Play Battletoads / Double Dragon Online

Summary

Battletoads & Double Dragon – The Ultimate Team feels like a love‑letter to two of the 80s’ most chaotic beat‑em‑ups. The NES version reuses the original Battletoads engine, so the controls stay delightfully simple: just two buttons for attacks and jumps, yet the move list is absurdly varied, from the toads’ "Smash Hit" punches and kicks to the Lee twins’ Dragon Force spin kicks. I love how the game lets you swing on ropes, ride a turbo bike, and even pilot a spaceship, all while juggling a roster of five characters – Zitz, Pimple, Rash, Jimmy and Billy. The two‑player modes are quirky: "2 Players A" lets you accidentally punch your partner, while "2 Players B" removes that friendly fire, but both share the harsh rule that a single death forces the whole team back to the start of the level. Despite its modest hardware, the NES version throws in 3D scrolling and other flashy effects that were rare for the console, and the cover art even showcases Rare’s early foray into 3D graphics.

Storyline

After the Battletoads defeat the evil Dark Queen on Ragnarok's World, she retreats to the outer reaches of the universe. Months later a mysterious energy beam disables Earth’s military and a city‑sized spaceship called the Colossus erupts from the Moon, signalling the Queen’s return with a new galaxy‑dominating scheme.

Teaming up with the Shadow Warriors from the Double Dragon series – the Shadow Boss and his minions Abobo and Roper – the Dark Queen bolsters her forces. To even the odds, Professor T. Bird and the toads (Zitz, Rash, and Pimple) call in the Lee brothers, Billy and Jimmy, for backup.

Battletoads/Double Dragon unfolds over seven stages: the first on the tail of the Colossus, the second inside its corridors, the third in the ship’s base, and the fourth a space‑craft shooter where the ship is destroyed. The heroes then board the escaping missile hull (stage five) and face the Shadow Boss in a boss battle (stage six) before confronting the Dark Queen herself in the final showdown (stage seven).