Don’t let the legendary difficulty of Battletoads let you down if you’re experiencing it for the first time on the new Rare Replay compilation. This NES classic is loaded with warp zones, letting your fragile frog skip levels and inch ever close to completion.
Straight-up, Battletoads is one of the toughest games out there. Finishing it in just one sitting, even with the casual additions in Rare Replay is a tall order even for players used to old-school hard. If you’re having trouble, check out some of the warp locations listed below. These valuable resources send the Battletoads into future levels, making it possible to skip some of the insane challenges and stock up your lives for later.
Warp Zone Locations Guide
Stepping into a warp skips the remainder of your current level, as well as your next level.
Warp – Stage 1:
- Skips to: Stage 3 – Turbo Tunnel
The first warp is practically unmissable. After taking care of the two pig minions that appear at the start of Stage 1, the screen will scroll right to reveal a warp on a high ledge.
Be quick, ram the two enemies and defeat them quickly or you might miss the first warp area. Look for the pulsating white dots, every warp will look just like this.
Warp – Level 3:
- Skips to: Stage 5 – Surf City
Near the end of the stage, you’ll reach the last series of walls past a checkpoint marker. Hit the tenth wall in the series — it’s one of the walls at the bottom of the screen.
Warp – Level 4:
- Skips to: Stage 6 – Karnath’s Lair
About midway through the stage, you’ll reach an ice-y path in the upper-right corner of the board. There’s a brown-ish yellow floating platform you’ll need to ride down a shaft with walls covered in spikes.
Ride the platform partially down, then jump back up the vertical tunnel down. The platform will float up while you’re jumping, letting you regain lost ground. The warp will appear in the upper right corner.
Warp – Level 6:
- Skips to: Stage 8 – Intruder Excluder
At the second section of Karnath’s Lair, wait for the first massive snake to move vertically out of it’s hole in the ground. The snake is yellow/red and bends right, then downward, giving you a small window to reach the final official warp.
After the snake’s first turn just run off the snake to an offscreen platform to your right. Land on the solid ground and run further right to reach the warp.
Warp – Level 10:
- Skips to: Stage 11 – Clinger Winger
While not an ‘official’ warp, this glitch will skip the remainder of the Rat Race stage if you can pull it off. After reaching the bomb (any of the three bombs) the rat will land on his head and break the platform, dropping you into the next section of the race.
When the rat lands on his head, you’ve got a small window to use a charging attack and send him flying. That ends the stage and sends you directly into Stage 11.
Kevin Thielenhaus is a freelance writer for The Escapist. Find him on Twitter here.
