Battletoads

 PC
User Score
5.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 201 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 80 out of 201
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 201
  3. Negative: 91 out of 201

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  1. EnigmaXtreme
    Aug 25, 2020
    6
    Take note, it has taken almost 20 years but Microsoft has finally realized “Hey guys, don’t we like own ALL these Rareware IPs? Maybe we should do something with them” and with that Battletoads has made a come back. For anyone too young to remember, Battletoads was one of Rare’s first original titles, releasing in 1991 on the NES it was one of best looking and most difficult games releasedTake note, it has taken almost 20 years but Microsoft has finally realized “Hey guys, don’t we like own ALL these Rareware IPs? Maybe we should do something with them” and with that Battletoads has made a come back. For anyone too young to remember, Battletoads was one of Rare’s first original titles, releasing in 1991 on the NES it was one of best looking and most difficult games released for the system. The series would see several sequels and spin-offs with titles like Double Dragon and even an arcade release in 1994 before fading away into obscurity when Rare started working on titles like Donkey Kong.

    This is the basis for the brand new game, which is just another in a long line of games that use the name of the original, something me and my filing system hate very much. Apparently, our three roided up amphibians, Pimple, Zits and Rash have been locked in a simulator bunker for 26 years, the same time since the last release and have emerged into a world where they are completely forgotten. Yearning to be world famous again, they team up with the Dark Queen to defeat the evil and effeminate Topians that locked them all away.

    Much like the original title, Battletoads plays like a 2.5D Beat-em-up, I for one am a huge fan of this art style especially in games like Streets of Rage 4 the only issue with these types of games is continuously missing your opponent on the 3D plane. You can select which of the 3 toads you want to play with (I picked Rash for obvious reasons), but in single player mode, there really isn’t any point to it. If your character dies, one of the other two toads takes their place while they rest for 30 seconds, if all 3 of the toads die then it is game over.

    The original Battletoads was remembered for being one of the hardest games on the NES, with the Turbo Tunnel being especially brutal. It returns in this game but with a few major tweaks, firstly the camera is behind you as you drive and the game thankfully has checkpoints, ones that will give you encouragement when you die. However, that doesn’t mean the game is any easier, this may be because I don’t really play a lot of beat-em-ups but I found the controls incredibly hard to work around. The tongue mechanic is a great touch being able to lasso enemies with it or jump to background platforms, but half the time I kept forgetting which of the button combinations to press so my Toad was just hanging there with his tongue out. But even weirder in regards to the controls, I found the vibration to be incredibly intense, pulsating hard all the time during fights. I’m talking girlfriend satisfying levels of intensity.

    Battletoads is clearly a game designed to be played with other people, while playing through the levels solo I found myself constantly being overwhelmed on all sides with more and more enemies just taking huge chunks of your life bar, having to dodge more incoming projectiles and break their guards, it became a huge headache just trying to advance anywhere. While the game does offer local co-op, what surprised me is the complete lack of online. Even Streets of Rage 4 allows for 2 players teaming up online and considering the situation we are in right now, lacking online co-op especially these days, is a serious failure in my book.

    While the game is a beat em up at heart, that hasn’t stopped the game going completely off the wall and throwing everything from platforming puzzles to a full-blown twin-stick Bullet Hell Shooter into the game, this is accompanied by self-aware dialogue that ends up being 50:50 between hilarious and cringe worthy. The entire game feels like a jumbled schizophrenic mess where they felt the beat-em-up sections on their own weren’t enough to carry a new Battletoads game and chuck a whole bunch of random affairs into the second half of the game, some work like the aforementioned Bullet Hell levels and others just frustrated and confused me like the elemental Jeff slide.

    There is the semblance of a good game here with the 2D art style and mechanics like swapping between the fore and background but it is just stuffed with so much extra padding, that I wouldn’t blame you if you went back to Streets of Rage 4 or River City Girls for your Beat-Em-Up fix.    … Expand
  2. sherbz
    Aug 23, 2020
    5
    Very average IMO. Nice art style, good voice acting, good synchronisation with the voices. And generally high production values. Unfortunately the game is boring. The combat pretty average. And the story is uninspiring and offers very little in the way of encouragement for wanting to play more. The mini games are also pretty dull.
  3. ff7rule
    Aug 24, 2020
    5
    Wanted to play a beat em up, got a lot of bad mini games and platforming. Act 3 was the worst.
  4. naufri27
    Sep 14, 2020
    7
    El retorno de las famosos sapos de Rare nos ha traído un juego con altibajos que nos transmite una sensación final de querer la continuación para ya mismo, es decir, buena.

    Es verdad que en la segunda mitad de esta aventura su estilo cambia a un juego plataformero que convencerá a pocos jugadores; y que su argumento, pese a contar con muchos guiños al pasado y tener un ritmo rápido y    El retorno de las famosos sapos de Rare nos ha traído un juego con altibajos que nos transmite una sensación final de querer la continuación para ya mismo, es decir, buena.

    Es verdad que en la segunda mitad de esta aventura su estilo cambia a un juego plataformero que convencerá a pocos jugadores; y que su argumento, pese a contar con muchos guiños al pasado y tener un ritmo rápido y muy cómico, cuenta con unos personajes en el papel de malos muy poco carismáticos (a diferencia de todos los demás). Eso sin contar que en pleno año 2020 se atrevan a sacar un juego de estas características sin multijugador online. No hay excusa en este punto.

    Pero, a su favor, contamos con unos cuantos argumentos para jugarlo y disfrutarlo.
    El nuevo diseño de los personajes es espectacular, con una no tan malvada Dark Queen que por fin abandona ese estilo de mujer sexualizada de la década de los noventa. Los fondos y las escenas de peleas son increíbles, dibujados a mano y cuidados hasta el más mínimo detalle. La dificultad característica de las primera entregas de la serie está presente, de manera justa. Se siente que, cuanto más practicas, mejor se pasan los niveles hasta aspirar al nivel más alto de dificultad, solo para los más curtidos o pacientes. Y para acompañar todo esto tenemos su banda sonora, llena de ritmo y temas pegadizos que te ayudan a mantenerte pegado a la pantalla.

    Si todo estos argumentos no son suficientes para tí, no pruebes el regreso de Batteltoads.    … Expand
  5. Cyber_Angel
    Dec 15, 2021
    7
    Pretty hard on the Toad difficulty. Awesome animations, annoying enemies and at times annoying controls. But overall pretty entertaining.
  6. Augusto
    Mar 4, 2023
    5
    There is absolutely no excuse for the lack of online multiplayer in this game, i mean, couch multiplayer only? Really? Just look at the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, thats a GREAT beat em up.

    Battletoads try to do everything, but the result is pure mediocracy.
  7. Jorchking
    Oct 11, 2020
    5
    ¡¡Madre mía, qué decepción de videojuego!! Se supone que Battletoads es una saga de golpes estilo Street of Rage y lo que menos hay es precisamente eso...
    Desde ya, se nota que el juego fue dado a un estudio cualquiera a menor medida no siendo pretencioso, ya sea por el horrible estilo caricaturesco de animación de caricatura de TV actual totalmente genérico o por el humor muy soso y    ¡¡Madre mía, qué decepción de videojuego!! Se supone que Battletoads es una saga de golpes estilo Street of Rage y lo que menos hay es precisamente eso...
    Desde ya, se nota que el juego fue dado a un estudio cualquiera a menor medida no siendo pretencioso, ya sea por el horrible estilo caricaturesco de animación de caricatura de TV actual totalmente genérico o por el humor muy soso y forzado que no saca ninguna risa (donde se supone que uno se debe reír...).
    Lo segundo es que el juego es bastante simplón, empieza como cualquiera hubiera imaginado, pegando piñas por doquier, pero luego este juego es de todo menos un Battletoads: Plataformas bastantes simplistas, carreras con obstáculos, rompecabezas (innecesarios y tediosos), matamarcianos (lo más divertido de lo no pelea) y, lo peor, un exceso de QTE (Quick Time Events) que en ningún juego dio diversión y obviamente mucho menos lo hará aquí, siendo esto lo que más me cansó (junto a los rompecabezas aburridos).
    En fin, creo que desperdiciaron una buena oportunidad de poner al juego en donde se merece. El exceso de QTE y de géneros que no caracterizan al Battletoads es de lo peor del juego, pero también su estilo visual de caricatura actual genérica y un "humor" e historia bastante soso y sin ninguna gracia.
    Hay muchos indies mejores que este supuesto AAA (o AA en su defecto) que van a dar muchísima más diversión (Castle Crashers, por ejemplo).
    En resumen: Lo mejor, la música, que si bien no es ni de cerca memorable va bien con el estilo de Battletoads. Los pocos niveles de puños y los niveles de matamarcianos. Otra cosa buena es que afortunadamente no gasté en el juego, sólo pagué Game Pass, lo jugué desde ahí y confirmé que el juego iba a ser decepcionante (como ya intuía).
    Lo peor, horrible diseño artístico, horrible decisión de poner géneros que no van con el juego con plataformas vacías y QTE excesivos, pésimo humor, sin juego en línea y duración cortísima.
    Mediocre.    … Expand
  8. zNeverSleeping
    Oct 14, 2020
    7
    ---{Graphics}---
    ☐ You forget what reality is
    X Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{Gameplay}--- ☐ Very good ☐ Good X It‘s just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{Audio}--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good X Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{Audience}--- ☐ Kids ☐ Teens ☐ Adults X All ---{PC    ---{Graphics}---
    ☐ You forget what reality is
    X Beautiful
    ☐ Good
    ☐ Decent
    ☐ Bad
    ☐ Don‘t look too long at it
    ☐ MS-DOS

    ---{Gameplay}---
    ☐ Very good
    ☐ Good
    X It‘s just gameplay
    ☐ Mehh
    ☐ Watch paint dry instead
    ☐ Just don't

    ---{Audio}---
    ☐ Eargasm
    ☐ Very good
    X Good
    ☐ Not too bad
    ☐ Bad
    ☐ I'm now deaf

    ---{Audience}---
    ☐ Kids
    ☐ Teens
    ☐ Adults
    X All

    ---{PC Requirements}---
    ☐ Check if you can run paint
    X Potato
    ☐ Decent
    ☐ Fast
    ☐ Rich boi
    ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

    ---{Difficulity}---
    ☐ Just press 'W'
    X Easy
    ☐ Significant brain usage
    ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
    ☐ Difficult
    ☐ Dark Souls

    ---{Grind}---
    X Nothing to grind
    ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
    ☐ Isnt necessary to progress ☐ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You‘ll need a second live for grinding ---{Story}--- ☐ No Story X Some lore ☐ Average ☐ Good ☐ Lovely ☐ It‘ll replace your life ---{Game Time}--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee X Short ☐ Average ☐ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{Price}--- ☐ It’s free! X Worth the price ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{Bugs}--- X Never heard of ☐ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs    … Expand
  9. Klaher
    Sep 7, 2020
    7
    I absolutely dislike the visual style! But! This game is fun to play and the music is absolutely amazing. The game is not bad and you can play it once.
  10. VigilanteOito
    Jan 30, 2021
    7
    Não é como os classicos, mas este game é jogavel.
    Algumas fases são otimas, outras nem tanto.
    Muito legal jogar em coop.
  11. Yusufomer
    May 27, 2021
    7
    Pretty satisfying beat 'em up game. I recommending play with gamepad. Ideal for fun and relaxation. Just punch all of them.
    But there are a lot of mini game and scene, I'd prefer more action and brawl.
  12. KirillKashin
    Aug 25, 2020
    7
    Just a good game. And if you are burnt with nostalgia, then pass by, this game is not for you.

Awards & Rankings

54
#54 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 23
  3. Negative: 2 out of 23
  1. Gamer.nl
    Jan 5, 2021
    60
    With a new face and tone, Battletoads manages to reinvent itself a little bit. It produces a beat 'em up that makes all kinds of forays into other genres with a sense of humor. Just like the jokes in the story, that is not always successful. The Battletoads shine as animated stars, but the lack of co-op, the very simple gameplay, and the sometimes very stretched areas do not make them look that great as video game heroes.
    Read full review
  2. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 21, 2020
    70
    Don’t get me wrong – Battletoads is a good co-op game for an evening or two. But you can’t help feeling that the developers didn’t give it their best. [Issue#248, p.40]
  3. Cubed3
    Sep 28, 2020
    80
    Battletoads is a stunning return for both the toads and Rare, a team that hasn't had much output recently. While it can become a little tedious to play alone, this is an excellent game to try with a small group of friends on a Friday night. Humour, variety of gameplay, and local co-op make this a great addition to anyone's library.
    Read full review
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