Andrew Fisher (697) on 6/24/2023 9:47 AM · Permalink · Report

I bought Batman & Robin for GEN/MD twenty years ago, while it looked good when I tried it out, I never played again until a few days ago and I realized it's some weird concept of platform-aerial shooting that has Batman and Robin jumping and dodging like mad to stay alive and emitting Salvos of powered up batarangs or other Batman throwing weapons. It's possibly the most demanding game I've ever played, but even using cheats the game just becomes repetitive, overlong and boring.

I saw that the SNES Batman & Robin is a genuine attempt to turn Batman Animated into a game, each stage is introduced like episode of the cartoon, Batman carries a variety of gadgets and weapons and while most stages have both beat-'em up and problem solving, some concentrate more on one. I watched this playthrough then had a go it it myself. I think by far the biggest problem with this game is the design team appear to have only watched Batman Animated for the purpose of making this game. Batman his enemies and allies look like they do in the cartoon, but the dialogue is really cheesy and it lets the game down a lot. I think the fighting and problem solving is generally OK, better on some levels than others, I liked disarming the mobsters at range with the batarang, throwing them into one another or so that their legs would knock down the one behind you. My favourite stages though, were the problem solving stages where you'd make the most use your gadgets, Stage 3: Museum, Stage 6: University and Stage 7:Riddler's Maze. There's an advantage to not bringing too many gadgets along. it can take a long time to switch between gadgets and sometimes you need to quickly alternate. The boss fights I'd say are just OK, challenging for sure, but not very exciting to watch and discovering the strategy for beating them is not especially satisfying. I hated the last stage, a boss rush with two new bosses thrown in, fighting the Joker at the end when he was the first guy you beat and now equipped with a jetpack he's probably even easier to beat. It just seems like a bonus extra stage. If the Riddler's maze is the real final stage then it's quite a good one, but I hate the Riddler's final challenge, the black and white kings on his virtual chessboard, kind of a lame boss, I guess the Riddler is supposed to be virtually moving the chess pieces and trying to crush you with them, but I wish that when you beat them you saw the real Riddler behind the curtain in his control room and have his console blow up in his face or something.