Battletoads & Double Dragon

[Melf]

See, I knew that if we looked hard enough we'd find a Double Dragon game on the Genesis that's worth playing. It took the addition of the three Battletoads, but I think we might have a winner here. Tradewest's aptly named Battletoads & Double Dragon pits the three action-loving amphibians and Billy and Jimmy Lee against the powerful team of the Dark Queen and the Shadow Boss. We've got five good guys here, so one of them is bound to win, but why don't you read our full review (http://www.sega-16.com/2007/06/battletoads-double-dragon/) to see how it all pans out?

[Joe Redifer]

Man, I don't think I've ever played this game. Probably because my eyes passed right over the box art... the red GENESIS stripe totally destroys it! Is it a paper box game? Also, are the jump and attack buttons flipped with no way to correct them like Genesis Battletoads?

[The Sports Guy]

No it is not a paper box game, and YES it is probably the best side scroller fighting game for the genesis. OMG do i love this game, and I would definately put this in my top 5 games for the genesis. I dont remember if they are "flipped" or not, but i do remember that i did not enjoy battletoads as much as BT/DD. What a game! Even though every character basically plays the same, this game is just so much fun to go through. and it isnt insanely difficult like BT was. I could go on forever about this game. I for one LOVED the red stripe. I liked the early genesis box things too (black checker, just like sonic 2).

[VinnyT]

Wow, THAT went up quick.

[Dartagnan1083]

I personally hate the game.
-There's no real distinguishing characteristics of any of the characters
-The levels are boring
-The gameplay is boring
-It gets real repetitive real fast

Calling it the best brawler on the Genny is a crime against god,
but that's just my opinion

[108 Stars]

No it is not a paper box game, and YES it is probably the best side scroller fighting game for the genesis. OMG do i love this game, and I would definately put this in my top 5 games for the genesis.

You must be kidding, right?
The game can be kind of fun, agreed, but it´s so damn simplistic. Every Streets of Rage offers more gameplay-value than this.
And: The graphics are pretty bad. They look more like the NES-version than the SNES-port imho. So if you´re looking for a descent version, better play the SNES-port; it still looks retarded, but not THAT retarded.

[Alianger]

It was an alright review but needed some better "flow" in the text. I kept stopping to read some sentences over because I didn't get what you meant, like this one:
"The title screen blends well, along with the character selection screen, which was just a surreal experience that still slightly lingers to this day."

I like this game because it has some interesting level designs, but it kind of feels like they took the 8-bit version, beefed up the gfx/sound to (barely) 16-bit standards and put the package in a genesis cart.
After growing up with Streets of Rage, TMNT, previous Battletoads games.. etc., it was an underwhelming experience.

Also I didn't think the blues rock soundtrack fit in well with the sci-fi setting but I know that's how the battletoads games were as well.

[McTom]

why wasn't this game released in Europe?

[VinnyT]

Looking at this now, it's probably going to have some rewrites.

[Alianger]

why wasn't this game released in Europe?

It wasn't good enough.

[McTom]

It wasn't good enough.

If that was a true argument a lot of games shouldn't have been released in Europe. :P

[j_factor]

I liked this game for the most part, but level 4 sucked ass. Majorly. The rest of it was pretty fun. Incidentally, unlike trekbone, I found this one to be more difficult than the original Battletoads.

Also, I highly disagree that the SNES version was better. The SNES version has less responsive controls, and is much less forgiving. And while the sprites are bigger, all the stuff that moves in the Genesis version is completely static on SNES. The SNES version is missing the background-color-changing effect in level 2 (or was it level 3?). And the music is better on Genesis.

[Mega_Drive_Kid]

Great game but I found it kind of hard, but it's a great way to combine two games together. Great graphics, great levels, great music. This game was really good.

Good review!

[j_factor]

Just to note, there is no ampersand (&) in the title of this game. It's called Battletoads Double Dragon.

[108 Stars]

Just to note, there is no ampersand (&) in the title of this game. It's called Battletoads Double Dragon.

That´s just because the guys at Tradewest were unable to draw such a filigran symbol. The gfx in-game prove that.

[Drixxel]

I liked this game for the most part, but level 4 sucked ass. Majorly. The rest of it was pretty fun. Incidentally, unlike trekbone, I found this one to be more difficult than the original Battletoads.

Also, I highly disagree that the SNES version was better. The SNES version has less responsive controls, and is much less forgiving. And while the sprites are bigger, all the stuff that moves in the Genesis version is completely static on SNES. The SNES version is missing the background-color-changing effect in level 2 (or was it level 3?). And the music is better on Genesis.

SNES BT/DD is somewhat of a punishing game.. cheap enemy attacks aplenty. I prefer the more detailed backgrounds of SNES BT/DD compared to the greater animation in the backgrounds of Genesis BT/DD, but the ol' Genesis release has superior control as far as smoothness of combat is concerned, making it the more playable of the two. It's a solid brawler on any platform.

..but if we're going to nitpick the graphics, it's always bothered me slightly how the sprites fail to go behind the background when walking over particular slopes of the first stage Ratship. That, and the bizarre pig faced drawings for Billy and Jimmy Lee in the Genesis' character selection screen are outright hideous.

[outrunner]

Who thought technos said here is the rights make a game and give us a cut to rare?I did?
_______________
New Clayfighter
Please!

[The Sports Guy]

well i know its not EVERYONES favorite brawler.. but its my favorite, because at least in BTDD, you can hop on those ships and fight the guys, rather than fighting 10 waves of generic bad guys and then 1 boss over and over again for 10 levels lke in SOR. The only level that was repetetive verbatim was the one with the elevator near the end. Other than that, its 5 minutes of fighting THE SAME GUYS THE ENTIRE GAME, then a boss. I really liked BTDD because it was fresh and inspired me to care about the story, even if it was hokey. Has anyone ever played super double dragon for SNES? That game is the tough one that i am trying to get into lately.

[Genesis Knight]

I don't think I've ever seen a Battletoads game I liked.

[StarMist]

This game's a waste of two solid franchises. There's next to nothing of the DD identity and although the BT have their mechanical traits their identifying lv diversity has been chopped down. The speedbike lv blows. The bosses are jokes, in the Dark Queen's case one that goes on so long it grows painful. The running controls are imperfect = #1 cause of death, and if those burner traps on the rocket ship weren't irritating enough dismounting ladders is a bitch--plus I once accidentally raced up one, no idea how but that obviously got me fried. The rope descents in stage 3 are dodgy.
4-1, the Asteroids lv, is pure crap. It's followed by a mongoloid shmup finale that just drags and drags and drags.
Stages 1 and 2 are madly dull; few sections are really good. 3 is the game's highlight.

Cheap cash-in with the foreseeable results: 4/10.