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Batman Returns Prototype 
Batman was a staple of every self respecting boy's
imagination in the nineties. Sporting the trademark
black tee with the golden bat emblem was a trend not
to be taken lightly and a sign to everyone that you
were much too hip than you ought be. Not to mention
that Batman had your back; his (slightly crinkled)
bat signal radiated the message clear enough. Woe,
just look at how the times have changed since. Heaven
forbid one is caught wearing that kind of get-up now;
it's as good as a legally biding contact signing oneself
off to summers at fat camp and an adult life chronciled
by each passing comic book convention one has attended.
But those were simpler times then, when a young man
had to make the hardest decision of his early life
and choose between the Batman cape or the purple and
green Joker t-shirt mock suit jacket to dress for
Halloween that year.
The blockbuster success
of the first film brought the gritty gothic director
Tim Burton and the heart-pacing heroic score composed
by Danny Elfman back in a follow-up for the sequel
starring Michael Keaton (before he went all sissy
and asked to do films that had more dialogue and less
ass-kicking; dude, you were Mr. Mom and played a father-turned-snow
man, get back to the swooping and punching already).
Michele Pheffier and Danny DeVito also co-starred
in the film as the next set of villains for Batman
to protect Gotham City from: Catwoman and The Penguin.
Tailgating the sweet ride of the blazing batmobile
when the movie hit 1992 were floods of toys, fast
food promotions, and, sure, why not, even a video
game or two.
You can tell from the
label that this Batman Returns NES sample came from
Germany and it's the PAL version. Above that on the
label is "RP053" in parenthesis. This same
code appears again on two chips on the TKEPROM board
inside the cartridge. (Scroll down for more photos.)
A sticker below the label reads "N-077"
and its use is probably for numbering how many of
these samples of this particular game were created.
I bought it from a Swiss
seller living in Bern, Switzerland. The "sample"
is in reality the whole version of the released game,
and all of the in-game text is done in English. While
playing through to its entirety, I did manage to find
two slight differences in the sample when measured
against the licensed release, although there could
very well be more.
Sample
Differences
The only other difference
I found was the copyright on the ending screen. The
sample has "© 1993 Konami" whereas
the NTSC released version states the same copyright
as 1992. (Extra note: The title screen copyrights
do not differ.)
Batman Returns (NTSC)
released
NES-TKEPROM-02
Board Pictures
