How the Revolutionary Arkham Asylum Changed Everything for Batman (and Superhero) Games Forever

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight marks a 40 year milestone for DC’s Caped Crusader. Across four decades, Bruce Wayne has been the hero of countless video games. And, as we’ve explored across two chapters already, Batman’s video game history is as varied as his rogues gallery. But now, we study the moment that changed everything. The era when Rocksteady created the superhero experience that redefined an entire genre. The Batman game that re-wrote The Dark Knight’s rulebook. The story of Batman’s greatest video game starts a little earlier than the launch of Arkham Asylum, though. Rewind the clock a few years, and we find ourselves in a time when Batman as an IP was still licking its wounds after a movie duology where the Batsuit had nipples. It would take a visionary new director to restore Batman to his rightful position as the essential superhero. Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins was quietly confident. The film was key to repairing the franchise’s reputation, which had collapsed during the era of Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin, and building a bridge to the future. Among the movie’s modest merchandising was a video game tie-in from EA and Eurocom that offered a tantalizing