Review for Battletoads. Game for Sega MegaDrive (Genesis), Sega Game Gear, Amiga, Xbox One, Game Boy and Nintendo (NES), the video game was released on 01/06/1991 The version for Xbox One came out on 04/08/2015
It's now been 26 years since the last Battletoads game, the most loved toads by gamers of a certain age. Since their arrival on NES, these amphibians have brought not only violence and black humor to the screen, but also several quality beat'em ups. Among various ports for Amiga, Game Boy, Game Gear and others, they also received a sequel on SNES, an arcade cabinet, and various crossovers such as the very famous Battletoads / Double Dragon. Since then, however, we have not heard of the three brothers, except for their being a selectable character in Killer Instinct. After 26 years it can be said that all hope must be lost, and instead surprisingly here is the long-awaited sequel, available on Windows and Xbox One. And for those who ask, yes, is available for free for Game Pass owners.
Battletoads is a scrolling fighting game like so many existed at the time. Unfortunately, it is a genre that has almost disappeared, brought to light only by sporadic titles such as the recent Street of Rage 4. However, no beat'em up is as crazy and absurd as Battletoads: Zitz, Rash and Pimple possess mutations that transform them into creatures on the edge of the delusional with each of their combos. From start to finish the game is based, both in the videos and in the gameplay, in puns (sometimes successful, others a little less) and absurd situations, starting from the plot. The Battletoads in fact remained for 26 years (coincidentally) trapped inside a bunker inside which they imagined themselves living incredible adventures. Once they get out of there, however, they realize that they are now antiques, characters from the past that almost no one knows anymore. Their aim is to make them famous again, and to do so they immediately set out in search of their erstwhile archenemy, the Dark Queen.
But it happens that even the poor queen is a victim whose powers have been taken away. The culprits who made the Battletoads and the Dark Queen the prisoners of the past are an alien people called the Topians, ruled by two blatantly homosexual voodoo masks named Uto and Pia. The consequence is obvious: the three toads and the queen decide to join forces to take revenge on their tormentors.
During the game you encounter enemies who have various skills, from those who do nothing but come and beat us at close range, to those who are able to fire orbs of energy or electrify the ground. There are also some capable of parrying, which will force the player to make charged attacks to break through the opponent's defenses. While always doing different combos helps to deal more damage and get higher scores, it is also possible to fight using just the normal attack button. However, this does not mean that the difficulty is non-existent: even playing Battletoads on Normal difficulty we will find ourselves in situations where the screen will be filled with enemies with very different abilities, forcing us to concentrate to the maximum and use the dodge button very often so as to hit the enemies with the right timing.
However, we make it clear that this chapter of the series is not nearly as brutal in difficulty as the old games. Even in the highest difficulty mode, you never get the impression of being a victim of injustice or of having something impossible in front of you, everything is just EXTREMELY tough and must be faced with a healthy and copious dose of patience.
In addition to the scrolling fighting game levels, Battletoads offers tons of mini-games and stages with incredible variety: obviously there are the classic stages on the Speeder Bike, but also shooters with space shuttles, puzzles, quick-time events, timed survival and much more. Getting bored is practically impossible, and if we really want to find fault with this aspect of Battletoads, it could be that towards the final stages of the game we will find ourselves repeatedly challenging mini-game scenarios, to the point of not beating our hands even for more than an hour. .
Graphically Battletoads is fantastic: developed with Unity, has sprites and animations of the highest level which can easily be compared with giants like Cuphead. Too bad that the multiplayer mode up to 3 players is only possible locally, in fact there is no type of online game.
Battletoads is unearthed from his grave suddenly, almost disrespectfully, but it would be a lie to say we haven't been expecting him for a long time. As a scrolling fighting game it is fun and has interesting and well thought out mechanics. The monotony factor is almost non-existent thanks to a rather high difficulty and many mini-games that break the type of standard levels. However, like all members of the beat'em up category, longevity is very limited and stops at 4 hours of play. The only way to increase them is for players who intend to find all collectibles or who want to improve their scores, but other than that there is not much else to do.
► Battletoads is a scrolling platform-fighting game developed by Rare Arc System Works Mindscape and published by Mindscape for Sega MegaDrive (Genesis), Sega Game Gear, Amiga, Xbox One, Game Boy and Nintendo (NES), the video game is released on 01/06/1991 The version for Xbox One came out on 04/08/2015
