Sunsoft's portable Batman, adapted from Burton's film. Platforming, gadgets, Batmobile and Batwing sections. Naoki Kodaka's score holds its own despite the Game Boy chip. More ambitious than Return of the Joker, this is the Batman to pick on the system. Solid for its era.
Your verdict
Category
Action Adventure1 player7+
Description
Action-platformer with Batman shooting enemies and using gadgets across Gotham's streets, adapted from the 1989 film. Published by Sunsoft, released in 1990 in Europe and North America. Platform and vehicle levels, Batman's gadget arsenal, film bosses, and Gotham atmosphere.
Batman - The Video Game review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
Sunsoft composes a city of dark flat areas where the rare light sources, signs and windows, cut out the hero's silhouette against the light. The character is drawn stocky, with a stiff cape, and his opponents share the same economy of line, so the whole feels closer to a two-tone printed poster than to a detailed illustration.
The publisher had built its audio reputation on pronounced bass lines, and this adaptation provides a clear example: the bass carries the melody as much as the accompaniment, with slides between notes that imitate the playing of a real instrument. The themes stay dark and square, without the usual triumphalism of licensed adaptations.
Portable link in Sunsoft's Batman trilogy, overshadowed by the NES entry but carrying the same Naoki Kodaka musical fingerprint that draws Sunsoft chiptune devotees. The 1990 Game Boy run was sizeable, so loose copies stay affordable, yet a complete piece with the cardboard Sunsoft box and manual still commands a clear premium among Batman completists and collectors tracking superhero licenses on handhelds.
Is Batman - The Video Game still worth playing in 2026?
Sunsoft's take on Burton's Batman still carries real charm on Game Boy. The mix of gadget-driven platform stages with Batmobile and Batwing sequences holds up nicely, lifted by Naoki Kodaka's score, one of the most memorable on the console. The pacing is brisk, Gotham's identity comes through despite the monochrome palette, and the controls remain readable. Fans of retro action platforming and Sunsoft's golden era will find a short but solid title, still clearly preferable to the later Return of the Joker on the same hardware.
