With the departure of Sunsoft from the Batcave in 1992, the world of Batman video games was at a crossroads.
The previous (Sunsoft) titles were all very positive sellers, making the franchise as good in games as it was in movies. That meant bigger expectations, and of course, some re-negotiations. One thing that did carry over was some divvying of the license duties- for the 1989 Batman game Sunsoft handled the consoles, while Ocean created home PC types. But this time the big 2 split as well, creating two very different games, making for some unique console experiences.
Game juggernaut Konami handled the Super Nintendo’s version, and chronologically it actually follow the Genesis’ release in the US. Konami also did the NES version which was more timely in release, itself basically a port of this game, so I opted to do this one first to cover both of the Nintendo versions.
The Nintendo ports are naturally very similar, done in a side scrolling beat’ em up style, with boards and cutscenes based fairly well on the movie. The NES port does feel dated though, even for it’s time, especially compared to the 16-bit versions. It feels more or less like a Double Dragon knockoff, certainly due to the limitations of the system.
But the SNES version is a vastly superior experience, with excellent graphics and solid controls, making for a comparison to favorites like Turtles in Time, itself another Konami classic.
While fairly straightforward in terms of gameplay, there is no denying the satisfying nature of a good Batman game where you get to beat the crap out of circus freaks. It does have some repetitive elements, like all this genre does, but it does mix it up with lots of attacks and weapons, and it does include a driving level. The added button options the SNES “dogbone” offers are put to good use, and as I said before, the controls are very slick.
Interestingly, there isn’t a lot of unique or quirky elements to this game for me to point out, or warn a potential buyer about- this game is exactly what it looks like, and it looks and plays very satisfyingly, even by today’s standards. Sure, there’s not much that makes this game exclusively “Batman,” but what’s there is used to good effect. As most of the 3rd and 4th generation games aren’t known for their nuance of subtlety, it can be pretty hard to make something like a detective element work in a not clunky way, so it’s better not to. The only thing that does set it apart from your average scroller is the fact that, being Batman Returns, it is only a single player rumble, as opposed to the team affair of most it’s brethren.
So, to put it a simpler way, this is one of the last genuinely fun stop-offs on the Batman game saga that seriously any fan of this era in gaming should own, and it makes for a satisfying one player experience, and can often be had under $20. It is worth savoring, because things get a little weirder from here….
