| Battletoads | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Rare (NES, GB) Sega (MD, GG) Mindscape (Amiga, ACD32) |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Composer(s) | David Wise |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom, Commodore Amiga, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy, Amiga CD32 |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Beat 'em up, platformer |
| Mode(s) | 1 or 2 players (co-operative) |
| Media/distribution | ROM cartridge |
Battletoads is a platformer video game created by Tim and Chris Stamper and developed by Rare. Starring three anthropomorphic toads named after skin conditions (Rash, Zitz and Pimple), the game was created to rival the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games.[1]
The first game was developed by Rare for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. It was subsequently ported by Mindscape to the Amiga in 1992, by Sega to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Sega Game Gear both in 1993, by Rare to the Game Boy in 1993 retitled as Battletoads in Ragnarok's World, and by Mindscape to the Amiga CD32 in 1994. Ports for IBM PC and Atari ST were planned by Mindscape but never released.[2]
It is arguably one of the most graphically advanced video games ever released for the NES, at a time when the video game market was turning to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game became famous for its extreme difficulty and humorous ways of beating enemies, as during finishing attacks, the character's body parts transform into gigantic, exaggerated appendages for devastating attacks and comic effect.
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After her defeat by the Galactic Corporation at the battle of Canis Major, the evil Dark Queen and her renegade space troops retreat to the outer reaches of the universe, hiding out in dark spaces between the stars. Meanwhile, on board the spaceship Vulture, Professor T. Bird and the trio of Battletoads - Rash, Zitz and Pimple - are escorting the Princess Angelica back to her home planet, where her father, the Terran Emperor, awaits her safe arrival. Along the way, Pimple, the biggest Battletoad, takes Angelica out for a cruise in the Toadster to a nearby Leisure Station. However, the Dark Queen ambushes them before they can get there, and they are kidnapped and carried away to Ragnarok's World, the Dark Queen's planet. Professor Bird sends the remaining Battletoads down on Ragnarok to save Pimple and Angelica, knowing it will be a hard battle against the planet's dangerous environments, traps and enemy forces. They have to go a long way from the planet's rough surface to deep caves and landed Gargantua and ultimately to the Tower of Shadows, where the Dark Queen herself awaits.
Different levels of the game have very different play styles. There are a few 3D and traditional 2D "beat-em-up" levels in which the player progresses by defeating enemies, though even these levels tend to have many lethal obstacles. The most difficult levels are the obstacle course and race levels, where the character must dodge a series of obstacles while driving or flying at high speed, or outrun an enemy that can instantly kill the player. These levels typically required the player to memorize the sequence of obstacles in the way, and to have extremely rapid reflexes. Other levels include a climbing/jumping "snake maze", an underwater level with lethal spikes and dangerous monsters, and two difficult "tower climb" levels, including the final climb of the Dark Queen's tower.
Part of the series' marketable appeal is due to its exaggerated ways of finishing off enemies. These include a headbutt that has the Battletoad sprout ram horns (or, in Pimple's case, a football helmet in the arcade game), a punch with an extremely enlarged fist, a two-handed smash into the ground that yielded only the enemy's head sticking out, a kick move with the character sprouting a very enlarged boot, and on climbing/falling levels, the ability to transform into a wrecking ball by having your character line up with the wall on either side of the screen.
While in "brawler" levels, two players cooperating can push forward more easily than one, Battletoads' obstacle levels often become even more difficult to complete with two players due to the fact that either player crashing during an obstacle course, causes them both to be sent back to the last checkpoint. One aspect of the difficulty is the lack of an option to disable friendly fire. During a 2-player game, one player may attack the other at anytime either intentionally or unintentionally, as it often happens with one player attacking an enemy and the other player getting in the way. This can be especially annoying with attacks that result in a one-hit knockout.
The game also suffers from several minor glitches. The most critical flaw occurs in level 11, titled Clinger Winger. During a 2-player game, the second player is unable to move, and therefore must lose all of his lives before player one can continue the level. This makes finishing the game even more difficult for the second player, as that player would have one less continue and any accumulated extra lives at his disposal lost. To further the problem even more, Battletoads gives the player only three opportunities to continue after being defeated (many other games of this size gave unlimited opportunities), and has no password or save feature to enable the player to continue the game across multiple playing sessions. Therefore, only the most skilled players were able to beat the game.
Some features however, did reduce the otherwise crippling difficulty of the game. By means of a cheat code, it is possible to get five lives instead of the usual three you get every time you start or continue the game. Then, in the second level, a quick player could gain multiple lives by repeatedly hitting defeated enemies before they fell off the screens. And most importantly, there were four "warp points" scattered throughout the game that let the player skip ahead two levels. A knowledgeable player could avoid three levels in the game through judicious use of warp points. Despite these concessions to the player, Battletoads for the NES is considered to be among the most difficult games ever made. The Mega Drive/Genesis version, for the most part, tones down the difficulty considerably, rewarding the players with more lives and generally featuring more forgiving controls and gameplay than the NES version. However, falling platforms in the fourth stage move faster than in the NES version, making it easier to fall into any hazards below.
The game was well-received by most gaming critics. It was nominated for the 1991 Nintendo Power Awards in nine categories,[3] winning the 1st places in the categories: Graphics and Sound (NES) ("well-defined characters and backgrounds"), Theme and Fun (NES) ("extremely entertaining adventure"), Best Play Control (NES) ("again, tip of the hat to a fantastic game") and Best Multi-Player or Simultaneous (NES) ("no surprise here"), the 2nd place in the category Best Play Control (Game Boy), and the 3rd place in the category Best Challenge (NES); it was also given the title of the "by far" Overall Best Game for NES of 1990.[4]
In 2008, Topless Robot ranked it as the #1 "Least Terrible Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Rip-Off",[5] also naming it as one of the 10 best beat-'em-ups of all time in 2010.[6] In 2010, UGO included it on the list of the games that need sequels,[7] also featuring the Arctic Cavern levels on the list of the coolest ice levels",[8] while SPIKE ranked the game's ending as #6 on the list of the biggest letdowns in video game endings.[9]
However, the first Battletoads game has been most remembered for its extreme difficulty, even for experienced players.[5][10] The game has even been included in numerous occasions among the hardest games ever made, including the number one spot as determined by GameTrailers.[11][12][13][14] According to Destructoid, "Despite the game's brutal and unbalanced difficulty, it is remembered as one of the most beloved titles of the eight-bit generation."[15]
Battletoads proved to be a hit and was followed up with sequels released over the ensuing years.
| Battletoads | |
|---|---|
Title card |
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| Genre | Animated series, comedy |
| Created by | DIC Entertainment Rare (characters) |
| Developed by | Phil Harnage David Wise |
| Written by | David Wise Phil Harnage |
| Directed by | Kent Butterworth |
| Voices of | Kathleen Barr Ian James Corlett Michael Donovan Andrew Kavadas Lalainia Lindbjerg Scott McNeil Jason Michas Alvin Sanders |
| Theme music composer | Kip Lennon Ron Hicklin Susan Boyd Jon Joyce Jim Haas |
| Composer(s) | Murray McFadden Michael Watts |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 1 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Andy Heyward Robby London |
| Producer(s) | Kent Butterworth |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | syndicated |
| First shown in | 1992 |
| Original run | 1992 – 1993 |
Battletoads also spun-off a Canadian half-hour, traditionally animated television special produced by DIC Entertainment, airing in syndication in the United States on the weekend of Thanksgiving 1992. It is assumed that the series was an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Incidentally, DiC Entertainment would try this again later on by producing Street Sharks and then later Extreme Dinosaurs. However, only the pilot episode made it to the airwaves; it was never picked up as a full animated series, despite comic-style ads in GamePro magazine claiming otherwise. A VHS tape with the pilot was released in the United States on January 15, 1994. It was developed and written by Phil Harnage and David Wise, which the latter is or has no relation to the composer of the Battletoads video games of the same name.
Set in Oxnard, California, the show stars three teens (despite the fact that the comic's story revolved around three video game testers). The trio is given the ability to transform into anthropomorphic toads with superhuman strength and the ability to change their arms and legs into weapons in techniques called "Smash Hits". They are charged with protecting Professor T. Bird and Princess Angelica from the Dark Queen, who wants to steal Angelica's magical amulet for her plans of universal conquest.
The pilot served more as a prequel to the video game franchise. The comic with the backstory of Battletoads, written by Rare employee Guy Miller, was also published in Nintendo Power.[16] In 2008, Battletoads was given the #5 place on the list of The 5 Worst One-Shot TV Cartoons Ever Made by Topless Robot.[17] According to Gawker, "Some say it was nothing more than a blatant Ninja Turtles rip off, but Shredder had nothing on the Toads' sexy nemesis, The Dark Queen."[18]
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