Battletoads (Game Boy Advance)

Battletoads (unofficial name)
Developer: Rare Platform: Game Boy Advance This game has unused areas. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused music. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select.

This game was never completed and/or given a public release. As a result of this, keep in mind that the developers might have used or deleted some of the content featured here, had the game actually been released.

The GBA Battletoads is an unreleased entry in the series. A prototype was released by RareWareCentral on November 19, 2011. The game at this point is very primitive and doesn't even have a proper title screen. It was only in production for three weeks before it was cancelled.

Download Battletoads (prototype) File: Battletoads-GBA-Proto.7z (1.2 MB) (info)

Unused Music

This track can only be played by entering the cheat code 03002658:00000000 in an emulator, enabling it during gameplay, then disabling it.

The song appears to be based on "Level 1: Ragnarok Canyon" from the original game, so it was possibly intended for the Ragnarok Canyon remake in this very prototype.

(Source: ConkerGuru)

Levels

To do: Add pictures of the Trail 1 level.

There are eight levels in this build. While a few are more polished than others, none are truly finished: they can be glitchy to play, and none of them have exits. They can only be entered by using the debug features. In-game, the levels don't have names, but searching through the prototype with a hex editor starting at 0x3DF20 shows a basic list of level names that seem to match with the levels on the ROM.

Ragnarok 0

Probably the most complete stage that could have made it into the final product had the game been released. The level has a few different enemies, the most abundant of which resemble Psycho Pigs from the original NES game. There are also a few enemies that resemble Walkers. There is a glitch halfway though the stage where your character has limited movement and there are constant sounds of a Dragon being heard.

Ice Cavern

The second-most complete stage is a replica of the fourth level of the original NES game. There are no enemies, you can't get hurt and several of the original level's features are missing, such as the moving platforms and snowball barriers. Due to a glitch, it is very easy to jump through walls and when you fall very fast the graphics mess up until you land.

Test 0

A replica of the first stage of the NES game. This stage has not only Psycho Pigs and Walkers, but two invincible Dragons: while the first tries to attack you, the second flies where the first boss of the NES game was. The level seems to have been hastily assembled from NES emulator screenshots and has a number of sprite graphics embedded in it, including Rash, Psycho Pigs, a Walker leg, a 1UP, and even parts of the old HUD. Portions of this level might have been used as inspiration to create Trial 0 and ultimately Ragnarok 0; evidence of this can be seen around the waterfall area, as the layouts from all three levels look similar there.

One of the Psycho Pigs has an unusual behavior: It will repeatedly spawn from its hiding place without attacking the player. It is invulnerable and will inflict no damage to the player. Its hiding place changes as soon as the player goes behind the first spawning point, and will start attacking the player from the left instead of the right. This enemy may have glitchy behavior and cause the game to freeze.

Trial 0

Seems to be an early Ragnarok 0, with a near-identical layout. Minor differences abound, such as Ragnarok 0 being slightly bigger than this map, a few layout differences, and the fact that Trial 0 uses placeholder graphics to show the layout. The only enemy is an invincible Dragon at the very beginning of the stage, which attacks like the one in the previous stage.

Test2D 0

A very short level that doesn't have much graphical detail. There are two Psycho Pigs that stand on top of a platform and throw pig heads (probably placeholder graphics for what would have been the projectiles). Curiously, the background image comes from the ship hold levels in Donkey Kong Country 2, such as Lockjaw's Locker.

Trial 1

Even shorter than Test2D 0 and using placeholder graphics, this consists of a long shaft with four platforms (two each at the bottom and top), although the latter can only be reached through glitching or debugging.

Trial 2

Uses the same graphics as Trial 1. This stage has similar physics to Ice Cavern, the key feature being that you can slide down slopes. While smaller than Ice Cavern, Trial 2's layout almost matches perfectly with the beginning section of Ice Cavern. The similarities can be seen by comparing the image of Trial 2 to the first 40 seconds of the Ice Cavern video. It is clear that Trial 1 and Trial 2 are early versions of Ice Cavern.

Test Mode 7

An interesting level that uses graphics from another Rare game, Banjo-Pilot. In fact, the map used is just ⅓ of Spiral Mountain. No music is assigned to this level, so whatever sounds were occurring in the previous frame of gameplay, will indefinitely repeat until another level is entered. The HUD and character sprite don't properly refresh either.

The controls are different than the other levels, and it is clear that this was intended to be a flying level but it is far from complete. Left and Right move the player left or right, while Up and Down move forward or backward. Pressing A or B will raise or lower the player respectively.

Debugging Features

This prototype has some basic debugging features.

Free Movement

Enabled by holding Select and using the D-Pad. This can be used to move the player around to the desired position. Pressing A or B will raise or lower the player respectively. The viewing window will also scroll in the direction the D-Pad is pressed, although it scrolls faster than the player and can result in the player going offscreen. The viewing window will recenter on the player when Select is released.

Level Select

By holding Select and pressing L or R, you can enter any level. R and L move down and up the list respectively, and the list loops. This is the only way to get from level to level.

Error Messages

Starting at 0x81DC is a bunch of text relating to audio errors, which are more or less identical to those of Donkey Kong Country.

AUDIO ERROR, freq of sample unusually high. (>3 times normal)
AUDIO ERROR, pitch frequency too low
AUDIO ERROR, pitch frequency too high
AUDIO ERROR, adsr_acts table exceeded
AUDIO ERROR, midi_command table exceeded
AUDIO ERROR, midi delta time too big
AUDIO ERROR, midi delta time of 4 bytes unsupported
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 0.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 1.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 2.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 3.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 4.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 5.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 6.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 7.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 8.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 9.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 10.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 11.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 12.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 13.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 14.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, too many notes on channel 15.increase polyphony RAM
           or modify tune (perhaps reduce envelope release times)
AUDIO ERROR, not enough space to put audio RAM code
AUDIO ERROR, more than 16 tracks in song
AUDIO ERROR, tune num > max tunes available
AUDIO ERROR, MIDI note on command before MIDI prog chng command
AUDIO ERROR, requested playback freq exceeds max freq
AUDIO ERROR, incorrect note mapping for rhythm_set
AUDIO ERROR, incorrect note mapping for keysplit
AUDIO ERROR, invalid fx number
AUDIO ERROR, invalid tune number