Ultimate Spider-Man is a video game based on the comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 of the same name

Ultimate Spider-Man

Ultimate Spider-Man was a superhero comic book series that was published by Marvel Comics from 2000 to 2009. The series is a modernized re-imagining of Marvel's long-running Spider-Man comic book franchise as part of its Ultimate Marvel imprint...

 by Brian Michael Bendis

Brian Michael Bendis

Brian Michael Bendis is an American comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim for his self-published, Image Comics and Marvel Comics work, and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics, with his books selling consistently highly for over a...

 and Mark Bagley

Mark Bagley

Mark Bagley is an American comic book artist. He has worked for Marvel Comics and DC Comics on such titles as The Amazing Spider-Man, Thunderbolts, New Warriors, and Ultimate Spider-Man.- Early life and career :...

. The game was released for most sixth generation

History of video game consoles (sixth generation)

The sixth-generation era refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at the turn of the 21st century. Platforms of the sixth generation include the Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft Xbox...

 consoles, including PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

, Xbox

Xbox

The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...

, GameCube

Nintendo GameCube

The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...

, Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

, Game Boy Advance

Game Boy Advance

The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...

, and Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, as well as a mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

 version. Treyarch

Treyarch

Treyarch is an American video game developer company, founded in 1996 by Peter Akemann and Doğan Köslü , and acquired by Activision in 2001...

, who made the console games based on the Spider-Man

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...

 movies, developed the console game, while Vicarious Visions

Vicarious Visions

Vicarious Visions is an American video game developer founded by the high school brothers Karthik and Guha Bala in 1990, which developed some PC and Game Boy Color games in late 90's and 2000. They later developed Terminus, which won two Independent Games Festival Awards in 1999...

 developed the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance versions, and Beenox

Beenox

Beenox is a video game developer, established in Québec City, Québec. Founded in 2000 by Dominique Brown. Beenox has been awarded with the Quebec's Best Employer 2008 title and is among the Top 50 of the World’s best video game developers published in March 2008 by the Game Developers Research...

 ported the Microsoft Windows version from the consoles.

Stylistically, it differs from its predecessor, Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 2 (video game)

Spider-Man 2 is the name of several computer and video games based on the Spider-Man universe and particularly the Spider-Man 2 film. It is a follow up to the game Spider-Man: The Movie and was followed by Spider-Man 3 to promote the release of the third film in 2007...

, in that it employs what has been dubbed, "Comic Inking Animation technology," a form of cel shading intended to simulate the appearance of a comic-book.

While originally thought to be canonical

Canon (fiction)

In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...

 to the Ultimate Spider-Man

Ultimate Spider-Man

Ultimate Spider-Man was a superhero comic book series that was published by Marvel Comics from 2000 to 2009. The series is a modernized re-imagining of Marvel's long-running Spider-Man comic book franchise as part of its Ultimate Marvel imprint...

comics, it is unclear what parts of the game take place in the continuity of the comic.