Batman Returns

Honest and Unpopular Reviews No. 49 Batman Returns (SNES) Nobody ever brings up this game when they talk about great Batman games. Konami made an absolute banger here, and it's constantly overlooked and never included in any all time lists, which is a travesty. This game came out on multiple consoles, but this review is strictly for the 1993 Super Nintendo version. It follows the movie pretty closely, which is very surprising because video game movie tie-ins almost never follow the movie with any accuracy. It's usually just a label slapped on some generic thing (looking at you, Friday the 13th and Bill and Ted!) The game starts with the Red Triangle Circus Gang crashing the tree lighting in Gotham Plaza and ends with Batman fighting the Penguin in his lair. Catwoman shows up on occasion to fight you along the way. Between stages you get movie stills to carry the story. The fighting mechanics are fantastic. You can grab two clowns at once and smash their heads together, or pick one up and throw him right through a store window. There's a Batmobile stage in the middle of the game too. The music, the sound effects and the overall ambiance are absolutely stellar. Konami got Danny Elfman's score from the movie onto the cartridge, and the whole game has the same snowy Gotham at Christmas feel Tim Burton put on screen. It's one of the best licensed games from the 16-bit era, and it ranks pretty high on my all time lists. I rate Batman Returns on the Super Nintendo a 4.5 out of 5.

4. Batman Returns The game most of you forgot was a brawler at all. Konami built a genuinely mean beat 'em up out of a movie license, and putting two thugs through a plate glass window still feels better than it should. Fourth is not a courtesy slot.