Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A playthrough of Tradewest's 1993 action game for the Sega Genesis, Battletoads.
Rare's youtu.be/HjatUdFaAf8 was one of the NES's biggest hits of 1991. It sold like hotcakes, it won a bazillion awards (including being named Nintendo Power's NES Game of the Year), and it went down in history for being one of the platform's best stupid-hard games.
In the spring of 1993, three months before the release of the first SNES sequel, Tradewest put out an updated version of Battletoads for the Sega Genesis. The Genesis game promised all the hard-hitting action of the NES cart with an updated 16-bit presentation, and it largely succeeded in that goal. The graphics were more colorful and better detailed, the flicker was smoothed out, the music was remixed for the Genesis's sound chip, and it retained all of the original stages and set-pieces.
Arc System Works did a solid job with the conversion, and the Genesis game was praised for how it remained faithful to the original while also dialing back the difficulty level. It looks and sounds familiar, but if you play both versions back to back, you'll notice that it doesn't quite feel the same. The controls have a different sense of weight and momentum, and the combo timing is a little off. It fixes a few of the NES version's bugs (the Genesis version can be completed with two players!) while introducing a few new ones (the physics occasionally get wonky after you've been thrown back by an impact, and your punches don't always land when they look like they should have). And though the relative lack of difficulty makes the game more approachable to new players, the change undermines the sense of satisfaction that NES players got from fighting tooth-and-nail for every shred of progress. It plays well, but I don't think it matches the original.
I feel the same way about the presentation. On the NES, the animation, the multi-layered backgrounds, the breakneck speed of the action, and the bass-heavy digitized sounds all painted Battletoads as an amazing show of Rare's skill in pushing the hardware. On the Genesis, it felt like a dated throwback. The updated graphics and sounds were nice, but they didn't stand out as anything special. The colors are garish, the Toads' sprites look chunky after being unevenly scaled to match the higher screen resolution, and the sounds are tinny and thin. The beefy impact effects from the NES game have been reduced to FM farts, and the classic stomp-clap pause beat is totally missing. The intro was also cut, as was most of the ending.
I don't dislike the Genesis version (nor its Game Gear port: youtu.be/k2FvReZmXKo), but it makes me think of how it might feel to trade in a nicely trimmed ten-year-old Cadillac for a brand new Corolla. The Corolla might be outfitted with newer technology, but you'd be hard-pressed to call it an upgrade. Like the Genesis version of Battletoads, it would get the job done, but its comparative lack of polish, style, and comfort wouldn't go unnoticed.
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
A playthrough of Tradewest's 1993 action game for the Sega Genesis, Battletoads.
Rare's youtu.be/HjatUdFaAf8 was one of the NES's biggest hits of 1991. It sold like hotcakes, it won a bazillion awards (including being named Nintendo Power's NES Game of the Year), and it went down in history for being one of the platform's best stupid-hard games.
In the spring of 1993, three months before the release of the first SNES sequel, Tradewest put out an updated version of Battletoads for the Sega Genesis. The Genesis game promised all the hard-hitting action of the NES cart with an updated 16-bit presentation, and it largely succeeded in that goal. The graphics were more colorful and better detailed, the flicker was smoothed out, the music was remixed for the Genesis's sound chip, and it retained all of the original stages and set-pieces.
Arc System Works did a solid job with the conversion, and the Genesis game was praised for how it remained faithful to the original while also dialing back the difficulty level. It looks and sounds familiar, but if you play both versions back to back, you'll notice that it doesn't quite feel the same. The controls have a different sense of weight and momentum, and the combo timing is a little off. It fixes a few of the NES version's bugs (the Genesis version can be completed with two players!) while introducing a few new ones (the physics occasionally get wonky after you've been thrown back by an impact, and your punches don't always land when they look like they should have). And though the relative lack of difficulty makes the game more approachable to new players, the change undermines the sense of satisfaction that NES players got from fighting tooth-and-nail for every shred of progress. It plays well, but I don't think it matches the original.
I feel the same way about the presentation. On the NES, the animation, the multi-layered backgrounds, the breakneck speed of the action, and the bass-heavy digitized sounds all painted Battletoads as an amazing show of Rare's skill in pushing the hardware. On the Genesis, it felt like a dated throwback. The updated graphics and sounds were nice, but they didn't stand out as anything special. The colors are garish, the Toads' sprites look chunky after being unevenly scaled to match the higher screen resolution, and the sounds are tinny and thin. The beefy impact effects from the NES game have been reduced to FM farts, and the classic stomp-clap pause beat is totally missing. The intro was also cut, as was most of the ending.
I don't dislike the Genesis version (nor its Game Gear port: youtu.be/k2FvReZmXKo), but it makes me think of how it might feel to trade in a nicely trimmed ten-year-old Cadillac for a brand new Corolla. The Corolla might be outfitted with newer technology, but you'd be hard-pressed to call it an upgrade. Like the Genesis version of Battletoads, it would get the job done, but its comparative lack of polish, style, and comfort wouldn't go unnoticed.
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
![Final Fantasy IX (PS1) Playthrough [3 of 4]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WymYZEYqrF0/mqdefault.jpg "Final Fantasy IX (PS1) Playthrough [3 of 4]
A playthrough of Square Electronic Arts 2000 role-playing game for the Sony PlayStation, Final Fantasy IX.
This is the third part of a four-part playthrough, showing from the end of the card tournament up through the battle with Taharka at Ipsens Castle.
8:39 Back in Alexandria...
1:51:44 The Blue Narciss
5:13:41 The Desert Palace
7:35:31 Mount Gulug
8:54:53 Daguerreo
11:21:54 Ipsens Castle
Links to the other parts:
Part 1 https://youtu.be/cvuh6Td1isY
Part 2 https://youtu.be/q9y69k-OFdE
Part 4 https://youtu.be/OCalB_UhggE
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!")
![Shining Force III (Saturn) Playthrough [1 of 3]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XnPdZvZJIrg/mqdefault.jpg "Shining Force III (Saturn) Playthrough [1 of 3]
A playthrough of Segas 1998 strategy-RPG for the Sega Saturn, Shining Force III.
This is the first part of a three-part playthrough. The other parts can be found at:
Part 2: https://youtu.be/lxAoyO-gOoI
Part 3: https://youtu.be/QXOo3_eBfxw
In this video:
4:07 Chapter 1 Nightmare in the Floating City of Saraband
2:52:52 Chapter 2 Cross-Continental Railway
5:49:44 Chapter 3 Target: Guardian Statue of Elbesem
Shining Force III was the penultimate North American release for the Sega Saturn. It followed four years after Shining Force IIs 1994 release on the Sega Genesis, and it was the last of the Shining games to be made by Camelot.
Shining Force III is a localization of Shining Force III Scenario 1: Outo no Kyoshin (シャイニングフォースIIIシナリオ1「王都の巨神」, lit. The Royal Capitals Giant). Because of its massive scope, SF3 was split up into three parts, but only the first of them was officially released outside of Japan. (Scenarios 2 & 3 have since been translated by fans and made playable on original Saturn hardware.)
In Scenario 1, you play as Synbios, a noble who finds himself leading his forces to war after peace talks between the nations of Aspinia and Destonia break down during a conference in the city of Saraband.
Built on the strong foundation laid by the previous Shining Force titles, SF3 feels incredibly familiar, but it offers several improvements. The battlefields feature dynamic elements that can shake up conditions mid-battle, a friendship system has been implemented, characters can unlock abilities and spells as their skill improves with certain weapon types, the story is far more complex and political in nature than anything seen in the previous games, the JRPG-style exploration segments have been fleshed out, and everything is now presented in 3D.
It strikes the perfect balance between old and new. The systems are about as straightforward as they were in the 16-bit titles, and the nuances introduced by the new mechanics help to keep the game fresh and challenging without sacrificing accessibility. The modernized graphics are flashy, impressive, and greatly improve the readability of the battlefield. The expanded scope of the plot and the creativity shown in the set-pieces make for a more substantial and engaging experience overall. The only major drawbacks are how often the characters drone on and on without saying anything meaningful, and how harsh the attack animations can be on the eyes. (If you have photosensitivity issues, you might want to pass on this one. The rapid, high contrast strobing effects become increasingly intense as the game goes on.)
Shining Force III perfects the series formula, and though its a real shame that only the first scenario made its way westward, it still offers a ton of quality gameplay thatll keep you hooked for a long while.
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!")
