Battletoads & Double Dragon - The Ultimate Team is a 1993 beat 'em up developed by Rare and published by Tradewest. It was originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System and later ported to the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super NES, and Game Boy.
The Ultimate Team is a crossover of both Technos Japan's Double Dragon and Rare's own Battletoads game franchises. The game's engine and design are directly based upon the Battletoads series.
After being defeated by the Battletoads, the evil Dark Queen flees to the outer reaches of the universe and the 'Toads and their mentor get on with their lives. However, one day the Earth's military is neutralized and a giant spaceship called Colossus emerges from the moon. Apparently, the Dark Queen is back with another plan to dominate the galaxy, and she has allied herself with the Shadow Warriors to supplement her forces. Deciding to even the odds, the Battletoads get in contact with Billy and Jimmy Lee and ask them for their help. The brothers agree, and all five immediately take off for the Colossus in a mission to stop this two-pronged threat.
The player has a choice of five playable characters: Billy and Jimmy Lee from Double Dragon, and Zitz, Pimple and Rash from Battletoads. 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 done while hanging on a rope ("Swingin' Size Thirteens"), a pick-up and throwing of enemies ("Take Out the Trash"), backward kicks done 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 "Back 'N Front Punt." Likewise, the Lee twins' Dragon Force techniques are playable in the crossover, such as spin kick, knee drops, and elbow-drops done while jumping ("Twistin' Typhoon Kick," "Thunderin' Typhoon Kick," and "Earthquake Elbow Smash" respectively), flying Dragon kicks, fast-spinning attacks ("Whizzin' Whirlwind"), smashes of enemies against surfaces ("Side Wall Smash"), "Nose-Crunching" kneesup, and enemy throws from the enemy's back (Dragon's Tail Throw), and the twins can also perform the same Bakin's Bashes, walker leg strikes, and enemy pick-up-and-throws as the toads. 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.
In addition to the three titular toads, Billy and Jimmy, and the two main villains, there are other characters that previously appeared in prior Battletoads or Double Dragons titles that are in the crossover game, such as the first level boss Abobo, the Rat Pack chief Big Blag who is the second level boss, a gun-wielding Roper who is boss of level three, Robo-Manus who is the fifth level boss, Battletoads enemies such as ravens, walkers, General Slaughter, Scuzz, and retro blasters, and Double Dragons enemies including Linda Lash and Lopar. Like the first Battletoads, the crossover also has a speeder bike section at the end of stage two, where the player dodges big blue "Drums" and jumps over "Post Walls". As walkers are a returning enemy, their legs can once again be used as enemies. A Turbo Rope is used in the third stage and is like the Turbo Cable from the first game; however, unlike the Cable, the player can use the Rope in the level's horizontal-scrolling sections by attaching it to ceilings through B-button presses in order to get from platform to platform.
An item in Battletoads/Double Dragon not seen in prior installments of both franchises are "Bonus Pods" that each consists of either points, energy, a weapon, or an extra life. Enemies that only appear in Battletoads/Double Dragon include the dumb but rough Guido, a cowardly, dynamite-throwing "Doorman of Doom" the player faces in the corridors, the grenade-throwing "Windowman of Dooo" who is the Doorman's brother and fought in the fifth stage, a "Shadow Marine" of "mindless morons" guarding the ship on its tail, Ryders in the second level's speed-biking section, Buzz Discs on the walls of the ship's interior that lets out 10,000 volts of energy, and Securi-cams encountered throughout the Colossus's base that shoot high-powered blasts if something is in its lens.
NES/FC Playlist:
• NES/FC/FDS
00:00 - Intro
03:01 - Level 1 05:44 - Boss 1 (Abobo)
06:20 - Level 2 11:50 - Boss 2 (Big Blag)
12:34 - Level 3 19:40 - Boss 3 (Roper)
20:59 - Level 4 22:46 - Boss 4 (Ratship)
24:04 - Level 5 30:15 - Boss 5 (Robo-Manus)
31:07 - Level 6 32:37 - Boss 6 (Shadow Boss)
34:24 - Level 7 35:28 - Boss 7 (The Dark Queen)
37:00 - Ending