Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Batman Returns is a beat 'em up that Konami developed for the SNES back in 1992. It follows the events of the movie, although they take some creative liberties with the characters and progression in order to make a fun game out of it. And they did an excellent job! This is one of the best games on the SNES, one of the best console beat 'em ups, and probably the best Batman game ever made (I need to play the NES ones again). There's really not much to criticize about it - they did a great job in every single area, from gameplay, to graphics, music, enemy design, pacing, difficulty - you name it. I'm not really sure if this game is widely seen as a classic, but I feel like it's underrated by every possible audience for it. It's absolutely great.

This is a no death clear on the highest difficulty, Mania. In this mode, Konami does the typical console game thing of giving you tons of lives, and leaving very few healing items throughout the stages (there are more on lower difficulties). I really dislike this design because it makes just clearing the game easy and unsatisfying, so you have to go all in and go for a deathless run in order to get a fun challenge out of it. And at least in Mania mode, most of the enemies do a lot of damage if they land a hit on you. Some bosses can even do 50-75% of your HP in one shot. So you really need to put in some work and memorize the hard parts, figure out good strategies for the bosses (the first Catwoman, and especially the Penguin fight is very tricky on Mania difficulty), and play carefully when you need to. It's fun, but I'd have liked it balanced a little differently. But regardless, it's a great game that every fan of beat 'em ups, or Batman in general should try out.

0:00 Intro
4:35 Scene 1 — Ambush in Gotham Plaza
9:40 Scene 2 — Battle in the Streets of Gotham City
17:07 Scene 3 — On the Prowl
21:20 Scene 4 — The Penguin's Trap
26:03 Scene 5 — To the Batmobile!
29:37 Scene 6 — Circus Train
34:34 Scene 7 — The Penguin's Lair
41:35 Ending & Credits

I played this on the BSNES emulator, but watching the replay back, it looks a little choppy at points. Maybe this emulator doesn't play nice with OBS? I'm kinda annoyed about that to be honest. I own the game on the SNES, but playing on my PC is a lot more convenient for a bunch of reasons... Maybe I'll try a different emulator next time. Oh well.
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Beat 'em Ups (e.g. Final Fight): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvMhpG1GR9sk8OYiWQMZZTgl
2D Action (e.g. Metal Slug): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvNFjpnJ59Th6N0IU1PSpD3d
STG/Shmups (e.g. Dodonpachi): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE6B3779BE759F71