Battletoads – PC Review

1991 was the magical year the first Battletoads video game released
by RARE on the NES, and it’s now been 26 years since the last game.

The game was delayed last year, but now the anarchistic Toads are
back for another single player/couch co-op 2.5D brawler / mini game
ridden adventure, that for many is their first encounter with the joke
/ dad joke masters Zitz, Rash and Pimple & The Dark Queen with Co.

In the previous games, the Battletoads always battled the Dark Queen
who tried to conquer the universe, this time around the epic adventure
takes a twist, and surprise! you find yourself allied with the Queen,
fighting against the Topians.

In the interest of not spoiling the story further (you will find out
what I said above within 30 minutes of starting the game) for you,
as it is worth experiencing yourself.

The game is beautifully hand-drawn and animated, with cut scenes of
the highest quality, it is almost like watching a proper cartoon
for the story to unfold when these scenes run, and the voice acting
is done professionally and really fit each character (good casting).

Not to forget the music in game, it’s done in the 90’s style Rock,
electric guitar heavy or should I say glam-rockish. Anyway; it suits
the game perfectly, as the Toads are a bit anarchistic anyway.

Here is the link to the official soundtrack on Spotify.

Battletoads Soundtrack – Spotify

But is great animation and voice acting the only good thing about the game?

I’m a little bit conflicted after finishing the game.

I absolutely loved the boss fights, brawling parts and platforming parts
of the game. The platforming parts also had some problems you had
to solve to advance and clear the act, these were “a-typical” things
we’ve seen in other games prior, but made really well and were fun.

The ability to flip on the fly playing alone, between Zitz, Rash,
Pimple all with their own unique fighting style and super moves
is a ton of fun. For you that have a partner or friends over whom
love to play couch-co op, this should be even more fun having all
the characters at once on the screen smashing up enemies.

But.

Then there where parts when I said to myself is this ever
going to end and we can move on? I understand what the game was going
for in this instance, upholding nostalgia from the previous games,
riding their turbo bikes, but (this might just be me..) boy did that
act within the game feel like it lasted for 26 years and a few months,
The addition of a few good jokes in there definitely made it more bearable.
But yeah..

But there is also a few fun acts in the game with a shmup experience
(think: space invaders 2020 style) that I really enjoyed, and a brain
scrambling security game that really made you focus.. that I managed
to screw up on a few times before clearing it.

One of the hardest mini games within Battletoads, has to be when you
are escaping (censored) using a (censored) as a sled, jumping (sideway scrolling)
and having to remember different color coded buttons on the controller,
pressing the wrong button making you fall of the map, and spawning
you back to the last checkpoint, this game is fast and furious in
a way that I let out a few beeps when I messed up. This one was
also a very long mission to carry out.

So what made me conflicted exactly? Well, the game itself is very
short, and I mean short. Though the execution of the story is
fine, but I feel that the game revolved around the mini games far too
much time, and specially as I mentioned above, there were some fun
and good one’s but also tedious ones, a few more brawling instances
would for sure not have hurt in this case.. because those animations
are quite satisfying to look at when you smack enemies.

So you said it’s short?

Yes, it’s around 2.5 – 3 hours depending on how good you are at the game.
Though, the replay ability is there with not only getting better times or
score for the act in progress, but also getting all the collectibles
on each level, you will 100% surely miss some on the first playthrough.

And for those who are into achievement hunting, will definitely spend
more time on this one for that 100% completion.

The game has multiple difficulty settings from Tadpole (Easiest)
to Battletoad (Hardest), and I have to say with all honesty, Tadpole
can be quite hard already if you aren’t used to playing platformers
and specially with some of the mini-games being challenging, and
requiring nimble fingers, it’s a good difficulty to start with
and then upping the difficulty as you get used to the mechanics.

Final word

It’s Fantastic that the Battletoads are back, 26 years is a long time
since their last appearance. Zitz, Rash and Pimple & The Dark Queen
want and need the attention.

Do yourself a favor, and download it today from Xbox Gamepass..
have a few laughs, maybe let out a few beeps, pass the controller around
if you have friends over. It’s worth spending time on for a playthrough,
you’ll kill a few hours whilst doing it.