Battletoads

aka: Battletoads in Ragnarok's World
Moby ID: 6134
NES Specs
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Description official descriptions

The Dark Queen has attacked and kidnapped (toadnapped?) your best buddy. To make matters worse, she nabbed the best looking girl around! So, what will you do? Cry? Whimper? Hide? Call the Starcops? NO! Cause you're a Battletoad! Battletoads don't cry, hide or call for help! And they certainly don't whimper! They get MAD then they get EVEN! So grab your blaster, hop on the Toadster and go get 'em!

You will control a battletoad through 13 levels (five of which are missing from the Game Boy port). Some are side-scrolling beat-em-ups, other are vertical drops down a shaft, fighting as you go, others have you riding a rocket or surfboard, shooting or avoiding enemies. At the end of each area, there is a boss. In some areas, about half-way through, you may have a mini-boss.

Spellings

  • バトルトード - Japanese spelling

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (NES version)

10 People

Original Concept
Producer
Design
Additional Design
Art Director
Additional Graphics
Programming Director
Graphics Decoding
Programmer
Hardware
Music
Product Testing
Cover Artwork

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 69% (based on 46 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 141 ratings with 7 reviews)

The hardest game of all time?

The Good
This game had fantastic graphical effects for it's time. The first boss was memorable with its suprising appearance. The 'Toads have super punches and kicks that are humorous and satisfying to watch. All of the levels are completley varied from one another, a feat nearly unmatched to this day.

The Bad
Holy crap is this game hard! I dare anyone to defeat this monster of a game without a sweat. This isn't normally a bad point, but this game is extreme in it's relentless nature. Trial and error are your 2 new friends here.

The Bottom Line
A fine title. I reccommend it to anyone looking for a challenge.

NES · by Patrick Connors (4) · 2003

Bad design, nothing more.

The Good
The graphics are good. The game is longer than the usual platformer. The levels vary a lot: you've got beat 'em up sections, platform levels, 2D races and more.There is two player mode as well where you kill your friend half the time because you can actually hit each other, which is interesting. Oh, and the pause sound is amazing!

The Bad
The story is not very creative, but that can be said about almost any game of this type, so that's fine. But the game is just badly designed. The difficulty level is ludicrous and there's one reason for that: You have to memorize the whole game. There are dozens of situations (especially in the race stages) where even the most skilled players would fail because you simply have to know what to do. That's all, and that's no fun. Other games do that as well, but not 90% of the time. The fact that you only have limited continues does not help.

The Bottom Line
It's way too hard because of poor design. I don't want to play game where I have to learn patterns like vocabulary for school. If you want a next to impossible game, play Contra. Contra is hard as hell too, but I demands skills, not memorization.

NES · by Katharian Berg (17) · 2010

Perhaps the ultimate challenge for the NES

The Good
This game is a serious breakthrough in NES gaming and sets a new standard for excellence, as well as sheer challenge. The principle figures in this game are the three Battletoads, their vulture mentor, the princess, and the Dark Queen. The Dark Queen kidnaps one of the Battletoads and the princess and it's up to the other two toads to go after them. One person can play alone or 2 players can team up cooperatively to make it through 12 intense stages which include every type of action you can imagine: fly-through shooting, martial arts action, racing, surfing, as well as a bunch of types of action that you've never seen before, such as climbing on large, moving snakes, fighting through the eyes of your enemy, and a 360-degree castle at the very end.

The game also features true multiple-scrolling backgrounds in several places, rather than split screen scrolling as seen in many later NES games. The soundtrack never quits and each level gets its own theme song. One thing is certain about Battletoads: It NEVER gets boring! This is truly one of the best NES games ever.

I have fond memories of this game stressing me out - really, I was stressed over a video game - for a period of about 2 weeks. I often rented games during the summer and when this game hit the rental shelves, I had to rent it 3 times before I finally completed it, which was still cheaper than purchasing the game new.

The Bad
Bugs, lots of them. And not just the flies that you ate for power-ups (which were few and far between). This is a notoriously buggy game, probably a side effect of the tricky programming that went into the game. I once made it to the end of level 10 to face the boss. The boss accidently dropped off the bottom of the screen. Since I did not technically beat him, the level did not end. And I was stuck in a room where it was impossible to lose a life. I eventually had to reset the Nintendo and invest another 2 hours to get back to that point.

Another thing about the game: Level 6, a.k.a. the snake level. Incredibly unique but perhaps the toughest level I have ever played in any game.

The Bottom Line
Battletoads endures to this day as one of the best, most challenging, and most revolutionary action games every created, for the NES or any platform.

NES · by Multimedia Mike (20664) · 2005

[ View all 7 player reviews ]

Trivia

Music

On level 9 (Terra Tubes), you'll hear the same music as level 5 (Surf City) in the NES version, but you'll hear the same music as level 8 (Intruder Excluder) in the Genesis version. It's the only place where the musics doesn't match between the various versions.

Awards

  • EGM
    • 1992 Buyer's Guide - Best NES Game of the Year
    • 1992 Buyer's Guide - Most Challenging

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  • MobyGames ID: 6134
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Game Gear added by Rogee. Amiga CD32 added by Martin Smith. Genesis added by Roedie. Amiga added by Katakis | カタキス.

Additional contributors: Guy Chapman, chirinea, Alaka, Bregalad, LepricahnsGold, Patrick Bregger.

Game added April 7, 2002. Last modified March 3, 2024.