Batman Returns was developed and published by Konami, released for the SNES in 1993 as a side-scrolling beat ’em up adapting Tim Burton’s 1992 film of the same name, distinct from Konami’s separate arcade cabinet and Sega Genesis games built under the same movie license. Players fight through Gotham City streets and set pieces drawn from the film, battling the Penguin’s circus gang and Catwoman’s henchmen using Batman’s fists, batarangs, and grapple line to reach otherwise inaccessible areas within stages. Konami’s Batman licenses across different platforms during this era were frequently built by entirely separate teams with different engines and design philosophies, and the SNES version distinguished itself with tighter platforming sections woven between combat encounters compared to the more straightforward brawling of its Genesis counterpart. Well received on release for its presentation and faithfulness to the film’s moody Gothic tone, it stands as one of the more polished Batman licensed games from an era that produced an unusually large number of them across competing consoles.