I still remember when I thought Battletoads was just a piece of my childhood, a brutally hard brawler I played at a friend's house. Then in 2020, Rare and Dlala Studios brought it roaring back after more than two decades away. For a pirate like me, the real surprise wasn't just the return: it was the chance to sail a Battletoads-themed ship across the Sea of Thieves.

Maybe that sounds like a weird pairing? Honestly, it was. But Sea of Thieves has always loved a crossover. The game had already hosted events with Bleeding Edge, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and that old Rare favourite Banjo-Kazooie. So when I saw the official announcement about a Battletoads reward, I wasn't shocked. I was already reaching for my controller.

The deal was simple. According to the Sea of Thieves team: "The Battletoads return tomorrow, August 20th, courtesy of @dlalastudios! To celebrate, anyone who finishes Act One of the raucous multi-genre adventure, at any time, will be able to festoon their ship with a family of fighting frogs! Or are they toads? We hear it's a wart thing."

That quote made me laugh. Fighting frogs or toads? Who cares when they look that good on a hull?

So I booted up Battletoads, which launched on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Game Pass. I only needed to complete Act One, but I ended up playing much further. The game was stylish, funny, and far more approachable than the original. Reviewers at the time gave it an 8/10 and called it charming, stylish, and a bundle of fun. They were right. It was a perfect Game Pass title: easy to jump into, full of personality, and never dull.

After Act One was done, I returned to Sea of Thieves and opened the ship customisation chest. And there it was: a striking green livery covered in the Battletoads logo. The figurehead was my favourite part, with three little toads sitting around the logo like they were ready to launch into a boss fight. The full set included:

• Cannons

• Sails

• Figurehead

• Capstan

• Flag

• Hull

• Wheel

Every piece felt like a celebration of Rare's weird, wonderful history. I equipped the entire set immediately. Sailing out of the outpost, I could see other pirates doing the same thing. The Sea of Thieves community was suddenly full of green, amphibian-loving crews. It turned the open sea into a ridiculous, joyful tribute.

I have to ask: how many games let you earn a ship set by playing a completely different game? Not many. That's exactly why this crossover worked. It rewarded curiosity. It pushed me to try a reboot I might have skipped, and it gave my pirate a look I still use years later in 2026.

Looking back, the game was in a great place around that crossover. Sea of Thieves had recently passed 15 million players and had just arrived on Steam, where it quickly climbed past 40,000 concurrent players. Those numbers impressed me at the time, but they also felt inevitable. The game kept giving players reasons to return—new events, new cosmetics, and strange partnerships that never felt forced.

Even now, when I load into Sea of Thieves in 2026, I sometimes scroll past newer ship sets and stop on that green monster. The Battletoads ship still makes me grin. It reminds me of a moment when two very different parts of Rare's history collided, and players like me got to sail away with the spoils.

Did completing Act One of a brawler change my life? No. But it gave me a figurehead full of toads and a very good excuse to spend another evening on the waves. And for a pirate, that is more than enough.