Thursday, December 3

GamesThirst Nostalgia: Battle Toads


This game is a goldmine of anger and patience. For those who have never played it, I beg you to give it a shot, and you'll be amazed at how fast you throw that controller at the TV. The game was made by Rare Ltd, and it starred 3 anthromorphic toads named Rash, Zitz, and Pimple. Originally, the it was made to rival the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but has since disappear off the map. It was first on the SNES in 1991, and was later ported to the Amiga in 1992, the Sega genesis and game gear in 1993, , the GBA in 1993, renamed Battle toads in Ragnarok’s World, and finally the Amiga CD32 in 1994. This was arguably the most graphically advanced games on the NES, but was looked over because of its difficulty.

The story is as simple as any other platformer games, Pimple and the princess Angelica have been kidnapped by the evil Dark Queen, and Rash and Zitz must go and rescue them with the help of Professor T. Bird and his space ship The Vulture. The full back-story was written in a Nintendo Power magazine, made by Guy Miller from Rare.


The main point of this game is not the story but the gameplay, and there are quite a few different styles of play. There are a few 3D and 2D beat the enemies levels, avoiding fatal falls, killing enemies and delivering absurd death blows. There's also a “snake maze”, an underwater level, and two really challenging “tower climb” to get to the end. But the most difficult level design is the obstacle course and race sequences. In order to make it through you have to memorise everything and perform perfectly.



The game is beyond difficult, and has been remembered for it. In most games, having a second player alongside you would increase your chances, giving you a sporting chance, but not here. In this game there is no way to turn off the friendly fire. You can hurt each other; kill each other and the worst part? You only have 3 continues. There was even a glitch in the 11th level that would make the second player unable to move, forcing him to waste all his lives and making the first player go alone!


The battle toad’s series is pretty toned down after this one, but the challenge is still there, waiting to bite you in the butt. They even got their own TV series, but only the pilot episode actually made it, so they released it as a VHS tape making it a prequel for the series. Now I'm going to go play this game, and be warned, if your anywhere near my town, plug your ears.


12/03/09 Allen Stewart

2 comments:

  1. I so would love to see Rare make a sequel for Xbox Live Arcade. This series needs to come back.

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  2. I hear Pawn Stars outof Vegas are carrying a few copies.

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