Editorial:Battletoads Is the Most Challenging NES Game

From Wikia Gaming

by user Munroe

Before you jump all over me, declaring "B...b..but game X is harder than Battletoads!" I'm sure it is. There are plenty of games for the NES (and other consoles) that are harder, but generally it's due to poor game design or sloppy control. When I say that Battletoads is the most challenging NES game ever, it's because the developers wanted it that way.

Everyone remembers the turbo tunnel level, with the speedy blue bikes and such. Not too many people remember the surfing level, the plane/electricity level, the snake level, or the last level. It's because they never made it that far. Most people I run into have fond memories of the speeder bikes, and a fuzzy recollection of the rest. Which is a shame because they're really the easiest part of this incredible game of pattern memorization. And that's really all it comes down to.

That's really what a lot of games back "in the day" came down to. Playing a level over and over again until you knew how to dispatch each enemy, how to overcome each obstacle, and how to beat the boss. By the time you finally beat a level, you were so good at it, that people enjoy watching you play it. Attempting to beat Battletoads in the third semester of college actually gathered a group of Comp Sci students in my home due to how much fun it is to watch somebody beat it. The game requires an incredible amount of time for each level, and you have to be perfect. One slip-up means death.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.