The Adventures of Batman & Robin: The Video Game

There are several releases of the video game The Adventures of Batman and Robin for some of the different consoles in the market. The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear, and Sega Mega CD versions were published by Sega while the Super NES one was published by Konami. All of these games are based on popular DC Comics characters Batman and Robin and specifically the hit animated series Batman: The Animated Series (which had been renamed The Adventures of Batman and Robin at the time of the game's production).

Super NES version


The SNES version is developed and published by Konami. The action takes Batman to an amusement park and other places where supercriminals do their nasty work. Nintendo Power criticized the game for not giving Robin a more active role (the game was actually under development before the series was retitled). Otherwise, he supplies Batman with his moral support. Despite this, the game was well received by fans citing the faithful rendition of not only the characters and settings but also the music of the actual animated series.

Characters
Most of the major villains from the animated series appear. The following major villains appear in the game as bosses (each with their own level):

X = Appear only in the last level The Gauntlet.

Y = Appear as a level boss and in the last level.


 * The Joker Y
 * The Penguin Y
 * Catwoman Y
 * The Riddler
 * Two-Face
 * Poison Ivy
 * Scarecrow Y
 * Clayface X
 * Man-Bat X

In addition to the above villains the only other major villain from the series to appear is Harley Quinn. However her two very brief appearances are cameos at best as she only has a couple of lines of dialogue.

In addition to Robin several other supporting characters appear in the game:
 * Alfred Pennyworth
 * Summer Gleeson
 * Commissioner Gordon
 * Barbara Gordon

It should be noted though that unlike Robin none of the other characters make significant appearances. Summer Gleeson appears on the Batcomputer when there is a news item (usually at the beginning of each level), Alfred appears accompanied with dialogue during the Batcave scenes at the beginning of each level and password and game over screens. Both Commissioner Gordon and Barbara Gordon appear in a later level in cameos. Barbara Gordon is never shown as Batgirl in the game.

Gameplay
For the most part, is an action-adventure platformer in which the player only controls Batman, and follows him to the end of each stage, where a villain is set to appear. However, the style and design of the stages themselves are different between each other, which gives notable diversity to the game.

Some of the more common features in the game is the possibility to equip with different gadgets, such as bombs, x-ray lenses and so on. Some of the gadgets are in some cases essential to complete some stage. There is also the possibility of returning to the Batcave in order to re-equip the gadgets and restart an entire stage with all the lives the players has accumulated to that point (in case the player had lost lives).

The game features passwords, which leaves the player in the last played stage. The passwords also takes count of the numbers of lives remaining and the continues used. These cannot be obtained in the Hard difficulty, which means that the game must be completed from the beginning.

Trivia
Most of the levels in the game are actually based on a number of episodes in the animated series as follows:

Level 1: Amused to Death

 * The Joker has taken over the Gotham amusement park, building his own funhouse, and is planning to bomb Gotham from a rollercoaster. This level is actually based on two different episodes. Many elements of the funhouse part of the level are based on the Christmas with the Joker episode (the laughing Joker dolls and the giant toy soldier robots). The rollercoaster fight is heavily based on the episode Be a Clown. The name of the rollercoaster, Twin Terrors, can also be seen in the background.

Level 2: No Green Peace

 * Poison Ivy has grown her own oversized forest, littered it with monster plants and hired some goons to help. Like the first level this level is again based on two different episodes. The first part of the level (with Poison Ivy's goons chasing you in the forest) uses elements and characters from the Eternal Youth episode. The second part of the level. the fight against Ivy and her plant monster in the Greenhouse, uses elements and settings from the Pretty Poison episode.

Level 3: Fowl Play

 * Somebody is robbing the Gotham museum, and caused a blackout and tied up the staff to keep the Dark Knight busy. The majority of this level is based on the episode I've Got Batman in my Basement (Penguin stealing a priceless artifact from a museum with the help of his pet vulture), while the boss fight against Penguin and his helicopter is taken from the episode Blind as a Bat.

Level 4: Tale of the Cat

 * Catowman is on the prowl, robbing jewelery stores with the help of her pet cat Ises. The first level based on one particular episode, The Cat and the Claw part 1, specifically chasing Catwoman and her pet cat across rooftops and alleys. The title card is the same one used for Cat Scratch Fever, another Catwoman episode.

Level 5: Trouble in Transit

 * Two-Face and his gang of thugs have just robbed the Gotham bank, and are trying to make their escape. This is the first level in the game where no parts of it seemed to be based on a particular episode (especially a Two-Face one), even though a remix of Two-Face's theme is used during the final chase sequence. However, the title card of the level is the same one used for the episode The Mechanic, and Two-Face's car looks similar to Penguin's getaway car. The only difference is Penguin was the main villain of that episode, not Two-Face.

Level 6: Perchance to Scream

 * Scarecrow wants his revenge against the University that originally shunned his experiments, using his blimp to spray deadly gas around the city. The second level that is solely based on a particular episode, Nothing to Fear. The title card is the same as the one used for that episode, and the level is named after another episode, "Perchance to Dream".

Level 7: Riddle Me This

 * The Riddler presented his new Cyberspace game, Maze of the Minotaur, to the Gotham police department, trapping James Gordon and Barbera inside. He's also created his own Virtual Chess board. The first part of this level, navigating through the Riddler's maze while answering his riddles and the fight against the robot Minotaur, is heavily based on the If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? episode (the title card is also the same). Whereas the second part, the fight against Riddler and his Chess board in Virtual Reality, is heavily based on the What Is Reality? episode.

Level 8: The Gauntlet

 * Batman's foes are sick and tired of his meddling, and have decided to settle things once and for all. Two-Face, Ivy and Riddler couldn't make it, so the Joker has invited Clayface and Man-Bat instead. Based loosely on the episode Trial, with Joker organizing several of Batman's enemies to confront Batman for ruining all of their schemes (with the addition of Clayface and Man-Bat. Of course, fighting a jetpac-armed Joker is from Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.

Mega Drive/Genesis version
The Genesis version, published by Sega, is a run 'n' gun game. Mr. Freeze plans to build his Freeze Cannon to encase the city in ice. To keep the Dynamic Duo busy, he's staged a breakout at Arkham Asylum, freeing the Joker, Two-Face and the Mad Hatter. A guard just barely hits the alarm button before he's frozen and watches as the 4 make their escape. Now all 4 villains have theri own agendas

The game can be played by two players simultaneouslty, one player with Batman and the other one with Robin. Both characters are identical in terms of playability, and both uses batarangs in long-range attacks, while they use melee attacks in short range.

There are four levels, each one consisting of a straight left-to-right transverse to the end where the boss awaits. In some levels the game switches to a side-scrolling shooter, in which the players must control Batwings..

The game is regarded as being extremely difficult to complete, and also known for pushing the Genesis to its limits in special effects.

Levels

Level One: Happy Birthday to Me!

It's the anniversary of the Joker's transformation into the Clown Prince of Crime, and as a personal present he's bombing Gotham City while robbing banks and jewelery stores. The most comparable episode to this is The Last Laugh. as they both involve Joker Robbing Gotham City's riches.
 * Harley's Robot
 * Harley Quinn and crane.
 * The Joker Blimp

Level Two: A Two-Sided Story

Two-Face hijacks a powerful zeppilin under contruction. The most comparable episode to this is Blind as a Bat, as they both involve the villain hijacking an aircraft.
 * Two Face's airship
 * Large airship
 * Two Face Helicopter

Level Three: Tea Time!

The Mad Hatter has taken over a theater, turned it into his own Wonderland and is building an army of robots based on characters from the book. The most comparable episodes to this are Mad as a Hatter and The Worry Men, as the former involves Hatter creating his own Wonderland while the latter nivoles him building an army of robots.
 * Cheshire Cat
 * Giant Doll
 * Mad Hatter

Level Four: Snow in July?

Mr. Freeze finally completes his freeze cannon and plans to put Gotham City on Ice. The most comparable episode to this is Deep Freeze, as they both involve Mr.Freeze building a ice cannon.
 * Mr. Freeze

Trivia
Mr. Freeze is portrayed slightly differently in this game than on the show. The game makes no mention of his wife and instead he wants to incase Gotham in ice for power alone. He also holds a snow globe model of Gotham, rather than his wife.

Sega Mega CD version
The Sega CD version consists of Batmobile chase screens. Between levels, the story advances through animated scenes that were created specifically for the game. The animated segments were developed by TMS, which also did some of the episodes of the original cartoon. Kevin Conroy (Batman), Loren Lester (Robin), Robert Hastings (Commissioner James Gordon), Robert Costanzo (Harvey Bullock), Diane Pershing (Poison Ivy), John Glover (Riddler), Arleen Sorkin (Harley Quinn), Mark Hamill (The Joker), John Vernon (Rupert Thorne) and Ron Perlman (Clayface) all reprised their roles from the animated series. Because this game did not have to follow censorship rules, the fight scenes are a bit more violent and brutal than on the show.

Lost episode
The sixteen minute animated segments in the video game for the Sega CD are sometimes referred to as a "lost episode" of the series. These segments are intended to be interspersed between gameplay elements of an early-1990s video game and as such, the sound, color and story are not of the same quality of the actual television program. In addition because they are interspersed between gameplay they do not form a complete story.

Game Gear version
The Game Gear version was developed by Novotrade and published by Sega. The Joker has assembled a gang of old Batman foes and kidnapped Robin, and the Batman has to go save him. There are four different levels, each with 2 or 3 stages, where Batman runs around beating up thugs and jumping between platforms before taking on a boss. Each stage ends with a boss encounter - some generic machine or thug in the early stages, and a classic Batman villain at the final stage of the level. The four levels takes Batman through a theater where he takes on the Mad Hatter, a frozen office building where he takes on Mr. Freeze, a graveyard where he takes on the Scarecrow, and finally an amusement park where he takes on Harley and the Joker. Batman typically fights with projectile attacks - he has an unlimited supply of batarangs, but you can pick up other weapons with limited ammunition in small item boxes along the way. They're all more powerful than the batarangs. Once Batman gets close to an enemy, he will switch to melee attacks, which deal more damage than the projectiles. Batman can make several types of jumps, both upwards and sideways. Pressing the jump button twice does a double jump. The game starts you out with 9 extra lives, and Batman instantly respawns where he died after losing one, with a full health bar, all ammunition intact, and all inflicted damage and defeated enemies accounted for. There are also multiple extra lives and life bar refill items spread around on the stages, and the game has infinite continues and a password system allowing you to start over from any stage you've previously reached.