Battletoads (Game Boy)

Nintendo console exclusive

Battletoads for the Game Boy (not to be confused with Battletoads in Ragnarok's World, which is a port of the NES game) is the second game in the Battletoads series.

Released: 1991
Platforms: Game Boy Windows
Genres: Action Beat 'em up Science
Developers: Rare Ltd.
Publishers: —
Series: Battletoads
Modes: Co-op Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action Science fiction Comedy
Country: United Kingdom
Composers: David Wise

About

Battletoads is a 1991 action game originally released by Rare in 1991 exclusively for the Nintendo Game Boy. Despite having the same title as the original Battletoads game, Battletoads for Game Boy is a completely different game with unique levels. It was never ported to any other systems. A more faithful port of the NES game for the Game Boy was released later, in 1993 as Battletoads in Ragnarok's World.

›Story

While partying on Lost Vega, a deep-space leisure station, the three Battletoads - Zitz, Rash and Pimple, get pleasantly side-tracked by a Thallian Thorax Dancer. Unfortunately, the dancer isn't what she appears to be - and soon reveals herself as the evil Dark Queen!

The 'toads fight valiantly against overwhelming odds, but are eventually overpowered. Yet, all is not lost! Although Rash and Pimple are taken prisoner, Zitz makes it to the Toadster and burns space back to the Vulture and Professor T. Bird, the Battletoads' mentor. Rash and Pimple are taken away in the Gargantua to the planet Armagedda, but luckily Zitz and the Professor are hot on their trail...

So there's the situation, Zitz: the Dark Queen's 'toadnapped your best buddies - what're ya gonna do about it? You're gonna get real MAD, that's what you're gonna do - and then you're gonna get EVEN!

Professor Bird's gonna set you down on Armagedda, but from then on it's up to you. You've got a long way to go, Zitz - into caverns, across swamps and even through the belly of the dreaded Wurm. And ultimately, of course, you're gonna have to defeat the terrible, the towering, the truly 'toadsplatting Robo-Manus mutant!

Have you got what it takes to be a bona-fide Battletoad? We'll soon see, one way or another...

Keywords

side-scrolling

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game is single-player only. The player controls Zitz, and is given three lives and three continues to complete the game, after which they must start over. The gameplay is a mix of side-scrolling fighting and various vehicle races, consisting of eight stages. As with the original Battletoads, the Game Boy game is known to be difficult to beat, requiring fast reflexes, memorization of obstacles, and patience. This is also one of the two Battletoads games in which the player does not have to confront the Dark Queen herself, although she still taunts the player in cutscenes before the levels in a similar fashion to other games in the series.

The game sees Zitz travel to the planet Armageddon to rescue fellow Battletoads Rash and Pimple, who have been captured by the Dark Queen's lackey Robo-Manus, who serves as the final boss. Zitz's mission begins on Armagedda's surface, where Psyko-Pigs and rat-piloted UFOs roam about to destroy intruders. When fighting them, Zitz is capable of unleashing powerful finishing combos. In the second stage, Zitz must pilot a speeder bike through a deadly obstacle course.