Batman Video Game History

Game: The Revenge of Shinobi
Release: 1989
Format: Sega Genesis

After the success of Tim Burton's Batman, despite the WTF nature of casting Michael Keaton, it was like Bat-Mania swept the world. Everyone wanted a piece of the Caped Crusader. Even ninjas who had nothing to do with the DC Universe were more than happy to shoehorn themselves in.

If you had an original copy of Revenge of Shinobi, you'd also get impromptu cameos from the T-800, John Rambo, Spider-Man and even Godzilla. Even better is if you're a fan of Kill Bill, the original cover art did a not-so-subtle job of pasting Sonny "Hattori Hanzo" Chiba's face as that of main character, Joe Musashi. Still, Batman would be replaced in other builds of the game by a winged devil with a purple color swap that still suspiciously looks like the hero Gotham needs. If any point comes from this, it's simple: Batman is kind a of a dick boss when it comes to video games.

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.

Game: Batman: Return of the Joker
Release: 1991
Format: Genesis, Game Boy, Nintendo, SNES

This is only so high because of what the power-ups were, since everything else can get a bye due to being on a first-generation system. This "sequel" to the original Nintendo Batman casts off the movie plot and returns to a premise more geared in what the comics had in mind. Even better: the NES/SNES version was "Return of the Joker," while the Genesis was—continuing from the movie kinda-sorta—"Revenge of the Joker." Makes sense!

Oh and Batman used guns. His power-ups would provide him tools that suspiciously look like the same guns from Contra that spewed out a steady stream of batarangs. Which he would use to gun down crooks while platforming across a level, much like in Contra. In fact, call us crazy, but this played a lot like as if someone slapped Batman skins on a certain game made famous by a certain code you could input. Still, maybe this would be the last we'd ever see of the Joker.

Game: Batman Forever
Release: 1995
Format: SNES, Genesis, Game Gear, Game Boy, PC

There were many great things about Batman Forever, the third film in the franchise: Joel Schumacher returned the gothic overtones to a much lighter Adam West-era camp; Jim Carrey became a millionaire and I got to ask my mother why Batman and Robin suddenly had nipples. All things we never expected to happen! Still, this tie-in game brought great promise to many kids wishing for a better Batman experience on their Super Nintendos.

It introduced an entire generation to the format that video game developers and publishers can be super lazy! Take for example the unforgiving and yet strangely familiar control scheme here from Acclaim Studios: Batman and Robin wobbled around the stage, making their "special moves" almost impossible to pull off since a quarter-circle-forward motion would cause the heroes to spin around as if it was Danny Elfman night at the local...well, wherever Schumacher partied. But if you were familiar with the controls of Mortal Kombat, it became a breeze! Since Acclaim essentially imported the same control format into a platform brawler. Years later, angry gamers would play the Legend of Sub-Zero and realize they had been tricked once again.