Battletoads

Related Topics:
Battletoads_Series :: Battletoads :: Battletoads_in_Battlemaniacs :: Battletoads_and_Double_Dragon :: Battletoads_in_Ragnarok's_World

Battletoads is a video game franchise. The first game, entitled simply Battletoads, is a 2D beat 'em up from Rare Ltd. for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy, Amiga CD32 and the NES. 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 SNES.

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

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

Story

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

Main characters

Good Guys

Rash - The most well known of the Battletoads. He is the green toad who wears black sun glasses. He is later seen in the series wearing a bandana around his arm. He is considered both the fastest and craziest of the 'toads. His real name is Dave Shar.

Zitz - Zitz is the leader of the Battletoads. Zitz is very intelligent and cunning, and tends to use machine-like attacks (Sawblades and Drills in the Arcade game). It is known that Zitz was originally the brown-colored 'toad instead of Pimple. Why he was recolored to greenish blue is not known. His real name is Morgan Ziegler.

Pimple - What this brute lacks in brains he makes up for in sheer strength. The muscular Pimple serves as the 'toad's "tank" so to say. He loves using heavy objects to attack his enemies with (anvils, hammers etc). Pimple once used to be the greenish-blue toad instead of Zitz. His real name is George Pie.

Professor T. Bird - This old vulture serves as the Battletoads mentor and guides them through their missions. He also tends to mock the 'toads when they fail. Other than that, not much else is known about him.

Bad Guys

Dark Queen - The mysterious ruler of evil. Her ambitions include destroying the Battletoads and ruling over the universe with the help of her evil allies. The Dark Queen bears a rather strong resemblance to the actress Elvira.

Robo-Manus - The Dark Queen's top lackey. This dangerous cyborg has fought the Battletoads many times and was defeated each time. Nonetheless, he remains one of the Battletoad's most intelligent and dangerous opponents.

Big Blag - Big Blag is another of the Queen's minions. He is a morbidly obese rat who tends to contribute most of his weight to his fighting style, which usually involves flattening the 'toads. Big Blag also fights using the Morningstar-like spike ball at the end of his tail.

Silas Volkmire - One of the more mysterious of the Queen's allies, Silas Volkmire is said to be responsible for the Battletoad's creation in the first place. Volkmire was encountered in Battletoads in Battlemaniacs as a semi-final boss. He was believed to have been killed when the Battletoads shot down his ship, but his body was never found. Volkmire was also briefly mentioned in the first Battletoads, as his name is referenced in one of the levels. He is considered human, but appears physically deformed in Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. He was originally a scientist from Earth.

Other characters

Scuzz - Members of the mutant rat pack led by Big Blag. These vile vermin are the main soldiers of the Dark Queen's army. They come in many variations and use many types of weapons. They are also called Giblets and Gonads.

note: there is also an induvidual rat named Scuzz, who appears to be the right hand of Big Blag. He is encountered in the Gameboy version of Battletoads, as well as Super Battletoads, in which he is driving the Robo-Rat, the third stage's boss.

General Slaughter - A bull-like commander of the Queen's armies. Aside from his appearance in the original Battletoads, he serves as either a first stage boss or a mini boss. He attacks with his fists and horns.

Psyko Pigs - Another group of soldiers in the Dark Queen's army, assumed to be lead by General Slaughter. As their name implies, Psyko Pigs are humanoid pigs who have a tendency to wield large weapons, especially axes and maces (some of which are charged with electricity), or just throw their own weight around. They are generally larger and stronger than the Rat Pack, but are of course slower.

Gameplay

Different levels of the game have very different play styles. There are a few 3D and traditional 2D "beat-em-up" levels where 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's marketable appeal is due to its exaggerated ways of finishing off enemies. These include a headbutt that would have the battletoad sprout ram's horns (or, in Pimple's case, a football helmet), 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 vertically on either the right or left side of the playing field.

Difficulty

Battletoads is extremely challenging; in fact it is notorious among NES games for its brutal difficulty and quick deaths. It requires a great deal of skill, practice and memory, and luck plays almost no part. Because of its mix of race levels, high-speed obstacle courses, and dangerous instant-kill obstacles and monsters, it requires a broad base of skills which makes the game very difficult to beat. Ironically, although Battletoads is classifiable as a side-scrolling fighting game, the monsters the player defeats through brute force are much less challenging than the obstacles and instant-death traps the player must avoid.

Two features did reduce the otherwise crippling difficulty of the game. In the second level, a quick player could gain multiple lives by repeatedly hitting defeated enemies before they fell offscreen; thus a skilled player could build up a store of ten or more lives to spend in future levels. Second, there were several "warp points" scattered throughout the game that let the player skip ahead two levels. A knowledgeable player could avoid approximately half the levels in the game through judicious use of warp points.

Despite these concessions to the player, Battletoads has a reputation as being virtually impossible to finish, even among hardcore gamers. Even defeating the game with a Game Genie may garner respect from those who remember the game.

Criticism

Due to its innovative gameplay and (for the NES) superior graphics, the original Battletoads was almost universally well-received by gaming critics. However, it has remained somewhat maligned in the eyes of more casual gamers, due mostly to its high and frequently arbitrary-seeming difficulty.

Even in the first level there are many ways to meet quick death from "falling off the edge" by walking too close to the bottom or top of the screen (unlike most games, there was no artificial barrier to prevent such occurrences).

In contrast to most games, which become harder gradually as the player progresses, the third level of Battletoads presents an extreme leap in difficulty. The first of the obstacle-course levels (which involves driving a hovering car and avoiding sequences of blocks) is a formidable challenge, even for experienced players.

To compound the problem, Battletoads gives the player limited opportunities to continue after being defeated (many 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.

Unlike many side-scrolling games in which two players cooperating can complete the game more easily than one, Battletoads becomes even more difficult to complete with two players, because of the many obstacle levels. If either player crashes during an obstacle course, both are sent back to the start to try again; thus both players need perfect play to get through many of the levels.

The game is also littered with minor glitches that suggested poor beta testing. The most critical flaw occurs in level 11, entitled "Clinger Winger." During a 2-player game, the second player is unable to move in level 11 , and therefore must lose all of his or her lives before player one can continue the level. This makes finishing the game even more difficult for the second player, as that player had one less continue and any accumulated extra lives at his or her disposal.

List of Games

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

Battletoads (Game Boy): game for Game Boy. Assumed to take place chronologically before the first Battletoads game, and features levels and some characters not seen in other Battletoads games.
Battletoads (Mega Drive/Genesis): game for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. A near-exact clone of the NES title in terms of gameplay, but with much improved graphics, slightly upgraded music, and somewhat toned-down difficulty.
Battletoads (CD32): game for the Amiga CD32. Very similar to the NES original, appears to ape the Mega Drive graphics.
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 SNES.
Battletoads in Battlemaniacs: game for SNES and Sega Master System. The characters are bigger and the graphics are better. Released in 1993.
Super Battletoads: arcade version released in 1994. Super Battletoads, unlike the other games, featured voiceovers and several other features that distinguish it from the other games, such as an increased level of violence (players could bloodily decapitate some of their enemies with specific attacks) Also, during vehicle levels combat is emphasized rather than memorizing and avoiding obstacles.
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 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.' ^* in response to a question whether a new Battletoads game was in development.

Animated series

Battletoads also spun off a half-hour, traditionally animated television special produced by DIC Entertainment, airing on UPN in 1991, about surfers who turn into magical humanoid toads to rescue a princess. However, only the pilot made it to the airwaves; it was never picked up as a full series, despite comic-style ads in Gamepro magazine claiming otherwise.

Set in Oxnard, California, the show stars three high school student surfers (despite the fact that the game's story revolved around three video game technicians). 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.

It is likely that the show was an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Incidentally, DiC would try this again with Street Sharks the next year.

External links

Battletoads | バトルトード

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