However, this game is one of the hardest games ever created by Nintendo and Tradewest. This will test your gaming skills, make you cry, break your controllers, and leave you at the edge of insanity. Now, I will review this to help you tame the beast that is Battletoads in Battlemaniacs.
Plot. The Battletoads pay a visit to Professor T-Bird at Gyachung-La Fortress in Northern Tibet, where the company Psicone Corporation is demoing their newest virtual reality game system, TRIPS. Suddenly, a pig lackey working for the Dark Queen and her partner Silas Volkmire, comes out of the system and captures Michiko Tashoku (daughter of the Psicone Corporation's CEO, Yuriko Tashoku) and Zitz, after a failed attempt to save her. Now, Pimple and Rash must make chase into the Gamescape, rescue the two captives, and defeat the Dark Queen and Silas Volkmire to stop them from taking over the world.
Concept. The purpose of the game is to guide the Battletoads through six stages and defeat the Dark Queen. After defeating the Dark Queen, the ending of the game is determined of whether shooting down Silas Volkmire, and if you miss three times, he will escape, and the ending will be bad. But if you manage to shoot him down, the ending will be good.
Design. The artistic style of the game is very cartoony. It seems that though popular as it was, it did not get the same respect as Double Dragon. The game's graphics are a top-notch, rendered in sprites and the perspective of every stage is very well made. They did a good job for that.
History. Battletoads began in 1991, released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Arcade, Sega Genesis, Game Gear and Game Boy. The game was highly successful, and people were longing for a sequel. Their wishes came true in 1993, when Battletoads in Battlemaniacs was released for the SNES, then in 1994 on the Sega Genesis. The game series was popular, that it even had an animated show but unfortunately, it had one episode. Battletoads had a crossover with the Double Dragon series, featuring the Lee brothers and the Battletoads fighting against the Dark Queen and the Shadow Master, the game was titled "Battletoads & Double Dragon". Super Battletoads was released on the Arcade. But then after that, the game series faded into obscurity.
Rantings. The game is very hard for two stages that I truly hated: the Turbo Tunnel stage, when you get to the final part, you just go extremely fast, and ride up and down dodging the walls. If you smack into the walls, then you must start from the last checkpoint. The other stage I hate, is the mines, where you are chased by this big mouse with a saw cart, if he gets you, he'll split you in two. I truly hated those two stages.
Good Aspects. The storyline is good, and the gameplay is ok. What I truly like of the coup de grâce on enemies, was that the punches and kicks appeared as iron, spiked and army boots. I liked playing with Rash the most because he was fast, and much quicker than Pimple. Though Pimple is slow, he is very strong, and his awesome fists do the work.
Overall. Though the game is long forgotten I still love it. And I truly wish that it would be on the Wii Virtual Console, but that is not yet known. This game gets a 6 out of 10.