For those out of the loop, Battletoads is an old-school classic that turned into a franchise over the course of the 1990s. Developed by Rare originally and later worked on by various other studios, the franchise is making a return this August 20th.
Yep. That’s right. Rash, Zitz and Pimple are back. Designed to rival the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Battletoads IP is making its first appearance since way back in 1994 with Battletoads Arcade.
Speculation about a new Battletoads game has been rife over the last decade. Multiple teasers and hints from the Microsoft team suggested that a new edition of the game would be coming soon, especially after Rare ran a poll asking which games fans would like to see make a modern return.
In terms of the critical reception of the older games, they were widely considered to be an instant classic. On the other hand, the animated TV series follow-up was widely regarded as pretty terrible.
Rare is back for the 2020 release, as well as studio DLaLa who worked on the guts of the game. It brings back that intense Beat ‘Em Up action with hand-drawn 4k graphics which look like you’re playing an animated TV series.
Battletoads 2020 looks like a pretty chaotic game that tries hard to recapture the original magic of the 90s beat ’em ups. Three player couch co-op adds to that nostalgia of playing the game with your friends on the sofa and introduces a new generation to the experience.
Plenty of new game modes include 3 player races, platform runs and even a Bullet Hell section. This is no longer just a Beat ‘Em Up, but a multi-genre game that offers a lot of different fun activities.
Reception of the new game so far is fairly positive. The original Battletoads games were known for being quite difficult, especially the notorious Turbo Tunnel. The new Battletoads will have difficulty settings, but some reviewers have stated the game does retain some of that trickiness.
Whether or not the game will do well across its multi-genres is yet to be seen – DLaLa is known for working on another Beat ‘Em Up game, Overruled, so it seems reasonable to say that at least the original gameplay concept of Battletoads will be carried out well.
Battletoads 2020 is out this August 20th on Windows 10 and Xbox.