This product is like new. At NexWave Games, like new means:
Additionally, all discs at NexWave Games are carefully inspected and assessed for quality. When discs arrive, we do not accept any that are so badly damaged that they are unlikely to work. We only accept discs with light scratches at most. Discs with scratches are then treated in our professional disc repair machine. By warming the disc and polishing it with soft brushes, these machines can remove a very thin layer from the disc. This removes the layer containing surface scratches and improves the disc’s readability. This ensures the disc works properly, even on consoles with ageing lasers that have difficulty reading games! Great news for the player.
Batman & Robin for PlayStation 1
In Batman & Robin for PlayStation 1, you investigate crimes in a three-dimensional Gotham City. Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy have plans that you must unravel within three nights. You drive through the streets, get out at a suspicious location and explore buildings on foot. Fighting alternates with searching for clues. A poster or object you find only tells you enough once you discover the missing information too.
In the Batcave, you use the Batcomputer to enlarge, analyse and combine clues. This lets you discover where and when the next crime will take place. The clock makes your route important: you can fight street gangs and help people along the way, but an appointment with a villain will not wait forever. Batman, Robin and Batgirl have different attributes and their own vehicles. You change hero through the costume vaults in the Batcave.
You play this action adventure alone with a standard or analogue PlayStation controller. Punches, kicks and gadgets require different button combinations; a training room helps you practise them. Power cells supply your equipment and vehicle weapons. You save your progress manually through Save Game on the Batcomputer, using a PlayStation memory card. This is therefore an action at the computer, not an automatic save after every fight. Load Game in the main menu resumes a previously saved session.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 1 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
Batman & Robin for PlayStation 1 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Batman & Robin
Probe Entertainment developed Batman & Robin for the original PlayStation; Acclaim released the game in 1998. The 1997 film Batman & Robin supplied the heroes, villains and distinctive vehicles. The game adaptation gave those elements its own structure around three nights in Gotham City. Events were therefore connected by a city in which you drive to locations yourself, rather than simply playing through a series of separate fights from the film.
Detective work received a visible place in the design. The original manual uses a museum poster found in pieces to explain combining and enhancing clues. Opening times, an advertised diamond and Mr. Freeze's handwriting together form a useful lead. The Batcomputer is thus part of solving the story, alongside its functions as a map and save point. There are also terminals in the city that provide access to the computer.
The choice between three heroes was also integrated into the game world: in the Batcave, you enter a different costume vault to switch. Their strength, speed and agility differ and can increase through collected upgrades. Acclaim highlighted the combination of driving, investigation and fighting in a non-linear adventure at the time. This PlayStation release is therefore separate from Batman Forever: The Arcade Game, the earlier Batman adaptation that focused mainly on successive street fights.
Similar games for PlayStation 1
Batman Forever: The Arcade Game for PlayStation 1 likewise uses Batman, Robin and recognisable gadgets from a cinema film. Its action mainly consists of defeating groups of opponents in side-scrolling combat areas, with long attack combinations. Batman & Robin also lets you drive around Gotham yourself and investigate clues. The similarity lies in the heroes and fighting; the difference becomes clear when you must first work out where the next confrontation will take place.
Spider-Man for PlayStation 1 combines superhero combat with exploring buildings and special tools. You use webs to move and restrain enemies, whereas Batman & Robin uses vehicles and various gadgets. Spider-Man guides you through separate missions on rooftops and inside buildings. Batman & Robin adds planning drives through Gotham and deciphering time-sensitive clues. Both require movement and fighting, but detective work plays a greater role in determining your destination here.
Tomb Raider for PlayStation 1 connects three-dimensional exploration with combat, climbing and puzzles. Lara searches for passages and mechanisms in ruins, while Batman & Robin uses evidence to predict crimes. In both, looking around carefully takes you further than fighting alone. The puzzles work differently: in Tomb Raider, you mainly investigate the space itself; in Gotham, you take information you find to the Batcomputer and connect it to a place and time.
Small Soldiers for PlayStation 1 likewise puts you in control of familiar film characters in a three-dimensional action adventure. Archer fights the Commando Elite with a blaster and frees allies in their own fantasy world. Batman & Robin instead uses Gotham's streets and buildings to connect events. Fighting here alternates with driving and computer research. Where Small Soldiers mainly has you advance through combat areas, Batman & Robin also asks which clue explains your next route.
Apocalypse for PlayStation 1 has a distinctly cinematic presentation and three-dimensional fighting between buildings and on platforms, just like Batman & Robin. Trey Kincaid mainly uses firearms against large numbers of enemies. Batman & Robin also has you fight hand to hand, select gadgets and return to the Batcave. The difference lies in the rhythm: Apocalypse usually keeps you in the shooting action, while in Gotham you spend time driving, examining clues and locating a crime scene.
