It has been bitterly cold and wet in Melbourne this week, but fortunately I've been too busy to worry about freezing my butt off. We're all trying to clear our plates here before the E3 train hits us next week – a week of 2am starts for the home team, and a couple of days of madness for Ignant, who will be our man in the field at the show. I'm sure we'll have all sorts of exclusive information and kickass trailers (quota free for Internode users), so stay tuned for what should easily be the best local E3 coverage.

We're going to step away from the E3 hype for a bit, and take a look at the video game career of Batman, in celebration of this week's theatrical release of The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight, Video Game Style

The ZX Spectrum brought Batman to life, but didn't give him much colour

I'm sure many of you are wondering why I'd commit a full segment to looking at the history of a licensed IP that is, by all means, really lousy. I think it's important to study these types of cases and learn just why these licensed IPs carry such reputations, and hopefully dig up one or two games that defy franchise convention.

Batman made his debut in Detective Comics #37 in 1939, and quickly became one of DC's most popular characters. Nearly 50 years later, he'd make his video game debut. The first Batman game, simply titled Batman, was developed by Ocean for the ZX Spectrum, MSX and Amstrad CPC. It was a relatively simplistic isometric, almost monochromic effort, reflective of the limited processing abilities of the formats it was on. Playing as the Caped Crusader, players would have to find the six pieces of the BatCraft (a hovercraft), which they would use to rescue Robin. The game is fondly remembered by Spectrum enthusiasts, who note that the game is quite similar to another title, Head over Heels, which was also written by Batman programmers Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond.

Special FX Inc. and Data East teamed up for the next Batman game, entitled Batman: The Caped Crusader. Released on the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, C64, ZX Spectrum, and DOS PCs, The Caped Crusader paid homage to Batman's comic book roots, with the action taking place inside a number of comic book panels. Players could choose to play one of two different adventures, one involving stopping the Penguin from taking over the world with an army of penguin robots, while the other had you rescuing Robin from the clutches of the Joker. The Caped Crusader was well received at the time of release, and is still generally respected.

Konami struck gold with Batman Returns on the SNES

With the release of the Tim Burton Batman movie in 1989, the franchise's popularity was at an all time high, and video game companies sought to cash in. Data East handled the home computer titles, SunSoft developed the console versions while Atari handled the Arcade release. The home computer version was the best received; it mixed side-scrolling action up with some impressive driving sequences (3D for the 16-bit computers, too). Batman on the consoles is a bit of an anomaly, with the Mega Drive, NES and TG-16 receiving very different games. The Mega Drive game sticks close to the film, with tight side-scrolling action, driving and flight sequences and a memorable soundtrack. The NES version also traverses the side-scrolling route, but doesn't tie in to the events of the film, opting to pit Batman against more fantastic opponents like robots and ninjas. NEC's TG-16 saw the most unique version of Batman; a maze-like game which required players to find and collect cans of smilex, amongst other things. Atari's arcade game is the best looking game, but doesn't have the gameplay to match – it's about as fun as being kicked in the shins.

Between the release of Burton's two Batman films, Sunsoft released Batman: Revenge of the Joker, another side-scrolling platformer. This one had Batman chasing down the Joker, who had escaped from Arkham Asylum yet again. While a colourful game, Revenge of the Joker is an utterly banal experience, devoid of playability.

Batman Returns, the second of Tim Burton's Batman movies was released in 1992, and game tie-ins were released for almost every platform. The Master System/Game Gear, NES and Lynx releases are fairly throwaway action/platform efforts – each of these three is different to the other, but none of them are exactly any good. The Mega Drive and Mega CD (developed internally by Sega) effort is ever so slightly better, but has many extremely difficult moments. The inclusion of the driving sections in the Mega CD game prompted many to declare it as the best of the platformers released in conjunction with the film. The DOS game takes a rather unique form of a point-and-click adventure game. It's the only game that really captures the true spirit of Batman by requiring the player to do a whole bunch of detective work on top of your regular skull cracking. However, the best game of the bunch (and frontrunner for best Batman game period) is Konami's game on the Super NES. Released the year after the film, the Super NES game is a multi-genre take on the film, which action sequences much like Final Fight, platforming sequences with a bit of a Shinobi vibe, and some driving sequences. The Amiga version, released by Gametek, is considered to be one of the worst Batman games due to the inclusion of many gameplay-breaking bugs, and the fact that the game promised to the Amiga crowd was intended to be a port of the PC version.

Acclaim struck the septic tank with Batman Forever, though

Konami captured the license for games based on the Bruce Timm produced Batman: The Animated Series. Their first release was Batman: The Animated Series for the monochrome Game Boy, which was a straight and narrow action/platformer, which was solid, but ultimately forgettable. The Japanese publisher would experience greater success with its second game on the license, The Adventures of Batman and Robin. Four different versions of the game were produced, but Konami only handled the Super NES release – Sega gained the publishing rights for the Mega Drive, Game Gear and Mega CD versions, giving the handheld version to Ecco developer Novatrade, while Clockwork Tortoise handled the 16-bit efforts. Konami's Super NES game was a single player beat 'em up which has Batman pit against the vast majority of the enemies from the cartoon. It's considered to be the best version. The cartridge based Sega efforts played a lot like Shinobi, giving the players infinite Batarangs to throw at enemies, along with the requisite platforming for two players. It's noted for its high quality soundtrack, but many players felt the game was too difficult. The Mega CD game is completely different, focusing on Batmobile chases, with animation sequences (produced by the original animation house and voiced by the original cast) filling in the gaps. It's a pity those driving sequences are terrible, though.

It was also around this time that Batman made an appearance in the first Justice League game, the Blizzard-developed fighter Justice League: Task Force. Treated by many as an attempt to cash in on the then-active fighting game craze, Task Force's poor gameplay and graphics led to an indifference response from the gaming populace. The Super NES version is marginally better, due to its larger colour palette.

After the release of Batman Forever, the quality of Batman games, like the films, took a nosedive. Acclaim captured the license for the third film and produced two games. The first game to be released was for the 16-bit consoles and PC (with cut down ports to the handhelds). It takes a lot of notes from the Mortal Kombat games, using digitised graphics for all of the characters in the games, as well as complicated d-pad movements for its various special attacks. As a result, the game not only looks ridiculous, but is an absolute chore to play. The Super NES version suffered far more than the Mega Drive one, with load screens (virtually unheard of on cart-based consoles) and multiple glitches which made basic moves, such as dropping to lower platforms, almost impossible.

Ubisoft's run with Batman wasn't much better

The second Batman Forever game, subtitled The Arcade game, was released about a year after the film. As the name would suggest, it was an arcade release, but it also found its way onto the PC, PlayStation and Saturn. To make things confusing, it too is a digitised Final Fight-inspired beat 'em up, but it has a much more ridiculous and over-the-top fighting system, and much better visuals. Regardless of the better visuals and slightly more enjoyable gameplay, the second Batman Forever game was still reviled by critics and gamers.

Batman & Robin was so bad that it temporarily marked the end of the Batman film franchise; the video game was not much better. The PlayStation game takes the form of your usual 32-bit action game; players pick one of Batman, Batgirl or Robin and have to smash their way through a number of pre-selected zones while searching for Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze. Though the game was ugly and not at all enjoyable, many critics noted that it was still better than the film.

Three years passed without incident... or a release of a Batman game. Bruce Timm and company produced another TV show based on the Dark Knight. Batman Beyond (or Batman of the Future) fast forwarded into the middle of the 21st century, where Bruce Wayne had retired as Batman and enlisted a teenager, Terry McGinnis, to become the new Batman. Ubisoft secured the license to all of the Batman animated series, and produced a game for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 to tie in with the movie-length Return of the Joker feature. The game's poor graphics, lack of depth and ridiculously short length were enough for fans to dismiss it entirely.

Batman: Dark Tomorrow is the worst of the bunch

Ubisoft attempted to make the most of its Batman license, releasing three games in 2001. Batman: Chaos in Gotham was the Dark Knight's only appearance on the Game Boy Color, though the unimaginative side scrolling antics led to continued indifference. Batman: Gotham City Racer was a particularly ugly game that let players control Batman, Nightwing or Batgirl in a series of race-based challenges through the city. While the game was awful in all aspects, it did include some nice animated sequences. The final Ubisoft Batman release of 2001 was also the best; Batman: Vegeance for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox. Using the designs and cast from the animated series, Vengeance captured the attention of gamers with solid beat 'em up action and an enthralling story, where Batman had to deal with a power vacuum caused by the apparent death of the Joker. A Game Boy Advance released featured the same story, but more basic gameplay.

Batman made his second Justice League game appearance in 2002's Justice League: Injustice for All for the Game Boy Advance. The action platformer was poorly received due to a distinct lack of differentiating features and boring gameplay. Midway, who held the Justice League license at the time, had planned Justice League games for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox, but put an end to development of these titles in early 2003.

2003 was Batman's busiest year, with five different appearances. Two of these releases (Justice Unbalanced and Toxic Chill were, however, educational games released by The Learning Company, which had Batman and Robin solving kid-friendly puzzles in order to capture different villains. Kemco released their dark and brooding Batman: Dark Tomorrow, a more realistic take on the Dark Knight's adventures. The game had a bit of pre-release hype after an impressive pre-release trailer, but after it slipped from the GameCube's launch lineup, fans quickly became disinterested – and for good reason, because in the end, Dark Tomorrow proved to be one of, if not the worst Batman game to date. Crude graphics, a terrible camera and near-uncontrollable gameplay sealed its fate. Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu was the sequel to Batman: Vengeance, and despite a lot of hype over its new villain, the game failed to muster much support from reviews, with critics noting the game's reduced depth and straightforward action. The forgettable year was wrapped up with the third Justice League game, Justice League Chronicles for the Game Boy Advance, which fared even worse than the previous effort thanks to its awful controls.

LEGO Batman: Why so serious?

Things remained quiet on the Batman front after the failures of 2003. Electronic Arts took their first bash at a Batman game when they secured the license for Batman Begins, the first of the newly rebooted films from Warner Brothers. The game, which featured the cast of the movie, tried to expand on Batman's methods of fighting crime, allowing players to intimidate their opponents, making fear a weapon. Batmobile sections were also a highlight, due to usage of technology shared with the Burnout games. Despite these promising features, the game received less than favourable impressions, due largely to an over-reliance on context sensitive actions and poor performances from some cast members.

Justice League Heroes marked Batman's fourth (and so far, final) appearance with the Justice League. The action RPG, developed by Snowblind Studios, was meant to be DC's answer to the Marvel Ultimate Alliance game. The game allowed two players to team up and fight the forces of evil, including Braniac, Darkseid and Doomsday. Justice League Heroes benefited from the use of technology from the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance games, but ultimately felt a little shallow and flat, and was rather short in length.

Batman is scheduled to appear in two games in 2008; Traveller's Tales' LEGO Batman: The Video Game and Midway's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. The former will see Batman undergo the same LEGO action/adventure treatment received by Star Wars and Indiana Jones – it should be a pretty solid effort, and accessible to gamers of all ages. The jury is still out on Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe; what has been shown of the game so far doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense – Midway will really need to pull their finger out to deliver a compelling experience. As for the future beyond that – who really knows?

It's a surprise that nobody planned a film tie in for The Dark Knight (beyond the mobile game), but with Batman fanfare reaching new heights, perhaps someone will decide it's time to take another crack at it. Personally, I'd like to see a couple of Batman games which involve more detective work for the hero, rather than simplistic beat 'em ups and cliché action games. Well, unless said games let you beat the snot out of Superman with Kryptonite gauntlets.

Next Week

Next week, The Warp Pipe will give you its E3 de-briefing, analysing where the three consoles stand, what games we are looking forward to and revealing our pick for who stole the show.