 SNES DRUNK! Super Nintendo has battle toads. Two of them in fact battle toads and battle maniacs and battle toads and double dragon both released in 1993 will start with battle maniacs which came out first this game looks Sounds and feels like a proper Super Nintendo upgrade of the original NES battle toads game In fact, it looks like a remake when you just look at each level at a glance the first level looks pretty similar just with Darker colors although the boss is totally different Actually like the first boss in the NES game a lot more the second level you again traverse downward But this time on a floating saucer thing next is I guess the battle toads equivalent of sewer surfing from Turtles in Time where you Knock down pins, but don't hit the death pins. Okay after that once again. It's the turbo tunnel and it's every bit Is hard. This is one of my least favorite levels in any game ever. It's just ridiculous Anyway, all the levels are pretty similar like that with some differences here and there the obvious difference is that the Sprites are huge and the sound is reinforced so it sounds cool as hell when you boot the bejesus out of an enemy or ram them off the screen Yeah, that's pretty much the hook in a battle toads game the satisfaction you get from booting hammering or ramming an enemy It really looks awesome and surprisingly it doesn't really get old what does get old is that just like its NES predecessor? This game is hard as balls to continues no passwords and that's it Geez at least super ghouls and ghosts had unlimited continues and I don't have a problem with the levels like turbo tunnel and principle Just don't have it the third level of the game It takes forever to memorize the patterns here and after a while you begin to question whether or not it's worth it I will say the visuals and sound does make battle maniacs at least somewhat worth it The graphics here are tremendous and the soundtrack was composed by none other than David wise who you might know from the Donkey Kong Country series anyway, it's a tough call to know to recommend battle maniacs or not I really think I'd like it more if it were more of a beat em up But there's a lot more to this game than just beating up bad guys as you can see the beat them up levels are fine But the platforming stuff is frustrating for the wrong reasons because mostly you don't get enough chances at it for how difficult it is Battletoads and double dragon the ultimate team came out later in the year It's a port of the NES title and it also came out on Genesis and Game Boy. This is a little more like it There's a bit more beat em up action here But what I really like about battle toads and double dragon is that it really does a nice job Alternating level themes so to speak you'll start with a battle toad styled level followed by a 2d side scrolling double dragon level It keeps the game from getting dull and repetitive The graphics and sound are nice not quite in the same ballpark as battle maniacs, but they do get the job done just fine Anyway, I wish more franchises were able to combine like this particularly beat em ups because it works well in this genre We kind of saw it with alien versus predator. That was pretty cool But what about maybe a final fight game with playable characters from Street Fighter or maybe Knights of the Round meets King of Dragons Or a last action hero and cliffhanger mashup. Okay, maybe not that last one Anyway, there's five total characters to choose from Billy and Sid as well as for the first time all three battle toads One really strange thing I should point out about both of these games is that they each offer a player to a and b mode A where you can hit each other and be where you can't who in the hell would willingly choose mode a Wasn't that the biggest flaw in the original battle toads were if you played multiplayer You just kept hitting each other. Why would they deliberately bring it back as an option? You can choose so weird So yeah, if you play either of these games with a second player choose mode B One other odd thing about both of these games is that they stubbornly stuck with the original NES control scheme with B as Attack and A as Jump I understand going with the classic feel they're going for here But sticking with just the B and A buttons works a hundred times better on the original NES controller on the Super Nintendo controller You got to go Y for attack and B for jump It's just so much easier and more comfortable and more natural feeling So anyway, are either Super Nintendo battle toads games worth playing today? Yeah, they are. In fact, I like battle toads and double dragon a bit more because it's not as absurdly difficult It has more of a beat-em-up feel to it And because I like the alternating blend of battle toads and double dragon level design Battle maniacs is a kind of sort of remake of the NES battle toads for better and for worse So if you like the original you'll like that game better, but either way both are well made and worth checking out