Battletoads

Battletoads

NES - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Rare Publisher Tradewest Published 1991-06-?? Platforms Amiga, Amiga CD32, Game Gear, Genesis, NES Genres Action, Beat 'em up, Platformer Themes Comedy, Martial Arts, Science Fiction Series Battletoads Multiplayer Simultaneous co-op Distribution Commercial

Battletoads is a beat 'em up game developed by Rare and published by Tradewest, originally on the NES in June 1991, and then to several other platforms in the following years. It is the first game in the series.

Personal

Own?	Yes. NES port in the box, signed by David Wise and Kevin Bayliss and a loose cartridge.
Won?	No.

I first played Battletoads at my cousin's house. I think he was borrowing it from a friend. I thought it was really funny how the toads created giant fists and boots when they killed the enemies. It didn't take us too long to get to the Turbo Tunnel (stage 3), where we kept dying over and over again in the racing portion. Every so often we would get to the warp and jump to Karnath's Lair, or finish the stage and do the Arctic Caverns, but I gradually grew to hate the game because of its difficulty.

Excluding warping, I've only ever made it to level 4.

Review

5	5	6	6	4

Best Version: ?

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The graphic art is wonderful. The backgrounds are large and detailed, and the over-exaggerated comic book character animations are hilarious.
• David Wise's music is not only really good, but the soundtrack works well as a cohesive score.
• There is a fair amount of varied game play across the levels.
• The large enemy sprites for various enemies and bosses look great.
• There are some very creative levels and bosses. Fighting the first boss, for example, is a really interesting switch where you see the world from the bosses eyes. Also, the giant snakes were quite a feat for the NES.
• I like how the game sometimes breaks the fourth wall, like with the invaders that rob your health bar.

Bad

• As you get further into the game, enemies do massive amounts of damage even with their basic attacks making your health meter almost pointless.
• In the Turbo Tunnel, my intuition kept telling me that I needed to hit the jump button on the ground ramps, and I died countless times because of it before finally discovering I just had to line up my character with the ramp.

Ugly

• A lot of the levels are dedicated to riding where you're required to memorize much of the level and have extremely fast reflexes. I don't care for that style of game for the same reason I don't like rail shooters. You don't have much control over your character, and it doesn't really fit with the beat-em-up genre.
• The game is obnoxiously difficult. Far too hard to be enjoyable.
• When playing in 2-player mode, if either player loses all their lives, both players have to restart the level. This is different than most other games of this type, and it makes an already hard game even harder with 2-players. It's even worse in the racing levels because a single death halts the game for both.
• There are a few game-breaking glitches to the game. The big rat in level 10 sometimes passes through a wall making it impossible to progress further, soft locking the game. In the US port, level 11 doesn't handle the second player's input correctly, so it makes a 2-player warp-free game impossible.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The North American box art is the same as the original PAL art. The toads are beating up a pack of rats with a similar comic book style emphasis seen in the game.

• 

  The more boring Japanese box art of just the toads.

• 

  The European Genesis box art has Rash flanked by Zitz and Pimple beating up a pig army. The art is good, but Pimple has a cymbal attack, not seen in the game. The same art was used in the USA and Japanese releases for the Genesis and Game Gear, only with variations on the layout.

• 

  The Game Boy port adds a sub-title to the game for some reason, but showcases more varied art. Several enemy types are represented. This is my favorite box art.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - NES - USA.

• 

  Manual - Amiga CD32 - Europe.

• 

  Manual - Mega Drive - Japan.

• 

  Advertisement - NES - USA.

Maps

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  01 - Ragnarok's Canyon.

• 

  02 - Wookie Hole.

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  03 - Turbo Tunnel, part 1.

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  03 - Turbo Tunnel, part 2.

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  03 - Turbo Tunnel, part 3.

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  03 - Turbo Tunnel, part 4.

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  03 - Turbo Tunnel, part 5.

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  03 - Turbo Tunnel, part 6.

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  04 - Arctic Caverns.

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  05 - Surf City, part 1.

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  05 - Surf City, part 2.

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  06 - Karnath's Lair, part 1.

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  06 - Karnath's Lair, part 2.

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  06 - Karnath's Lair, part 3.

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  06 - Karnath's Lair, part 4.

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  07 - Volkmire's Inferno, part 1.

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  07 - Volkmire's Inferno, part 2.

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  07 - Volkmire's Inferno, part 3.

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  07 - Volkmire's Inferno, part 4.

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  07 - Volkmire's Inferno, part 5.

• 

  07 - Volkmire's Inferno, part 6.

• 

  08 - Intruder Excluder.

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  09 - Terra Tubes.

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  10 - Rat Race.

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  11 - Clinger Winger.

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  12 - Revolution.

• 

  13 - Armageddon.

Screenshots

• 

  Title screen.

• 

  Cut scene.

• 

  Map of "Plan A."

• 

  Level 1, Ragnarok's Canyon.

• 

  Sometimes the rat gets stuck and soft locks the game.

Fan Art

• 

  Comic by Zac Gorman.

• 

  Fan art by K. Che.

• 

  Fan art by Matthew Gordon Sallack.

• 

  Fan art by Deimon-Remus.

Videos

Longplay, Amiga.

Longplay, Genesis.

Longplay, NES.

Play Online

Famicom, Game Gear (Europe), Game Gear (USA), Genesis, NES (Europe), NES (USA)

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	Dark Queen is motivated and demanding. Princess Angelica is just a damsel in distress.
Bechdel test?	Fail	The women never talk to each other.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	The only humans are white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Battletoads
Japanese	バトルトード	Batorutodo	Battletoads

Links