Despite the fact that the game had a habit of constantly making the player cry in misery for even thinking they could take on the challenges within it, the original Battletoads was still a pretty good game among a sea of mediocre games from Rare for the NES (and trust me, there is PLENTY of mediocrity to be found there). So, just like with the property that they were trying to compete with, they thought they needed to create more products for the series as quickly as possible, and so, just a mere five months later, we got a brand new entry in the series for Game Boy. However, of course, because nothing back in the day could have any simple naming convention to, you know, MAKE SENSE, the game was just simply called “Battletoads”. It’s especially strange, because whenever the original Battletoads was ported to the Game Boy, it was renamed as “Battletoads in Ragnarok’s World”, and you would think that that would be the unique entry in the series for Game Boy, but again, that would only make too much sense.

One consistency that we have seen often when it comes to an NES franchise transitioning onto the Game Boy is that, for the most part, the gameplay remains practically identical to the console games, with not too many additions to make the game feel unique in comparison other than just being “the Game Boy one”. Thankfully, this game manages to break that trend, and it manages to be one of the better handheld transitions I have seen. With that being said, the game didn’t match the quality of the original game, but I would say it is pretty close, and that it is still good. Yes, it does have a lot of what plagued the original Battletoads, but it does fix some problems that does make it worth checking out, at least for a little bit.

The story is somewhat different, but it all still falls around “toads get kidnapped, go beat up The Dark Queen”, which is expected for this type of sequel, the graphics are Game Boy graphics, but the sprites are accurate to the original, so I will give it props for that at least, the music is pretty good for Game Boy music, the control is very good for the type of game it is, and the gameplay remains pretty faithful to the original title, while also shaking things up even more.

The game is still primarily a side-scrolling beat-’em-up, where you move from left to right of various stages, beat up a bunch of enemies in very creative ways (in terms of execution, not in terms of controls), pick up weapons and health along the way, and take out bosses. And keeping up with the spirit of the original Battletoads, the game does change up the gameplay in plenty of the stages, such as vehicle segments where you take control of ships, boats, and even a jetpack, and sections where you repel down a cliff while taking on plenty of threats along the way. Just like with the original game, it keeps things fresh, exciting, and unique, making you want to keep playing in order to see what new twist will be thrown at you.

Now, if you had a problem with how much bullshit difficulty was in the original game, I’m happy to inform you that this game is only SLIGHTLY less difficult then the original game, but it does feel as if it makes a big difference. Sure, there are plenty of moments that can be pretty frustrating (which we will touch upon later), but for the most part, it doesn’t feel as brutally punishing as the original game, while also making sure to not give the player too much of an easy time. This is also aided by giving you plenty of lives and continues, allowing you to respawn right where you are whenever you get a game over instead of sending you to the beginning of the stage (thank FUCK for that), and at least this time, none of the gameplay segments didn’t make me use an exploit to beat them, so that’s good.

Of course though, there is still those bullshit moments and sections that did give me a pretty hard time as I was playing. For example, in the stage right before the final boss, you have to shoot up all the way to the top of the section while using the jetpack that I mentioned earlier. However, you only have 99 seconds to do so, and while that seems like plenty of time, it is quite possibly one of the most strict time limits that I have seen in a video game, where you have to get through this section ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY in order to get pass the segment. Sure, the high difficulty is appropriate, but they could have at least allowed a slight margin of error, rather then none at all. And not to mention, there are also those stages that are hard to traverse through because of what they try to do, such as in Stage 8, where there are 3D spinning platforms that work just about as well as you would expect for a Game Boy game.

Aside from those instances of difficulty, the other problems that I would have with the game is the wonky floor detection, as well as the lack of co-op, but that is to be expected with a Game Boy game. Honestly though, I ended up having a better time then I was expecting to have with this game. Since it was a Game Boy game, and how it was released so soon after the original, I was expecting it to be half-assed, and have a lot more unfair moments to take on, but thankfully, that wasn’t entirely the case, and I would say, if you were a fan of the original Battletoads, then I would definitely say that you should check this game out. That is, again, if you are ready for it.

Overall, despite still carrying some of the same issues as the original, Battletoads on the Game Boy is still an alright time, and it shows that the series could work well on a handheld system. I would consider it a worthy follow-up as well, despite not changing too much up compared to the original game. Let’s just hope there isn’t a third game that comes out that completely butchers all of this. Boy, wouldn’t that be a shame?

Game #230