Batman : The Video Game

Batman: The Video Game for the NES is Sunsoft’s 2D action-platformer starring DC Comics’ Caped Crusader. Released in Japan as Batman in December 1989 and in North America in February 1990, it arrived in Europe later that year. Sunsoft developed and published the single-player cartridge as a tie-in to the 1989 Batman film, but this version tells its own action-heavy route through Gotham City rather than recreating the film scene for scene. Batman sets out to stop the Joker’s criminal campaign, moving from shadowy streets into industrial and underground danger before the final confrontation.

The game is built around side-scrolling stages in which Batman runs, jumps, crouches, attacks, and avoids traps or enemy fire. His standard close-range punch is always available, while defeated foes can leave pellets that fuel optional Bat-weapons. Players may switch between the returning Batarang, a spear gun, and the three-way Dirk projectile, choosing an attack suited to the space and enemy ahead. Hearts restore part of Batman’s life power, so routing through hazardous rooms and conserving ammunition both matter during a run.

A defining movement option is Batman’s wall jump. By leaping toward a wall, he can cling briefly and spring away, letting players scale tight vertical passages and negotiate obstacles that cannot be cleared with an ordinary jump. The NES controller assigns jumping to A and attacking or firing to B, with Start used to select an available special weapon. That straightforward control setup supports a campaign that demands quick positioning: platforms, moving machinery, projectiles, and foes often occupy the same confined screen space.

Batman: The Video Game unfolds across five large areas. Gotham City opens the pursuit and ends with Killer Moth; the Axis Chemical Factory follows with liquid waste, electrical hazards, conveyor belts, and the Machine Intelligence System. Batman then navigates the Underground Conduit and faces the Electrocutioner, investigates the Laboratory Ruins and its Dual-Container Alarm, and climbs the Cathedral’s stairway and belltower. Firebug guards the last approach, after which Batman meets the Joker. Introductory demonstrations precede the stages, while their settings combine familiar Batman locations with mechanical and science-fiction threats created for this adaptation.

Although it shares a title and film inspiration with several other Sunsoft Batman releases, this NES game is its own platformer and should not be confused with the Game Boy adventure, the Genesis beat ’em up, or the top-down PC Engine game. Its Japanese release used the shorter title Batman, while the North American and European cartridge was called Batman: The Video Game. The game also led to Sunsoft’s later NES follow-up, Batman: Return of the Joker, but the original remains a self-contained trip through a stylized Gotham where precise jumps, weapon management, and boss encounters carry Batman to the Joker.