It’s Batman day, and that means we’re all dressed up and running around the office like the Dark Knight, pretending to shoot grappling hooks and freaking out the local people at the food truck by screaming, “SWEAR TO ME!” But we’re also playing some of the greatest Batman video games out there, including Batman on the NES; Batman Returns on the SNES; and obviously the Batman: Arkham trilogy.
Videos by ComicBook.com
But believe it or not, there are a few Batman-related games that managed to slip through the cracks, if only because they didn’t get big distribution or even a U.S. release. We thought we’d celebrate Batman day by looking at these obscure titles that are worth checking out again.
Batman (NEC, PC Engine)
While Batman got plenty of attention on the NES and SNES platforms back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, one game went pretty much completely unnoticed, due to its lack of a U.S. release. Batman for the PC Engine was different from other Dark Knight games on the market, since it worked more from a top-down perspective with Pac-Man style play, as you worked your way through mazes, dodging criminals and collecting enough items to move on to the next stage. More than likely, NEC didn’t give this a chance on the U.S. market because of licensing issues. Too bad – it’s actually a pretty neat game.
Batman (Atari, Arcade)
Batman has gotten a lot of love in arcades over the years, but a lot of players might have missed out on Atari’s initial 1990 offering, which very closely followed the movie and featured a number of side-scrolling stages where you battled the Joker’s goons. The game features authentic audio clips from the movie (“Wait’ll they get a load of me!”), along with a pretty cool Batmobile stage. Obviously, some later Batman games (like Raw Thrills’ arcade beast) got the formula done better, but for an early 90’s game, this wasn’t half bad.
Batman Forever: The Arcade Game (Acclaim, Arcade/Saturn/PlayStation)
While the home release of Batman Forever left people cowering in fear (for all the wrong reasons), the arcade release by Acclaim fared a little bit better – mainly because it took its action into overdrive. This side-scrolling beat-em-up features psychedelic graphics and fun audio clips from the film of the same name, as Batman and Robin attempt to save the day from the Riddler and Two-Face. While the game’s a bit too hyper for its own good, it’s a decent romp if you can find the arcade edition. There’s also a home version, but it’s high in demand, selling for usually over $100 on eBay – and that’s just for the disc.
Batman Returns (Atari Lynx, Atari)
Atari decided to step into the fray with licensed Batman games with this movie-licensed release, a side-scrolling action game with a severe amount of difficulty. How severe, you ask? You basically have one life, and literally anything – even a blast from a nearby building if you don’t find proper cover – can kill you. The game did receive some praise from hardcore Lynx fans, but failed to really grasp the public like Atari was hoping, mainly due to its challenging level of play. Still, for those that want a tough Caped Crusader game, it doesn’t get much crazier than this. Step up.
Batman: Toxic Chill (The Learning Company, PC)
Yes, someone thought up the idea to produce an educational Batman game. But this isn’t Mario Is Missing by any means. Instead, Toxic Chill has Batman and Robin going up against the Riddler and Mr. Freeze as they attempt to turn Gotham City into a toxic mess. While the gameplay isn’t really that exciting, there’s some neat puzzle solving here, with three different difficulty settings in case you’re in the mood for a challenge. It’s not the most educative game out there, but if you need to learn, it might as well be from Batman, right? Or at least Mr. Freeze.
BONUS: The Revenge of Shinobi (Sega, Sega Genesis)
Batman in a ninja game? Hey, why not? Sega came up with the crazy idea of pitting Joe Musashi against a number of evil forces at one point in this popular sequel, including knock-offs of Godzilla, Spider-Man and everyone’s favorite Caped Crusader. Unfortunately, that got them into a world of legal trouble, so they eventually reached a settlement with everyone and tinkered with the bosses so they weren’t so exact to their devoted counterparts. That said, we’d love to see more games where Batman beats the crap out of ninjas. (And there may be one out there,
