Batman on Genesis

[Flojomojo]

I love the commenter talking about how his dad imported this one from Japan and taped up the sides with electrical tape after sawing the cartridge to fit into an American Genesis.

 

https://segadoes.com/2016/11/23/batman/

[IrishNinja]

geez, that's crazy. i remember EGM in the day making a huge deal out of this one & highlighting nintendo's monopolistic practices.

 

looking back, not many people praise it much but as a fanboy, the bar for good comic games felt down in the basement, so i really dug it. then again, Sunsoft was doing some of their (arguably) best work for the NES just a bit before that.

[Austin]

Man.. this game is kind of infuriating. I put some serious time into it recently attempting to finish it. Talk about a major pain in the ass (I never was able to complete it; screw the wonky combat system and the final stage).

 

Looks beautiful on the PVM though. I can at least give it that.

[IrishNinja]

ah, for real? it's been forever, but i recall it feeling more forgiving than NES batman, or revenge of the joker. and i should try it on PVM!

[Austin]

ah, for real? it's been forever, but i recall it feeling more forgiving than NES batman, or revenge of the joker. and i should try it on PVM!

 

Revenge of the Joker on the NES.. yeah, the Genesis Batman is definitely more forgiving than that--that game is simply full of oversized sprites and mega-cheap shots (I tried learning it recently as well.. talk about another pain in the ass!). Genesis Batman however is far less forgiving than the NES original Batman.

[schuwalker]

This was one game I wanted to import (it would've been my first imported game). I recall it being more like $90, which was a deterrent for me.

 

What a cool article, and even more... a cooler dad! One thing I want to disagree; the lack of popularity of Batman in '91. Batman was still in the spotlight since hype was regenerating again with Batman Returns looming in the horizon.

 

This game still has one of the best soundtracks on any system.

[LionHearted78]

I enjoy this game, but overall I personally to find it a more shallow experience than the NES game. Not only because the music is (obviously) not as good as the NES counterparts, but the gameplay is really bland as well. It seems weird that you only start the game with of your life, then you realize for the first few levels, it's REALLY hard to die. Most enemies die with one or two hits. So in the end this is a game where you march to the right and hit the button once in awhile. So you go from the NES games being CRAZY difficult to this game being way too easy. Too bad there was never a middle-ground. Great article though. I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing

[Yakumo1975]

Wow, not much love for Mega Drive batman in this thread. I loved the game back in `89 and still enjoy it now. Thumping FM soundtrack, lovely graphics for the time and challenging enough gameplay if you don't play on easy.

[FOX2600]

Batman Forever.......

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Batman Forever.......

 

Only thing that cart is good for, is for using them as donors to fix dead Tengen Genesis carts.

[FOX2600]

 

Only thing that cart is good for, is for using them as donors to fix dead Tengen Genesis carts.

LOL

 

It was one of those ideas that looked good on paper, but the finished product...

[Austin]

So in the end this is a game where you march to the right and hit the button once in awhile.

 

Have you ever finished the game? That final level is stupid-hard.

[glazball]

Man does this thread bring back some memories! I've got nothing but fond memories of Batman, one of the very few import games I've ever bought in my life. I bought the Mega Drive version from an importer because EGM (or whatever mags I was reading at the time) said unequivocally that Batman would NEVER be released in the US due to some licensing problem. The screenshots looked so nice and at that age, I wanted to be the only kid on the block with Batman so (stupidly) I just had to have the game. I was a high school freshman and the game cost me something like $100 - a ton of money for me even now! And of course, our only source of gaming info back in 89/90 was game magazines. I knew the game would play, but not fit, in a US Genesis.

 

The game arrived in it's cute, miniature lil' Japanese case - and yep, MD carts don't fit into a US Genesis. So what did I do? Filed both sides of the cart down so that I could juuuuust barely wedge it into the cart slot. And it worked! And my friends and I played the hell outta that game and beat it countless times. When you spend that much money on one game as a pimply 14 year old, you get your money's worth! There are frustrating parts, but it's not too bad.

 

Of course, later on Batman did get a US release on the Genesis and I felt like an idiot. The game, along with all my other games and console, I pawned off in college for next to nothing. Learned a tough lesson about "fake news" years before it became a thing!

Edited March 29, 2017 by glazball

[NinjaWarrior]

I never knew there was Return on the Genesis as Revenge of the Joker til last year, I never picked it up til this week

 

They added a Kick Button

[schuwalker]

Man does this thread bring back some memories! I've got nothing but fond memories of Batman, one of the very few import games I've ever bought in my life. I bought the Mega Drive version from an importer because EGM (or whatever mags I was reading at the time) said unequivocally that Batman would NEVER be released in the US due to some licensing problem. The screenshots looked so nice and at that age, I wanted to be the only kid on the block with Batman so (stupidly) I just had to have the game. I was a high school freshman and the game cost me something like $100 - a ton of money for me even now! And of course, our only source of gaming info back in 89/90 was game magazines. I knew the game would play, but not fit, in a US Genesis.

 

The game arrived in it's cute, miniature lil' Japanese case - and yep, MD carts don't fit into a US Genesis. So what did I do? Filed both sides of the cart down so that I could juuuuust barely wedge it into the cart slot. And it worked! And my friends and I played the hell outta that game and beat it countless times. When you spend that much money on one game as a pimply 14 year old, you get your money's worth! There are frustrating parts, but it's not too bad.

 

Of course, later on Batman did get a US release on the Genesis and I felt like an idiot. The game, along with all my other games and console, I pawned off in college for next to nothing. Learned a tough lesson about "fake news" years before it became a thing!

 

 

I almost did the import route too but I held out because of the price.

I enjoy this game, but overall I personally to find it a more shallow experience than the NES game. Not only because the music is (obviously) not as good as the NES counterparts, but the gameplay is really bland as well. It seems weird that you only start the game with of your life, then you realize for the first few levels, it's REALLY hard to die. Most enemies die with one or two hits. So in the end this is a game where you march to the right and hit the button once in awhile. So you go from the NES games being CRAZY difficult to this game being way too easy. Too bad there was never a middle-ground. Great article though. I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing

You know although I do prefer the gameplay of the NES version even though it deviates quite a bit from the movie; I still think the Genesis Batman still hold it's own on the audio front compared to the NES version. Genesis Batman and Batman Returns is on my top 5 list for best Genesis tunes.