After witnessing his parents' brutal murder as a child, millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne fights crime in Gotham City disguised as Batman, a costumed hero who strikes fear into the hearts of evildoers. While stopping a raid at the Axis Chemical Factory, Batman knocks the gangster Jack Napier into a vat of chemicals. Napier is driven insane by his new deformed appearance and, calling himself "The Joker," seizes control of Gotham's criminal underworld. The game consists in six stages, four of side-scrolling platform action and two side-scrolling shooter ones, in the following order: Gotham City Street, Axis Chemical Factory, Flugelheim Museum, Gotham City Street (with the Batmobile and after that on foot), In the Sky over Gotham City (with the Batwing) and the Cathedral, where Batman finally faces the Joker.