The Arkham series of Batman games have largely erased the years of terrible and mediocre games that the caped crusader starred in. Heck, most kids nowadays can’t even remember a time when Batman started in any game that didn’t win some sort of Game of The Year award. But we remember, we always remember…
Below you will find five seemingly obscure games based on our favorite brooding hero. Many of these titles are actually worth your time if you can track down a copy, while others are best left forgotten.
BATMAN (1986)
Simply titled ‘Batman’ the games was a 3D isometric based action-adventure game released by Ocean. You know, the company that released the stunning ‘Water World’ for the Nintendo Virtual Boy. The game wasn’t released in the United States and was exclusive to our friends across the pond releasing on the Amstrad PCW, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and MSX Microcomputer.
The game tasks you (Batman) to rescue your young ward Robin by collecting seven parts of the Batcraft hovercraft (it was a different time) that are scattered around the Batcave, because why would Batman keep his vehicles in one piece.
The gameplay takes place in a 3D isometric world and is notable for implementing an early example of a system that allows players to restart from an intermediate point in the game on the loss of all lives rather than returning all the way to the start. The checkpoints in this case are known as “Batstones” because “Batballs” was presumably taken.
‘Batman’ was well received by the computer game magazines at the time. Famed ‘Crash Magazine’ gave it a rating of 93%, ‘Your Sinclair’ scored it 9/10 and ‘Sinclair User’ gave it five stars rating it as a “classic”. For the Dark Knights first outing the game was pretty fantastic, even if Batman looked like he had a slight beer belly.
Batman: The Caped Crusader (1988)
After hitting it big, Ocean tried to capitalize on the Batman licence by releasing another game, this time releasing it in North America. With two years of advancements in home computer technology, users were expecting another hit, but instead, Ocean outsourced the game because they couldn’t be bothered to create a sequel to their own hit game.
Batman; The Caped Crusader is an side-scrolling action adventure game developed by Special FX Software and published by Ocean Software for the 8-bit European home computers such as the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 and by Data East in the United States for other platforms such as the Apple II, Commodore Amiga and PC in 1988
Best known for using comic book style panels to show the action. In this game, Batman is faced with two of his most well-known adversaries, The Penguin and The Joker with the game split into two different parts, one for each villain. These parts can be played in any order.
Despite outsourcing the game was again well received upon release. Criticism was leveled on it’s reliance on mazes and puzzles. While the graphics were outstanding for the time, the game didn’t feature any scrolling, rather relying on new comic panels popping up when changing game screens.
BATMAN (1990)
After the release of the hit Tim Burton Batman movie, everyone wanted to get in on the Dark Knight. While we did manage to get the incredible ‘Batman’ on the Nintendo Entertainment System, one of the best games released on the system, we also got a lot of crap. Strangely enough, Sunsoft, makers of the incredible NES game also released a completely different ‘Batman’ on the PC Engine in Japan.
‘Batman’ is essentially what happens when you take Pac-Man and throw Batman in it instead. The game is maze-based and split into a number of different locations loosely based on the film, each with 12 small to medium sized stages.
These stages are inhabited by the Joker’s henchmen who wander aimlessly around waiting until Batman comes along and punches them. Each stage has a set objective that varies from level to level in an attempt to keep things interesting. Unfortunately, the game tends to become extremely repetitive after a short time
Batman Forever (1995)
Jumping forward a few years, we get the utterly abysmal Batman Forever based on the pretty average Batman film of the same name. The game was built on the same engine used for the console version of Mortal Kombat, because why make something new when you can recycle. This being the case, the characters (Batman or Robin) move like they are in the fighting game. In addition, both have a supply of items in order to help them in diverse tasks.
If you ever wanted a reason why games didn’t use fighting game engines for other types of games you need only play Batman Forever. The Super NES and Mega Drive/Genesis versions were developed by Acclaim Studios London and published by Acclaim Entertainment. The Sega Game Gear, Nintendo Game Boy and PC versions were developed by Probe Entertainment.
(Pro Tip: They were all terrible)
The controls are largely based on the Mortal Kombat move lists requiring precise key sequences to execute moves. Some gadget moves involve moving away from the enemy right before pressing a punch or kick button, which creates problems since the game only keeps the players facing enemies if they’re close enough to each other.
As you can imagine the game was met with largely negative reviews. Overly cryptic and complicated control schemes coupled with poor game design lead to this title stinking up many a home.
Batman & Robin (1997)
A terrible game based on an equally terrible film, Batman & Robin was a failure on all levels. It also hold the distinction of being the only Batman based title released on the Game.Com portable handheld system. It was of course a perfect fit, a failure of movie, turned into a failure of a game, on a failed system that nobody owned.
The PlayStation version of the game uses various elements of Sandbox style games, such as real time events, traffic simulation and civilian population. The player can choose one of the film’s three heroes, Batman, Robin or Batgirl with each character having a unique vehicle they can pilot. Batman drives the Batmobile, Robin the Redbird motorcycle and Batgirl uses the Batblade.
You spend the game running around Gotham and completing various missions, so of which are inspired from plot points of the film. If you can imagine playing a very poor mans Grand Theft Auto and stripping out all the fun, you get an idea of what Batman & Robin is all about.
Like the film, The PlayStation game was critically and commercially unsuccessful and was largely forgotten by gamers. The Game.Com version was equally terrible thanks in part to the Game.Com’s terrible screen that turned everything to mush when movement took place.
Batman: Gotham City Racer (2001)
Batman: Gotham City Racer is a racing game (because driving in circles is what I want from my Batman games) released in 2001 by Ubisoft for the Sony PlayStation console. The game is based on The New Batman Adventures television series and incorporated many clips from the series into the game. For those who don;t know the series, it is most definitely not a racing themed series. The game is so terrible most people don’t even know of its existence.
Just how terrible is the game? Well, even with the magic of the internet, finding any pertinent information on the game is a chore. It’s almost as if Ubisoft wants everyone to forget they ever made terrible games.
I can’t even really call this a racing as, more a drive around town until a TV clip happens game. Seriously, this is not only one of the worst games to grace the original Sony Playstation, but one of the worst games period.
Take a look for yourself:
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