Batman: Return of the Joker (NES)

Batman: Return of the Joker is a followup to the previous Batman NES game developed by Sunsoft, though this one is based more on the comic books than the movies. It's often considered one of the most graphically impressive games on the NES.

A rather lousy Genesis port was released as Batman: Revenge of the Joker. An SNES port was also developed but went unreleased.

Sound Test#

Hold A + Start at the title screen.

Unused Graphics#

Icons of unknown purpose. There doesn't really seem to be any place where they'd fit, either. They could've been used for a scrapped map screen, with icons for the blimp (seen in Stage 1) and the factory (Stage 4).

The game contains the whole 4kb chunk of the tiles for some unknown level. There is no level data for this kind of stage.

This is found with the Batman light signal graphic used in the intro.

This spiked ball is present among the Stage 3-2 graphics, and resembles the spiked balls in Stage 1-1.

These rock debris are also present with the Stage 3-2 graphics. Huge rock chunks fall from the ceiling and create debris, but don't use these graphics. Instead, the debris uses graphics from the rock chunks.

A variant of the rock chunks seen during the Stage 3 boss, when lasers hit the ground.

Unused (and maybe unfinished) animation for the water in Stage 5-1. In the final version, the water is drawn with another effect.

An unused enemy, probably meant for the flight stages.

Another unused enemy, located in the same bank as the previous one.

An obstacle meant for the flight stages.

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The Joker portrait on the password screen mistakenly uses a few incorrect tile indexes, affecting the right side of his hair. Thankfully the hair texture makes this somewhat difficult to notice.

Several overlay sprites are also placed eight pixels too low, causing the right side of his mouth to appear black instead of red.

Unused Music#

Track 6 in the NSF file is not present in the sound test. The fact it loops suggests it might have been intended for a stage.

Regional Differences#

To do: Compare the Batman's death sound which is slightly low pitched in the European version.

Title Screen#

Japan	US	Europe

The only Japanese in the entire game, which translates to "Dynamite Batman", is "Return of the Joker" in the international versions. The US version also has "LICENSED BY NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC.", with the other text moved up one line. The European version removes "OF AMERICA INC." on the title screen.

References#

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1. GDR ファミリーコンピュータ ソフト一覧 1991年 - FAMILY COMPUTER Software List 1991↩︎
2. NES Games↩︎
3. www.NINTENDO.se - Spel - NES (archived)↩︎
4. Playtronic: Games em lançamento - Ação Games, Issue 72, December 1994↩︎

v · t · e The Batman series
NES	The Video Game (Prototypes) • Return of the Joker • Batman Returns
Game Boy (Color)	The Video Game • Batman Forever
SNES	Revenge of the Joker • Batman Returns (Prototype) • Batman • Batman Forever
Genesis	The Video Game • Batman Returns • Revenge of the Joker • Batman Forever
Sega CD	Batman Returns
Sega Master System	Batman Returns
Game Gear	Batman Returns • Batman Forever
TurboGrafx-16	Batman
Atari Lynx	Batman Returns
DOS	Batman Returns
Sega Saturn	Batman Forever: The Arcade Game
PlayStation	Batman & Robin • Batman Forever: The Arcade Game
PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox	Batman Begins
Game Boy Advance	Batman Begins
Windows	Batman Forever: The Arcade Game (Prototype) • Arkham Asylum • Arkham City • Arkham Origins • Arkham Knight • Gotham Knights
Xbox 360	Arkham Asylum (Prototype) • Arkham Origins (Prototypes)
Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5	Gotham Knights
Animated
Game Boy (Color)	The Animated Series • Beyond: Return of the Joker
SNES	The Adventures of Batman & Robin
Genesis	The Adventures of Batman & Robin (Prototype)
Game Gear	The Adventures of Batman & Robin (Prototype)
Windows, Mac OS Classic	The Adventures of Batman & Robin Activity Center • The Adventures of Batman & Robin Cartoon Maker
PlayStation	Gotham City Racer • Beyond: Return of the Joker
Game Boy Advance	Vengeance
GameCube	Rise of Sin Tzu
Wii	The Brave and the Bold
Nintendo DS	The Brave and the Bold
Plug & Play	The Batman
Adobe Flash	The Batman: Batcave Training • The Batman: Ice Age
LEGO
PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable	LEGO Batman
Nintendo DS	LEGO Batman
Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X	LEGO Batman • DC Super Heroes • Beyond Gotham • Legacy of The Dark Knight
Wii	LEGO Batman • DC Super Heroes
Wii U	DC Super Heroes • Beyond Gotham
PlayStation 4, Xbox One	Beyond Gotham
Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X	Legacy of The Dark Knight
Catwoman
GameCube, PlayStation 2	Catwoman
Game Boy (Color)	Catwoman (Japanese Version)
Game Boy Advance	Catwoman
See Also
DC Comics • Justice League • Cartoon Network