Video Game Chronology | Batman

Video Game Chronology | Batman Featured Image

<p>The moment we’ve all been pining for has finally arrived&period; <em><a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"The Dark Knight Rises" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;The&lowbar;Dark&lowbar;Knight&lowbar;Rises" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"wikipedia noopener noreferrer">The Dark Knight Rises<&sol;a><&sol;em> has made its way to theaters and it is <em>spectacular&excl; <&sol;em>Christopher Nolan’s Batman films have received universal praise from fans and critics alike&comma; and they have solidified the Caped Crusader as one of the greatest on-screen comicbook heroes of all time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It wasn’t always so sweet for Batman at the theater&comma; though&period; You don’t have to dig very deep to find some stinkers and missteps along the way&period; Interestingly enough&comma; Batman’s video game history is surprisingly similar&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lately&comma; it’s been fine dining for Batman video game connoisseurs but it was a long and troubled path we had to tread to arrive here&period; With that in mind&comma; let’s take this opportunity&comma; much like we did with The Avengers and Spiderman&comma; to take a look back at the video game history of Batman and reminisce about the highs&comma; the lows&comma; and all the in-betweens&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batman&lowbar;cover&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21443"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21443" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06143051&sol;Batman&lowbar;Cover&period;jpg" width&equals;"280" height&equals;"357" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman &lpar;1986&rpar; – <&sol;strong>I think that you will notice quite a pattern here&period; In the earlier days of Batman video games there were a glut of titles simply named&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Batman”&period; It may be a little confusing&comma; but I will do my best to keep things as clear as possible&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This title is the first of these and is also the first venture into video games by the Caped Crusader&period; In it&comma; players would control Batman in a series of isometric 3D rooms in the Batcave as you traverse various obstacles strewn about&period; The point was to find the dismantled pieces of the Batcraft in order to save Robin&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game released for various computer systems and was generally well received&period; Among other things&comma; the game was noted as being one of the first to implement early examples of checkpoint systems rather than making the player start all over had they failed an objective&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;256px-batman&lowbar;caped&lowbar;crusader&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21444"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21444" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06143044&sol;256px-Batman&lowbar;Caped&lowbar;Crusader&period;jpg" width&equals;"256" height&equals;"379" &sol;><&sol;a><a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"Batman&colon; The Caped Crusader" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;Batman&percnt;3A&lowbar;The&lowbar;Caped&lowbar;Crusader" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"wikipedia noopener noreferrer">Batman&colon; The Caped Crusader<&sol;a> &lpar;1988&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Batman’s second video game appeared on the same computer systems as its predecessor&comma; as well as the Amiga&comma; Commodore 64 and Apple II&period; The game was unique in that it was split into two separate adventures—one featuring The Penguin as the main villain and one featuring The Joker&period; Thankfully&comma; you could play either of these stories at any time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The gameplay was similar to a side scrolling beat-em-up but actually required more critical thinking and puzzle solving than most action games at the time&period; The story was told through comic book style frames to make it feel closer to its source material&period; The game received generally favorable reviews&comma; with praise going towards its multiple story options and bright&comma; crisp visuals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;ad&lowbar;batman&lowbar;the&lowbar;movie&lowbar;ocean&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21445"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21445" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06143034&sol;ad&lowbar;batman&lowbar;the&lowbar;movie&lowbar;ocean-211x300&period;jpg" width&equals;"211" height&equals;"300" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman &lpar;1989&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Also known as <em>Batman&colon; The Movie<&sol;em>&comma; this was the first video game adaptation of a Batman film&period; Developed again by Ocean Software&comma; the game once again received generally favorable reviews and was even awarded the Game of the Year in <em>Crash<&sol;em> magazine&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>An action platformer&comma; <em>Batman<&sol;em> followed closely to the storyline of the Tim Burton film and included five separate levels—each recalling moments and set pieces from the film&period; Players would control Batman both on foot and in the air as you battle your way through Joker’s henchmen in an attempt to reach the <a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"Joker &lpar;comics&rpar;" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;Joker&lowbar;&percnt;28comics&percnt;29" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"wikipedia noopener noreferrer">Clown Prince of Crime<&sol;a> himself&period;Every level was timed&comma; as was the style at the time&comma; and players would lose a life if they didn’t complete the level before the clock ran out&period; T<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>he game was released on a variety of platforms such as the Amiga&comma; Apple II&comma; MS DOS and Commodore 64&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;220px-batman-label&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21446"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21446" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06143022&sol;220px-Batman-label&period;jpg" width&equals;"220" height&equals;"363" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman &lpar;1990&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Based again on the Batman film&comma; this game was developed for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Game Boy&period; It was another side scrolling action game that included more than one interesting gameplay addition&period; One in particular was Batman’s ability to wall jump like Ryu from <em>Ninja Gaiden<&sol;em>&period; Batman also had access to a number of close range and ranged weaponry&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While the game was based on the film of the same name&comma; there were several major and minor differences included in the prototype&period; The most glaring being the inclusion of Firefly as the final boss instead of the Joker—who was disposed of in a cut-scene&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The cut-scenes themselves were actually pretty innovative for the time&period; They included art styles reminiscent of the graphic novel <em>The Killing Joke&period;<&sol;em> The game was developed by Sunsoft and&comma; of course&comma; sold rather well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;220px-batman&lowbar;box&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21447"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21447" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06143015&sol;220px-Batman&lowbar;box&period;jpg" width&equals;"220" height&equals;"307" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman &lpar;1990&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Yet <strong>a<&sol;strong>nother title simply called <em>Batman <&sol;em>and again&comma; another title based on the movie&period; Instead of a port of the NES version for the Sega Mega Drive&comma; this game was different due to Nintendo’s old policy of having their titles developed exclusively for their system&period; The changes made were mainly differences in the gameplay mechanics and the addition of some vehicle stages&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This game also stuck closer to the plot of the film&comma; with the story being told through cut scene stills&period; The game also had a limited number of continues&comma; unlike the NES version which contained unlimited continues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;pc-engine&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21448"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21448" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06143007&sol;pc-engine&period;jpg" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"273" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman &lpar;1990&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Hey&comma; did you know that there was a game based on the first Batman movie simply called <em>Batman<&sol;em>&quest; As a matter of fact&comma; there were about ten of them&excl; Here’s another one&excl; This one actually tried something a little different though&period; Instead of the basic side scrolling action seen in the other titles&comma; this Batman game resembles Bomberman or Pacman more than anything else&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Again&comma; the levels were based on scenes from the movie&comma; but each level was laid out in a top-down dungeon crawler view&period; The player would remain in each level until all elements of different puzzles were complete&period; Combat was limited to just a few enemy encounters per level until the player reached the final stage and the action was ramped up a bit more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game was praised for its bright graphics and unique gameplay mechanics&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batman&lowbar;revenge&lowbar;of&lowbar;the&lowbar;joker&lowbar;cover&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21449"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21449" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06143000&sol;Batman&lowbar;Revenge&lowbar;of&lowbar;the&lowbar;Joker&lowbar;cover&period;jpg" width&equals;"183" height&equals;"266" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman&colon; Return of the Joker &lpar;1991&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Releasing on the NES&comma; Game Boy and Sega Mega Drive&comma; this game was a sequel to the game based on the original movie&period; Each version included various differences in mechanics and items included&comma; but they all basically followed the same story which centered around the Joker escaping from his asylum&comma; and starting some crap on the streets of Gotham&period; Man&comma; that guy is a jerk&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This title returned Batman to the side scrolling action that most of the previous games had&comma; with various power ups and weapon upgrades to be found throughout the level&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A remake of the game was developed for the Sega Genesis with the title being changed to <em>Batman&colon; Revenge of the Joker<&sol;em>&period; A Super Nintendo version was planned and actually put into development but the plans were scrapped befor completion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;220px-batmanreturnscoverart&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21450"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21450" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142953&sol;220px-BatmanReturnsCoverart&period;jpg" width&equals;"220" height&equals;"311" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman Returns &lpar;1992&rpar; – <&sol;strong>This video game adaptation of the big screen sequel was released on no less than <em>ten<&sol;em> different consoles and handhelds&period; Almost every version was developed and produced by different companies&comma; so keeping track of which version appeared on which console is tricky business&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Most of the versions were some variation of the side scrolling action&comma; with some slight differences here and there&period; The PC version was actually more in line with old school adventure games&comma; which was par for the course when it came to PC games back in those days&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Most of the versions received moderate to high praise for the fun combat and good graphics&comma; but the infamous Amiga version was universally panned due to sloppy gameplay and horrible hit detection&period; Many media outlets even called the game &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;unplayable”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batmananimatedgameboy&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21451"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21451" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142946&sol;BatmanAnimatedGameBoy&period;jpg" width&equals;"191" height&equals;"266" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman&colon; The Animated Series &lpar;1993&rpar; – <&sol;strong>This title was the first to be released exclusively for the Game Boy and was also the first title based on the popular animated television series&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The gameplay was&comma; once again&comma; a side scrolling action game&comma; but each level offered up different ways to traverse the environment—which helped keep the game feeling fresh&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Every level ended with a battle with one of Batman’s popular villains&period; Players would control Batman for most of the game but would occasionally take control of Robin for very short stretches&period; Most of the major players in the television show made an appearance in some form or another&period; The game received generally high praise and sold pretty well&period; Of course it did&period; It had Batman in it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batmanrobinsnes&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21452"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21452" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142940&sol;BatmanRobinSNES&period;jpg" width&equals;"350" height&equals;"256" &sol;><&sol;a>The Adventures of Batman and Robin &lpar;1994&rpar; – <&sol;strong>By the time the second season of the popular animated series came around&semi; the title had been changed from <em>Batman&colon; The Animated Series<&sol;em> to <em>The Adventures of Batman and Robin<&sol;em>&comma; so while the title for this game is different than its predecessor&semi; it’s still based on the same show&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Once again&comma; the game released on several different platforms with several different developers and publishers&period; All versions had the distinctive art style of the animated series and most were side scrolling action titles with appearances by the famous villains that appeared in the series&period; The Sega Mega CD version even had animated cut scenes developed specifically for the game&comma; which many considered a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;lost episode”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;220px-batman&lowbar;forever&lowbar;cover&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21453"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21453" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142931&sol;220px-Batman&lowbar;Forever&lowbar;cover&period;jpg" width&equals;"220" height&equals;"333" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman Forever &lpar;1995&rpar; – <&sol;strong>The first game based on the Joel Schumacher movie was developed for and released on the SNES&comma; the Sega Mega Drive&comma; PC&comma; Game Gear and Game Boy&period; Each version was based on the film but included a variety of differences depending on which one you played&period; All versions were basically side scrolling beat-em-ups&comma; but the handheld versions didn’t include the co-op option of the consoles&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Players could play as Batman or Robin and play through the game cooperatively and could turn the option to beat each other up on and off&period; The PC version was basically the same as the console versions&comma; with the addition of sharper graphics and different costumes for Batman and Robin&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;250px-batman&lowbar;forever&lowbar;the&lowbar;arcade&lowbar;game&lowbar;cover&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21454"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21454" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142925&sol;250px-Batman&lowbar;Forever&lowbar;The&lowbar;Arcade&lowbar;Game&lowbar;Cover&period;jpg" width&equals;"250" height&equals;"249" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman Forever&colon; The Arcade Game &lpar;1996&rpar; – <&sol;strong>This title was an arcade game that was ported over to the PlayStation&comma; PC and Sega Saturn&period; The gameplay was basic arcade action&period; Never ending supplies of re-spawning baddies to beat up and tons of ridiculous&comma; screen clearing power ups&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As is normally the case with arcade ports&comma; the gameplay doesn’t exactly translate well&period; There was hardly any story to speak of&comma; and the combat was overly repetitive&period; Player enjoyment was contingent on whether or not you enjoyed beating up endless waves of identical enemies in a manner that was originally designed to rob you of all the quarters to your name&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batman&lowbar;&lowbar;robin&lowbar;video&lowbar;game&lowbar;cover&lowbar;art&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21455"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21455" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142920&sol;Batman&lowbar;&lowbar;Robin&lowbar;video&lowbar;game&lowbar;cover&lowbar;art&period;png" width&equals;"250" height&equals;"250" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman and Robin &lpar;1998&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Hey&comma; do you remember the <em>Batman and Robin<&sol;em> movie&quest; Yeah&comma; unfortunately&comma; so do I&period; Apparently&comma; no matter how horrid a Batman movie is&comma; there will still be a game based on it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This one came out for the PlayStation and the Game&period;com&period; As expected&comma; this title follows the story of the movie with some extra story elements thrown in to pad the experience&period; A departure from the norm&comma; this game included a sandbox style Gotham City to explore&period; Players could choose from Batman&comma; Robin or Alicia Silverstone… I mean Batgirl&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game allowed the player to explore the world at their pace&comma; but certain missions would  include scripted intervals&period; If the player hadn’t collected enough clues to get to the bottom of it all&comma; the mission would be a failure&period; Much like the movie it was based on&comma; the game wasn’t received favorably at all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batman&lowbar;beyond&lowbar;-&lowbar;return&lowbar;of&lowbar;the&lowbar;joker&lowbar;coverart&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21456"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21456" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142914&sol;Batman&lowbar;Beyond&lowbar;-&lowbar;Return&lowbar;of&lowbar;the&lowbar;Joker&lowbar;Coverart&period;png" width&equals;"256" height&equals;"251" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman Beyond&colon; The Return of the Joker &lpar;2000&rpar; – <&sol;strong>The animated series&comma; Batman Beyond&comma; was pretty successful&period; Successful enough that it warranted a movie to be made based off the property&period; To coincide with the release of the film&comma; the video game of the same name appeared on the Nintendo 64&comma; PlayStation and Game Boy Color&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The gameplay was basically a side scrolling beat-em-up&period; The environments were similar to other 2-D fighting games&comma; but there was some freedom to move north and south on the playing field—giving the gameplay some added depth&period; The Nintendo 64 and PlayStation versions were dislike by critics and fans but the Game Boy Color version fared a little better&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;250px-batmanchaosingotham&lowbar;coverart&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21457"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21457" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142908&sol;250px-Batmanchaosingotham&lowbar;coverart&period;jpg" width&equals;"250" height&equals;"250" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman&colon; Chaos in Gotham &lpar;2001&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Released exclusively for the Game Boy Color&comma; Chaos in Gotham was based on <em>The New Batman Adventures<&sol;em> television show&period; As far as story goes&comma; the inmates of Arkham Asylum have busted out and it is—as always—up to Batman to round them up&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Once again&comma; the gameplay was done in a basic side scrolling beat-em-up style with a rather large cast of villains and friends that make appearances&period; Players could play as Batman or Batgirl but&comma; come on&comma; who wouldn’t pick Batman&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batman&lowbar;-&lowbar;gotham&lowbar;city&lowbar;racer&lowbar;coverart&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21458"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21458" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142902&sol;Batman&lowbar;-&lowbar;Gotham&lowbar;City&lowbar;Racer&lowbar;Coverart&period;png" width&equals;"256" height&equals;"257" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman&colon; Gotham City Racers &lpar;2001&rpar; – <&sol;strong>This was a racing game&&num;8230&semi; kind of&period; You’d race around Gotham and try to stop bad guys from doing terrible things&period; There&period; A racing game with a fresh coat of Batman paint&period; That’s really about it&period; Oh yeah&comma; it was released for the PlayStation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;256px-batman&lowbar;vengeance&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21459"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21459" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142855&sol;256px-Batman&lowbar;Vengeance&period;jpg" width&equals;"256" height&equals;"366" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman&colon; Vengeance &lpar;2001&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Released on the PlayStation 2&comma; Xbox&comma; Gamecube&comma; Game Boy Advance and Microsoft Windows&comma; this title was another adaptation of <em>The New Batman Adventures<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Players would control Batman through a 3D Gotham City as you work to unravel a criminal inspired conspiracy&period; The game had the advantage of including all major voice actors from the cartoon series&comma; and well done cinematic cut-scenes brought it to life&period; The gameplay wasn’t quite as well received&period; It was mostly a generic and at times&comma; boring affair&period; The game did receive high marks for its well thought out story&comma; though&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batman&lowbar;-&lowbar;dark&lowbar;tomorrow&lowbar;coverart&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21460"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21460" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142847&sol;Batman&lowbar;-&lowbar;Dark&lowbar;Tomorrow&lowbar;Coverart&period;png" width&equals;"256" height&equals;"363" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman&colon; Dark Tomorrow &lpar;2003&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Oh wow… this game is bad&period; You may have heard it said that <em>Superman 64<&sol;em> is the worst superhero game ever&comma; and while I can’t argue with that&comma; this game has to be a close second&period; I remember the advertisements for this game during the months leading up to its release&comma; and I remember that I was initially very excited about it&period; The end result was&comma; however&comma; a terrible&comma; terrible mess&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Everything about this game−besides the cut scenes and story—is just awful&period; The gameplay is as broken as anything that has ever been unleashed on the public&comma; and the graphics are just awful&period; The worst part of it all is that the game is incredibly confusing and the developers didn’t include any clues as to what you were supposed to do&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The most glaring example of this is near the end where the player is supposed to do certain things to ensure the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;good” ending&period; Well&comma; the game never bothers to include the player in on the secret and 99&percnt; of the players skipped over this task and upon completing the game&comma; realized that half the world’s population still gets destroyed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game released on the Xbox and Gamecube and if you can pick up a copy somewhere I suggest you do so&period; That way you can see for yourself how wonderfully terrible it is&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batman&lowbar;-&lowbar;rise&lowbar;of&lowbar;sin&lowbar;tzu&lowbar;coverart&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21461"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21461" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142839&sol;Batman&lowbar;-&lowbar;Rise&lowbar;of&lowbar;Sin&lowbar;Tzu&lowbar;Coverart&period;png" width&equals;"256" height&equals;"364" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman&colon; Rise of Sin Tzu &lpar;2003&rpar; – <&sol;strong>This game is a sequel to <em>Batman&colon; Vengeance<&sol;em>&period; Ubisoft and DC really&comma; <em>really<&sol;em> wanted this game to succeed and they both put a lot of work into the marketing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game received extensive marketing&comma; a novelization&comma; a year long web comic&comma; and each version on PlayStation 2&comma; Xbox&comma; and Gamecube received pack in extras like action figures and lithographs&period; Most fans were excited for all these things&comma; but the inclusion of a brand new character&comma; Sin Tzu&comma; was the most appealing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Unfortunately&comma; most people didn’t find a whole lot to like about the game itself&period; The gameplay was more of the same beat-em-up action that had plagued most other Batman games&period; Gamers were largely bored with the whole thing and as a result&comma; Sin Tzu never appeared in another Batman incarnation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batman&lowbar;begins&lowbar;xbox&lowbar;art&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21462"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21462" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142831&sol;Batman&lowbar;Begins&lowbar;Xbox&lowbar;art&period;jpg" width&equals;"255" height&equals;"360" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman Begins &lpar;2005&rpar; – <&sol;strong>By this time&comma; Christopher Nolan had come on to the scene to rescue Batman from film embarrassment&comma; giving the world the best Batman film to date&period; EA Games hoped to latch onto the success of the film and give Batman’s video game career the same shot in the arm&period; Despite the game not exactly having a huge impact on the gaming landscape&comma; it was successful enough in its own right and at least tried to mix up the gameplay elements that had made the Batman games stale&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Instead of the basic punch and kick gameplay of older Batman titles&comma; <em>Batman Begins<&sol;em> focused more on intimidation&comma; allowing the player to sneak around the environment and instill fear into the villains before taking them out&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The story followed closely to the story of the film and it even included all the major voice actors from the movie&period; It released on PlayStation 2&comma; Xbox&comma; Gamecube&comma; Game Boy Advance and even mobile phones&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;230px-lego&lowbar;batman&lowbar;cover&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21463"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21463" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142824&sol;230px-Lego&lowbar;batman&lowbar;cover&period;jpg" width&equals;"230" height&equals;"273" &sol;><&sol;a>Lego Batman&colon; The Video Game &sol; Lego Batman 2&colon; DC Superheroes &lpar;2008&sol;2012&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Traveller’s Tales had made quite a name for themselves with the Lego games and they found even more success by including Batman in on the fun&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The gameplay of the first entry stuck very close to the mechanics that the Lego games had become famous for&period; All the villains in the Batman universe had&comma; once again&comma; escaped from Arkham and players controlled Batman through several levels of brick busting fun to round them up&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The second entry&comma; DC Superheroes&comma; included other characters from the DC universe like Superman and Green Lantern&comma; each with their own super powers&period; Both games released on every system capable of playing a game&comma; and they both sold like lice shampoo at a monkey convention&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batman&lowbar;arkham&lowbar;asylum&lowbar;videogame&lowbar;cover&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21464"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21464" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;Batman&lowbar;Arkham&lowbar;Asylum&lowbar;Videogame&lowbar;Cover&period;jpg" width&equals;"256" height&equals;"391" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman&colon; Arkham Asylum &lpar;2009&rpar; – <&sol;strong>This is the game that changed Batman’s video game fortunes forever&period; Coming out of nowhere&comma; Rocksteady studios delivered the first game to capture the things about Batman that made him so appealing in the first place&period; The game was dark&comma; scary&comma; mature and violent&period; The voice actors consisted of most of the cast from the animated series that fans had grown to love&comma; and the atmosphere of traveling around a creepy Arkham Asylum was spot-on perfect&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Atmosphere and voice work can only be window dressing though if gameplay doesn’t hold up&period; Fortunately for us&comma; the gameplay in <em>Arkham Asylum<&sol;em> was finely tuned and undeniably fun&period; It was finally entertaining to be Batman in a video game and Rocksteady didn’t neuter Batman’s extensive arsenal that makes him so cool&period; Suffice it to say&comma; Arkham Asylum was not only the greatest superhero game ever&comma; it was one of the greatest games of 2009l&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;256px-wiicover&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21465"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21465" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142817&sol;256px-Wiicover&period;jpg" width&equals;"256" height&equals;"361" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman&colon; The Brave and the Bold – The Video Game &lpar;2010&rpar; – <&sol;strong>Developed for the Wii and DS&comma; this game was based on the popular <em>Brave and the Bold<&sol;em> cartoon series&period; Batman returned to his side scrolling beat-em-up fun for this outing&comma; but he wasn’t alone&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On the Wii&comma; two players could team up to bash baddies across several levels which were modeled around episodes of the show&period; The DS was a single player affair&comma; but it garnered better reviews than its big brother on the Wii&period; All of this information is mute&comma; because the biggest draw of this game is&comma; and shall ever be&comma; the inclusion of Aquaman&excl; Want your game to be better&quest; Just add Aquaman&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;video-game-chronology-batman&sol;batman&lowbar;arkham&lowbar;city&lowbar;game&lowbar;cover&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-21466"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21466" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06142809&sol;Batman&lowbar;Arkham&lowbar;City&lowbar;Game&lowbar;Cover&period;jpg" width&equals;"250" height&equals;"310" &sol;><&sol;a>Batman&colon; Arkham City &lpar;2011&rpar; – <&sol;strong>The sequel to 2009’s breakout Batman game did the impossible&colon; It made a perfect game even better&period; Rocksteady really hit their stride with <em>Arkham City<&sol;em> by taking everything that was great about <em>Arkham Asylum<&sol;em> and ratcheting it up a notch&period; The world was bigger&comma; there were more villains&comma; the stakes were higher&comma; and everything was just simply awesome&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The combat and exploration remained as fun as ever and there seemed to be a never ending supply of collectibles and Easter Eggs littered around the world&period; The story was more involved too&comma; as the player spent the bulk of the game unraveling threads of mystery and making good use of Bruce Wayne’s extensive detective knowledge and instruments&period; The game won multiple game of the year awards and continues to receive DLC&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There are various games that include Batman that you won’t find on this list&comma; but these are the Batman-centric games and that’s what really matters&period; Does anyone really want to remember Mortal Kombat vs&period; DC&quest; No&period; No they do not&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>So&comma; how many of these have you played&quest; Which one is your favorite&quest; Who stole my cookie&quest; Let us know in the comment section&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"zemanta-pixie" style&equals;"margin-top&colon; 10px&semi; height&colon; 15px&semi;"><img class&equals;"zemanta-pixie-img" style&equals;"border&colon; none&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;img&period;zemanta&period;com&sol;pixy&period;gif&quest;x-id&equals;716c2056-615d-4ece-805b-e739ac2f4ff2" &sol;><&sol;div>&NewLine;

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