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.