Batman Returns

Batman was a staple of every self respecting boy’s imagination in the nineties. Sporting the trademark black tee with the golden bat emblem was a trend not to be taken lightly and a sign to everyone that you were much too hip than you ought be. Not to mention that Batman had your back; his (slightly crinkled) bat signal radiated the message clear enough. Woe, just look at how the times have changed since. Heaven forbid one is caught wearing that kind of get-up now; it’s as good as a legally biding contact signing oneself off to summers at fat camp and an adult life chronicled by each passing comic book convention one has attended. But those were simpler times then, when a young man had to make the hardest decision of his early life and choose between the Batman cape or the purple and green Joker t-shirt mock suit jacket to dress for Halloween that year.

The blockbuster success of the first film brought the gritty gothic director Tim Burton and the heart-pacing heroic score composed by Danny Elfman back in a follow-up for the sequel starring Michael Keaton (before he went all sissy and asked to do films that had more dialogue and less ass-kicking; dude, you were Mr. Mom and played a father-turned-snow man, get back to the swooping and punching already). Michele Pheffier and Danny DeVito also co-starred in the film as the next set of villains for Batman to protect Gotham City from: Catwoman and The Penguin. Tailgating the sweet ride of the blazing batmobile when the movie hit 1992 were floods of toys, fast food promotions, and, sure, why not, even a video game or two.

You can tell from the label that this Batman Returns NES sample came from Germany and it’s the PAL version. Above that on the label is “RP053″ in parenthesis. This same code appears again on two chips on the TKEPROM board inside the cartridge. (Scroll down for more photos.) A sticker below the label reads “N-077″ and its use is probably for numbering how many of these samples of this particular game were created.

I bought it from a Swiss seller living in Bern, Switzerland. The “sample” is in reality the whole version of the released game, and all of the in-game text is done in English. While playing through to its entirety, I did manage to find two slight differences in the sample when measured against the licensed release, although there could very well be more.

Sample Differences


Batman Returns Sample

The signs for skating rink on level 1-1 don’t seem to match the NTSC released version. The top photograph was not cut off in any way; the word “skating” is missing.


Batman Returns (NTSC) released


Batman Returns Sample

The only other difference I found was the copyright on the ending screen. The sample has “© 1993 Konami” whereas the NTSC released version states the same copyright as 1992. (Extra note: The title screen copyrights do not differ.)

After dumping the game and running it through GoodNES, it is definitely different than anything that has been dumped before.


Batman Returns (NTSC) released

NES-TKEPROM-02 Board Pictures