Released in 1990 by Atari, this arcade closely follows the story of the first Batman movie. Although a longtime Batman fan, I never had the chance to see this game in its original format, the arcade machine.
General Info
Manufacturer: Atari
Year: 1990
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Scrolling Fighter
Players (simultaneous): 1
Players (maximum): 2
Type: Video Arcade
Orientation: Horizontal
Raster/ CRT: Standard Resolution/ Color
Conversion Class: JAMMA
Controls: 8 way joystick, 2 buttons
Sound: Amplified Stereo (2 channels)
Abstract: A player controls Batman who advances through various stages that are taken from the 1989 movie. Stages include views from the Batmobile, and the Batwing, and the final stage is a battle with The Joker. The intermission features digitized voices from the actors, and photos from the film.
Cabinet Info: The side art shows a photo of Batman standing next to the Batmobile. The cabinet above is a conversion of a William's Blaster (which is also similar to the Duramold Bubbles, but that cabinet was blue). The monitor bezel shows some photo stills from the movie. A cocktail version was released in Japan only. The cabinet was manufactured by Atari in 1991. An alternate marquee contains instructions and an item list.
Gameplay: Common enemies appear throughout the game, shooting guns and throwing knives at Batman. The player character's energy is displayed using the Batman logo -- three hits, and you are dead. When the platform is higher than you can jump, fire the Batrope upwards.
This game features realistic sounds. and voices from the movie.
Technical: There are DIP switches to change and set options such as free play. Other configurable options include difficuty, extra life score, and high score table. There is no cabinet (upright/cocktail) setting so if you put the PCB in a cocktail cabinet, the screen will not flip between player one and two.
Review Graphics: The sprite of Batman is quite large and nicely detailed. The sprites of the enemies are decent. The backgrounds are much better. You will recognize several sets from the movie. The streets of Gotham, Axis chemical factory, Flugelheim Museum and Gotham Cathedral. They are all here in nice detail.
Sound: The sound is even better. The music is taken directly from the movie. You will listen to several nice tracks, such as the Batman theme itself as well as several action cues from the film. What I liked most was the music in the Cathedral level. The SFX are nice. There are also many sampled voices. What is impressive is the various Joker's quotes from the film such as the infamous 'Have you ever danced with the Devil by the pale moonlight?' among others.
Gameplay: Simple and fun. Batman can kick and punch or use the weapons he can find in his way. The play control is precise. There are just 5 levels total, the streets, the chemical factory, Flugelheim museum, Gotham City Hall and the Cathedral. Between the levels there are some vehicle scenes, that are pretty disappointing. Each level is filled with many enemies and the level of difficulty, especially in later levels, is high.
Overall: Overall, this is a pretty good game. It looks, sounds and plays nice. Certainly not a winner in the lifespan category but you will spend a pleasant 40 minutes if you decide to play it in MAME. If you are (or were younger) a Batman fan, it is highly recommended. Anyway, I think it's a welcome addition in any ROM collection. Mame.dk no longer offers ROMs due to legal reasons, but there's a handful of other more obscure sites that have mame stuff and ROMs.
Screenshots
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Video - quick demos (courtesy of batmancheesecake and SolidArts)
About the author
silenig is the creator of Batman Movie Collective - a long running fan site with an extensive Batman video game archive. Click the banner below to visit the site.
Last edited by raleagh on Sun, 28th September 2008 at 7:45am
