Batman Returns (1993)

Beat on slow motion mode. This was a fun beat em up that I enjoyed more than the other NES batman game. Been years since I played the SNES version but I know I was not as impressed with this game as I was that. I figured out the moves by mashing buttons and later looking it up. 1 button to punch and the other to jump. Down + jump did a slide which I most often found to be the best move. It covered ground faster than the jump kick and often interrupted enemy attacks. I used it to get in close to enemies and stun them for follow up punches. It was also good to create distance and against most bosses. The jump kick was better against acrobatic and tall enemies. Sometimes I messed up the controls and did the hp costing ultimate by pressing both buttons too fast. Down + punch did a block but I never used it. The fire spitting enemies were the most difficult, with a tricky melee and they worked together to flank with cheap ranged shots. Then were the acrobats and knife girls. The other enemies were not too difficult once I learned their patterns, and I used a few bat shots to take out some annoying enemies. I used the grappling hook to find a secret area and to kill the little helicopters and even hurt the final boss while he was flying. There were a couple platforming screens that were pointless because of zero challenge, just grappling up with no enemies or hazards. Why even put that in the game? There were a few fights that had floor hazards like pits, damage, slippery ice and sliding off the slanted roof. There was even a shoot em up stage in the bat mobile, and a similar bonus stage on water which I abused to farm hp. Instead of lives there were boxes that stored extra hp, plus you got free healing for every 10k score. The bosses were tough but felt more open ended in that you could use whatever moves against them as long as you avoided their attacks.

This was a pretty good beat em up, especially for the NES.

7.8/10