365//365: Day 155 – Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (SNES)

The original Battletoads on the NES was a game that I rarely saw past the third level of without a full set of three Game Genie codes. While the game is a blast to play, the game was just absurdly difficult, thanks in part to a lot of platforming and control issues. Playing with a friend meant an even more difficult experience, as you can hurt each other quite easily. Fun game, but boy did it succeed in pissing you off. After a brief, not to mention odd pairing between the Battletoads gang with Billy and Jimmy Lee of Double Dragon, a Super Nintendo stand alone Battletoads game was released, titled Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. I have had no previous experience playing this particular title, so this is all new to me….or is it really?

This is actually a lot easier than it looks, even when you start free falling down at high speeds.

Let me address the difficulty right off the bat — it’s a challenging game indeed. Early pig enemies are often able to belly flop into you before you can either reach them or hit them. Although you have an attack to take out enemies that are both to the left and right sides of you, there’s more of a chance that they will hit you before you hit them, halting your attack. However, the annoyances that killed me constantly, like the infamous third stage of Battletoads (you needed robotic ninja reflexes towards the end, and robotic ninja superhero reflexes to catch the warp without dying), are not here. There’s a part at the end of the second stage where you start to drop incredibly fast, and you need to navigate through an insanely small path, surrounded by spikes. If you remember the seaweed section in TMNT for the NES, you should know exactly how little room for error there is, and while it’s a ton easier than that seaweed section, it’s a thrilling nail biter. Hell, as long as you recognize when to jump, the speed bike third level in this game is a lot easier on you.

Now that I think about it, I’m staring to get some deja vu here. The second stage is a vertical drop stage like Battletoads on the NES, but on the Super Nintendo, I’m on a hover disc of sorts, whereas it’s a chord in the NES version that I am dropping down with. They both feature flying enemies, enemies that electrocute you, long necked beast like enemies, as well as dodging things that go from left to right towards the end of the stage. What’s this? a Speeder Bike type stage as well, where I have to dodge and jump walls? Is this a sequel, or a remake? Even still, the difficulty isn’t that oppressive, thanks to a not so random pattern. The next stage contains those snake platforms from the first game, although the previous level felt shorter than the first Battletoads game.

The boost from 8 to 16 bit really helps convey your finishing attacks in a more detailed way.

I had absolutely no idea coming into this one that both titles are this similar. Some reviews I want to come into with a fresh perspective and little or no knowledge of what I am getting into, as is the case with Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. The first stage was 100% different, but after that, similarities are abound everywhere. The difference with the visual side (great looking characters, colorful, well done backgrounds) controls (feels a bit tighter, more responsive) and game length (that extremely annoying last stage where you have to climb to the top of the tower is gone and stages in general are shortened), coupled with the lessened difficulty make this game more enjoyable than the NES version. In fact, it’s a better time all around than the first Battletoads. It’s not a straight remake, as there are some omissions in Battlemaniacs and some stages are shortened.

If you want a good challenge that’s not as brutal, that has a bit of replay value to it, hunt down a copy of Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. You can consider Battlemaniacs as the bike ride, while Battletoads is the unicycle ride. Both take practice to get your bearings, while the latter is something that will make you fall flat on your face more often, before you can get your balance going.

Oh God no!

Rating: 7.4