Michael Crider
While the game was originally set to release last year, a bit of waiting hasn’t dulled fans’ desire for a new Battletoads. Today Rare announced that first new entry in the much-loved beat-em-up series in more than two decades will release on Xbox One and PC on August 20th. To prove it, they released a game trailer showing it off.
Look at that crisp, angular 2D animation. Look at those fully-voiced cutscenes. Look at all that trademark 1990s in-your-face attitude—I’m reflexively eating my own shorts as I type out this news story.
The trailer shows off old-fashioned beat-em-up gameplay with the series’ trademark goofy attacks and weapons, plus the return of the infamous hoverbike levels. A few more conventional platforming sections seem to be spliced in there, too. A mix of 2D and 3D backgrounds will shift as the level demands. Local three-player co-op will be enabled for the entire game.
As if to embrace the Teenage Mutant Ninja Ripoff energy of the original Battletoads games, Rare took to Twitter to re-enact a classic bit of internet humor, using the official GameStop Twitter account as an unwilling prop.
Tagging @GameStop. Thought you'd want to know.
— Rare Ltd. (@RareLtd) July 31, 2020
The Battletoads page is already live on Steam, though there’s no indication of the price of the game. When it launches, it will also be part of the increasing library of Xbox and PC games available via Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription.
