Batman

Curse of The Bat-Man

Batman was created in 1939 by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and has gone on to appear in just about every media known to man, but it wasn't until 1989 with the release of Tim Burton's "Batman", did Batman get a shot at the world of video games.

Ocean's "Batman: The Movie" for Amiga was a smash hit and boosted sales of the advanced, at the time, home computer in Christmas '89, while Sunsoft's output of games based on the same film for Nintendo, Game Boy, PC and Genesis was equally well received.

Following up that was Sun Soft's "sequel" Batman: Return of the Joker that was actually based on the comics, making it not a sequel at all. It was basically the same simple 2-D side-scroller, but featured improved graphics that really pushed the limits of Nintendo's 8-bit machine at the time. An enjoyable version for Game Boy followed, while Joker's Return on the Genesis was in actuality a literal "Revenge," as the game was true to its 8-bit origins (on a 16-bit machine...)

Next, along with Tim Burton's second Batman film, "Batman Returns," came Konami's Batman Returns (SNES) which is regarded as one of the best of the Batman inspired games. It was based off of beat 'em up games like Double Dragon and Final Fight, and featured all the enemies from the movie. With a decent start on Amiga and 8 and 16 bit consoles, things looked "bright" for the Bat in the world of video games; but even after facing the Joker, the Penguin, Catwoman, as well as the cast of animated villains in Konami's excellent The Adventures of Batman & Robin (SNES), did Batman have to face his greatest nemesis: ACCLAIM.

Among gamers there is a meme, a belief or an actual legend that the Batman video game license is cursed, forever marked by the Sign of the Acclaim.

A multitude of games have been released ever since, and each fail on multiple levels. Many hoped the the much-hyped "Batman Begins" movie game would break the cycle, but it was not to be. The truth behind the "curse" is that very few super hero games are successful. Spider-man has had a few hits, and the Hulk saw his day in the sun, but other then that, few developers are given the time or money needed to create a descent game. Lego Batman is almost guaranteed to succeed, noting the success of Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones. For those of you hoping for a darker knight, Eidos and Warner Interactive promise to break this dreaded chain of events, and it appears that they are on the right path. Whether they can capture the power of the franchise to the degree that the other media's have has yet to be seen...