The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Gameplay
Batman is an action game played from a top-down perspective, reminiscent of Pac-Man and Bomberman. The players take control of Batman through four areas based on locations in the film, each one divided into twelve stages. Each distinct area has their own main objectives, such as retrieving "Smilex" chemicals in Gotham City, cleaning paintings at the Flugelheim museum, and setting up bombs at the Axis Chemicals factory. Controlling the titular character, the player explores and search for the items in mazes. The player can attack enemies with batarangs, and find power-ups to increase their range and shoot more batarangs.
Development
's 1989 film of the same name for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. It was the last Batman game by Sunsoft to tie in with a film. The PC Engine version was produced by Cho Musou, with supervision from Hiroyasu Eguchi. The soundtrack was composed by Nobuyuki Hara.
The game was first announced in 1989, initially intended to be a side-view action game, but was later retooled into an top-down action-maze game instead (similar to the Bomberman franchise). The game was published by Sunsoft on October 12, 1990.
Reception
Batman on the PC Engine garnered mixed reception from critics. Micom BASIC Magazine ranked the game at the number twelve spot in popularity on their January 1991 issue. Console Ma'zine's Onn Lee found the game reminiscent of Doraemon: Meikyū Daisakusen. Lee applauded the visual presentation for its detailed and colorful graphics, expressive sprite animations, and "wicked" cutscenes between stages.
He also praised the music, but found the sound effects very limited and expressed disappointment towards the lack of gameplay variety. Amstar Informatique commended the game's "superb" graphical quality, but noted its high difficulty. They also felt that the repetitive action might bore some players. Génération 4 commented that the PC Engine version has "nothing to do with the different adaptations made so far on microcomputers and consoles".
