Batman Returns 1.0

Batman Returns is a video game for various platforms based on the movie of the same name. The Sega console versions (i.e. Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Mega-CD, Master System and Game Gear) were published by Sega themselves while the Nintendo, and Super NES versions were published and developed by Konami. The PC version was published by Konami and developed by Spirit of Disovery. The Amiga version, was developed by Denton Designs, but the publisher is remain as same as NES, SNES and PC Versions. There is also an Atari Lynx version, published by Atari themselves.

The SNES version of the game, arguably the most popular, was released in 1993. It was fundamentally a left-to-right scrolling fighter beat-em-up, a genre that featured heavily on the console at the time.

The game took the player through seven scenes featured in the film. Various members of the Red Triangle Circus Gang attack Batman throughout the game. Batman has a number of weapons and moves at his disposal, including a standard punch, and the batarang. Each level would end with a boss character, which would require a little more effort to defeat. A number of levels were two-dimensional platform levels as opposed to the majority of the pseudo-3D levels where freer movement was permitted. The fifth level consists of driving the Batmobile in a chase scene where he must chase bikers and a heavily-armed van from the gang. In order to defeat them, the Batmobile uses a machine gun.

Reviews of the game were generally mixed, with criticism being made of the lack of originality, despite the game`s high quality of gameplay mechanics and balanced difficulty level. It should be noted that this genre was prevalent on the 16-bit consoles of the time, with many similar games on the market, most of which were sub-par. However, mention and praise was made of the quality of the graphics, sound and atmosphere (with music adapted from Danny Elfman`s score for the film), all of which pushed the console to its limits.