Yes, you read that correctly. In 1992, Nintendo Power readers voted Battletoads as the best multiplayer game of 1991, beating out Tecmo Super Bowl. Battletoads, a game that is literally broken with two players, making the game impossible to complete. I guess kids just fell for the hype.

Disclaimer: I undoubtedly voted in this poll, but I do not recall how I voted. It is entirely possible I was one of these impressionable nerds who voted for Battletoads.

How is the multiplayer broken?

He probably considers it broken because the two players can hurt each other. I personally would not consider it broken, just another learning curve in the equation. I don't mind it, I find it more fun. There's other games where you can affect the other player. In Sky Kid you can shoot the other player. It doesn't kill them, it just spins them around. You can shoot them while they're going down after being shot to get them back in flight OR spin them out right before an obstical and kill them. It's just another mechanic in either game, and I like them both.

Honestly, I prefer Battletoad's multiplayer over Tecmo Super Bowl's as well. I prefer beat 'em up games over sports. 

2-player isn't broken at all.

And, even if it were unbeatable, it is still WAY more fun than Tecmo Super Bowl.

I've never tested this myself, but I believe the reason Battletoads multiplayer is broken is because a glitch occurs on stage 11 (Clinger Winger bikes) when both players are alive. I forget the specifics, but the level is unpassable until one of the players runs out of lives.

Oh, really? I didn't know this. I'd say I'd try it out, but I can never get that far with two players. Lol. I've only gotten that far with myself a handful of times. To Google! I'll edit if I find good results.

Wikipedia: "The most critical flaw occurs in level 11, titled Clinger Winger. During a 2-player game, the second player is unable to move, and therefore must lose all of his lives before player one can continue the level. This makes finishing the game even more difficult for the second player, as that player would have one less continue and any accumulated extra lives at his disposal lost. To further the problem even more, Battletoads gives the player only three opportunities to continue after being defeated (many other games of this size gave unlimited opportunities), and has no password or save feature to enable the player to continue the game across multiple playing sessions. Therefore, only the most skilled players were able to beat the game."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battletoads#Gameplay

YouTube Video: 

I dont' believe there is a glitch, I'm pretty sure at this campout or the last, two of the guys sat down and beat 2 player Battletoads.

Paging Mog, I know you remember.

This is what I was wondering about.  The whole 'you can hit each other' isn't broken, it was designed that way.  I actually like that about the multiplayer.

I've never made it past the turbo bikes multiplayer, so I wasn't sure if there was an actual bug later on in the game.

For the contest - I bet no one made it that far in multiplayer either!

See the video I edited in above. There is a glitch, but if you have enough continues, first player could work passed it alone and have the second player use the continue to progress once you reach the next level. Or so that's how I understand it.

I dunno why, but I think that tidbit is pretty cool! I'm still not sure if I would call it broken, however. (I consider the word "broken" being "doesn't work at all"). On one hand, if I understand what occurs correctly, you can still beat the game under normal circumstances that the game allows, you just have to use a continue. On the other hand, if you want to beat the game on co-op and without using continues, it's impossible, so in a sense, it is still broken. Interesting. At any rate, it's still severely flawed, but do-able to highly skilled players.

Though obviously no one knows, part of me thinks that very few reached that far on co-op to even take that into consideration in their voting. Perhaps there's some that did and didn't care due to the fact that you can use a continue (even though they're limited). *shrug*

Edit: I like this thread, I learned something new.

I was referring to the problem near the end where you cannot continue with two players, also the fact that the continues are shared and you must use one anytime either player loses all lives, forcing you to restart the level. In other words, each player could have one life remaining, one player dies sending both back to the start with the second player still only having one life. Then, when the second player dies, you use another continue. At this point, the first player may have already lost a few lives, so that means you have to replay the level with even less lives than before.

I will say that if what you folks post is true, then I strike-out the word "impossible" from my post. The kids who voted in this poll still believe that replaying the first two levels of Battletoads forever is more fun than any other two player game released in 1991 for any system (SCAT, Tiny Toons, any number of Game Boy link games, and so on), which is just funny to me.

It's actually interesting that the game won several of the Nester awards that year, despite the likely fact that not a single voter progressed past level 3.

This game is a great 2 player coop! Especially if you use the Level Warps in level 1, , 3, and 5!!

I think that this is an absolutely brilliant multiplayer game. Hard as hell but good as shit

I remember trying to beat this game with a friend but we couldn't get past the bike stage so we settled to dancing to the pause music instead

Who says they'd be playing just the first two levels? The 3rd level really is not that hard. I've seen videos of people no deathing the two player mode as well. It's one of the best multiplayer games on the NES, so I agree with the poll.

How do they no-death it with the glitch?

Broken?

Yeah...uhh...no. It has some glitches, but the gameplays core is not in any way broken.

I don't see how you guys think the two player gameplay is awesome...I try to never play BT with another player..I can't even beat the game solo, so why would I want to make it even harder??