Battletoads (Game Boy) review "I remember sitting in that hotel in Toronto, with my parents and sister out on the city, sightseeing at some museum that did not interest me. I never enjoyed scenery, or for that matter vacation, but my sisters friend brought along a perfect companion for me. His Gameboy. That gray box seemed to shine like the sun, and there was one game that I played more than any other; Battletoads. Either punching warthogs with your fists, or hacking through them with your axe, or whatever other array of weap..."

I remember sitting in that hotel in Toronto, with my parents and sister out on the city, sightseeing at some museum that did not interest me. I never enjoyed scenery, or for that matter vacation, but my sisters friend brought along a perfect companion for me. His Gameboy. That gray box seemed to shine like the sun, and there was one game that I played more than any other; Battletoads. Either punching warthogs with your fists, or hacking through them with your axe, or whatever other array of weapons was at the Battletoads disposal, that game was my Ontario trip in a nutshell. Sure enough, when the time came and I owned a gameboy, I picked up Battletoads. The game was just as good now, as it was all those years ago. That is one thing that has not changed.

STORY (3/5): An early gameboy game, and it had a story. Very few gameboy games in the early stages even had a story. Basically it was an action game, but as a battletoad you had to free your friends. I never fully grasped the story, as a younger game I was more into action, and that is what Battletoads held.

GRAPHICS (13/15): Definitely pushes the original gameboy to it's limits, Battletoads gives a nice overall scenery with different levels of landmass. The toad looks like a toad, and the warthog enemies are also very detailed. I mean, it is in grayscale, but the limits on the gameboy were very severe. However, it is one of the best looking gameboy games period, and that is something.

SOUND (5/10): Probably the biggest weakness in Battletoads, is the sound department. The music is very mediocre. It is present, and does change but it doesn't have the classy old fashioned beeping style very well, and it definitely isn't new age. The sound effects are more classy as you have the punching as you unreel on some unsuspecting warthog, or the noise coming from the jetski.

GAMEPLAY (48/55): The first level usually sets the pace for the gameplay for the entire game, but that is not always true, and is NOT true in the case of Battletoads. The first level is like many action games, kinda similiar to Final Fight. You walk through beating enemies with either your fists, or an axe if you pick it up. After killing all those enemies, you fight against a boss, thereby using the skills you used before, against a much larger enemy. This type of gameplay is apparent throughout the entire battletoads experience, however that is the least memorable part of the game.

How would you like to fly around in a little ship, and shoot projectiles at enemies, or jetski while smacking slimy things across the head with a club. In battletoads you can do that. That is what is most memorable from this Gameboy game. The levels were you have to avoid the huge flying birds, while in desperation being forced to shoot those birds. Or the Jetski level were you need to avoid, jump, and even club a few obstacles while skiing through the poles. The big spike traps that seem to kill me more than I can avoid them, and the Ratking boss. Those are what I remember most from Battletoads (and no, my nickname Ratking did not come from this game; surprisingly enough). Those are the memorable parts of Battletoads, and what made this experience fun. The variety of gameplay, instead of a simple sidescroller where you fought the entire time left to right.

REPLAYABILITY (6/10): Like most action games of the time, there is only a set number of levels you can play and only one way to play them. Work your way though these levels for fun, and when you die, work through them again. That is the style that Battletoads is set up in; the play through as many times as you desire. That desire is very high however, cause the game is fun to play through quickly, for at most like a half an hour per try.

DIFFICULTY (3/5): Battletoads lives by the curse of classic gaming. The difficulty level of Battletoads is very high near the end, and you will need split second timing as you tackle the new level strategies. It's not the fighting that's tough, it's the traps and special levels that will really get you. It does get slowly harder as you play though, so you will be able to work your way through the Battletoads legacy.

OVERALL (78/100): I cannot honestly say I still play Battletoads to this day, because I don't. After getting crushed by the Ratking like a hundred times, the game did get repetitive, and the level design finally lost it's feel. But until that point Battletoads was a perfect combination of sidescroller fighting, with a level design of a high variety. Battletoads is still worth the pickup I think, cause the level design does not get old until you do it a million times, and as long as you keep moving forward you will get a new level, that you won't get sick of for a long time. Battletoad's does it's job well, doesn't it.

Community review by ratking (January 17, 2003) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.