"Battletoads" was greeted with mostly enthusiastic reviews upon release, with critics calling it one of the best all-time video games, one of the best games of 1991, one of the best all-time NES games, and the greatest NES game of 1991. The "innovative and fun" presentation was frequently praised, particularly when it came to the cutscenes, the cartoon style of the characters and attacks, the music and sound, multi-layer scrolling, variety of colors, humor, and the first level gimmick of the Big Walker boss being from the perspective of the boss. Only minor complaints were made, such as towards the sprites being too small, the attacks looking too non-aggressive, some backgrounds being a "bit bland on occasions," and flickering.