Thanks everybody at SDA for capturing this run from DVD for me, and to Rare for making this amazing game.

I am a huge fan of playing through this game, but I HATE warping. Needless to say, I performed my no-warp run first, and then only did this run so that I could dominate both categories! :) However, if you only wanna watch one run, please watch the other, as it's much more fun to see all of the levels played through in this game.

• Level 1 (Ragnarok's Canyon): Nothing to say.

• Level 2 (Wookie Hole): What, there's a level 2?

• Level 3 (Turbo Tunnel): Not much to be said about this level since the only part one can do fast is the pre-race part, and this lasts very short. I do handle every Scuzz pretty well though, and I don't think much more than a second can be shaved off...

• Level 4 (Arctic Caverns): ????

• Level 5 (Surf City): Boo, we skipped the ice level! No matter, it's time to kick ass at surfing! God, what can't these toads do? That jump at the beginning was unintentional, as I was pressing A really fast to skip the cutscenes. The Walkers are taken down without any accidents, and Big Blag goes down without any errors. It's a good thing too, because he is the first part of a run that can waste several seconds if you aren't careful.

  As an aside, one thing that makes Battletoads very hard to speed run are the actual random parts of the game. Yes, there are parts of the game that are truly random, and having bad luck can definitely lead to death, and in bad cases, to starting a run over. I'll list these as they come. The first such case is the placement of the mines at the end of this level. Thankfully, I come out unharmed at the end. As a side note, this is my favorite song in the entire game.

• Level 6 (Karnath's Lair): Nothing to say, except, making Rash dance to the music is fun! You get the extended treatment in the "No-Warp" run.

• Level 7 (Volkmire's Inferno): *cough*

• Level 8 (Intruder Excluder): I pause for a bit on the second Sentry-Drone in order to not have to wait one cycle once I reach the electrified gap above him. I lose about 3 or 4 seconds when the drone zaps me and the Snotballs jump on my head. Other than that, the level goes pretty smoothly, and I manage to not wait for a Gasser spray and just run past him at 7:05, which is a bit risky. The fight with Robomanus at the end goes decent, although I do lose a life. This fight could be considered random, as his jumping patterns are difficult to predict. I consider it passable to die once (but no more) on this dude.

• Level 9 (Terra Tubes): Yay, my song again! It's a good thing at least the music is good, because the rest of this level sucks badly. It is VERY long, and has 3 random parts in it, which makes it the worst level in the game to speedrun. Each part kills you rarely, but put them all together, and the probability of something going wrong here is not as low as it should be. It isn't so annoying if you are using warps since you haven't wasted THAT much time to get to this stage, but other than that, it's a pain in the ass.

  The first random part is around 10:05 when I have to go downward through a section with spikes and Hammerfish oozing out of the duct in the center. It is random because it is not consistent about how many fish will be there when you arrive. Sometimes there are none and you pass through safely, and sometimes there are as many as 3 or 4 that are scattered throughout, and this makes it very difficult to pass through without getting smashed into a spike. One way to minimize this risk is the strategy I use, which is to hug the left wall. Although it is faster to go through the center, it is also more dangerous, as lots of Hammerfish there would mean instant death. Since I hug the left wall, it buys me a few more seconds, and I feel that this was a good call, as you'll notice plenty of fish chilling out once I get there. If it had been only slightly worse, I probably would have bit the bullet right then and there, which would waste plenty of time, and probably kill my run.

  The second (and worst) random part comes in at around 10:19, when you have to pass right by a duct that is very narrowly surrounded by spikes. This duct spits out Electra-Eels, sometimes after you're safely past, and sometimes before you even get there. The worst (and scarily frequent) way this part kills you is when the Electra-Eel literally spits out right on top of you as you pass. You have absolutely no time to react, and die instantly. To make matters even worse, it wastes even more time than the last random event as you're even further from the last checkpoint. Anyhow, this time around was very very very close. It spits out an eel NEARLY on top of me, and I luckily avoid it as I swim by. Phew. The last random part (although much less dangerous) occurs at the part before the very last copters. The Hammerfish I skip at 11:41 is still roaming around and can sometimes appear completely unexpectedly later on and ram you into the spikes with no regrets. I get lucky.

• Level 10 (Rat Race): I waste about 2 or 3 seconds dicking around with the Sentry-Drone at the beginning of the level (and even getting hit!) before squeezing by. But then comes the first major accomplishment of this run, the Rat Race shortcut! The programmers put a shortcut in the game that is VERY hard to do, and requires a LOT of luck to get right. If one kills Giblet on his way down after defusing (read: kicking!) the bomb, one can advance immediately to Level 11. There are 2 difficulties with this.
  1. You must figure out where he's gonna land.
  2. You must kill him!

  The only way to kill him is to perform the Big Bad Boot, and this can only be done after headbutting him at least once. So juggling Giblet is the only way, and this leads to a trick that is VERY VERY hard to get right, as you have to get lucky enough to both hit him AND kill him. I'd guess that I pull it off at most once out of every 5 or 6 times I play (with a LOT of practice!), so it is indeed VERY lucky that I pulled it off during a solid run. Needless to say, after pulling it off, I was INCREDIBLY nervous for the rest of the game, and it's a wonder I didn't screw up Level 12.

• Level 11 (Clinger-Winger): This is the easiest level in the game (IMO), and I never screw it up. This does not apply, however, to the boss fight, which I completely mangle. I die twice, and also miss him (her?) a few times, which leads to a very disappointing battle. This is probably the worst playing in the entire run, and my time would have been considerably lower had I not played this poorly.

• Level 12 (The Revolution): This is the hardest level in the game to play quickly AND skillfully, as I botched many many runs at this very level. This is especially true since I make many risky speed jumps in which I anticipate where future platforms are going to generate. It saves several seconds if done right, but most likely kills a run if done wrong. All goes perfectly (minus a jab) until at about 17:02, the Shadow Cloud knocks the stick out of my hand, and it strangely disappears. This has the potential to be a very major mistake which can kill a run, as there are parts of this level that not having a stick will make you play EXTREMELY slow. Thankfully, it only sets me behind about 8 or 9 seconds finishing off the very Cloud that knocked it out of my hand, and I get it back at around 17:56.

  The fight with the Dark Queen goes surprisingly well, as I don't die, AND I finish her off with my favorite move, the Nuclear Knuckles! For once an excellent boss battle! And on a side note: Jesus Rare, couldn't you have created a new song for the final battle? Or at least some ending music? This has to be the only game where the final boss music keeps running even during the ending.

• Overall comments: I am very proud of this run, because I ONLY lose 3 lives total, and they're all on boss fights (which waste almost no time due to the instant regeneration there) and I somehow pull off the extremely difficult Rat Race trick. I couldn't have asked for more, and I think it will be a VERY long time before somebody tops this run. As an aside, the Rat Race trick saves about 2:11, so it is essential!!! Even without this trick, I would have finished in well under 23 minutes, which is a VERY good time in its own right! This run was most certainly not perfect, as I wasted a good 45 seconds to a minute on crummy boss fights and little mistakes here and there. It's definitely possible to break 20 minutes, although I don't think breaking 19 minutes is possible for a human player, unless there is some glitch out there I don't know about.

Anyhow, I hope you've enjoyed the run! I peronally hate warping, and only did so for this run. Please watch the "warpless" run for maximum enjoyment, as you get to see the entire game and just how creative Rare was when they made this masterpiece!

Send any questions or comments to: djmikehaggar at google's precious gmail service.

Also, unlike most speed runners that say "I will never play this game again", I will now go on record as saying "I will never stop playing this game". It's my favorite NES game, and I will defend my records to the death! I've got a need for speed, and I'm mad, bad and crazy! Bring on the challengers!

Welcome to Battletoads with NO WARPING (the ONLY way to play) !!! Thanks go to SDA for having such an awesome site, and for ripping the video from DVD. I hope you enjoy the run! Below are comments.

• Level 1 (Ragnarok's Canyon):

  This is a very nice run through this stage. Believe it or not, each time I play I have to hit reset about 4 or 5 times in this level in order for things to go perfectly. Since it's the first level, I don't accept any kind of wasted time whatsoever.

• Level 2 (Wookie Hole):

  This level is a lot of fun to play when I'm not speedrunning, as I try to get as many lives as possible usually with bird juggling. Believe it or not, I think it's barely possible(?) to actually max out the score (read: 999999 points!) by the end of this level from all the bird-smacking that's possible....though not during a speed run of course. I have always wanted to do this, though the highest I've ever gotten is 860K or so. One day! Anyhow, back to the speedrun. I think I do a pretty solid job on this level, as the screen only stops scrolling at a few fixed parts that can't be avoided. I do manage to snag at least one life (just for fun) during the run, which is ok, but I've done better (3 at some points).

• Level 3 (Turbo Tunnel): I dispose of the first few rats (and waste about 4 seconds dicking around with the 6th Scuzz) before getting on the bikes, and playing the first Battletoads obstacle course. It goes smoothly, and there's nothing really to comment on as it's a fixed scrolling section that can't really be done fast or slow (as long as you don't die!).

• Level 4 (Arctic Caverns): This level has many things that can go wrong if one isn't careful, and requires a lot of memorization.

  I take a hit at 7:48 from the ice block as it's the fastest way to beat that part. Luckily, it is the only hit I ever take in this stage.

  I dispose of the snowmen at 8:03 pretty well, as this is the fastest pattern I've found. I end the level with a speed trick I learned from a TAS. It lets you skip the last upper section with the spiked ball, which probably saves you about 5 seconds and a risk of more if you screw up the speed trick there.

• Level 5 (Surf City): My favorite song!! Anyhow, the first section goes smoothly except somehow I miss the 1st extra life (BOO!). I again dick around with the second Tail Walker and lose about 2 or 3 seconds. In comes Big Blag, our first boss! I fight him perfectly and don't lose any time whatsoever. The last section of this level is the Mine section, which features the first random part of the game! Yes, if they generate just right (or wrong rather), you earn a high probability of losing a life and wasting precious time. Thankfully, all goes well, and the level's done!

• Level 6 (Karnath's Lair): As a side note, this is my girlfriend's favorite level! This is what I hate about warping runs, as you skip both Karnath's Lair and the next level (Volkmire's Inferno), two of my favorite stages. Anyhow, this level features memorization galore! Again, this stage is a fixed scrolling stage, so all you have to do is not die and you'll get a fast time (as long as you jump in the exit as early as possible each time). Somehow, I go through the snake's head in the first section and lose about 2-3 seconds. It's really annoying when things happen to you during a speed run that have NEVER happened to you in the past! On a side not, I try to make this level as entertaining as possible by "dancing" to the music throughout the whole stage. I hope it's a fun watch! On the fourth section, I use the only trick I learned from EmptyEye's run, but it is VERY useful, as you get to skip the last few (and hardest) parts of the snake section. It's too bad this trick exists, as the last few sections are rather cool to watch and fun to play through.

• Level 7 (Volkmire's Inferno): As a bit of trivia, this is the first level in the game where you have access to all the Battletoads super moves with just a single press of the punch button! This means enemies go down really fast! However, they make Scuzz meaner and faster this time around, so you have to be careful. After taking them on, I pull off the very awesome technique I came up with for getting past ALL of the logs without stopping OR dying! It's actually a lot harder than it looks, and I can't pull it off every single time, so this part made me really happy.

  Then, we finally reach the meat of the level, another obstacle course! Which means again, as long as you don't die, you beat it as fast as possible. This entire airplane section requires a TON of memorization. By the way, on the missile section, yes, you can just hang out on the bottom and not get touched by the ones that go up. Pretty slick eh? Also, the music in this section rules. As a side of trivia (and to show you how much I've played Battletoads), a few years ago I randomly closed my eyes during a run through of the very very last section (with the super fast blinking walls of fire) and managed to beat the entire thing without opening them. I didn't do that during this run however, as I'd probably have a heart attack if I messed up the level this far in the run for something unnecessary like that, and additionally, there'd be no proof that I actually did it, so what would be the point?

  Ok, I've incriminated myself enough, onwards to the next level...

• Level 8 (Intruder Excluder): This level is generally not that hard to beat, but it is very hard to speedrun. I make my only major mistake in this level (that doesn't include boss fights), and die for the very first time during the run at around 8:50 when I don't hold the jump button down enough. Thankfully, this was my only death during a level in the whole run, and it only costs me 7 seconds. I also get zapped by a Sentry-Drone during a failed attempt at doing something fast. This kills a second or two. The rest goes well, and in comes Robo-Manus!

  This dude is very hard to destroy without dying at all, but thankfully dying on bosses only wastes a few seconds (while you regenerate). I manage to take him down with only 1 death, and the fight goes pretty well otherwise.

• Level 9 (Terra Tubes): This level sucks. It's very long and very painful, and also requires a lof of memorization. This and the last level are probably the hardest levels of the entire game to do quickly, and one of the worst parts of this level is the fact that completely random events occur here that can kill you without warning. The first is at 22:01 (with the millions of Hammerfish, notice how they are very close to me as I exit that room), and the next is at 22:16 when the Electra-Eel's come spitting out at random moments. Both go very well. I do take a few scattered hits throughout the level, although I never die, which is good enough for me.

• Level 10 (Rat Race): One of the most creative levels of the game. Unfortunately, I did this run before I really practiced the Rat Race trick, and so I don't even try it. This is something I deeply regret, and probably the only weakness of this run, as it is about 2:10 not saved. For a demonstration on this trick, watch my other Battletoads run with warping, as I pull it off in all it's glory there. Well, on the plus side, in this run you now get to see the other two rat races in all their glory, as well as General Slaughter! The third rat race goes a bit bad, but not bad enough to lose, and I do lose a life on General Slaughter. Other than that, it goes pretty smooth.

• Level 11 (Clinger-Wingers): This level is a breeze to play through once you master it. After beating the hell out of the Buzzball, you get to fight him at the end! The fight doesn't go terribly well (as I do die twice), but I do hit him a lot of times when it counts.

• Level 12 (The Revolution): This level has ended many of my runs. It has a lot of difficult jumps, and this is especially true if you try to do it fast. I do the trampoline part pretty fast (the section starting at 31:35). I manage to essentially do this level flawlessly, which is amazing to me considering how nervous I was. The Dark Queen fight goes okay, although I do die one time. She does do some lengthy tornado moves, which delay the battle a little, but one can't control this is it's all due to luck. She goes down, and we get to see the crappiest ending ever, YAY!

Thanks for watching....
To Recap:
# of deaths: 6
Amount of kickass: lots!

Can it be improved? Hell yes! If you can do what I did, for starters, but throw in the rat race trick, you can get just over 32 minutes! If you play perfectly and don't die, you can probably get in the mid-to-low 31's, although I don't think offhand that it is possible to break 31 minutes. It may be barely possible though.

I hope one day to pull off a no-death run, however, it probably won't be a speedrun (unless we can have a Fastest Run with No Deaths category added for the occasion!)

Send any questions or comments to: djmikehaggar at google's precious gmail service.

Also, I warn whoever's out there. If you beat this run, I will retreat to the shadowy margins of the galaxy to recoup my losses....and strike when you least expect it!

Until the next time....