Battletoads is the first game of the Battletoads series. The game is a platform scrolling beat 'em up, with varying elements of racing, climbing and vehicle-based obstacle courses. Players start with three lives each time the game is started, which get replenished every time the player continues after getting defeated. The game contains no saving system or password features. The player has a maximum of six hit points that can be replenished by eating flies. It is by some considered to be one of the hardest games of all time, and it have previously been listed at 8th place in IGN's "Top 10 Most Difficult Games to Beat."

Fresh from her recent defeat at the Battle of Canis Major, the Dark Queen decides to take out her aggressions on her archenemies, the Battletoads. The 'Toads and their mentor, Professor T-Bird, are currently escorting Princess Angelica home to her father, the Terran Emperor. During a rest stop, Pimple takes Angelica out for a drive in the Toadster, but the vehicle and its occupants are swallowed up by the Dark Queen's ship, the Gargantua, and taken to her tower on planet Ragnarok. Rash and Zitz are quickly sent down to Ragnarok's surface to rescue their friends, unaware of the dangers that await them, but willing to chance it all on their rescue mission.