Battletoads (GBA prototype)
From RWP Wiki
| Battletoads (GBA prototype) | |
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| System | Game Boy Advance |
| Release Date | Not officially released ROM: November 19, 2011 |
| Publisher | None |
| Genre | Beat 'em up |
| Rating | |
| Players | 1 |
| Controller Pak | |
| Rumble | |
| Expansion Pak | |
| Link Cable | |
| Xbox Live | |
| Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection | |
Battletoads is an unreleased Game Boy Advance game, created as a continuation of the series of the same name. A video of the game was originally released by YouTube user "transparentjinjo" in mid-2008. A very early pre-alpha build of the game has been since released as a dumped ROM by RareWareCentral webmaster Torrentstorm on November 19, 2011.
Contents |
Gameplay
The game, similarly to the original Battletoads, is primarily a beat-'em-up game with platforming elements. The player can move their 'Toad up, down, left, and right across the playing field with the D-Pad, jump with the A button, and attack with the B button. When enemies appear, the screen locks itself into its current position, forcing the player into combat to continue. When enemies are defeated, the player is awarded points (for example, the pig grunts give 2000 points). As the game is more of a proof-of-concept, the game is very basic: the only available fighting moves appear to be a punching combo (used by rapidly tapping B near an enemy), and a dash kick (used by pressing the D-Pad in a direction twice, and then pressing B). The player's health is indicated by a gauge that pops up when they get hit. However, a player can also get a general idea of their status by looking at the color of the player's Battletoad logo in the top-let corner: green indicates high health, yellow medium health, and red low health). The player cannot die, as when the 'Toad's health runs out, it merely refills.
The game features a few debug tools the player can use. First, the player can force the game to switch levels by pressing Select and pressing R to advance forward a level, and Select+L to go back a level. The player can also hold Select and use the D-Pad as sort of a debug "map view" function, to scoll the camera through a level without having to play it.
The first level is a very simple stage where the player fights some Psyko-Pig grunts and a Walker mech. At a certain point in the level, the game begins playing a loud rumbling sound (presumably for an as-yet unimplented boss encounter), and the screen locks, preventing the player from going any further.
The second level is based on Level 4: Arctic Caverns from the NES Battletoads, with new pre-rendered graphics. An interesting background feature of this level is a giant, red dragon frozen in ice. The level covers a significant portion of the original level's layout, and features (currently non-functional) red icicles as obstacles. However, it features no enemies.
The third level is based directly on Level 1: Ragnarok's Canyon from the NES Battletoads (even using slightly-scrambled graphics ripped straight from the original game). Enemies featured here include the pig grunts and the flying Dragons. However, at this point in development, the Dragons appear to only be able to hurt the player: the player cannot hurt nor ride them as they could in the NES game. The level leads up to where the boss encounter with the giant mech would have been in the original game, and then stops.
The fourth level uses very basic graphics and appears to be based on a segment from near the end of Ragnarok's Canyon. The level features another of the flying Dragon enemies.
The fifth level appears to take place in a cabin, and features pig grunts throwing what seem to be porkchops. These grunts cannot be defeated, and again the level lasts a very short time before leading the player to a dead-end.
The sixth level a walled in area with only two platforms that the player can jump on, with nowhere else to go. As with the level before, it uses very basic graphics.
The seventh level is a much earlier version of the level based on Arctic Caverns. This level covers a much shorter portion of the level and features very basic placeholder graphics.
The eighth level is a Mode7-style level using Diddy Kong Pilot graphics (see below). The player can move forward, backward, left and right, however, there is no actual gameplay to be found in this segment at this point in development.
As this is a very, very early pre-alpha build, the game is incredibly glitchy and features many collision detection issues, including walking through walls and falling into the abyss below, or getting even getting stuck inside walls. However, the debug tools for switching levels make these glitches easy to get out of.
Development history
A former Rare staffer known as Jens has given some insight onto the game's short development period.[1] The game features redesigned 'Toads, which Jens says were to also planned be used for a potential Xbox Battletoads sequel. The team went back and forth on whether to make a new game or remake the original NES game, but eventually agreed that a game like the "ultra-hard" NES Battletoads probably would not be received very well in a modern context, and so they looked at all of the previous Battletoads games (including the arcade version and were going to try to focus on all the things people enjoyed about the games. Most of the graphics used in this prototype build (which includes some backgrounds from the NES game) were used as placeholders, "just done to have something moving on screen." Initially, the publishing and marketing teams were impressed by the game, but requested some changes. Eventually, these requests became more numerous until finally the game was unceremoniously canceled.
One of the levels features a Mode7-like area that uses some Diddy Kong Pilot graphics as placeholders. According to Jens, this section was intended to be used for a behind-the-back vehicle segment (citing Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge as inspiration).
Trivia
- In addition to the many graphical placeholders, the sounds used are also placeholders. For instance, the sound that the 'Toad makes while jumping is the same one used when Banjo jumps in Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge.
