Is it possible to defeat the four fat guys at the end of Stage 4, the Alleyway, or do you HAVE to lose it to progress?
I’ve done it before with save states, but you just lose anyways if you defeat them because Spidey runs out of strength, if I recall correctly. The items stop coming once you’ve beaten the first three. And the game tries to make you lose by making it so that if you hit a certain amount of life, you get knocked out.
But it’s good practice for the first level of San Francisco.
Speaking of which, I love this game! Did you ever find the hidden stage?
I never beat it. I got a ROM and am abusing savestates like a mofo. I used to own the game, and it’s given me enough grief so that I’ve earned the right. 
Never found any hidden stages. I know of a few bonus rooms, but no hidden stages.
Ah, it’s not too hard. The supervillians are what will give you the most grief, so learn their weaknesses and save your superheroes for them. Depending on who you play as, you will get different effects (for example, Venom’s version of Mobius actually drains the enemy’s life down to 1, whereas Spidey’s just scares them while you wail on them), so be careful. And I’d recommend using Venom the first time you get to choose, because the Demogoblin fight is hard as hell.
Heh, I love this game too~ Venom’s a cooler char than Spidey. You know the part where Venom was supposed to be beaten up by… uh… Carnage’s allies? I tried using cheat to make Venom invincible, but the game froze as soon as the fight started at some park.
Man… Haven’t played this game since grade 7 or 8… It brings back memories…hehe. Seperation Axiety is not as fun as this one though.
The game froze at that point? That’s probably because the event that plays after you defeat Shriek and Doppleganger is supposed to knock out all of your HP, then cut to the end scene. Since you were invincible, the game didn’t know what to do. Ah well. 8)
It’s highly possible to beat them without save states providing you a) Possess a calm self b) A full health before going in… c) Climb up the right-most wall for some goodies… d) DON’T LOSE A SINGLE POWER HIT OR YOU LOSE. e) having 1337 skills in webslinging helps too, trust me.
And yes, since it’s based on the comic, Spidey STILL loses power and in come Cloak and Dagger to drag him off.
Venom tends to be slightly bulkier nad slower (which I don’t like) but his power hit hits the area around him… whereas Spidey is faster (Good) but his power hit only smacks a single fiend around.