Batman (NES)

Developed and released by Sunsoft in North America in February of 1990 for the NES, Batman is a 2D side-scrolling action-platformer adaptation of the 1989 film of the same name

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, unless you were rich, you got one, maybe two new NES games every year. Thus, your family, friends, neighbors, and classmates who had games basically helped make up your extended collection. You'd go to their houses to play, you'd trade your games, anything to get a new gaming experience. Some time in 1990, my cousin Adrian got Sunsoft's Batman for the NES, a loose adaptation of the film of the same name from the previous year. The game seemed impossible. Adrian hit a wall somewhere on the second of the game's five levels. However...I became obsessed. The music, the graphics, the tight, yet unforgiving action-platformer gameplay...I couldn't get enough. However, we were often limited in our playtime back then. Our parents might let us play video games for an hour or two, but then we had to go play outside. Like in Castlevania before it, Batman features unlimited continues, but those don't really help when you've got to turn off the NES and go outside after a few hours, and you might not be coming back to your friend or family member's house for weeks. I nearly made it to the very end of Batman several times...but I always ran out of time, and unfortunately, ten-year-old me just didn't have the skills to beat the game any faster. Well, recently, the NES bug hit me. I have a working NES again. I have a boxed copy of Batman, fresh from EBay. Time to beat and review it...

I used to love seeing that SUNSOFT logo!

Look at this big burly Batman!

I immediately find that my muscle memory from 35 years ago is intact. Batman features incredibly tight controls. The Caped Crusader can run and jump. He can punch, which is his unlimited, go to attack. These basic moves are perfectly executed. Batman also has three secondary attacks, for which ammo can be collected throughout stages when enemies are defeated. The first is his classic batarang, essentially a bladed boomeranged that can hit an enemy both as it goes out and comes back. The second is a handgun. The third is a three-part projectile that causes much damage, but uses the most ammo. These secondary weapons must be used strategically, and are cycled through with the start button (select pauses the game). However, the absolute coolest move here is the wall jump, utilized by hitting jump again when Batman is up against any wall or wall like surface when he is in the air. This move is incredibly fine-tuned, and incredibly satisfying to perform. These controls are perfect, though like in Castlevania, once the player has jumped, movement is a bit limited (but not nil) in the air. 

This opening screen is almost as iconic to me as the ones in Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda

You shouldn't have brought a gun to a Batman fight

The wall jump is so satisfying!

Killer Moth!

The graphics here are 8-bit brilliant, from the incredible, dark and gothic level design, to the uniquely designed, nicely animated, high pixel-count enemies. Sunsoft dove deep into the DC rogues gallery well for some of these bad guys, so even if they're not in the film, they're still a treat for comic fans. Batman himself is a well-animated, stocky beast. He basically looks awesome doing everything, even dying, where he essentially flames into a bat signal and disintegrates. Each level is visually diverse, from Gotham streets, to a chemical factory, to the depths of the city, to the top of the tallest building. Their designs follows the best NES blueprint, ala Super Mario Bros., where the first few stages are a little less tough and teach dynamics, and the rest of the stages continuously ramp up difficultly until the player has to make pinpoint jumps while simultaneously fighting multiple enemies.

The game's cutscenes rule

Suddenly, the wall jump isn't just a cool move, but a necessity

Watching the difficulty ramp up in this game is like watching a great car engine snap into gear as the car goes from 30 to 60 to 90 to 120. Each level has multiple stages. The player has three lives. Lose them all and there are infinite continues to fall back upon. A continue will take the player to the beginning of the stage they died upon, unless the player died fighting a boss, in which case they'll have to start back at the beginning of the stage before the boss. Each level's boss is highly difficult, other than perhaps the first one. The player will have to pick up on each boss' pattern to decipher the best strategy in which to take them down. This is the stuff of "Nintendo Hard" dreams.

This movie-quoting cutscene has lived rent free in my mind for the last 35 years

Soundtracking this delightfully difficult mayhem is one of the greatest video game scores in history. Naoki Kodaka, along with some assistance from Noboyuki Hara, must have set some pianos on fire somewhere because this music feels like it was composed by Mozart. Each level has an incredibly complex, deep, yet catchy theme that couples with Batman's graphical design to create an atmosphere second to none. Sure, the movie's plot might only be followed loosely here, but that matters little when what's here is so great. The sound effects are also NES perfect.

You know you are in for it when you begin Level 3, and the first basic enemy is more difficult to kill than the final boss of Level 2

These tanks can all go straight to hell

It's the Electrocutioner!

One of the coolest player character death animations in a video game

But did I ever actually beat this game? Sure, I'm in my 40's now, and Father Time is the only thing telling me to put the game away, this time not to go outside, but to go to bed. I was doing well with the game, making some good runs, but... 

Well, something weird happened right in the middle of this playthrough of Batman...I had a stroke. As well-documented on my personal blog, I recently had a medullary stroke caused by a sneeze, the stuff of urban legend, visited upon me in reality. My left side is completely numb. I can't swallow and have to eat from a feeding tube in my stomach. My head is constantly in pain at the site of the stroke. But...

My hand-eye coordination has apparently compensated in kind. 

I just kicked the everliving $#!+ out of Batman for the NES before writing this review. I beat the Joker, the game's final boss, on the third try. The third try, and I only had a couple health bars on the first try, so that one probably shouldn't even count. I made the pinpoint jumps on the final cathedral level like they were obstacles in the early tutorial of a modern game for children. I'm not sure if I'll ever be that good at a video game again.

You're giving me a whole centimeter for error?! Why go so EASY?!

I thought you were supposed to be Nintendo Hard, Joker! 

Hey, now I get to tell you the thing!

Granted, stroke or no stroke, 2D platformers are my bread and butter. If you peruse all of my reviews here and elsewhere, you'll see that I've cruised to the endings of the aforementioned Castlevania, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, 102%'d Donkey Kong Country 2, and even decimated modern games like Cuphead. I'm terrible at fighting and racing games, but I'll take on the toughest 2D platformer anytime. The NES' Batman is one of the finest. That's coming from me at 10...me at 43 with nothing weird going on...and me at 43 after a stroke. 1990's Batman for the NES is awesome.

The insanely enormous cathedral setting, taken from the film, has got to be one of the coolest things Tim Burton's mind has ever conceived

9.5

Graphics

Dark, gothic, atmospheric design, with incredible animation, particularly for Batman himself.

10.0

Music and Sound

How is this music so good, even 35 years later? It is like a classical work of art! One of the greatest gaming soundtracks ever composed. Mozart might be proud!

9.5

Gameplay

Exceedingly difficult and unforgiving, yet tight and rewarding action platformer gameplay. 

9.0

Lasting Value

If the player were simply to get through each of the five levels' multiple stages and final bosses without dying, 30 minutes. Or 35 years with some deaths. Take your pick.

9.5FINAL SCORE