The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: BATMAN

With Batman: Arkham Asylum releasing next month, we decided to delve into the history of the caped crusader to take a look at some of his adventures and why this next installment in the dark knights gaming library should look alot better than the past ones.

BATMAN

GOOD:

Batman came crashing onto the video game scene in 1986 with "Batman". The objective of the game was to rescue Robin by collecting 7 pieces of the batcraft (hovercraft) askewed around the batcave. Such a purpose may seem convoluted, but remember its 1986, and Batman got wonderous reviews since it was one of the first games to implement a restart or "checkpoint" system and was deemed a classic by major review boards at the time.

BATMAN: REVENGE OF THE JOKER

BAD:

After the success of the side scrolling Batman: The Caped Crusader, and a failed attempt at the video game remake of the film "Batman". Revenge of the Joker hit NES and Sega Genesis systems. A remake for the SNES was considered but cancelled due to poor performance grade for both NES and Genesis systems. With bland combat and poor run time, this was a lackluster performance by Batman with such upside. Another innovation game that introduced the idea of Boss Fights at the end of each level, leaving for an unsatisfactory game with such great ideas but such a sour performance.

THE ADVENTURES OF BATMAN & ROBIN

UGLY:

In 1994, the Adventures of Batman and Robin was released on the SNES with a Genesis counterpart. Out of most of the things wrong with this game, Nintendo Power criticized the game for a lack of gameplay for Robin, since he was basically the sidekick who gave moral support. The suprising uproar about the lack of Robin, repetitive leveling and short story led to the downfall of this installment based on the cartoon.

Now these are just some of the Caped Crusaders past. Some of his games were good, some were bad, and some where well... lets just say they weren't up to par to Bruce Wayne's Standards. But with Arkham Asylum coming in the weeks ahead, this look back is just an ode to what might be a great game to end the summer with. We'll have to wait 'til the Dark Knight emerges from the shadows and take his adventure to the looney bin that is Arkham.