Batman Returns (Sega Game Gear)

My nostalgia kick continues, so I decided to grab another game I used to play hundreds of times as a kid. It was time for Batman Returns on Sega Game Gear, which is in my opinion a pretty decent platformer on that system. It is certainly better than Wolfchild, which I finished a few days ago. The fact that I managed to finish it on my second attempt after so many years is a testament to the skill I possessed as a child, but I have to admit I am nowhere near as good as I used to be. During my heyday, I could beat every boss without using any special ability, I knew all the secrets and I could avoid all damage. These days I suck in comparison!

Just decent?

So why am I saying that Batman Returns is just decent? Well for starters, I know that there are many better games of similar type from that era out there. One only needs to mention Nintendo classics such as Mega Man, Contra, Castlevania and it becomes immediately obvious why Batman is just decent. The second reason is the difficulty which in my honest opinion is a joke. Most enemies are there just as a nuisance that can be dismissed with one or two strong batorang throws, while bosses attack in two or three different patterns, which are way too easy to learn. The only exception to this is the Penguin whose missiles require genuine skill to avoid, but even a potentially great boss is easy to defeat if you stack up on special attacks. And then there is the music with horrible sound effects! The music not only has nothing to do with the original score from the movie, but even worse is so cheery at times that you would expect it in some Barbie game. It doesn't fit the character of Batman at all and I have no idea what the developers were thinking. Ok, perhaps I am over-exaggerating a bit, and there are a couple of nice tunes that you can get used to, but overall it is just a big disappointment. However, despite all of these complaints, Batman Returns is very enjoyable and there are elements of a true classic lurking under its ugly surface. 

The good

As soon as you turn on the game you are greeted by an introduction screen, which is decorated by special light effects followed by a real intro - something that was sort of a rarity on hand-held consoles from that time. Then you actually get to choose your path, allowing you to play each stage on two completely different maps with occasionaly different enemies. An exception to this feature is the final stage which is always the same. Furthermore, the game also features an inventory screen, where you can change weapons and use special abilities such as calling your vehicle for help. The vehicles are beautifully drawn and fully animated, which was also something of a rarity on hand-held consoles during the early nineties. Most games even on much more powerful consoles just had a picture with some text as an introduction. Very rarely did a console game try to emulate a movie, so even the simplest cut-scenes were very impressive to my impressionable young mind. Of course I was aware of PC gaming which was doing cinematic introductions of much higher quality, but I would have to wait a few more years before I got my first PC.

Back in 1994 I was mind blown by these three screens. Hmm.. perhaps this says more about my gaming experience as a 13 year old kid than the quality of the game considering how advanced PC gaming was at that time.

 

Gameplay

Batman Returns is a typical side-scrolling game from the nineties. Like majority of games from that era it revolves around getting through levels, defeating or avoiding enemies with a standard boss battle at the end of each stage. However, what sets Batman Returns somewhat apart from its competition is its diversity in control mechanics. In most side-scrollers that I played on Game Gear you can usually just jump and attack in one or two different ways. In Batman however, there were more alternatives. For example, you could defeat enemies with fists, different types of batorangs or even with your rope-claw which was otherwise used for climbing over obstacles. And if that was not enough you could also glide through air, immitate Spiderman by using your rope-claw to get yourself over huge holes, or use special attacks similar to those in arcade games. Batorangs came in 3 different strengths and ranges which definately added to different ways you could play the game. Long range is very weak, but it is extremely useful for dealing with enemies that are standing too far. Powerful batorang is good for dealing a lot of damage, but it has the shortest range. And then there is the medium option which has medium range and does medium damage. When I was a kid, I used to create special challenges for my playthroughs and one of the challenges was to finish the game by using just one type of weapon. These days though, I am so rusty that I have to use everything at my disposal to be able to finish the game, and I still end up dying from time to time.

 

A perfect example of where you should use a long range batorang, followed by an example how to get over a hole with a rope-claw.

 

My god! Has it already been 20 years since I played this? Back then Michelle Pfieffer was a woman to die for, and today.. well.. time has taken its toll.

 

 

Entering Penguin's lair and the ending screenshot