Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage (1994, SNES) by LJN

Current Any% Leaderboard (speedrun.com)

GAMES FROM THIS EPISODE OF AVGN:
(List will be below the article because it’s a BIG one)

Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage is an LJN beat-em-up made for both the Super Nintendo and also the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive… and it’s a good game?  I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a perfect game… but it’s definitely a game that LJN published.  And with gorgeous graphics, killer music, tight controls, and fun gameplay, this is the best LJN game I’ve ever played… and despite this title being extremely difficult (especially casually), I fully enjoyed both the learning experience here, and the actual runs themselves.

You play as both Spiderman and Venom, and swap between the two throughout the game.  This is a beat-em-up; you go through a number of levels beating the snot out of enemies of various types.  It’s not exactly Zelda or Super Metroid, but the different enemies and bosses provide enough variety that you’ll never quite feel bored.  The combat is fluid, but the enemy A.I. is quite good, and you’ll find yourself ganged up on from all angles if you get lazy here.  Luckily, not only do both playable characters have an awesome assortment of attacks and abilities, but you can pick up assist tokens throughout the game to call various other superheroes to help out, such as Captain America, Cloak, and… um… Dagger!  Yeah!  (honestly, I don’t know half these heroes, but I’m a very, VERY casual comic fan at most!)

The run does have some awesome tech sprinkled throughout.  On the rooftop, for example, you can throw the water tower at Doppleganger, killing him in 1 hit.  You then leap off the building, skipping the cutscene, and best of all: you don’t even die!  There are various quick kills throughout the run, and some really precise, yet fun, strategies to get past some of the tough fights, especially near the end.  The combat is extremely difficult, but it’s so much fun to do!  Honestly, I’ve never ran a game that was this tough, and yet I still didn’t seem to mind the difficulty so much.

If you have a tough disposition and quick fingers, you can find yourself like I did: practicing the Carnage fight over and over again!  This is a very nice speedrun, and rivals any beat-em-up I’ve ever learned.  Take a chance and you’ll see this for yourself!

–Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (SNES)
-Bible Adventures (NES)
-Super Noah’s Ark 3D (SNES)
-Wrath of the Black Manta (NES)
-Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (NES)
-Double Dragon (Master System)
-Super Mario Bros. (NES)
-Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
-Shaq-Fu (SNES)
-Boogie (Wii)
-Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest (NES)
-Sunday Funday: The Ride (NES)
-Moses: The Exodus (Philips CD-i)
-Winter Games (NES)
-Altered Beast (Genesis)
-S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team (NES)
-Karate Champ (NES)
-Super Pitfall (NES)
-Rambo (NES)
-The Terminator (NES)
-Dick Tracy (NES)
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
-King James’ Bible (Game Boy)
-Madden NFL Football (Multiple Years, Multiple Consoles, from 1991 to 2003)
-Football (Atari 2600)
-Alf (Master System)
-Crazybus (Genesis)
-Super Mario World (SNES)
-Porky’s (Atari 2600)
-Universal Studios’ Theme Park Adventure (GameCube)
-LJN Video Art (console)
-Pro Wrestling (Master System)
-Mega Man (NES)
-Action Fighter (Master System)
-Shingen the Ruler (NES)
-Phalanx (SNES)
-Snow White and the 7 Clever Boys (PS2)
-Action in New York (NES)
-Ghost Lion (NES)
-Street Hockey ’95 (SNES)
-Irritating Stick (PS1)
-Crackout (NES)
-Cock’in (Commodore 64)
-Killer Kong (ZX Spectrum)
-X-Man (Atari 2600)
-Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (N64)
-Evander Holyfield’s “Real Deal” Boxing (Genesis)
-Street Fighter II (Genesis)
-RBI Baseball 4 (Genesis)
-Math… on the Move! (PS1)
-Home Alone (SNES)
-Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (Genesis)
-The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64)
-Action 52 (NES)
-Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (NES)
-The Simpsons: Bartman vs Radioactive Man (NES)