Game: Batman
Release: 1989
Format: NES
Early games don't have the sheen or gloss that our current
generation of systems have; it's not an issue, but something a lot of folks
don't remember with the fondness that we do. Daily cleaning of Nintendo and
Sega cartridges that got too dusty; swabbing with Q-Tips and light amount of
alcohol, as if we were polishing non-existent sports trophies. To a lot of kids
in the late 80s, the Batman video game was a fantastic moment to step
out of the overalls the Mario Brothers gave us and enter the gritty world of
Batman—who happened to be bright purple!
The other issue with this game adaptation of Tim Burton's
film would be no sign of the Joker until the ending. The final boss, who you'd
fight multiple times, was Firefly—marking one of the rare appearances of the
pyro-friendly character. Still, this kid's game wasn't completely without teeth—you
got to see the actual death of Jack Nicholson's Joker, which wouldn't happen
for a lot of us until the VHS tapes came out.
