Justice League Task Force - 1995 (SNES, Genesis)
Evil badass Darkseid is about to take over Earth and its up to the Justice League to pound the crap out of each other. Wait - really? Apparently the only way to defeat the evil mastermind is through beating the pulp out of the other heroes in this generic, glitchy and unbalanced fighting game. Oh yeah, Batmans in the cast.
Batman Forever - 1995 (Super NES, Genesis, GameBoy)
Based off the neon pageant masquerading as the third film, this hideous beat-em-up featured motion-captured characters (think the Mortal Kombat digitized fighters) and had you punch and kick similar-looking thugs to death. At the end, you fight a mo-capped Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey. We cant forget this one soon enough.
Batman Forever: The Arcade Game - 1996 (Arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC)
Another beat-em-up, this time with foreground/background depth like Final Fight - Batman Forever: The Arcade Game enabled you to play as Val Kilmer and Chris ODonnell yet again. For this go around, you collected a ton of power-ups like screen exploding grenades or flaming batarangs. Naturally, you can cause a 400-hit combo on a random thug. Hes already dead, Batman. Hes already dead.
Batman & Robin - 1998 (PlayStation, Sega Saturn)
Mike Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame called Batman & Robin not the worst movie ever made, but the worst thing ever made. By extension, a 3D beat-em-up starring George Clooney, Chris ODonnell and Alicia Silverstone that handles like a shopping cart and looks like crap based on the worst thing ever made probably isnt worth your time. Oh, Batman. You and your follies.
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker - 2000 (N64, PlayStation)
Loosely based on the surprisingly awesome Beyond series (and direct-to-video film of the same name), Return of the Joker is one of the more horrible Batman games. Okay, graphics dont outweigh the terrible controls and the horrendous game length (some have finished it in 20 minutes!). Watch the movie (make sure to get the directors cut) - its a bit longer and way better than this atrocity.
Batman: Chaos in Gotham - 2001 (GameBoy Color)
Chaos in Gotham is another action-adventure, which pits Batman and Batgirl in level after side-scrolling level against multiple thugs and villains from The New Batman Adventures. Surprisingly decent and the art style mimics that of the show. Win-win, really.
Batman: Gotham City Racer - 2001 (PlayStation)
Another game based on The New Adventures, Racer places you in the Batmobiles driver seat and tasks you with cleaning up Gothams city streets. That should be relatively easy due to the lack of vehicles, people or buildings found in this virtual Gotham City. Just try finding the one car containing bank robbers you need to shoot up (wait, why is Batman killing people?). At least you get cutscenes from the cartoon in between each level.
Batman Vengeance - 2001 (Xbox, GameCube, PS2, GBA, PC)
One of the better Bat games, Vengeances darker tone - in art style and story - was praised by fan and critic alike. The 3D action wasnt half bad either. Drawing from the comic and animated series (and even utilizing the same voice actors), you pummeled the series colorful villains in an attempt to clear your name from a conspiracy, while protecting Gotham City from impending doom.
Batman: Dark Tomorrow - 2003 (Xbox, GameCube)
While Dark Tomorrow was praised for its cutscenes and morbid story (inspiration was drawn solely from the comic), DT was no good on everything else: namely terrible gameplay, repetitive missions and a horrible camera. Also known for its four endings based on whether or not you disarm bombs or defeat Ras al Ghul in a swordfight (three of which are bad endings that involve Bats dying or Gotham blowing up). At least DT involved villains that generally dont get that much screen time - Ratcatcher, Zsasz and Scarface to name a few.
Batman: Justice Unbalanced and Batman: Toxic Chill - 2003 (PC, Mac)
Holy edutainment Batman! The Riddler and Mr. Freeze are about to destroy Gotham. Our only hope is children ages 7-10, who need to solve a bunch of puzzles to defeat them. We never played this. Most kids probably didnt either.
