Battletoads is a series with a rather interesting and unique legacy. The original game on the NES was famous for its incredible visuals and varied gameplay and infamous for its intense difficulty which ranged from tough as nails, but mostly fair, to something clearly designed by a sadist for the purpose of breaking the player. Making a follow up to a game like this is guaranteed to be divisive no matter what direction you go in. You'll have fans demanding that you retain the insane difficulty at all costs, and how the unfair game design is the point of the series. You'll have fans who want a challenge, but want the difficulty to arise from a more fair style of game design. And then you'll have some people who just want the game to be more accessible to people who don't want to dedicate years of their lives to trying to clear the third level of a game. It's naturally impossible to please everyone, but trying to make as many people happy as possible is no easy feat either. There's a reason you don't see as many people talking about Battlemaniacs or the excellent Battletoads Arcade game. Battletoads (2020) chose to mostly focus on the second crowd I listed earlier, trying to craft a game that is tough as nails, but with challenges that are more comparable to the best levels of the original game rather than the cheaper ones like Surf's Up.
The game offers the player 3 difficulty options ranging from Tadpole, the game's easy mode which lets newer or less experienced players dip their toes into the world of Battletoads, Toad, the normal difficulty which provides a brisk and engaging challenge to most players, and Battletoad, the hard mode which evokes the original's brutal reputation. Each difficulty is well suited and balanced for their intended audiences with Tadpole being simple enough to breeze through in about 6 or 7 hours while the Battletoad difficulty takes the average player roughly 15 hours to grind through. Most of the game's difficulty is fair to the player, making the challenges hard, yet do-able with some practice. Levels will often give players a chance to learn about and adjust to whatever gimmick it revolves around before really forcing them to master it to get through the level.
Like most of the prior Battletoads games, gameplay is a mixed bag of various genres and styles that vary from level to level including the jet bike/sled races, puzzle platforming, shoot-em-ups, timing based mini-games, and of course the main beat-em-up sections. Each toad controls slightly different, enough to give each character a unique feel. Pimple is slower but hits a lot harder, Zits is speedier with a great combo game, and Rash is somewhere inbetween. Each character is designed to fit a preferred playstyle while never feeling like a chore to use if you preferred using a different toad. Some parts of the game were clearly designed with 3 player co-op in mind. While the game's design and mechanics usually do plenty to compensate for having just one or 2 players, it still becomes very noticeable. But this detail does draws attention to the game's single biggest flaw: it's baffling lack of online co-op, instead opting to focus on just local couch co-op. There are also a few stages that do get frustrating such as some of the later shoot-em-up stages which rapidly evolve into bullet hell, and especially Emergency Stations, a mini-game focused level which has so much stuff on the screen that it becomes very difficult just to tell what you're supposed to be doing most of the time. But these aside, the game shows that you don't have to be sadistic and frustrating to provide players with an engaging challenge.
As for the presentation, the Battletoads 2020 does a few things wrong, but a lot more things right. The game has a fun, colorful art style with creative character designs, wildly absurd animations, and some funny if sometimes intentionally cheesy dialogue that makes it feel like you're in the middle of an old Saturday morning cartoon. Though not everything about it is perfect. The standout example for the fans is the Dark Queen's redesign. While some fans immediately complained at they intentionally taking away the sex appeal of her old design, I feel the bigger problem is just how boring her new look is. And speaking of villains the game's new antagonists, the Topians, are dull and uninteresting additions with okayish designs, and completely uninteresting and unfunny personalities. The writing and humor itself can be hit/miss as a lot of the meta humor surrounding the Battletoads as irrelevant, washed up relics of the 90s completely fails to hit the mark The attempts at self aware humor at the ridiculousness of the Battletoads universe also fails to hit the mark, especially with how jarring it is after the Toads' recent appearances in other games where their absurdity is played completely straight and serious. But the best part about these drawbacks is that the bland and unfunny bits are really brief in comparison to the genuinely funny humor the game has to offer. The game's writing and story does a great job at fleshing out each toad as a unique and funny character with his own quirks and personality. Likewise, I also liked how the Dark Queen was fleshed out as a character, being cunning and manipulative, but also not quite so above the quirky heroes as she'd like to imagine she is. When the writing isn't making jokes at the expense of the series or focusing on the Topians, it mostly produces gold. On top of all of this we have the game's soundtrack which is phenomenal. The music is mostly rock songs including both original tracks and arrangements of iconic songs from previous Battletoads games, including the original, Battlemaniacs, and most surprisingly even draws from the Double Dragon crossover. Each track perfectly conveys the mood and tone of the game and the setting they are used in.
Overall Battletoads (2020) is a humorous, fun and challenging experience that fans of the series and the beat-em-up genre should not miss.
The game offers the player 3 difficulty options ranging from Tadpole, the game's easy mode which lets newer or less experienced players dip their toes into the world of Battletoads, Toad, the normal difficulty which provides a brisk and engaging challenge to most players, and Battletoad, the hard mode which evokes the original's brutal reputation. Each difficulty is well suited and balanced for their intended audiences with Tadpole being simple enough to breeze through in about 6 or 7 hours while the Battletoad difficulty takes the average player roughly 15 hours to grind through. Most of the game's difficulty is fair to the player, making the challenges hard, yet do-able with some practice. Levels will often give players a chance to learn about and adjust to whatever gimmick it revolves around before really forcing them to master it to get through the level.
Like most of the prior Battletoads games, gameplay is a mixed bag of various genres and styles that vary from level to level including the jet bike/sled races, puzzle platforming, shoot-em-ups, timing based mini-games, and of course the main beat-em-up sections. Each toad controls slightly different, enough to give each character a unique feel. Pimple is slower but hits a lot harder, Zits is speedier with a great combo game, and Rash is somewhere inbetween. Each character is designed to fit a preferred playstyle while never feeling like a chore to use if you preferred using a different toad. Some parts of the game were clearly designed with 3 player co-op in mind. While the game's design and mechanics usually do plenty to compensate for having just one or 2 players, it still becomes very noticeable. But this detail does draws attention to the game's single biggest flaw: it's baffling lack of online co-op, instead opting to focus on just local couch co-op. There are also a few stages that do get frustrating such as some of the later shoot-em-up stages which rapidly evolve into bullet hell, and especially Emergency Stations, a mini-game focused level which has so much stuff on the screen that it becomes very difficult just to tell what you're supposed to be doing most of the time. But these aside, the game shows that you don't have to be sadistic and frustrating to provide players with an engaging challenge.
As for the presentation, the Battletoads 2020 does a few things wrong, but a lot more things right. The game has a fun, colorful art style with creative character designs, wildly absurd animations, and some funny if sometimes intentionally cheesy dialogue that makes it feel like you're in the middle of an old Saturday morning cartoon. Though not everything about it is perfect. The standout example for the fans is the Dark Queen's redesign. While some fans immediately complained at they intentionally taking away the sex appeal of her old design, I feel the bigger problem is just how boring her new look is. And speaking of villains the game's new antagonists, the Topians, are dull and uninteresting additions with okayish designs, and completely uninteresting and unfunny personalities. The writing and humor itself can be hit/miss as a lot of the meta humor surrounding the Battletoads as irrelevant, washed up relics of the 90s completely fails to hit the mark The attempts at self aware humor at the ridiculousness of the Battletoads universe also fails to hit the mark, especially with how jarring it is after the Toads' recent appearances in other games where their absurdity is played completely straight and serious. But the best part about these drawbacks is that the bland and unfunny bits are really brief in comparison to the genuinely funny humor the game has to offer. The game's writing and story does a great job at fleshing out each toad as a unique and funny character with his own quirks and personality. Likewise, I also liked how the Dark Queen was fleshed out as a character, being cunning and manipulative, but also not quite so above the quirky heroes as she'd like to imagine she is. When the writing isn't making jokes at the expense of the series or focusing on the Topians, it mostly produces gold. On top of all of this we have the game's soundtrack which is phenomenal. The music is mostly rock songs including both original tracks and arrangements of iconic songs from previous Battletoads games, including the original, Battlemaniacs, and most surprisingly even draws from the Double Dragon crossover. Each track perfectly conveys the mood and tone of the game and the setting they are used in.
Overall Battletoads (2020) is a humorous, fun and challenging experience that fans of the series and the beat-em-up genre should not miss.
This was actually a ton of fun, really hope there is a sequel to this game.
Comedy and art-style just did not land with me with this one at all, feels like they tried to make an Adult Swim pilot that got rejected so they had to repurpose it for a game, it also feels like the gameplay didnt understand what people liked about the old Battletoads games as well
Beat-em up segments were serviceable but nothing memorable, shoot-em-up, bike, and Pimple platforming segments dragged and were not fun at all, maybe we will get a return to form reboot in another 30 years
1/10
Beat-em up segments were serviceable but nothing memorable, shoot-em-up, bike, and Pimple platforming segments dragged and were not fun at all, maybe we will get a return to form reboot in another 30 years
1/10
It was marketed to me as a really funny game. AI from 2016 would of written better jokes.
Somehow, a 2020 can't keep up with one that came out in 1994
this game sucks.
Played a bit with my dad and his friend because they were big fans of the original. Replicated the frustration of old Battletoads well.
Nunca joguei o jogo original mas me diverti bastante jogando esse aqui, ele é bastante desafiador e engraçado principalmente quando vc joga com os amigos
This game is absolutely atrocious! I won't waste my time telling you why. Just watch or play the last two acts and you'll understand. Not even the couch co-op could save it. Even the mini-games are dull as hell!
Everything is either VERY unbalanced or VERY boring. PLEASE, do not waste your time in it! I BEG you!
Everything is either VERY unbalanced or VERY boring. PLEASE, do not waste your time in it! I BEG you!
Uma renovação para este jogo classico. Lembro que joguei muito quando criança e era a fase da motinha dificil de passar.
Muito bom as piadas do jogo.
Muito bom as piadas do jogo.
O combate é medíocre e o jogo se resume a algumas telas de puzzle simples e telas de combate pequenas. Mas a animação e criatividade dos golpes são excelentes, e a história é muito engraçada. Vale a pena jogar só pra ver o que vai acontecendo. Me fez rir bastante, apesar de ser necessário certa paciência pra lidar com os momentos de combate. Talvez assistir a história no YouTube vale mais a pena.
que jogo ruim mané
The humor of the game is something inbetween juvinile and adult humor. It can be charming or cringe at times. The story is fine enough and the gameplay is like a classic fun beat em up. The main thing about this game is that it doesn't just stay a beat em up game. For some reason there's sections that randomly change into different game styles, mostly for the worse. It'll swtich from a bullet hell to a racing game to other mini games. It really halts the pace of the game because these sections go on for way too long. I played this co-op with a friend and we both were so tired of the really slow sections and forced ourselves to play the rest of the game. Overall, you'd get the same experience just watching the cutscenes instead of actually playing the game.
- 🐸 -
Fue mucho más sencillo de pasar que sus anteriores juegos.
Me fascino su estética, humor y arte.
Fuera de eso no me parece un juego demasiado bueno, pero si muy disfrutable por su forma de ser.
Fue mucho más sencillo de pasar que sus anteriores juegos.
Me fascino su estética, humor y arte.
Fuera de eso no me parece un juego demasiado bueno, pero si muy disfrutable por su forma de ser.
A sequel to Battletoads, this latest version starts off very promising. The graphics are lovely, with a wonderful cartoon look that fits the Battletoads extremely well. The game is divided into four acts with changes in gameplay, so I will go through each individually.
Battletoads 2020 starts off as you would expect from a Battletoads game: fighting. The morphing animations are great and creative, and the fighting as a whole is great. For the most part, act 1 is mainly these fighting segments with some entertaining interactive cutscenes and a hoverbike section.
Unlike the original battletoads, the hoverbike is fairly slow, dull and easy. It’s a pretty boring segment and the backwards perspective reduces the sense of speed. It’s not terrible, but considering the idea of a Turbo Tunnel is taken from a previous game, it’s a shame that the gameplay is much worse.
Act 2 again is mostly fighting, and a very entertaining chapter of Battletoads. The final level of this is like a Donkey Kong Country minecart right, and it fits in extremely well. You have to transform between three different forms for different surfaces, it’s fast and the controls feel extremely precise. It’s a brilliant level. Battletoads 2020 is great so far, but after this level you may as well stop playing.
In Act 3 the ‘Toads split up. The next level is a ship shooting level, a vertical scroller like Ikaruga. Except it’s extremely boring, and goes on for far too long. When this is done, it’s off to a platforming level, featuring simple puzzles. It looks a bit like Rayman Legends, and feels like a rejected Rayman Legends level.
If these levels were one-off, then they’d just be a couple of bad levels and a small thing to put up with. However, there are four of both types of these levels, which is almost the rest of the game. To top it off, there’s a level where you need to repair the ship.
This is a bit like Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, where you have to try and diffuse the bomb solving a bunch of small puzzles. In that, a second player has a manual to talk them through the bomb. In this, you mess around until it works. On top of that, it’s extremely difficult to see what part of the screen is active (all the parts are displayed at once, but you only work on one section at a time). It’s frustrating and just terribly designed.
After a long cutscene, it’s time for the final mission. It starts off in a fighting section on an elevator, which is extremely promising. After a short fight…it’s over. Then it’s time for another overly long jetbike scene. It doesn’t do anything new compared to the first. Then it’s the final boss (which is decent, but not worth going through the previous stuff) and a quick time event to finish.
It’s a massive shame that Battletoads 2020 gives up being a Battletoads game half way through it, as the fighting was really good fun and entertaining. The original Battletoads had some non-fighting levels, so why do they feel so out of place in the 2020 game?
I think it’s due to how they’re played. The sections in the original were still in the same perspective, with similar controls and felt like you were controlling the same character using a vehicle. In 2020, it instead feels like you’ve changed to a completely different game. On top of that, the repetition of these segments (especially act 3) and the almost complete lack of fighting in the second half of the game just makes you want to get back to the main game.
To reiterate my advice from before: play acts 1 and 2 as they’re great, then watch the cutscenes of the rest on YouTube as the rest of Battletoads 2020 is not fun at all.
Battletoads 2020 starts off as you would expect from a Battletoads game: fighting. The morphing animations are great and creative, and the fighting as a whole is great. For the most part, act 1 is mainly these fighting segments with some entertaining interactive cutscenes and a hoverbike section.
Unlike the original battletoads, the hoverbike is fairly slow, dull and easy. It’s a pretty boring segment and the backwards perspective reduces the sense of speed. It’s not terrible, but considering the idea of a Turbo Tunnel is taken from a previous game, it’s a shame that the gameplay is much worse.
Act 2 again is mostly fighting, and a very entertaining chapter of Battletoads. The final level of this is like a Donkey Kong Country minecart right, and it fits in extremely well. You have to transform between three different forms for different surfaces, it’s fast and the controls feel extremely precise. It’s a brilliant level. Battletoads 2020 is great so far, but after this level you may as well stop playing.
In Act 3 the ‘Toads split up. The next level is a ship shooting level, a vertical scroller like Ikaruga. Except it’s extremely boring, and goes on for far too long. When this is done, it’s off to a platforming level, featuring simple puzzles. It looks a bit like Rayman Legends, and feels like a rejected Rayman Legends level.
If these levels were one-off, then they’d just be a couple of bad levels and a small thing to put up with. However, there are four of both types of these levels, which is almost the rest of the game. To top it off, there’s a level where you need to repair the ship.
This is a bit like Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, where you have to try and diffuse the bomb solving a bunch of small puzzles. In that, a second player has a manual to talk them through the bomb. In this, you mess around until it works. On top of that, it’s extremely difficult to see what part of the screen is active (all the parts are displayed at once, but you only work on one section at a time). It’s frustrating and just terribly designed.
After a long cutscene, it’s time for the final mission. It starts off in a fighting section on an elevator, which is extremely promising. After a short fight…it’s over. Then it’s time for another overly long jetbike scene. It doesn’t do anything new compared to the first. Then it’s the final boss (which is decent, but not worth going through the previous stuff) and a quick time event to finish.
It’s a massive shame that Battletoads 2020 gives up being a Battletoads game half way through it, as the fighting was really good fun and entertaining. The original Battletoads had some non-fighting levels, so why do they feel so out of place in the 2020 game?
I think it’s due to how they’re played. The sections in the original were still in the same perspective, with similar controls and felt like you were controlling the same character using a vehicle. In 2020, it instead feels like you’ve changed to a completely different game. On top of that, the repetition of these segments (especially act 3) and the almost complete lack of fighting in the second half of the game just makes you want to get back to the main game.
To reiterate my advice from before: play acts 1 and 2 as they’re great, then watch the cutscenes of the rest on YouTube as the rest of Battletoads 2020 is not fun at all.
underrated game, if you ignore the bullshit cartoons
(para os BRHUEHUEHUEHE, eu gostei das piadinhas de sapo não lava o pé e sapo na lagoa.)
(para os BRHUEHUEHUEHE, eu gostei das piadinhas de sapo não lava o pé e sapo na lagoa.)
This is a great example of a game that is for absolutely no one.
It feels like shit to play compared to the games that came out three decades prior. It was written like a 1980's/1990's cartoon with a "how do you do fellow kids" reverence for millennial humor and it just....fucking sucks to listen to and play.
Like, it's fine. But it's a mess and not worth your time. This game should be studied in how simultaneously mediocre and unappealing it is.
It feels like shit to play compared to the games that came out three decades prior. It was written like a 1980's/1990's cartoon with a "how do you do fellow kids" reverence for millennial humor and it just....fucking sucks to listen to and play.
Like, it's fine. But it's a mess and not worth your time. This game should be studied in how simultaneously mediocre and unappealing it is.
well its battletoads.
the artstyle is fun but overall the game is hardly memorable and ranges from ok to terrible to play. writing was whatever
the artstyle is fun but overall the game is hardly memorable and ranges from ok to terrible to play. writing was whatever
Muy divertido y gracioso, lo jugué con un primo y la pasamos genial
i had so much fun in this game
It runs like ass in my PC but I can already say something: the artstyle, dialogues and charm is waaaaaaaay behind the original games.
People are tepid-at-best on this one? Man, I had a great time with it.
Playing this as my first foray into the series definitely felt like I was missing something. You can sorta infer what you missed through pop culture osmosis (I think most folks who pick up Battletoads these days will know what Turbo Tunnel is), but I know that a couple of the levels and remixes benefit from having experience with the NES game and knowing what a particular sequence is supposed to be referencing. Still, this had just come out, and a 3-player co-op game was perfect for my friends at Designing For and me to play on-stream (you can watch our playthrough here).
Battletoads is sort of a beat-em up. I mean, that's definitely the main hook, with the belt-scroller levels and the arenas and the big movesets with supers and such, but that's really only about half of what you're doing over the course of the game. Sometimes you're doing Turbo Tunnel, sometimes you're playing Toadshambo, sometimes you're participating in a decathlon... the game likes to switch things up, mostly because it can, and it's grown bored of whatever the hell else it was doing. Makes for a great party game, honestly, when it keeps you guessing on what it's gonna throw your way next.
And it's not pulling punches, either! When it's a platformer, it's kind of dickish. When it's Turbo Tunnel, it's unapologetically brutal. There's embarrassing footage of me screaming in unbridled fury at one point, grinding out a particular late-game sequence. I... sort of love the game for that? Please, by all means, make me work for it. You're a Battletoads, game, you have a reputation to uphold.
Dlala definitely had a ton of fun writing this, too. I think the art style - which I'm starting to see is Dlala's signature touch, first and foremost, if Disney Illusion Island is anything to go by - does a lot for these characters and this world. Yes, the Dark Queen is unrecognizably different, and yes, I'd probably miss the old design if I knew that one better. But I kinda like this take on her? Especially her being a bit older and kinda put-upon, surrounded by these three crazy brothers ("Are we brothers? We don't really talk about it!"). Surprised that my favorite takeaway character was Pimple and his comparative gentle calm, contrasted with Zitz and Rash-rash-rashrash. All are fun all the same (though I could've done without seeing Zitz in a diaper).
I dunno, if you have exactly two friends who are down to clown and a ton of time to grind stuff out, I kinda think this is a pretty great time. Try not to be disappointed when the game decides it doesn't want to be a dedicated beat-em up, and just enjoy the ride.
Playing this as my first foray into the series definitely felt like I was missing something. You can sorta infer what you missed through pop culture osmosis (I think most folks who pick up Battletoads these days will know what Turbo Tunnel is), but I know that a couple of the levels and remixes benefit from having experience with the NES game and knowing what a particular sequence is supposed to be referencing. Still, this had just come out, and a 3-player co-op game was perfect for my friends at Designing For and me to play on-stream (you can watch our playthrough here).
Battletoads is sort of a beat-em up. I mean, that's definitely the main hook, with the belt-scroller levels and the arenas and the big movesets with supers and such, but that's really only about half of what you're doing over the course of the game. Sometimes you're doing Turbo Tunnel, sometimes you're playing Toadshambo, sometimes you're participating in a decathlon... the game likes to switch things up, mostly because it can, and it's grown bored of whatever the hell else it was doing. Makes for a great party game, honestly, when it keeps you guessing on what it's gonna throw your way next.
And it's not pulling punches, either! When it's a platformer, it's kind of dickish. When it's Turbo Tunnel, it's unapologetically brutal. There's embarrassing footage of me screaming in unbridled fury at one point, grinding out a particular late-game sequence. I... sort of love the game for that? Please, by all means, make me work for it. You're a Battletoads, game, you have a reputation to uphold.
Dlala definitely had a ton of fun writing this, too. I think the art style - which I'm starting to see is Dlala's signature touch, first and foremost, if Disney Illusion Island is anything to go by - does a lot for these characters and this world. Yes, the Dark Queen is unrecognizably different, and yes, I'd probably miss the old design if I knew that one better. But I kinda like this take on her? Especially her being a bit older and kinda put-upon, surrounded by these three crazy brothers ("Are we brothers? We don't really talk about it!"). Surprised that my favorite takeaway character was Pimple and his comparative gentle calm, contrasted with Zitz and Rash-rash-rashrash. All are fun all the same (though I could've done without seeing Zitz in a diaper).
I dunno, if you have exactly two friends who are down to clown and a ton of time to grind stuff out, I kinda think this is a pretty great time. Try not to be disappointed when the game decides it doesn't want to be a dedicated beat-em up, and just enjoy the ride.
não sei se preferiria zerar essa porra de jogo de novo ou ser fuzilado em praça pública
This is not a Battletoads game. It's a crappy brawler with terrible mechanics coupled with bonus stages that frankly pale in comparison to the variety of stages in the original Battletoads games. Then there's the Cal-art style animation which looks like shit.
Very fun short game. I like the diversity in gameplay, the game is only 3-4 hours long and it was never boring.
Jogo divertido de apenas 3 horinhas, podia ter mais fases de Beat 'em up e menos de plataforma que são horríveis e arruína o momentum da gameplay.
Seré honesto, lo dejé de jugar porque me desesperó un poco pero al menos lo que sí jugué me divertí con mi hermano, la comedia me daba gracia y hubo un chiste de tétanos que me dio gracia, jaja
Bacaninha
I think the biggest problem about Battletoads is the total inability to stick to a style and do it well.
You have likeable characters, and a fun story and fun cutscenes, totally serviceable beat-em-up gameplay with colorful and fun cartoon animation, and then in every other level it turns into a completely different game, like a racing game, or a twin stick shooter. And these levels go on for WAAAAY too long. They seriously never end.
I want to like Battletoads, but this and its NES predecessor are the epitome of the saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none". There are far better games in each of the genres Battletoads wants to be. Do not waste your time with this game.
You have likeable characters, and a fun story and fun cutscenes, totally serviceable beat-em-up gameplay with colorful and fun cartoon animation, and then in every other level it turns into a completely different game, like a racing game, or a twin stick shooter. And these levels go on for WAAAAY too long. They seriously never end.
I want to like Battletoads, but this and its NES predecessor are the epitome of the saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none". There are far better games in each of the genres Battletoads wants to be. Do not waste your time with this game.
Uma grata surpresa, beat'em up clássico, com combate legal e história divertidinha. Jogo curto que passa voando