sandman as he rises and falls, but make sure Doctor Octopus doesn't catch you in his tentacles. The game features video and voice clips from the films, and J. K. Simmons reprises his role as J. Jonah Jameson to give player instructions.
In 2016, Stern Pinball released the Vault Edition, an updated version of the game. Unlike other Vault Editions, the game's aesthetics were completely overhauled: the playfield and backglass art were updated with comic book-style illustrations by Mark Bagley from Ultimate Spider-Man, with the dot-matrix animations, audio, and game modes updated to match. The actual playfield layout and rules remain the same, however.
A budget home edition was released in 2017 with the same art style and a completely different playfield.
This game demonstrates the following tropes:
- Anti-Frustration Features: Aside from the somewhat common ball saver and center post, the outlanes will save the ball when the (sub-)Wizard Modes Battle Royale or Super Hero are lit.
- Bank Robbery: Doc Ock robs a bank during "Bank Bust".Jameson: "He's a supervillain and the best he can do is rob a bank?"
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: All of the enemy targets and mode lights are colored according to their character — green for the Green Goblin, blue for Venom, red for Dr. Octopus, and yellow for Sandman.
- Combos: Consecutive combos award bigger bonuses, and achieving 10 or more combos awards Super Combos, which give more points. Getting 50 combos starts a two-ball Combo Multiball.
- Damsel in Distress: "Rescue MJ" requires the player to rescue Mary Jane Watson.Jameson: "Everything was just fine until you brought a girl into the mix!"
- Moving Target Bonus: The second and third Green Goblin modes require hitting a moving target, with more points awarded for hitting it directly as opposed to hitting its afterglow.
- Mythology Gag: The machine plays an instrumental version of the '60s cartoon's theme song after a game over.
- New Game Plus: If the Wizard Mode is successfully completed, all scoring is doubled for the remainder of that ball.
- No-Sell: A magnet allows Doc Ock to grab incoming pinballs before they have a chance to hit him.
- Score Multiplier:
- After shooting all of the white arrows to start a non-villain mode, they will all be lit and next shot will be multiplied by 2x for the rest of the ball. For completing a mode, similarly the inserts will light up and the next shot will be multiplied by 3x for the rest of the ball. Additionally, all scoring is doubled for the remainder of the ball if the Wizard Mode is completed, on top of existing multipliers, making some shots potentially 4x or 6x.
- A more minor example is that bumper values are doubled if the standard top rollover skill shot is made.
- Making the standard skill shot on the final ball will double the player's bonus. Making the Venom skill shot on the final ball will triple the player's bonus.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: At the start of Battle Royale, Jameson makes his leave after seeing every villain assemble.Jameson: "Looks like the gang's all here...See ya!"
- Secondary Adaptation: The original version specifically adapts the Spider-Man Trilogy, which were film adaptations of the Spider-Man comics.
- Shout-Out:
Word of God is that Sandman's center bank of three targets is a tribute to Attack from Mars, which had a similar target bank as a central part of the playfield. - Skill Shot: Shoot the flashing top rollover lane for bonus points, +5X bonus multiplier, and double bumper values.
- Alternately, soft launch the ball so it rolls back down to the upper-right flipper, then hit the left Venom ramp for 500,000 points and a boost in the Venom value.
- Spelling Bonus: Spelling HERO increases the bonus multiplier, and WEB awards a score bonus.
- Take That, Audience!: In the original version, Jameson frequently berates the player if they play poorly.Jameson: [after a quick drain ball saver] "Play better."
- Timed Mission: All of the non-villain modes give you 40 seconds to hit a series of flashing shots.Bonesaw: "I've got you for three minutes!"
- Tyop on the Cover: Venom's third mission, "You Ooze, You Lose," was spelled as "You Ooze, You Loose" at the back of the playfield in early versions of the original game.
- Wizard Mode:
- The sub-Wizard Mode is the "Battle Royale", which is available after beating each villain twice. This is a multiball mode where the player must complete hits on each foe to light the Royale Jackpot, then collect it at the right ramp.
- The main Wizard Mode is "Super Hero", available after beating each villain three times and completing the five non-villain modes. Hit all the red arrows, then hit all four villains and the white arrows, hit Sandman over forty times, then shoot the Spider-Sense shot for 250 million points.
