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New Battletoads comes to Xbox Game Pass in August

The Battletoads beat-’em-up is bound for Xbox One and PC

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Michael McWhertor is a journalist with more than 17 years of experience covering video games, technology, movies, TV, and entertainment.

Rare and Dlala Studios’ reboot of Battletoads is coming to Xbox One and Windows PC — via Windows 10 and Steam — on Aug. 20, Microsoft announced Friday. The game will launch on Xbox Game Pass for console and PC.

The new Battletoads is a retro three-player beat-’em-up/platformer. And yes, the grueling bike racing segments are back, just from a different perspective, as you can see in the launch date trailer above. Battletoads supports drop-in, drop-out local co-op play, and promises “difficulty settings designed to suit everyone from Tadpole to Battletoad.”

Microsoft announced the new Battletoads at E3 2018, revealing the game’s cartoonish hand-drawn art style and developer Dlala Studios’ involvement. Original Battletoads developer Rare is involved in a collaborative capacity.

Originally released 1991 by Rare for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Battletoads has long been a badge of courage for any player brave enough to try it. It was an unreasonably hard game, earning Internet meme status a decade ago. The game is included in Rare Replay, a collection of the studio’s games for Xbox One.


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