You've heard it all before. I wasn't too sure to believe that this was seriously "a really hard NES game". I saw the speedruns pn YouTube-- they made the game look like cake. Well, it's not, so I'm giving a brief review on this game, and how hard it is, even with an emulator and save states:

Stage 1 (Canyon)

- The only even remotely easy stage in the game

Stage 2 (Pit)

- I have to admit, the NES port made this level a lot harder than the Genesis one. But, if your reflexes are above average, it's not that bad.

Stage 3 (Tunnel)

- Halfway through the stage, you start riding some sort of hoverbike-thingy. This was the stage that made so many people scream. When I first played this one, it seemed really hard, but later on, it only gets worse. This level also introduces those horrible space-invader things that actually STEAL your health units.

Stage 4 (Ice Cave)

- "Here we go!", I thought, "a nice platformer stage". But it was anything but easy. You have to beware of spiked balls, sliding ice cubes, and snowballs that are all out to get you. Also, the snowmen are a real pain. I wasn't too slow to figure out that the piles of snow on the ground were meant for chucking at the ice-fiends, but the problem is, when you try to throw a snowball at a snowman, you'll probably end up getting hit anyways, so it's almost better to just dodge.

Stage 5 (River)

- Once again, I was duped into thinking this would be a good break from the hardships of the last few stages. I was wrong again. You see, I kept on "smashing logs" that were rolling through the river. I wondered why the game would only let me do this once and I'd die if I tried to do it again. I suddenly caught on and realized that it damages you if you destroy a log-- it sure didn't do a good job of letting me know that. So now, I realize I can't touch the logs, or else I'll die! It took me a few thirty-something tries to get past the log section, but after that, the level wasn't too hard.

Stage 6 (Snake Pit)

- This level started out easy, once I figured out how to handle the snakes. The problem is, that later on in the level, the snakes started going really fast, and with that, you've got to dodge the spikes. Another problem was that if you made even one wrong move, you'd either fall to your froggy death or have to end up right at the entrance of the room.

Stage 7 (Fire Cave)

- What really ticked me off about this level were the JUMPS. When you jump across a gap of water, you have to be really good, because even if you did touch the other side, if you're not far enough, you'll die anyways. Another problem was that while jet-riding section wasn't really that bad, it was just WAY TOO LONG. I mean, I'm 3 minutes into the cruise and now the screen's going so fast I'm getting a freakin' headache!

Stage 8 (Elevator)

- It's not even an elevator. You've got to CLIMB all of the way up the shaft, and the screen only scrolls UP on this one, so if you fall off one of the platforms, you die (as you probably would in real life). And when you get to the top, what is there to reward you? A 1up? Some flies? Some variety in the stage? Princess Angelica? No, we have to fight ROBO-MANUS, the hardest boss in the game, yet! If he touches you, even if he's in mid-air, you're squished and lose a life. The only good thing about this level was the music and the fact that there were TWO 1ups placed in plain sight.

Stage 9 (Water Tunnels)

- Okay, so when you swim, you're slower, right? Well, being chased by some fish, sharks, and giant metal wheels doesn't make it any easier. It's almost funny, because the first time I saw one of those rubber-duck monsters, innocently floating around in the water, I thought it was some sort of vehicle or powerup, to help me. But no, that'd be WAY too convenient. It lashes out its FANGS and kills me in one hit. This is a brass-knuckled, mutant toad who previously fought with a massive, cybernetic warrior, and prior, went through 8 stages of "HELL: THE VIDEO GAME", and he gets killed by a RUBBER DUCKIE?? It was actually a bit funny!'

Stage 10 (The Gargantua)

- It started out really easy. Just make sure you get to the bomb before the rat does. Then, by the third rat, things were really difficult, you had to make sure not to make ONE wrong move, or else you'd be dead for sure. The boss wasn't very nice, either-- you apparently can only strike him when he's facing left, or else you somehow get stuck and he continues to clober you with no mercy. But, once I found out the pattern, he was breakfast bacon, and I was on to the next stage.

Stage 11 (Clinger-Winger)

- So I continued my venture through the Gargantua. Now, I had to ride this gigantic unicycle through a maze while being chased by a large pink ball of light. I'm not sure what it was supposed to be or what its significance in the storyline was. But, it's very hard to avoid this thing, as easy as it LOOKS. The WORST part, however, is how long the bo

I loved this game ohhh so much

I'm an above average gamer but I agree - Battle Toads is TOUGH! And unlike most beat 'em ups it is even harder with two players. This was the first and only game that I actually phoned the Nintendo hints and tips hotline for help with.

The problem for me was those bloody speeder bikes on Level three. Doing that with two players is next to impossible. And once you pass that stage the rest of the game just gets harder and harder- but at least it does so by increments. The difference in difficulty from Level one to Level three is a joke.

Yeah man. Way too hard.
I played that game until about stage 4 before I gave up and threw it out the window.

Should this be on my worst game episodes that I might put on MySpace?

It's not so much that it's bad, just that Stage3 was unbelievably difficult - Stupidly difficut. That's why they put a warp on that stage...But you still had to get pretty damn far along the speeder bike section to get there.

the courses and obstacles are hard but definitely enjoyable love it

Can I ask? Did you play the NES, Genesis or an emulator vesrion? The NES one was so hard mainly because you couldn't save your game. Did the Genesis version have a save or password feature?

Nope, emulator version. But if it's hard even when you can save, it must be REALLY REALLY REALLY bad on a normal console...

No, you couldn't save on the Genesis version.

Yeah on NES it was freakin' hard. Thats why they had all the warps everywhere - it was the only way you could play the game from beginning to end in one sitting!

Yeah, I actually found them all, but I chose not to enter them, because I wanted to play from start to finish.



Sure-- but make sure it's the bad control and the difficulty that you criticize! Aside from that, it's actually a pretty good game.

Yeah, if you can save it you don't need to use warps. I finished the game twice but only because I used the warps. When I ignored them to play through all the stages I never finished the game.

If I remember correctly (I haven't played teh game in nearly 15 years!), there was a cheat where you start with two players and if you kind of combo-juggled the enemy they would drop several 1Ups. Then you kill player two before the speeder bike section :D

That game is hard as hell. I have never beat it, even after 15 years of playing.

It's the speeder bikes, right? Stupid shoddy collision detection! Getting past that stage is a matter of luck - after that the skill comes in to play.

well i guess a game like fester's quest can relate to that. and i'm not just saying that because the avgn recently did a review on it, but i also used to have that piece of crap during my childhood. and i didn't even have enough game experience to beat super mario bros when i still had that game

And I thought Ghosts and Goblins was the hardest!

It was one of my greatest achievements beating that game from start to finish without using the warps (even though I used the 5 lives code). I found the warp in the 3rd stage by accident because I should've died there. I tried beating the game with my brother and we could only get to the airplane level together (he kept dying in the last part).

I heard that that was actually a glitch in the game. If one player missed a platform he just had to lose all his lives so that the other player could move ahead. Well done on finishing the game with no warps though :D

Wow, congratulations on beating the game! :cool:
Quick question though, anyone have any advice on getting through Level 9? (Terra Tubes) I hate that level to death, those stupid giant gears keep killing me...and the fact that my Genesis "C" (jump) button is extremely loose doesn't help...