Batman (nes)

The 1989 Tim Burton masterpiece, Batman was an unparalleled success. One of the highest grossing films of all-time, it became a cultural phenomenon. Merchandising for the film was in full swing.

Sunsoft, a Japanese developer, picked up the license for the film. Little did those programmers know that what they would create for the Nintendo Entertainment System would become legendary. And would have a legacy long after the NES' fade from the market.

One of the greatest games of our time, Batman: The Video Game has it all. Non-stop action, high difficulty, excellent music, stellar graphics, and a very, very fast pace.

The story, although small, is in-keeping with the adapted film. It is upheld throughout the game by short cinematic scenes between stages.
Gotham City, a large metropolis on the East Coast of the US, is getting ready to celebrate its 200th Anniversary. However, the town is corrupt. Run by crime and violence. Its citizens are constantly preyed upon.

Until now.

In steps a mysterious vigilante. The Batman. He's cleaning up the city, and the city's crime lords aren't happy about it. However, one such gangster, Carl Grissom, is having a bit of personal trouble. His right-hand man, Jack Napier, is sleeping with his girl. So Grissom sets up Jack to be killed by police during a break-in at the Axis Chemical factory. Batman arrives on-scene to capture Napier, but ends up dropping him into a vat of toxic chemicals.

However, Jack survives, and emerges, twisted physically and mentally as The Joker. The Joker kills Grissom and takes over all of the criminal syndicates in Gotham, planning for the destruction of the city. Only one man stands in his way.

Batman.

The game's graphics, although not the best the NES can offer, prove to be highly detailed, almost beautiful at times. The film's Oscar-winning production design survives well.... for the few levels that use it. The game chooses not to follow the movie as a normal game would, and past a few levels in the streets of Gotham itself, the design of the film is dropped in favor of a more realistic, gritty design. This isn't a big issue, however, it will niggle avid fans of the film.

Batman: The Video Game contains undoubtedly one of the best soundtracks ever produced on the NES. Perhaps one of the greatest of all time. Each stage receives its own pulse-pounding, highly ambient tunes. Compelling and atmospheric, the music works in times of danger, action, intensity, and sadness. The game's composers were true geniuses.

The game is a platformer. That statement is meant only loosely. This game does not play like any other platformer before-or-since. With slight similarities to other masterpieces such as Castevania and Ninja Gaiden, the game is different in the fact that it moves along at a frantic pace. Never stopping, never letting up, players are pushed, or more accurately compelled to move swiftly. The music helps create a sense of urgency, but the gameplay sustains it. The controls, which are mastered within literal seconds, lend themselves to quick use. This may lead one to believe that the game is over too quickly, but that, amazingly, isn't the case. Because of the difficulty.

This game is infamous for extremely taxing and exhausting difficulty. And it's true. The game plays out easy at first. The player learns fast, moves quickly, and is almost dumbfounded at the only slight challenge. Over a few levels, the difficulty rises slowly. Until suddenly, the player is slammed with some insane challenge. Coming back to it, the player finds a strategy to avoid or dispatch the obstacle. That is the magic of Batman: The Video Game. It is highly, highly difficult, but thanks to the unlimited continues, the player learns how to overcome the difficulty. The excellent controls also help. Making obstacles a cinch once the player learns their lesson from a sudden rise in challenge. The game never fails to make people sweat after barely surviving a hair-raising boss battle, or performing a narrow escape.

An excellent, excellent game. One of the best on the Nintendo Entertainment System, but also one of the greatest of all time. However, being a licensed title, it will never truly get the recognition it deserves except by hardcore gamers. A re-release would show the true value to people everywhere.

But no matter. Nothing can match the pure intensity or majesty of Batman: The Video Game. Nothing.

5 out of 5? Come on now, big fella! That's a bit extreme. The game was good, but the controls were very poor. Not very clean, a lot of times image detection was slightly off.

I'd say 2.5-3/5 max. Does this really compare with true 5star games like Zelda, Mario 3, Dragon Warrior, or Crystalis? Or Stinger? Or... you get it...

its the Streex scale, it knows no flaws.

ZeldAnTales wrote:

5 out of 5? Come on now, big fella! That's a bit extreme. The game was good, but the controls were very poor. Not very clean, a lot of times image detection was slightly off.

I'd say 2.5-3/5 max. Does this really compare with true 5star games like Zelda, Mario 3, Dragon Warrior, or Crystalis? Or Stinger? Or... you get it...

Dragon Warrior isn't quite a 5 star in my book. Maybe 4. Controls I wouldn't say were VERY poor, but the SLIGHT hit detection yes. So slight that it wasn't much of an issue. It was just a crazy fun game. Holds up too. Just beat it again a few months ago.

Triz wrote:

its the Streex scale, it knows no flaws.

You're a quick learner.

Now to be fair, it is a hard game and the controls really do suck. But at least it has a nice decent music for us to listen often.