The Amazing Spider-Man is a Physical Pinball Table designed by Ed Krynski with art by Gordon Morison. it was developed by Gottlieb and released in 1980.
The pinball itself is named after the character and long-running comic book series, and is the second table featuring a licensed Marvel Comics character from Gottliebnote . The backglass and playfield are festooned with Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery and major supporting characters, including the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, The Kingpin, and Mary Jane Watson. The bottom of the playfield features three flippers (one left, two right), while a fourth flipper sits in the middle-left of the table. While there isn't a goal beyond racking up a high score, the fast-paced gameplay and enticing art makes this a pleasure, though the generic sound effects are a minor disappointment.
This pinball was the first of Gottlieb's System 80 design; over 7,600 units of this pinball were made, and it became Gottlieb's best-selling game of 1980. Stan Lee owned one of the earliest production models and kept it in his office for over twenty years, until finally auctioning it off as part of his Stan Lee Collection in 2003. Many of the original tables are still operational today, a testament to the System 80 architecture, and it remains sought after by both pinball restoration hobbyists and collectors of comic book memorabilia.
This pinball demonstrates the following tropes:
- Adaptational Villainy: Aside from a fight with Spidey when she first appeared in his comic book, the Black Widow has never been a Spider-Man villain, yet is shown on the backglass with the likes of The Green Goblin and the Vulture.
- Bald of Evil: The Kingpin and the Vulture.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: The Scorpion.
- Cigar Chomper: J. Jonah Jameson, full stop.
- Combat Tentacles: Dr. Octopus, of course.
- Fiery Redhead: Mary Jane Watson.
- Floating Head Syndrome: Mary Jane, J. Jonah Jameson, and Aunt May are shown as three heads floating against a set of clouds on the playfield.
- Granny Classic: Aunt May, looking rather stern on the playfield.
- Heroes Want Redheads: Sorry, no sign of Gwen Stacynote or Betty Brant around here.
- Licensed Pinball Table
- Lightning Bruiser: The Kingpin, who's shown taking a mad dash despite his stout size.
- Lizard Folk: The Lizard.
- Rogues Gallery: The backglass features the Green Goblin, the Vulture, Dr. Octopus, and the Black Widow. The playfield has the Lizard, the Kingpin, Kraven the Hunter, and the Scorpion.
- Trade Snark: Enforced, as every single piece of Spider-Man character art on the backglass and the playfield is accompanied by a small Trademark symbol. It becomes rather annoying when trying to admire the artwork.
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Urban Legend of Zelda: A rumor exists that setting the game's DIP switches to a certain combination will cause the game to play the theme music from the Sixties animated series during the attract mode.
