Rash, Pimple and Zitz are turning 30 and are celebrating a grandiose anniversary in Battletoads. Happy Birthday!
It has been three decades since the Battletoads first saw the light of day in the video game world. Created in 1991 by Rare, the series was initially planned as a competitor to the then successful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games.
Initially only notorious for their high level of difficulty – levels like the Turbo Tunnel leave gamers in despair to this day – a kind of cult developed around the game.
Numerous offshoots of the series followed for a wide variety of systems, including a cross-over with the well-known Double Dragon series. The toasty trio even received an animated series that was supposed to serve as a prequel to the games, but didn’t make it past a VHS release in 1994. After that it became very quiet around the three toads.
It wasn’t until 2010 that there was another sign of life when Game Informer magazine listed the Battletoads in a top 10 game franchises that deserved a remake. In 2012 Forbes magazine included the series in a “Five Video Game Frames That Must Be Resurrected from the Dead” list.
A sequel announced for the Gameboy Advance was canceled very quickly. In 2018 Microsoft and DLaLa Studios finally announced a new Battletoad during the Xbox E3 showcase. In August 2020 the time had come: Battletoads was back! After 26 years you were finally able to enter nasty pig snouts with oversized sneakers and of course there was a homage to the turbo tunnel.
Thank you Rash, Pimple and Zitz and a happy thirtieth birthday!
What memories do you have of the Battletoads?
