Microsoft files ‘Battletoads’ trademark

Microsoft filed a trademark for “Battletoads” last week on November 5, according to the USPTO database.

If legitimate, this wouldn’t make the first time Microsoft resurrected a classic Rare franchise—they did the same for Killer Instinct alongside the Xbox One’s launch. It’s been 20 years since the last Battletoads title, and that was 1994’s Super Battletoads for arcades. The original Battletoads debuted on NES in 1991. Between the two, there was a SNES sequel titled Battletoads in Battlemaniacs and the Battletoads Double Dragon crossover.

The oddball brawler is for many my own age (read: born in the mid ‘80s) a staple of their gaming youth. In case that’s a little before your time, and in case the title doesn’t clearly communicate the premise, Battletoads revolves around three bipedal humanoid toad aliens, one of whom is kidnapped along with a space princess, forcing the remaining two to come to the rescue. It was a … simpler time, the early ‘90s.

Nothing is known about this potential new installment from Microsoft, other than it’s identified as “game software,” specifically “entertainment services, namely, providing online video games” (suggesting it might be a digital release).

Source: USPTO

Microsoft files ‘Battletoads’ trademark