Batman is a 1 player game released by Sunsoft in 1989 along with the classic Batman movie staring Michael Keaton that came out at the same time. Usually games based on movies aren't very good, but luckily for us this game is the exception. This game is actually quite good.
Graphics: 9/10 The graphics in this game are quite dark adding to the atmosphere of the game. At the same time it is also very realistic and it works quite well. It's not like your usual comic book based game where the characters are bright colorful and cartoony. The character animations are very smooth and there is no choppiness at all. The pleasant surprise is that even with a lot of enemies on the screen at the same time there was no lag and flashing sprites. Not only do the individual levels look great we are treated to animated cut scenes between the levels. At the very beginning of the game you get to see the Batmobile cruising down the street and it looks awesome. The only other game I can think of off hand that has cut scenes this good is Ninja Gaiden, which is an accomplishment for an NES game.
Sound: 8/10 The music in this game is quite good and very memorable and says a lot considering a lot of games just have the same music track playing constantly. Every track in this game is memorable. Even to the point where you might find yourself mindlessly humming along with the music. The sound effects work quite well with the soundtrack. They aren't so loud they distract from the music they just compliment it.
Gameplay: 9/10 When you play Batman you aren't going to find anything brand new or amazing. Batman is your typical platforming game but it does it quite well. Control wise it reminds me of a mix between a Ninja Gaiden game with the precision of the Mega Man controls. You have 4 different methods of attack, punching, dirks and your handy batarang. Luckily there are a lot of chances to get more ammunition from killing all the baddies on the screen so chances are you won't run out too fast.
The design on the levels looks really cool. There's a lot of jumping and a lot of vertical levels, so guaranteed you won't be stuck on the ground for the whole level. This is cool yet can be frustrating if you constantly keep screwing up one of the jumps. It's definitely a tricky game to get through! But that is part of the fun, having to constantly challenge yourself. Batman can luckily do wall jumps similar to Ryu from Ninja Gaiden so that will definitely help to get past some tricky parts.
Replay: 8/10 Like I said before this game is very challenging. Though the more you play it the more you will memorize about the levels so it will become easier to complete the more you play it. The nice thing is when you die it doesn't feel like a cheap death, you can always tell what you could have done differently to avoid that situation which makes it very addictive to play and try to complete it. Though you may get stuck on the first level for a long time and it may take a while to advance to the next stage, so hopefully you won't get too frustrated.
......BOTTOM LINE: 8.5/10 Batman is easily one of the best movie based games I have played. Sunsoft did a really good job with the graphics, sound and gameplay and have created a fun, challenging game that any NES game fan, comic fan or Batman fan really should try out. I never played this game as a kid but right now for me it's the best Batman game ever made, but keep in mind I haven't played Arkham City. So do yourself a favor and check this game out!
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