Marvel's Cloak & Dagger

[Silver Nemesis]

Here's the first trailer for Marvel's latest TV show, scheduled to debut on Freeform in 2018. It looks like it's going to have a more teen-oriented tone than the other MCU shows. The cast includes James Saito, probably best known amongst CBM fans for his portrayal of the Shredder in the 1990 TMNT movie.

[Azrael]

They always remind me of Maximum Carnage

[Silver Nemesis]

I never read Maximum Carnage, but I remember seeing adverts for the videogame in almost every comic at the time. A poster even showed up in the British sitcom Bottom, in the episode where Richie and Eddie go trick or treating.

Off topic, but I still can't believe Adrian Edmondson (aka Edward Elizabeth Hitler) is going to be in The Last Jedi. Then again he did play a villain in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, so it won't be his first Lucasfilm venture.

[Azrael]

I never read it too. I only had the game in the 90s, and it was full of cutscenes lifted straight from the comic (the one posted was in the game). Good beat'em'up.

[Silver Nemesis]

Did you ever play the 2005 Ultimate Spider-Man game, Azrael? I felt it was underrated at the time due to unfavourable comparisons with the Spider-Man 2 game that came out the previous year. I had the GameCube versions of both games, and I actually preferred the web-slinging mechanics in Ultimate Spider-Man (Spider-Man 2 is still amazing though). The gameplay lets you control both Spider-Man and Venom, with Carnage being the final boss fight.

Looking back on it now, I wonder if the success of Maximum Carnage in any way influenced the decision to reuse those characters for the 2005 game.

[Azrael]

Unfortunately I missed most Spidey games after the 16-bit era, even if I've read mostly praise for Activision's output, like the first game on the original PlayStation and the games based on Raimi's movies (especially SM2, which garnered almost as much praise as GoldenEye did in the previous console generation).

Looking at a walkthrough video right now, yes, it looks good. I always liked cell shaded graphics. Maybe Maximum Carnage played its part. Venom and Carnage are two of the most popular Spider-Man characters, and Maximum Carnage is fondly remembered.

[Silver Nemesis]

Unfortunately I missed most Spidey games after the 16-bit era,

Yikes, does that mean you played some of these?

even if I've read mostly praise for Activision's output, like the first game on the original PlayStation and the games based on Raimi's movies (especially SM2, which garnered almost as much praise as GoldenEye did in the previous console generation).

Spider-Man 2 was excellent. I personally don't rate it as high as GoldenEye, but both titles would make my top 10 movie tie-in list. Other games on that list would include Westwood Studio's Blade Runner, Rockstar's The Warriors and various Star Wars titles (Rogue Squadron, Battlefront, KOTOR).

Looking at a walkthrough video right now, yes, it looks good. I always liked cell shaded graphics. Maybe Maximum Carnage played its part. Venom and Carnage are two of the most popular Spider-Man characters, and Maximum Carnage is fondly remembered.

I never played any of the 2D Spider-Man games, but it certainly sounds like Maximum Carnage was the pick of the bunch. It's weird that more comic book games don't use cel-shaded graphics. I remember back when Wind Waker came out (one of the greatest games ever!) and there was a backlash against the art style. But I've always rated that as one of the most beautiful games ever made. The graphics have certainly aged better than many of its realistic-looking contemporaries.

[Azrael]

Yikes, does that mean you played some of these?

Thankfully, no. with Spider-Man I played only Sega's arcade game and the 16-bits.

Spider-Man 2 was excellent. I personally don't rate it as high as GoldenEye, but both titles would make my top 10 movie tie-in list. Other games on that list would include Westwood Studio's Blade Runner, Rockstar's The Warriors and various Star Wars titles (Rogue Squadron, Battlefront, KOTOR).

Yes, good list. What most of these good movie tie-ins have in common was that they weren't rushed to coincide with the movie's release. That's what the best movie games usually do, at least those from the polygon era onwards. They are foremost games, set in a movie's universe, not tie-ins.

Then there's a few intended as sequels/prequels (2009's Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis).

I never played any of the 2D Spider-Man games, but it certainly sounds like Maximum Carnage was the pick of the bunch. It's weird that more comic book games don't use cel-shaded graphics. I remember back when Wind Waker came out (one of the greatest games ever!) and there was a backlash against the art style. But I've always rated that as one of the most beautiful games ever made. The graphics have certainly aged better than many of its realistic-looking contemporaries.

It definitely is. Spider-Man vs. Kingpin on Sega CD is pretty good too (with some music by 80s hair band Mr. Big). Most Spider-Man games released in the pixelart era were actually pretty solid - Rolfe used to focus on the few bad for the sake of comedy and laughs (as he usually does, how much time did he devote to the NES monstrosity, or the good Sega CD game, when he did the Terminator?)

Speaking of Wind Waker, the Ganon vs. Link trailer with "realistic" designs released some time before the game maybe played its part for this backlash - if fans had got their then next-gen Ocarina, and then the very unique Wind Waker, the reaction would be different. A friend of mine was a hardcore Zelda fan and was disappointed with Wind Waker not for what it was, but for what it wasn't. Nowadays he loves it. Wind Waker is my favourite alongside Ocarina and I agree that more comic book games would benefit from cell shaded visuals. It works both for colorful and bright, as well as very dark, almost black and white, atmosphere.

[Silver Nemesis]

Then there's a few intended as sequels/prequels (2009's Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis).

I love both of those titles. The Ghostbusters game is the closest we'll ever get to a real Ghostbusters 3, while the Fate of Atlantis is simply one of the best point-and-click adventures ever made ("Let me in, you Darwinian nightmare"). I thought it handled the whole Chariots of the Gods extraterrestrial subject matter far more successfully than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull did.

LucasArts used to excel at that whole genre. Especially with the Monkey Island series. With touch screen interface being more common than ever, now would be a perfect time to resurrect some of those titles.

Speaking of Wind Waker, the Ganon vs. Link trailer with "realistic" designs released some time before the game maybe played its part for this backlash - if fans had got their then next-gen Ocarina, and then the very unique Wind Waker, the reaction would be different.

I remember that – the Space World 2000 tech demo. Something similar happened when Sony launched the PS3 and released a brief clip from what appeared to be a Final Fantasy VII remake, only for it to turn out to be a tech demo. Of course now they actually are remaking FFVII...

A friend of mine was a hardcore Zelda fan and was disappointed with Wind Waker not for what it was, but for what it wasn't. Nowadays he loves it. Wind Waker is my favourite alongside Ocarina and I agree that more comic book games would benefit from cell shaded visuals. It works both for colorful and bright, as well as very dark, almost black and white, atmosphere.

Ocarina of Time is my favourite game. I got it for the N64 the Christmas it was first released and I've replayed it almost every year since. The 3DS version is definitive in my opinion. I love Majora's Mask and Wind Waker too, but I do feel the main series of 3D Zelda games went downhill after that. Though admittedly I haven't played Breath of the Wild yet. Have you?

Speaking of cel-shaded graphics, did you ever play MadWorld on the Wii? Not really a great game, but it had a superb black and white art style inspired by Sin City.

The cel-shaded approach was particularly well suited to the Wii, since graphically it couldn't compete with the other powerhouse consoles on the market. But it still had its share of beautiful games.

[Azrael]

I love both of those titles. The Ghostbusters game is the closest we'll ever get to a real Ghostbusters 3, while the Fate of Atlantis is simply one of the best point-and-click adventures ever made ("Let me in, you Darwinian nightmare"). I thought it handled the whole Chariots of the Gods extraterrestrial subject matter far more successfully than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull did.

LucasArts used to excel at that whole genre. Especially with the Monkey Island series. With touch screen interface being more common than ever, now would be a perfect time to resurrect some of those titles.

This reply wasn't recommended in the wits path, lol. Totally agree about LucasArts.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game is Ghostbusters 3, as the Arkhamverse is a Batman "movie" franchise in its own right, as the Uncharted series is Indiana Jones in modern times (better than Crystal Skull) etc. etc. My list is endless but... brevity

Ocarina of Time is my favourite game. I got it for the N64 the Christmas it was first released and I've replayed it almost every year since. The 3DS version is definitive in my opinion. I love Majora's Mask and Wind Waker too, but I do feel the main series of 3D Zelda games went downhill after that. Though admittedly I haven't played Breath of the Wild yet. Have you?

Speaking of cel-shaded graphics, did you ever play MadWorld on the Wii? Not really a great game, but it had a superb black and white art style inspired by Sin City.

The cel-shaded approach was particularly well suited to the Wii, since graphically it couldn't compete with the other powerhouse consoles on the market. But it still had its share of beautiful games.

Well, Madworld was great compared to most third-party Wii games I've seen (outside of Nintendo's output it seems that system was full of wiimote mini-games and shovelware). I have to say that I wasn't a big fan of this ultra-violent concept, but the game was good. This and Lost in Shadow (a great puzzle platformer), among others, are two Wii exlusives I would love to see adapted for traditional controls and released on steam.

At some point in the early 2010s, Nintendo itself went downhill, didn't it? Portables and Pokemon are what kept them afloat. When it comes to real console gaming, they didn't go with the times. Tons of articles have been written on the matter.

I haven't played Breath of the Wild because I have no access to a Switch but, by all accounts, it's certainly interesting and, most importantly, different. Nintendo knows it can't compete in the blockbuster game arena, Horizon Zero Dawn is what a modern Ocarina would be and knocks Breath of the Wild out of the park as a traditional plot-driven action-RPG, so it seems for the new Zelda they somehow went back to Miyamoto's original conception - a "garden", with more emphasis on physics and exploration. A step in the right direction.