Battletoads series

Developer: Rare

Year:

Battletoads: 1991
Battletoads and Double Dragon: 1993
Battletoads in Battlemaniacs: 1994
Battletoads in Ragnarok’s World: 1994
Super Battletoads: 1994

So here’s the low-down. The Battletoads are a team of three huge toads with fighting abilities, lead by a talking bird, with their arch-enemy being the DD-Cup Dark Queen, who for some reason gave the ‘toads a bonus level now and then to gain extra lives. Yeah, I admit, it sounds corny, but it is really, really cool. For mine, the Battletoads series is better than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games. You follow Rash, Zitz and Pimple through many adventures beating naughty baddies along the way and ending up with the spoils.

The first of the series came out back in 1991. There are many factors to consider when wondering why this became a hit. The big one is variety. One minute you’d be running on webbed foot, the next you’ll be riding a bike dodging walls. It was incredibly addictive and loads of fun.

The second game in the series saw the ‘toads teamed up with the kings of the side-scroller, Double Dragon, in a game which successfully merged all the good stuff from both games. Still had the same variety (an Asteroids type level is a good example), and the same great gameplay and addictiveness.

By 1994 everyone was expecting something huge from the next Battletoads installment. While the original game was multiplatform, Battletoads in Battlemaniacs was released only on the SNES, and even though it was (more or less) a supered-up version of the original game, it still kicked butt. This time the game also had a rockin’ soundtrack and some heaps cool “smash hit” moves. The gameplay was still as varied as the pimples (no pun intended…or was there?) on a 13 year old’s face…there was even a level where you needed to grab hold of and ride giant snakes through a series of tunnels. I’d still love to sit down and play it now.

1994 also saw the release of two other versions of the game: a new version for the Gameboy called Battletoads in Ragnarok’s World (which, was pretty much a clone of Battlemaniacs, except you only used one of the 3 toads) and an arcade version. The arcade version surprised me, but it was still excellent and followed the Battletoads tradition valiantly. This was a totally new game, and played a lot like a sequel to Battlemaniacs.

So you see, the Ninja Turtles weren’t the only amphibians to grace our gaming lives. The Battletoads not only featured though, they dominated.

Pube

Battletoads Image Galleries:

Battletoads

Battletoads and Double Dragon

Battletoads in Battlemanics

Battletoads in Ragnarok’s World

Battletoads Arcade version