Battletoads on the NES was released in the summer of 1991 around the same time the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo came out. Despite the fact that this is an 8-bit NES game, it has really great graphics and soundtrack. Sadly, those are about the only good things I can say about this game. There were some other strong points to the game too such as the characters and storyline, but they almost mean nothing because of the difficulty and poor game design. Fortunately, there would be other versions of Battletoads for the Gameboy, Sega Game Gear, and Sega Genesis. So, this isn't a total waste of an idea. This is the first version of Battletoads released for the NES that was made by Rare and Tradewest.

Graphics 9/10: The first thing I noticed about Battletoads were how great the graphics were. I can't think of another NES game that looked as good as this one does except for maybe Kirby's Adventure. The detail put into the characters and backgrounds is like no other NES game that came before it. Maybe the fact that Rare developed this game had something to do with it looking the way it did. After all, they were the ones that made Donkey Kong Country, and that game had excellent looking 3-D graphics. Battletoads still is a 2-D game, but it is a very nice looking 2-D game. Although, in some ways it does look like an 8-bit game. The characters have detail to them, but not as much as some of the 16-bit games. There was only so much the NES could do, but this game really pushed the hardware to its limits.

Music 10/10: Just the opening track of Battletoads will get you pumped up. This game sounds amazing! It falls into the same category as other NES classics such as: Legend of Zelda, Mega Man 2, etc. What really impresses me is the sound of the drums on the title track. They have so much depth to them, and this is also true for many of the other songs. Battletoads gave Sega's new game "Sonic the Hedgehog" some real competition. I think that it sounds just as good as what that game sounded. Even though, this is only an 8-bit game, Battletoads has a pretty impressive soundtrack that is better than some of the games released on the 16-bit SNES and maybe even the Genesis. 

Gameplay 2/10: Battletoads is a side-scrolling platform game in a way, but it is not your typical platformer. You control one of the Battletoads named Rash (I think that's his name.) in 1-player mode. He travels through the stages beating up enemies along the way. Rash has a health meter similar to what Mega Man has, although, he can't shoot enemies, he just punches and kicks them. The player has no time limit, but there are also no save files with this game either. To make things worse, there are not many lives to play the game with and almost no way to earn extra lives. The player also has limited continues. This is where things start to go downhill with this particular NES game!

I don't mind games like these, and for the first part of Battletoads this isn't that much of a problem because that part of the game isn't that hard. Like with Super Mario Bros. or Sonic the Hedgehog, it just takes practice and trial/error to become good at that section. It's the later sections of the game that become an issue. Mainly, the Turbo Tunnel with the go-cart area. This part is impossible! What is the point of this? You go from a beat'em up platforming game to a racing style of game where you have to avoid hitting walls that come at you so fast you can't dodge 'em! Not to mention, how terrible the controls are in this game!

The controls take some getting used to, but the game doesn't give the player much of a chance to get used to them. Before you know it, you've used up all your lives and continues and have to re-start the game. All this really amounts to is just replaying the same 2 or 3 stages over and over again just to get back to the racing section of the Turbo Tunnel so you can go back and do it again! This version of Battletoads would be a whole lot more playable if you had more lives and continues. I guess the Turbo Tunnel is possible, but what happens if you Game Over again?! You'll just have to re-play this area again making for a very poorly designed game.

Story 10/10: The storyline of Battletoads is done pretty well, and this is another one of the game's strong points. Princess Angelica and one of the other Battletoads named Pimple have been kidnapped by the Dark Queen and her 3 monsters. It is up to the other 2 toads, Rash and Zitz, to save Pimple and Angelica. Professor T. Bird is their coach and goes along with them on their journey as they venture through Ragnarok's World. T. Bird acts like Rash and Zitz's guide and stays in the airship called "The Vulture" but watches the toads on his monitor.

You have the setup for a really good game with this storyline and characters. The plot of Battletoads is very well thought out and creative just like with many other Nintendo/Sega games. It's too bad this game is so impossibly difficult! However, this storyline gives Battletoads a lot of potential for a great game. It does spark an interest with gamers and gives them a reason to want to play the other version on the Gameboy and Game Gear even though this version has pretty terrible game design and difficulty.

Content 7/10: For players that are hardcore enough, Battletoads has about a little less than an hour's worth of content to it. I'm not very familiar with the stages in this game because I've never made it past the Turbo Tunnel, but for people that have, this game contains a variety of different levels. For the most part, this is a beat'em up type of game, but there are other parts to it as well. The Turbo Tunnel has players ride on a go-cart at very high speeds and try to avoid crashing into walls and other barriers. There are also: climbing sections, underwater levels, maze sections, etc. Then there is the final battle with the Dark Queen and her two monsters. Battletoads is a pretty interesting game, but all of this content is mainly just for experts.  

Difficulty 10/10: Battletoads is one of these NES games that is designed in a way that makes progression impossible! You don't get many lives, and it has limited continues. The go-cart section of the Turbo Tunnel is the breaking point for me and most other players as well. The Angry Video Game Nerd "James Rolfe" never made it past this part, or maybe he did with Mike Matei's help. I kept making slow progress with this part, but every time I would get somewhere, I'd crash into another wall, Game Over, re-play the Turbo Tunnel from the beginning, or even worse use up my last continue, and re-start the game from the beginning!

The controls felt off too. Rash would seem to have too much momentum in his jumps. I found myself falling into bottomless pits way too much for my taste. Not only that, it felt like he could not get out of the way of some of the enemy attacks, and his attacks felt delayed. I kept taking damage, and this was a problem I never could get used to. It reminded me a lot of the way things were in the first Mega Man game. For me, Battletoads is another one of those old NES games that was hard in the wrong ways. I felt like progression was impossible unless you cheated your way through the game by using save states or some kind of cheat code.    

Overall 7.6/10: Battletoads on NES is not that bad of a game. It's hard, but there are several other reasons to play it. The game looks and sounds amazing, and the game's plot is kind of cool. The Dark Queen is a great video game villainess. Professor T. Bird is also pretty cool with his comments that he makes whenever you fail on a level and Game Over. The Dark Queen also has some dialogue whenever you use up your last continue and have to restart the game. This isn't a waste of an idea, this version did have potential, but it was designed in a way that made progression impossible unless you played the game hundreds of times and had these stage memorized, or you were just a fast learner with quick reflexes.