In Batman Returns, the 1992 sequel to Batman the movie, the Penguin plots to kill all of Gotham City's firstborn children to avenge the lack of humanity accorded to him by his parents. In case you're curious, he was caged and chucked in the sewer to drown because they couldn't bear to face up to their offspring's extreme deformity. Step B towards taking control of Gotham entails blackmailing millionaire and philanthropist Max Shreck into supporting his campaign to run for mayor. Batman, of course, insists on intervening to shunt the waddling, pint-sized upstart back in his place, and into a watery grave. Meanwhile, Selina Kyle, having been shoved out of the window to her death by Shreck, is reborn with an axe to grind, and a bat-shaped caped crusader enemy in common with Penguin.
Whilst adapted for the small computer screen on multiple occasions by various developers, my focus is the Amiga offering brought to us by Denton Designs, published by GameTek in 1993. In contrast to Ocean's effort four years earlier, Batman Returns is purely an on-foot platformer. Aesthetically atmospheric, a de rigeur authentic translation of its celluloid inspiration, yet self-sabotaged by repetitive, dull gameplay, poor controls and dodgy collision detection.
I attempt to sync the two mediums and fathom out where it all went wrong for Amiga-owning Batman fans.
