The Adventures of Batman & Robin

"This is not the cartoon! Repeat: THIS IS NOT THE CARTOON!!!"

The Adventures of Batman and Robin (Originally Batman: The Animated Series) was a wonderful cartoon aired in the 90's on FOX network. Naturally, this cartoon was wonderfully popular with great animation that puts most other action cartoons to shame. Games had to be based on the animated series, and there's no better time than to make one for the Genesis and the Super Nintendo. However, both version are completely different from one another.

The Super Nintendo version greatly followed the cartoon, from the graphics, music, stage design, etc. It was one of the best ever made by Konami. This version created by Sega and Clockwork Tortoise, on the other hand, hardly seems to follow it, other than the fact that Batman must save Gotham City from evil villians. Besides that, it's too difficult for it's own good.

Plot: 5

A typical Batman plot is seen here. Mr. Freeze wants to freeze all of Gotham City (I'm not surprized) and to keep The Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder (Batman and Robin of course) from getting to him, he sets free the Joker, who blacks out Gotham City and robs a jewelry store, Two Face, who hijacks a zeppelin, and The Mad Hatter, who sabotages the Gotham City Studio with traps. After our heroes get through this chaos, you'll face Mr. Freeze himself.

Graphics: 7

This may be the only thing they actually got right. They follow the cartoon...almost. Here, the character sprites are small and not as detailed as you might think. Batman looks preety laughable in the game, as does Robin. They're decent enough, but detailed and truly menacing as the Super Nintendo version. As far as backgrounds go, they show wonderful detail, and show some nice use of 3-D special effects such as a crane swinging back and forth, or the robotic cat's face coming off after you beat it. They even show cars driving by in traffic as you fly over the city skies! What's better is that some weather effects is used, like fog, but the best example is stage 2, where a storm rolls in with lightning flashes and the dark clouds advance and get bigger and darker!

There is one gripe I have with them, however. Here, purple and blue gets used too much for most of the backgrounds (Even at nighttime they shouldn't always be this color. I'm not saying ALL of the backgrounds are like this, but most of them are those two colors, and after looking at them for a while, it feels so...black and white. They do go beyond this with colorful and impressive backgrounds in some areas (Especially in the later areas) of the game, and it shows really good.

Sound: 3

Bleah. This is the worst music I've heard from this console, if not in my life. People who watch the cartoon will know the true music. It's dark, suspenseful, with instruments coming straight out of an orchestral performance. And it's good. Here, though, they go for a more techno soundtrack, trying to give Batman the ''cool'' image. They also make it because the game focuses more on beating up people instead of relying on Batman's true nature in the cartoon (Which'll be explained in the SNES game). And it fails. Although it has bass kicking tracks and robotic sounds, it fails to fit the nature of the cartoon, and just isn't appropriate for the Batman universe. Batman Beyond might go such a soundtrack due to it's futuristic setting, but I just don't see them going well together either. Sound effects are typical, but they're bland. Punching sounds like you're hitting a trash can with a pipe. There's no voice acting.

Gameplay: 1

Sigh...

And it had so much promise to be a good Batman game, but sadly, as I have said, it hardly follows the cartoon, and more importantly, it's too difficult. For starters, you can control Batman or Robin, and have a second player join in. You have three lives and 6 continues. Batman and Robin have no advantage over one another, they behave the same way. While it's nice to have a second player tag along, it ends up doing more harm than good. See, only player 1 can start the game off and after picking a character, player 2 can jump in. This takes off 1 continue, leaving you with 5. In case you're trying to figure out what I'm saying, you and your partner must share your credits. Which means if either of you continue, you'll have four continues for the rest of the game! AHHH!!! And regardless of whether you're playign by yourself or with a friend/sibling, it's not enough, and neither are three lives.

Second, there's not enough moves to go around. A or C attacks, depending on how close they are to enemies. When Batman and/or Robin are close to an enemy they can punch, kick or headbutt (It's random though). They can hang from ledges and attack from them, as well as move along them and jump up or drop down to the next floor. They can do a jump kick by pressing B button (The jump button) in the air twice. If they're far away, they'll throw projectiles. This is sadly your main attack, and it doesn't do you justice here. They can throw batrangs, bat stars, or bat bolos. In order to determine which projectile they'll throw you'll come across an icon every once in a while that allows you to change your weapon. They are easily indicated by the color the icon is currently flashing, because it changes color about every two seconds. Batarangs are red, bat stars are blue, and bat bolos are green.

By picking it up of a different color, they'll change projectiles. For example, if you want the bat bolos, and you currently have batarangs, you'll have to pick up the icon while it's green. If they pick one up of a same color, the projectile will grom bigger and become more solid. For example, to make the batarangs more powerful, pick up the icon while it's red. You'll throw two at once. Batarangs and bat stars are thrown in a 3-way spread, while bat bolos are thrown in a wavy pattern. In order to beat the game, you must have the bat bolo fully maxed out to it's highest level, as it deals the most damage. Otherwise, it's impossible to get to the end. That's my strategy, at least for me.

Now, the reason why the game is as hard as it is is because enemies constantly crowd the screen. Some attack up close, while others fire at a distance. They can ambush you and easily overwhelm you if you don't watch what you're doing, and the damage goes up fast. You do get occasional powerups, like a skull icon wiping out everything on screen. And you can pick up haerts for health, but they hardly come when you need them. Enemies overwhelming you is bad enough, but the bosses completely take the cake. They take a lot of damage (If you aren't leveled up good enough) and their attack patterns are tricky to memorize. Adding insult to injury, all four stages are long. I have actually beaten this game without cheating and I am so darn happy when I finally beat it. However, this is one game where you may have to cheat to win....

You'll also go on occasional flying missions done in a horizontal scrolling format. The Dynamic Duo will be able to travel in the skies via their bat gliders and some sort of hovering device around their belt (Forgot the name), but they don't appear that often. They're slighty easier than side scrolling stages, IMO, but that doesn't make them any easier or more interesting.

Replay Value: 2

There's really not enough to go around after you finally beat it, but that's good since you'll want to find another game to play. Even if you desire to play it again, the outing may not be as easy as the last time.

Buy or Leave on Shelf:

Just leave it there on the shelf. It's not worth it, and even some Batman fans like myself will be dissapointed.

Overall: 1

It's nothing more than a mediocre side-scrolling game that has the name Batman and Robin on it, where all the while it could've been an entirely different game. It fails to live up to the cartoon in any manner If you like it, fine, but for me...GO BUY THE SNES VERSION, THE REAL ADVENTURES OF BATMAN AND ROBIN AND LEAVE THIS PIECE OF MOLDY BREAD TO THE BIRDS!!! That is all.

Ending Quote:

I'm not Bruce Wayne...I'm a crappy side-scrolling adventure game!!!
Kaskey Darkfyre on Batman the Movie(NES)

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/02, Updated 08/13/02