"If anyone's going to do a TAS of this game, it's going to be you." -Slyfincleton, Spider-Man 2 world record holder
Spider-Man 2 is based on the 2004 movie of the same name, featuring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker and Alfred Molina as Otto Octavius.
It was the first Spider-Man game introduce an open world, along with a brand new physics-based web swinging system. I personally see it as the best movie tie-in game of all time, as well as the best Spider-Man game (yes, even better than those ones; you know them).
This game both looks AND runs like crap on Gamecube, but it's not like I have the option of TASing the PS2 or Xbox versions. Over 20 seconds are lost over the course of a run from load screens alone, and that's not including every time it takes something a few extra seconds to load in.
Playing/Encoding this movie
This TAS was made in Dolphin 5.0-10497 and WILL NOT SYNC in any other version. Additionally, this movie was made in the cached interpreter since it has an MMU requirement and will not sync in the JIT engine. Yes, this means the movie will take 8+ hours to play through, even when not dumping it.
Dumping it will be the easiest Dolphin encode of your life: just take your dtkdump, chop off the first 7 frames of it, and BAM, perfect sync with the framedump from start to finish.
Also: the movie I uploaded for the submission skips the ending cutscene in favor of accessing the credits sooner. Though I like the end cutscene, so if this gets accepted, I would prefer you play
this movie instead. Since input is required after the end cutscene to start the credits, this one allows the end cutscene to play and then presses the start button to start the credits.
Ultimately it's not that big of a deal, though.
settings:
- cached interpreter
- direct 3d 11
- dsp hle audio
- immediately present XFB enabled
- 1 formatted memory card inserted
- resolution: any seem to work fine
- all other setting are probably default
Easy Swinging vs Normal Swinging
At the start, you are given the option to choose between Easy Swinging and Normal Swinging. They both have their own quirks, advantages, and disadvantages, but here's the long story short: Easy Swinging allows you to let go of your webline by letting go of the swing button, where Normal Swinging requires you to press the jump button to release the webline.
Chapter 1: What Might Have Been
"Well, sequel time already, huh?"
Chapter Goals:
Chapter 1 and 2 serve as tutorials, which can be skipped entirely by climbing to the top of the building you spawn on and hitting the marker.
Chapter 2: A Day in the Life
Skipped.
Chapter 3: Punctuality is the Thief of Time
"Oh no, Doctor Connors' class..."
Chapter Goals:
- Go to the Pizza Parlor
- Earn 2000 more Hero Points
As it turns out, it's fastest to go straight towards Doctor Connors' lab to trigger the iconic dialogue, rather than going to the Pizza Parlor. Peter's schedule is unfortunately interrupted, which you will come to find happens a lot in this game. Before we tackle the crime, you're probably thinking... "isn't it faster to swing rather than jump off the walls?"
I'm glad you asked! The piece of movement is called a Slyjump, named after Slyfincleton, (technically the trick was not found by him, but it needed a name). It is performed by charging a jump while on a webline, and jumping off directly into a wallrun. This conserves your charged jump and launches you outwards based on your angle when leaving the wall.
The answer is yes and no: at Swing Speed 0, you are so intensely slow that doing this is just downright faster than web swinging, but once we acquire Swing Speed 2 and beyond, it's faster to web swing.
Anyway, Peter's trip to Doctor Connors' class is interrupted by a group of thugs stealing a case from a woman. So naturally, we have to help her out before we go to class.
Generally the combat strategy isn't too complicated - we have a few combos straight from the get-go of the game, and we use them. You can cancel any combo by jumping out of it.
See that blue bar under the health? That's Spider-Reflexes. When the meter is at about 95% or higher, you get a significant damage bonus on every attack you land. Additionally, you can go into Spider-Reflexes mode by pressing up on the d-pad. To quote Bruce Campbell:
"Spider-Reflexes, nice! In this mode, you're faster than the bad guys; you can see attacks coming from a mile away, and you can even do different, more damaging moves."
By going into Spider-Reflexes for very short periods, we can use those high damaging attacks WITH the damage bonus of nearly full Spider-Reflexes to chunk enemies. Unfortunately we don't have a full meter quite yet, so we'll have to deal with landing a few more hits to defeat these first few thugs.
We defeat the thugs and then go to class, revealing one of the TAS's few mistakes. Every time you switch out of your costume, Spider-Man has a chance to say a line like "no one's around, better change real quick..." or something. This will extend the loading screen until the line is finished in most cases. I guess I just didn't notice this one and let it slide - thankfully it's the 2nd fastest line and only loses about 1 second or so.
Okay, next item on the agenda is the Pizza Parlor. We go there and - what was that thing you did to glide straight to the parlor? As it turns out, when Spider-Man is moving upwards and attempts a web swing, he will go through a short animation before he actually fires out the web line. If the building he was aiming his web at is no longer in range, and you keep holding the web swing button, he will glide in the air. Once you let go of the web swing button, you'll sink like a rock.
We made it to the Pizza Parlor. Thankfully, you only have to get near the mission token to trigger the objective as complete; you don't actually have to do a pizza mission.
We continue onwards and collect some secret tokens. Secret tokens are extremely important because each one gives 250 Hero Points, and the player needs a certain amount of Hero Points to progress past each chapter. Hideout tokens also give 250 Hero Points, and Skyscraper tokens give 50 Hero Points.
We go to our birthday dinner and see Harry and MJ, collect another secret token, and go see MJ again because... pacing. I think they expected you to take a while to get more Hero Points. Anyway, Peter meets MJ and sees thugs running into the art gallery, so he has to go.
There are 8 thugs in the art gallery, and we now have our damage bonus, so we can knock them down and out pretty easily.
Then we meet a certain someone: Black Cat. And we chase her, I guess. There are 5 Black Cat chases in the game. They all have rubberbanding except for the first one. Also, Black Cat has designated locations where she will stop and wait for you to catch up, so we need to be close when she reaches those areas so she keeps moving.
During the first chase, we also make a quick stop at the spidey shop and buy Swing Speed 1, Swing Speed 2, and Grapple.
Chapter 4: All in a Day's Work
"You know, this chapter opening reminds me of something..."
Chapter Goals:
- Complete Daily Bugle Assignment
- Buy Swing Speed 2
- Earn 3000 more Hero Points
This chapter is pretty short. We already have Swing Speed 2, so all we really have to do is the Daily Bugle Assignment, which is to take some pictures from different parts of the Empire State Building and take them back to the Bugle. There is a load screen on every picture taken, unlike the other versions of the game, which are much faster. We make it to the bugle. Once we leave the Bugle, however...
The Rhino fight is pretty easy. He is essentially a tutorial on dodging. This is a good time to bring this up: if Spider-Man is in the air and attempts to attack an opponent who is on the ground, he will do a spinning kick with decent damage to launch enemies up into the air. If the enemy is ground/ragdoll immune, then you will always do a spinning kick on them and never an air combo. By sliding on the wall and pressing attack, we can do the spinning kick repeatedly and cancel our recovery.
Rhino has 2 moves: a spin and a charge. They are about the same speed, but I think the spin is faster. When Rhino is vulnerable, the player is able to get 6 attacks on him.
After the Rhino fight, we collect two more tokens to complete the chapter.
Chapter 5: A Meeting of the Minds
"I can't believe I actually got to meet Doctor Otto Octavius..."
Chapter Goals:
- Go to Doctor Octavius' Apartment
- Buy Grapple Attack Upgrade
- Earn 2000 more Hero Points
I should probably mention this now: the Hero Points you earn from the some story missions just flat out don't count for "earn X more Hero Points". It's inconsistent and I have no idea why they designed it like that.
Anyway, nice and short chapter. Go see Octavius, collect some coins, do a race, easy stuff. We already have Grapple so we don't need to worry about that.
Races have 4 difficulties: easy, medium, hard, and insane. By beating the best time on a race, you are awarded Hero Points based on difficulty. By beating the mega time, you are awarded even more Hero Points based on difficulty. Getting the mega time on a hard race gives 1700 Hero Points, and we will only be doing hard races.
Chapter 6: Cat and Mouse
"Peter"
Chapter Goals:
- Collect the 5 Photo OP tokens
- Go to Mary Jane's Apartment
- Buy Swing Speed 3
- Earn 2000 more Hero Points
We could do the same thing with Mary Jane's apartment as we did with the pizza parlor: just get close without activating it. But the first MJ mission doesn't count as a story mission, so it gives us a juicy 600 Hero Points toward our goal.
Once the 5 Photo tokens are collected, the second Black Cat chase begins, regardless if you've visited Mary Jane's apartment or not, so it's best to do the MJ thing first.
During the chase, we grab a few more tokens and visit the store. We get Swing Speed 3, Web Zip, and Air Jump Off Kick. Air Jump Off Kick lets us complete any air combo by pressing the jump button to launch ourselves off the enemy. This also allows us to do 2 spin kicks in a row on grounded enemies, even without a wall.
Chapter 7: Pride and Prejudice
"So Quentin Beck's going to prove I'm a fake, huh? This, I gotta see."
Chapter Goals:
- Complete Daily Bugle Assignment
- Earn 3000 more Hero Points
When we enter the Bugle, you probably notice that Peter said a line about changing. Doesn't that lose time, you're probably wondering? No, actually, because this allows us to spawn in the bathroom, next to the exit. Normally you'd spawn in the office.
We go to the arena, where Quentin Beck is waiting for us. His game involves throwing convicts into pits. If you throw a convict into a green pit, you earn one point, and there is no penalty for throwing them in the red pits. In fact, it saves time to just throw them into any pit as fast as you can and just hope you have enough points to win.
The second part is an obstacle course. The goal is to get to the end without being shot 3 times. Remember what I said about this game running like crap? The switches you need to press won't even trigger if you press them too soon, so I have to wait at them and press them when they're ready.
Once we leave, we go do a short race to complete the chapter.
Chapter 8: Sugar and Spice
"Alright fellas, show me the monet!" "I can't believe you just said that!"
Chapter Goals:
- Go to Doctor Octavius' Apartment
- Buy Swing Speed 4
- Earn 3000 more Hero Points
The first thing we do is make a quick stop at the spidey shop and buy Swing Speed 4, Air Combo Upgrade 1, Air Combo Upgrade 2, and the Hero Punch.
Air Combo Upgrade 1 allows us to hit enemies 3 consecutive times in the air, and Upgrade 2 allows us to hit enemies 4 consecutive times in the air for high damage. The Hero Punch is a very high damaging strike, performed by fulling charging a jump, and then pressing the attack button. By pressing attack again after the hit, you perform an uppercut. The Hero Punch also has an enormous hitbox and literally slows time while you perform it.
But it can still be blocked.
Anyway, we go see Otto before realizing that we're late to Mary Jane's play... and surprise, surprise, we get interrupted by some guys robbing a jewel store. We crush them with our newly acquired attacks before realizing MJ's play is over. Thankfully cat is there to console us.
The chase starts, we take a quick glance at 2 large reasons why Black Cat is a more interesting character than MJ, and go along with the chase, collecting some coins on the way.
At some points, Black Cat stops in place to tell us how slow we are. By opening the city map, this makes her stop talking and continue moving. At the end of the chase, there is a fight against some thugs.
Black Cat has 0 combat prowess and you will be lucky if she even deals a chunk of a single enemy's health. Once the fight is over, Black Cat steals an artifact which the thugs were trying to steal, and we remember - oh yeah, she's kind of a crook.
Chapter 9: When Aliens Attack
"I can HARDLY WAIT to see what he has cooked up for the statue."
Chapter Goals:
- Complete Daily Bugle Assignment
This mission is in three parts. Theater, Statue, and Funhouse. We start by buying Swing Speed 5 and then going to the theater.
Theater
There are several robots around the room, along with reporters. Every robot needs to be destroyed and every reporter needs to be saved to proceed. Generally the strategy to get to the balcony from the stage is to NOT sprint jump, and pray your webs actually attach to the ceiling and not the side balconies.
Statue
By getting close enough to Liberty Island, we can drop into the water and wash up on the island instead of taking the long way. There are platforms that will bring you up to the orbs if you fall, which we use to get up. My strategy for destroying the orbs was sort of inconsistent, but still decently fast.
If you punch near an orb, you will home in on it, even from a huge distance away. This also applies to the brain controlling the mechanisms, which you can very clearly see me float towards.
Funhouse
Axe-wielding clowns. Kick them. A lot. In the mirror room, there are distorted Spider-Men. These are actually the souls of every speedrun of the first game that died to bad controls. This is canon because if you look closely, these Spider-Men actually use the same attacks, movements, and dodges that Spider-Man does in the previous game.
Every third mirror needs to be broken to proceed.
Chapter 10: When Good Men Go Bad
"Whoops! Doctor Ocativus' demonstration is starting soon! I'd better hurry!"
Chapter Goals:
- Buy Swing Speed 5
- Earn 3000 more Hero Points
We start with a race. Fun fact: if you do the race before the chapter transition, then your next loading screen will be endless.
We then go to Otto's place, where, much like the movie, his actions indirectly result in the death of his wife.
And we're late for Doctor Connors' class. Again.
And we're interrupted on our way there. Again.
While we were busy fighting the robots, Doctor Octavius was busy assaulting Doctor Connors for some reason. I don't know, I didn't watch the cutscene. We take Connors to the hospital and head to the Bugle, where learn that Octavius has woken up, gotten dressed, assaulted Connors, murdered someone else, all in the span of the minute or so that it took us to reach the Bugle.
Chapter 11: The Underworld of Crime
"Can things get any worse?"
Chapter Goals:
- Meet Aunt May at the Bank
- Earn 4000 more Hero Points.
We head to the bank, and nothing interrupts us this time. Until we're in the bank, that is, and we meet Dock Ock for the first time. He has significantly reduced health from his final boss form, and we only have to do a third of his health bar to proceed onward.
In the next room, we encounter the tankiest thugs maybe ever.
We leave and follow the helicopter, collecting some tokens on the way, before saving Aunt May.
Then we do a race to get the remaining Hero Points we need to complete the Chapter.
Chapter 12: Shocking Developments
"SO, HOW DID YOU FIND SHOCKER?"
Chapter Goals:
- Go to your Apartment
- Earn 4000 more Hero Points
We go to our apart- oh, wow. We're late already.
Time for another Cat chase, complete with more token collecting!
At the end of the chase, we enter the warehouse. But not too fast, or else our poor little emulated gamecube won't load the room properly. Then we do Shocker Skip 1 by crawling along the wall and jumping into the arena. Shocker is not yet triggered, so we can damage him down to almost being KO'd (KOing him will softlock).
Then we trigger the fight, get some of that delicious gamecube lag, and hit Shocker once to defeat him.
Chapter 13: Cleaning the Slate
"I can't believe that. Jameson would frame his own mother if he thought it would sell papers."
Chapter Goals:
- Complete Daily Bugle Assignment
- Earn 4000 more Hero Points
We start by going on a little shopping spree and buying Swing Speed 6, Jaw Launcher, and Stair Step Kicks. You'll see what those last 2 do here in a minute.
So Jameson has an assignment for us, and we do a bathroom spawn to leave the Bugle faster.
Can you guess what happens on our way to get some pictures? I bet you can.
We get interrupted! By Mysterio, no less!
To defeat Mysterio, all you have to do is be close and press the attack button. The attack doesn't have to land. Heck, you don't even have to perform an attack - just press the attack button and he falls right over. It is then revealed that Mysterio is Quentin Beck, so we take a few pictures and bring them back to the Bugle. Jameson is not pleased with this.
When we leave, we teleport to the ground near the building. This is a result of skipping a cutscene. We climb right back up and meet Black Cat, for the longest chase in the game by far. 5+ minutes.
But we skip it by clipping into the Bugle and leaving after, which removes our distance limit for Black Cat, so we can go as far as we want. We go to the warehouse on Roosevelt Island and collect some tokens on the way to fatten our spider-pockets before seeing Shocker again.
The options for this fight are either skipping it, or literally falling asleep. If this fight was not skippable, this game wouldn't even be speedrun material. The first fight would have been moderately bearable, but this one is just bad design.
So we skip it. Remember what I said about Jaw Launcher and Stair Step Kicks? We use them to melt Shocker here and then trigger the fight. One more jab and Shocker is done for.
Chapter 14: Burning Bridges
"Oof, aw, aw mannnn..." -Nameless thug #0628
Chapter Goals:
- Earn 3000 more Hero Points
We're late, but it doesn't matter because MJ decided to get assaulted tonight. We save her and then go see the girl that actually matters, Black Cat. And we race her to an auction where some walking tanks are being sold. This is undoubtedly the hardest fight in the entire game, but we make it through.
Then we jump in the water. 5 times, in fact. This skips a lot of dialogue and allows us to access the next part sooner. This is called Scuba Skip. Peter becomes a bit more positive and attempts to show his feelings to MJ, but embarrasses himself.
Chapter 15: To Save the City
"Please be okay, Mary Jane..."
Chapter Goals:
This chapter mostly speaks for itself. I'm just gonna go out here and say that Dock Ock is honestly kind of threatening as a boss, maybe like a 7.5/10. Could be an 8 or 8.5 if he did more damage.
The strategy is to dodge his attacks and web down his tentacles, then attack. It's much harder than it appears in the TAS.
You know that giant reactor in the middle of the warehouse? Like the one we saw in chapter 10? You're probably wondering what happens if you touch it, aren't you?
You ever played ping pong?
Despite its small mistakes, I think this TAS is pretty enjoyable to watch. I put a lot of effort into it and I hope you liked it.
feos: Removed "force 4:3" from sync requirements, because it syncs with "auto", and forcing specific aspect ratio is incorrect for Dolphin. In Auto mode it uses complicated heuristics to preserve perfect pixel aspect ratio and reduce black borders (for more comfortable full screen use), and forced aspect ratio messes with that.
feos: While the difference between this run and the human record for emulator is not revolutionary, it still looks cleaner and is faster, and the feedback was fairly good. I also verified
the extra movie that lets the final cutscene play, so that could be used for encoding. Accepting for Moons.
