Ultimate Spider-Man, which launched 16 years ago, is inspired by the comic book series of the same name. Like many Spider-Man games before and after it, Ultimate Spider-Man also took influence from mechanics and side missions that were introduced in previous titles. Much of the game revolves around intermittent side activities that players accomplish between story missions, such as different race challenges and combat challenges. But fans adore Ultimate Spider-Man for its individuality and its ties to the comic book.
Ultimate Spider-Man is partly defined by its unique art design, which reflects Mark Bagley's artwork from the early Ultimate Spider-Man comic book continuity and translates it into colorful, cel-shaded visuals. But while its visuals and art-style are certainly eye-catching, Ultimate Spider-Man is also largely defined by the fact that the game's story lets fans play as both Spider-Man and Venom. With a long enough gap in time between now and when the game released, fans are bringing it back into discussion and remembering what they liked or disliked about it.
GX78-YT is reminiscing upon Ultimate Spider-Man, and inviting fans to share their nostalgic memories of the game. A number of fans including Devo3290 remember Venom's boss battle against Electro as being one of the more difficult sequences in the game. Venom's play-style in Ultimate Spider-Man is much different than Spider-Man's, with a significant distinction being that Venom must consume pedestrians and enemies in order to regain health. But many pursuit chases precede a boss battle, and Venom also does not web-swing as Spider-Man does, so players are forced to bound in leaping strides through the environment and scale buildings.
Many fans regard Ultimate Spider-Man as being their favorite Spider-Man game before Marvel's Spider-Man released. LordBirdperson shares that their invested interest in Ultimate Spider-Man led them to playing and replaying it over again due to not having a memory card at the time. Difficulty appears commonly as a topic in GX78-YT's reminiscence thread, with many of the game's chases and pursuits being cited as a cause for players to shelve the game for a while, or even completely. For example, fans remember the anxiety-inducing orchestral score that plays during each tense race against the Human Torch.
Onyx-55 shares that they believe Ultimate Spider-Man has "one of the best story modes." Ultimate Spider-Man does not follow the comic's events explicitly, giving itself enough leniency to thrive as its own individual narrative. Because Ultimate Spider-Man tells its own narrative, fans of the comic book series remain surprised by the game's unpredictable events, such as which characters may make an appearance. However, the quality in writing between both the game and the comic may not be jarring since the game's story is written by Brian Michael Bendis, who is also the author of the comic.
GX78-YT's discussion thread demonstrates that fans primarily enjoy Ultimate Spider-Man despite its difficulty during chases and boss battles. With many more Spider-Man games released since, it is fun to look back on what made Ultimate Spider-Man special for so many players.
Source: Reddit