The many pixelated incarnations of Batman

Rocksteady Studios’ recent DC Comics titles, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, were a huge success, but the Dark Knight’s badassery is not confined to just 3D adventures.

Over the last two decades, many developers (like Sunsoft, Sega, and Konami) released tons of 2D games starring the world’s greatest detective. Some were as hot as Catwoman; others were as rotten as Tommy Lee Jones’ makeup in Batman Forever.

I put together a gallery that showcases the evolution of the Caped Crusader during his retro exploits at the arcade and on early home consoles.

Batman (1986, ZX Spectrum) Batman (1986, ZX Spectrum) Apparently Mr. Freeze won this round.
Batman: The Caped Crusader (1988, Amiga) Batman: The Caped Crusader (1988, Amiga) Bruce really needs to get out of the batcave more often. He's looking a bit zombie-ish.
Batman: The Movie (1989, Commodore 64) Batman: The Movie (1989, Commodore 64) Michael Keaton is feeling bashful today.
Batman (1989, NES) Batman (1989, Nintendo Entertainment System) This is the first Batman game I ever played, and it's still one of the best.
Batman (1989, TurboGrafx-16) Batman (1989, TurboGrafx-16) Looks more like a kid in a Halloween costume than a superhero.
Batman (1990, Game Boy) Batman (1990, Game Boy) The bullet is bigger than both the gun and Batman's head. Screw you, logic.
Batman (1990, arcade) Batman (1990, arcade) Gotham City gets a bit chilly during the winter.
Batman (1990, Genesis) Batman (1990, Genesis) The Bat's exercise routine includes punching the air.
Batman: Return of the Joker (1992, NES) Batman: Return of the Joker (1992, NES) For a moment, it looked like Batman had a jet pack and a rifle. Wait, what?
Batman: Revenge of the Joker (1992, Genesis) Batman: Revenge of the Joker (1992, Genesis) The Caped Crusader seems to be wearing an Omni-tool from Mass Effect. Also, he just had ice cream.
Batman Returns (1992, Genesis) Batman Returns (1992, Genesis) Bats don't come in purple...nor do they weigh 210 lbs.
Batman Returns (1993, Amiga) Batman Returns (1993, Amiga) That's a nice superhero chin and an even better superhero nose.
Batman Returns (1993, Super Nintendo) Batman Returns (1993, Super Nintendo) Konami made the Dark Knight extra hefty for this game. I'm surprised he can even jump.
The Adventures of Batman & Robin (1994, Super NES) The Adventures of Batman & Robin (1994, Super NES) The fluid animation makes the Dynamic Duo seem less blocky.
The Adventures of Batman & Robin (1995, Genesis) The Adventures of Batman & Robin (1995, Genesis) The sadists at Clockwork Tortoise made this title harder than Solomon Grundy's balls.
Batman Forever (1995, Super NES) Batman Forever (1995, Super NES) Once Acclaim acquired the rights to make Batman games, all hell broke lose. The digitized graphics did not help.
Batman Forever: The Arcade Game (1996, arcade) Batman Forever: The Arcade Game (1996, arcade) Could the bat logo on his chest be any bigger? This arcade game should have paid people to play it instead of the other way around. It's that bad.