The Greatest Batman Videogames of All Time

Image via Warner Bros. Interactive

Bruce Wayne’s first videogame appearance was almost 30 years ago, back on the ZX Spectrum. Its isometric 3D gameplay was actually pretty impressive for the time, even if Batman did look like a short fat dude.

Nearly all of the Caped Crusader’s TV and movie adventures have been turned into games, but most have them have just been cheap cash-ins. The Super Nintendo version of the fire 90s animated series stands out though, capturing Bruce Timm’s iconic designs in beautiful 16-bit pixel art.

In the mid-90s, Street Fighter was king and everything under the sun was turned into a 2D fighting game. Justice League Task Force concocted some bullshit story about Darkseid mind controlling the JLA, as an excuse for Batman, Superman and The Flash to kick the crap out of each other. 

Another Batman: The Animated Series spin-off, Rise Of Sin Tzu, didn’t get the best reviews in terms of gameplay, but was notable for having a plot and a new villain designed by legendary comics artist (and current DC Comics chief) Jim Lee. It’s worth playing just for that.

The X-Men vs Street Fighter games are stone cold classics, so it makes sense that their two greatest enemies would team up for their own game. Admittedly, it’s not as great as Capcom’s games, but the sheer WTF-ness of the concept make it worth playing.

The Lego games are far better than they have any right to be—they’re smart, accessible, engaging and have a sharp sense of humour. Lego Batman was no different, and offered something different to the relentless grimness of the Arkham games and Christopher Nolan films. And it led to his appearance in The Lego Movie.

Everything about the first Arkham game felt almost perfect, from the great character redesigns, the engaging story and bringing back The Animated Series’ voice cast. But what really makes it a classic is that for the first time you actually felt like you were really Batman,—swooping around Gothic environments, sneaking up on bad dudes and beating the crap out of them.