Battletoads & Double Dragon Return to the Super Nintendo!

In this episode, we unbox and play test the Battletoads & Double Dragon special edition from rare, Arc systems, and retro bit designed for the Super Nintendo and Super Famicom.

Two of the greatest beat-em-ups to ever come out of the 1980s has to be Battletoads and Double Dragons. It features tight controls, high levels of difficulty (I see you turbo tunnel), and great replayability. It only made sense for the two games to have a mashup, first on the NES and later on the Super Nintendo. While the gameplay was virtually identical between the two, the Super Nintendo version featured enhanced audio, better graphics, larger characters, and much more. When Retro-bit announced that they were going to partner with Rare and Microsoft to bring not only the NES version back out in a limited release but the Super Nintendo version I got very excited. This is one of the few games they've announced that I actually had an original copy of, so I would be able to have more insight to compare this to the original than others I reviewed.

Out of the box, you get a beautiful custom game sleeve, a great-looking display box that features both the Battletoads and Double Dragon logos, a green cartridge with what seems to be embossed lettering on the logo, and a full-color manual. Unlike other releases this did not feature a certificate of authenticity or any other pack-ins, you're literally getting the game and the basic items a game would have come with back in the day.

One of the first things I wanted to test out was whether or not it would work with a Game Genie. This is something a lot of people ask me and I always forget that I have one to test! I never used one! So I will say, initially, everything worked wonderfully with the Game Genie. It recognized it, it started the game, I was able to enter codes. When I got to the second part of level 2 and my character exited the elevator, the character just disappeared. It was as if it got stuck behind the background but the foreground characters could still interact with it. It was really bizarre and I could not find a way to go ahead and bypass this.

I removed the Game Genie and just got to regular gameplay. I will say that if you had handed me a controller with this on screen and told me to play it I would not have been able to tell the difference between this and the original cartridge. The gameplay is as hard as ever, the characters look terrific, and the soundtrack just slaps. I definitely found the game much easier with the Game Genie attached and the make enemies weaker code, as there were a couple of times that I didn't even get to level 1-2!

Why it RoX:
- ROM is completely accurate from the original release
- Amazing graphics and audio
- Beautiful artwork on box and slipcover
- Full-color manual
- Reasonably priced
- Works with Game Genie... kinda

What could be improved:
- Not fully compatible with Game Genie
- No extra pack ends like other retro bit re-releases
- Game is still super hard

Should you buy one?
If you are a fan of Double Dragon and Battletoads then the Battletoads & Double Dragon on the Super Nintendo is pretty much a no-brainer. At this point, you needed to have pre-ordered it as it is a very limited release, but stores that carry Retro-bit products may have some open stock such as Rondo Products and Live Action Games in Champaign, Illinois. I do wish that they gave this a little bit more love as far as pack-ins, I can understand no game stand but no certificate of authenticity? That left me feeling a bit empty. But this is as accurate of a recreation as you are going to find and I absolutely loved how much I hated dying in this game.

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#Battletoads #DoubleDragon #RetroBit #supernintendo #SNES #SuperFamicom #Fyp #fypシ