Batman: The Video Game - Danced with the devil in the pale moonlight

Today, exactly thirty years ago, we got an adaptation of the movie Batman on the first Nintendo console.

Back in the late 1980s, it was known that games made using a movie template were usually not of high quality. The infamous E.T. the game was a warning to the entire video game industry, but weak products continued to come with titles such as Top Gun, Jaws, Ghostbusters, Karate Kid, and numerous others. Some of us don't remember these games as bad, but that's mostly because we didn't know better then. Fortunately, there were exceptions, one of them being Batman: The Video Game, which came out exactly 30 years ago for the NES console.

Batman: The Video Game was a two-dimensional action title that combined platformer and action elements. It was based on Tim Burton's movie from the same year, but we still didn't fully follow the story of the movie adaptation. The game only gave us a tentative plot: The Joker has poisoned Gotham City, and Batman seeks to defeat him to avenge his parents' murder. And that's all. The end of the game was similar to the end of the movie, except for Batman killing the Joker here.



The game had five levels in total: Gotham streets, a chemical factory, a sewer, the Joker's lab, and a cathedral. Each level had a final boss battle, and among the bosses were Killer Moth, Electrocutioner, Firebug and Joker. Deadshot could also be encountered in the game. In addition to his fists, Batman could use an arsenal of several weapons, including a gun, a harpoon and a boomerang. In addition, he had the ability to jump on walls.

The game has received very good reactions from players and critics and has become one of the best superhero games for the NES console. For many, this was also the best Batman game for many. Fans of retro sound in games also point out that Batman: The Video Game had one of the best 8-bit soundtracks ever made.



The weight of the game remained in memory. There was no weight picking in Batman, no resumption of play after Game Over. Personally, I only managed to get to the fifth level at one time. The second level that required precise jumping was problematic for me.

Later, this Batman also got a version for the Sega Mega Drive console, but it was significantly different from the NES and contained different enemies, the levels were different, and there were some new stocks like driving a Batmobile down the streets of Gotham.