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Review / Screenshots / Cabinet

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.

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. Search through www.google.com.