Description
FINAL UPDATE 'ULTIMA': This one hasn't had any changes since the last version, but I also hadn't announced what was changed—only the white letters in the cutscenes. I also changed the version name to match the rest of the hacks.
This hack combines various elements from other hacks and graphical edits to present a unique experience:
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Color Fix ver.1.2 by Macbee: This hack changes Batman's blue color scheme to gray to be more faithful to the original movie.
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Batman Game Prototype Cutscenes: All in-game cutscenes have been replaced with those from the prototype, which are completely different from the final version, including the ending scenes. These scenes were also recolored to represent the darker tone of Batman's sprite as well as the title screen.
Box Art by Antonio de Lima. Note: It is recommended to use the MESEN emulator to get a real view of the game’s colors, such as Batman’s sprite and its true shades of gray, among others.
Hashes
CRC32: 395569ec
SHA-1: 73b33e67e3c9e1116f9fcb021b10bb1171b8696a
Verified: No
Staff Credits
- Macbee: Original graphics.
- DarthVaderX: Hacking and graphics edits.
Gallery
Youtube Video
The translation made to have Batman's sprite reflect more closely to the movie's counterpart is so effective in this hack that it leaves me to wonder why this recolor wasn't implemented with the game's first release. While the darkened suit may seem like it'd make player readability more tasking, Batman's sprite has just enough gray pixels around his figure that he doesn't completely camouflage in any of the game's backgrounds.
On top of the awesome sprite recolor during gameplay, great attention to detail was made to fit Batman's blackened color scheme with the newly added prototype cutscenes. Joker's mugshot is also taken well into account as his face more closely resembles the white makeup of his movie's counterpart rather than appearing like Slimer from Ghostbusters.
As for the new cutscenes themselves, I thought they were done well enough as is to tell the game's story although I also believe they could've been enhanced more by combining with some of the cutscenes from the final release. Moments such as Batman's introduction in the title screen, the Batmobile sequence before stage 1, and some of the intermission scenes with Joker's portraits and the Batwing are most of the non-prototype cutscenes that could've enriched this hack's already solid cutscene presentation.
What could be the most contentious part of this hack however, due to how the changed final ending, is that there is no Joker fight from the original game which I found disappointing but understandable in the context of this hack's final cutscene (which is extremely hilarious by the way and almost makes up for the lack of a fight). As a compromise, the hack could've kept the original game's Joker fight and last cutscene as the basic ending while making the prototype ending a secret unlockable under certain conditions like the Batman Returns NES game (ex. completing the game up until after the boss before Joker with no game overs unlocks the prototype ending).
This was the hack that got me into playing not just this classic NES game but also other retro Batman games as a whole. Besides the final boss fight, there are no gameplay changes so the choice for applying this game's new Batman color scheme and cutscenes would be almost entirely subjective on preference. Overall, I still enjoyed not only the game but also the dashing visuals of Batman's playable black sprite here alongside the the new cutscenes without any major glitches.