Retro Reflections: The Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker Game Has Not Aged Well

Batman Beyond was one of the best cartoons of the early 00s (even though it began in 1999) and it spawned one of The Dark Knight’s best films. It used to be a lot more common for movies that were expected to perform well to get a tie-in game for maximum marketing potential. This was the case with Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and all I can say is that at least the television show and movie were amazing.

I played the Nintendo 64 version of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, which was published under Ubisoft and developed by Kemco. That last one is a company that most won’t recognize immediately, as they have a long history but only a few decent titles under their belt. I will always know them as being responsible for the N64 port of Daikatana, something not easily forgotten. That should have been a sign. I wanted to believe this could be good—for Batman.

When I was younger, I played this over at a friend’s house and remember thinking it was pretty good. I was also a dumb naïve child. Particularly, I recall thinking that the opening music was awesome, trying its hardest to be an ersatz of the opening theme from the cartoon. I know better now. Batman Beyond isn’t good and even if the music was something to applaud, it’s a short loop in most cases that will become tiring all too quickly. This makes me sad because the techno tunes were something I reveled in with the show and I wanted to try and appreciate the game for that at least. No, I can’t even give the game high marks for the music.

There is one positive thing I can remark on, but I may be an outlier saying this: I honestly enjoy some of the backgrounds, especially early on, for a game released in 2000, that is. Something about the color and style once again seemed like the developers tried to capture the show’s aesthetic, but didn’t quite get it right. Some of the other levels are lacking detail and a bit bland, but I almost saw something good. I do enjoy how Terry McGinnis’ face is animated alongside the health, where it changes showing how damaged he is similar to DOOM. It is just a shame that all of the other character animations are not done well and can be distracting.

The story is shown through cutscenes bookending each mission, but more accurately I should say they are simply still images with text over them. The words go by too fast to read in some spots and though these images look like the show overall, doing it this way feels a bit lazy. I know several people wondered why more from the actual movie wasn’t used since the game tries to follow that plot, but I think that has to do with timing. This is probably because the movie and N64 version of the game released one day apart.

Return of the Joker is a beat ‘em up that goes for a classic approach in the genre, but manages to feel sluggish and doesn’t satisfy with its fisticuffs. The levels aren’t engaging, but rather poorly designed—one doesn’t even have enemies, just things to dodge and mounted guns. It is thankfully short, causing much of the middle section of the game to come across as aimless. Batman moves awkwardly and is often knocked on his ass. I think jumping may be the worst part of the movements, as there is no way to maneuver in air and running before a leap is often required to clear obstacles.

Basic attacks are said to be important for combos, but there is no difference to just spamming the buttons. These simple kicks and punches are more effective than Batman’s gadgets or other weapons and make combat incredibly flat. There is also a stealth mode that I could never find a good use for and it just became another button to accidentally hit and wonder what happened. Those hoping that the boss battles might provide some more interesting entertainment are going to be disappointed also. If anyone is looking for a Caped Crusader beat ‘em up, I’d suggest sticking with Batman Returns on the SNES.

The one thing Batman Beyond tries to do differently is another interesting idea that had poor execution. Batman has several different kinds of suits to choose from that alter damage and the abilities he has access to. The Nimble suit sounds like the best option for freer movement, but its abilities are barely needed and don’t provide enough benefit in combat or exploration.
Most will wind up using the Defense suit due to it blocking so much of incoming damage and having a devastating attack on its own. If anyone wanted to try the Standard or Offense suit, there is no reason to stress over which one to select, as the others will be found in the levels and are easily switched to. They made their big mechanic pretty pointless.

That seems to be a common theme in Return of the Joker. Everything outside of the basics—which already weren’t great—comes across as being tacked on and possibly rushed. Once a player figures out the basics, the game can be beaten in a little over half an hour. I think I could actually finish Return of the Joker twice before the film version rolled credits if I tried.

Batman Beyond also appears on the original PlayStation but its best incarnation actually went to the Game Boy Color, which says a lot. This was a sad waste of the license and potentially the worst basic merchandising to have the Batman Beyond name on it. It still isn’t the worst Batman game, but I’m not sure that is saying much.