Battletoads (video game)

Battletoads
European NES cover art
Developer(s) Rare
Arc System Works (MD/GG)
Mindscape (AMI/ACD32)
Publisher(s)
Designer(s) Tim and Chris Stamper
Gregg Mayles
Artist(s) Kev Bayliss
Composer(s) David Wise
Hikoshi Hashimoto (MD/GG)
Mark Knight (AMI/ACD32)
Series Battletoads
Platform(s) NES/Famicom, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, Amiga, Amiga CD32, Xbox One
Release
Genre(s) Beat 'em up, platformer
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer

Battletoads is a beat 'em up/platform video game developed by Rare and published by Tradewest. It is the first installment of the Battletoads series and was originally released on 1 June 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was subsequently ported to the Mega Drive and Game Gear in 1993, to the Amiga and Amiga CD32 in 1994 (despite the former having been developed in 1992), and released with some changes for the Game Boy in 1993 in the form of Battletoads in Ragnarok's World. In the game, three space humanoid toad warriors form a group known as the Battletoads. Two of the Battletoads, Rash and Zitz, embark on a mission to defeat the evil Dark Queen on her planet and rescue their kidnapped friends: Pimple, the third member of the Battletoads, and Princess Angelica.

The game was developed in response to the interest in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. It received mostly positive reviews upon release, with critics praising the graphics and variations of gameplay; however, many critics were divided over the difficulty. It won six awards from the 1991 Nintendo Power Awards, and has since been renowned as one of the most difficult video games ever created. It was later included in Rare's 2015 Xbox One retrospective compilation, Rare Replay.

Gameplay

The infamously difficult "Turbo Tunnel" level in the NES version, the first major jump in difficulty, where most players get stuck.

The game is a platform scrolling beat 'em up, with varying elements of racing, climbing and vehicle-based obstacle courses. Players start with three lives each time the game is started, which get replenished every time the player continues after getting defeated. The game contains no saving system or password features.[1] While the levels of Battletoads vary greatly in gameplay style, the game is generally presented as a "beat-em-up", in which players progress by defeating enemies while avoiding the hazards in the environment. The players can finish off enemies in varied ways, such as punching or kicking with an enlarged fist or boot, head-butting with huge ram horns or, in certain levels, transforming into a wrecking ball.[2]

Side-scrolling stages are generally presented as having an isometric perspective, while platforming stages that feature vertical progression are presented non-isometrically, which allows the player characters to crouch. Several levels in the game feature sections in the form of an obstacle course, where the players must dodge a series of obstacles with speed increasing as the level progresses.[3] Other types of level include two "tower climb" levels, a descent to a chasm while hanging from a rope, a level with underwater sections, a maze chase riding a unicycle-style vehicle, a platforming "snake maze", and a race level in which the players has to fall as quickly as possible through countless platforms to reach the bottom of a tower before an enemy does. Hidden in four of the levels are "mega warp" points, which, when reached, allow the players to automatically advance by two levels.[3][4]

Plot

Professor T. Bird and the three Battletoads, Rash, Zitz, and Pimple, are escorting Princess Angelica to her home planet using their spacecraft, the Vulture. When Pimple and Angelica decide to take a leisurely trip on Pimple's flying car, they are ambushed and captured by the Dark Queen's ship, the Gargantua. Pimple then sends out a distress signal to the Vulture, alerting Professor T. Bird, Rash, and Zitz. Learning that the Gargantua is hidden beneath the surface of a nearby planet called Ragnarok's World, Professor T. Bird flies Rash and Zitz there in the Vulture to rescue them.

Between levels, the toads receive briefing comments from Professor T. Bird, along with teasing from the Dark Queen. During the game's 13 levels, the Battletoads are faced with Dark Queen's minions Big Blag, Robo Manus and Major Slaughter as bosses, ultimately facing the Dark Queen herself at the top of the Dark Tower. Once the Queen is defeated, she claims it will not be the last they would see from her, turns into a whirlwind and flies into space, "retreating into the shadowy margins of the galaxy to recoup her losses". With Pimple and Princess Angelica rescued, the four are brought back into the Vulture and the game ends.

Development

It was a typical example of Rare's looking at what was popular and then putting our spin on it.

Gregg Mayles in a retrospective interview [2]

The game was developed by Rare and published by Tradewest. Rare founders Tim and Chris Stamper created the series in response to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles craze of the early 1990s.[5] To create a contrast to the popular media franchise and other "beat 'em ups" of the time, Rare added extra mechanics in the game to help separate it from these genres, such as racing stages and climbing courses.[1] According to Rare artist Kev Bayliss, the characters of Battletoads were conceived in order to "produce merchandise" on a mass scale, in a similar vein to Tim Burton's Batman.[2]

The game underwent changes through early stages of development, and at one point was originally titled Amphibianz. Bayliss originally designed Battletoads as a Disney-themed video game, however as the game gradually became more graphic, Bayliss took extra liberties to "tone down" violence and restrict all usage of weapons in the game, whilst creating a sense of uniqueness for the characters.[2]

Release

Due to the extreme nature of the original NES Battletoads difficulty, almost all subsequent ports of the game went to varying measures to tone it down, in an attempt to make the game more accessible to casual players. This caused some of the more demanding levels to be modified, and some of them even removed altogether in certain versions of the game.[3]

A screenshot from the final boss fight in the Mega Drive version

A few months after the initial North American release in June 1991 for the NES, Battletoads got a Japanese-localized release for the Famicom, getting distributed in Japan by NCS, opposed to Tradewest.[6] This release featured several gameplay tweaks, which resulted in a marginally easier experience.[3]

Later, in 1992 it was ported to the Amiga home computers by Mindscape, though the Amiga version went on unreleased until 1994. A Mega Drive version developed by Arc System Works and a Game Gear version were released by Sega (in Europe in Japan) and Tradewest (in North America) during 1993.[7] Also in 1993, a Game Boy version of the game was released, titled Battletoads in Ragnarok's World. This version was missing several levels and featured single player support only.[8] Tim Chaney, European CEO of Virgin Interactive, purchased the Master System rights for Battletoads from Tradewest after the game found popularity in the United States and had planned to release that version also in 1993, but it never materialised.[9][10] In 1994 Mindscape brought the game to the Amiga CD32 and released it together with the previously unreleased Amiga version. It had also planned ports for PC DOS and the Atari ST back for the originally intended 1992 release of the computer versions, but these two were never released.[11][12] The Mega Drive version of Battletoads features toned down difficulty, as well as providing higher definition and more colourful graphics as opposed to the NES version.[3][13] The Game Gear port features downscaled graphics, also removing three levels and the two-player mode.[12]

During E3 2015 it was announced that the NES version of Battletoads would be coming to the Xbox One as part of Rare Replay, a retrospective collection of 30 emulated classic games from Rare.[14] Rare Replay was released on August 4, 2015,[15] featuring a fix to a bug in the original game that made the eleventh level unplayable for player 2.[16]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
GameRankings73% (Mega Drive)[17]
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGame (NES)[18]
CVG91% (NES)[4]
Famitsu30/40 Famicom)[19]
24/40 (Game Gear)[20]
26/40 (Mega Drive)[21]
Mean Machines93% (NES)[22]
Quebec Gamer86% (NES)[23]
Amiga Power9% (Amiga)[24]
Power Play83% (Mega Drive)[25]

The game received mostly positive reviews from critics upon release. The Mega Drive version received an aggregate score of 73% from GameRankings.[17] Reviewers of Mean Machines praised the graphics, with one reviewer stating that the cartoon-style cutscenes adds to the "greatness" of the game's presentation. Another reviewer summarized that the graphics were colourful and well-animated, although he considered the sprites to be "too small".[22] Frank O'Connor of Computer and Video Games (CVG) thought the graphics were the best aspect of the game, heralding them as "packed" with colour, smooth scrolling and "humorous" animation. Paul Rand, another reviewer of CVG similarly praised the graphics and presentation, asserting them both of "excellent" quality.[4] Bryan Lajoie of Quebec Gamer praised the graphics, stating them to be among the most graphically advanced NES games, in particular the animation.[23] Japanese publication Famitsu gave the Famicom version of Battletoads a 30 out of 40 score.[19] Famitsu gave the Mega Drive version a 26 out of 40, and the Game Gear version a 24 out of 40.[20][21]

O'Connor praised the overall gameplay, stating that while it borrowed "style and ideas" from other games, the combination of various styles "works a treat" and proved challenging.[4] Rand heralded the gameplay as addictive.[4] Reviewers of Mean Machines were divided over gameplay; one reviewer was initially sceptical over the prospect of "another NES platformer", although he praised the emphasis on beat 'em up action over conventional platforming.[22] Another reviewer of Mean Machines praised the gameplay as fast, addictive and challenging, summarising that the wide variety of levels are enough to prevent the player from "getting bored easily".[22] Lajoie was mixed over the gameplay, admitting that whilst accepting it as a difficult game, the overall experience required "a lot of patience" and determination in order to progress.[23] In a negative retrospective review, Spike ranked the game's ending as the sixth biggest letdown in video game history.[26]

Awards

Battletoads was nominated for the 1991 Nintendo Power Awards in nine categories, winning the first place in the categories: Graphics and Sound (NES), Theme and Fun (NES), Best Play Control (NES) and Best Multi-Player or Simultaneous (NES), it was also given the title of the Overall Best Game for NES of 1990.[27] In 1997, Nintendo Power ranked the NES version as the 89th best game on any Nintendo platform.[28] In 2010, UGO included it on their "Top 25 games that need sequels"[29] also featuring the Arctic Cavern level on the list of "coolest ice levels".[30] Topless Robot ranked Battletoads as the number one "least terrible Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rip-off" in 2008,[31] also naming it as one of ten best beat-'em-ups of all time in 2010[32] and as one of ten video games that should have gotten toys in 2011.[33] In 2012, it was also listed among ten "classic videos games that deserve an HD remake" by Yahoo! News.[34] GamesRadar ranked it the 18th best NES game ever made, stating that "it was a fun game but its most notable element was its difficulty".[35] Jeremy Dunham of IGN listed Battletoads as the 40th best NES game of all time.[36]

Difficulty

Battletoads has been noted by critics for its extreme difficulty.[31][37][38] The game has even been included on numerous occasions among the hardest games ever made, including the number one spot according to GameTrailers.[39][40][41][42] A reviewer of Destructoid stated that despite the game's "brutal and unbalanced" difficulty, it was often remembered as one of the most "beloved titles" of the eight-bit generation.[43] In 2012, Yahoo! Games stated that the game was still widely recognised as one of the most difficult games ever made, particularly noting the chance of players accidentally killing their partner in two-player mode.[44]

Nerdist remarks that Battletoads's sudden difficulty spike was intended to combat the then-budding video game rental industry; if the game was more difficult, then it would take longer to complete, and consumers would be more likely to purchase a retail cartridge instead of renting one.[45]

Legacy

The game's initial success led to Rare developing various sequels which would later become part of the Battletoads franchise. A spin-off game for the Game Boy, also titled Battletoads, was first released in November 1991.[46] Despite having the same box art and title as the NES release, Battletoads for the Game Boy is a separate game in the series, featuring different levels and mechanics from the original.[12]

Two direct sequels, Battletoads in Battlemaniacs and Battletoads & Double Dragon, were both released for various consoles in 1993,[47] with the latter being placed number 76 on IGN's "Top 100 NES Games of All Time" list.[48] Battletoads Arcade was released in 1994 to mediocre sales, and was the last installment of the series.[49]

A pilot episode for a Battletoads TV series was also produced by Canadian DIC Entertainment, in an attempt to capitalise on the popularity of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The pilot originally aired in syndication in the United States on the weekend of Thanksgiving 1992, but it was never picked up as a full series.[50]

Entertainment Weekly gave the Genesis version of the game game a B+ and wrote that "Most kids will probably accept Battletoads (...) as a good-humored rip-off of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But what players may not forgive is that this Genesis game is almost a pixel-for-pixel duplication of the original NES Battletoads, meaning it's a bit warty in the graphics department. Still, the hop, kick, and jump game is fun."[51]

References

  1. 1 2 Buchanan, Levi (13 January 2009). "Battletoads Retrospective". IGN. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Rare Replay — The Making of Battletoads". Rare. 6 August 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Harnett, Craig (17 August 2015). "The Toads are Back in Town: Celebrating Battletoads". Nintendojo. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 O'Connor, Frank (April 1992). "Battletoads review — CVG". CVG (25): 26. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  5. ↑ Baker, Christopher Michael. "Battletoads synopsis". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 14 November 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  6. ↑ "Battletoads". SuperFamicom.org.
  7. ↑ "Battletoads — Mega Drive overview". IGN. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  8. ↑ "Battletoads in Ragnarok's World". Giant Bomb.
  9. ↑ IGN Staff (1 March 2001). "Gamecube developer profile: Rare". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  10. ↑ "Toad in the Hole!". Sega Master Force. September 1993. p. 8. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  11. ↑ "Mindscape advertising of the IBM PC, Commodore Amiga and Atari ST versions".
  12. 1 2 3 Workman, Robert (11 May 2012). "The Games of Summer: Battletoads". GameZone. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  13. ↑ Sackenheim, Shawn. "Battletoads AllGame review". AllGame. Archived from the original on 14 November 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  14. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (15 June 2015). "Rare Replay for Xbox One includes 30 Rare games for $30 (update)". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  15. ↑ Tamburro, Paul (15 June 2015). "Rare Replay Announced for Xbox One, Including Banjo-Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day and Battletoads". Crave. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  16. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (9 July 2015). "Rare will fix Battletoads' nasty two-player glitch for Rare Replay". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  17. 1 2 "Battletoads aggregate score (Mega Drive)". GameRankings. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  18. ↑ Foster, Joe. "Battletoads — Review". Allgame. Archived from the original on 11 December 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  19. 1 2 "バトルトード [ファミコン] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  20. 1 2 "バトルトード [ゲームギア] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  21. 1 2 "バトルトード [メガドライブ] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Rignall, Julian (April 1992). "Battletoads review" (PDF). Mean Machines (19): 56. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  23. 1 2 3 Lajoie, Bryan (29 May 2007). "Battletoads review (in French)". Quebec Gamer. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  24. ↑ Pelley, Rich (October 1994). "Battletoads review". Amiga Power. Future plc (42): 51. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  25. ↑ "Auch Kröten töten". Power Play (in German) (6/93): 116. June 1993.
  26. ↑ "The 10 Biggest Letdowns in Video Game Endings". Spike. 24 May 2010. Archived from the original on 20 November 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  27. ↑ "Nintendo Power Awards". Nintendo Power (34). May 1992.
  28. ↑ "Best Nintendo games list". Nintendo Power (100). September 1997.
  29. ↑ Jensen, Thor (27 November 2010). "25 games that need sequels". UGO. Archived from the original on 8 March 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  30. ↑ BK. Thor Jensen (28 December 2010). "Arctic Caverns — The 20 Coolest Ice Levels". UGO.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  31. 1 2 "The 9 Least Terrible Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Rip-Offs". Topless Robot. 24 October 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  32. ↑ "The 10 Best Beat-'Em-Ups of All Time". Topless Robot. 30 June 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  33. ↑ Clarke, Jason (3 December 2011). "Ten Video Games that Should Have Gotten Toys". Topless Robot. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  34. ↑ Stark, Chelsea (7 August 2012). "Classic Videos Games That Deserve an HD Remake — Yahoo! News". News.yahoo.com. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  35. ↑ "Best NES Games of all time". GamesRadar. 16 April 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  36. ↑ Dunham, Jeremy. "Battletoads 40 - Top 100 NES games". IGN. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  37. ↑ Buchanan, Levi (13 January 2009). "Battletoads Retrospective". IGN. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
  38. ↑ O'Brien, Jack. "7 Dick Moves Everyone Pulled in Classic Video Games". Cracked.com. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  39. ↑ "Top Ten Most Difficult Games". GameTrailers. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  40. ↑ News & Features Team (21 March 2007). "Top 10 Tuesday: Toughest Games to Beat". IGN. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  41. ↑ "Top 10 hardest games ever". Virgin Media. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  42. ↑ Steven Larson (6 January 2011). "Top 10 Most Difficult Games Ever". Youtube.com. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  43. ↑ "The Forgotten: Battletoads on the go and in the arcades". Destructoid. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  44. ↑ Smith, Mike (13 July 2012). "10 Insanely Tough Games". Yahoo! Games. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  45. ↑ Seibold, Witney (2017-06-20). "Why Was BATTLETOADS So Damn Hard?". Nerdist Industries. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  46. ↑ "Battletoads Game Boy overview". IGN. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  47. ↑ "Battletoads in Battlemaniacs overview". IGN. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  48. ↑ Harris, Craig. "Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team". IGN. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  49. ↑ Baker, Christopher Michael. "Battletoads Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 14 November 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  50. ↑ Ciolek, Todd. "The 5 Best (and 5 Worst) One-Shot TV Cartoons Ever Made". Topless Robot. Voice Media Group. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  51. ↑ https://ew.com/article/1993/04/02/battletoads/

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