It might have taken a week or so, but I've finally arrived at the Batman Returns arc. Let's jump straight into a personal favorite of mine: Batman Returns for the Super Nintendo. It's a beatemup by Konami. Need I say more? Actually, yeah, I do need to say more. During the late 80s through the early 90s, the arcade giant put out a multitude of belt-scrollers that vary in quality. I mean, they didn't put out any stinkers, but a few haven't aged particularly well. Turtles in Time, for instance, is great on the Super Nintendo, but the arcade version is way overtuned and designed exclusively for maniacs. I can't even talk about the original TMNT arcade game because I'm just that sick of it. Other titles such as X-men and The Simpsons are a little too shallow, especially nowadays when countless alternatives exist.
Okay, so how did Batman Returns turn out to be a personal favorite? That's a question I'm a bit curious about myself, so I've embarked on this review to answer why. This isn't just a Konami belt-scroller. It's a Konami belt-scroller on the Super Nintendo. I'm a big fan of the system, but almost all its beatemups / hack & slashers are limited to just 3 enemies at a time. Funny thing about that limitation is that it leads me to one of the reasons why I think so highly of this particular beatemup. Konami made the best with what they had to create a series of consistently engaging scenarios. As the Dark Knight, your most common adversaries are the Red Triangle Circus Gang. Every opponent has personality and purpose. Getting in their face and mashing the attack button works well enough, but let's take it a step further.
If you've ever contended with a bazooka clown, then you know that they're most dangerous when they fire a rocket. What this game does wonderfully is that it allows for multiple ways to deal with that rocket. With the right timing, you can punch it out of the air. Grabbing an enemy to use them as a human shield also works. Simply moving out of the way is effective too, doubly so if some poor clown sneaking up behind you gets blasted. Hitting a sword-swallower with a batarang while they're practicing does more damage than any punch or throw. The batarang is an extremely effective tool in almost every situation. Stun enemies, knock bosses down for a momentary break, instantly eliminate bikers, whatever works best at the moment.
This game isn't lacking for depth either. Batman's move-set is great. He has a powerful slam that's fast and has good crowd-control. Throwing enemies into the background is always a thrill. Smashing their heads together? Awesome. Mastering the more advanced techniques is where the combat really shines. First, I have to talk about the infinite. Tapping block after Batman strikes someone with his knee will reset the "magic series". This cancels out the kick that knocks them down. Get the timing right and you're...not invincible. Seriously, the infinite is powerful, but opportunities to wail on a single enemy all by their lonesome can be counted on one hand. Besides, most foes don't have a ton of health, so it's better to focus on crowd-control moves, leaving the infinite for when you can actually make time for it. You can also mix in a batarang during an infinite if you need to change targets. Then there's the grappling hook, which is fantastic for reaching the other side of the screen quickly. I um... should probably try using it more often. I think the slight health cost keeps dissuading me, never mind the fact that everyone hits like a truck and escaping would save my life.
That reminds me of another detail: the challenge. One complaint I have is that the differences between difficulty settings aren't pronounced enough. Bad guys do a lot of damage whether the difficulty is set to Easy or Mania. That said, the harder settings have less health pick-ups, so there's definitely an incentive in learning the tricks to avoid getting beaten up. Encounters are balanced extremely well. Batman can deal with several foes over a long period of time, but he's always just a few unlucky hits away from death. The villains he'll battle at the end of each stage are especially dangerous. Both Catwoman and The Penguin will gladly chew through many of your lives until you get a read on their tells. Other bosses benefit from having allies that'll mess with your attempts at landing the infinite.
What also helps to keep the game fresh over many playthroughs is its pacing and variety. Each of the seven stages (or scenes) has two or three unique qualities to set it apart, such as action-platforming sections, a prolonged fight atop a train, all that sort of stuff. These scenarios that break from tradition are smartly designed. Yeah, going from a belt-scroller to a pure side-scroller is an adjustment, but they never grind the action to a halt with complex grappling-hook usage or some other nonsense. Stage 5 is the weakest since it's - unsurprisingly - the vehicle section, but it's still pretty fun. We all need an occasional break anyway.
Batman Returns consistently flicks the "Hell yeah!" levers in my soul. Few things are better than the juicy i-frames from a throw, allowing otherwise dangerous objects to fly harmlessly through the hero. Oh! What's even better is getting a 2 for 1 when Batman throws an enemy into a bench or window. The impact sounds and visuals are all well-done, lending the satisfying "oomph" that helps make a beatemup beautiful. Like I mentioned before, the genre suffers a few constraints on Super Nintendo hardware, but Konami did a fantastic job working within them. This isn't like the Final Fight 1 SNES port that runs almost twice as long as the arcade original, causing players - or at least myself - to collapse from boredom. The flawless attention to detail brings it all together. Fans of the movie can even recreate a couple of their favorite scenes, like the one shown just above.
Sadly, 1993 was the final year of the Konami belt-scroller, but they left on a high note thanks to titles like Violent Storm, Metamorphic Force, and of course, Batman Returns. For a long time, I had just about written off the Super Nintendo's beatemup offerings. In fairness, and before someone attempts to turn this into a 16-bit war, the Sega Genesis also suffered outside of the Streets of Rage trilogy and Alien Storm. That said, I've realized now that there are still some out there that have aged gracefully. This is a fantastic movie tie-in and a stunning game in its own right.
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