5. Batman (1986 - Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, MSX, ZX Spectrum)
This, by the way, is
how we rolled in my day (on only 2 axes) Designed and played well before most of the people reading this article were even born, Batman was the first commercially available Batman video game ever made. For that alone it gets quite a few points. This classic adventure game was developed by Ocean software, who retained the Batman rights long enough to ruin the two following games. In classic Batman fashion, Robin has been kidnapped by The Joker, and Batman must rescue him. He does so by scouring for the scattered pieces of the Batcraft hovercraft in Wayne Manor and the Batcave, both of which are apparently haunted by
bugbears. So, you know, do be careful, Batman. Of course, in true adventure game style Batman found his lost marbles by way of solving a slew of asinine puzzles, rather than just telling Alfred to get stuff ready while he did rich people stuff. The game was critically acclaimed as an instant classic by multiple reviewers for several reasons. First, Batman featured a 3dimensional isometric level design, which allowed players to walk along both the X and Y axis of a room's floor. This might sound like nothing doing now, but in 1986, looking like you could turn left or right was a big friggin deal. This game was also the first to ever feature a method of saving progress mid game, and being able to load that progress rather than starting from the beginning. The Batstone (it's OK, I lauged too) was the precursor and ancient ancestor of all modern checkpoint systems that prevent the makers of Call of Duty from having to design levels with any sense of flow to them.