Developer: Sunsoft
Publisher: Sunsoft
Released: 1990-91
Completed: March 7 ,2020
Batman may be the only superhero with the distinction of having two great video games based on a single movie. Arriving at least a year after Tim Burton's mega-smash adaptation, Sunsoft's Batman for the SEGA Genesis is a very different game than the much-loved NES title, but it's very good in its own way.
The Genesis game adheres closer to the film, with stages that are based on locales from the movie in the same general order they appear in. Bosses include notable villains such as, uh... martial arts guy? And Bob! You remember Bob, the Joker's right-hand man! Naturally, the final showdown is with the Joker himself, and thankfully he does not have the power to call down lightning upon you like he did in the NES game.
At its core, Batman on the Genesis - or BatGen, as nobody but me calls it - is a fairly standard side-scrolling action game. You walk from left to right, or sometimes right to left, beat up thugs, face a boss - you know the drill. There's nothing here you haven't seen or done before, but it's fun and that's what matters.
To break the monotony of thug-bashing, there are also a couple of vehicle stages where you take control of the Batmobile and the Batwing. These play like you'd expect a horizontal shoot 'em up to. They're a nice change of pace, and very enjoyable in their own right. I only wish there were more of it.
Batman is a short game. With only six levels, you can beat it under an hour with ease on your first try. Its biggest failing is that it's so short and easy, almost as though Sunsoft responded to criticism of the NES game's extreme difficulty by making the Genesis game a cakewalk. It doesn't detract from the fun of playing it, but once you're done, there's little to keep you coming back. The same could be said of countless games from the 8 and 16-bit days, but if you rentedthis game back in the day, odds were you'd finish it well before it was time to return it to the video store.
The real highlight of the game is the audio/visual presentation. In many ways, the game resembles a souped up version of the NES title. The backgrounds look great, and capture Gotham's gritty, dreary, Gothic aesthetic. Sprites are large and well animated as well. The whole thing looks and feels very polished, but the music... Oh man, the music!
We may never know what sort of Faustian deal Sunsoft made to fill their games with such memorable music, but I refuse to believe that kind of talent comes naturally. It may not be Prince's soundtrack to the film, but the soundtrack to the game is arguably even better than the NES version. At worst, it's a close race between which is the greatest and the slightly-less-great. That said, I would still rather have had a YM2612 version of "Batdance".
Unfortunately for collectors, BatGen is considerably more expensive these days than its NES cousin. I still maintain the NES game is better overall, but this is such a different experience it's definitely worth playing to see which one you prefer. Even if neither of them have "Batdance".
Batman: The Video Game was completed on a real Genesis with no cheats.
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