The characters of the DC Universe lend themselves nicely to video games. Even back in the days of the Atari and the NES, there were games being made about their heroes. As superheroes have become more popular and the culture more familiar with them, DC and Warner Bros Games have worked together to bring a lot more great video games to the public. Everything from action/adventure titles to fighting games and even MMORPGs have been made with the great heroes of the Justice League.
That said, there are several examples of DC Comics games that was less than favorable. Whether it be repetitive combat or a poor development cycle, there are some that have gone down in history as some of the worst comic book games ever made (remember Superman 64?). Thankfully, those days are largely behind us, with the current DC Comics video games being exciting and massive in scale. When Insomniac and Sony are teaming up for Spider-Man on the PS4, DC surely needs to keep their momentum going if they want to compete. While their movies could use a lot of work, there's no denying that DC has created a lot of fantastic games for fans to play. Get your controllers ready as we dig through their history and rank the top 30 DC Comics video games of all time. For the simplicity of this list, we are not including mobile games, as they are extremely difficult to rank against major console releases. Don't expect to see a mobile Injustice on this list.
30 YOUNG JUSTICE: LEGACY
At the bottom of the list is Young Justice: Legacy. At its core, the game isn't all that good. The combat isn't very fluid and the levels aren't anything to write home about.
What does give the game some credit is the fact that it is canonical and bridges the gap between the first and second seasons of the show. It shows Tula's death and gives a more in-depth look at what made Nightwing and Aqualad decide to infiltrate the Light from the inside.
29 BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES
Developed by Konami, Batman: The Animated Series was an action platformer inspired by the beloved cartoon of the same name. Players with run through levels, able to switch between Batman and Robin to fight differently or interact with the environment in new ways.
Featuring a lot of the familiar villains of the TV show, the game was a solid release that fans of the show were sure to enjoy. It later got a release on the SNES in the form of The Adventures of Batman and Robin.
28 BATMAN BEGINS
Most Batman games involve walking around and beating crooks senseless until you finish the level, but Batman Begins played around with the stealth and fear mechanics. Instead of running in like a crazy vigilante, players are tasked with using the environments to their advantage to make the criminals fear them.
Players also have to be stealthy and silently take out opponents similar to how Batman does it in the movie of the same name. It's likely these mechanics inspired the Arkham series.
27 JUSTICE LEAGUE HEROES: THE FLASH
Justice League Heroes: The Flash covers the other activities of the Scarlet Speedster during Justice League Heroes. Released for the GameBoy Advance, the graphics didn't impress. However, the game was turned into a sidescrolling beat-em-up that made use of Flash's unique abilities for special moves.
Considering that the Flash is a difficult character to make the focus of a video game, doing it in this way was a decision that ultimately benefited the final product. Some other Justice League heroes briefly appeared in the game as well.
26 BATMAN: VENGEANCE
In between Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, Batman: Vengeance was a game that hoped to bridge that gap to an extent. Playing into the story elements and bringing back a lot of the voice actors, this game was a Batman fan's dream come true.
It was a respectable 3D action game that allows Batman to use his gadgets to access new areas. Sound familiar? Well, the game was still bogged down by an awkward control system.
25 JUSTICE LEAGUE HEROES
Justice League Heroes brought together a lot of DC's greatest characters and put them all into one game. Players would make their way through levels and control one of two heroes. Being part top-down action game and part RPG, it was a fun release that was a celebration of the characters at the time.
What made it more enjoyable was the fact that players could unlock extra characters and skins as the game progressed (even including Kyle Rayner and Huntress), promoting a few replays.
24 TEEN TITANS
The Cartoon Network struck lightning with the Teen Titans show. Because of how popular it became, it was only a matter of time before it got its own console video game. The resulting Teen Titans video game was another beat-em-up that allowed players to control any member of the team.
The catch this time around was that the game supported four people playing at one time, each of them taking control of one of the Titans. Each Titan had unique abilities when it came to fighting bad guys.
23 INFINITE CRISIS
Designing a MOBA is tough work. It needs a lot of care, attention, and balancing. However, that didn't stop DC Comics from playing their hand at the genre. Infinite Crisis was a MOBA that brought together a lot of DC's popular characters that players could use in battle (often resorting to heroes vs villains).
Much like a regular MOBA, the "Champions" the players controlled would have to destroy their enemy's turrets before making it to their home base and decimating their power core.
22 BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS BLACKGATE
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate was released as a companion to Batman: Arkham Origins. The game involved the Dark Knight making his way through Blackgate Prison and taking on a number of foes, but it was a 2.5D action game rather than an open-world 3D one.
Still, the mechanics of the Arkham games translated nicely into Blackgate, especially when you remember that it was made for handheld devices. The big downside is that the environments were noticeably bland and very uninspired.
21 SUPERMAN: SHADOW OF APOKOLIPS
Flying around as Superman in Metropolis never felt better than in Superman: Shadow of Apokolips. After the disaster that was Superman 64, the only place DC could go was up. This time around, the game was based on Superman: The Animated Series and used cel-shading to achieve that look.
On top of that, flying actually felt much better to control. Couple that with some respectable action sequences and a story with all of the show's voice actors, and it became the definitive Superman game.
20 WATCHMEN: THE END IS NIGH
Watchmen: The End is Nigh was released to coincide with Zack Synder's Watchmen movie. The game served as a prequel to the events of the film, featuring a lot of the same characters that you'd expect. The game was action beat-em-up with players only allows to take control of Nite Owl or Rorshach, strangely enough.
With an updated fighting engine to run on newer consoles, the game was decent to look at. On top of that, added co-op ensured that players would get more mileage out of it.
19 GREEN LANTERN: RISE OF THE MANHUNTERS
While the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern movie certainly could've used a lot more time in the even, the tie-in game, Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters, proves that good could be done with that version of the character. Featuring an original story, the game follows Hal Jordan as he tries to save the universe from the Manhunters.
The game is another action title, but it makes great use of the Lantern Ring, allowing players to create unique constructs that showcase the true power of Green Lantern's light.
18 MORTAL KOMBAT VS DC UNIVERSE
The first attempt at DC Comics and Netherrealm getting along was with Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe. It brought together characters from both worlds and slapped them together in a fighting game that had Mortal Kombat mechanics.
The story was hot garbage, but the fighting was fairly tight. There were some who criticized the lack of any memorable Fatalities (most being released with the inferior Brutalities), but getting a respectable fighting game with DC characters was all anyone really cared about.
17 LEGO BATMAN
Back when the LEGO Games were still in their early days, we got LEGO Batman. The game had no voice acting and didn't have a plot other than "villains have escaped Arkham Asylum, so Batman and Robin have to put them back in." Apart from the bland story details, the game was a celebration of the Dark Knight's history, using a lot of classic villains and heroes.
It allows players to explore both the Batcave and Arkham. It featured a lot of the tropes you'd expect from a LEGO game, but it was an extremely fun time nonetheless.
16 THE DEATH AND RETURN OF SUPERMAN
A sidescrolling beat-em-up based on "The Death of Superman" comics, The Death and Return of Superman was an intense and fun game. It starts out with Superman's fight against Doomsday, which results in his death. At that point, four other Supermen rise to the occasion to take his place (just like in the comics).
Players can control each of these four Superman as they deal with a threat much bigger than Doomsday. Rarely do video games primarily homage the comics, but this game did a great job of it.
15 BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS
In between the release of Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight, fans were tied over with the release of Batman: Arkham Origins. Unfortunately, the game wasn't developed by Rocksteady and seemed fairly lazy in terms of it re-using a lot of assets from the previous game.
That said, the game had arguably the best boss battles in the entire series (the fight with Deathstroke being one of the best) and it was a nice excuse to get back into the cape and cowl.
14 BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD
Batman: The Brave and the Bold was a TV show that saw Batman teaming up with other superheroes on a regular basis. When it came time for the sidescrolling action game to be made, fans were happy to hear that a similar structure was used for it as well.
Each level sees Batman teaming up with another unique ally as they take on waves of enemies. Featuring an art style that almost perfectly captured the essence of a TV show, it turned out to be one of the better Batman games.
13 SCRIBBLENAUTS UNMASKED
The Scribblenauts series is only limited by the player's imagination, so it was extremely exciting when it was announced that Scribblenauts Unmasked would be a new entry in the series based around DC Comics characters.
Players can conjure up some of the wackiest superheroes and villains known to comic history. Furthermore, the game puts together a series of challenges that lovingly reference a lot DC's great history, forcing players to solve problems but think like a comic book fan.
12 BATMAN: THE VIDEO GAME
Batman: The Video Game was an NES title based on Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie. It featured the Dark Knight making his way through five levels of Gotham. Using his fighting skills and his batarangs, he would take out waves of enemies.
The game would culminate in a final stage at the Bell Tower where players would fight the Joker to the death. In regards to a lot of games released at the time, this was arguably one of the better ones and still remains a solid Batman game.
11 BATMAN: THE TELLTALE SERIES
Telltale Games is willing to get their hands on just about anything to create a "Choose Your Own Adventure" game. It makes sense that they eventually got the rights to Batman. Playing around with the psyche of Bruce Wayne as well as how his decisions as a businessman and vigilante affect both aspects of his life, there was a lot to love with the game.
That said, Telltale Games in general aren't for everyone, so it's reasonable to think that a lot of people wouldn't be interested regardless of how good it is.