Then just to finish, the Game Boy port was released in 1993 with a slight title change. If you really, really want to see what it was like, then here’s a YouTube clip you can watch. I don’t really need to go into details over this one do I? You all remember those terrible Tiger LCD games with pretty much zero gameplay. Of all the versions, the NES original is still the best.ġ991 also saw the release of Battletoads the LCD game from Tiger. The various ports have their good and bad points, for example the Amiga CD32 version has some really great cut-scenes… but it pays terribly. The original game eventually saw ports to all sorts of machines over the years including the Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear and the Amiga and Amiga CD32. One that is easy to pick up, but very hard to play and master. The game still holds up very well today too, if you can get past it’s difficulty, there’s a genuinely great title here. Then if you could do it in two-player… which was even harder, then you were a God. If you could finish the game on the NES, original, no emulation, no save states, then you could easily be considered a gaming legend. But as much loved and respected Battletoads is, it’s also known for it’s punishing difficulty. Often thought of as one of the finest games in the NES library, Battletoads was and still is very much loved among gamers. Battletoads really throws a lot into the mix… and it works very well too in all honesty. But then, each level feels different and fresh, there’s typical side scrolling action, abseiling down a canyon, even vehicle based levels (just say the words ‘turbo tunnel’ to a Battletoads fan and watch them break out in a cold sweat) to platforming sections. Knocking down bad guys with a huge boot, smashing into them with ram horns and so on. There’s a real cartoony feel, not just with the overall presentation but also with the fighting itself. It’s silly, puerile and yet utterly charming at the same time. Given the name of the heroes, you can be assured this game does not take itself seriously at all. But what separated Battletoads from other titles of its ilk back then was its humour and variety. If you ever played Double Dragon, Golden Axe, Final Fight, etc, then you know what to expect here. Simple enough controls with a jump and attack, various weapons to pick up so you can beat the bad guys with and so on. Battletoads is typical scrolling beat ’em up stuff. Bird receives a call from the Dark Queen, daring Rash and Zitz to come and save their friend and Princess Angelica.Īnd so the game kicks off proper as a one or two-player affair with you controlling either Rash or Zitz of the titular toads. However, Pimple and Angelica take a detour on Pimple’s flying space-car when they are kidnapped by the Dark Queen and taken to a planet called Ragnarok. Bird and the titular Battletoads, Rash, Zitz, and Pimple, are on a mission to escort Princess Angelica home on their spaceship. The plot of the game is that Professor T. Developed by Rare and published by Tradewest, Battletoads is a mix of scrolling beat ’em up/platformer and even a little vehicle action thrown in too. It was June, 1991 when the first Battletoads game was released for the NES. BattletoadsĪs previously mentioned, this is where it all started. Seeing as a new game is released today, I thought I’d do a retrospective on the entire Battletoads franchise starting with that first game, up to the latest today and everything in-between, warts and all. The brainchild of Rare founders, Tim and Chris Stamper ( read my book), Battletoads was unleashed onto the public in June, 1991. I say ‘grown up’, using that as loosely as I can, because we all know now just how puerile Battletoads was. It was the summer of 1991 when I was first introduced to Battletoads, a more ‘grown up’ parody of TMNT. Watching kids cartoons, playing kids games and so on just didn’t interest mid-teenage me then (yes I was an idiot). I mean, I was fifteen/sixteen at the time, growing up, leaving school and preparing to enter the real world. Part of the reason why TMNT had slipped away from me in 1991 was due to something similar, but with a bit more of an edge. By the time 1991 rolled around, I had pretty much forgotten all about Leo, Mikey, Don and the other one, Bob I think. I watched some of the cartoon, played a couple of the games and somewhat enjoyed the first film… and then got bored and moved on pretty quickly. The whole TMNT phenomenon didn’t really grab me. I lost interest in them pretty quickly to be honest. Those four deadly weapon wielding reptiles were hugely popular and still kind of are today, I guess. Comic books, cartoons, action figures, games and even movies. Back in the late eighties and early nineties, those pesky Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were everywhere.
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