This game is based off of the classic Tim Burton Batman film that was released in the cinemas in the summer of 1989. About a year later, in 1990, a video game was made for the Nintendo Entertainment System. I've been playing this game for a while now on Vizzed, and I can see why people like it so much. However, I don't find myself enjoying it like they do. The gameplay just plain sucks!! I swear to God, it's just as bad as Mega Man 1! It may even be worse in some ways! I think most people like Batman on NES because of all the other positive aspects of the game, but I can't rate it as high as other people did.

Graphics 8/10: Most of the areas of this review I can rate pretty high. The graphics are one of the game's finer points. The cut scenes look really cool, and the Joker looks just like Jack Nicholson who made Batman "The Movie" such a great film! I don't know what to say about the rest of the levels. They look okay, I guess, but not like the cut scenes that lead into the stages. Batman on NES is a nice looking game, but it is still 8-bit. There wasn't a whole lot that could be done, but it still is just as good looking game as the Mario Bros. games released around that time.

Music 10/10: I could not find one bland or boring track in this game! Every song sounds so good. The one for the first stage is my favorite, but they all sound really cool. Batman on NES has an amazing soundtrack which is probably why this game is so popular with people. Good music can only do so much, but it does make me want to come back and at least play it just for that reason alone. This is why I can recommend this game. It has a unique and original soundtrack that is nothing like the music in the movie. It is something entirely different, and it works extremely well. This is why the game stands out so well, and the music made it so popular.

Gameplay 1/10: Batman on NES plays a lot like the Mega Man games. It is an action/shooter/beat'em up/ platformer style of game. Batman can beat up his enemies with his fists, or he can shoot them with his gun, boomerang, or this other weapon that shoots projectiles in a scattered pattern sort of like a shotgun. There is no time limit in the game, and pushing the Start button switches from weapon to weapon. The Select button pauses the game. Batman also has to do a lot of platforming just like in Mega Man.

You also have a health meter just like in Mega Man. When you kill enemies, they drop you health and ammunition. Batman has to wall jump in this game too while avoiding taking damage. Most of the stage hazards won't instantly kill you, but it is impossible not to take damage. I find myself falling in chemicals and not being able to get out of them which leads to me losing all my health and dying! The controls are also unresponsive. Your jumps are almost impossible to control, and I just can't get used to things no matter how much I play this game!!

These stages are pretty long, and guess what, if you die, YOU HAVE TO REPLAY THE ENTIRE STAGE FROM THE BEGINNING!!!! WHY!? It takes all day for me just for finish one level! And, it already starts to get hard on Level 2. Level 3 is even worse, and I can never avoid getting hit by enemies, falling on spikes and not being able to get off of them!! Batman the game, just trolls you!! Not to mention, the boss in stage 3 is impossible to beat!! I did manage to beat him one time by accidently finding a glitch in the game.

It's almost like there is no point in even playing this game!! It's impossible!! I play it for the music and all, but after Level 1, the game starts trolling you, and by Level 3, you can't win unless you can find some kind of glitch where the boss in that level freezes and can't move and Batman has to shoot him 20 times to kill him!! I honestly see no reason to even play this game much. It'll take you forever the get to the boss in Level 3, and once you get there, you'll die and have to replay the level from the beginning just to get another shot at this impossible boss fight.

Is it even worth the effort? Every time they make a video game out of a movie, the gameplay is crap!! This is just another example of that here. The music and story are pretty cool, but there is no improvement with the awkward jumps that seem unresponsive at times and the amount of damage players take in the game. You'll never beat the stages in one go unless you're an expert. THIS IS YET ANOTHER REASON GAME GENIE WAS INVENTED!! THUMBS DOWN!!

Story 10/10: Now, I have to say, Batman on NES has an interesting story that is similar to the one in the film. It's not the same one where Batman goes after the Joker and saves Vicki Vale from getting thrown off the top of the Bell Tower. Although, Batman does fight the Joker at the end in the Cathedral. Vicki Vale isn't in this game. It's just Batman and the Joker, and the both characters look just like Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Batman fights his way through Gotham City and Axis Chemicals, but he encounters all kinds of monsters in this game.

This game is really weird because it is nothing like the movie. The music is a lot different too, and this plot and soundtrack are the main reasons I like playing this game. The gameplay is an epic failure, but this storyline is something unique and isn't anything like the film. Why did Batman go down in the sewer in this game? Is this a look ahead to "Batman Returns"? Like I say, the final area, I believe is the Cathedral without our damsel in distress, but I still like the whole concept of this new storyline.

I guess, this is another reason this game was so popular. The plot really hit a nerve with me and made me curious. Where did these monsters come from? Maybe they used to be humans who fell into the chemicals like Jack did! This is a good story, but I wish they would've included the part where Jack electrocuted that guy and told him he was glad that he was dead!

Content 5/10: Batman takes about 30 minutes to beat if you are an expert with this game! It includes 5 different areas: Gotham City, Axis Chemicals, The Sewer, The Art Museum, and The Bell Tower Climb. I have to say, even though I hated the gameplay, I do like how Sunsoft patterned the game after the movie. I hate how a lot of video games are nothing like the movie at all, but this one is similar to the film but with different characters other than Batman and the Joker. The stages are from the film but with different enemies and a different plot. There just isn't much to it, and players won't like how short it is.

Difficulty 10/10: I think I've already spent too much time complaining about the difficulty for Batman on NES. I like everything else about this game, but I hate how hard it is. The glitches really suck! I just watched a video on YouTube where the player had to rely a lot on these glitches in order to defeat the bosses. Games like that are just impossible to play! The unresponsive controls really affected my jumping which slowed down my progress I was making with the platforming. Not to mention, poor enemy placement, not being able to avoid taking damage, dying, and have to REPLAY THE LEVEL, REPLAY THE LEVEL, REPLAY THE LEVEL!! Next time, I'll just watch gameplay videos or watch the movie.

Overall 6.8/10: What really hurt this game for me was how hard it was. The difficulty was just plain impossible, and it felt like you had to rely a lot on glitches too much. There also wasn't much content to it. The music and plot of the game are what saved it and kept it from falling into the same category as games like, "Rocky". MAN THAT GAME SUCKED!!! This one is quite an improvement over that one! The story is something entirely different, but it is based off of the movie with Michael Keaton and the iconic Jack Nicholson's Joker! If it weren't for the bad controls and glitches, this would be a great NES game just like Tim Burton's movie was.