The Batman video games thread

[The Joker]

I searched through the archives and I couldn't find a general thread for the many video games Batman has had over the years. Because I'm replaying the Arkham ones in preparation for Arkham Knight, I thought there should be a place for Batman gamers to talk about them.

We all know just about everyone loves the Arkham games, so I'm not going to discuss them right now. I want to talk about the old school games. Ones I still love to death and still play from time to time.

My top three;

1. The Adventures of Batman and Robin on the Super Nintendo

This game is awesome. Unlike the Sega Genesis version, you can see the show's influence on this game, with many notable elements from episodes in the show used to make the levels and challenges. Things like the Joker's rollercoaster from 'Be a Clown', or Riddler's virtual reality game from 'What is Reality', or the helicopter Penguin stole and blinded Batman with in 'Blind as a Bat';

I think the graphics really capture the feel of the show. If I had one complaint it's that Robin is not in it that much considering the game has his name in the title. You never get to control him. He's just there for cut scenes and dialogue.



2. Batman Returns on the Super Nintendo

This was also made by the same people do did the BTAS game, Konami. They know how to make great Batman games. The graphics are fantastic. The combat system is deliciously brutal. You can body slam guys on the ground, slam their heads together, throw them against walls and windows, head butt them etc. It's terrific. And the music incorporates Elfman's themes from the movie.

And like with the BTAS game, it captures the tone and feel of the movie. It's full of elements from the movie to make up the levels. Gotham Plaza, Schreck's department store, the circus train where you rescue the kids, and the Gotham Zoo where Penguin's lair is.

3. Batman Returns on the Sega Genesis

Though not as good as the SNES version, this game is still heaps of fun. It strays a bit from the movie. I mean you have Gotham's architecture like gargoyles and statues attacking you on some levels, and you even visit the actual Red Triangle circus, but they're all great challenges. The moody sprites make a great Batman game feel. There's a fantastic array of Bat gadgets you can use. The boss fights come thick and fast, sometimes as many as three on one level. Always challenging.

So all ye Batman gamers, what are your favorites? What ones did you hate? Talk about it all here.

 

[Decepticonus]

I always wanted to play those first two, the 3rd with those SEGA graphics ugh, not so muc but I love the old school beat 'em up brawlers.
Lately been playing LEGO Batman 3, I don't care what people say this one is fun, no open world? So what, this game incorporates so much from the comics, lots of silver age things like Flash's cosmic tread mill, Wonder Woman's invisible jet, various DLC of Batman costumes like his Rainbow suit, 1939 first appearance costume, TDKR, Nolan Batman, Zebra Batman, Vampire Batman, hell Polka-Dot man is in it, Condiment Man from TAS is in it Mr. Freeze sounds like Arnold in it. Bat-Mite appears, hel leven Bat-Cow from Batman Incorporated, this game was made with sweaty comic book nerds in mind. Let us not forget the Batman '66/Adam West level with Adam West Batman being voiced by Adam West and all the other characters from the show - Joker, Penguin, Robin, Catwoman, Riddler. Gameplay wise it's no Arkham or anything but don't care to be honest when it has all of this.

 

[AnneFan]

I haven't played those old school Batman games, but I'd like to.

I'm a fan of Batman Vengeance, though.

 

[Penguin]

I have an SNES emulator on my computer; I'll check those first two out.

I love that they brought back the Raven helicopter that Penguin used; it’s cool that a tie-in stayed true to the show and was of high quality. Also, I just love that chopper, it was pretty awesome in that episode, especially the when Penguin and his crew combat the Batwing.

 

[The Joker]

The Lego Batman games are tons of fun, with lots of replay value. I love how the first one used the Danny Elfman score all through it. That was a genius touch. They don't pretend or try to be Arkham standard games. They're leave your brain at the door and just be a kid again playing Lego games.

Decepticonus, the graphics for the Sega BR game don't look as impressive, especially next to the two SNES games, but I would recommend you give it a shot. You might be surprised.

AnneFan, Batman Vengeance was a pretty decent game. I enjoyed it. Had it's flaws, like some of the controls were annoying, and switching gadgets around was a chore that left you open to get hit. Great graphics though. And the BTAS voice cast all there. I just wish they'd put in a few more villains. For a BTAS based game on it's Playstation debut, only using Joker, Harley, Freeze and Ivy seemed like a wasted opportunity.

Pengy, knowing what a huge Penguin fan you are, you will love both of those games. Penguin is obviously a prominent part of Returns, and he also is in the BTAS one. You get to fight him twice on two different levels. The Raven helicopter is not the only Penguin BTAS stuff that's in there. His pet vulture is also in the game whom you have to fight. Penguin's level is the museum that he robs from 'Birds of a feather'.

 

[AnneFan]

The Batman Begins game is also decent, and something of a precursor to the Arkham template.

 

[Brother Jack]

The Batman Begins game is also decent, and something of a precursor to the Arkham template.

It was kind of the prototype to the predator gameplay of the Arkham games. Which was obviously taken from the movie.

 

[Penguin]

I love the Adventures of Batman & Robin game. It is pretty fun and the gadgets are really useful. The Joker boss fight in the first level was super easy. I’m currently on the second level, and it’s a lot more difficult.

 

[The Joker]

Is this your first time playing it, Pengy?

 

[Penguin]

Is this your first time playing it, Pengy?

Yes, and after playing some more of it, I’ve fell in love with this game, it’s really fun. Though, that Two-Face level where you drive the Batmobile, that was probably the hardest level. It was so tedious.

 

[The Joker]

Yes, and after playing some more of it, I’ve fell in love with this game, it’s really fun. Though, that Two-Face level where you drive the Batmobile, that was probably the hardest level. It was so tedious.

That's my least favorite level. It's a waste of Two Face, plus it's not even interesting as a car driving level. The Batmobile moves slowly, the corner turns are a chore, and the other villain vehicles are boring. It's the only level I don't enjoy much. The others are all terrific.

How did you enjoy Penguin's level 'Fowl Play'?

 

[Penguin]

That's my least favorite level. It's a waste of Two Face, plus it's not even interesting as a car driving level. The Batmobile moves slowly, the corner turns are a chore, and the other villain vehicles are boring. It's the only level I don't enjoy much. The others are all terrific.

How did you enjoy Penguin's level 'Fowl Play'?

The Batmobile was terrible at turning those corners and the time limit they give you is horrendous. They should’ve bumped it up to ninety seconds.

It was awesome, I think the only problem I had with it was that almost all of the rooms looked the same. It could be confusing where you were at times, but it was pretty good. The mini-boss was moderately hard, though I figured out to just make Batman role then to hit the vulture when it was close enough.

Penguin’s boss fight was harder than the Joker fight and was probably equal with the Ivy boss fight. The Raven helicopter was nice to see again, I wish they’d incorporate it into the comics, it fits the character. When Pengers would use his umbrella-copter to retreat and spin around was hilarious.

The Riddler level was where I stopped the other day, but I'm sure it will be the best. I think the greatest thing about video games back then was that they were based around puzzles more often than not.

I was looking at a bunch of Batman games on Wikipedia, and I checked out the Sega Genesis variation of the game, is it any good?

 

[The Joker]

It's not the last you've seen of Penguin. He's on the final level, too. So you'll get to fight him again.

The Riddler level is probably the biggest level and split into two parts, both based on different Riddler episodes. The first half is based on the Maze of the Minotaur from the 'If you're so smart why aren't you rich' episode. The second half is based on the virtual reality chess game from the 'What is Reality' episode. You'll find these a real challenge.

Avoid the Sega Genesis version of BTAS. It's total rubbish. Frustrating gameplay, ridiculously hard, and it doesn't borrow anything from the actual show other than the character designs. Plus it's really low on villains. Only uses Joker, Harley, Two Face, Mad Hatter and Mr. Freeze.

 

[Penguin]

It's not the last you've seen of Penguin. He's on the final level, too. So you'll get to fight him again.

The Riddler level is probably the biggest level and split into two parts, both based on different Riddler episodes. The first half is based on the Maze of the Minotaur from the 'If you're so smart why aren't you rich' episode. The second half is based on the virtual reality chess game from the 'What is Reality' episode. You'll find these a real challenge.

Avoid the Sega Genesis version of BTAS. It's total rubbish. Frustrating gameplay, ridiculously hard, and it doesn't borrow anything from the actual show other than the character designs. Plus it's really low on villains. Only uses Joker, Harley, Two Face, Mad Hatter and Mr. Freeze.

I just beat the game and “Riddle Me This…” was my favorite level, but the second part was hard. I died so much. I noticed that the riddles are taken from the episodes too, it was a neat level. The minotaur was tough, but the King and the Queen were so difficult, especially when the last of the two push you into the empty chess spaces.

“The Gauntlet” was extremely difficult; the hardest bosses for me were Scarecrow and Joker. Clayface, Catwoman, Penguin, and Man-Bat weren’t all that hard.

I watched some gameplay of it, and it looks dull to me. I’ll pass on it.

I know this thread is about older games, but I was wondering how good the Arkham series is, I’ve got an Xbox 360 and bought an Xbox One earlier this year, and I was planning on buying some more games. Would you recommend them?

 

[The Joker]

I just beat the game and “Riddle Me This…” was my favorite level, but the second part was hard. I died so much. I noticed that the riddles are taken from the episodes too, it was a neat level. The minotaur was tough, but the King and the Queen were so difficult, especially when the last of the two push you into the empty chess spaces.

“The Gauntlet” was extremely difficult; the hardest bosses for me were Scarecrow and Joker. Clayface, Catwoman, Penguin, and Man-Bat weren’t all that hard.

I watched some gameplay of it, and it looks dull to me. I’ll pass on it.

I know this thread is about older games, but I was wondering how good the Arkham series is, I’ve got an Xbox 360 and bought an Xbox One earlier this year, and I was planning on buying some more games. Would you recommend them?

Yeah that whole shattering squares on the chess board was the bane of that section of the game. The trick is to keep jumping from the intersecting line between each square. That way you always make the jump.

Really you found Scarecrow hard on Gauntlet? I thought he was easier than he was on his own level, because you didn't have that mini plane swerving and dipping giving him angular advantages to shoot you. Here he was on flat steady ground and it was easy to dodge his gun shots.

This thread isn't just for the older games. It's for all the Batman games. You can discuss the Arkham games here as much as you like. I just chose to talk about the older games in my post because they're not discussed as much as the Arkham games are.

I don't think any Batman fan, or gamer fan for that matter would hesitate in recommending the Arkham games to you. That are beyond brilliant. The love and craft that goes into them puts them head and shoulders above all superhero games. Even if you were not a Batman fan, you'd love them for the brilliant games they are.

Buy them A.S.A.P. Pengy. You have my word that you won't regret it.

 

[Cain]

I was always partial to the NES games.

They were like unofficial followups to Ninja Gaiden just with a Batman theme. Best of both worlds.

 

[Decepticonus]

I was always partial to the NES games.

They were like unofficial followups to Ninja Gaiden just with a Batman theme. Best of both worlds.

Yeah and had really cool music even though it wasn't the Elfman, it sounded very Batman-ish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCA_msAEn8k

 

[Penguin]

Yeah that whole shattering squares on the chess board was the bane of that section of the game. The trick is to keep jumping from the intersecting line between each square. That way you always make the jump.

Really you found Scarecrow hard on Gauntlet? I thought he was easier than he was on his own level, because you didn't have that mini plane swerving and dipping giving him angular advantages to shoot you. Here he was on flat steady ground and it was easy to dodge his gun shots.

This thread isn't just for the older games. It's for all the Batman games. You can discuss the Arkham games here as much as you like. I just chose to talk about the older games in my post because they're not discussed as much as the Arkham games are.

I don't think any Baman fan, or gamer fan for that matter would hesitate in recommending the Arkham games to you. That are beyond brilliant. The love and craft that goes into them puts them head and shoulders above all superhero games. Even if you were not a Batman fan, you'd love them for the brilliant games they are.

Buy them A.S.A.P. Pengy. You have my word that you won't regret it.

I could get used to the plane rocking back and forth on the first boss fight of his, but the second one seemed much harder. He seemed much more aggressive in the second boss fight; he kept spamming that gun of his.

I’m probably going to preorder Arkham Knight then, and try to find the other three games around where I live. I wouldn’t doubt if I could get them for dirt cheap since the dates on them aren’t very recent.

I checked out the voice actors for Asylum, and it’s nice to see Conroy, Hamill, and Sorkin reprise their roles again. The game looks like Nolan’s version of BTAS, it has the realism of the Dark Knight trilogy, but it also has the surreal look and feel of BTAS.

Which one would you say is the best of the series currently?

 

[The Joker]

I could get used to the plane rocking back and forth on the first boss fight of his, but the second one seemed much harder. He seemed much more aggressive in the second boss fight; he kept spamming that gun of his.

I’m probably going to preorder Arkham Knight then, and try to find the other three games around where I live. I wouldn’t doubt if I could get them for dirt cheap since the dates on them aren’t very recent.

I checked out the voice actors for Asylum, and it’s nice to see Conroy, Hamill, and Sorkin reprise their roles again. The game looks like Nolan’s version of BTAS, it has the realism of the Dark Knight trilogy, but it also has the surreal look and feel of BTAS.

Which one would you say is the best of the series currently?

Well firing the gun was really the only attack move he had, so I never noticed a difference there, except on the Scarecrow level it was harder to dodge because of the moving plane.

I'd advise you play the other Arkham games before you play Arkham Knight. You'll appreciate the game story much more since they're all tied together. It would be like watching the third part of a trilogy first. Arkham Asylum and Arkham City are the first two parts, and Arkham Origins is a prequel.

As to which game is best, it depends who you ask as everyone has their favorite. For gameplay I'd give it to Arkham City. For story it's Arkham Origins by a long way. Sorry that's not a clear definitive answer. If I had to choose I'd probably go with Origins. But you could pick any of them and it would be a solid choice. They are all brilliant. The Penguin has a prominent role in two of them. And he's going to be in Arkham Knight, too.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

I wore this game out as a kid...

It was genuinely quite hard at times and the gliding system was all over the place, but it didn't matter. It was a proper console game based on Batman: The Animated Series (with the voice cast to boot) and I simply ate it up.

While it's sequel had improved graphics and the ability to play as Nightwing, the beat-em-up style was just never my thing.

Also, did anybody have this when they were younger?

 

[Penguin]

Well firing the gun was really the only attack move he had, so I never noticed a difference there, except on the Scarecrow level it was harder to dodge because of the moving plane.

I'd advise you play the other Arkham games before you play Arkham Knight. You'll appreciate the game story much more since they're all tied together. It would be like watching the third part of a trilogy first. Arkham Asylum and Arkham City are the first two parts, and Arkham Origins is a prequel.

As to which game is best, it depends who you ask as everyone has their favorite. For gameplay I'd give it to Arkham City. For story it's Arkham Origins by a long way. Sorry that's not a clear definitive answer. If I had to choose I'd probably go with Origins. But you could pick any of them and it would be a solid choice. They are all brilliant. The Penguin has a prominent role in two of them. And he's going to be in Arkham Knight, too.

Thanks for the recommendation, Joker. I preordered Arkham Knight last night off Amazon, so I’ll be set for that. I called a local game shop and one of the employees said they had the other three games. I’m in luck. Oh, and yeah, I’ll play them in order so I can get an understanding of the story.

I think the one I’ll like the best is Arkham City, but Origins and Asylum look magnificent. Asylum looks to have almost a horror type feel to it, and Origins would be awesome, I’d love to see some of the characters in their younger days.

Penguin looks cool, and that cockney accent actually fits him! I never thought any sort of accent like that would be fitting. Though, then again, Paul Williams had a quasi-British accent for the character. I hope the characterization of Penguin is still that wily crime lord with a love for what he does. I feel that now they try to make him a little too depressing. The design looks cool, but I miss the monocle, top hat, and cigarette holder, that cigar makes him seem too much like a stereotypical crime lord to me.

On a side note, I’ve heard some horrors about an SNES game based on Batman Forever, I’m going to attempt to beat it. I’ll update everyone on my progress.

 

[The Joker]

I wore this game out as a kid...

It was genuinely quite hard at times and the gliding system was all over the place, but it didn't matter. It was a proper console game based on Batman: The Animated Series (with the voice cast to boot) and I simply ate it up.

While it's sequel had improved graphics and the ability to play as Nightwing, the beat-em-up style was just never my thing.

Yeah it is a tough game. I can't see kids having an easy time with it. The thing I found annoying was that awkward system of changing gadgets. It left you wide open to being attacked while your sifting through all the gadgets trying to find the one you want, and you have to be in that aim mode, too.

I also disliked that they used the TNBA Joker design, which I'm not a big fan of with it's big black circle eyes and no red lips etc.

I never played the sequel, Rise of Tzin Zu or what ever it's called. Heard too many bad things about it to bother with it.

Also, did anybody have this when they were younger?

No, was it any good?

Thanks for the recommendation, Joker. I preordered Arkham Knight last night off Amazon, so I’ll be set for that. I called a local game shop and one of the employees said they had the other three games. I’m in luck. Oh, and yeah, I’ll play them in order so I can get an understanding of the story.

I think the one I’ll like the best is Arkham City, but Origins and Asylum look magnificent. Asylum looks to have almost a horror type feel to it, and Origins would be awesome, I’d love to see some of the characters in their younger days.

Penguin looks cool, and that cockney accent actually fits him! I never thought any sort of accent like that would be fitting. Though, then again, Paul Williams had a quasi-British accent for the character. I hope the characterization of Penguin is still that wily crime lord with a love for what he does. I feel that now they try to make him a little too depressing. The design looks cool, but I miss the monocle, top hat, and cigarette holder, that cigar makes him seem too much like a stereotypical crime lord to me.

On a side note, I’ve heard some horrors about an SNES game based on Batman Forever, I’m going to attempt to beat it. I’ll update everyone on my progress.

Good on you. AK looks like the most epic one yet. But definitely do grab the other games and play them first. There's just under 2 weeks until Arkham Knight comes out. You could have an Arkham marathon. Trust me they are that addictive that you probably will.

Penguin is a great wily villain in these games, particularly in Arkham City. He has a museum base, filled with all kinds of nasty horrors, including a giant pet shark, and something else I won't spoil on you but he saves it last for Batman.

I never played the SNES version of BF, just the Sega Genesis one, which was total rubbish. So whether the SNES version is better or not I don't know.

 

[Penguin]

Bought all three of them today dirt cheap. I’ll probably go ahead and play Origins over the next couple of days then continue to the next one in the series.

Great, to see Penguin have such a big role is nice, and to truly be a dangerous monster of a man. Ah, that’s pretty cool, it’s like his own castle or fortress. I wouldn’t mind seeing Two-Face or the Riddler having big roles too.

I played the SNES version on my emulator just now, and its complete garbage. It’s like they were trying to make Batman into Mortal Kombat.

 

[Travesty]

The NES game is still my favorite.

I never even played BR on Genesis.

 

[the fixer]

I played the SNES version on my emulator just now, and its complete garbage. It’s like they were trying to make Batman into Mortal Kombat.

I got the Batman Forever game on my SNES when it came out and got stuck somewhere in the first level. Couldn't get past it.
I remember calling the Nintendo Hotline for help but they said they couldn't help me 'cos the game was too new. A week or so later I called again but the advice they gave me didn't seem to help. I called again some time later and they told me to do something completely different, which didn't seem to help me get past that point either. I guess they just made stuff up.

Apparently (and I learnt this from wachting gameplay footage on youtube recently) there's some dark area where you can drop to the floor below. It isn't clear at all since there's no way to know that there IS a level below. Phooey.