Batman: The Movie (ZX Spectrum) - It's a Pixel THING

Batman: the Movie, from 1989 is an action/platform game based on Tim Burton’s amazing film of the same name and was released for a bunch of systems: the ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, MS-DOS, Apple II and Atari ST.

There’s five action packed stages based on the movie and, when I first tried to load the 128k version of the game on my spectrum, about 14 minutes later I was blown away by the fantastic music by Mathew Cannon and all the 5 levels loaded at the same time! That was just freaking amazing!

In the first level we control Batman through the maze of platforms. We’re looking for Jack Napier and the action takes place at his Axis Chemical plant. You know what happens next: Jack falls into a container filled with acid. The Joker is born.

In the Spectrum version, the second level is a horizontal scroller where you take the wheel of the Batmobile through the streets of Gotham dodging traffic and avoiding the police using, for that matter, the grapple gun to go super-fast around corners. On the other versions of the game, the action is seen from behind the car making it look more natural but harder.

Third level is a puzzle section where Batman needs to identify all the components of the deadly chemical called Smilex that Joker launched into the market.

Succeeding this stage, we’ll be facing the parade sequence in which we’ll be flying the Batwing and use it to cut away the balloons filled with poisonous gas without hitting them.

If you get bored and wish to see right away the last level of this great game, just hold down one of the following combination of keys: “E+D+2+0+9” in reference to Robocop, or “M+I+C+K” probably referred to Mike Lamb, the programmer of the spectrum version, and you’re good to go!

The fifth and last level is similar to the first one and takes place at Gotham cathedral to finally get Joker on its knees. Although, there’s new hazards to consider like rats and platforms that crumble as you walk on them. The map seems bigger than the one on the Axis Chemical Plant and you need extra skills to get to the top of this huge Cathedral. At the very top, Joker makes his last move and tries to flee using a helicopter. You need to throw one more batarang and you get a great end sequence watching Joker falling down outside of the building.

I enjoyed this game a lot and even continue to play finishing it over and over just to beat the maximum score board points. Was I crazy or what?

Spectrum version of Batman the Movie was number one on the charts and was awarded Game of the Year in Crash magazine. Commodore 64 got the worst version that was filled with annoying bugs.

If you’re into some platforming action featuring a legendary comic book hero, you need to try this game!

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