Summary
Despite the mainstream acceptance of comic book worlds, it’s easy to forget that a lot of comic books are pretty weird and bizarre. In a decades-old art form, there’s inevitably going to be some weirdness that forms part of the charm.
However, that bizarreness also works its way into video game adaptations. Some of these games are bizarre for the worlds they represent, some for how they choose to tackle their subject matter, and some are just bizarrely terrible. Here are some of the strangest games to come out of the world of DC Comics.
The LEGO games have long been known for the cheeky sense of humor that comes out of their every pore, no matter the subject matter they’re working with. As a love letter to the Batman world, and the DC universe in general,the excellent LEGO Batman gameslove to get weird. By the time of this third entry, things had gotten truly bizarre.
The game fully does away with Gotham as the sole setting and embraces the cosmic weirdness of the DC universe. There are space wars, aliens, giant constructs, and the most obscure DC characters ever conceived. For gamers looking for a walk on the weird side of DC,LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gothamis a great place to start.
One of the longest-lived fantasies for any comic book fan is to become a superhero, or to design their own superhero and tell their own stories with them. In 2011, that dream became reality with the scrappy but beloved MMODC Universe Online,which did its best to make that dream become a reality. Even better, it’s agreat entry point for newcomers to the MMO world.
As MMOs demand a lot of content, the developers behindDC Universe Onlinelooked to every corner of the DC universe for inspiration, bringing in the wacky, weird, and bizarre to keep things fresh. If nothing else, it’s really strange to see cities like Gotham and Metropolis overrun with superheroes causing absolute chaos with no civilians in sight.
The comic book world is well known for taking weird concepts and taking them very seriously, often creating some of the best stories ever made. So it goes with the popularFablesseries, which takes the idea that fairytale characters are real, and live alongside us in their own cities and neighborhoods.
InThe Wolf Among Us, players take the role of Bigby Wolf. Yes, the big bad wolf himself. Although that sounds bizarre, and Snow White being the leading femme fatale in the noir-inspired story makes it all the weirder; it’s surprising how well the world works. It’s an absolute must-play for gamers looking to indulge in the glory days of Telltale Games.
To say expectations were high forSuicide Squad: Kill The Justice Leagueis an understatement, and there’s a lot of sympathy for the pressure Rocksteady must have been feeling. Regardless, it’s a fair statement to say that the game was an abject failure on almost every front. It went down as one of the worst launches of 2024, even if it featuredreturning favorites from the Arkhamverse.
What’s bizarre is how the game ever came to be in the first place. For a studio so renowned for their brilliant Batman games, why was a looter-shooter format chosen? Why the Suicide Squad, and not the Superman game many have been clamoring for? Why this story? The whole project is bizarre from top to bottom.
As the 2000s stretched on, the dominance of the movie tie-in game was beginning to show its age, and fewer were being released as the years went on. Many don’t even know that Christopher Nolan’s first entry into his Batman series,Batman Begins,got its own video game. What’s even more surprising is that it’s weirdly good.
Though it has aged pretty badly in some ways, the graphics are great, and the ambition is admirable, even pre-empting the greatness ofBatman: Arkham Asylum. The linear action, the clunky gameplay systems, and a Burnout-inspired Batmobile sections don’t cohere into a game worth recommending, but it’s undeniably bizarre, and maybe even good. Maybe one day, this game will get a long-awaited critical reappraisal.
Unlike theBatman Beginsgame,Batman: The Video Gamewas released in the heyday of movie tie-in games. This NES cult classic is remembered as one of the best-looking for the time, with genuinely wonderful graphical fidelity.
However, it is also remembered as being one of the most bizarrely difficult games ever made. It givesBattletoadsandNinja Gaidena run for their money. The game will have players wondering who in their right mind designed some of the late-game jumping puzzles. It is one of those games that makes players wonder whether gamers were truly made of sterner stuff back in the 80s.
Superman 64barely requires any introduction, considering the fearsome reputation it has garnered in the gaming world. Widely considered one of the worst games ever made,Superman 64is an absolute trainwreck from start to finish, immortalized by the mind-boggling choice for the majority of the game to consist of flying through rings in a smog-ridden city.
Even speedrunners have trouble with the bizarre flying controls for Superman himself, and the game’s strange design choices are an enigma that have lasted to the modern day. It’s easily one ofthe most difficult Superman games ever made. Let’s hope that if another Superman game does arrive, it’ll be a lot better than this bizarre mess.
