"The last Battletoads game with any effort put into it."

Battletoads was released in 1991 by Rare, and was published by Tradewest. in this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles spoof, you play as Zitz, a Battletoad who has to rescue his cohorts Pimple and Rash from the evil Dark Queen.

Graphics: 7/10- The graphics, while not mind-blowing at all, do a mighty good job for the black & white Game Boy. The foregrounds and backgrounds have nice detail packed into them, and some cool touches like the clouds scrolling in one of the early levels help out.
Perhaps the best thing about this game, though, is the animation. When your Toad goes to do a ''finishing move'', so to speak, one of their extremities--a hand or foot--swells to gigantic proportions, adding to the spoof element of the game. Your death animations can also be quite funny, particularly getting flattened into a BattlePancake.

Sound: 8/10- The soundtrack is likewise pretty darn good. The songs in this game ''groove'' quite a bit more than in the NES game, particularly due to their almost rappish sound. This is especially true in the early part of the game. While they don't really fit whatever area you happen to be in, you might be too busy grooving to really care.
The sound effects, unfortunately, are not as good, and certain ones, such as being flattened, are downright irritating. Hearing the sound of your gun firing hundreds of times while fighting level 2's boss is also not very pleasing to the ear.

Control: 6/10- Erk! The control isn't too bad, but it's not up to typical Rare standards. The hit detection is a tad off, and of course this never really works in your favor. More often than not it leads to cheap deaths. Zitz himself controls pretty well, though it can sometimes be hard to get him to run, which you need to do to make some long jumps. There are many different things to do in this game, but the control never really feels great on any of them. While I've controlled worse, the game is hard enough without these various control problems.

Gameplay: 8/10- As touched upon in the previous section, the gameplay in this game is quite varied. For instance, in one level it seems to be a basic side-scrolling beat-em-up. in another level, however, you're on Jet-Skis, while a third level has you running away from a brainlike boulder a la Indiana Jones. The fact that each level is different helps the game quite a bit, as it insures that the game rarely gets tedius.
Should you manage to beat a level, you get words of motivation from your captain, Professor T. Bird, followed by a taunt from the boss of the upcoming level which usually features alliteration (''Wump the Wicked Wurm!''). These are amusing and a welcome break from the action; However, it's the same comments every time through the game. As such, these breaks can become monotonous themselves.
Another thing to note is that this is a 1-player only game. And you never really hear about Pimple or Rash outside of the instruction manual--perhaps they should've just called the game ''Battletoad''.

Story: N/A/10- I don't even know, to be honest. but based on the first Battletoads game for the NES, I'm going to venture a guess that Pimple and Rash, having not learned a thing about how Pimple got himself and Princess Angelica captured by the Dark Queen the first time, take a spin in the Toadster. While out, their little spacecar gets gobbled up by the Dark Queen's Gargantua Spaceship. Zitz, ''Toad Tactician'' and evidently the only smart one in the group, stays behind on the Toads' Headquarters, the Ship-Shaped-Like-A-Bird-Head (I forget what it's called). As such, it's now his job to go rescue the other two Battlemorons and defeat the Dark Queen.

Challenge: 10/10- People like to complain and moan about the NES Battletoads game is so hard. Let me tell you something. This game is even harder. I don't know whether it's the poor hit detection, the fact that you get twelve lives total to try and beat the game (3 Lives and 3 continues), or that it's actually a legitimate challenge, but nonetheless, I can only get to level 6 of 9. The hardest Game Boy game ever? Possibly.

Replay Value: 6/10- Yeah, it's a tough game, so you'll keep coming back to it, hoping to get just a little farther this time than you did the last time. Unfortunately, the insane challenge and subpar hit detection will remind you of why you couldn't beat the game in the first place. how much you'll play it depends partly on your will to beat games, and partly on your threshold for frustrating games, I guess.

Overall: 7/10- What does this game succeed in doing? It succeeds in providing a diverse action gaming experience, as well as providing a big-time challenge for expert gamers.
What does this game fail to do? It generally fails to live up to the original NES Battletoads, besides specifically failing in the control department, particularly in the hit detection area.
Should this game be purchased? If you can find it cheap, then yes. However, I would recommend you stay away if you don't like action games, diverse levels, or both, and I definitely wouldn't buy it expecting a game as good as the original Battletoads. If you do that, you will be disappointed .

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/23/01, Updated 08/23/01