Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of my favourite modern games, and it is most definitely my favourite of the Arkham franchise. None of the sequels captured that more enclosed and creepy Arkham atmosphere. Like any other game ever made, the original ideas of Batman: Arkham Asylum evolved into the game that we now have. But, what did Batman: Arkham Asylum look like in those early stages of development? Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to explore in this article.

I think one of the most well known early concepts for the game was that it was going to be rhythm-based combat. Think games like Guitar Hero, which were popular at the time, but instead of playing the guitar, your well-timed button presses would cause Batman to punch enemies in the face.

Rocksteady: “Combat went through three distinct revisions – the first one being a full rhythm action game! The second one was prototyped in 2D, which popped up whenever you got into a fight, and involved colored circles bashing into each other. This actually formed the basis of the final system.”

There is still some of that rhythm-based combat in the final game as the freeflow combat does need the player to get into a rhythm to pull off some great combos. Button-mashers might scrape through, but they won’t look as good doing it as those who do master the rhythm of the combat. There’s also the fact the the game was originally going to have rain in it, but the idea was scrapped due to performance issues. However, the rain was put back in the game for the Batman: Return to Arkham remaster a few years back. But enough about that already well-known titbits, Let’s take a look at some early concept art. Starting with the main man himself.

Originally, Batman was going to be a bit more colourful, with a colour scheme that wasn’t that far off the classic 1960s TV show. Going for a grey and blue suit and a bright yellow utility belt, making him more look like an updated Adam West over the dark and brooding Batman that we now know. Early concept drawings also showed a more sleek and skinner Batman, with a lot less bulk to his body. These early drawings became the basis for the art used in the upgrade system in the released game.

In the final game, once you unlocked it, you could play as Batman wearing an armoured suit and it was nothing more than a cosmetic change. The armoured suit was an early concept that had much more detail than in the released game. Batman was not just going to have an armoured suit, but that suit would be made up from individual pieces of armour that would have stat increases. Torso armour would improve strength, arm armour would allow you to throw Batarangs faster, leg armour would let Batman jump higher and more.

Eventually, the complexity of the armoured suit was dropped and the more colourful suit was also abandoned – as the darker, black and grey suit began to emerge… but still needed some work.

Batman’s gadgets started out differently too. Though most of them made it into the final game, they all underwent changes to make them more ergonomic and much more Batman-like. There is unused code in the released game about a harpoon gun and where to find the harpoon ammo.

Joker also several changes. Originally, he was going to be dressed as a “mad doctor” and this would play off Harley Quinn in her nurse outfit. Well, her version of a nurse’s outfit. Joker was going to have tears/scars that ran along the side of his mouth/face. This was dropped as it was too similar to Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight. Instead, they decided to go with a more traditional looking outfit and gave him a a wide smile that would be emphasised with make up instead of scars.

Remember the final boss fight against a Titaned up Joker? He was an absolute beast of a character with massive muscles and such. The original concept for the Titan Joker was pretty much the exact opposite. Instead of being a massively muscular, bulky beast – he was going to be a thinner, spindly Joker. Comic book artist, Carlos D’anda saw and drew Titan Joker more like a spider than a hulking monster.

Carlos D’anda: “I had initially envisioned him as a ‘spiderlike’ creature more than anything… some disjointed, messed up looking monster straight out of an Aphex Twin video or something.”

Harley Quinn only had a few changes. Originally, she was going to be in a full nurse’s uniform (which would’ve worked with Joker’s “mad doctor” costume). That changed to something more like a colourful, leather-clad dominatrix outfit. The end result was a mix of the two and pretty much what ended up in the final game.

Several of the other characters went through minor changes. Bane had several different masks in early concept drawings, the venom tank strapped to his back was much smaller and his body was covered in scars. Poison Ivy’s original sketches stayed untouched into the final game, except for the fact that originally, she would shed green tears when using her powers. Scarecrow had very few changes from the early drawings, he was armed with a hatchet and his costume had him being topless showing a very emaciated body.

There were two other locations that were in these early concepts, other then Arkham Asylum. The first was the lighthouse. This is still in the game, but it is not accessible. Original artwork shows that the lighthouse was going to be connected to Arkham via a bridge. What purpose it was going to serve in the game’s plot, I have no idea. But there is an early sketch that suggests that Batman would’ve had to climb it (broken stairs and such) to use the light at the top to create a “beam weapon”.

The second location was Chapel Rock. This place would house the asylum’s chapel, an inmate graveyard and a couple of other locations. It is believed that the Batcave was originally going to be hidden under this island and that it was going to play a much bigger role in the story. It was eventually cut due to time constraints and concerns that the map was getting too big.

Speaking of the map getting too big. Originally, there was going to be a fast travel option that would see Batman use the Batmobile and Batwing to get around faster. When the other locations were cut, so was the need for the fast travel option. There are still unused files in the released game that show the Batwing pre-set destinations. The Batmobile also had a different look to what was in the finished game.

Sticking with cut content. Both Mad Hatter and Mr Freeze were originally in the game. They are in the game as character profiles (along with many others) that you unlock by finding their corresponding Riddler clue, but the two characters originally played into the plot of the game. Mad Hatter was going to appear in the Botanical Gardens in a hedge maze being controlled by Poison Ivy. Batman would have to defeat his “madness” to get to Ivy. What role Mr Freeze was going to play is not known as he was scrapped very early on as they felt that his character didn’t fit with the tone of the game.

The detective side of Batman was going to play a much bigger part too. While the detective mode is still in the final game, it is hardly used to be an actual detective. Files in the game suggest that Batman was going to have to use his detective skills a lot more to find missing guards by following DNA trails, putting together hand/fingerprints, test blood samples, question people and much more. The detective idea was streamlined and dialled back a lot, but some elements made it into the sequels.

The Riddler’s cell was slightly changed. In the released game, the cell’s walls are adorned with green painted question marks. The original cell had blood used for the question marks and some French wording that translates to: “I loved, I suffered, now I hate.” The change from blood to green paint was possibly to avoid a higher age rating, or just to make the Riddler’s cell look more like that bit more Riddler-like.

Taking out bad guys as Batman is always satisfying. It is even more satisfying when you do it stealth-like. Files in the game show that there were going to be several other ways to takedown enemies that never made it into the final game.

Well all know the pain and pleasure of finding all of those Riddler trophies, right? Well, there was going to be much more for you to seek out. Game Informer magazine covered that there would be Joker spray cans, Two-Face coins and more. The “more” included Killer Croc scales and Poison Ivy flowers. When you collected enough, they would reveal an image of an upgrade that you could pick up from a specific location, like the Batmobile. You know how, in the finished game it has a kind of 100% checklist and when you complete a square on that list (like destroy 10 Joker teeth?) that square disappears? That’s how these collectables would’ve worked. Find a Two-Face coin and a square is removed, find a Joker spray can and another square is removed. Finish the grid and reveal the upgrade.

Files for these collectables were found in an early 2007 build of the game that were leaked from a developer’s hard drive. However, the files are incomplete so the build is unplayable. There was a still a ton of info to be found from this 2007 build of the game including a different plot, early animations, different music, a tracking down a murderer sub-plot, original comic book panels (possibly used to forward elements of the story) and much more. I don’t have time to delve into everything from that 2007 build of the game (maybe in another article), but there is one thing from that 2007 build that I want to finish on. Batman: Arkham Asylum was originally going to have an online multiplayer mode that was selectable from the main menu.

Exactly how that was going to work, I have no idea. Whether it was going to be some kind of competitive online battle thing, or even a co-op story mode with one person playing as Batman and the other as Robin. It seems that the idea was dropped very early in development and most probably didn’t get much further than an idea. There doesn’t seem to be any footage of the online mode anywhere and aside from the above screenshot of the code for the main menu, this is the only time is has ever been mentioned.

Anyway, that’s some (not all) of the early concepts for Batman: Arkham Asylum. Some of them were changed for the released game, others were dropped altogether. Some made their way into the sequels. Maybe I’ll take a deeper dive into that 2007 build another time, maybe I’ll look at some of the unused ides and concepts from the sequels too.