Peter blacks out, as Kong, one of the high-school bullies, squashes the spider with his big boot. Bullied at school for as long as he can remember, Peter’s only friends are Mary Jane Watson, a neighbour, and Norman’s son Harry, who seems to only be interested in Peter’s brains and what that means for his grades.ĭuring a tour of Osborn Industries, Peter suddenly screams as our favourite genetically altered spider bites into his hand and changes his life forever. If only someone had put the lid back on the spider’s jar.Įnter fifteen-year-old Peter Parker. A spider showed incredible results after being subjected to OZ - enough hope for Osborn to promise that the next stage would be humans. Testing the ‘wonder drug’ on a variety of mammals and insects, Norman Osborn swears that his most significant invention is going to boost the country’s economy. The OZ project started with Osborn Industries. If you have any retro-themed projects or scoops you’d like to send my way, please contact me.Read Ultimate Spider-Man (2000) Comic Online The RetroBeat is a weekly column that looks at gaming’s past, diving into classics, new retro titles, or looking at how old favorites - and their design techniques - inspire today’s market and experiences. If the new Spider-Man captures some of that, it could be a new superhero masterpiece. Neversoft succeeded by injecting its game with a ton of personality and fun. Neversoft was able to create a memorable and enjoyable Spider-Man experience without the benefit of star power, open worlds, or realistic swinging. But I hope Insomniac also took a look at the 2000 game. When people look at Spider-Man on PlayStation 4, I hear a lot of them say they hope it feels as good as Spider-Man 2 did. That put an end to this more comics-inspired take on Spidey.
When it was time for another Spider-Man game, the first movie came out and became a hit. But at this point, the PlayStation was really showing its age. Sane Trilogy, developed the sequel instead of Neversoft. Vicarious Visions, which recently created the Crash Bandicoot N. The game would have another sequel on the original PlayStation, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, in 2001. But Spider-Man still stood out and became a hit. Remember, the PlayStation 2 would launch later in 2000.
Neversoft knew how to get a lot out of the aging PlayStation hardware. Spider-Man even uses the same engine as Tony Hawk.
That’s the same studio behind the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series, which was a hit on PlayStation at this time. The Spidey quips are funnier and sharper in the 2000 game. Yeah, Spider-Man 2’s swinging is great, but you also have to endure Tobey Maguire phoning it in with the voice work. The whole experience just feels like Spider-Man. Spider-Man’s PlayStation graphics now look blurry and blocky, but they’re still colorful and show off a lot of character. And although the action is simple, it still feels satisfying to punch baddies and encase them in web. I know, indoor Spider-Man action doesn’t sound great, but these areas still felt interesting for their time thanks to Spidey’s wall-crawling. You either go from rooftop to rooftop punching bad guys, or you navigate buildings. This is a more linear game than future Spider-Man titles. You also unlock secret or bonus costumes for Spider-Man, including his Scarlet Spider and Symbiote outfits. Stan Lee himself provides narration for the game. Even other Marvel heroes make appearances, including Daredevil and The Punisher. It also stars many of Spidey’s best villains, including Venom and Doctor Octopus. The story, which includes voice-acted cutscenes, features all of the characters you’d hope to see, like Mary Jane and J. It ended up being a celebration of the character. Batman and Superman had movies, and others like Spider-Man had cartoons and toys, but you weren’t as likely to say the phrase “My mom really likes Spider-Man” like you are today. Sure, he was a big deal in the comic book world, but this was before even superheroes themselves went super-mainstream. In 2000, he was just another comic book character. That’s what promoted the hero to American icon. This was also before Spider-Man was the giant star he is today. Three top investment pros open up about what it takes to get your video game funded.