The Batman franchise generally seems to receive a bad rap when it comes to video games. I must say, however, that the Batman NES game based ever so loosely on the 1989 movie remains one of my all time favorite action games. I also have fond yet vague memories of the 1991 followup, Batman: Return of the Joker for the same system. There were Genesis and SNES versions of the same game. The SNES version is not yet listed in the database and so the duty falls to me.

The problems begin with this silly style of depicting our hero that would make even the least talented fanboy illustrator blush:

I gave it an honest chance, of course. I like Batman and I like side-scrolling SNES action games; it stands to reason that this game should have been a lock for casual enjoyment. I admit that it does sometimes get disheartening to hold out so much hope for these games that no one else has bothered to enter into MobyGames. This game was so unremarkable that it has taken me 2 weeks to finish writing this entry. I entered the details into the MobyGames 2 weeks ago, but that’s okay since the queues for new SNES and NES games are severely stalled over there.

I don’t have much to report about this game except that I realized from the MobyGames screenshots for other platforms that the NES, SNES, and Genesis games all appear to be cut from the same cloth. The Gameboy version is probably different altogether.

I’m not sure how much longer I can handle these old SNES side-scrollers. I find myself longing for educational games targeted at the elementary school set. And you had better believe that I still have plenty of those left to process. And they’re worth more MobyGames contribution points to boot.

Update: The final insult came when I tried to submit this game to MobyGames. After languishing in the submission queue for months, it was eventually determined that this title doesn’t count. It was never officially released. The ROM I played was some kind of after-the-fact leak of a never-published game.

At MobyGames:

• Batman: Return of the Joker, a game that did eventually make it to Genesis, NES, and Game Boy