The Clown Prince of Crime - the Joker - is an iconic character that has enjoyed considerable fanfare alongside Batman since his first debut in 1940 in the original Batman #1 comic. With his undeniable charm and morbidly fascinating psychopathic tendencies, he’s been depicted in numerous forms of media with the most recent depiction in Joaquin Phoenix’s eponymous movie ‘Joker’. Throughout the years, the attempts of portraying him on the silver screen have become almost uncountable.
Although there are several notable depictions of the Joker in video games, some were more warmly received than others. So here are the five best portrayals of the Joker in the history of video games.
5. LEGO Batman Series
As a matter of fact, since the first game of the LEGO Batman series came out in 2008, the Joker’s made an appearance in every single one. When he first broke out of Arkham Asylum in the first LEGO Batman, Joker teamed up with many other popular villains in the Batman universe like Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, e.t.c. to spread Joker Gas throughout the city of Gotham. Of course, it’s a plan that our hero the Bat eventually threw a wrench into.
Joker was also made as a playable character in the spin-off LEGO DC Super-Villains. He also did the same thing as above: Assembling a team full of villains like Harley Quinn, Clayface, Scarecrow, The Riddler, and more with the aim of annihilating the new Justice Syndicate.
LEGO Batman Series is available for Windows, OS X, NDS, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360.
4. Injustice
Though Injustice might have come across on the cover as a standard fighting game, it actually has a deep story-line underneath it by lacing some pretty wild narratives and stories into the campaign mode. The Joker was actually the driving force behind the grand scheme of tricking Superman into killing his pregnant wife Louis Lane, thus, making him go insane in pure rage and loss, turning him evil.
Joker also predictably made an appearance in the sequel Injustice 2. This time around, he appeared as hallucinations in Harley Quinn’s head as she was exposed to Scarecrow’s noxious fear gas. He could be played as a character in both games with unique abilities like laughing gas, exploding chattering teeth, knives, guns, and if you can do the fatality, he will use an electric chair on his opponent as the finishing move.
You can play Injustice on PS3, PS4, Android, iOS, Xbox 360. Injustice 2 is also available for all of these platforms plus Windows.
3. Batman: Return of the Joker
This game’s a little bit old. Batman: Return of the Joker was released on the NES, Sega Genesis, and GameBoy in 1991. It was actually the successor of the 1990 Batman on NES which was based on Tim Burton’s movie in 1989. The plotline of the game is quite familiar: Joker once again escaped from Arkham Asylum and Batman must go out of his way to bring him back there again by facing him down in a multitude of boss fights.
The ending was … interesting: A fight between the Bat and the Crown Prince in a full metal mechanical suit.
You can play Batman: Return of the Joker on NES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy.
2. Telltale’s Batman Series
Telltale is famous for its narrative-driven games. And what the studio had done for the fans of the Batman franchise must definitely be accredited. They created an original story this time with Batman’s teaming up with a mysterious figure called ‘John Doe’ in the first season. In the second season, Batman: The Enemy Within, this person’s revealed to be the Joker himself. After he’s been discharged from Arkham Asylum, he once again teamed up with the usual trope of the franchise to cause more mischief, including Mr. Freeze, The Riddler, Catwoman, and especially, Harley Quinn, who was John’s psychiatrist.
The special thing about this game is that for the first time ever, the origin story of the Joker is completely in the hand of players. You can either turn him into a vigilante with or you can progress him to the default state of being a supervillain that enjoys nothing else in life than to mentally torture the Bat. The ending’s a little bit close, however, because no matter what decisions you had made, the Joker would be defeated once more by the Bat and be carted off into the Asylum.
Telltale’s Batman Series is available on Android, iOS, Ps3, Ps4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows.
1. Batman: Arkham Series
The best depiction of the Joker must definitely go to the Arkham series. Mark Hamill’s acting as the Joker cannot be faulted in the series. In the first game of the series, Arkham Asylum, the Joker took over Arkham Island and gave Titan formula to his henchmen with the ultimate scheme of creating an unstoppable army. In the sequel Arkham City, he was revealed to be slowly dying for overdosing on the formula he took in the first game.
The Joker died at the end of the second game … but it’s rather predictable how he didn’t stay down for long. While Joker remained dead, he haunted Batman’s psyche throughout the third and last game of the Arkham series. In the final game, Batman was poisoned by Joker’s toxic blood and the Crown Prince appeared in vivid hallucinations within Batman’s head. This concept allowed a lot of opportunities for the developers to add to the game some of the wildest appearances of the Joker in the last 80-plus year.
Batman: Arkham Series is available on Ps4, Xbox One, Windows.
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