Spiderman - Atari 2600

Growing up, my only exposure to superheros was through comic books. We had TV, but the only station we had was CBC. There was no cable, we all had TV antennas stuck to the side of our houses, and on nights when Hockey Night in Canada didn't come in clear, someone had to run out on the roof to mess around with the antenna until someone inside screamed,"THAT'S GOODS!"

My only exposure to cartoons, GOOD cartoons, was when we left our community to visit my cousins, they had cable and when I rented the latest episode of He-man or Super Friends on Beta. The battle for supremacy reigned between VHS and BETA. I always thought BETA was better because it was bigger, and when your a kid, bigger is better. Where am I going with all this?

Though the limited exposure that I did have to superheros, was very limited it was enough to drive me to tie a towel around my neck for Superman, nailed wool to the wall to swing like Spiderman, (mom didn't like it when I nailed wool to the walls) etc.So I was pretty gaga for superheros when I was young, 5 years old to be exact. I was also lucky enough to have my parents get me a Atari 2600 and the first game I got with this, was Spiderman.

I couldn't open the box fast enough, the pixel red and blue on the back of the case made my brain jello. I couldn't believe that I was going to swing like Spiderman, stick to walls, shoot webs from my hands, battle with the green goblin, fight baddies. It was all very overwhelming. Its a feeling that one can only have at 5 years old.

I jam in the cartridge and flip the switch, and there in front of me is a building, "OH MY GOD!! its a building!, I wonder if I can stick to it?" I press a button and poof , there I am, "Holy shit, I can shoot webs....holy meatballs, I can shoot web sideways!!!". I continue to web around the building and swing too far off the side and plummet to my death. "WOOHOO!!!, I played Spiderman!!!...I killed myself, but who cares.!!" And that's pretty much how I remember my experience with Spiderman.

The game itself is super simple, you swing up to the top of the building to disarm a bomb before it goes off and kills everyone. The green goblin is on top, flying back and forth, at first slow, but later on, faster and he drops bombs. There are also baddies in the window that you can swing through and get(kill) and do the same for small bombs. Then reach the top to save the day. It was pretty simple, and I loved every minute of it.

I will not dare to look at this game has if I was looking at a 2008 game. It wouldn't be fair. The game I remembered was awesome, the time I spent playing it was Spectacular, playing has Spiderman was Amazing. It was everything that a 5 year old could ever want in a superhero game.

Which brings up a point of today's kids. I would've given anything to see a live action, well animated cartoon, cool toys, costumes that look like your superhero and not moms pink towel, back when I was a kid. But what I did have, I enjoyed immensely. All the Spiderman games out there today would have put me in bliss world at the age of 5. I wouldn't have cared that the missions were lame and repetitive, heck, their didn't have to me missions, I would've been happy swinging around New York , and that's it!

I would have to say that the memory of playing Spiderman on the Atari 2600 when I was 5 far surpasses any Spiderman game that I have every played since.

9/10