Holy high scores — Sega’s 1995 Batman Forever brings Joel Schumacher’s neon-soaked take on the Caped Crusader to a six-player DMD machine, designed by Paul Leslie and Joe Kaminkow with a Brian Schmidt score. Its signature toys are a Batwing Ball Cannon and a Bat Cave ball-lock area, and with an approximate run of 2,500, it’s a colorful, action-packed licensed machine that rode the wave of mid-’90s Bat-mania.
The strategy is full of fun swings. Multiball comes from shooting the vertical up-kicker to lock balls, with jackpots at the left and right ramps and a double jackpot at the middle ramp via the upper flipper. There’s a delightful secret: once you’ve racked up enough slingshot hits, bats come screeching off the DMD, and pulling the gun trigger quickly banks a fat fifty million. Mode starts live on the right orbit, lit by hitting the question-mark standups, changed on the pops, and locked in with the gun trigger. The standout video mode is Rooftop Chase, a simple and hugely valuable romp worth a whopping 159 million — dodge obstacles in the first phase, then drive through the points barriers in the next. And if you collect Mr. E for a shot at the 20x bonus, land it and shoot the right ramp all day.
Batman Forever is a bright, brash Sega that captures the comic-book energy of its film and rewards a player who chases that lucrative Rooftop Chase and the gun-trigger secrets. The Batwing cannon is a memorable toy, and the six-player capacity makes it great for a crowd. Fire the cannon, chase the rooftop, and pull that trigger for the screeching bats. To the Batmobile, and drop a coin.