Abandoned Batman SNES prototype

[The Laughing Fish]

I remembered I played this poor quality demo of a canceled Batman game for the SNES on an emulator several years ago. Now, I found this review for it on YouTube. ***Warning:*** NSFW since it contains swearing.

Am I the only one who thinks this game was supposed to be based on The Dark Knight Returns? The bat emblem on the main menu and Batman himself look as if they're based on Frank Miller's designs.

[Edd Grayson]

The suit screams "TDK Returns" to me.

I wish there were more simplistic Batman games, I enjoyed some of those when I was a kid. I like the Arkham games but I feel a little nostalgic. 

[The Laughing Fish]

In terms of nostalgia, I loved the Batman Returns SNES game. It adopted the whole look and atmosphere of the film perfectly from Gotham City to the characters with straightforward fighting controls. My only complaint is that the Catwoman boss fight was too difficult, and I wish we could've had a Batboat level.

The Batman 89 Genesis/Mega Drive game is my second favourite that nearly adopted the entire look of the film. The Batmobile level was my favourite, but I think the Batwing level could've been a lot better. I enjoyed both versions of The Adventures of Batman & Robin on SNES and Genesis/Mega Drive too, although the latter was impossible to complete without a cheat code.

The only 2D contemporary Batman game I've played recently was Arkham Origins: Blackgate, but it's nowhere near as fun as the Arkham games.

As for this prototype? I agree with the foul-mouthed reviewer that the developers made the right decision to not pursue the game if that was the best they could do for a demo.

[Edd Grayson]

I liked "The Adventures of Batman and Robin", actually I think the only Batman game I played on a console as a kid. But I played dozens of others.

[Azrael]

[The Laughing Fish]

I watched the video again on YouTube. I was reading the comments, and I stumbled across somebody saying the prototype might've been intended as an adaptation of Miller's TDKR, but it might've been scrapped because Miller doesn't want video game licenses of his work.

There's no way telling that's the case. On one hand, I can sorta see the logic because, as I said before, the Batsignia and Batman are modelled after Miller's take. But on the other hand, I would've thought WB/DC owned the IP, and they would've had the final say whether or not they'd want a game based on TDKR.

Nevertheless, a 16-bit era TDKR video game would've been great, if done properly. I can imagine the following levels and bosses go this way:

• Level 1: Batman fights random criminals, and then comes to Carrie Kelley's rescue. The first boss of the game could be a knife-wielding Mutant.
• Level 2: Batman fights off Two-Face's goons and races against time to stop the bombs, before fighting Two-Face as a boss.
• Level 3: The only tank Batmobile/War Machine stage, where you get to shoot Mutants and then you fight the Mutant Leader. The tank section could be done FPS-style with a targeting UI.
• Level 4: You make Batman battle various Mutants in the mudhole before facing off the Mutant Leader for the second and final time.
• Level 5: This stage could take place entirely at the amusement park, where Abner could be a mini-boss before going into the tunnel to fight Joker.
• Level 6: This battle could focus on Batman making his escape from the GCPD, and Commissioner Ellen Yindel is the boss.
• Level 7: Batman battles right the heart of Gotham City to stop the looting and chaos during the blackout. This could be more of a survival-type of level, so a boss battle isn't necessary.
• Level 8: Final stage is strictly a lengthy and difficult boss battle against Superman.

The game mechanics could be similar to the SNES tie-in of BR, though I'd like to imagine you can use the grappling hook to bring enemies down from above, as Batman did to one goon in TDKR.

I suppose another level you could include is an adaptation of Batman's "I believe you" rescue scene, but as I reckon TDKR would've had more than enough material to make a game adaptation. Regardless of quality, if they could turn The Death and Return of Superman and Maximum Carnage into video games, I see no reason why TDKR couldn't, if copyright difficulties weren't an issue.

I suppose another motive why such a game didn't go ahead was maybe WB Interactive probably didn't want to oversaturate the market with Batman games at the time, as they already concentrated on tie-ins for BTAS and the movies. But in my opinion, I would gladly take a TDKR game adaptation over the SNES/Mega Drive tie-in of Batman Forever any day.