"Batman: Arkham Asylum," comes out today, and if the demos are any indication, there's a good chance that the story of Batman locked up in Arkham Asylum with a bunch of inmates that need their faces kicked will be the best Batman game ever.
But it's certainly not alone: Over the past 23 years, there have been nineteen different games starring the Dark Knight, and more if you count the different systems! So in order to get ready for "Arkham Asylum," ComicsAlliance contributor Chris Sims has looked at the highs and lows of Batman's video game career from his 8-bit origins and unlicensed Shinobi cameo to his Lego and Mortal Kombat team-ups!

BATMAN (1986)



The first ever Batman game was produced for 8-bit home computers in 1986 by Ocean Software, a company widely known for their licensed titles like "RoboCop" and "WWF WrestleMania." It was loosely based on the 1966 television series, and saw Batman wandering around a surprisingly dangerous Batcave looking for pieces of a hovercraft so that he could, of course, rescue Robin. While this isn't exactly the action-packed adventure one would expect for the Caped Crusader, it does have some nice elements, like a chiptune version of the famous '66 theme song and Batman tapping his foot impatiently while waiting for the player to do something.

BATMAN (1989)



If you remember the insane media blitz that surrounded the release of Tim Burton's first "Batman" movie, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that there were video game tie-ins released on twelve different systems, including an NES version that stands as the first and only video game appearance of ComicsAlliance favorite, the KGBeast!


THE ADVENTURES OF BATMAN & ROBIN (1994)



The trend of video games based on Batman's TV and movie franchises continued in 1994 with a side-scroller for Super Nintendo and Genesis. A tie-in to the "Batman: the Animated Series" cartoon, this one is notable for the stylized "episode title" screens for each level, the fluid animation that captured Bruce Timm's character designs, and the fact that if you'd seen the episode with the Riddler, you pretty much knew all the answers already.


BATMAN FOREVER (1996)



For the terrible third movie, "Batman Forever," Acclaim released a fittingly terrible tie-in game that essentially recycled graphics and gameplay from their big hit, "Mortal Kombat" (not the last time those two would meet), and combined them with unheard-of load times (for a cartridge game!) and a control style that Wikipedia refers to as "unconventional." The rest of us will probably just stick to "f---ing awful."


REVENGE OF SHINOBI (1989)



Batman's video game appearances weren't limited to his own games: 1989's "REVENGE OF SHINOBI" featured a stage where the main character battled completely unlicensed bosses modeled after Batman and Spider-Man. Batman's sprite was later changed for the American release (and Spidey was actually licensed from Marvel), but for a brief period, there was a video game that featured Spider-Man, Batman, and Sonny Chiba. Truly, it was a magical time.


GOTHAM CITY RACER (2001)



Not to be confused with the far more popular "Project Gotham Racing," which has nothing to do with Batman, the Playstation's Gotham City Racer was an odd attempt to capture the success other unlikely racing games like "Mario Kart." Unfortunately, in addition to making no sense, it played like "Grand Theft Auto"'s vigilante missions set on an ice rink, and was quickly forgotten.


BATMAN: THE RISE OF SIN TZU (2003)



Another tie-in to the animated series, this was essentially an attempt to create a breakout character for the Batman universe in the form of a new villain, Sin Tzu. Unfortunately, despite a design from superstar artist Jim Lee, Sin Tzu was a flop and was never seen again outside of this game and its accompanying novelization.

In a related story, holy crap, there was a novelization of a Batman video game.


THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)



If you're not familiar with this one, don't worry: It never actually came out. But in the run-up to the release of the second Christopher Nolan movie, a Grand Theft Auto/Assassin's Creed style "sandbox" game was in the works from Australian-based studio Pandemic Brisbane (then a division of Electronic Arts), but a combination of an attempt to use an engine built for another game that didn't fit, rebranding it from a comic-based game to a movie tie-in, and severe time constraints not only killed the project, but led to the dissolution of Pandemic Brisbane itself.


MORTAL KOMBAT VS. DC UNIVERSE (2008)



On the surface, throwing the Justice League of America and their villains into a blood-soaked game that rose to prominence mainly because you could get one guy to rip another dude's spine out seems completely insane, but... well, it actually is pretty nuts, especially once characters like Superman start throwing around the oxymoronic "Heroic Brutality." We've got to admit, though, the Joker's Fatalities are pretty good and if nothing else, it's better than 1995's Justice League Task Force.


LEGO BATMAN (2008)



For the third game in their series based on the popular building blocks, Traveler's Tales followed up Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones with Lego Batman, in an obvious attempt to combine every single thing we loved when we were children. In addition to cutesy versions of everyone's favorite urban vigilante and his mass-murdering foes, Lego Batman also featured the series' trademark humor, like our favorite moment: Batman's ill-fated attempt to shop online at Awesome-Capes.com.

Elsewhere on the web:

You, too, can have eyes like an anime character.







British Government Releases UFO Files






Nintendo Wants to Make Me Look Like an Idiot






Johnny Cash Guest Stars in Guitar Hero 5