BATMAN - THE CAPED CRUSADER

(c)1988 Ocean Software

---------------------------------
Preliminary Historical Note:
---------------------------
Putting these instructions and gathering the complete game
resulted in a bigger puzzle than the game itself. Ocean appar-
ently produced a Batman game in 1986 but never released it for
the C64 as far as I was able to find out, then another game,
this one, in 1988, before making "Batman the Movie" in 1989.
The crackers received only tapes of the Caped Crusader, without
the instructions, and missed the fact this game had two parts,
one part being on the back of the tape... Then their cracks were
crashing constantly as the crackers didn't take the time to
check (in a hurry as always), and people were complaining left
and right. The cracks had to be redone... The Web to this day
has a lot of copies that don't work as a result of this mess.
Finally, and maybe because of this, it appears that the crackers
did not like the game. They probably looked at a few screens,
laughing at the look of Batman in that game, and made a couple
of spoof demos called "Fatman" (one of them is in the tape) to
ridicule the way Batman is portrayed and walks in the game, not
caring at all for the other features of the game. This attitude
carried to 1997 where one cracker made then another Fatman demo
to spoof the PC scene this time (also in the tape).

CATEGORY
Adventure/Puzzle with a few fighting scenes.
Aim of the game
---------------
There are two separate "plots" revolving around Batman's deadliest
enemies - The Penguin and The Joker (which are Parts 1 and 2 of
the program, to be loaded separately, Part 1 on the front of the
tape and Part 2 on the back in the tape version):
1) A Bird In The Hand
The Penguin, having been released from jail, decides to set up
an umbrella factory in Gotham City, but (of course) is secretly
using it as a cover for his plan to take over the world with an
army of robot penguins!
As Batman, can you shut down the factory computer and prevent the
world from getting the bird?
2) A Fete Worse Than Death
Returning to the Batcave after a hard day's crime-fighting,
Batman finds that Robin has mysteriously disappeared, the only
clue being a single playing card left behind by his kidnapper -
the Joker! On the flip side of the card is a message written by
the Riddler: "Robin heads for a fete worse than death, the fuse
is lit - so don't waste your time, follow your nose and remember,
there's no place like home! Boom! Boom!".
Can you unravel the mystery, save Robin and defeat the Joker?
Game play
---------
In both plots the presentation on screen simulates a comic strip
with Gotham City and its inhabitants appearing in multiple
overlaid panels. Any text (clues, descriptions, what to do next,
etc.) is displayed in caption boxes in the appropriate panel. The
player as Batman has complete freedom to move around and interact
with the numerous locations, solving puzzles en route.
The game status is not on the movement screen - it is on a separ-
ate screen called the 'utility screen.' You enter this screen by
pressing down and fire together on the joystick (but watch out:
time does not stop running!). The center of the screen displays
* the game completion percentage,
* the Background Music on/off Icon (press fire for toggle),
* the control icons which are used to manipulate objects you have:
Left (open) Hand = Drop Object Icon
Right (closed) Hand = Utilize Object Icon,
* the Center (pointing) Hand = Return to Game Icon,
* the Tombstone = Restart Icon
* Batman's various energy status (double) bars from left to
right: strength, heart, carry/lift (?), overall health
(The trainer version stops these bars from changing.)
On the left and right of the screen are placeholders for the
objects you will have to find and pick up. Once you have objects,
by moving the Bat-cursor onto an object and pressing Fire, the
object starts flashing. Then you can move the cursor to the
Utilize or Drop icon (depending on the object - for you to
decide) and press Fire again to drop or put the object in use.
In Part 2 there is a line up of watches at the bottom of the
screen. They represent the fuse attached to Robin's bomb...
CONTROLS Joystick:
---------
Without fire button pressed: With fire button pressed:
Face Face
Climb back Climb High kick back High kick
left \ | / right left \ | / right
\ | / \ | /
\ | / \ | /
\ * / \ * /
Walk ----* *----- Walk Punch/ -----* *----- Punch/
left / * \ right Throw left / * \ Throw right
/ | \ / | \
/ | \ / | \
/ | \ / | \
Duck Face Duck Low kick Pick up Low kick
left front right left object/ right
Enter utility screen
Keyboard:
---------
RETURN key not pressed RETURN key pressed
Z Walk left Punch/Throw left
X Walk right Punch/Throw right
; Face back Face back
/ Face front Pick up object/Enter Utility Screen
Z + ; Climb left High kick left
X + ; Climb right High kick right
Z + / Duck left Low kick left
X + / Duck right Low kick right

Note: I could not find a way to pause the game, I was expecting
one when in the utility screen... restarting the game
does not fill that purpose.
TIPS
* Dark rooms require finding an object to light them up...
* There are rooms that deteriorate Batman's health quickly---
maybe there is an object which will help there BEFORE entering.
Note that the trainer version stops you from finding out such
features since Batman's energy stays the same...
* In general this is a discovery game, especially to map the
place and find where the various objects are as well as what is
their use. So the trainer version can help there. Due to the
features above it can be of help only in parts of the initial
discovery phase.
-------------------------------------------------------
Comments (Spectrum version):
"A finely-honed arcade advennture which is surely the best
comic licence ever - you'd be batty to miss it".
Rating:
93% (CRASH #60, January 1989) for the Spectrum version.
Now:
A graphically pretty nice arcade adventure game. The controls
leave however something to be desired...

-END-