Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team

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Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Tradewest
Developer: Rare
Licensor: Technos Japan
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code US 1993-12 T-97066 BR 199x 044950
Non-Sega versions Game Boy Nintendo Entertainment System Super NES

Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team is a 1993 action game developed by Rare and published by Tradewest on the Sega Mega Drive. It is a crossover game which combines characters and environments from and inspired by the Battletoads and Double Dragon series. In addition to the Mega Drive version, versions were also developed for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Game Boy.

Sony Electronic Publishing were set to publish a European version of this game, but backed away following poor review scores.

Story

Introduction

After she was defeated by the Battletoads, the evil Dark Queen flees to the outer reaches of the universe. However, one day, the Earth's military is neutralized and the giant spaceship Colossus emerges from the moon. The Dark Queen is back with another plan to dominate the galaxy, and she has allied herself with the Shadow Warriors (from the Double Dragon series) to supplement her forces. Deciding to even the odds, the Battletoads contact Billy and Jimmy Lee for help. The brothers agree, and all five immediately take off for the Colossus in a mission to stop this two-pronged threat.

Gameplay

Character select

The game is a beat-'em-up that plays more similarly to the Battletoads games than Double Dragon. It can be played by one or two players simultaneously. 2 Player Game A mode allows the players to hit each other, while 2 Player Game B mode does not. Players fight enemies and travel on spaceships and turbo bikes to defeat the Shadow Boss and Dark Queen. For the first time in either series, players can select a character through a selection screen before starting the game. Players can choose from Rash, Zitz, and Pimple from Battletoads and Billy and Jimmy Lee from Double Dragon.

All of the toads are equipped with their usual "Smash Hit" attacks, such as big punches ("Kiss-My-Fist"), big kicks ("Big Bad Foot"), double-handed hits ("Nuclear Knuckles"), headbutt ("Battletoad Butt"), a wrecking-ball-like charge used while hanging on a cable ("BT Bashing Ball"), kicks while hanging on a rope ("Swingin' Size Thirteens"), a throw ("Take Out the Trash"), backward kicks while riding a speeder bike ("Bikin' Bash"), walker leg bashes ("No Way Back Thwack"), and enemy slamming ("Twin Side Slam"), with a new attack being a kick while hanging on a ledge named the "Back 'N' Front Punt." Likewise, the Lee brothers have their Dragon Force techniques, such as spin kick, knee drops, and elbow-drops. New abilities include hanging off of and moving across sides of platforms, and kicking off enemies while doing so, although the player can fall off and lose a life if other enemies step on his fingers.

The characters move in any direction using the D-Pad. They run with or . They jump with and attack with or . Multiple successive attacks chain into combos. There are several attack moves which are pulled off with either button combinations or automatically depending on the situation. Weapons dropped by enemies can be grabbed and used with an attack button. These weapons include a stick and sticks of dynamite. There are also capsules which contain various power-ups and point bonuses. Like Double Dragon, some stages contain ladders or fences that can be climbed with and .

Characters have six health segments and lose a life when they lose all of their health but revive in place. The game ends if the player runs out of lives but can be continued up to three times. In the two-player modes, if one player loses all lives, both players have to start the stage over. Players earn extra lives at 100,000 points and then every 200,000 points after that.

Characters

Rash

Zitz

Pimple

Billy Lee

Jimmy Lee

Items

	Bonus Pod
	Break open for an item or for bonus points.
	Energy
	Restores the character's health.
	Invincibility
	Grants the character temporarily invincibility.
	1-Up
	Gives the player an extra life.

Stages

As usual with Battletoads games, there are side-scrolling action stages, rope-repelling stages, and vehicle stages. Stages alternate with between themes of both games and contain enemies and bosses inspired by both. The standard action stages involve running from the start point to the finish, fighting enemies along the way. The repel stages involve going down some sort of shaft and moving the character to avoid obstacles while also fighting enemies that are in the way. The vehicle stages involve dodging obstacles. Unlike previous games, characters can kick enemies in the bike stages.

	Tail of the Ratship
	Blag Alley
	Ropes 'n' Roper
	Characters can summon a rope for the repelling portions with or .
	Ratship Rumble
	This stage plays similarly to Asteroids with the characters piloting spaceships. The spaceships attack with or . In the first segment, the spaceships activate their propulsion to move by holding , with the D-Pad rotating the ships in any direction. In the second segment, they can move freely with the D-Pad and always face in the same direction.
	Missile Mayhem
	Shadow Boss Showdown
	Armageddon II: The Rematch

Versions

Differences from the SNES version

The graphics on the Mega Drive version are less detailed, more colorful, and has poorer sound quality. Plus, the SNES version runs smoother. However, the Mega Drive version features more music tracks (akin to the original NES game), more sound effects, sharper sprites for the Battletoads and certain enemies (although the SNES version usually has the edge with sprite detail overall), more comical reactions from defeated opponents, color transitions on certain stages and more developed intro/intermission/ending scenes (also akin to the original NES game).

Magazine articles

Main article: Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #52: "November 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Game Players (US) #0612: "Vol. 6 No. 12 December 1993" (1993-1x-xx)
• GamePro (US) #54: "January 1994" (199x-xx-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 50 Cool Gamer (RU) 60 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 40 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 5 (RU) 40 Mega (UK) NTSC-U 42 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U 39 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 64 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 70

	51
Based on 8 reviews

Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 8239dd17 MD5 78f3ea32bcb4f627e4f9bc9711e017b8 SHA-1 5b79623e90806206e575b3f15499cab823065783	1MB	1993-08	Cartridge (US)

References

Battletoads games for Sega systems
	Battletoads (1993) | Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team (1993)
	Battletoads (1993) | Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (Cancelled)
	Battletoads (Cancelled) | Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (1996)