• Light/Dark

Holy Pixels, Batman! What is the best pre-Arkham/LEGO Batman game?

Nananananananana BAT GAMES!

  • Batman (Sunsoft, NES)

    Votes: 68 45.3%

  • Return of the Joker (Sunsoft, NES)

    Votes: 4 2.7%

  • Adventures of Batman and Robin (Konami, SNES)

    Votes: 23 15.3%

  • Adventures of Batman and Robin (Genesis)

    Votes: 23 15.3%

  • Batman Returns (NES, Konami)

    Votes: 5 3.3%

  • Other

    Votes: 27 18.0%
  • Total voters
    150
Zan

Zan

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,732
For whatever reason, people just can't get enough of the Caped Crusader. He's probably gotten the better half of DC-based games compared to Supes (even without counting 64) and the rest of the JL. It's also safe to say that the Arkham series and LEGO Batman changed the possibilities of what a Batman game could be. But I want to do sometging a little bit different...

I want to know what is the best pre Arkham/LEGO Batman game. Could it be Sunsoft's NES classic? The well-regarded Konami developed titles? The Genesis game based off of Bruce Timm's first show? Maybe even Sin Tzu?
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,177
Batman NES is a lot of fun, and has a top 5 all-timer OST. Very little about the actual game relates to Batman, but whatever lol
 
Jubilant Duck

Jubilant Duck

Member
Oct 21, 2022
7,310
Shinobi III

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Starlatine

Starlatine

533.489 paid youtubers cant be wrong
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
31,107
The Sega CD beat'em'up

No i did not stutter

The open-worldish PS1 game is interesting too but i just saw videos of it, never played
 
Jimnymebob

Jimnymebob

Member
Oct 26, 2017
20,277
Batman on the Amiga is my favourite, along with Batman the Caped Crusader for the Amiga, although that one was more a thing of thinking the concept was cool more so than the execution lol.
 
LohanKain

LohanKain

Member
Oct 25, 2017
35
Brazil
My favorite is Batman Returns for Master System, music from Yuzo Koshiro and a great gameplay, it's from a japanese developer Aspect.

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Tendo

Tendo

Member
Oct 26, 2017
10,720
Oh man. What a great lineup of games. I gotta go with the nes Batman and Return of the Joker. Great super hard platforming, killer soundtracks. Still replay those from time to time.
 
Bunkem

Bunkem

Prophet of Truth
Member
Aug 25, 2021
1,446
Batman: The Movie on Amiga is probably my favourite, loved the driving levels in particular, bataranging streetlights!
 
OneTrueJack

OneTrueJack

Member
Aug 30, 2020
5,043
The Batman Begins tie-in game. It's basically a proto- Arkham game and the batmobile levels were sick.

Bale also provides the voice work, and his Batman voice for the game is arguably better than one he uses in the films (SWEAR TO ME!!!).
 
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Het_Nkik

Het_Nkik

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,637
I played Adventures of Batman & Robin on Genesis so much even though it was too hard and just straight up really bad sometimes (the shmup level just KEEPS ON GOING). But Jesus it LOOKS amazing.
 
No Depth

No Depth

Member
Oct 27, 2017
18,841
I'm convinced the first level of Adv. of Batman and Robin on Genesis is impossible to beat. Enemies are relentless in their infinite spawns and take way too much damage. Your mobility cannot compete easily. It's such a cool game ruined by shit balancing!

The SNES animated Adv. game was pretty cool though, easily able to complete(with practice) and is pretty faithful to the show. Lots of variety in the levels(episodes).

Sunsoft NES was a classic and my pick. Also hard but has incredible music and visuals. Gadget and mobility was awesome and with patience can be toppled, but it is a challenge. Hard not to pick it even if I have a soft spot for the SNES game.

Sega CD/Genesis Returns game was meh. Sega CD car segments were technically awesome but not well designed and poorly balanced. The clown truck in the first stage alone will cause most to give up like the Genesis Batman and Robin game. It's stupidly balanced.

Batman Returns SNES is a pretty solid beat-em-up. Looks astounding for its time and captured the tone and feel of the film well. It's a simplistic game but one of the more solid licensed games.
 
Ostron

Ostron

Member
Mar 23, 2019
2,059
I have a soft spot for Batman Returns on Mega Drive... so that's my vote goddamnit.
 
Yang Xiao Long

Yang Xiao Long

Member
Oct 27, 2017
470
I vote for The Adventures of Batman and Robin on the SNES specifically. Every stage has you choose your "load out" of gadgets to bring along, and levels have some fun variety; some feature platforming, one is a straight up Metroidvania, one is a top down shooter-esque stage that has you driving the Batmobile, one is a 3D maze, etc.

The graphics are fantastic for the hardware and the OST does very well in adapting many of Shirley Walker's sublime character themes from the TV show. It also features neat little bits of detail, like how you can legit batarang weapons from the hands of foes wielding guns.

It's very well done and to this day remains one of my favorite Batman games.
 
Rune Walsh

Rune Walsh

Too many boners
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,623
The Spoony Hou said:
Why Batman Returns nes and not snes? The nes one is shitty.
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This. Batman Returns on SNES is a great side-scroller. It was really satisfying throwing guys against a wall.

Ouroboros said:
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Batman Return of the Joker for GAMEBOY. I don't know how many hours I threw at this game back when.

Has a banging soundtrack, too (Stage 3 - The Train is amazing). Composer was Manami Matsumae, who composed the original Mega Man.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEWz5_dDWUQ
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Holy hell at this soundtrack! That is top-tier stuff.
 
boontobias

boontobias

Avenger
Apr 14, 2018
9,894
Batman Rise of Sin Tzu was good coop fun. The villain being a yellowface Fu Manchu type character is pretty wild though.
 
Patitoloco

Patitoloco

Member
Oct 27, 2017
24,084
For me it's Batman Begins.
I think people would be surprised how much of a prototype of the Arkham games it is, especially regarding stealth.
 

GardenPepper

Member
Oct 28, 2017
20,235
I love the NES game but the SNES game is an underrated gem that not enough people got to play. It's brilliant.
 

RockyBalboa_

Member
Apr 28, 2018
1,526
Batman Vengeance (had it on ps2, got it on pc sometime later).

Batman: the caped crusader

Batman: The Movie (had the c64 version, but the Amiga version ruled)
 
Ruu

Ruu

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,006
Adventures of Batman and Robin on the genesis isn't just my favorite pre arkham batman its my favorite Batman game period. The music alone puts it in a tier above everything else which is wild to say considering how good the nes batman music is as well.
 
get2sammyb

get2sammyb

Editor at Push Square
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
3,133
UK
I personally really enjoyed Batman Begins on PS2. I haven't played it since it was new so I imagine it's mostly nostalgia, but I remember having a good time with it and being pleasantly surprised. (As movie tie-ins were mostly crap at the time.)
 
plagiarize

plagiarize

Khive rise up
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
28,283
Cape Cod, MA
Batman: The Movie on Amiga. Although I never knew what the heck I was doing with the batcave lab stuff. Driving the batmobile was awesome and made beating that first stage so worth it.
 

mclem

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,858
Jimnymebob said:
Batman on the Amiga is my favourite, along with Batman the Caped Crusader for the Amiga, although that one was more a thing of thinking the concept was cool more so than the execution lol.
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That was actually going to be my nomination (although the Spectrum version from my perspective); more of "Batman as World's Greatest Detective" vibes that are often omitted from a lot of Batman-centric media (and something Arkham did great to bring back into the limelight), and I really loved the 'comic book panel' aesthetic.

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However, I do think that "A Bird In The Hand" was better of the two stories, it flowed more competently; I always had a nagging suspicion that "A Fete Worse Than Death" was rushed out, since the path to completion always felt a bit abstract.


I do also have to nominate Batman on the ZX Spectrum - by all reasonable arguments a terrible *Batman* game, it's very much "Batman has been grafted onto this game" - but it's an *excellent* game, better than many Batman games that were better representations of the character, not least because it's an early implementation of the Jon Ritman / Bernie Drummond isometric platformer formula, later perfected with Head Over Heels (to this day one of my favourite games) and later Monster Max on the Gameboy.

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Zaied

Zaied

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,672
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Splinter Cell lite with an art direction and tone lifted straight from the film. Also has most of the actors from the movie reprising their roles; Michael Caine did a really nice job voicing Alfred as Bruce's Lambert during the missions. The stealth and AI weren't as refined as SC, and it does force a few too many combat encounters, but that's to be expected since it is a Batman game. It had several neat concepts that even the Arkham series would later utilize such as the fear mechanic, causing havoc in the environment, and interrogating criminals.

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CDN media

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Prior to Arkham Knight, I'd say it also had the best Batmobile gameplay since it was very reminiscent of Burnout. It wouldn't surprise me if Rocksteady was influenced by those missions when designing the Batmobile for Arkham Knight. I actually wish there were a couple of more levels where we got to drive the Tumbler around in Batman Begins because it was very fun to control.


View: https://youtu.be/NrigL5FoMr4?si=hEp62I3VKLJd7UGX
 
xmonkeyofevil

xmonkeyofevil

Member
Jun 9, 2019
538
I'm just gonna add on to the Batman Begins love. 'Proto-Arkham' is a wonderful way of describing the game, and there's some gadgets and stealth mechanics it used that I wish more Batman games would have borrowed.
 
Kurtly64

Kurtly64

Member
Dec 11, 2017
46
Man, I have some distant memories of playing that beat'em up SNES Batman. Why the hell haven't we got a retro collection of all these older Batman games again?! TMNT got the treatment, so can Batman! Surely WB has the rights to them all.
 
Bathory

Bathory

Member
Dec 8, 2020
832
Played a lot of Batman and Robin on PSONE growing up, but I don't remember it it was any good, of the ones that I played the best one was Batman Begins.
 
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