Batman (Data East)

Batman was released by Data East Pinball in July 1991, capitalizing on the massive popularity of Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie. Designed by Joe Kaminkow and Ed Cebula, the solid-state electronic game featured the likenesses of Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson across its hand-drawn cabinet artwork and backglass. Production ran for a brief period until October 1991, with a total of 3,500 units manufactured.

The game makes no attempt to recreate the movie's plot or events, but does reference various locales and characters from the film, including an Axis Chemicals skill shot, a Joker face target with three holes, and access to the Flugelheim Museum multiball.

Operating on the DataEast/Sega Version 3 hardware platform, it includes two flippers, two ramps, and a three-ball multiball mode. Crucially, this machine marked the historic industry debut of the BSMT-2000 (Brian Schmidt Music Technology) sound system, delivering unprecedented audio clarity, custom speech voiced by Fred Young, and recognizable movie themes.

While praised for its striking artwork, immersive sound design, and strong theme integration, player consensus points out that the rule set can feel repetitive or linear over extended home play. Even so, it remains a sought-after piece for collectors of 1990s arcade history.