It's perhaps surprising that the most striking news regarding the new Battletoads game is how little news about Battletoads has been shared over the past several months. To be fair, the game was heavily criticized following its announcement, but Battletoads is still an exciting brand that Xbox fans were interested in hearing more about. Now, suddenly, the drought has ended in a big way. A new trailer has been released for Battletoads, as well as the game's surprisingly near release date.
The new Battletoads game, which is developed by Dlala Studios in partnership with Rare, will officially launch on both PC and Xbox One on August 20. As previously confirmed, and is now typical, Battletoads will be available via Xbox Game Pass on day one. Subscribers will have free access to Battletoads just like all other Xbox published titles.
In Battletoad's official release date trailer, prospective players are shown a mix of animated cutscenes from the game as well as a diverse range of gameplay. The animated cutscenes are done in a very 90s Saturday morning cartoon style. Presumably, these cutscenes will play between chapters in Battletoads.
The animated style carries over very well to gameplay, where Battletoads diversifies into a wide range of different genres. Like the classic Battletoads, it seems that for every Castle Crashers type beat 'em up level there will be a level of an entirely different genre. There are Turbobike racing stages like in the original game, though it's from behind instead of the side. There's a platforming stage much like Rayman Legends, a SHMUP level, and much more.
It's a lot to take in for a trailer that's less than two minutes long, but the message is clear. This Battletoads is absolutely different than the original game, but it's still inspired by the original in many ways. That may be enough to entice classic Battletoads fans to come back and give the new game a chance.
However, there's also another message that can be read into from this announcement. It's the fact that Battletoads wasn't featured during any of the Xbox summer events so far. It's that Battletoad's release date was revealed with virtually no fanfare on a Friday morning. That could signal a lack of confidence in this Battletoads and fans of the franchise will recognize that. Nevertheless, the game is almost finished and soon players will be able to judge it for themselves.
Battletoads releases August 20 on PC and Xbox One.