Lost Classics: Battletoads and Double Dragon (NES, Game Boy, SNES, Sega Genesis)

I love a good crossover as much as the next man, but things have been getting way, way, way out of hand lately. Come on now, Solid Snake in Smash Brothers Brawl? Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe? Yoda, Darth Vader, and that guy from The Force Unleashed in SoulCalibur 4? Capcom vs Tatsunoko? X-men and, well, any character from the Top Cow universe? As exciting as many of these either are or could be, this is border lining on ridiculous. Of course zany crossovers are nothing new, especially in gaming. One of them was this beat-em-up classic, which paired together Rare’s Battletoads with Technos Japan’s Lee brothers. Besides the fact that both franchises had home games which were at one time published by Tradewest (who published this game), there was no real connection between the two. Beside a few key flaws here and these, this is mindless beat-em-up fun.

Tired of getting her rear end handed to her, the Battletoad’s nemesis the Dark Queen teams up with the Shadow Boss, who is the nemesis to the Double Dragons. So naturally, Professor T-Bird and the Batletoads (Zitz, Pimple, and Rash) forge an alliance with Billy and Jimmy Lee. Players will take one (or two if playing co-op) of the 5 warriors throughout the game’s seven stages, bashing various Double Dragon and Battletoads villains. Technos Japan had very little involvement with the development of this game, so basically this is a Battletoads game with Double Dragon characters, even though it’s a little easier than previous Battletoads games. Although Battletoads & Double Dragon has the classic ‘speeder bike’ stage, it isn’t nearly as difficult as it was in the past. Unfortunately, the asinine continue system from past Battletoads games is all too present here as well. Both players share continues, and when one player has to use a continue, both players start back at the beginning of the level. This can make co-op play needlessly grueling, as a lousy player can hold back a good player. Even with that flaw, the game still shines with it’s wacky sense of humor (the comical expressions shown by the heroes and enemies are priceless), cool music, and unique character designs.

Much like X-men vs Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe after it, Battletoads and Double Dragon is a team up you’d never thought you’d see. Even with its problems, fans of both games will enjoy this classic beat-em-up. Of course there is no telling if and when this will be hitting the Wii Virtual Console, especially with Rare being owned by Microsoft.