"This is what makes Batman Forever the blockbuster movie of the year..."

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

"....This is what makes Batman Forever the video game the video game of the year".

Go on then, snort and giggle at that one. You know you want to  This game gave me headaches too to be fair but I gotta say I still loved it ("The Adventures of Batman and Robin" was to me the real spawn straight from hell itself). And hey, it's Batman Forever's 20th so why not?

Okay, so finally somebody has managed to post up the small making of documentary for the video game of Batman Forever from Acclaim. I've had this on a specially released VHS tape for years. In fact just solved my personal mystery of how I actually got it. Found this: http://collector-corners.co.uk/47/

A special game collectors set only released through British store Woolworths. My dad must have bought me this. I genuinely have no memory of it but it's the only possible explanation. It also came with the game itself and a Batman Forever diary book (which I also still own, never used in fact). It's amazing how trivial things get locked away somewhere in your brain for many years.

It's only a very small doc but you get to see how they used the film's real stuntmen, in costume to create the digitized characters. I actually think how they captured the backgrounds for the sets and look of the film was quite impressive. Don't know what some were on about saying the game looked a little bland. Some once asked me to post this up some time ago and I couldn't help them out. So here it is:

"You not only need fighting skills for this game you need fighting smarts!!"......Oooooh, no sh*t bub! lol See they only wanted to give you a realistic, genuine challenge....lol

[The Laughing Fish]

Let me guess...you had the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive version? If so, I had that version too, and it was better than the SNES port simply because it had voice clips of Two-Face and Riddler from the movie i.e. "If the Bat wants to play, we'll play!" and "Riddle me this, riddle me that!" (although the latter was too repetitive because it would play every time you pick up a green riddle icon to solve a clue).

The game itself was fun for a little while, but then I remembered getting tired reaching up to the Hippodrome level and found it too repetitive. The gadgets were okay, I'm glad we had a lot of variety of gadgets to choose from, but the taser trap was difficult to control. I love how they used Mortal Kombat-style attacks and how you could maneuver Batman into spinning around in his cape like a drill to block an attack completely (or a moving vehicle if I can remember). The Batsuit looked like the same costume worn in the movie, but Robin was totally different. He looked like he wore green leotards. But Two-Face's costume and makeup looked pretty spot-on.

Does anybody else remember how difficult Riddler was as the final boss where he wore that gigantic muscular super-suit? Or how quick Two-Face was to flip a coin to regain health? Or those annoying Two-Face thugs saying "Fugetaboutit!" every time you die? 

The Adventures of Batman and Robin" was to me the real spawn straight from hell itself)

Now I'm sure you had the Genesis/Mega Drive! That game was awesome, but way too difficult. I could never get past the Batwing level, where you had to chase after Two-Face's helicopter. I didn't get to complete the game until years later by using an emulator. 

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

Yep I had the exact problem. The irritating helicopter section of the Two-Face stage. Now fans rave about this dreadful game. It's quite clear it's simply because of it being an animated series spin-off and they tend to regard anything from that show much more favorably than a Batman Forever project. Wrongly in that games case though. You had thugs constantly leaping, running and shooting at you from every conceivable angle. It really was a complete bitch. Good graphics but highly unenjoyable to play.

I think the reason Robin looked so brightly lit is because they simply wanted him to read better on the dark levels and next to the other characters. I don't know if using the actual movie costume if it would have worked for their game.

My only real personal criticism of the game was the portrayal of Two-Face's girlfriends. Spice turned out excellent. You can bet it's Debi Mazar's likeness as close as you could expect. What the hell happened to Sugar? Where's Drew Barrymore??? Was it too extreme to punch a blond Marilyn Monroe/Madonna lady in white lace? I mean they even had a lady playing (very very briefly) Chase Meridian. There's a mystery there. 

I'm surprised the SNES version had no sound effects for voices. I always remember Two-Face's laugh and the Riddler's giggles. The Riddler Thugs were quite an interesting invention as a game foe with all their fancy special moves and abilities. I quite wished we had gotten them in the film but the closest the Riddler had to his own thugs were his frogmen. It always frustrated me you couldn't ever play as the Riddler in the training level where you could fight against a friend. Choosing his character was totally absent. Another slight flaw.

[Dagenspear]

Yep I had the exact problem. The irritating helicopter section of the Two-Face stage. Now fans rave about this dreadful game. It's quite clear it's simply because of it being an animated series spin-off and they tend to regard anything from that show much more favorably than a Batman Forever project. Wrongly in that games case though. You had thugs constantly leaping, running and shooting at you from every conceivable angle. It really was a complete bitch. Good graphics but highly unenjoyable to play.

I think the reason Robin looked so brightly lit is because they simply wanted him to read better on the dark levels and next to the other characters. I don't know if using the actual movie costume if it would have worked for their game.

My only real personal criticism of the game was the portrayal of Two-Face's girlfriends. Spice turned out excellent. You can bet it's Debi Mazar's likeness as close as you could expect. What the hell happened to Sugar? Where's Drew Barrymore??? Was it too extreme to punch a blond Marilyn Monroe/Madonna lady in white lace? I mean they even had a lady playing (very very briefly) Chase Meridian. There's a mystery there. 

I'm surprised the SNES version had no sound effects for voices. I always remember Two-Face's laugh and the Riddler's giggles. The Riddler Thugs were quite an interesting invention as a game foe with all their fancy special moves and abilities. I quite wished we had gotten them in the film but the closest the Riddler had to his own thugs were his frogmen. It always frustrated me you couldn't ever play as the Riddler in the training level where you could fight against a friend. Choosing his character was totally absent. Another slight flaw.

I disagree that it being hard makes it bad.

[The Laughing Fish]

Yep I had the exact problem. The irritating helicopter section of the Two-Face stage. Now fans rave about this dreadful game. It's quite clear it's simply because of it being an animated series spin-off and they tend to regard anything from that show much more favorably than a Batman Forever project. Wrongly in that games case though. You had thugs constantly leaping, running and shooting at you from every conceivable angle. It really was a complete bitch. Good graphics but highly unenjoyable to play.

I still enjoyed the game, but you're quite right about the outrageous level of difficulty. I forgot to mention that I used a cheat to skip levels in order to complete the game with an emulator.    It truly was one of the hardest games I've ever played, so I definitely won't begrudge you for not liking it.

I can objectively say that the SNES version of BTAS was much better. Unlike the techno-rave beat of the Sega one, the SNES port had music identical to the show, the gameplay was reasonable, it even included a password system, and you had to use your smarts sometimes i.e. overcoming obstacles in the dark when the Penguin takes control of a museum, and overcoming riddles in the Riddler's virtual reality world in order to save Gordon and Barbara (which must have been loosely based on the episode What is Reality?).

My only real personal criticism of the game was the portrayal of Two-Face's girlfriends. Spice turned out excellent. You can bet it's Debi Mazar's likeness as close as you could expect. What the hell happened to Sugar? Where's Drew Barrymore??? Was it too extreme to punch a blond Marilyn Monroe/Madonna lady in white lace? I mean they even had a lady playing (very very briefly) Chase Meridian. There's a mystery there. 

Whoever played Chase Meridian didn't even look anything like her. She had brown-reddish hair in the game.



I got to admit that I do appreciate that they used real actors sprites in the game, like in Mortal Kombat. I know in today's games it's redundant thanks to advanced computer-generated imagery, but I wish we could still see games with real people again.

I'm surprised the SNES version had no sound effects for voices. I always remember Two-Face's laugh and the Riddler's giggles.

SNES only had a view of Batman's face with Val Kilmer's likeness reflecting in the Batcomputer as you're debriefed on the next mission, with a 3D map of the city. It's not much.

As cool as it was playing Two-Faces and the other goons, I never really understood the purpose of having a training room.

[Azrael]

Yep I had the exact problem. The irritating helicopter section of the Two-Face stage. Now fans rave about this dreadful game. It's quite clear it's simply because of it being an animated series spin-off and they tend to regard anything from that show much more favorably than a Batman Forever project. Wrongly in that games case though. You had thugs constantly leaping, running and shooting at you from every conceivable angle. It really was a complete bitch. Good graphics but highly unenjoyable to play.

I think the reason Robin looked so brightly lit is because they simply wanted him to read better on the dark levels and next to the other characters. I don't know if using the actual movie costume if it would have worked for their game.

My only real personal criticism of the game was the portrayal of Two-Face's girlfriends. Spice turned out excellent. You can bet it's Debi Mazar's likeness as close as you could expect. What the hell happened to Sugar? Where's Drew Barrymore??? Was it too extreme to punch a blond Marilyn Monroe/Madonna lady in white lace? I mean they even had a lady playing (very very briefly) Chase Meridian. There's a mystery there. 

I'm surprised the SNES version had no sound effects for voices. I always remember Two-Face's laugh and the Riddler's giggles. The Riddler Thugs were quite an interesting invention as a game foe with all their fancy special moves and abilities. I quite wished we had gotten them in the film but the closest the Riddler had to his own thugs were his frogmen. It always frustrated me you couldn't ever play as the Riddler in the training level where you could fight against a friend. Choosing his character was totally absent. Another slight flaw.

I disagree that it being hard makes it bad.

Agreed but the difficulty really gets on the nerves. Some spots are insufferable without B,A,D,B,A,D,L,U,C (yes, like the Konami code or ABACABB, this game's cheat code stays with you). It's basically Contra with Batman, and nobody can accuse Contra of being a walk in the park.