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10) Battletoads
Platform: NES (1991)
Going by the company name Tradewest in the US in the early nineties, Rare founders Tim and Chris Stamper’s Battletoads pushed NES to its graphical limits. Starring Rash, Zitz, and Pimple, the Stampers’ anthropomorphic toads were inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles zeitgeist, but distinguished themselves through quality gameplay. Rare’s legendary brawler is remembered for its excellent visuals and crushing difficulty. Utter the words Turbo Tunnel to anyone who has played the game, and you’ll be met with shaking heads and stories of being within inches of the end, but never making it. For those who can get past the unforgiving nature of Battletoads, there is a lot of fun to be had. Fighting is rock solid, with a variety of moves to use and even a couple of weapons to wield. Composer David Wise (who will be popping up more than once on this list) also provided some catchy songs that matched the feel of the game perfectly. All these years later, Battletoads is still worth all the blood, sweat, and tears of a playthrough.
I honestly didn’t enjoy Banjo-Tooie all that much. Banjo-Kazooie was epic and is one of my favorite games ever, but Banjo-Tooie just felt too big to me. It took too long to get around levels, too long to get from one objective to the next, and too long to get between worlds in the overworld.
Then there’s the whole Stop n Swop thing, but regardless. BK, brilliant. BT, ehhh.
Maybe it’s because I have played it more, but I couldn’t get enough of Banjo-Tooie! It felt like everything a sequel should be: bigger, better and with just the right amount of new things to do.
And the less said about Banjo & Kazooie’s adventures post-Nintendo the better :)