Batman: Arkham Origins (PC)

Developer:

WB Games Montréal

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Release Date:

2013

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Systems:

Win, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U

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This week on Super Adventures, a game about punching people at Christmas!

It's been ages since I've played a Batman game, in fact I think the last one on the site was probably Return of the Joker for the NES, back in April 2015. Though it still seems too soon to play Batman: Arkham Origins, because of how similar it is to the other two. In my Batman: Arkham City article I joked that I'd be able to copy/paste parts of my Arkham Asylum post and save myself some work, and here that's doubly true! But it's a Christmas game and I feel like playing it again, so I am.

I love these beautiful tableaux of frozen Batviolence behind the menu by the way. Batman's so gritty in this one with his tactical Bat-armour and his permanent bad mood, that I keep expecting the camera to pan across blood and displaced teeth flying through the air.

This used to be the black sheep of the franchise, due to it not being developed by Rocksteady, and the bugs, and the fact that they prioritised releasing paid DLC instead of fixing them all, but I think Arkham Knight's claimed that position now (at least on PC). There's still a bit of an issue with the multiplayer, seeing as it was switched off forever earlier this month, but I didn't even know it had multiplayer, so that shows how much I care about that.

(Click on the images to view my original full size screenshots. DX11 mode, all settings on full... resolution at 1280x720).

Batman: Return of the Joker (NES)

Developer:

Sunsoft

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Release Date:

1991

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Systems:

NES, Genesis

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Today on Super Adventures I'm taking a look at Batman: Return of the Joker, the sort-of sequel to Sunsoft's Batman: The Video Game, which was released for the NES two years earlier.

Batman: The Video Game was a tie-in with Tim Burton's 1989 'Batman' movie (thoughtfully given a subtitle so that people wouldn't get them confused and end up shoving the cartridge into their VCR), and this also shares the movie's shiny golden 'BATMAN' text so I'm presuming they're part of the same continuity. But ~SPOILERS~ The Joker didn't just get locked away in Arkham or go into hiding at the end of the movie, he got dropped off a giant gothic church tower to his very definite pavement-assisted demise. In fact in the end of the NES game Batman punches him off the church roof, which is kind of hardcore for a man that never kills, but the end result is much the same. So if The Joker really has returned here, then he's come back from the dead.

Incidentally this has nothing to do with the 'Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker' animated movie, as that came out about a decade later and has its own set of games. Though it's still about The Joker coming back from the dead.

The guy is like... weeds or something.

Batman: Arkham City (PC)

Today on Super Adventures I'm taking a quick look at Batman: Arkham City, the second game in the universally beloved Arkham trilogy. Can't promise it'll be a quick read though.

Okay maybe the series isn't universally beloved, as a few people seem less than enamoured with the latest game, Arkham Origins. But this one's by the original team at Rocksteady, so I fully expect it'll turn out to be basically the same thing as 2009's Arkham Asylum, which I already played just a few months ago. In fact with any luck I'll be able to copy/paste most of the text over from that post and save myself some work.

I actually bought this a while back, way before the pay what you want Humble Bundle deal going on this fortnight, but I'm only just getting around to it now. Because I'm an idiot. The moral of the story: always always always wait for a sale. Or, you know, play your games when you buy the things.

(Click the screenshots to expand them to immense proportions. Well, they'll be twice the size anyway. Plus I'm running it in DirectX 9 mode with no tessellation or PhysX enhancements so it's not really going to be looking its best I'm afraid.)

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC)

Today I'm taking a look at Batman: Arkham Asylum, a third person action game about an eccentric billionaire who habitually dresses up each evening as a bat to violently assault people in the street, and how this inevitably results in him being locked up in a mental hospital.

Except he doesn't really dress as a bat though does he? Unless there's a species of flying mammal out there known for wearing a cape, spiky metal gauntlets and underwear over their pants. That gear he's wearing is basically a custom Solid Snake style sneaking suit with a really hot and uncomfortable looking armoured cowl in the place of Snake's stylish bandana. Sure it has thin pointy ears sticking out the top of it, but bats don't even have thin pointy ears so...

And as far as the whole 'violent vigilante' thing goes, well if I was skilled enough to effortlessly take out a whole room full of evil ninjas with both my arms tied behind my back while simultaneously disarming a nuke using only my mouth and a half a toothpick, I'd probably go fight crime too. If only because I didn't want to get drowned/poisoned/frozen etc. every week by a supervillain's nefarious scheme while Gotham's finest were busy tripping over each other.

(Click the pics to expand them into semi-glorious 1280x800 res images.)

The Adventures of Batman & Robin (SNES)

Today I'm taking a look at the SNES version of The Adventures of Batman & Robin, because someone asked me nicely.

It's got the correct logo from the animated series, and it's playing the theme tune. So far so good. It's nice to see a password option too, though 'load game' would have been better.

Batman Begins (GBA)

That's kind of a bland title screen, but it does get the job done I suppose. It's got the correct logo and the title, plus some helpful copyright info. It doesn't need 'Press Start' because it goes straight to the game by itself.

Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu (GBA)

As title screens go it's not bad and the music's alright. Though it sounds more like it was meant for a Batman Beyond game.

I just hope this turns out better than Batman: Vengeance, the last GBA Batman game I played.

Batman: Vengeance (GBA)

Nice shiny logo. Seems good so far.

Justice League Task Force (SNES vs Genesis/Mega Drive)

VS.

The Justice League faces their greatest challenge yet, the Justice League... on another console!

Justice League: Injustice for All (GBA)

It's a nice title screen, but I think they went a bit too overboard with the sharpen filter. The characters are glowing.

Batman (Arcade)

SIX PART BATMAN: THE MOVIE (1989) SPECIAL, part 6.

"I'm Batman."

It's the Batman music! The actual Danny Elfman Batman music from the actual movie, finally! It sounds a bit ass, but it's good enough for me.

Batman (TurboGrafx-16)

SIX PART BATMAN: THE MOVIE (1989) SPECIAL, part 5.

Gold text, big yellow oval with a bat logo in the middle, music that sounds nothing like the Batman movie score. So far it's pretty similar to the other games.

Batman - The Video Game (Genesis/Mega Drive)

SIX PART BATMAN: THE MOVIE (1989) SPECIAL, part 4.

Still no theme from the movie, but this has much moodier music than the last few Batman games.

Batman - The Video Game (GB)

SIX PART BATMAN: THE MOVIE (1989) SPECIAL, part 3.

Not a very interesting title screen, but I'm liking the music.

Batman - The Video Game (NES)

SIX PART BATMAN: THE MOVIE (1989) SPECIAL, part 2.

If Batman - The Movie is a video game based on the 1989 Batman movie, is Batman - The Video Game based on the video game of the movie?

Batman: The Movie (Amiga)

SIX PART BATMAN: THE MOVIE (1989) SPECIAL, part 1.

There were at least six different games released to tie in with the 1989 Tim Burton movie, and this seems to be the first of them, released for home computers. Each computer got a different looking version to suit the hardware available, but they're basically the same thing. I think.

Either way I'm only playing the Amiga version, with its majestic array of bat-symbols on the title screen.

Batman: The Caped Crusader (Atari ST)

Poor Batman's being squeezed out of his own game by all the other logos.

The music sounds like a remix of the 1960's tv series theme, which I guess was THE Batman theme at the time seeing as the Tim Burton movie was still a year away.

Batman (ZX Spectrum)

It took five minutes to load this, so I hope you appreciate the incredible sacrifices I make.

I have no idea why Batman is carrying a shield though. We're supposed to be collecting pieces of the broken Batmobile, so I suppose it could be a hubcap.