Last November saw Rare’s mutant bashing beat’em up platformer Battletoads arrive not just on the Nintendo Switch Online Service but also on the humble Evercade via a new Rare collection.
While it would have been neat to see the visually superior Mega Drive/Genesis version re-released, it was of course the 1991 NES original given a digital dust off. It’s the version most people will be familiar with, after all.
If the existence of a Mega Drive version is news to you, you’ll hopefully be intrigued to hear that Battletoads ended up releasing on five different platforms – including a CD-based system, and as late as 1994. Every version has its own quirks, and just to keep players on their toes, the Game Boy version went by an entirely different name. In the words of the nonsensical Bucky ‘o Hare theme tune, “Let’s croak us some toads.”
It was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that provided the bulk of inspiration for the Battletoads themselves, featuring a similar squad of amphibious warriors (Rash, Pimple and Zitz) who are keen to let their fists do the talking. The game didn’t have all that much in common with Konami’s NES TMNT tie-ins, however, with every stage featuring fresh ideas. In the first three stages alone, you’ll get to experience beat’em up action paired with precision platforming, a tricky rope descent into a cavern, and the notorious Turbo Tunnel – a bike section that calls for memorisation and fast reactions. Later, there’s a slippery ice world, a stage with large snakes to cling onto, and a visually impressive spinning tower climb, all helping to fill the 12-stage quota.
One thing Battletoads was famous for, even to this day, is its difficulty. Rare allegedly chose to make Battletoads more difficult than similar games so that it would perform well at rental outlets such as Blockbuster, ensuring a typical player would need to rent it multiple times to see the ending. Conversely, it has also been said that Rare themselves were unaware of how difficult Battletoads was. After vigorous playtesting, they had become oblivious to it featuring more than a reasonable amount of ‘trial and error’ sections.
Setting scopes high, Rare planned for Battletoads to become a multimedia franchise. This idea didn’t quite pan out. Amongst the few pieces of merchandise released were a trio of bendable action figures, a colouring book and a Tiger LCD game. Had the pitched 1992 cartoon series gained interest – the pilot for which can be found online, dubious Beach Boy-esque theme tune and all – we would have likely seen more tie-in products. If you’ll excuse the pun, the bendy action figures are considered ‘rare’ nowadays, and mostly in the hands of collectors.
One thing Battletoads did manage to latch itself onto was multiformat conversions. The NES original, released by Tradewest, was an incredibly strong seller (online sources suggest over 1m copies were sold), and it was also heavily promoted within the US gaming press, often referred to as one of the best NES games released that year. It wasn’t long until other publishers sought to release the amphibious battler on different platforms, along with a conversion to Game Boy from Rare themselves. Despite featuring the same cover art, 1991’s Battletoads on Game Boy isn’t the NES version shrunken down, but rather an all-new adventure. A companion piece, if you will. Instead, it was 1993’s Battletoads in Ragnarok’s World that saw the NES version gain the portable treatment, no doubt causing mild confusion at the time.
SEGA published versions on the Mega Drive/Genesis and Game Gear in 1993, developed by the long running Japanese studio Arc System Works. The Mega Drive version is sometimes referred to as being the best, boasting more colourful and detailed visuals, along with parallax scrolling within the backdrops. Despite this, its 8-bit roots were still evident – it didn’t compare favourably to other software released that year when it came to its visual prowess. It seems that most critics enjoyed its stiff challenge, with review scores in the 70% ballpark. The Game Gear version is also of note, featuring colourful visuals, a more zoomed-in view to account for the smaller screen, and a laxer difficulty akin to the tweaked Famicom version. Even the Turbo Tunnel was more forgiving here. Although it’s missing three stages (Intruder Excluder, Terra Tubes, and Rat Race) it’s a commendable effort.
Virgin planned to release a Master System version in Europe in 1993, only to backtrack on the idea…before commissioning a conversion of the somewhat newer SNES outing Battletoads In Battlemaniacs instead. Developed by Syrox, this too ended up being scrapped, presumably due to the Master System’s user base being in decline. TecToy later acquired the rights for release in Brazil, where it finally surfaced in 1996. The ROM TecToy purchased was allegedly incomplete, with some stages missing music and graphical glitches present.
Battletoad’s last destination was the humble Commodore Amiga. Released on Amiga 500 and the Amiga CD32 console in 1994 via Mindscape, the latter version was originally due in 1992 before being hit with a two-year delay and launching alongside the CD32 release. Versions planned for MS-DOS and Atari ST, again via Mindscape, never saw the light of day – with their poor quality seemingly being reason behind their cancellation.
The two-year delay for the Amiga version didn’t pay off. In fact, it seems it didn’t gain any significant rework. Amiga owners had to contend with easily the worst version that was barely a step up from the NES version visually, while also suffering from unresponsive controls, slowdown and poor sound effects. The developers removed the Turbo Tunnel stage too, instead introducing a simpler side scrolling shooter section. While unique to this version, that fact isn’t much to boast about. The developers didn’t even have the decency to add standard features for the CD32 version, such as a CD soundtrack and a new intro.
Rare’s 1993 tag team follow-up Battletoads & Double Dragon – The Ultimate Team only managed to grace the NES, SNES, Game Boy and Genesis – with Virgin declining to release the Mega Drive version in Europe. Times and tastes were changing, and the critical reception of the Amiga version of Battletoads likely didn’t help – garnering scores as low as 9% from Amiga Power. The Amiga wasn’t in a good position in 1994, looking dated when compared to the consoles and PCs of the era, and software such as this strongly acted against its favour.
You could say that while Battletoads spread like a rash, not every version was satisfying to itch.
Images via GameFaqs.