BATMAN: The Beta

Now this is a classic Sunsoft game. Great music, fantastic moody graphics, and ultra-challenging yet addictive game play made it a surefire hit tie-in with the movie. Announced in August for a December 1989 release, the game itself looks pretty much completed, with only minor changes to levels (1-Up powerup that got deleted, for example).

What did change a few times were the cinemas. Before a solid plot and movie stills could be obtained for Sunsoft to use, the art style and tone varied wildly. (Look out for the Batman NES prototype on the internet to see for yourself!)

Famimaga reported on the game the same week as Famitsu did, but used a later version, it would seem. (Either that, or Famitsu had some really old screenshots that they re-used alongside the newer ones.)

Of note is the classic "Where is she? Vicki's in Gotham City. Gotham City?" dialogue, wherein a whitebread street punk reminds the Batman what city he is supposed to be a defender of.

The earliest version of Batman (above) tends to have more glitchy code related to the life bar display. It's been mostly fixed in this version and in the final game.