2D Spider-Man

[Anonymous No.8476847]

I've never given the 2D Spider-Man video games much thought, with the sole exception being Return of the Sinister Six for the NES, because I had it as a kid. What I recall most from growing up was actually Spider-Man for the PS1, whenever you see anyone mention Spider-Man video games, they usually say that this was the 1st to actually make you feel like the character, or they say that about Spider-Man 2, either way it feels right, this is a character whose powers feel ideal for a 3D environment, it's where designers can take the most advantage of them anyway, especially for level design.

Still, I did went back to Return of the Sinister Six after all of these years, in the hopes of finally beating it, and I did it, and while I recognize that it's flawed, I enjoy it, especially the 1st half of the run, it has some genuinely good level design. After that I went with Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin for the Mega Drive, which is a console I grew up with, but didn't own this game for it, so I went with this because it's something I would've loved to have as a kid, and it's also referenced by many as one of the best, and it was, I loved it, it really made you feel like the character, even with the 2D limitation.

So, after playing these couple of 2D Spider-Man video games, I've realized that the character can work in 2D, so I downloaded every single Spider-Man ROM for the following consoles:

SNES
Game Boy
Game Boy Color
Game Boy Advance
Master System1Game Gear
Mega Drive
Mega CD
32X

I don't even know where to start, I feel like there must be so many hidden gems here. Which ones would you recommend? What are your experiences and memories with the character, anons?

[Anonymous No.8476848]

>>8476847
Maximum Carnage on SNES was fun. One of the few games on SNES better than its Genesis version.

[Anonymous No.8476887]

Spiderman V Kingpin on SegaCD
Maximum Carnage on SNES or MegaDrive (The only difference between versions here is the audio and deciding which one is "better" is entirely personal preference, anyone that tells you that one is better than the other is a biased console warrior faglord).

These are the best Spodermon 2D games, the rest are utter shit to mediocre, can't speak for GBA as that's not retro and shouldn't be discussed here.

[Anonymous No.8476981]

>>8476887
>biased console warrior
Listen to tracks from both games and you can hear SNES has more quality put into it which is rarely the case with SNES vs Genesis soundtracks.

[Anonymous No.8477002]

>>8476981
>has more quality put into it
This means absolutely nothing, that's not how you describe sound. They are 2 different sound chips with different capabilities playing the same watered down versions of a shitty 90's metal band's soundtrack. You prefer the trumpety farts over the crunchy farts? That's your preference, console warrior.

[Anonymous No.8477045]

>>8476887
GBA has been considered retro here for over a year now.

[Anonymous No.8477047]

>>8477002
>console warrior
Once again, the quality put into it means everything when comparing both games. We're not discussing which system has the better sound chip. If you listened to both you would realise this.

[Anonymous No.8477089]

>>8477047

You've failed to elaborate on what you mean by "quality" after I told you that's not how you describe sound. Quality of what exactly?

Like I said, there's 2 different chips and two very different types of audio that each is known for and can produce, I'm not arguing for one over the other, I'm pointing out the futility of saying one is better than the other when the compositions are exactly the same just played on different instruments. Saying something like "(A) has quality over (B)" without specifying what exactly it is that makes that quality sounds like you just prefer it and that's my entire point; you think one is better than the other because personal preference, and pointing that out to others makes you a biased console warrior faglord.

[Anonymous No.8477093]

>>8476848
This game was great yes. Playing as Venom was awesome

[Anonymous No.8477108]

Ninja Cop is the best 2D Spiderman game

[Anonymous No.8477114]

>>8476847
Web of Fire is the worst of them all.

[Anonymous No.8477224]

I've finally beat The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin for Sega Genesis in Nightmare Mode. I did beat it on Normal Mode before, with the default Stamina and Web Cartridges settings, but never more than that, this was always a difficult time for me, even if it was a fun one too. Recently I did manage to get decent at the default settings, getting to the end without too much trouble, so I gave Nightmare Mode a couple of shots, with the lowest Stamina and Web Cartridges settings, to give myself the hardest challenge it could offer. I didn't feel a noticeable difference in most of the levels, of course it seems you take more damage, but if you play it as you normally would it should be just as simple, the one thing that truly makes it tough overall is Venom showing up.

I know most would say that it's easy, you just get him into a pattern and he's done for, but it's easier said than done, on the earlier levels it isn't too bad, but there are times where it does feel tough, especially if you trigger him while you have other enemies or mini-bosses on the screen, trying to take care of both at once is nothing short of miserable. I found a really hard time on the 6th level, when Venom shows up it's tough, especially because you're expected to fight him in such a tight space with other enemies around, I managed to get lucky one time and outrun him, and for some reason he didn't catch up, so I'm assuming the AI got stuck, I still don't know how to get past him here without luck, it's already a hard level usually, this makes it even tougher.

(1/2)

[Anonymous No.8477226]

>>8477224
Now for the final level, it was almost the same as usual, but with more damage, as is to be expected, and less webbing, because I set it up that way. I felt really happy when I gave the finishing blow, I was actually not doing too good because of the anxiety, afterall you only get a single shot here, if you mess it up then it's back to the beggining, which is always demotivating, it's tricky hitting him, his hitbox seems to be the head, so you need to jump diagonally at him when he's close and kick almost immediately, all the while trying to keep Mary Jane above the acid by webbing the chains up, it was difficult, and it got intense as I kept missing my hits and he kept hitting me more, but eventually I got him. It felt very rewarding to finally conquer one of my favorites.

Overall I'd say that this is probably the 1st time Spider-Man and his movement were probably captures in a video game, not saying previous attempts weren't good, and I haven't played them all myself, but considering the release date for this, in 1991, I really can't think of anything that came before it where it felt like you could do everything Spider-Man does, where web-slinging felt so satisfying with the speed and momentum in a pendulum movement, where I could crawl on the walls, kick, punch and shoot the webs, and also take photos to get money for the web, like Peter Parker, I love how they added that aspect of his life here.

(2/2)

[Anonymous No.8478262]

>>8477089
>Quality of what
Told you to listen to both which you've failed to do. They have different composers you zoomer anon.

[Anonymous No.8478410]

>>8476847
I really enjoyed the movie trilogy games on the GBA.

[Anonymous No.8478417]

>>8477045
Still not really retro just because a tranny changed the sticky.

[Anonymous No.8478419]

>>8477224
>>8477226
good job, you thoroughly beat the shit out of that game. Nightmare, tired stamina and 3 web cartridges is it. Venom is a real dick on some of those levels, not sure really how to fight him and the Lizard simultaneously without losing 90% health so I just try to trigger Lizard without also triggering Venom. There's also not much point to fighting him in the caverns level, as you saw you can skip by him and then you have a final showdown with him in the bomb room anyway.

[Anonymous No.8478561]

>>8478419
Thank you, anon! I do the same on the Lizard level, just crawl forward, and when the spider sense triggers I go back and then get up to make the Lizard come forward. Venom can be easy if you get him on the pattern, but the moment you have to deal with him and someone else at the same time he just drains your life in seconds, even by repeatedly selecting the shield, and even now I still don't have a clear strategy against him on the later levels, I got past him on the penultimate level, but sometimes outrunning him is tough, just have to get lucky.

Your screenshot sure brings back memories, I believe it's for Return of the Sinister Six, the SEGA version. I grew up with the NES version, and have a soft spot for it, especially nowadays after finally beating it, though I'll admit it's flawed and in many ways a below average experience. I decided to give the SEGA version a shot, because the more powerful hardware gave me hopes they'd make it better, and they really didn't, at least to me. When it comes to the graphics, Spider-Man's colors are better, and the health bar gives you more detail, aswell as an indicator for when you have webbing to use, but that's about it, everything is more colorful, yes, but either that doesn't change much, or makes it less moody and atmospheric to me, especially the couple of starting levels, and for the gameplay itself, I like how holding the punch button makes Spider-Man do a series of quick punches or fire impact webbing quickly, but when tapping it once it's unresponsive, and they ruined the jump kick, by making so you stay in place instead of lunging forward, also the enemies here don't have as clear patterns as in the NES, and they're faster, so trying to fight them, which was straight forward in the NES version, usually leads to me losing at least a bit of health, so I just try to get past everyone in all levels, which makes it easier than the NES due to not having some hazards that version has, but it isn't too fun.

[Anonymous No.8478564]

>2D Spiderman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfHbOiE5bQ4
This is really all you need.

[Anonymous No.8478643]

>>8478561
Based Doc Ock. Easily Spidermans best villian.

[Anonymous No.8478680]

>>8478262
You're an absolute retard

[Anonymous No.8479314]

I've been testing a few more ROMs. Out of all the Sam Raimi adaptations for GBA, I'm surprised to say that Spider-Man 3 is the best for me. I might be mistaken, afterall I barely played past the 1st level in both Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, but that's the point, they didn't really draw me in, especially because both thought having a time limit on the 1st level is a good idea, when you're trying to learn the gameplay, being rushed in that situation is just not fun. I feel like giving both of them another chance in the future, but for now Spider-Man 3 feels like the best one for me.

8-Bit Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin was a dissapointment so far, I love the original 16-Bit version, but this doesn't compare, not only did they think having only a single life was a good idea, but overall it just doesn't feel good to play, when starting up I could barely get into the window to start the 1st level, and due to it having a button less the controls felt odd, especially with the webbing, I managed to beat the level and go to the 2nd, but that's where I stopped, I fell through a trap door and tried going up with a mechanic I like here, web-slinging up, but it didn't work here.

One series I want to try is the one for GBC. the original is a port of PS1 Spider-Man, the core story is the same, and because I love the original, I feel like this port could be fun for that reason alone, just hope the gameplay is enjoyable. I also want to try out the sequel, a simple concept of fighting The Sinister Six, which I love, so I'm hopeful. However the one I really want to try is Mysterio's Menace, it seems like a follow-up to both the PS1 and GBC series, so in a way it's the Spider-Man 3 for PS1 that I never got, it certainly looks like it, it could be a hidden gem.

[Anonymous No.8479361]

I remember really liking this game as a kid, but I emulated it recently and found that it controls pretty badly, even basic things like walking and jumping feel off. I guess I only liked it because of the graphics and presentation.
Odd thing is that it was only released in Japan. Also, the stage passwords are literally the last names of the bosses, like OCTAVIUS and OSBORN. I recall just randomly trying the names of villains I knew to see if they took me anywhere.

[Anonymous No.8479379]

>>8479361
I love the way Lethal Foes looks, what always turned me off from playing it is how much it's based on the timer and going quickly through the levels to get to the bosses, I'm terrible when being rushed and I like being able to take my time and enjoy the levels before fighting the bosses, but still, this is probably the best 16-Bit Spider-Man recreation in the looks department, and the Mark Bagley art on the cover just adds to the charm, I'll surely get to it one day.

I love how lazy they were with the passwords, though I'm sure I would've loved that as a kid too, I'm sure I would've put Brock or Kasady before anything else just to see if it'd work, sounds fun. I just miss passwords in general sometimes, of course saving is superior in pretty much every way, but something about completing a stage and having the password show up as your reward, inputting the password whenever you got back to it, it was charming.

[Anonymous No.8479419]

>>8479361
>>8479379
I remember trying Lethal Foes out on ZNES or SNESX9 in the early 00's and being pissed it stayed in Japan and we got that piece of shit LJN/Acclaim animated series tie-in game instead. Final battle with Carnage took way too long though, he hopped around like a spaz.

[Anonymous No.8479431]

>>8479419
I've only played the SEGA version of the Animated Series tie-in, but they do look pretty similar, overall I agree that it's not a good experience, at least from what I've played so far, the controls feel awkward and the web-slinging is almost useless, I also dislike the jumping where you barely go foward you just gain height, it does a few things ok I guess, but everything that it tries to do was done much better by Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin, which came out 4 years before, so there wasn't much of an excuse, I agree that it would've probably been better if this was localized instead, at least it's unique.

[Anonymous No.8479579]

I'm trying to beat Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin, but the 8-Bit version, most specifically the Master System one, because I appreciate being able to see a lot of the screen. I really wanted to like this because I love the original and I was dissapointed with Return of the Sinister Six for 8-Bit SEGA consoles, but having double the expectations lead to double the dissapointment so far. I love the presentation and atmosphere, it feels similar to the original. Overall the looks are what I expected from Return of the Sinister Six, it actually takes advantage of the Master System's power.

I feel that this is where the positivity ends though, from the get go I couldn't access the 1st level, getting into the window on top of the building, it wouldn't be a problem if the wall crawling actually worked well, sometimes you stick to the wall and sometimes you fall, eventually I managed. Then there's the overall controls, they feel odd, because you have few buttons, but once you know how they work it feels fine, except for the wall crawling. Also, level design can be unfair, having to take down all of the enemies is fine, but some hazards feel cheap, especially on Electro's level.

However, the biggest issue is that you only have a single life, no continues, no passwords, nothing. Of course, you can go back to your apartment, but that wastes time and eventually you might lose all of your health anyway, with some hazard taking you out in seconds. I'm not doing this as intended, it's not fun enough for me to give it a shot in the way it wants me to, I'm just using save states, no save scumming though, I'll only save at the start of each level, effectively giving it the unlimited continues and passwords it should've had from the get go. I must stress though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx4tOFhvTLE

[Anonymous No.8479621]

>>8479579
I could beat lizard but that was it. Its hard as nails brother.

[Anonymous No.8479787]

>>8479621
I can't even begin to describe what an abomination of level design the 3rd level is. You can literally get hit as soon as it starts, by one of the flying enemies' projectiles, and these enemies are the worst, they fly in the same pattern as the Medusa heads in Castlevania, and shoot projectiles with no pattern at all. Then you have the standard thugs, which shoot so quickly, and send you back so much, it's the most exaggerated drop back I've ever seen. Also, you'll quickly find that if you go up the level in the wrong way, you'll get shot at by projectiles that you can't avoid, and they don't stop, so then your only choice is quitting the level.

So, after all of that you finally reach Electro, and he has the same quick and senseless jumping as the Lizard boss, and as Venom from what I can see on YouTube, it's such an annoying jump to go up against, and so fast, which just makes you resent Spider-Man's speed, which is not bad, but nothing is built around your slow speed. I eventually beat Electro by spamming the webbing on him. After beating him you go to the next level, or section of the same level, in which you have to get the key, if it weren't for save states I never would've done it, it's just so frustrating, because sometimes the web doesn't work, and the pattern is tough.

At least the 4th level was surprisingly easy, but now I'm on the 5th level and it's frustrating again. Honestly, this is just a shame so far, this feels like it had potential to be genuinely good, and there's a lot to like here, but they dropped the ball so hard, and I must stress that I'm playing on Easy Mode, with save states not only at the start of every level, but at the start of every section when levels are divided in a couple of them, mostly to get the key after beating the boss. Overall, with the exception of the wall crawling and upward web, it controls well, better than Return of the Sinister Six, but it has the frustrating enemies, and awful design.

[Anonymous No.8479805]

>>8479787
>and as Venom
Had zero clue you could get that suit. After beating lizard I usually died in that fucking pit. May have made it out once or twice. I honestly can't remember. Still, I have a fondness for those janky hard as nails games. Better to be hard than a cake walk.

[Anonymous No.8479819]

>>8479805
I believe this was the 1st time you could play with the Symbiote Suit in any Spider-Man video game, so I have to give them credit for that, it looks great too, just as pretty much all other sprites here do, just a shame that it's exclusive to Nightmare Mode, considering how I've been doing on Easy Mode I don't see myself ever switching up the difficulty. I agree that something difficult is better than a cake walk, but there really needs to be a roof on that, when it becomes too frustrating, and especially in cases like this where you have a single shot and have to go all of the way back when you lose, I can see many people playing it for a bit and immediately giving up on it, it still needs to be fun and rewarding so you want to keep going even if you lose a lot, or at least it needed to have unlimited continues so you feel motivated to keep trying even if it's hard, having it be hard while giving the player only a single try just feels unfair for the most part, I'm trying this out with save states on Easy Mode and even then I'm struggling, I can't even imagine how this was for kids in the 90's.

[Anonymous No.8479913]

>>8479819
>i can't imagine how this was for kids in the 90s
I didn't finish quite a few master system games. Astrix and Oblix, Alex Kidd in miracle world and Wonderboy 2 come to mind. I made it much further in those games than Spiderman vs the Kingpin though as they weren't as confusing and generally had good controls. Could even make it to the last boss in some of them.

[Anonymous No.8481683]

I managed to beat 8-Bit Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin, on Easy Mode and with save states at the start of each area, so I guess I didn't really beat it, but I did play through the whole adventure at least. I have mixed feelings about it, on one hand there's so much to like here, and there's so much that it does better than Return of the Sinister Six, which came out a couple of years after. Spider-Man controls decently for the most part, they did a decent job with the few buttons they had, having the different moves trigger depending on you holding the D-Pad or not, it's intuitive once you understand how it works, my main issue is when the wall crawling and upwards webbing just fail for no apparent reason, which can be critical at some points. I also like how they managed to keep the photograph mechanic.

I like the idea of having to fulfill an objective to make the boss appear, and having your Spider-Sense tell you about that, I just wish it was clearer sometimes, like in the 3rd level, up to this point you had to beat all thugs, but here you just have to press the switches, it's a lot easier once you know that. I also do like some of the level design, not all, we'll get to that, but most of the levels are inoffensive for the most part, nothing brilliant, but not bad. I found the GUI confusing at first, but once you understand it's actually really good at delivering key information. I like how web-slinging feels to, it's worse than the 16-Bit counterpart, but I'd expect that in hardware like this, for what it's worth they did a decent job at recreating momentum and speed, it feels nice.

(1/3)

[Anonymous No.8481689]

>>8481683
What really dissapoints me is to see a lot of the potential this had be wasted due to some puzzling decisions. I get the idea behind only a single life, with no continues or passwords, I guess it makes it more realistic and immersive, it raises the stakes, and extends lenght too, it made sense for the developers to do it, but it just lessens the experience to me, because I believe most people would just give up on it eventually after losing too much, since you don't have a chance to practice at the parts you're bad at, you lose once and that's it, have to do it all over again just to get back to the part where you lost so you can most likely lose again immediately, you can go back to your house, but it wastes a lot of time, so it's not so simple to just do it over and over unfortunately.

Not being able to lose once is what makes some levels so unintuitive to play through, like the trap floors in the 2nd level, where getting up with the webbing is easy, but getting out the door at the top is a different story. I feel that it gets much worse than that though, the hazards in the 3rd level are all a pain, especially if you go up before hitting the switches, you have to go back to your apartment then due to the trap you activate, after that there's the key which is also the worst, thankfully there's a pattern, it's just tough, there's one moment where you get more time to go up, after that it takes about 7 seconds for that window of time to happen again, just hope the web doesn't fail you, which is does a lot for me, forcing me to drop all of the way down and restart it from the bottom.

(2/3)

[Anonymous No.8481695]

>>8481689
Then you have the 4th level, which reminds me why I dislike the thugs, they shoot too fast, it's the same issue I had with SEGA Return of the Sinister Six compared to the Nintendo version, repeatedly getting shot and getting knocked back so much isn't fun, you have to know the right tricks or you're done for, in this case luring the enemies to the edge of the level and trapping them there with your low kicks. Now, for the 5th level, you just get shot at from the windows all level long, which again is just frustrating, it's not easy at all to dodge it all, and then Hobgoblin is a pain due to his flying. After that there Venom, which is simple if you spam the low kick, and the boss rush, in which you can go back home without them respawing, which I appreciate them doing, it's forgiving and that's welcome.

After that you have to disarm the bomb while getting shot, and it's literally just a guessing game, which wouldn't be too bad if you could go to your apartment before Kingpin, but you can't, you get an ending in which he escapes, which again is realistic, but a pain, and must feel terrible if you don't know about it before doing it, at least he's simple if you jump spam the low kick just like against Venom. Speaking of Venom, I dislike how he appears in the ending, it gives it a bittersweet feeling, instead of just being happy and relieved for Peter succeeding. Overall, it's not a bad port, and does so many things so well, the story, atmosphere, graphics, even the controls for the most part, a lot of it is satisfying, but when it fails, it does so in a way that almost breaks the whole experience.

(3/3)

[Anonymous No.8481704]

>>8481695
>Speaking of Venom, I dislike how he appears in the ending, it gives it a bittersweet feeling, instead of just being happy and relieved for Peter succeeding.
He also appears in the Sega CD version's ending.