WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Battletoads: The Lost Adventure #1 by Simon Furman, Adres Genolet, Jordi Escuin, and Jim Campbell, available now.

When Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was first introduced, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird had no idea that they would become a cultural phenomenon, let alone that create an entire subgenre of spoofs of itself. Of all of these TMNT clones, the most memorable is Battletoads, and it's back to fill in a 26-year gap between the games.

Developed by Rare and originally released in 1991, Battletoads stars Zitz, Rash, and Pimple, three anthropomorphic toads with attitude. Developed as a way to cash in on TMNT mania, the game is regarded as one of the most punishing titles of its era. This reputation is due in large part to the game's vehicle levels, which featured frustratingly fast obstacles and required memorization and persistence more than fast reflexes or innate skill. Even with the high difficulty curve and varied enemy types, the shape-shifting attacks of the namesake characters made Battletoads endlessly replayable.

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The series started with a formulaic premise as one of the toads and a princess is ambushed by the evil Dark Queen and captured. The toads travel from one level to the next, traversing alien worlds through side-scrolling crater stages to save her. After one sequel and a crossover with Double Dragon, Rare would develop an arcade exclusive sequel in 1994.

Because this game was never planned to be ported to consoles, the developers took liberty with the violence, blood, and gore, where previous games had just shown defeated enemies blinking out of existence or humorously splatting on the screen. Now, 26 years later, the series is back, and Battletoads: The Lost Adventure is there to play catch up with everything that's happened in the almost three decades the franchise has been away.

The first issue picks up right at the end of the arcade game, as the Battletoads are making their way through Dark Queen's citadel in a bid to put a stop to her reign for good. In the midst of knocking down the queen's mutated hordes and rodent sentries, the toads get philosophical, discussing the endless cycle that they seem to be caught in. The toads maintain their positivity, relishing the fact that they at least get to spend their meaningless cycle of beating up goons by doing what they love. Once the Battletoads have made their way past the henchmen, the Dark Queen uses her magic to summon a whirlwind to finish the fight. Before the toads can react, the queen's powers are gone when a piece of equipment she uses to harness her dark energies is damaged. The Battletoads make their escape, and the world they left explodes.

As they travel, the Battletoads get word of a free-for-all tournament and see an opportunity for fame, glory, and some more people to punch. When they arrive, it doesn't take long before they realize that they are in way over their heads. Being pummeled in every way, the toads regroup in the hopes of figuring out a way to save themselves. From above, a shadowy figure informs someone else that everything is going according to plan, and that the first casualties of the tournament should be soon. Before the issue ends, the Battletoads' ship is destroyed, and the villainous Dark Queen is found to be held captive by whoever is running things.

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The Battletoads franchise isn't well known for deep or thought-provoking stories. In fact, many casual gamers and even some of the more enfranchised ones might not even be aware that there is an actual story to be told.

Battletoads: The Lost Adventure is tongue in cheek if nothing else, but that doesn't mean it isn't a valuable entry into the series as a whole.

KEEP READING: Turtles in Time: How TMNT Went Back to the Future