Speedrun guide for Back to the Future

Speedrunning Back To The Future

DON'T GET HIT

Ok ok, besides the obvious piece of information, I will use this time to write about what you might want to know about speedrunning Back to The Future.

Top Down Level Knowledge:

1. Get the ball & the skateboard as soon as you can.  At the very beginning of the game, the ball will appear after 30 seconds has passed on the in game timer.  After you get that, the skateboard will appear around 60 seconds after grabbing the ball.  If you grab the ball soon enough in the first stage, the skateboard will appear in the same place every time. These are the only moments of controllable RNG you have in the game.  If you lose the skateboard during your run, remember, wait 30 seconds for the ball to appear and then 60 for the skateboard.  If you miss the skateboard, it will take 30 more seconds for it to reappear.  Restarting a level with just the ball will make the timer for the skateboard reset to just waiting 30 seconds for it.

2. Bees are the worst enemies to avoid & hit with balls in the game.  The best way to despawn them is to stay at the very bottom of the stage so that they will disappear.  You can do that with far left and far right of the stage, just make sure you’re not in a position where you need to have to get back to the middle of the screen quickly.  

3. The pink shirt bullies that home in on you are enemies you don’t face head on.  Stay on their side and shoot your ball at them or just move up and avoid them outright if you are far enough away from them at the sides.

4. The blue beads that come from all the enemies can be despawned with the same tactic as the bees, just remember that you can’t destroy them with the ball.  Try not to ride near enemies or just kill them to prevent beads from getting spawned in the first place if they are close enough.

5. Remember to grab the clocks.  While in the first areas of the top down section, the picture fading is slow, but second area’s picture fades faster and the third much more so.  In the fourth area, the picture won’t fade, so don’t worry about the clocks at this point.  

6. At the end of the stage, you can jump before the result screen appears to earn extra points.  As this is a speedrun, try your best not to do this. 

Special Levels Knowledge:

Diner scene 

1. In an optimal run, you should end this area and the screen fades around 4:51.  You have 7 levels to attack and it’s best to just start from top to bottom and fling milkshakes on the offchance you can hit bullies right as they appear on screen.  

2. You get one full kill milkshake, so save it on the offchance you miss someone.  The waitress will bring you another full kill around 25 guys taken down.  (I don’t know if it’s optimal to shoot her to forgo the full kill and just get more guys onscreen.)

3. The optimal way to end the diner is at 50 guys and one enemy is onscreen to throw you out.  If there is more than one guy on screen, they will waste time walking off screen.  If you aren’t on the same level as the guy throwing you out, he will waste some time moving to your level.

Breaking Lorainne’s Heart 

In an optimal run, you should end this area and the screen will fade around 9:00.  There really isn’t much to say about this area, other than the number at the top is not by hearts collected, but seconds on the in game timer.  Make sure, when you see 50 seconds, you move as fast as you can away from the next heart.

Dance:

In an optimal run, you should end this area and the screen will fade around 13:17.  Remember that you need to collect every note as missing one loses the momentum of raising the love bar.  One thing to practice is getting a sharp (Top row) on one side to a flat (bottom row) on the opposite, as those are the hardest notes to hit in succession when the notes go fast later on in the level.

Car Ride:

In an optimal run, you should end the game around 17:00.  Hold up and move left and right to avoid the bolts as they will slow you down.  Sadly, this is complete RNG and you ONLY GET ONE SHOT TO GET 88 MPH, so good luck!  

Useless knowledge:

The optimal time on the in game clock for the first 3 quarters of the top down levels is 116 (1-1 is 68 Optimal).  In the final 4 top down levels, it will be 109, 102, 102, 102.   

If you tried to do a low percent of this game (No ball or skateboard), on the Top down Levels 1-1 to 3-4, you can only take three hits and still beat the level.  On 4-1, you can only take 1 hit and 4-2 through 4-4 you can take no hits.

Back to the Future

Nintendo Entertainment System

mikesneslive

Oldschoolmcfly

lackattack

USA / NTSC

Console Question

Bad Ending%?

Including the reset in your run

Guide

Added rules for timing.

Timing.

Kongcakes

SuperPitFro

flurgandy