The most insane beat 'em up EVER? - Batman Forever The Arcade Game 

This game feels like those animations you get in the screen when you score a strike at the bowling alley

"Mid-90s Acclaim" deserves to be its own design aesthetic along the lines of Frutiger Aero or Vaporwave.

I wish they would release actual arcade ports of some of the games, like X-Men, etc. They looked so cool back then and we never got any type of actual authentic game play/graphics from them.

1996 was a crazy year at arcades. This would have been competing with stuff like MK3, Alpha 2, Virtua Fighter 3, KOF 96, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Street Fighter EX, Metal Slug, tons of other stuff. If your machine was going to attract the attention of players, you really had to go over the top in your sound and visuals.

I literally played this last week and it is utterly insane. It's like a normal beat 'em up, sped up by two with no sense of physical contact, collecting wheelbarrows full of power ups like a Soviet financial collapse, then performing super mega powerful moves for no reason other than the day ended in Y. It's like a colourful fever dream of toxic themed colours and special effects with the only confirmation you're the one playing being there's a joypad in your hands. Stuff just kinda happens. EVERYWHERE.

Batman Seizures Forever.

There's a rom hack for Batman Forever on the Genesis that changes it into a side-scrolling beat em up with all platforming elements taken out. It's called Batman Eternity. Actually pretty fun tbh.

Yes, New York does exist in the DCU there are a bunch of B and C list superheroes who are from there or who have had eras where they lived there. The geography of the northeast in the DCU is absurd and makes more sense the less you think about it

I had this game for Sega Saturn, and it was fucking hilarious! Also, both Batman and Robin can do 200 Hit combos! Watching Batman grab one dude and punch him 200 times fucking killed me as a kid! It was so funny!

Batman has megacrush moves like he's in the X-Men arcade game

2:05 If you want to see what the "Schumacher Cut" is like, the official comic book tie-in that came out with the movie's release follows that planned cut. Mostly the same, but with a couple of darker passages and plot stuff that hit the cutting floor. Considering the movie, the beat em up should be equally batshit Heh. Batshit.

God, it feels like a Killer Instinct beat em up the more it goes on

Ah yes, the Batman game that somehow did the dumb “final boss is an intelligence-based villain that turns into a giant brute monster” thing *before* Arkham Asylum :y

I know Gotham sometimes has a giant Blind Justice statue that looks alot like the Statue of Liberty.

This was the first game I got when my parents got me a Playstation for my birthday as a kid. Still have it

I laughed my ass off years ago when I watched you guys playing this on Cinemassacre and I'm laughing just as hard now. This gotta be the videogamiest videogame ever, holds nothing back and seems plain fun.

I love the pinball/bowling bonus screens at the end of each stage

It's a crime we still haven't been able to see the original cut of Batman Forever. The deleted footage on RU-vid are really good I don't know what they were thinking.

Those bonus animations at the end of the level look like bowling alley animations.

This actually looks fun asf, it would be perfect for a house party or game night

I get that wwe arcade game vibe from this with that combat

0:58 - Well now I have to go watch this Cinemassacre video featuring two of my favorite RU-vidrs that somehow flew under my radar...

This really epitomizes an arcade game. Imagine playing this in a large room dripping with nerd sweat with the bass of this thing set so high you feel the beats on your face and words are flying at you.

I actually got to play the real arcade machine one time. It was at a two story McDonalds, while I was on vacation in Florida. It was pretty amazing.

Lucky, I still have two of the Batman Forever glass cups from way back in the day (we had four in total, but only the two Batman ones survived over the years).

This game is one of those gems that gets in your face like... "Hey! I'm a Fucking Video Game bitch! Time to have some fun!" 😂

This game was a button mashers dream. So much wacky stuff so little strategy required.

For the longest time i knew this game just from screnshots from a magazine and it plays just as i imagined it.

The giant bat monster was actually a huge Animatronic that looked really impresive

Batman: Return of the Joker (the NES version specifically) and Adventures of Batman and Robin (the Sega version specifically) might be right up your alley in terms of Batshenanigans.

I love Batshit off the wall beat em up! It's definitely the best one on PS1.

I would pay thrice the monetary value of this game to witness the cop from Batman Forever that yelled "It's boiling acid!!" to instead look at the screen of this game and yell: "It's Batman spinning around on his grappling hook rope, glowing with his Hyper Bat Mode energy, surrounded by Mirror Image clones, going supernova in the middle of the screen, causing galactic planetary conversions in an ethereal white void dimension, and causing clown and cyberpunk mooks to dissolve into cybernetic pixel frame cubes!!"

Hell yeah! They even made the stupid Guesser from the movie into a full ROBOT! I want an Open-Bor version of this with all the Batman villains!

i do have good memories of Batman Forever (movie) and also remember playing this at the arcade with my brother! :D

This game looks chaotic as all hell. It's like they wanted to hide the monotony of a sidescrolling beat 'em up by being as extra as possible with the power-ups, special attacks, and animations. I wouldn't mind playing it if it got ported to the online marketplace, but the movie licensing probably gets in the way.

"does New York exist in the DC universe?" Yes! The Teen Titans were based there for a while, as was Firestorm. Also one of my favorite Nightwing arcs takes place there! (Brothers in Blood. Yes, the one where Jason Todd becomes a tentacle monster for a little bit.)

I'm watching this like Milhouse after entering his name into Bonestorm.

I use to play this at the local arcade when I was in the military, I wish I would've bought it for the saturn when it was affordable.

I first saw you when you did the James and Mike video playing this years ago. Funny as fuck! “It’s Robin’s time to shine!”

Is like both not ressembling the Movie but also kinda so ressembles the actual thing. Like film was just so a fever dream in a good way, it reflects it well by just going an extra mile. Like it really looks like fun, because that's how would also feel like the coming up with these ideas. And yup kinda fitting for the film is based on. Like a perfect almost it. Because is both comicbooky overthetop as much one can but not like modern ones, and when is serious is in a decent way but without go full like the Nolan or Reeves ones show it. I do hope that Schumacher cut eventually is a thing and maybe a remaster of this.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who appreciates this game's unique brand of madness. Please play Batman & Robin on PlayStation. It's so much worse than 16-bit Batman Forever, but it doesn't get mentioned as often.

I remember when he did that cinemassacre episode, I didn't know who he was back then, now I like his content better than cinemassacres

"I love that batmobile." THANK YOU!

As I understand it, the copy that Kevin Smith has is an early cut of the film, but not exactly THE Schumacher cut. I highly recommend that you seek out the fan edit titled "Batman Forever Virtual Workprint". Good stuff!

KISS FROM A ROSE INTENSIFIES

I remember enjoying this on the Sega Saturn

I literally just watched an Austin Eruption video that includes this game yesterday lmao

New York exists in DC, Gotham is in New Jersey, and that Statue Of Liberty is a separate statue called Lady Gotham. In her tiara thing the word Gotham is lit up.

11:45 No, you are right, tonight I also learned I have never truly played video games. Though I'd argue my experience with arcade Arch Rivals means I have almost played video games.

21:56 Matt McMuscles.... YOU HAVE FAILED, THIS CITY!

I swear I saw most of these end level bonus animations on the Jumbotron at every MLB game I attended in the 90s.

12:24 No no, it's the Statue of Justice, legally distinct from the Statue of Liberty

I saw this at a bowling alley in Lake Havasu in 2002, and just from the demo mode it was seared into my memory

I actually played with a friend back in the day. Good game.

I remember seeing an ad for this Arcade game on the back of my manual of Batman Forever for the Genesis. Even though that Genesis game was a guilty pleasure to me, the Arcade game was something I wanted to try out cuz it looked nuts but fun! I did get to play this a few years ago and man, it was fun despite me getting a Game Over within the second stage. Though I'd love it if they somehow re-released the Burton and Schumacher Batman games in one collection. -Batman NES -Batman Genesis -Batman Returns SNES (plz Konami) -Batman Returns Sega CD -Batman Forever Genesis -Batman Forever Arcade or PS1/Saturn -Batman and Robin I know it won't happen for obvious reasons but we can dream, right?

5:49 When you get a strike at the bowling alley

Dear god for the longest time I've been trying to find this again and I thought I'd completely misremembered it or something. This game is such a fucking trip, I love it so much.

Oh I just had a memory unlocked. I remember playing this in an arcade 🦇 this game was insane

Thsis game is what the new Battletoads game should have beem.

Havign never seen this in the arcade, I can still smell the arcade smoke watching this play. The arcadiest game to ever arcade.

Batman doing a sprit 💣

Matt opening with a flyna boss lyric, I know this is gonna be great

I played this at Galloping Ghost this year with my son, and it really is great.

12:29 Actually, yeah, NY and other existing real cities exist in the DC universe. The new 52 Teen Titans operate there, new 52 Static Shock, Power Girl, New 52/Rebirth Harley Quinn, Jace Fox Batman and Muhammad X (dubbed Superman of Harlem, basically a Luke Cage esque character), etc all operate in nyc.

This was one of my favorites back in the day...

I just came back to watch this again. This may be my favourite episode of the Flophouse.

11:05 Batman absorbed Tassel's soul, chi and ether of existence. Go claim the price, Batman. Onward to Zeist!

I am so glad you covered this game! My Dad and I had the DOS version and used to play ot all the time. Neither of us knew how the damn thing worked xD.

It's no Arkham series but the Batman Begins game was actually pretty good

So happy you got to this masterpiece

Mike Matei also loves this one.

i remember TKO talking about this game during the galloping ghost arcade episode

I can almost see the bat nipples in this character select screen. The bat symbol is so huge, it basically covers the entire chest.

2 face got a whole gat at the met gala party and ain't nobody running

Release the Schumacher cut!!!!!!!!!

Bat 'em up.

play Brute Force. An 8-way beatemup with guns, grenades and a dedicated dive button. Also there is a Judge Dredd beatemup that this reminds me of, at least visually.

I remember when you played this with James and Mike on Cinemassacre

I don't care what Batman movie it was in, any Bat-game I have to play while listening to "Kiss from a rose" at least once

I hope I have this game in my cube 3x retro console. This is awesome

Man, Batman Forever woulda been a much better movie if Batman shrank, did Turtles in Time screen screen throws, Shadow Clone jutsu and exploded a bunch of times.

Ok this looks awesome

“The Ambiguously Gay Duo’s” car looks a lot like this Batmobile.

they used every transition and effects possible on that stage clear screen

I remember playing this on PC as a little kid and loving the game. I didnt have very high standards back then 😅

I am so glad I bought this one years ago, before the insane price tag! Absolute blast!

spice was debbie mazar

This game looks INSANE, I had no idea it even existed :o

I genuinely want a Batman movie like this. ROTFL

Remember there's a statue that looks like the Statue of Liberty that the helicopter crashed into in the beginning of Batman Forever. And yes New York exists in the DC Universe. Real cities do exist.

I really miss comic tie-in games that give absolutely no fucks about the source material and just do whatever the hell they think is cool.

MATT DO NOT START TO SIN AGAIN!

Batman canon: Batman never uses guns or kills bad guys. Batman Forever: The Arcade Game: Hold my beer...

This game ruled

The genesis version was one of my favourite games as a kid, it had a vibe.

What the HOLY FUCK-what?? Amazing!!

I remember getting this game for the PS1 just based on the cover. My disappointment was immeasurable and my week was ruined.

I had batman forever on the game gear, and i actually BEAT it on game gear somehow. It was nothing like this. pretty terrible. you could pick gadgets before a mission that actually made a difference. the hardest level was the circus cause it was a maze to diffuse bombs or something. you could beat every boss by mortal kombat sweeping everything in an endless loop.

Whats so crazy to me about this game, is that the visuals are done pretty good. It looks more or less like the movie. But when the gameplay starts, nothing makes sense. Batman and Robin have all sorts of powers and moves that he has never had. I remember seeing this in the arcade at least once or twice. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. I am guessing you are emulating this as it looks like some elements are a higher resolution than most of the others. Just curious if I am correct about that.

Batman looks like he controls like butter in a frying pan lol