Okami director Hideki Kamiya has revealed that a memorable set-piece in the 2006 game was directly inspired by the famous train-stopping scene in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. Kamiya said the sequence, in which players use Amaterasu's Vine power to slow a runaway log hurtling towards a waterfall, was designed by the game's main planner, Hiroshi Shibata, who drew on the Tobey Maguire film for inspiration. The revelation is one of several behind-the-scenes insights Kamiya has shared recently, following his confirmation that Resident Evil's Leon S. Kennedy was named after the 1994 film Leon: The Professional.

The disclosure comes as interest in Okami builds ahead of a long-awaited sequel, being developed by Clovers, the studio Kamiya founded after leaving Platinum Games, in collaboration with Capcom. The new title will continue Okami's original story rather than acting as a spin-off, and is being built using Capcom's RE engine. Clovers has said further details will take time to emerge, though Kamiya has previously described wanting to complete the story he began nearly two decades ago.