First released in 1988, Ocean Software‘s Batman: The Caped Crusader is not to be confused with Ocean‘s other Batman game, programmed by Jon Ritman. No, this one is the 2D, comic panel animated adventure programmed by Jonathan Smith.

As Batman leaves one room and enters another, the panels of a comic book are overlaid onto the screen in sequential order. A simple menu system allows you to pick up and manipulate objects. Batman can punch and kick his enemies, and can also throw his Baterang. The aim is to solve a series of simple puzzles and also defeat the henchmen, leading to the boss guy. Batman: The Caped Crusader is notable for having two independently-playable branches. The first is an episode called “A Bird In The Hand” and featuring The Penguin. The second is called “A Fete Worse Than Death” and features The Joker.

Personally, I never know what the hell I’m doing in this game and can never get my bearings. You have to be some kind of genius/masochist to make any headway in it. 🙂

Not my cup of tea, but Batman: The Caped Crusader is a bold and strikingly-different game that does seem to appeal to a lot of people. It even got a North American release on the Commodore 64, Amiga and Atari ST. Not on the Spectrum, though. Nobody had Spectrums in North America at the time.

More: Batman: The Caped Crusader on Wikipedia
More: Batman: The Caped Crusader on World of Spectrum