Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Release: 01/93 Genre: Beat ’em up
As the movie event of the year Batman Returns hit every viable platform on the market. Even European PCs received some version of the game. So it stands to reason that the venerable NES would also get in on that action. Konami’s SNES beat em up was a fantastic game and it would have been easy to shrink that experience and call it a day. However they instead created an original title that fits within the system’s limits. Outside of some balance issues the game is great all around.
The game follows the plot of the movie closely, albeit in truncated form. There are brief cutscenes that look stylish although they do not do a good job of telling a coherent narrative. If you have not seen the film chances are you will be lost. That is okay however; no one plays a brawler for a thrilling narrative.
Comparisons to Konami’s own TMNT brawlers do not apply here. Konami have managed to fit a reasonable number of moves into the NES controller’s two buttons. Aside from the basic punch combo and a jump kick Batman can perform a slide kick and block attacks. Blocking is not as good as you think unfortunately as you only take reduced damage. The spinning cape attack returns from the 16-bit game but also takes some life to use. Sadly you cannot throw enemies as in most beat em ups which limits your options significantly. For as much as I had my issues with the Double Dragon games they at least armed you with a variety of moves. This is slightly disappointing in comparison.
As was the case with the other titles based on the movie Batman Returns has a limited number of enemies. The Red Triangle Circus gang comes in many shapes and sizes but they are still a small bunch. The game does a lot with very little however and succeeds due to its pacing. The game does not stack each level with wave after wave of repetitive enemies, at least initially. The pace is just right and most enemies go down in a few combos. As well every level introduces at least one new enemy type to keep things fresh. Most of the time you face only two enemies simultaneously and they are at least smart enough to put up a mild fight. To change it up a bit there are two auto scrolling stages featuring the batmobile and….batskiboat that almost feel like bonus levels.
While the pace carries the game at the start it does bog down toward the middle. This off kilter balance is what ultimately keeps this game from true greatness. As the levels get longer and the enemies more resilient it becomes a bit much. Some of the later Red Triangle members are a chore to deal with and unfortunately they comprise the majority of the end game. The boss battles are also a slog as this game follows the beat em up formula of giving the bosses priority with their attacks and insane damage.
Batman Returns is not an overly difficult title however the way it handles health adds an unnecessary layer. Technically you have a single life. If you receive any extra health that places you over the maximum you receive a box which is more or less an extra life. You can have a max of two but chances are that will never happen. Hearts are rare and the only other healing comes at every 10,000 points. There is no elaborate scoring mechanic to take advantage of so it happens seemingly randomly. There are passwords and unlimited continues however you restart the level from the beginning which can be grueling. This is one rough edge Konami had smoothed over. Like the end game pacing it brings the game down.
Sunsoft’s Return of the Joker set a high bar both for the NES and for Batman games. Batman Returns nearly meets it on an artistic level. The art and use of color is simply fantastic. Konami’s artists make excellent use of limited color to establish a mood and it matches the movie brilliantly. There are stylized versions of the film sets that are easily identifiable and a few new locations for the sake of variety. The sprites are large for the system but the sacrifice is that there are rarely three enemies on screen. The vehicle levels move at a fast clip and push a ton of sprites with now slowdown as well. As a 1993 release Batman Returns shows Konami’s mastery of the hardware and we benefit.
In Closing
Batman Returns is an example of a good licensed game and easily one of Konami’s better titles for the system. It is also one of the better beat em ups for the platform as well. With a little more balancing this could have been truly amazing. As it is the game is a bit frustrating but still more than worth your time.
