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When Nintendo Were Multiplatform
Mario on Atari
I’ve always been a Nintendo fan. These days I’m happy to stay a few generations behind (Yes I own a Wii U), but their exclusives have always been fun to play particular with younger family.
Of course preferring retro games over modern the Super Mario Series is something I’ve gone back to many times.
Always though these games are locked behind that Nintendo hardware. Want to play Mario, Zelda or Donkey Kong then you need a Nintendo of some description.
Well that wasn’t always the case.
In 1983 The Atari 2600 got the legendary Nintendo arcade title Donkey Kong. Here in the UK it was from CB electronics but this stemmed from an American deal Coleco (As in Colecovision Atari’s rival from the 1st console war).
This 2600 port only featured 2 levels of the Arcade. It’s blocky and Donkey Kong doesn’t look properly like Donkey Kong (yet) but it’s playable and it must have been a hell of an effort considering the 2600 hardware limitations
We got Donkey Kong Jnr from CB Electronics in the UK under that same licence deal. This time only one stage was missing. Yes it was primitive and missing power ups. But it was another Nintendo title that was introduced to players during the Atari run.
Then in 1983 the Arari got the Mario Bros. Four years before Super Mario Bros on the NES would redefine the platforming landscape the coop platformer the Mario Bros was on Atari. This coop platform game. For anyone who jumped on from Super Mario Bros this game might seem unrecognisable. For those who jumped on at Mario Bros 3 this will feel like someone made a full game based on that mini game battle mode in that game.
Actually, Nintendo were making callbacks as early as 1988.
Mario Bros on the Atari was not a rare game by any stretch. Researching for this blog I can’t find the actual sales number. But most people I know who had an Atari had the Mario Bros it was almost as common as Pac Man.
Was the port any good. Well, again given the limitations of the 2600, yes the port was very good. Much better too in the 2 player mode.
There you have it. The Nintendo characters that did appear on a non Nintendo console.
So what about us home computer fans…
Well I’m getting to that. Catch you in the next one.
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Batman 1966: The Joker
Joker Is Wild / Batman Is RiledIt was already cemented in the comics by this point: the Clown Prince of Crime was the ultimate foil for the Caped Crusader. The Joker’s first appearance on the ’66 TV show is a genuinely great TV introduction to the character.
We open with the Joker escaping prison using a giant spring during a gimmick prison baseball game. There’s no origin story — as with most of the rogues in the TV show — and this isn’t the Dynamic Duo’s first battle with him. The Joker and his henchmen somehow hide inside statues at Gotham Museum, waiting to strike when the museum closes. The Duo work this out, and the battle kicks off. All this happens in the first fifteen or so minutes of the episode. With Joker coming out on top, you’re led into a false cliffhanger halfway through. We even get the narrator asking the usual end‑of‑episode questions. In short, these two episodes break the Batman formula in the best possible way.
Batman foils that mid‑episode cliffhanger with his utility belt, leading to the Joker making his own:
“I swear by all that is funny, I shall never be foiled by that insidious unconstitutional device again!”
The story loosely adapts Batman issue #73 — The Joker’s Utility Belt.
The real cliffhanger comes when the Joker, disguised as an opera clown, captures the Dynamic Duo and plans to unmask them on live TV. If that mask looks familiar, I’m not surprised. Over forty years later, The Dark Knight would pay tribute to the series by having the Joker use the same mask in the film’s opening scenes.
Batman and Robin escape the scenario the next week, but it’s a great cliffhanger that kept me guessing.
Batman: “You’re trapped, Joker. As a duly deputised agent of the law I order you to surrender.” Joker: “As the Clown Prince of Crime, I decline.”
It’s all pretty poetic, really, for a “campy” TV series.
Before the curtain falls on the Joker, we get reactions from Gotham citizens via newsreels and newspaper headline flashes — all adding to the idea that the Joker has Batman’s number. This doesn’t feel like any other story that season.
Cesar Romero’s Joker became a template for the character. Decades later, Mark Hamill — the Joker in the ’90s animated series (we’ll get to it) — would credit Romero with laying the groundwork for everyone who followed.
So how do these episodes rank quality‑wise? They’re right up there with the Batman ’66 movie. It felt like you were getting a mini Batman movie with a new villain every week. These two episodes particularly stand out as being as good as — if not better than — the film. In many ways it’s a shame the series got stuck with licence‑agreement issues, meaning the home‑media release didn’t happen until 2014. But on the flip side, that might have helped keep “Batman in Colour” in syndication long into the ’80s and ’90s.
I hope my enthusiasm has sparked some interest and shown how faithful this series is to the Batman comics — and how its influence is still felt today.
If it has, and those DVDs are a bit of a barrier to entry price‑wise, take a look at your local TV listings. Usually, on a lower‑down channel in the guide, the Dynamic Duo are still in syndication. Still recruiting young fans. Here in the UK, as I type, Talking Pictures TV are re‑running the series.
Next Time: Playing Mario on Atari
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Batman 1966 The Penguin
Hizzonner the Penguin / Dizzoner the PenguinWe have a slight change here. Penguin is the first on this list where I’ve chosen episodes that are not the villain’s debut. These ones come from season 2.
Yes, season 2 — where the phrase “If you’ve seen one episode of Batman, you’ve seen them all” really comes into play.
Being quite into my old TV (as you can probably tell), I’d love to defend season 2. But even I must concede we get formulaic here. We also get some different villain choices. Some are great, and some are clearly stand‑ins (sorry, Puzzler).
Many of these villains have since disappeared: foes like False Face, Colonel Gumm, The Archer, The Sandman, and Chandell.
Some of the new characters I liked, though. I remember enjoying Ma Parker’s story, and I thought The Bookworm made a decent villain too.
I digress — our main villains return here, apart from the Frank Gorshin Riddler. Riddler is recast as John Astin (known for playing Gomez Addams). Good as Astin is, the role doesn’t quite gel with him.
By this point in the series, we’ve seen Burgess Meredith play the Penguin before. The twist this time is that Penguin stops a robbery in the introduction. Naturally, it’s all part of a scheme. Penguin has aspirations of becoming the Mayor of Gotham City.
If that plot sounds familiar, it should. The 1992 Batman Returns film pays homage to the series by using this storyline. Reportedly, Burton wanted Meredith to return to the franchise to play Penguin’s father. By then, Meredith had to pull out due to ill health — a real shame, because I would have loved that callback. We did get the role filled by Paul Reubens, though (someone who will no doubt appear here in a reaction in the future).
As with the other villains, the broad strokes of what we recognise as the Penguin are all here: the crooked businessman. Later adaptations (after Returns) would tone down the gimmicked umbrellas. Returns redesigned the character, but the waddle, nose, and love of those gimmick umbrellas were all in Meredith’s Penguin — all of it dating back to the comic itself (around 1941).
This series was not only closer to the comic than a lot would like to admit — it was a vital building block in the making of the Dark Knight as he is today.
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Batman 1966 The Catwoman
The Purr‑fect Crime / Better Luck Next TimeWe’re picking an episode here from later in series one. Episodes 19 and 20 introduce us to the iconic villain Catwoman, played here purr‑fectly by Julie Newmar.
Considering how iconic Catwoman would become as a character, it’s a tad surprising she appears so late in the season. She doesn’t actually have the honour of being the first female villain in the series — that goes to Zelda the Great. That episode was an adaptation of Detective Comics #346, Batman’s Inescapable Death Trap. A gentle reminder that Batman ’66 is truer to its comic roots than people give it credit for.
Much as we saw with the Riddler in the opener, most of what we know as Catwoman is already here. The look Newmar uses would be replicated in the comics, and later paid heavy homage in The Dark Knight Rises. It’s far from the only time we see Batman ’66 leave fingerprints on the more modern Dark Knight incarnation. Even the catsuit itself originated here.
There are a lot more cat puns in these episodes — most of which went over my head as a child. There’s a line from Catwoman to her henchman… I’m not going to spoil it, but take a look at the episode. It’s another one of those two‑level jokes that fly past kids but raise a smile with adults.
This story also breaks with the traditional Batman ’66 narrative. It has a cliffhanger fake‑out — the wall with spikes. It’s not the first episode to do this; another tier‑A villain we’ll look at later uses a similar pattern.
Have I convinced you of this series’ legacy yet? What if I told you that the next story featured was originally written for the ’66 TV series, then adapted in 1992 as part of the Batman movie often voted the best of the entire franchise.
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Batman 1966 The Riddler
High Diddle Riddle / Smack in the MiddleIn the early 1990s, Batmania swept the country. I was desperate to see the Keaton film. But I had one issue: the BBFC had classified it a 15. You could argue kids today see much worse on YouTube, but it turned out the Batman 89 was simply too dark for me… just yet.
But that was okay. Because we had Batman most mornings. I’ve looked at old listings and I still can’t remember if it was ITV, Channel 4, or satellite channel Trouble TV. More likely a mix of these (and usually the same episodes repeated). We had Batman 1966. It brought the heroes and villains to life in half‑hour episodes, and it was brilliant.
Batman starts with a couple of episodes that tell you everything you need to know about the series. If you enjoy the opening hour, you’ll enjoy the whole thing. This is the episode where Batman walks into a bar in full costume. Offered a seat, he deadpans: “I’ll stand at the bar — I shouldn’t wish to attract attention.” The line is deadpan, it’s played straight, and somehow that makes it even funnier. This is also the episode where Batman gets spiked in the bar, dances the Batusi, and has his keys taken off him by Gotham’s finest while drunkenly shouting, “I have to save Robin!”
As a kid, you only see the action adventure played out in front of you. As an adult, you see the humour.
The villain for these two episodes is the Riddler. This is before Paul Dano and Jim Carrey. This was Frank Gorshin’s Riddler — and if ever there was a poster villain for this series, Gorshin’s version was it. His performance even earned him an Emmy nomination.
Here he tries to frame the Dynamic Duo, drugs Batman, kidnaps Robin, and disguises his henchwoman Molly as the Boy Wonder. It’s far from the darker tone we know Batman for, but the story elements are there. There’s even a mention of Bruce Wayne’s parents’ murder — dropped casually into one of Bruce’s early scenes. And this is also the only episode with a body count: Molly falls into the atomic pile inside the Batcave (she got in using that disguise we mentioned earlier).
It’s not the Dark Knight. But does it represent those more light‑hearted Batman stories of the ’50s and ’60s? Absolutely.
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Why Doesn’t Batman Dance Any More?
To long‑term readers, it should come as no surprise that my favourite Batman would appear here on Retro Reaction eventually. I am unapologetic in my love for this series. It still tickles me today. This show works on more than one level, decades before The Simpsons nailed that. There are jokes in there that went completely over my head as a kid.
I’m talking about the Adam West version of Batman from 1966. The version that, for most of us older guys, introduced us not only to the Batman character but to so many of the colourful villains who would go on to become pop‑culture icons. Years before Heath Ledger won an Oscar for his take on the clown prince of crime, Cesar Romero was stealing the show on weekly TV.
In the years after Batman ‘66, many Bat‑fans grew to hate the series. It was too “campy” and too “colourful.” It didn’t treat the character seriously enough. Some fans even blame the show for the lack of Batman content between the series ending and the ’89 movie (which was great for different reasons).
In the next few blogs, I’m going to defend Batman. We’re going to look at some of the villains’ best stories and how, despite popular opinion, the series was a whole lot closer to the comic book than many fans would have you believe.
The series has had its redemption. With the show finally getting a DVD release in 2014 after being tied up with rights issues, and Adam West reprising his role in Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders in 2016 and Batman vs. Two‑Face in 2017.
These episodes are available now in HMV. I’m going to make the case that, as a Batman fan, they’re worth dusting off the DVD player for. Of course, there are going to be heavy parts of personal nostalgia here too.
Have you got your utility belts ready? Have you packed the shark‑repellent bat‑spray? Then: atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed. It’s time to defend a legend.
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It’s a Puppet: The Winner
Countdown: Favourite British Puppets — Part Four (The Winner)It’s time to reveal my favourite of all British puppets.
I was surprised to see how many years some of the others on our countdown had on air. But our number one? He’s been around in some form or another for over 75 years. As recently as 2021, he also came Number One in a Sky TV survey — the childhood TV character of all time. He’s met the King and is part of the Magic Circle.
I am, of course, talking about
1:Sooty
When I was younger, it was Sooty & Co. Sooty the mute bear helps run a shop alongside Sweep, Sue and little cousin Scampy. So all that stuff Geoffrey dealt with? If you’ve watched many of these kids’ TV episodes, you know the score. Authority figure. In this case, Matthew is getting something thrown at him — gunge, custard pie, or a water pistol. Always ending with: “Bye Bye Everyone, Bye Bye.”
This gets points for the “watched with Grandad” factor too. Though I do remember, while I laughed a lot at it, he enjoyed it but once commented: “He’s not a patch on his Dad.”
The Harry Corbett years remained a mystery to me. I remember one of those Sooty prize‑giving machines at Cleethorpes had artwork saying Harry Corbett’s Sooty Show. I liked its vintage look, but it always felt wrong. The Sooty show for me was Matthew.
Then I grew up and mostly forgot about Sooty.
It’s the early 2010s. I’m at Butlins Skegness and there’s a change in line‑up. At the time I’m at least a quarter‑century old and fifteen years out of the target age range (visiting with family and friends — no kids at the time). I finally see Sooty live. I felt like a kid in front of CITV.
The talking head had changed. A bloke named Richard — he was actually pretty good.
But he wasn’t a patch on Matthew.
Yeah, I heard it. I’ll get my coat. I know where the door is.
I’ll catch you in the next one. But for now…
Bye Bye Everybody. Bye Bye.
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It’s a Puppet part three
Countdown: Favourite British Puppets — Part Three (3–2)
3: Rainbow (1972–1992)This series is very well remembered — largely thanks to its large, anamorphic, moody man‑bear Bungle, who has provided plenty of social‑media memes over the years.
This was a favourite growing up. How do you forget characters like Zippy, George, Bungle and Geoffrey? Writing this blog, which involves doing a bit of research, I now know that Geoffrey wasn’t the original talking‑head authority figure with the boys. But for the sake of this countdown, we’re rating the most famous version of the show. We’re also ignoring the 1994 revival because… I never knew that existed.
I remember the puppet characters getting cross with each other a lot. Usually they were making something (or Geoffrey was doing some DIY). There was always a story and a song from Rod, Jane and Freddy. This template — the human authority figure paired with the puppets — is perfected, in my opinion, by the show in first place on the countdown.
But next, we’re heading to Wimbledon Common.
2: The Wombles (1968–1976)The series is well before my time, but I remember it being repeated. I watched it with Grandad, so it gets those unfair bonus points for nostalgia. Bernard Cribbins (newer readers may know him from Doctor Who) narrated, and in retrospect there’s a fair bit of that posh BBC voice in there.
Do the Wombles get this far in my countdown on the episodes alone? No.
We have to take into account how big The Wombles was — particularly the music. Kids’ songs like The Wombling Song and Remember You’re a Womble. I found them on YouTube when my nephews were young and they absolutely loved them. As did I. There’s an odd feeling to singing along to Remember You’re a Womble, holding back a tear and thinking: here’s something that really worked in our family not once, but twice.
So who is our Number One British Puppet…
Until next time.
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It’s a Puppet Part 2
Countdown: Favourite British Puppets — Part Two (5–4)
5: Rosie and Jim (1990–2000)In a recurring theme here, I find myself surprised by how long this one ran.
Once again, I watched it with Grandad, so that automatically gives it bonus points. There was also a song that went around the school about Rosie and Jim — and a biscuit tin I’m not going to go into — but it definitely helped this one spring to mind when you think of British puppets.
Researching it now, I find that the storyteller — the person driving the boat — changes as time goes on. But when I watched it, it was a guy named John who talked directly to the camera. Some episodes were as simple as John taking the trash out from his boat.
The puppets Rosie, Jim, and the duck would come to life, have their adventure, and John would be none the wiser.
I was reminded of this show recently on a walk around Lincoln. There’s a themed boat there. I’ve checked — it’s not the original — it’s used for holiday lets. The show is very clearly still embedded in people’s minds.
4: Flower Pot Men (1952–1953)This was one we had on a VHS tape — one of the earliest experiences I remember of our parents sharing something they were nostalgic for. I now read it ran for only 26 quarter‑hour episodes. That formula — magic things coming to life when people aren’t around — it’s all here.
Once the gardener has gone for his tea, the weed calls for the Flower Pot Men to come and play. By “call” I mean it says “weed,” because that’s all the weed says.
Looking at it now, this programme shows its age. There’s a lot of that posh BBC talk‑down language. Doesn’t matter — the Flower Pot Men had that magical formula nailed over 70 years ago.
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It’s a Puppet
Countdown: Favourite British Puppets — Part One (7–6)There was once a long‑standing tradition in UK kids’ TV: at some point, there’d be a bloke with his hand up a puppet’s rear end. What we were actually watching was a tradition. Puppets have been on TV almost as long as TV has existed. It’s undoubtedly an art form.
The rules for this countdown: The puppets have to be British — apologies to a certain infamous green frog. I promise you’ll get your day here at Retro Reaction in the future.
Let’s get started with number 7.
7: Bodger and Badger (1989–1999)Looking back, I’m surprised this was on the air for so long.
Andy Cunningham plays Simon Bodger. The plot usually involved keeping his pet Badger a secret from most of the adults. When they did see him, they’d shake their heads and put it down to stress or something similar.
During its run, the series changed location a few times — a hotel, a school, even a theme park — while also introducing other characters. In this case, a mouse. That’s something we’ll see again later in the countdown. And yes, there were a lot of mashed potatoes ending up on faces from what I remember.
Then I completely forgot about it until years later.
I can’t remember which comic con I attended in Sheffield, but sat at one of the guest tables was Andy Cunningham (although I admit I only knew him as Bodger) and his puppet Badger. This caused a wave of excited… now fully grown adults.
Why doesn’t this duo appear higher? Because I missed a lot of the episode on the walk home from school — and it’s my totally subjective countdown.
It’s certainly better known than the next on our list.
6: The Riddlers (1989–1998)Once again, I’m surprised at the length this one ran.
Our first entry had the traditional bloke with his hand up a puppet. This one was puppetry. I’m sure it wasn’t quite as popular as Bodger and Badger, but it’s one I watched with my late grandad, which automatically gives it points.
This was over on CITV — the children’s block on ITV that ran 3:30 to 5:15. Missed it? Well, that’s kids’ programmes done until tomorrow. Unless it was a Saturday.
This one centred on two magical creatures — Riddlers — who lived at the bottom of Marjorie’s garden well: Mossop and Tiddlup.
Most episodes involved Mossop misunderstanding something and getting things muddled, and Tiddlup or Marjorie putting it right at the end.
Mossop I can relate.
The next two on our list next time