SPIDER-MAN & VENOM: SEPARATION ANXIETY
Original Release: Acclaim, 1995, SNES/Genesis/PC
The sequel to Maximum Carnage adds two-player and a PC port, but really ramps up the difficulty
Spider-Man & Venom: Separation Anxiety (SNES, Acclaim, 1995)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: SNES Emulation Guide
Review by: C. M0use
Maximum Carnage was pretty well received by the gaming public, so a year later Software Creations teamed up with Acclaim to revive the old engine and bring it out for another spin down Quick Sales Lane. They added two features that were much wanted in the first one - a two player mode and a password system that lets you continue after every level - but the game cannot really be considered an upgrade.
It's even more ridiculously difficult than the first one was - the punks are faster, more numerous, and do more damage. Spidey and Venom are also more prone to picking people up when they attack, but the pickup animations are very slow, so you get trashed by the other punks every time you do it. The punks themselves are all nearly straight sprite recycles from the first game, though a number of new enemies and bosses have been added.
The comic book style has been abandoned in this one, you get instead a meager text blurb between levels outlining the events of the story. Green Jelly was not brought back for another synth-rock soundtrack, instead it seems the designers decided to try to ape the techno style of Yuzo Koshiro's popular Streets of Rage soundtracks or the Killer Instinct score (with limited effectiveness; most of this music sounds like it would be more appropriate for a bunch of bald men to be waving their arms over their heads and freak-dancing to in the Castro district of San Francisco rather than in a beat-em-up video game).
It's difficult and often rather boring, but it is notable in that it's one of the rare examples of being able to play as Spider-Man and Venom simultaneously and cooperatively.
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