I played Batman: Return of the Joker on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and I was rather impressed by what the developers managed to get out of an 8-bit console. The graphics look lovely, particularly the backgrounds and clouds that give everything a surprising sense of depth.

Of course, being one of my slightly ridiculous McRetro game reviews, I decided we’d be scoring things in Batmans. The graphics received two Batmans, while the music ended up somewhere around two and a half or three Batmans. Very scientific!

There’s just one little problem with that music score. I didn’t actually record the game’s soundtrack while playing, so I couldn’t tell you much about what it sounded like. Naturally, that didn’t stop me from giving it a score. Why ruin a perfectly good rating system by insisting on having listened to the music?

Gameplay involves plenty of running, jumping and shooting. Batman has a few different weapons available, and picking up the little lettered items changes what you’re firing. I didn’t have the instruction manual handy, so I spent a fair bit of time working out what everything did.

The enemies weren’t always particularly cooperative either. I managed to get hit quite a few times while trying to shoot one of them, although a little patience eventually did the trick. That’s the secret to being Batman, apparently.

I rather enjoyed the game overall. It looks fantastic for the NES, there’s plenty happening on screen, and shooting things with Batman’s various gadgets is rather entertaining.

As for the final score, I think the Batman-themed rating graphic says everything you need to know. Batman!

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