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Gotham's Dark Knight made his first C64 outing in 1989, The Caped Crusader scoring an impressive 92% in Issue 47. Unlike the ominous, Gold Medal-winning Movie conversion, The Caped Crusader emphasises the humour and ridiculous detective work of the TV series. Programmed by Special FX (Midnight Resistance, Amiga Robocop 2), it's two games in one.

'A Bird In The Hand' is the Penguin's tale: upon being released from prison, he has apparently resolved to go straight, setting up an umbrella factory near his mansion. Batman is suspicious though, and upon investigating uncovers a secret production line devoted to robots designed to take over the world!

On side two of the tape it's 'A Fete Worse Than Death' - Robin has gone missing and the only clue is a joker playing card. Batman has a tight time limit to beat if he's to rescue Robin and jail the Joker.

Although it's basically another arcade adventure - explore, shoot or thump the baddies, collect objects and figure where to use them - The Caped Crusader has a unique feel. A flick-screen scroll is usually unwelcome on the C64, but here it's fun with each new screen partially overlaying previous ones, as if different-shapoed panels of a comic strip were being slapped down, one on top of the other.

The actual graphics maintain this feel, with attractive backdrops and plenty of colourful, animated sprites. But the best element is probably the detective work; unlike so many arcade/adventures the puzzles really are fun.

Humour is the key, with false teeth required for eating food and a red nose turning Batman pink so the crooks won't recognise him! It all works very well, with a smart icon system for manipulating objects. But there's also plenty of villains, from machine-gun toting crooks to robotic penguins to exercise Batman's batarang-throwing arm.

Back in Issue 47, The Caped Crusader was raved over, winning 92%. Kati praised the mix of "50% detective work and 50% fighting" as in the comics, while Maff thought he'd be playing the game "for a long time to come". There were also comparisons with the artwork of the excellent graphic novels "The Killing Joke" and "The Dark Knight Returns". Almost two years on, the top-notch graphics can't really live up to this, but apart from that the review is spot-on. As with most arcade adventures, having to retrace your actions when you die can be irritating - especially as it's so tough, with countless opponents and confusing mazes - but wit and humour more than compensate.