Spider-Man is no stranger to video games. Since the character first appeared in Spider-Man for the Atari 2600, he has gone on to headline almost 40 titles over the same number of years, without even counting games or franchises where he is just one of many playable characters, like Marvel vs. Capcom or Marvel's Avengers.
Even though Spider-Man has arguably the most expansive gallery of villains in all of Marvel, he normally brings only a select few into games with him. In the 90s, Venom and Carnage briefly filled the role of Spider-Man's archenemy, but with the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, Green Goblin reaffirmed his place as Spider-Man's biggest rival and began cropping up more consistently in video games.
1982 to 2002
While this time frame may seem to be an arbitrary distinction, it represents the time between Spider-Man's first video game and his first major motion picture. Even though Spider-Man was already one of the most popular superheroes during the 80s and 90s, he was still yet to reach the absolute massive level of mainstream popularity that he enjoys now.
Like any memorable villain, Green Goblin was right there from the start. He featured as the sole villain of Spider-Man for the Atari 2600, throwing bombs down at the player as they attempt to scale up a building. Spider-Man on the Atari 2600 is often categorized as not one of Marvel's best retro offerings. During this time frame, however, Green Goblin was often replaced by similar characters like Hobgoblin or Demogoblin, or by more the more popular villains of the time like Venom and Carnage, meaning that Green Goblin's appearances were surprisingly scarce.
- Spider-Man (1982)
- Spider-Man (1991)
- Spider-Man (1995)
- The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes (1995)
2002 to 2016
This was the peak for Green Goblin in Spider-Man video games. During this period, both the Sam Raimi and Marc Webb films featured Green Goblin as a central villain, with Raimi's films boasting two separate Green Goblin appearances of both Harry and Norman Osborn. As such, any game that could feature Spider-Man during these years was likely to feature Green Goblin as well. To top it all off, this period produced an absurd amount of Spider-Man games in general.
- Spider-Man (2002)
- Spider-Man 2 (2004)
- Ultimate Spider-Man (2005)
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006)
- Spider-Man: Battle for New York (2006)
- Spider-Man 3 (2007)
- Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (2007)
- LittleBigPlanet (as a costume) (2008)
- Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (2008)
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (2009)
- Ultimate Spider-Man: Total Mayhem (2010)
- Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (2010)
- Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (as a costume) (2011)
- Marvel Super Hero Squad Online (2011)
- Marvel Avengers Alliance (2012)
- Marvel Heroes (2013)
- Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013)
- Marvel Puzzle Quest (2013)
- Marvel Contest of Champions (2014)
- Spider-Man: Unlimited (2014)
- Disney Infinity 2.0 (2014)
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2015)
- Disney Infinity 3.0 (2015)
- Marvel: Future Fight (2015)
- Marvel Avengers Alliance 2 (2016)
- Marvel Avengers Academy (2016)
2017 to Present
After an onslaught of Green Goblin appearances during the 2000s and early 2010s, there has been relative calm. However, with the recent trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home confirming the appearance of Green Goblin, it's likely that fans of the villain will start seeing him more prominently again. At the very least, the next few video games to follow will probably feature Green Goblin.
- Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 (2017)
- Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 (2019)
- Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (as Norman Osborn) (2020)