Its just a hunch, but I assume max2d isn't batched? Is it just using immediate mode stuff(glBegin,etc)? Can anyone enlighten me? I also wonder how the torque2d rendering is handled.
Your hunch is correct. It's more botched than batched ;-)
There is no inbuilt batch rendering, and indeed it's coded such that you can't even roll your own batch rendering. Particles and tilemaps, anything where you're drawing a lot of identical images take quite a speed hit.
No idea how Torque does it. I've wanted to try it, but last time I looked there was no sign of a demo. ( Well not one you could program, just sample games. ) It does seem to have some issues with speed and compatability, from what I've read, but there have been one or two big indie releases with it already, so it can't be too bad.