Battletoads (GB, 1991)
Graphics-8 Sound-8.5 Control-7 Challenge-8.5 Story-5.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-9.5 Fun-6.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Great variety (mixes in a horizontal shoot 'em up level with a charge shot, a water scooter segment, a race segment, a vertical scrolling "climbing with a rope" segment, a jetpack segment - acceleration and deceleration here)
New levels/enemies/environments
Very good art direction
Background animation
Some large and detailed sprites
Over the top finisher moves (can knock an enemy into the sand and then kick its head here)
Decent cutscenes in-between levels
Pretty fast paced
Some multi-jointed sprites
Some good bosses (one with two phases, two with several parts to destroy)
Throws and running tackles
Some parallax scrolling
+/-
Pretty forgiving hit detection overall
No 2-player co-op mode
Respawn on the spot even after using a continue (with exceptions - levels 5 and 8)
Only 3 continues
You don't get to face the queen in this one
Short time limit in level 8
-
Difficulty spike in level 5 (die in one hit, no checkpoints, near constant screen shaking) and another one in level 7
Trial & error (blobs in level 6 kill in one hit, fast shoot 'em up segment, part of the water scooter segment, race level, boss patterns, etc.)
Kind of floaty movement in the beat 'em up segments (avatar takes a couple more steps after letting go of the d-pad)
Drawn out water scooter segment and easy fourth boss
Inconsistent how bosses do damage when you touch them while regular enemies don't (sometimes understandable though such as with the fourth boss)
Sometimes unforgiving hit detection (level 7)
Sometimes you'll have to wait for an enemy to come back on screen
No difficulty options
Some flicker
Can't skip the bootup logo screen (~10 seconds)
Level Design-7 Frustration-9.5 Fun-6.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Great variety (mixes in a horizontal shoot 'em up level with a charge shot, a water scooter segment, a race segment, a vertical scrolling "climbing with a rope" segment, a jetpack segment - acceleration and deceleration here)
New levels/enemies/environments
Very good art direction
Background animation
Some large and detailed sprites
Over the top finisher moves (can knock an enemy into the sand and then kick its head here)
Decent cutscenes in-between levels
Pretty fast paced
Some multi-jointed sprites
Some good bosses (one with two phases, two with several parts to destroy)
Throws and running tackles
Some parallax scrolling
+/-
Pretty forgiving hit detection overall
No 2-player co-op mode
Respawn on the spot even after using a continue (with exceptions - levels 5 and 8)
Only 3 continues
You don't get to face the queen in this one
Short time limit in level 8
-
Difficulty spike in level 5 (die in one hit, no checkpoints, near constant screen shaking) and another one in level 7
Trial & error (blobs in level 6 kill in one hit, fast shoot 'em up segment, part of the water scooter segment, race level, boss patterns, etc.)
Kind of floaty movement in the beat 'em up segments (avatar takes a couple more steps after letting go of the d-pad)
Drawn out water scooter segment and easy fourth boss
Inconsistent how bosses do damage when you touch them while regular enemies don't (sometimes understandable though such as with the fourth boss)
Sometimes unforgiving hit detection (level 7)
Sometimes you'll have to wait for an enemy to come back on screen
No difficulty options
Some flicker
Can't skip the bootup logo screen (~10 seconds)