Spider-Man's Fighting Style Broken Down in New Video

Spider-Man’s bringing his signature fighting techniques to Marvel’s Spider-Man on the [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

Spider-Man's bringing his signature fighting techniques to Marvel's Spider-Man on the PlayStation 4, an arsenal of moves that owes its creation to several different fighting styles, Polygon's new video says.

Polygon's Patrick Gill broke down the Spidey Menace's fighting style in the video seen above that's titled "Why Spider-Man Fights Like That|Fighting Styles in Games Explained." Just as the video's title suggests, he looks at Spider-Man's moves that we see the hero using in Insomniac Games' new PS4 exclusive and points to where the inspirations for those moves seem to have come from.

The breakdown starts first with capoeira, a dance-like fighting style that's perfectly represented in Spider-Man's fast, acrobatic moves that have him leaping all around his enemies before striking them. Citing specific capoeira techniques that can be seen in Spider-Man gameplay videos, Gill explains that Spider-Man's whole fighting style is based around the form of martial arts with the hero always staying low and mobile while using the momentum of frequent spins to come crashing down on his enemies. Trying to picture other superheroes like Captain America or Batman using these same techniques makes you realize just how unique these types of moves are to Spider-Man.

Moving on from the capoeira influences, Gill says that Spider-Man owes a portion of his moves to professional wrestling as well, specifically to lucha libre, the style that famous wrestlers such as Rey Mysterio are known for. If you're familiar with Spider-Man's origin story, you'll know that Peter Parker is well aware of the professional wrestling world with his first public display of power – albeit still under a disguise – came when he took on Crusher Hogan to earn some prize money, a character that we know exists in some capacity within Insomniac Games' project. Spider-Man incorporates some of these pro wrestling influences into his combat, particularly from the lucha libre style of wrestling.

Several moves were specifically mentioned in the video as tools that Spider-Man uses: Dropsaults, scissor takedowns, and the famous poison rana, also known as a hurricarana. This is a move that we've seen Spider-Man do multiple times in the past as well as in the gameplay videos for Marvel's Spider-Man. It's part of his lucha libre fighting style that allows the hero to take down enemies that are several times his size while dispatching several enemies at once with high-flying moves.

Gill's full video for Polygon can be seen above, and Spider-Man releases for the PlayStation 4 on September 7.

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