Battletoads on the original NES is one of the big selling points of the recent Rare Replay release on Xbox One. It’s a game that many people loved as a child, but it was also one of the most frustrating games on the NES. These days there isn’t a lot of challenging in video games. Sure you’ve got games such as Dark Souls or Bloodborne that make people pull their hair out, but when you compare it to the games of the NES and SNES generation, games these days are like child’s play.
One of the big reasons Battletoads is among the hardest games on the original Nintendo is that the hover bike level was extremely difficult for many people to pass, especially on their first play through of the game. You have a limited number of lives and continues, and while most people passed it after numerous attempts, the rest of the game was even harder because you had so few continues left.
We’ve crafted a video that walks you through the challenging elements of the hover bike level, and gives you a clean run to show you exactly how to get through it without losing lives or continues. Before we get to that, let’s go over a few quick tips to help you out.
Maximum Points – Every 100,000 points you get an extra life. If you’re trying to maximize your points on this stage, kill all of the enemies with a normal combo instead of dashing attacks. It’s faster and easier to kill the enemies with dashing attacks, but you won’t get as many points that way.
Life-Stealing Bugs – When you get to the three green bugs that still your health, you can hit them before they reach the top of the screen. This isn’t easy to do, but if you’re fast it can be done. Hitting them before they reach your health bar means they won’t be able to steal any of it. However, if they do steal your health, hit them and then quickly jump to the right to grab your health. With proper timing you can hit each bug and jump to grab your health with plenty of time to hit the next bug. If the bugs are falling too close, just hit two at once, then jump to grab both health blocks.
Ramps – You do not have to press the Jump button on any of the ramps during the hover bike level. It’s a common misconception that you have to jump on each ramp. If you simply line yourself up so you run over the ramp you will also jump the exact distance you need to in order to cross the chasm beyond.
Stay tuned to Prima Games for more tips on Rare Replay and Battletoads. In the meantime check out our article on what’s so great about Battletoads!
