An animated series called Battletoads (upon which the games were based) was made by DiC Entertainment in the early 1990s.

NES Title Screen

Battletoads is a video game franchise. The first game, entitled simply "Battletoads", is a 2D scrolling video game from Rare Ltd. for the Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy (as Ragnarok's World), and the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in 1991. It was arguably the most graphically advanced video game for the NES, at a time when the game market was turning to Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.

An arcade version of this game was released in 1994 by Rare, but developed by Electronic Arts.

The distinctive music of the Battletoads series was composed by David Wise.

Story

Three teenaged, mutant toads affectionately named after skin disorders (Zitz, Pimple and Rash) have to save Princess Angelica from the evil Dark Queen, ruler of Planet Ragnarok, with the assistance of Professor T. Bird and his space ship, The Vulture.

Gameplay

Play consists of three different types of levels: racing, "snake", climbing/falling, and water. In the racing levels, half the battle is memorizing all the obstacles that are ahead of you. "Snake" levels involve climbing twisting, twirling snakes to the exit. Climbing/falling levels are a race to the top or bottom of the level through deadly, complicated obstacles. There is also a water level full of sharks, electric eels and other baddies.

The game is a balance of challenge and skill: it is very challenging but not impossible, and luck plays almost no part.

Criticism

Due to its innovative gameplay and (for the Nintendo Entertainment System) superior graphics, the original Battletoads was almost universally well-received by gaming critics. However, it has remained somewhat maligned in the eyes of the public, due mostly to a critical design flaw. Battletoads gave the player finite opportunites to continue after being defeated (most other games of this size gave unlimited opportunities) and had no password or lithium battery-based save feature to enable the player to continue the game across multiple sessions. Therefore, only the most dedicated players made it more than halfway through the game, let alone completed it.

List of Games

There are several other games in the franchise, for Nintendo and Sega consoles:

• Battletoads (Game Boy): game for Game Boy. Takes place chronologically before the first Battletoads game, and features levels and some characters not seen in other Battletoads games.
• Battletoads & Double Dragon: very similar to the first game, a semi-official crossover with the characters from the Double Dragon series with a few liberties taken. Released in 1993 for the NES, Game Boy, Sega Genesis, and Super NES.
• Battletoads in Battlemaniacs: game for Super NES and Sega Master System. The characters are bigger and the graphics are better. Also starring Pimple, Zitz and Rash. Released in 1993.
• Super Battletoads : arcade version released in 1994
• Battletoads in Ragnarok's World : Game Boy version of the original game, Released in 1993.

Comeback

In 2004 the lead designer of Rare's Game Boy Advance team's lead designer stated that 'a Battletoads game would be really cool on the GBA - there's nothing to confirm at the moment, but hopefully we can do one in the future.' [1] in response to a question whether a new Battletoads game was in development.

External links

• The KLOV entry on Battletoads
• MobyGame's entry on the Battletoads series
• ClassicGaming - The World of Battletoads