"Return of the Joker" is a fun superhero romp for the Game Boy, even if the difficulty is a bit unbearable!
Back in Christmas 2010, I was originally going to get "Batman: Return of the Joker" for the Game Boy. I thought it looked like a fun game with it's excellent graphics, reaction time gameplay and awesome music (well, it's a Sunsoft game, the music was always gonna be awesome). Now after 2 years, I finally have the game. Was it worth the wait to finally play it?
The Story begins when precious metals have been stolen from the Gotham city underground in which one of them can build nuclear weapons. Who is responsible? Why, the Joker of course. So Batman sets out on a mission to foil this scheme. Long story short, Joker's causing trouble and you need to kick his ass. Simple I know but it's a Game Boy game so it's excusable.
The controls are great for the most part and they are actually responsive (although not as responsive as the Mario games). You use the control pad to move, A to jump, B to punch or throw batarangs and up on the control pad to use your grappling hook and ....... huh? That's all the controls? Okay, overall really good controls with some slippery response but otherwise it's fine.
This game by far has the best graphics I've ever seen on the Game Boy (Super Mario Land 2 is the best looking technically but this comes close.)! The levels that Batman travels through look like a real comic book come to life. Batman looks dynamic and detailed unlike his first Game Boy game where he looked like Mario only with a different skin. And the levels themselves look fantastic having details like bricks, pipes and spikes just adding to that graphical flourish! To sum it up, fantastic graphics which are a huge improvement over the last Batman Game Boy game.
The gameplay is your typical platformer but for this kind of game it works. As Batman, you have to go through 4 levels encountering cronies, obstacles and bosses until you come face to face with the Joker himself. Pretty standard stuff but the way the levels look and how they are designed really make use of Batman's abilities and are unique in the way Batman has to traverse through . The Train is a Super Mario type level, the sewers make use of your grappling hook and the machine shop tests your reflexes as well as your gaming skills. The 3 stages all have some variety and difference to them and I like that especially considering the Game Boy's limitations. As for Batman, his abilities are finally totally appropriate to the Dark Knight (in the last game, Batman used a handgun which was a big inaccuracy)! This time Batman can punch his enemies but can also collect batarangs to attack his enemies from far off. I think Sunsoft addressed the problems from the first game and have made the gameplay more suitable for Batman's abilities. Batman can also wall jump from previous games and he can use his grappling hook to swing across levels. I don't know why people say that the grappling hook controls are crap, I actually found them to be pretty good for the most part. Although Batman is sometimes hard to control when he lands during his jumps often ending up with him falling to his death far often than you would like him to. The bosses are varied but they are rather easy to beat and only the Joker provides any real challenge (mostly because of that dratted magnet!). Overall the gameplay is fantastic showing that even a game like this can become a gem easily!
The bad aspects are small but they are there to hinder the game a bit. One problem is the difficulty. Seriously, who programmed the henchmen to be so relentless! The Sewer henchman are okay but the rugby tacklers and Ninjas can be troublesome with Ninjas deflecting your batarangs and the rugby guys just..well tackle you to death anyway. Another thing wrong is the magnet during the Joker boss fight. WHO THE HELL INSTALLS A MAGNET IN YOUR LIMESTONE CAVERN?! I WOULDN'T! It attracts all your batarangs and pulls Batman up in the air. Why would you do something like this?! And on top of that the Joker can pummel you with ease while you are struggling with the giant magnet pulling you up! Another thing is the limited continues. Ahh the days where continues would dash your hopes on completing a game.
The Music is awesome! Seriously, Sunsoft outdid itself with it's music. It gives the sort of "Japanese" flair to a Batman game in which I just love. It's catchy, fast paced and overall awesome! The SFX on the other hand is pretty average for Game Boy game with scratches and 8 bit effects. So in a nutshell, awesome music counterbalanced with average SFX.
"Batman Return of the Joker" is a solid title for the Game Boy library and for me, it made the benchmark for other excellent superhero romps like "Spider-Man Mysterio's Menace". Buy it if you can! Let's overview the facts shall we
The Good: Distinct levels, graphics are excellent, challenging platforming, gameplay is totally appropriate to the Dark Knight, levels offer something different, Batman looks awesome, Batman's abilities are awesome, grappling hook controls are sweet, controls work well, bosses offer a nice change of pace, the music is freaking sweet, more like the NES Batman which is good, paid the bechmark for excellent superhero romps!
The Bad: Limited continues, the Joker fight is a pain because of the giant magnet, controls are a tad slippery, Ninja's are also a pain, the game is really short (20 minutes to complete the game on average)!
The Ugly: No ugly points here!!
Title: I really like it!!