Spider-Man Swings Into Retro TV Gaming With This 2004 Jakks Pacific Device

Retro gaming finds often arrive with layers of dust and stories. This Spider-Man plug-and-play TV game from Jakks Pacific, released in 2004, fits that pattern perfectly. James Channel recently pulled one from an online marketplace and gave it the full treatment: cleaning, testing every mode, and opening it up to see what made it tick. The result shows a licensed product that leaned hard into its character theme while delivering the kind of simple, self-contained entertainment common in that era.

When you take the unit out of the box, you can tell it has a distinct personality because Spider-Man’s masked visage stares at you from the front. The lower half of the device is an interesting blue with white eyes, while a long red joystick rises from the machine’s core, surrounded by a black web pattern. AV connections protrude from the back, connecting to any standard television, and a little white button sits at the top of the stick.

LEGO Marvel Spider-Man Hero Figure – Super Hero Building Toy for Boys & Girls, Ages 12+ – Posable Kids…

• POSABLE SUPER HERO – Scale up the action with the highly articulated LEGO Marvel Spider-Man Hero Figure (76346) building toy for boys and girls ages…
• COLLECTIBLE LEGO FIGURE – Capture the appearance of the web slinging hero as portrayed in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day movie
• PLAY AND DISPLAY – Whether used for pretend play action or arranged on display, kids can position and pose the dynamic Super Hero and his…

Used accessories like this may eventually show signs of wear and tear, as battery leaks have been known to create corrosion, and unless you want to go through the cleaning procedure, you’ll have to fix it before the machine will start correctly. Even when it has been cleaned up, it reverts to a plain interface with only five built-in games and a high score list. There are no cartridges or memory cards needed; simply enter the device, turn on the power, and you’ll be ready to play.

The first game drops you into the streets and rooftops of a city as Spider-Man, and it’s a dead simple platformer in which you simply run, leap, and grab items while avoiding the traps that lay around every corner. The other modes are a touch more varied, with an on-rails shooter in a training facility, a time-sensitive battle against Venom, a sewer maze through which you must navigate all of the hazards, and an aerial shooter against the Vulture’s minions.

Controls are basically made up of the stick and the button at its end. Movement appears to be pretty direct for standard left, right, up, and down movements, but when you try to get crazy with diagonal inputs, the stick can become a little challenging. The rubber touch pads beneath have become hard over time, and the top button controls web shots or attacks depending on the game. There are also some more buttons on the base that let you to jump and perform other things, but some units can become loose with time, and the buttons can pop out in mid-game. Additionally, the spring inside the stick can wear down, making accurate swings or dodges more of a chance than a talent.

Inside the case, the build speaks for itself: you’re staring at a big integrated circuit attempting to manage everything, graphics, sound, processor, and memory, and it’s not up to the task. The game data is contained on a little flash ROM chip, and the PCB contains a few other supporting components and jumpers that allow you to toggle between PAL and NTSC countries. The problem is that the soldering and component quality all hint to a gadget designed to be inexpensive, since it works well for a time but isn’t made to last. Swapping the crystal might help get the video working, but that’s about all.