The ten best classic superhero games

#6. Batman (NES)

How well does Batman, supposedly based on the 1989 Tim Burton Batman movie starring Michael Keaton, represent the Dark Knight? Actually, not that well. Batman is purple. He lacks a good amount of his trademark gadgets. It doesn’t even follow the movie all that well, despite being based on it and taking scenes from it. Joker can call lightning down from the sky!

But purely taken as an NES video game that happens to have Batman in it? It’s pretty superb. It was easily the best game starring the Caped Crusader up until the Arkham series of video games. That’s both impressive and sad all at once. And oddly enough, there were three very different versions of the game put out by Sunsoft for the NES, Gameboy and Genesis. You would think that the Genesis version would be the superior one pretty much by default. However, despite featuring levels where you fly in the Batplane and drive the Batmobile, as well as following the movie more closely, it’s the far inferior version. A good early example of how not being any kind of slave to the source material can work very well in your favor.