Let's Play: Batman Forever (Game Gear)

Just started doing a Let's Play of Batman Forever for the Sega Game Gear. I used to love this game back in the day. I think it's still pretty fun to play nowadays even though most people seem to think it's the worst game in the world. Yeah, I know. I know it has terrible music, slow as molassess walk speed and it's almost impossible to get past the circus stage without knowledge of Batman's gadgets. Well, I pretty much discovered them on my own back then by trying out different Mortal Kombat commands and eventually learned how to use all of them - although yeah, I used to get frustrated that I couldn't get past the circus level. I think it took me a full year before I realized how to use the grappling hook.

Here are the commands for Batman's stock gadgets. He always has them equipped.

Grappling Hook (straight) = forward, down, 1 (hold down  1 to pull yourself up)
Grappling Hook (diagonal = down, forward, 1 (hold down 1 to pull yourself up)
Batarang = down to forward (slide the input), 1

An interesting thing about the Batarang is that you can buffer up to around 8 at a time as long as you stay on the same screen (don't enter a door, etc.) So you can keep pressing just down to forward up to 8 times and when you next press neutral 1, you'll keep throwing Batarangs until the ones you've buffered run out.

Optional gadget commands that I can remember:
Slippery Goo = forward 3x, 2
Force Shield = forward, down, 2
Homing Batarang = hold down 1 then press down to forward (don't release 1 or the batarang won't come out)
Sonic Pulse Globe = back, down, forward, 1
X-Ray Goggles (obtained from Bank 1 blueprints) = back, back, forward, 1
Bat Bola = back, forward, 1
Electric Pellet = down, forward, 1
Saw Blade Launcher (obtained from Bank 2 blueprints) = back, down, forward, 2

Well, that's about all I can remember for now. I'll update this list if there are any errors and if I re-discover anymore commands. For now, here's part 1 of the playthrough: