Software:The Amazing Spider-Man (1990 video game)

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The Amazing Spider-Man
Developer(s)Oxford Digital Enterprises
Publisher(s)NA: Paragon Software
EU: Empire Software
Programmer(s)Kevin Ayre, John Wood[1][2]
Artist(s)Kevin Ayre, Colin Swinbourne
Composer(s)Steven W. Green
Release1990[1]
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

The Amazing Spider-Man is a platform game featuring the Marvel comic book character Spider-Man. The game was developed by Oxford Digital Enterprises and released in 1990 for Commodore 64 and Amiga,[3] and later ported to IBM PC compatibles, Amstrad CPC, and Atari ST. The title was published by Paragon Software in North America[4] and by Empire Software in Europe.[2][3]

Plot

The plot involves Spider-Man's wife, Mary Jane, being kidnapped by Mysterio. To save her, Spider-Man must navigate through various environments and puzzles divided into separate acts, representing Mysterio's obsession with film. The various rooms are often parodies of film genres.[1]

Development

In December 1990 issue of British gaming magazine The One, Rick Yapp from Oxford Digital Enterprises was interviewed about The Amazing Spider-Man's development.[5] Yapp explained how platforming was added during the development stage of the game and it was not included in its original design: "The platform idea wasn't part of the original brief. It just seemed to fit in quite nicely with the ability to swing on webs properly. And we thought a straight beat 'em up was a bit boring for someone of Peter Parker's intelligence".[5] Yapp also added that Spider-Man's sprite was downscaled to make room for more animations: "The reason we've done that is that we can have a massive animation table in there. Because he can be shown in all orientations, such as walking along ceilings and crawling up walls, there's 256 frames of animation just for the Spider-Man sprite".[5]

The Amazing Spider-Man's movie studio setting was partially concepted due to the team wanting to incorporate movie references into the game.[5] The Amazing Spider-Man's music is stated to be "not really" based upon music from previous Spider-Man media.[5] The MS-DOS version of the game supports AdLib sound cards and enables game's speed manual setting, thus allowing faster computers to run the game faster.[5] All ports of the game have a feature where, in specific rooms, the player may save the game to RAM as opposed to the hard disk.[5]

See also

  • List of Spider-Man video games

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Amazing Spider-Man (US Manual). 1990. http://www.abandonia.com/files/extras/25618_game_extra_1.pdf. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Amazing Spider-Man (European Manual). 1990. https://archive.org/details/Amazing_Spiderman_The_1990_Microprose_Software_M4/mode/1up. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Amazing Spiderman". Zzap!64 (69): 88. January 1991. https://archive.org/details/ZZap64Issue0691991Jan/page/n87/mode/1up. 
  4. ↑ "Amazing Spider-Man, The". http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/542/Amazing+Spider-Man%2C+The.html. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 South, Phil (December 1990). "The Making Of A Spider-Game". The One (emap Images) (27): 180. https://archive.org/details/theone-magazine-27/page/n179/mode/2up. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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