Battletoads Won Seven Times in the 1991 Nintendo Power Nester Awards

If you were a Nintendo fan in the early 1990s, the Nintendo Power Awards (also called the Nesters) were a huge freaking deal. This was where your favorite games all got pitted against one another in a battle for chart-topping domination, and readers had the opportunity to vote for the year’s best offerings. In 1991, Rare’s Battletoads was a true champion, winning seven Nintendo Power Awards in a single competition.

Seriously, Battletoads swept this thing. This comes from the May, 1992, issue of Nintendo Power magazine (Issue 36):

As you can see, Nintendo Power gave out three awards per console per category. Battletoads for NES took first place in the “For Best Play Control” category, and Battletoads for Game Boy took second.

Here’s a complete list of awards Battletoads won in 1991:

• For Graphics and Sound (NES) – First Place
• For Theme and Fun (NES) – First Place
• For Best Challenge (NES) – Third Place
• For Best Play Control (NES) – First Place
• For Best Play Control (Game Boy) – Second Place
• For Best Multi-Player Simultaneous (any system) – First Place
• Overall Best Games (NES) – First Place

There were only two awards that Battletoads didn’t take home that year: “For Best Overall Villain (any system),” and “For Most Innovative Game (any system).”

If this seems at all odd to you, keep in mind that Battletoads is absolutely great. Plus, it was made by Rare, one of the most talented and prestigious game development studios of the 1990s. After Battletoads, Rare would go on to make all-time greats Donkey Kong Country and GoldenEye 007, as well as the cult classic Conker’s Bad Fur Day.

Congratulations, Battletoads. Toads rule!