Parents' Guide to Battletoads

It's hard to believe that it's been more than two and a half decades since the Battletoads last graced the gaming world. But now the classic beat-'em-up is back, reinventing itself for a new generation of gamers while bringing with it all of the attitude, humor, and difficulty that made the series such a cult classic. Of course, these are also all the qualities that made gamers either love or hate the original, which carries over to the new game, as well. Die-hard fans will probably love what the new game has to offer, while the haters from back in the day won't find anything here to sway their disdain.

Battletoads is oozing with personality, and its new hand-drawn look is fantastic. It's almost as if players are watching a weekday afternoon cartoon from the '90s. In fact, the whole game feels like a time capsule from the era of fanny packs, Furbies, and all things "extreme." The game acts almost as a parody of itself with its mix of juvenile humor and self-deprecating one-liners. The original game was well known for its frustrating difficulty, and that's still present in the new game as well. Whether it's fending off a screen full of enemies attacking from every direction or zipping through a twisted high-speed obstacle course on a hover bike, making any substantial progress can be difficult to the point of frustration even on the "Tadpole" difficulty. It doesn't help that many stages seem to linger beyond their expected shelf life. While most stages start with an eager feeling of wanting to see what's coming next, they normally end after a period of questioning "Is it over yet?" But a lot of this changes if you manage to pull a friend or two into the action with the drop-in/drop-out couch co-op feature. It's then that the game really shines, with gamers reliving the nostalgia of friends huddled in front of the TV or at the arcade, backing each other up and laughing together while still reaching for that ever elusive high score.