Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (Mega-CD)

From Sega Retro

For the Mega Drive version, see Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin. For the Game Gear and Master System versions, see Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (8-bit).

n/a

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Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin
System(s): Sega Mega-CD
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
Supporting companies:
Licensor: Marvel Entertainment Group
Genre: Action

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega-CD
US
4412
Videogame Rating Council: GA
Sega Mega-CD
EU
4412
Sega Mega-CD
DE
DM 99.9599.95[4] 4412
Sega Mega-CD
PT
Sega Mega-CD
UK
£49.9949.99[2] 4412
Sega Mega-CD
AU
$109.95109.95[5]
Sega Mega-CD
BR

The Sega Mega-CD version of Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin is an updated version of the 1991 Mega Drive game of the same name. This game is also known as The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin.

While this version shares similar gameplay to the Mega Drive game, it has re-worked levels and is less linear. It also has animated cutscenes and a CD audio soundtrack.

Story

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Introduction.png

Introduction

Crime boss Wilson Fisk, known as the Kingpin, has stolen a nuclear bomb and plans to detonate it in twenty-four hours, destroying New York City. Moreover, he has sent a broadcast framing Spider-Man for the deed, turning the city against him. Spider-Man must fight many of his deadliest adversaries, who have been hired by the Kingpin, to obtain the keys necessary to disarm the bomb before time runs out.

Gameplay

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Map.png

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Map Boss.png

Map

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Pause menu

The game is an action platformer where players control the superhero Spider-Man, who has 24 hours to collect the five keys needed to disarm the Kingpin's bomb. Time ticks down faster than real time during gameplay. Keys are dropped by some bosses when they are defeated. There are three selectable difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, and Nightmare) and a password system for continuing.

The player uses a map of New York City to choose the next stage to play. The player moves the cursor around the map with the D-Pad; holding B speeds up the cursor movement. The player selects a stage with A. There are 45 stages in the game total, but it is not necessary to complete most of them to finish the game; it is only necessary to defeat the bosses. Other stages can be played to replenish Spider-Man's web meter or to collect Comic Books. There are 21 Comic Books hidden throughout the game, and the player can display a gallery of the currently collected Comic Books by pressing C on the map screen. Stages are ordinarily marked with a yellow X or (if a boss fight) check mark after completion, but a stage is marked with a comic instead if it contains a Comic Book that the player failed to collect.

Bosses appear as a portrait on the map screen surrounded by a cluster of three or four stages, one of which (which varies on each playthrough) ending with a fight against a Spider-Man supervillain. On Easy and Normal, the boss stage is highlighted in red; on Nightmare, the boss stage is not indicated. The story is progressed through animated cutscenes after each boss is defeated (and at certain other points in the game).

Spider-Man enters a crawling position with Down and stands up with Up. He walks or crawls with Left and Right (and moves faster while crawling). He jumps with C and jumps off platforms with Down+C. He automatically sticks to walls and ceilings and can crawl along them with the D-Pad. He can cling to walls and buildings in the background with C. He attacks by punching or kicking with A, which can be done while crouching or jumping. He shoots webbing with B, which can be used to momentarily stun foes. He can web swing by pressing B quickly after jumping; while swinging, he can kick with A.

He has two special abilities, Web Shield and Web Bolo, that can be selected by pausing the game with  START  and used by pressing B. Web Shield renders Spider-Man temporarily invulnerable to damage. Web Bolo can be thrown at enemies to envelop them in a heavy web. The player can also select Map from the pause menu to exit the current stage at any point and return to the map screen.

Spider-Man has a life meter that diminishes as he takes damage from foes. If he runs out of life, the game ends. It can be continue, but this costs two hours of time. If time runs out, the game ends and cannot be continued. Spider-Man also has a web meter; all web abilities cost web. The life meter is replenished at the start of each stage, but the web meter can only be replenished by collecting items.

Items

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Items.png
Red Disc
Restores part of Spider-Man's life meter.
Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Items.png
Red Cloverleaf
Fully restores Spider-Man's life meter.
Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Items.png
Blue Disc
Restores part of Spider-Man's web meter.
Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Items.png
Blue Cloverleaf
Fully restores Spider-Man's web meter.
Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Items.png
Comic Book
There are 21 Comic Books hidden throughout the stages. Collecting every Comic Book and completing the game on Nightmare difficulty gives the player a Secret Identification Number, which could be used for a contest.[6]

Stages

Dr. Octopus and Electro are initially available. The Lizard, Sandman, and Vulture become available after they have been defeated; Mysterio's stage is played after defeating Vulture. Hobgoblin becomes available after they have all been defeated, and Venom becomes available after the Hobgoblin is defeated. Finally, Kingpin becomes available after all other villains have been defeated.

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Daily Bugle

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Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Dr. Octopus Boss.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Dr. Octopus.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Dr. Octopus Boss.png

Dr. Octopus

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Electro.png

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Electro Boss.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Electro.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Electro Boss.png

Electro

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, The Lizard.png

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, The Lizard Boss.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, The Lizard.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, The Lizard Boss.png

The Lizard

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Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Sandman Boss.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Sandman.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Sandman Boss.png

Sandman

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Vulture.png

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Vulture Boss.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Vulture.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Vulture Boss.png

Vulture

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Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Mysterio.png

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Mysterio Boss.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Pinball.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Mysterio.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Mysterio Boss.png

Mysterio

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Hobgoblin.png

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Hobgoblin Boss.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Hobgoblin.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Hobgoblin Boss.png

Hobgoblin

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Venom.png

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Venom Boss.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Venom.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Venom Boss.png

Venom

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Kingpin.png

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Kingpin Boss 1.png

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Kingpin Boss 2.png

Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Kingpin Boss 3.png

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  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Kingpin.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Kingpin Boss 1.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Kingpin Boss 2.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Kingpin Boss 3.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Kingpin Boss 4.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Kingpin Boss 5.png

  • Spider-Man vs the Kingpin CD, Stages, Kingpin Boss 6.png

Kingpin
Spider-Man must fight Vulture, Mysterio, Hobgoblin, Electro, and Venom again. He must then disarm the bomb by inserting the keys into it. He then faces Bullseye and Typhoid Mary. After defeating them, he must defeat the Kingpin before Mary Jane is dropped into a pit of acid. The game has three different ending cutscenes depending on whether Spider-Man defeats Kingpin and saves Mary Jane, Spider-Man defeats Kingpin but fails to save Mary Jane, or Spider-Man fails to defeat Kingpin.

Music and sound

The soundtrack was composed by Spencer Nilsen. It has a rock theme song, "Swing Time," co-written by Eric Martin of the band Mr. Big, who also provides lead vocals on the track.

History

Development

The biggest thing for Sega was that it had the Mega-CD, which was not very commercially successful. So it was dying for content and asked what we could do that was quick. Spider-Man was a big title for Sega, and knowing that we had done levels and characters that had to get cut in order to fit the cartridge the producers knew we had more that could be put in as bonuses without a lot of time and effort on the creative side.

A lot of enhancements were able to take advantage of having a little more horsepower, and the engine had matured quite a bit in that timeframe too. We had the Mega-CD, and we literally couldn’t think of things to fill it up with. We were going from kilobytes to megabytes, so anything you had you could throw at it. You could do a lot more moves because you had a lot more storage, so instead of a four-frame walk sequence you could put in an 18-frame walk sequence, and instead of having only one punch, you could have several different punches.

David Foley[7]


Production credits

Source:
In-game credits
Spider-Man vs the Kingpin MCD credits.pdf
[8]

Magazine articles

Main article: Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (Mega-CD)/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Sega Visions (US) #15: "October/November 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
54 [9]
Sega Mega-CD
54
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Digitiser (UK)
85
[10]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
90
[11]
Hyper (AU)
73
[12]
Joypad (FR) NTSC-U
82
[13]
Mega (UK) NTSC-U
68
[14]
Mega Action (UK) NTSC-U
85
[15]
Mega Force (FR)
84
[16]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
71
[17]
Mega Machines (UK) PAL
39
[18]
MegaTech (UK) NTSC-U
84
[19]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
87
[2]
Player One (FR)
45
[20]
Power Up! (UK)
73
[21]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U
69
[22]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U
37
[23]
Sega Force (SE)
40
[24]
Todo Sega (ES)
84
[25]
Video Games (DE) NTSC-U
56
[26]
Sega Mega-CD
70
Based on
18 reviews

Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (Mega-CD)

Mega-CD, US
AmazingSpidermanVSKingpin scd us backcover.jpgAmazingSpidermanVSKingpin scd us cover.jpg
Cover
AmazingSpidermanVSKingpin scd us disc.png
Disc
Amazingspiderman mcd us manual.pdf
Manual
Mega-CD, EU
TASMvstKP MCD EU Box Back.jpgAmazingSpidermanVSKingpin scd eu cover.jpg
Cover
AmazingSpiderMan MCD EU spinecard.jpg
Spinecard
Spidermanvskingpin mcd eu disc.jpg
Disc
Spiderman Vs Kingpin MCD EU Manual.jpg
Manual
Mega-CD, FR (Blister pack)
SpiderMan MCD FR blister back.jpgSpiderMan MCD FR blister front.jpg
Cover
Mega-CD, PT

Mega-CD, BR
SpiderMan MCD BR front.jpg
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (Mega-CD)/Technical information.

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega-CD
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
556,168,032 1993-11 CD-ROM (US) 4412
Sega Mega-CD
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
556,168,032 1993-08 CD-ROM (US) 4412
Sega Mega-CD
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
560,037,072 1993-11 CD-ROM (EU) 4412
Sega Mega-CD
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
1993-06-02 Page

External links

References

  1. https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.video.sega/c/Urf-D17vrVE/m/ojHkw3Yv2XoJ
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Mean Machines Sega, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-10-xx), page 106
  3. Sega Pro, "March 1994" (UK; 1994-01-27), page 14
  4. 4.0 4.1 Video Games, "9/93" (DE; 1993-08-25), page 43
  5. Megazone, "February 1994" (AU; 1994-01-26), page 37
  6. File:Amazingspiderman mcd us manual.pdf, page 3
  7. https://www.gamesradar.com/the-making-of-spider-man-vs-the-kingpin-how-technopop-defied-the-odds-to-create-the-best-16-bit-spider-man-game/
  8. File:Spider-Man vs the Kingpin MCD credits.pdf
  9. GamesMaster, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-12-16), page 109
  10. Digitiser (UK) (1993-10-21)
  11. GamePro, "October 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 86
  12. Hyper, "February 1994" (AU; 199x-xx-xx), page 53
  13. Joypad, "Novembre 1993" (FR; 1993-1x-xx), page 70
  14. Mega, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-12-16), page 63
  15. Mega Action, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-04), page 56
  16. Mega Force, "Décembre 1993" (FR; 1993-12-10), page 126
  17. Mega Fun, "05/94" (DE; 1994-04-20), page 109
  18. Mega Machines, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-12-09), page 86
  19. MegaTech, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-20), page 56
  20. Player One, "Février 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 112
  21. Power Up!, "Saturday, February 12, 1994" (UK; 1994-02-12), page 1
  22. Sega Power, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-12-02), page 68
  23. Sega Pro, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-11), page 46
  24. Sega Force, "4/94" (SE; 1994-06-01), page 24
  25. Todo Sega, "Enero 1994" (ES; 199x-xx-xx), page 60
  26. Video Games, "1/94" (DE; 1993-12-19), page 51


Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (Mega-CD)

SpiderMan MCD US Title.png

Main page | Comparisons | Maps | Development | Magazine articles | Video coverage | Reception | Technical information


Sega Mega-CD
Prototypes: 1993-06-02



Spider-Man games for Sega systems
Arcade
Spider-Man: The Videogame (1991)
Sega Mega Drive
Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (1991) | Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge (1993) | Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (1994) | Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1995) | Venom - Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety (1995)
Sega Master System
Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (1991) | Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six (1993)
Sega Game Gear
Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (1992) | Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six (1993) | Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge (1994)
Sega Mega-CD
Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (1993)
Sega 32X
Spider-Man: Web of Fire (1996)
Sega Dreamcast
Spider-Man (2001)