Author Topic: Battletoads & Double Dragon - The Ultimate Team (NES)  (Read 8989 times)

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Offline TerraEsperZ

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Battletoads & Double Dragon - The Ultimate Team (NES)
« on: August 13, 2007, 07:23:05 am »
This is a little side-project I've been working on for the last week or so. I've always wanted to map the first NES Battletoads game to finally obtain pixel perfect maps but it's just too big and complicated a project right now for various technical reason, so I settled for its sequel instead :P



I'm posting the maps here for a final round of comments and suggestions before submitting them to the site so don't hesitate to speak your mind. Note that I only included "static" minor enemies on the maps, meaning those that are already there waiting for you when you scroll over to them. Enemies that appear after the screen has stopped scolling aren't shown. I've made exception for major enemies such as the Doormen/Windowmen of Doom and General Slaughter since I see them as an important obstacles, and of course bosses.



Level 1 - Tail Of The Ratship

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This level was pretty easy to map, but since the scrolling is automatic and goes up and down along the way, I extrapolated a little and filled the blanks to get a clean rectangular map. I didn't include the Mechno-Mitts despite them being obstacles because I think they take up too much space and hide the main map too much.



Level 2 - Blag Alley (2-1)

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This level is split up in three parts only because the discontinuity between them is obvious and because the third is way larger than the first two. If you've played the game, you know that the floor has a neat 3D effect to it that I had to remove to be able to map it properly. At first I simply remade it but so that the effect would span the whole stage and not just the screen, but I changed my mine considering how large 2-3 was.



Level 2 - Blag Alley (2-2)

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Level 2 - Blag Alley (2-3)

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Now you see what I meant by "larger" (it is indeed 27200 pixels large), and I couldn't even break it up because there are no natural "breaks" like the various Turbo Tunnel races in the first Battletoads games. As you can see, I've had to alter the floor to remove the 3D effect, but I also had to adjust the position of all the obstacles to match the new perspective. There's a rather long empty section in the middle where a number of enemies riding bikes attack you one after the other who don't have a starting point as such; they just attack you the moment you defeat the previous one, so I just defeated them as fast as possible to prevent the section from looping needlessly. Also, the second batch of bonus pods seem to vary in number, so I put in 24 of them because that's how many I got when playing the stage as perfectly as possible, but a lower number is also possible.



Level 3 - Ropes 'N' Roper (3-1)

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Level 3 - Ropes 'N' Roper (3-2)

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I haven't put a starting point for the player here or in the next part because all three parts of the level flow directly from one to the other, and the only reason I didn't put all of them together is because the file resolution would be so big neddlessly that Paint couldn't save it anymore. If it looks too weird, then say so; I'll add in a Rash sprite.



Level 3 - Ropes 'N' Roper (3-3)

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Level 5 - Missile Mayhem

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Level 6 - Shadow-Boss Showdown

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In this stage, that shadow standing in the light at the beginning is the Shadow-Boss himself, and as you move foward you can see him follow you in the background shadows before coming out to fight you. I kept it in addition to the revealed Shadow-Boss himself because I felt it looked cool, but if it looks bad to have him twice I'll probably remove it.



Level 7 - Armageddon II - The Rematch

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All comments, *any* comment are appreciated as always.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Current project that are on hold because job burnout :
-Drill Dozer (GBA)
-Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis)
-Naya's Quest (PC)

Offline Maxim

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RE: Battletoads & Double Dragon - The Ultimate Team (NES)
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2007, 08:36:06 am »
I was a bit disappointed after the first map - which is a great example of a game map showing an overview of a scene that you previously only had a small porthole into - when most of the other maps basically devolve into generic repetitive backgrounds and corridors like a cheap 1960s cartoon. But that's not really something you can do anything about, and hardly unusual.

Offline TerraEsperZ

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RE: Battletoads & Double Dragon - The Ultimate Team (NES)
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2007, 11:04:09 am »
You're right, it's the only stage with an actual "construction",  and it's kind of cool when, in Level 4 (which is a space battle, so there was nothing to map really) you go up against the entire Ratship/Collosus and you see on its back that twisted blue walkway that was Level 1.



But visually, the first game is far superior. Most of the stages are planet-based, so at least visit many environement like an ice cave, an underground river, a snake pit, a series of pipes, etc. For the sequel, they're almost all generic techno backgrounds with tacky colors.



I've also checked the SNES port, and the graphics to me are even worse. All the little animated tiles and palette cycling that gave some life to the stages are gone, and all the colors have been replaced by "serious" ones, so instead of flash colors, you get dull ones like a lot of dull greys.



I should give the first game a try sometimes to see how the heck I could map all those race levels...



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Current project that are on hold because job burnout :
-Drill Dozer (GBA)
-Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis)
-Naya's Quest (PC)