BATMAN Retro Games Archive (1986-2005) P.2

[Azrael]

A spiritual successor to Batman Vengeance with a mix of simplified elements from other games (including stealth and BurnOut-like racing), Batman Begins was a step in the right direction for the definitive interactive Batman experience. It's maybe the most satisfying pre-Rocksteady Batman video game since it really gives the feeling of playing the movie, with many of the film's actors reprising their roles.

Trivia: Among the graphics staff was legendary pixel artist Henk Nieborg, whose credits include some of the best looking 2D games like Lionheart and Lomax.

The Adventures of Batman & Robin for SNES and Sega Genesis are totally different games, and both quite good. The SNES is a traditional action/platform where Robin makes only a cameo appearance, while the Genesis is a Contra-clone with 2-player co-op, excellent visuals and non-stop action. The Game Boy version is also a solid platformer.

Ubi Soft's Batman: Vengeance was the earliest attempt in making a Batman interactive movie, featuring members of the original cast including Kevin Conroy and Mark Hammil. It seems the action element proved to be the most popular since it was followed up by a top down beat'em'up, 2003's Rise of Sin Tzu. Both worth playing, and both accompanied by forgettable portable versions for the Game Boy Advance (to be fair, GBA's Sin Tzu is vastly superior to Vengeance, but still mediocre)

The Sega CD game is notable for the animated cutscenes, exclusively created for the game, and often referred to as "The Lost Episode".

WayForward's Nintendo exclusives based on the Brave and the Bold animated series were excellent retro-styled side-scrollers - the Wii version in particular felt like an upgrade to the SNES game.

THE GOOD

• The Adventures of Batman & Robin (1995, Sega, MD)
• The Adventures of Batman & Robin (1994, Konami, SNES)
• Batman: The Animated Series (1993, Konami, GB)
• Batman Vengeance (2001, Ubi Soft, NGC, PS2, XB, PC)
• Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu (2003, Ubi Soft, NGC, PS2, XB)
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2010, Wii, NDS)

THE SO-SO

• The Adventures of Batman Robin (1995, Sega, SCD)
• Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu (2003, Ubi Soft, GBA)

THE BAD

• The Adventures of Batman Robin (1995, Sega, GG)
• Batman: Vengeance (2001, Ubisoft, GBA)
• Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (PSX, N64)
• The New Batman Adventures: Chaos in Gotham (GBC)
• Batman: Gotham City Racer (PSX)

Dark Tomorrow actually has pretty good music.