Proto:Spider-Man 2: The Game (Windows, Mac OS X)

This page details one or more prototype versions of Spider-Man 2: The Game (Windows, Mac OS X).

To do: the demo has a source code in Webhead.u file. We need to compare every function and class with the ones from the Webhead.u of the final game, since Mac version has source code as well

To do: compare the sounds of demo with the sounds of the final version

A demo version with a number of differences from the released game. Promo discs with the demo were released by Kellog's and Energizer. Note that it will not run on Windows 7 and later.

(Source: https://archive.org/details/energizerspiderman2pcgamedemousa)

General Differences

• Differences in music:
  • Tutorial used a different music track, that wasn't left in the files of the final version.
  • Rhino battle uses CS3_Action1 and CS3_Action3 music tracks not used by the final game.
  • Unused CS3_Action2 track is used as thug music here.
  • Menu has no music, even though the unused "menu_drone" track is present in the demo.
• Differences in UI elements:
  • The HUD is very different and decidedly less pleasant to look at.
    • Web meter can be seen, but the game doesn't do anything with it.
    • The action reticule is placed in a lower right corner, which makes it harder to see the current action.
    • The eyes of Spidey in the HUD picture glow, when he accumulated adrenaline.
  • "Objective complete" label uses a font of hidden developer messages.
  • Weird loading screens between different parts of the mission, most likely only for the demo.
• General Spidey gameplay differences:
  • Either Spidey has much less health, or enemies just do more damage. For example, only 2 Rhino charge attacks are enough to kill Spidey.
  • Attacks are slower and do less damage to thugs. Combo animations are very unfinished and clunky. Jump kick is very weak and Spidey falls on the ground faster, making it much harder to even use jump kick in the first place.
  • Zip animation is really slow, it's much harder to zip in mid air.
  • You can pull things and web up enemies while in air.
  • Spider-Man enters dodge mode if you hold Space. It makes him automatically evade all enemy attacks and even bullets! Dodge mode use an unused animation.
  • Adrenaline charges, but can't be used.
  • Thug heads could be webbed an infinite amount of times in a row. The sound of webbing is also different.
  • Camera is very weird, if you run on a car or some wall, placed diagonally (eg. gas station roof after the explosion), the camera tilts... In the final version it never tilts.
    • Camera also can't be moved if any Spidey's attack animation is played.
  • It's impossible to climb walls faster using double jumps - Spidey jumps only once and basically just jumps off the wall.
  • If you walk off some roofs running backwards (for example, prison guard towers), Spidey will cimb the roof again instead of falling from it.
  • Crawl-look doesn't work.
  • Tab action doesn't work and no status menu can be seen. You also can't call it using "showstatus" command.
  • It's possible to web up only thug heads, not bodies. You also can web them up indefinitely even if they are already webbed.
  • You can't pick up health, if your health is already full.
  • Using "summon webhead.spidergold" command you can see the old adrenaline powerup, which used a yellow spider coin model.

• Enemy behavior differences:
  • Thugs won't break your web if you don't attack them.
  • Thugs don't run to you to attack you. They attack only if you get very close to them.
  • Thugs yell more different sounds and don't disappear after their deaths.
  • Rhino can't be damaged by web and attacks. He takes damage only by charging into walls.
  • Rhino's animation of getting on his feet after being dazed is significantly slower.
  • Two of the three prison thugs of the first wave run to the same point, while in the final game every inmate had his own point of escape.
• Audiovisual differences:
  • Web swing boost had a different yellow visual effect and no sound.
  • The sound of enemy web up is different.
  • The prison electric wire is the same as in the second Mysterio world, which proves, that initially it was like this and they used the old city to make Twisted City levels.
  • Different Spider Sense visuals. There's also no visible progress bar of the danger sense actions.
  • Thug guns use real-life gun texture and sound, but bullets are already the same as in the final version...
  • Drunk bubbles effect of defeated thugs is different.
  • Red coins use the pick up sound of health pickups.
  • No drunk bubbles on dead Spidey.
• Mission differences:
  • Most of the tutorial checkpoints are placed differently.
  • Prerendered cutscenes are obviously unfinished and have many differences, along with having no fade outs. The last Rhino cutscene is also notably shorter.
  • Three inmates and shielded police officers are closer to the gates.
  • The Rhino fight is different and more straightforward, it has three similar phases: only location changes, but the behavior of Rhino doesn't.
  • For some reason, 50 coin mini-game has even more, than 50 coins. At least 54.
• City differences:
  • No mini-challenges and mini-games. The 50 coin mini-game starts right after the story mission and the demo ends after it's completed.
  • No escaped inmates and exotic spiders. Because of this that dumpster with a spider under it can't be pulled.
  • There's a lot of pedestrians, while in the final game the city was empty during the mission and in free play Bronx had people just walking and disappearing. Here they just stay and do some idle actions, some of them aren't used by the final game. For example, guys with newspaper flip pages, which uses unused newspaper sounds. Also the people spawn only when you get close to them, you can even see them t-posing for a moment.
  • Some textures are different, including a number that were scrapped for the final game. For example, "Marvel" logo instead of "Dyemond" on the building near the gas station. Others were altered, such as the gas station changing from white to yellow. Lots of buildings are differently textured overall.
  • Bronx had a different skybox.
  • The church bell is very loud. The final version is much quieter, to the point of almost being impossible to hear if you aren't close enough to the church.
  • Buildings had many flagpoles with webs attached to them. It made much more sense for these webs to be on those flagpoles, than just be floating in the sky.
  • Some health pickups are placed differently.
  • Fire hydrants always work, even before you need to put the gas station fire out. In the final game you can pull them, but it'll have no effect.
  • Some roofs accessible in the final version are inaccessible here. For example, the one near that Marvel building. It even has an exotic spider in the final.
  • Some other roofs allowed Spidey to climb literally the air, but in the demo he falls down when he has no wall to climb in these places.
  • Bronx has some thugs in very unusual places. They are there even during the mission. Obviously it was cut because it didn't make any sense.

Unused Moves

The demo of the game has some interesting details about the cut content. For example this move list. Imagine how much more variety the controls could have...

You could toggle "run/creep" on Left Shift (so the stealth sections could make sense), there was some "Web cocoon" move (but it must be a name for that move when you web up a head of your enemy), you could do some combos combining left and right mouse buttons, so you had different attack buttons. Suddenly, there's no "dodge", but it already was implemented in that demo, so this move list must be a leftover from super early versions of game.

Controls page is also very different:

Demo	Final

Demo has no action for Tab and also no crawl look on space. Alternate keys weren't added yet.

Unused Menu Buttons

The demo also had some unused menu buttons. Extras, costumes, cheats, character bio... None of that was implemented in any way, except character bios: these might be those info screens before fighting a new bosses. And "spiderjelly" is the only cheat in the game. Did they plan to add a password input screen? Also it seems you could save and load the game from the same menu. The buttons are very ugly though, it only proves that these ideas were planned on very early stages of development.

Unused Car

"Bulldog", seemingly an Unreal Engine leftover, which can also be found in Shrek 2 and some Harry Potter games.

Unused Sounds

Present in the files are various early or unused sounds, such as Puma's elevator, bird sounds, and Spidey's web-up sounds. The countdown in the freezing room also had longer pauses between the numbers.

The most notable is a bunch of early narrator voicelines, which are the basis of the final game's unused subtitles. These were likely placeholders until Bruce Campbell could be brought in to record the final versions.

Texture/Model Differences

Most of the media from the levels beyond the demo were cut from the packages, but there's still many interesting unfinished or unused textures you can't see in the demo itself. Doc Ock is a bit different, such as having an exposed stomach, slightly different hair, and sunglasses. Oh, and his upper tentacles are blue for some reason.

Demo	Final

Demo	Final

Demo	Final

The Mysterio Bot's textures are unfinished... But also Mysterio Bots had a different model in the demo.

Demo	Final

This is how this model looks with the demo and the final textures:

Demo	Final

...as are Peter Parker's.

Demo	Final

However, that's how Peter look in the demo. Looks like he uses some random pedestrian clothes over these unfinished textures.

Puma's head and necklace are a bit different.

Demo	Final

The fire wasn't an effect yet, there was this temporary texture instead:

This chair is really unfinished in the demo:

Demo	Final

Also most of the textures were highly compressed since the demo. Looks like the game was too big for the CDs of that time... For example:

Demo	Final