Games To Try Before You Die: Battletoads (NES)

This game is the bane of many peoples existence. It it seriously one of the more difficult games out there, and to this day, I still have yet to beat this game It is a fun game, but a frustrating one. From it's catchy pause beat to the strange names of the characters, it's Battletoads, and no, Gamestop does not have it in stock.

What: In Battletoads, your partners Pimple and Princess Angelica have been kidnapped by the Dark Queen. Defeat the Dark Queen and save your friends in side-scrolling beat em' up action!

Why: We'll get to the difficulty in a minute, but let's talk about the fun aspect of this game. Beating the heck out of enemies in this side scroller is awesome. At this time in video games, side scrolling beat em' ups were all the rage with the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Double Dragon, specifically TMNT. Battletoads came out and this is the game that most people remember. The graphics were awesome, the playability was easy to figure out, and the first boss was really unique to battle. Plus when the Battletoads morphed into a wrecking ball, ram horns, enlarged foot, etc, was cool and inflicted a ton of damage on your enemies.

Now for the high or low, however you look at it...The difficulty.

This is one of the most difficult games of all time. It has topped many list as one of the hardest games of all time. You'd think that adding a second player to the game would make it easier? Nope! You can hit each other in this game. With a side scrolling beat em' where you are frantically hitting buttons, hitting each other happens EVERY TIME and makes this game increasingly difficult. I am not saying that the game is bad because of the difficulty, but it makes me overlook this game when I am choosing a game to play because I don't want to deal with it. If you are looking for a good game with a challenge that will just piss you off, Battletoads is the standard.

Don't worry, Angry Video Game Nerd has his say in it too!