Beloved Rare franchise Battletoads made an appearance at this year's E3, albeit sadly not for a Nintendo platform, in the form of a new three-player beat 'em up. It all looks pretty fun and all, but just imagine if it looked like this.
The artwork comes from Raf Grassetti, Art Director at God of War studio Sony Santa Monica. We've actually featured his work on the site several times before thanks to his realistic recreations of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters, but this time he's turned his attention to what he describes as "the hardest game ever made".
He says, "My homage to the hardest game ever made! Battletoads was one of the games I played the most growing up. I’ve always wanted to do my take on the games that really changed my childhood".
Of course, we're kind of joking around a little here - we're not sure we'd really want to ditch the series' cartoony vibe - but you never know how it'd turn out. At this point, we'd take any kind of Battletoads goodness on Switch.
What do you think? Can you imagine a huge AAA version of Battletoads on the big screen? Would that completely ruin the franchise for you? Whatever your thoughts, share them with us below.
Comments 59
The realistic draw here looks way better. They should go use 3D high quality
Much rather have the cartoon look, this just looks like the dumb modern turtles incarnation.
We have realistic Battletoads though. Look no further than Rash in Killer Instinct.
https://killerinstinct.fandom.com/wiki/Rash
@RupeeClock
Totally forgot about that
Yeah, I'll take the cartoon style thanks.
@RupeeClock
Which is okay for Killer-Instinct.But for an proper Battletoads Game the realistic Graphics shown from the GoW Creator or KI doesn't fit an mainbranch Game. So i've to agree with BionicDodo and Yandman +1 for Cartoon look for Battletoads.
I'd rather have the cartoonish style, although I'm not exactly thrilled by the particular art direction they chose.
@TheLightningYu But it looks way too simple/basic almost looks like BattleToads Jr or something they should of went with the Killer-Instinct style or something like the Arcade/SNES games
As much I'm glad to see a new battletoads game.. I won't be getting this flash game
"The hardest game ever made" ? Go play Rick Dangerous on Atari ST and let's talk about that again.
@Wavey84 Ninja Turtles on nes crashes the party
@Wavey84 Haha. My worst nightmare was on Final Fantasy Tactics : after 50 hours of game, I arrived in front of a boss who was wayyyy too strong for my characters. But the save point was juste before him. And there was no way to go back to upgrade my characters : the f$*%£ing door that got me here was now locked. I tried 40-50 times to kill him with different techniques. There was no way.
I never finished the game...
Now I'd buy that one
Yeah no, not a fan. Battletoads is not the kind of thing that needs to go for pseudo-realism. Yuck!
Nah I like the new style, it's not perfect but it's fun. They're good renders though, a little on the desaturated side for my taste but impressive nonetheless.
I like the artists’ work here, and I like the new game’s style. They’re both very good!
Cursed image.
Did someone order pickles on steroids?
Considering the cartoony transformations these characters go through for certain attacks, it's hard to imagine a reboot going in this direction... Unless Michael Bay directed it, because to hell with the source material!
Good lord, these guys look like they want to invite you to a kegger and slip you a roofie. It gives me the howling fantods.
@YANDMAN I agree but the trailer is way to cartoony. A little bit more realistic could have looked way better.
def how they should of looked, oh well maybe next time if battletoads doubledragon ever becomes a thing again
It reminds me of the Ninja Turtle Movies
They look cool for sure, but I get the opinion that playing a gritty realistic version of their games would get boring to watch rather quick. These guys are too animated to work well with a realistic style.
I dig both of these actually. I wouldn't mind playing two separate games based on the same characters having wildly different aesthetics.
As others have said, these look cool but a bit too much like those ugly TMNT re-designs from 2014. I prefer the cartoony style (though I believe the current remake could be higher quality animation), but I wouldn't be against an Epic, Kratos-esque journey with these boys, action rpg type deal, could be stupid fun!
The new Battletoads has the art style of the generic cartoons that are so in fashion these days. It looks like s***, honestly, feels like a downgrade from the fantastic Battlemaniacs.
If Nintendo still owned Rare we would have had AAA versions of their previous franchises, and a Banjo Threeie.
juvenoia (uncountable) (neologism) The fear or hostility directed by an older generation toward a younger one, or toward youth culture in general.
Just gonna leave this here... though I 100% agree the artstyle is not great. I doubt the feeling of Battletoads could be accurately portrayed like this.
@JasmineDragon Still sounds like a better time than NES Battletoads Stage 3
@BionicDodo Definitely. It reminds me of Earthworm Jim and that's never gonna be a bad thing.
"realistic" and high-end graphics aren't always better. shudders at the memory of horrible Bomberman Act Zero
I don't know what the obsession is with realism over cartoon style. Each has its own personality. That being said, I don't really care for either rendition for this game. Can we get a third option?
I don't like either tbh.. and just wish it took a more "sonic mania" approach and used pixel art
I also feel same way about the new streets of rage 4 coming out
Oh gross. Nintendo Life was all like "is that all you can think of to say?" when I tried to post that just now, that but seriously... oh gross.
This game had better be unplayablely hard.
The game looks like something you would find on newgrounds and i hate it.
But i am not sure this alternative is any better.
@Galarian_Lassie
-low quality trash
-Ren and Stimpy
So this is what they mean by "triggered"
I really don't like that realistic painting, but OMG, if you compare to the thing Rare made, you really can't compare...
You can clearly see how much Rare have lost since they been bought by Microsoft and lost most of their original creators...
You're kidding right?
That’s the first I’ve seen the trailer for the new game, and it looks worse than Grassetti’s heroes without their half shells rendition of the Battletoads.
@Wavey84 Ren & Stimpy is the kind of brilliance that can only be obtained by having a clearly unstable content creator actively having a battle of wills with the censor board to have as much of it's jaded humor as possible. Both forces conter balance each other and the result is glorious.
Adult party was a stupid idea from the get go, without the limitations imposed by it's status as entertainment for kids, it just became another gross out, shock inducing "adult toon" in the bin. less looney toons and more Mr. Pickle.
The only time history allowed for another such perfect storm was Invader Zim, god, that show is wonderful.
I watched some 80's cheese fests trough the magic of old VHS, mainly TMNT, Thundercats and Captain N. And while they are perfectly enjoyable for a kid, they definetely lost all entertainment value as i grew older. It is evident those cartoons were made for the singular purpose of selling toys.
They do have a certain charm, but i couldn't possibly stomach watching them without some drinks and friends.
@Galarian_Lassie Don't get me wrong, it's extremely low brow and awfuly prone to shock value and stuff like Animaniacs run laps around it. But there is a special kind of fondness reserved for toons that not only are still fun as you get older, but you actually learn to apreciate them more.
Sides, you can't really expect me not to have a certain affinity for the toon that taught me how to flip the bird can you?
It's crown jewel is the animation tough, it's absolutely amazing. The expressions, the movements...it's just amazing.
I agree on both She-ra remake and Steven ubermench. Modern animation has this awful trend of taking itself too seriously. Everyone wants to be like the last airbender, but no one seems to understand why that show was so good in the first place.
Only modern cartoons i have actually taken a shine to are Gravity falls and Star vs. and that's mostly because the humor consistently landed with me.
Looks like Michael Bay's TMNT. lol
This just looks disgusting both the game and the art. Now if only Rare Replay made it to Switch so we could play the real Battletoads.
As long as Michael Bay isn’t involved it should be fine. These look great.
Generic realistic cgi... I really am the only one who prefers the art direction having some originality and whimsy, aren’t I?
Out of the two options I'd go with the GoW artist's more realistic style over the annoying and kinda amateur Nickelodeon/Flash look that so may modern remakes of beloved classics go for these days. And it's not that the real game looks terrible; it just looks wrong. The artists making the game simply should have looked at the original illustrated box art for game original games and that kind of thing and then made the actual game look like that. They totally failed to get the toads and the game looking right imo.
Looks great, although I do like the animation style they used for the actual reboot, this is a very impressive artistic rendering though!
Oh my sadness at this reveal, No Battletoads for the Switch. The horror.
@Wavey84 Is this post sarcasm that I'm missing or ... have internet comments really gotten this absurd?
This guy has high technical skill, but I don’t care for his tastes much myself. He ought to stick to things that would look good highly realistic. Maybe Link, a Guardian, or Astral Chain, or Bayonetta or something
@YANDMAN
Yeah, I could definitely see what you're saying. I honestly wish they would just stop jocking these guys renditions of other people's properties. Does it look cool, sure. However, like you were alluding to, it definitely just looks like the people that did the last Ninja Turtles did this mock-up. Pretty much giving it no personallity of its own & rendering it fairly generic.
@graysoncharles
Probably pretty much the same way that they are now. Have you seen how they've reacted towards the Link's Awakening remake? Let's cut the to catch a Fanboy crap right there man. There doesn't always have to be ulterior motives or a plot to be disingenuous. Sometimes it just is what it is.
I'd rather cartoon style but this is much better than the hot garbage fire of style in the new game. It's truly pathetic.
Looks pretty cool. Wether its appropriate or not for a new game, I think the look of the new Battletoads is weak.
@Dirty0814 Well the original NES games were as cartoony as the system allows, to me this just looks like those same games but only realised to the systems modern power. I personally like it and i just hate the fact that classic Nintendo franchises skip the system whilst Microsoft constantly talks of workign alongside Nintendo.
@Wavey84 Woooooooooooooooooah don't you go bringing up the 'S' word, that was a travesty matched only by the Thundercats reboot, this is absolutely nowhere near either of those.
Of course it looks better. The battletoads reveal was awful. I felt like i went back in time. Not the modern reboot I would have chosen.
Same with that ridiculous isometric contra game that looks like it got yanked directly from the Google play store.
Meanwhile in professional game development world, you have Sony transitioning God of War into a new era. That's the type of work that's worth the price tag. That's the pedigree and talent fans expect from a modernization of prestigious franchises.
Not these weak indie retro bait cash ins that can be flipped onto Google store at a moment's notice.
@RupeeClock 0_o
Umm I'll pass on BT being realistic and gritty thanks, but kudos to him, he did do a good job.
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