============================================================================ Kick Master - NES Version 1.1b ============================================================================ Greetings, and welcome to yet another of my writings! This time I'm writing up... that's right, a full-fledged Walkthrough! GASP! That's right, I've decided to do a full walkthrough on the 1991 Tatio game, Kick Master for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Who knew? It's a fun, challenging game with fairly decent graphics, good sound, and excellent music for its day. It's essentially a platform action game, but it mixes adventure/RPG elements. Try it! You'll like it! I started this project early March of 2001, and stopped work on it in April, having done a detailed walkthrough for the entire game up to Area 7. I had noticed no one did a walkthrough for the game, so I figured I would do one. I had fun with this game when I had rented it so many years ago. Alas, other things came up, and this walkthrough was put on hold for well over a year. It's now late October 2002, and it took quite a bit of effort to finish this thing for two reasons. One...after that long a pause, I was a little rusty! And two...my gamepad broke! >_<; Anyway, this is finally done, so if anyone is getting frustrated over this game, then I hope this helps! :) ============================================================================ What's New: v1.1 - Removed e-mail contact information. To contact me about this FAQ, please visit my website and click on "Feedback" to see what my current e-mail address is. Hopefully, using this method, I no longer have to update this FAQ every time a mail server stops offering services or I switch ISPs. ============================================================================ How to Use This Guide: This guide is formatted for 76-character lines. A maximised Notepad in 640 x 480 resolution should display it properly. ============================================================================ Availability on the Web: This guide may be used freely on the following web site(s): www.gamefaqs.com This guide may not be used on ANY other web site, and I will probably not grant permission to allow it to be done. Why? Because if I update it, I don't want to have to search out every single old copy of it to fix it. That wastes my time. Any other site that does have it is probably using an old and outdated copy. ============================================================================ Legal Crap: Simply put, you may not use, publish, edit, alter, or publish any edits or alterations in any format, for profit or non-profit purposes, without my written permission. This guide is freeware, and no part of it may be used in any formats (written or electronic) in any media that requires a purchase, even if you gain no profit from that purchase. In laymen's terms...don't try and copy my work, then try and sell it, claiming it as your own. Also, I take no responsibility for any damage done to you, your machine, your goldfish, your dog, your sanity, your home life, your social life, your sex life...you get the point. Use At Your Own Risk. ©2002 Wyrenth. ============================================================================ And now, on with the show! The Story of Kick Master: ------------------------- The once peaceful kingdom of Lowrel has been attacked and burned by the evil wizard Belzed's monstrous forces. The king and queen are killed, and their only child, the princess Silphee is kidnapped. All of the king's guards are defeated in battle except for the powerful knight Macren. Macren and his younger brother Thonolan, an aspiring martial artist, take off on a long journey to rescue Princess Silphee, and defeat the wicked Belzed. They start their long struggle in the Witches' Forest outside the Kingdom of Lowrel. Controls: --------- + Pad: This moves Thonolan left and right. In conjunction with A and B, and when you are skilled enough, it is also used to execute special kicks. Press down to crouch. A: This makes Thonolan jump. B: This makes Thonolan kick. See the Kicks section for details. Start: This pauses the game, bringing up the spell selection screen. You can also see your score. You get an extra life at 10000 points, and another at 50000 points. To select a spell, press A. Select:This uses a spell that you've selected. Game screen: ------------ At the bottom of the main game screen, you will notice a bunch of vital information. It looks roughly like so: ___ _ _ _ _ EX: 0/1000 | |Lev0 HP:|_|_|_|_| MP: 0/ 100 | | @2 EN:¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ EX is your Experience. You gain a level every 1000 experience points, so be sure and collect those vital Experience Awards! MP is your Magic Power. To use spells, you'll need MP. You start with none, and gain some as you find and collect MP Bottles. You gain 100 Max MP every level, but must find MP Bottles to restore it. It cannot be stressed enough how valuable MP is in this game. Do not use magic wastefully, or you may find yourself at the end of the game, desperately needing healing magic, and have none. The box in the center shows which spell you currently have equipped. To use it, press Select. If a cloaked figure with a ? mark is in the box, then you have no spell equipped. "Lev" shows you what your Experience Level is. At level 7, you've learned all there is to learn. @ (a picture of Thonolan's head) shows you how many lives you have left. You start with two. When you die, you're not only sent back to the beginning of an area, your Exp and MP rewind back to the point they were before you died! Avoid losing lives at all costs unless you've made some sort of vital mistake and need to go back, or you feel that you got very poor experience in an area and can afford the loss. Sacrificing a life for experience is not reccomended, however. I would say it's safe to lose a life at the beginning of a sector, though, if you're critically low on life and don't want to use valuable MP to restore it. HP is your Hit Points, or your health. As you get hit, this bar decreases. Find Hearts to restore yourself, or cast a Life Up spell. You gain one bar of maximum life per level, but it is not healed when you level up. EN is your enemies health. When you reach a boss enemy, their life will be displayed here. Kick Master scrolls in one direction, so you cannot go back to any area you've already been to. Be very careful not to rush ahead! You may miss something important! There are many hidden items in the game, so keep alert. Passwords and Advancement: -------------------------- Passwords keep track of your current area, experience level, spells, MP, and lives. They do not keep track of your Experience, Score, or current HP. For this reason, it's VITAL to try and level up before you reach the end of an area. If, for any reason, you need to use a password to return, you'll have lost any Experience you earned between your current level and the next level. If you can level up once per area, you're doing great. If you can level up more than once in any area (maybe not in every area, but at least one), you're doing super. Once you reach level 7, you've maxed out on Experience. Even better, you max out on MP! From this point onward, concern yourself ONLY with MP Bottles instead of Experience Awards. If you're doing well, you should be level 7 by the time you reach the middle of Sector 5. - JJZ2GK (spade)3HK6S Area 2, Level 1, 135 MP, 3 Lives. Bulb, Life 1. - (diamond)ND4TC J5BBK2 Area 3, Level 3, 245 MP, 5 Lives. Boots, Twin. - T9RCHB Z(heart)K5N(club) Area 4, Level 4, 425 MP, 5 Lives. ?? Magic, Lit.Spirit. - (club)9RFMB S(club)M0MC Area 5, Level 6, 610 MP, 5 Lives. Life 2, Wave. - G(spade)KR9(heart) VQY7KP Area 6, Level 7, 935 MP, 6 Lives. Whip Lit. - (heart)P?(spade)(club)X JFDK7W Area 7, Level 7, 974 MP, 8 Lives. Shield, Wings. - WDFGQN 77TGJQ Area 8, Level 7, 999 MP, 9 Lives. Earthquake. Items: ------ When you defeat an enemy, three items will fly into the air. Try to collect all three, but if you can only collect one, try to collect one that gives Experience or MP. Here is a list of all the items they can drop. Small Heart: This restores your HP by 1 bar. Small Magic Bottle: This bottle gives you 5 MP. Large Magic Bottle: This bottle gives you 10 MP. Small Exp Award: A small, round orange item, gives you 10 Exp. Medium Exp Award: A large, almost round item, gives you 30 Exp. Large Exp Award: Resembles a kite shield, gives you 50 Exp. Crystal: Adds 100 points to your Score. 1-Up: This rare item gives you an extra life! GRAB IT!! It seems to only appear by itself. Skull: This is poison. You take damage and get knocked back from your leap, often causing you to miss the rest of the awards. Kicks: ------ You start with three basic kicks. As you gain experience, you will learn new techniques. Level 0: High Kick - This is a basic standing kick. To execute it, simply press B while moving or standing still. This move is a bit slow, however, and you may wish to use the Sweep Kick so you can make a leap at the awards. Level 0: Sweep Kick - This is a basic sweeping kick. To execute it, press Down (crouch) and B. This move is fast and useful for avoiding some attacks. Level 0: Vertical Press Kick - This move allows you to attack above you. To execute it, press Up, then B. It is also a fast move, most useful in conjunction with leaps to attack flying enemies. Level 1: Knee Drop - This move allows you to land on an enemy. To execute it, jump, then press Down and B. You will immediately drop down. This move is handy for avoiding damage in open areas from monsters on the ground, and to quickly avoid taking damage in the air. It is probably the most useful attack in the game, properly mastered. Level 2: Sliding Kick - This move allows you to slide along the ground. To execute it, press either left or right, plus down and B. You'll slide in the direction you're walking. This is a useful move to avoid getting hurt at times or to move along the ground quickly, but not very powerful, and you risk not being able to get Awards when you defeat monsters with it. You can also slide underneath low areas and attacks aimed at your head. Level 3: Double Front Kick - This move allows you to kick twice in the air. To execute it, press Up and either Left or Right, plus B. You'll do a high kick, then leap up slightly for another kick. This is a fairly strong attack, but it can be difficult to set up and execute flawlessly. Level 4: Roundhouse Kick - This move replaces your High Kick, and allows you to kick, spin, and kick again. It's slightly slower than your High Kick, but gives more kicks in the span of time that High Kick would. Be careful not to set yourself out in the line of fire when using it, since you can't jump out of the way while kicking. To execute it, just press B. Level 5: Flying Kick - This move allows you to perform a flying kick in the air. To execute it, press Left or Right, Jump, then B. You'll fly forward (you'll also fly downward a bit--gravity and all that) feet first. This is very useful for getting across jumps in tight spaces, especially in areas that you don't have enough head room for a full jump. Careful when coming out of a landing that you don't land on top of an enemy. If you can, knee drop as you land to help prevent damage (you'll need to be very quick, though). You can also execute these in a chain, one after the other, if you're quick enough. Level 6: Double Butterfly Kick - This move replaces your High/Roundhouse Kick, just press B to execute it. It's a rather fancy move. You kick, then do a split in the air, spinning around. It's somewhat quick (but slower than most of your other moves), and can keep enemies off of you from all sides. It would also appear that you're invulnerable to certain forms of attack while in your spin. All in all, a very useful move. Level 7: Blazing Flip Kick - This move allows you to do a spinning backflip kick that acts much like a buzzsaw. A powerful move that keeps you well protected in it's use. It replaces your Vertical Press Kick. To execute it, press Up and B. Spells: ------- Bouncing Bulb Spirit: Costs 3 MP. Allows you to throw a ball of energy at your enemies. You can aim the direction the ball flies with the arrow pad, and the bulb will bounce off of walls. It is, however, weaker than your standard kick. You can fire up to three of these at once. Life Up 1: Costs 60 MP. This heals your HP by 2 bars. Expensive for its rather small effect, it's nevertheless quite vital to your survival. Save your MP for Life Up 2 if you can, it's more efficient with MP. Magic Boots: Costs 20 MP. This will protect you from hazards such as spiked floors for a while. Strangely, the only place you can immediately use this spell is skipped when you grab the spell. Twin Power: Costs 20 MP. This creates an illusion that enemies will fight instead of you. Only lasts for a short time. ?? Magic: Costs 1 MP. This spell is, naturally, wrapped in a bit of mystery. I think it allows you to see hidden items. It's also useful for sticking in your spell box so you don't accidentally blow 60-90 MP on a healing spell if you accidentally press select when you didn't mean to. Lightning Spirit: Costs 20 MP. This spell summons a spirit of lightning, which flies above you and sprays three bolts down: One directly on you, one in front of you, and one behind you. The stream of electricity lasts for a few seconds, but is not very powerful unless you concentrate the shot on an enemy. A glancing blow won't do much harm. Still, this is a useful spell to keep yourself protected from enemies. Life Up 2: Costs 90 MP. Extremely expensive in terms of MP costs (this is why you should be hoarding your MP!!), but more efficient with MP than Life Up 1 is. It restores all of 4 life bars! Only use it when you can restore the full 4 bars with it, or you'll have wasted MP. Pulse Wave Spirit: Costs 5 MP. More or less an upgrade to Bouncing Bulb Spirit, this spell allows you to send an expanding wave of energy either to the left or the right (despite having an aiming orb above you). You can fire up to three of these at once. Whip Lightning: Costs 30 MP. An upgrade to the Lightning Spirit, this spell causes three bolts of lightning to whip back and forth across the screen, zapping everything in the area. Useful for a full-screen barrage, but a concentrated and properly timed Lightning Spirit can probably do more damage to a single foe. Force Shield: Costs 30 MP. This spell creates a shield around you that protects you from fired objects. It does NOT protect you from direct damage. It will absorb a certain amount of damage before it vanishes. It's strong enough to absorb quite a few normal shots, but it won't last long vs lightning spells. If you select a different spell, the shield will vanish. Harpy Wings: Costs 10 MP per Second. This spell gives you the ability to fly! You will lose your wings if you get hurt, try to attack, or press Select again. To use it, press A and you will fly a wee bit into the air. For best results, first jump into the air, enable it, then press the A button rapidly until you've done what you needed in the air. When you've done what you needed to do in the air, press Select, and for saftey, Knee Drop. Unfortuantely, one "second" in this game is more like half a second, kinda like one "second" on Super Mario Bros. Earthquake: Costs 20 MP. This handy little spell shakes the ground, causing all enemies in the area to freeze! They'll remain stunned for somewhere around 8 seconds (real ones, not Super Mario seconds). The enemies will flash pretty colors when the spell is about to wear off. This spell is incredibly useful, especially for bosses, and it's a shame that the only place you get to use this spell is the last sector of the game. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walkthrough: ------------ When fighting bosses, and I list how many of a kick will defeat it, note that certain kicks strike multiple times. If one of the strikes miss, then the number I give won't be accurate. Sector 1 - The Witches' Forest With the death of your brother, you're all alone in this quest. In this stage, get used to the controls and learn how to grab all three rewards from an enemy. This will take practice, but it is possible if you have enough space to manuver. The easiest way to do this is with Sweep Kick. Also try to practice defeating one enemy at a time, and getting the rewards for it. Always defeat every single enemy you can to get as much experience and MP as possible. Near the end of the game, you may find yourself EXTREMELY short on MP if you need healing spells often. This stage is a fine opportunity for some easy experience. Try to level up before the end. You'll find Skeletons, Harpies, blue hopping crows, and what looks like hopping headless chickens in the first half. Skeletons are easy to defeat, just get in close and quickly Sweep Kick them. Harpies are also fairly easy. Crouch and wait for them. When they come close they will fly up or down (depending on where you are compared to them). Kick them and get the reward before the next one comes in. The blue hoppy crows and undead chickens are simple to defeat, just kick them with your standard kick or Sweep Kick. Eventually, you will find a chest. Kick it open for your first spell, the Bouncing Bulb Spirit. It's not very powerful, but can be handy to attack enemies from afar at odd angles. Save your MP for healing spells, though. If you skip the spell, you can gain the experience from more monsters. Specifically... a crow and two of a new enemy, axe lizards. I don't reccomend skipping over any spells. In the second half, you'll find more of the same, plus a new enemy, yellow Axe Lizards. They will stand still for the most part, but once you get too close, they'll swing their axe wildly (often at nothing). If you're trying to attack them, and they suddenly decide to do this, you can get smacked a good one. If you're patient, wait until just after they've finished swinging. They have a pretty long range, so don't underestimate them. (i.e. don't stand in front of them looking silly) The game will mix Harpies with Lizards. My reccomendation is to attack the Harpies first. In the area where you first see Lizards, do a "Scroll-Leap". By this, I mean to leap over the head of a monster, and as you reach the peak of the jump, steer hard to the left back to where you started your jump. This scrolls the screen, triggering the incoming Harpy, and leaving the Lizards to be defeated at your leisure. If you've been defeating every enemy and getting as many experience awards as you can from them, you should be at Level 1 by the time you've reached the boss of this area. The end boss of this area is a giant witch (must be those forest shrooms). She will summon a new enemy, Armadillo Grunts, and float around above you. Once you defeat the Armadillos, she will hasten to the right side of the screen and drop energy arcs, which bounce once and burst, as she travels to the left. Then she'll re-summon the Armadillos. Both her spells and contact damage from her and the Armadillos will do a lot of damage to you. AVOID THEM! TACTICS: Simply defeat one of the Armadillos, then leap at her and use your Vertical Press Kick on her. Nine of this attack will defeat her. You can also try using the Knee Drop if you have it. This will only take four or five hits to defeat her, but is much harder to do since this technique is designed to attack ground-bound monsters. Armadillos take two kicks to defeat (or one knee drop), and if you attack them while they're rolling, chances are likely you'll be getting hurt, even if you hurt them. When you've beaten her, chances are you'll be in the air, and will only be able to get one line of experience awards (bosses give a bunch of awards at once). Grab whatever you can. Then the Life Up 1 spell will appear. Grab it to advance to the next area. Sector 2 - The Caverns of No Return The enemies here are a bit tougher, and worse, in most of the area you don't have the leisure of having enough overhead room to grab all the awards. This is the first area with hidden areas (a spell is hidden in one of them). You'll find Reapers, Blobs, Bats, and Frogs in the first half of this area. Reapers hang from the ceiling, then drop down to attack you with a scythe when you step close. Attack them as soon as they land with a Sweep Kick, or hit them with a Knee Drop. If they start swiping at you, it'll be harder to take them toe-to-toe. They will only walk to the left, until they find you. Meaning if you leap past them, they'll just keep on going. Blobs crawl foward a bit, and some of them will spit at you. Knee Drop the ones that spit. Try to lure them away from areas where Reapers will drop so you can get the awards. Bats circle around endlessly and are easy to defeat. Hit them with a standard or Sweep Kick. Frogs leap in one direction and keep going. They may come back, even if you've scrolled past them, but try to defeat them before they do that, just in case. This can be difficult if there's one right after the other. They will also spit at you. It might be easiest just to Knee Drop them. You will encounter an area with yellow boulders. You can kick these boulders to destroy them. The first time you see them, you can find hidden awards waiting for you: a Small Bottle, a Large Bottle, a Small Award, and a Medium Award, giving you 30 MP and 40 Exp. Soon after, you'll find floating platforms and what looks like dangerous liquid. Don't worry, it won't harm you, but it WILL slow you down. Try not to fight in it, as it can screw up your attempts to grab awards. In this area, try to defeat the bats and get those awards before going after the frogs. Slowly scroll ahead and wait for them to come to you. After the first swamp, you'll find more boulders and more hidden items: three Medium Awards for 120 Exp. Get them, but it'll trigger a Reaper, so beware. Continue on. You'll find some golden platforms sticking out from the ground, over a pit. Careful! If you stand on them for too long, they'll crumble! You can get the Magic Boots spell here by walking on the lower platform. Head left, it's hidden inside of the wall. If you skip the spell, you'll find an area with a bridge made of these crumbling platforms and many Large Awards. Unfortunately, the floor below the bridge has spikes and some blobs. The resulting 200 Exp you could get, at risk to life and limb, is not worth the loss of the valuable Magic Boots spell, which would protect you from said spikes in the first place. Once you get the spell, you'll be in a vertically scrolling area. These areas are a major pain, because if you fall down, the game figures it's a pit and kills you, even if the platform had only just barely been scrolled off. You'll find Armadillos here, and stationary orbs that fire off balls of energy at you. The Armadillos are much harder to defeat than the ones the Witch summoned at the end of Sector 1, and will take a few hits to defeat. Slide past them, then use your standard kick from behind. If they roll off the edge of the screen, they're gone for good. As you climb this area, try to manuver them so they drop on top of you, and use a standing Vertical Press Kick as fast as you can. That'll defeat them. The stationary orbs will aim at you, but they can only fire at you if you are at an angle opposite to the corner they are in. In other words, if they're in the air, they can only fire down. If they're on the ground, they can only fire up. They cannot fire to the side, so you can safely smack them with a Sweep Kick if they're on the ground, but be careful not to leap toward them when they fire, or you'll get hit. Time ones on the ceiling with a Vertical Press Kick after their shot is out of the way. You will have problems getting their awards, so don't fret too much, just try to get one Experience Award if you can. When you reach the top, you'll be back to horizontal scrolling again, and at a swamp with frogs and blobs and Armadillos that drop from the sky. Take this area SLOWLY. You can quickly get overwhelmed if you rush ahead. Wait for frogs to come to you and knee-drop them. Then slowly proceed. If you see an Armadillo dropping, get below it and Vertical Press Kick it to death. Once past this area, you'll have reached the boss, a woman and her pack of Hell Hounds. She'll launch a spray of spinning energy at you, then summon her hounds, which stick to the edges of the screen. As each hound jumps for another area of the screen, it'll fire a single spinning shot at you. TACTICS: Stand just under the 4th hound or around the center to avoid the spray. To defeat her, first defeat ALL her hounds. This will not be easy. Then she is vulnerable to your attacks. While you're going after one hound, others will be hopping around, firing shots, and the woman will continue to fire sprays of shots downward. Each hound takes a few hits to be defeated. 5 Vertical Press Kicks, 2 Knee Drops, 4 High Kicks, 4 Sliding Kicks, 7 Sweep Kicks, or 1 Double Front Kick (if both hits connect) will defeat a hound. I would suggest Knee Drops, as they're easier to do than Double Front Kicks, and can help you evade shots if you watch what's going on. DO NOT Knee Drop them if they're in the ground. Yes, IN the ground. Unless you're practiced, you WILL get hurt. For some very stupid reason, the game has the hounds on the edges of the screen, and the floor doesn't count as that. You CAN hurt them with a Knee Drop on the ground, but it's a lot more tricky. Once you've defeated the hounds (and if you can do so without getting hurt at all, consider yourself either a pro, or very very lucky), you can go after the woman behind the mess. She'll fire a spray as soon as you defeat the last hound (which, if she's already firing a spray, means two sprays to dodge...what fun!). Then you can attack her. 4 Vertical Press Kicks (if it hits twice per kick, 7 if not), 2 Knee Drops, 6 Kigh Kicks, or 1 Double Front Kick (if both hits connect) will drive her to the ground. Again, you'll be in the air when you beat her, so try to get one full award stream, preferably an Experience one, but go for magic if you've leveled twice in this area and feel the need to boost your MP. Once defeated, you'll recieve the Twin Power spell. Sector 3 - Belzed's First Stronghold The first enemy you'll find here is a shielded rat. Not too difficult, but cannot be harmed while his shield is up. He uses his sword and a tail whip attack. One Knee Drop should take care of it. You'll find chests in this area, much like what contained the spell Bouncing Bulb Spirit in the first sector. These contain mundane items like Hearts, MP Bottles, and so forth, but some of them are Mimics! There are also patches of muck that will slow you down. You can tell where they are because the entire floor tile has pink slime on it instead of the beige stone. The other patches of pink slime are just background effects. If you need it, grab the Heart in the first chest, then continue onward. Shortly, you'll run into a sub-boss, an annoying wizard-type that shoots all sorts of nasties at you, including summoning a chain from the sky (perhaps the Japanese were a little confused on the concept of "Chain Lightning"...) He can be very difficult to fight without getting hurt. Worse, there's two patches of muck that'll slow you down when you're trying to get somewhere. When he first appears, jump and do two Vertical Press Kicks as quickly as you can, then be ready to dodge his first shot. If you can hit him with both kicks in a Double Front Kick, that'll take a good chunk off of him. Knee Drop is a safe bet. I suggest combining all the kicks you know and staying off the ground as much as possible (since that muck will throw you off kilter). If you can position him so he's directly above you, and in range of a standing Vertical Press Kick, you can have an easy victory just by flailing at him like that. When he dies, he tosses up a double award (you may not see it, but it should be there), so be sure and grab what you can. If you can manage not to get hurt in this fight, then that's superb. Try not to lose more than 1 or 2 life bars total, though. Magic is becoming more and more precious as you gain levels. The second chest and third chest here contain a Small and Large MP bottle, respectively. Grab them. Immediately after this battle, you'll run into two Ninjas wearing green. They are pretty quick, can dodge your incoming Knee Drop if they see it, and throw ninja stars. They also can do a lot of hurtin'. You can position yourself so you only have to fight one at a time, you'll find it easier. Despite the fact that they can dodge your Knee Drop, it seems to be the safest way of tackling them. The 4th chest you run into is a mimic. One knee drop will take care of it. The next ninja you run into is, strangely, rather weak and stupid. One Knee Drop and he's toast. Continue on, and you will find an area with floating platforms, Experience Awards, and a new enemy. I'm not really sure what they are. Maybe mutant Big Macs? Anyway, their movement is a bit erratic, but one Knee Drop will take care of them. They also hang from the ceiling, waiting to drop on you. When getting the Exp Awards, take care not to get dripped upon by the acid. There's four Large ones for 200 Exp total. Once you've disposed of the Rabid Burgers, you'll find two more Large Awards for another 100 Exp, more Rat men, and an area of kickable boulders. Defeat what monsters you can without scrolling too far (I suggest luring them and being patient), then kick the boulders and continue down the resulting hole. Note, you have the option of going the other way. You'll end up skipping the sub-boss, but you won't gain the "??" Spell. I consider spells more important than shortcuts or experience, so I'm walking you through that way. If you really want to, you can go without the ?? spell. You'll find chests galore here, but you want the first one with boulders. First, however, drop down to the right side and get the chest there for 30 Exp. The two chests on the other side, which are now inaccessable due to scrolling too far down, contain two Crystals. The Exp is more valuable right now. Grab that, then jump back up and get the chest with the boulders for the ?? Spell. Don't skip it, it's why you're down here. You'll end up not far from where you started. Two Large Awards, a Large MP Bottle, and a Heart wait for you here. Get them, then continue onward. You'll run into another sub-boss. This guy doesn't have much for variety in attacks, he just floats around, pauses, then zooms forward in one direction. If you're in the middle of a Knee Drop while he's zooming at you in the air, you should be safe. Just use any attacks you wish, you can take it pretty leisurely here. The only thing to be careful of is not to Knee Drop him while he's on the ground. You'll get hurt when you come out of the drop. He also gives a double award. Grab what you can. The flashing things that follow in this boss's wake don't seem to hurt you any. You'll come to a rather large knight blocking the passage onward. As you harm him, he'll change into other shapes. He can do a LOT of damage in his knight form, so be careful. I suggest luring him out into the open and Knee Dropping him until he changes form, then change your strategy depending on what form he assumes. Continue on to reach the boss of this sector a Gargoyle with lightning attacks. He'll toss up a ball of energy, which will shoot out bolts of lightning in a downward spread. Then he'll fly about and fire small shots at you while you're trying to kick him. TACTICS: Whenever you walk under him, he'll land and fire more balls of lightning. If you want to Knee Drop him, do so, but take care not to get landed on. It'll take 7 shots of Knee Drop to kill him. 7 Roundhouse Kicks (if both connect), or 3 Double Front Kicks (if both connect) will defeat it. This boss is a pain in the ass, and you WILL get hurt. This is one of the reasons you've been hoarding MP the first couple of levels...you will need some of it for Healing now. My suggestion is to master the Double Front Kick before you get in here and use that. You'll need to get him on the ground, so walk under him as soon as he takes wing, but try not to get smacked by his lightning. When you defeat him, you'll get the Lightning Spirit spell. Sector 4 - Bottomless Crevasse Ah, back in the open again! A little too open. Careful of all the pits in this area. It's not called the Bottomless Crevasse for nothing! The first enemy you'll run into is a karate-chopping Gorilla. They're dumb as rocks, but a little unpredictable. They may leap forward and chop at you. A Knee Drop will take care of them. You'll also find Red Mages that drop fireballs on the ground, which roll along toward you until they reach the edge of the screen. A Knee Drop will take care of them. You could also use a Flying Kick on them, but this will prevent you from getting more than one award. You'll also find Eagles, which fly straight down, then zoom at you straight on as soon as they're level with you. Wait on the ground for them to fly at you, then quickly leap and Knee Drop them. That, or wait directly below them and use your Vertical Press Kick. Not far into this area, you'll find the Life Up 2 magic. For reasons that are quite obvious, YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THIS SPELL! Continuing onward, you'll find more Eagles. Take it slow so you can defeat them and get the awards from it. You'll soon find an area with many pits, and pillars with spikes that pop in and out. Take this area slow and careful so you can take out all the Eagles while avoiding spikes, which do a not-so-healthy chunk of damage. You'll find a Heart and a Large Award later on. After making it past the pits, you'll meet up with a sub-boss, a mage. There's a spike in the center of the ground that pops in and out, so be careful when you're attacking. If you've been grabbing as much Experience as you can, you should be at Level 6 around the time you defeat him (I levelled as soon as I beat him). Immediately after the sub-boss, you'll be fighting the main boss, the Chimerae. It shoots small fireballs, then pounces toward you. Then it begins it's fireball charge. It will charge back and forth, turning into a streak of fire. Then it'll eventually stop and repeat the process. TACTICS: When this boss is charging, you should be dodging. Jump straight up and don't even bother trying to harm it when it's on the other side. Wait until after it's shot it's fireballs out and starts leaping. Then use your Knee Drop on it. 13 Butterfly Kick strikes, 8 Double Front strikes, or 9 Knee Drops will kill it. Knee Drop really is the easiest way to defeat it, especially when it's in Leap Mode. If you dodge the other attacks, you should have absolutely no problem with this boss. When you win, you'll recieve the Pulse Wave Spirit. Sector 5 - Aboard the Ship of Strife Hope you're not seasick! New enemies here. Reapers drop down from the skies, and that's all they do. Use your Vertical Press Kick quickly before they vanish. There are also Fishmen who spit bubbles in an arc (they can't aim at you) and leap at you. Knee Drop them for an easy win. As you hike, you'll find areas where Reapers seem to drop like rain. Don't panic too badly if you can't kill them all and get all the experience. If you've been carefully fighting up to this point, the loss is minimal. They can overwhelm you, though, if you're fighting Fishmen, so be careful. You'll find what appears to be a the ship's cabin about one third of the way through the stage. Here, you can jump inside and get two Hearts, two Large MP Bottles, and a Large Experience Award. A welcome treasure, to be sure, mateys. Yah-har! ..*blink* Oh yeah, the Walkthrough. You'll also find a sub-boss here. This guy isn't too hard to defeat. Simply stand in the middle and, when he dives at you, use your Vertical Press Kick, or, if you have it, Blazing Flip Kick. You may want to save the goodies in the cabin for after you win, especially if you're already at full health. Next, you'll run into some green-garbed Fighters. These guys aren't much for brains. They'll run at you and try and kick you. A single Butterfly kick is a good bet here, as they tend to come at you in bunches, and from both sides. Then some grey Eagles that sit and wait for you. They're fast, so be ready with either a Roundhouse, Butterfly, Knee Drop, or whatever. Right after the Eagles, you'll fight another sub-boss. It's the same wizard you fought at the beginning of Sector 3, only now you've more tricks up your sleeve. Pound him to oblivion, then continue on. (You might get a 1-Up from your score at around this time.) If you have the Blazing Flip Kick, you will have absolutely no difficulty whatsoever. Next on the agenda are blue swirly things that bounce around, trying to hit you. Any attack should be fine against them, they're not too hard to handle. You'll also find skeletons, like in Sector 1, only they're a bit tougher. Not so tough a Knee Drop won't take them out, but you'll need more than one standard kick. You'll reach a long, straight deck with Skeletons and Fighters. Knee Drop them for easy awards, and continue on. When the deck stops bobbing up and down, you're near the boss. A rain of acid bubbles constantly falls in this battle, so you have to constantly dodge them. A giant Octopus will rise up, sticking tentacles over the prow of the ship. He'll spit acid at you while you're trying to flail at his limbs. This is hard to dodge, because it's the same color as the bubbles that are falling, and the bubbles have a falling pattern, whereas the shots are fired directly at you. Expect to get hurt here. TACTICS: First, attack his limbs. If you have the Butterfly kick, use that. If not, use the Roundhouse kick. Try your best to dodge incoming acid, but don't fret too much if you take a little damage here. Four shots of a Butterfly kick will destroy a limb. I do not reccomend Knee Drops, as the less you are in the air, the better. When all four are destroyed, you can go after his head. Unfortunately, this means you have to jump to get at him. You will end up taking a lot of damage here, so be prepared to heal. (I had a full compliment of 11 life bars, and when I was finished, I had 6.) Be careful when you beat him! Bubbles will still fall for a short while! You can be killed while he's in his death throes and have to do it all over again! When you defeat him, you recieve the Whip Lightning spell. Don't fret over the fact that this is the only spell on this level. There's nothing hidden. Sector 6 - Across the Swamps Hope your boots are muckproof. The first enemy you'll run into is a Green Mage. Not at all difficult to defeat, any kick will do. They will fire a shot directly at you if you let them. Next are some bluish colored winged ...thingies. They don't fly too well, and aren't difficult to defeat. Just Knee Drop them. Sometimes they'll drop down right on top of you. Use either the Vertical Press Kick or Blazing Flip Kick in that case. It's best if you lure them one at a time and pick them off at leisure so you don't get over- whelmed. Try to avoid the marshy areas at the bottom of the screen, as they will slow you down. Near the end of the first marsh, Zombies will rise from the ground. Knee Drop them, but be careful, as they shoot chunky bits at you. Soon after, you'll run into some Blue Mages. Also easy to defeat, their spells cause rocks to drop on you from above. In this area with the first Blue Mages, you'll see an area with very tall grass and a bridge of rocks above it. Stand on the first small rocks, and it'll break, dropping you inside. You'll find the Force Shield spell. Once you've got this useful little spell, you may want to blow 20 MP and turn it on for a little while. It'll protect you from those annoying mages when you can't get to all of them at once. The decision's yours. Continuing onward, you'll find a pack of those poorly flying giant blue thingies (what are they, mutant chickens or something?), then some Red Mages. You've encountered them in earlier levels. They drop a shot that travels along the ground. As you reach an area with floating platforms, you will find a small, blue flying helmet-like creature. It circles around, and is pretty easy to avoid and defeat by itself, but if you've not defeated the Red Mages yet, they can get in the way. If you drop down in this floating platform section, you can find a Heart, a Large MP Bottle, and a Large Award. Continue on, and you'll find some Blue Mages. These'll fire Lightning straight down on you. If you've enabled your Shield, it won't last long, so stay out of the line of fire!! You'll then find some pillars and pits, some of which have Zombies on them. Make sure all the Mages are gone, then Knee Drop the Zombies. After that, it's time to fight the Boss of this area. Two Great Harpies will attack, flying about, swooping, and pausing to scream at you. Expanding sound waves will shoot forward. TACTICS: Force Shield helps out a great deal, as it absorbs the effects of the Sound Waves. One way to fight them is to wait on one side or the other and attack when they're there screaming. Another way is to forgo shields and use Whip Lightning. I would suggest using Shields and duking it out with your feet, as that uses less MP in the long run, even if you have to re-cast the spell once or twice. When you defeat them both, you will receive the Harpy Wings spell. Sector 7 - A Long Way From Home The layout of this level is very simple. There's no obstacles or pits, just one long walk. What this level sacrifices in complexity, it makes up for in sheer numbers of enemies. You will be constantly hounded by enemies, broken up by the occasional mini-boss. It's important to take this sector slow and easy, or you will rapidly get overwhelmed by a screen full of beasties! No sooner you get here than you are immediately attacked by two enemies. A blue swirly thing, like you saw in Sector 5, and a new enemy, which I assume to be a rolling armored golem. Quickly get rid of the swirling ball so you can focus on the rolling golem. Wait for it to come to you, and Knee Drop it a couple of times (you'll want to leap away immediately so you don't get hurt). Like the Armadillos, you'll want to wait until they're not rolling before you attack. Alternatively, you can try three Double Butterfly or Blazing Flip kicks. Proceed forward a bit and another Rolling Golem will roll in from the left. Dispose of it and continue on. Another Golem from the right, then another Golem will drop from above. If you scroll forward too fast, you'll trigger another Golem, as well as another Swirling Ball, so stop when you see the first fall from the sky, defeat it, and continue on. You'll notice your EN meter pop up with a health bar, so you know what that means... yup! A mini boss! So soon? It's another Chimerae type creature! Only this one attacks with an ice-spike charge. It essentially follows the same pattern as the boss of Sector 4, except that it will fire shots upwards at an angle to catch you while you jump to evade shots. My advice to evade that little sneaky attack is to jump a bit away from the Chimerae, enough so that shot won't strike, but not so much that you accidentally land on one of the first two shots. You could also try a smaller jump, leaping between the level shots and the angled shots. Other than that, just Knee Drop it when it's not charging. Six Knee Drops or Eight Double Butterfly Kicks will defeat it. Immediately, a little blue ninja will dash up and attempt to kick you, then run off to the left. If you're on the right side of the screen, he can easilly surprise you, so while the mini boss is busy exploding, walk to the left. Then just Knee Drop him, and he's gone. You'll also notice that now there are various goodies waiting for you at the top of the screen. You might be tempted to use your Harpy Wings magic to fly up and get them all, but you should reconsider. For starters, flying costs 10 MP per second, flying is not exactly graceful, and each "second" is about as long as a "second" on the timer of Super Mario Bros. It's very easy to burn up all your MP to get at the goodies. Even by jumping as high as you can first, you can burn 20-30 MP just grabbing one item! If you go for a heart, it can be slightly more efficient than using Life Up 1 magic, but you're still better off saving your MP for Life Up 2. If you've been snagging as many Awards and Bottles as possible, chances are you don't even need the awards. Up top you'll see a Large Bottle, Large Award, another Large Bottle, and a Heart. Get the Heart if you need it, and continue on. You won't get far before you see three ninjas drop from the ceiling: Two blue stupid ones (like the one that just appeared), and a green one that you should be familiar with from Sector 3. Use the same tactics to defeat it. Continue on, and you will assaulted by four of the stupid blue ninjas! One will run from the left, and three from the right. It's easy to get hurt here so just leap as high as you can, and knee drop. Don't worry if some of them get away. Staying healed is probably more important than Experience anyway. Alternatively, you can try a Sliding Kick on the group of three, then Knee Drop the last. Continue on, and you will be assaulted AGAIN! This time, three blue ninjas dash in from the left, and a green one walks in from the right. Quickly Slide Kick to the left, then Knee Drop the green ninja until it's defeated. Continue on, and you will find a new enemy, yellow Barbarians. I'm not sure, but their heads are sort of avian... maybe they're Barbarian Chickens? Anyway, as soon as you see the first one walking, stop scrolling forward. You may or may not have triggered two more, which run much faster and will leap at you. You can Knee Drop them, or if you want to make them look stupid just duck and they'll leap right over you and keep going. Also, it may look as if there's only one, but there's really two of them. The slower Barbarian is a lot hardier, and takes three Knee Drops to destroy. It attacks with a sort of long claw, and may try to evade your Knee Drops, so take your time. They're also STRONG, and can take half a bar to OVER a bar of life away if you're struck. The slower one also jumps, so be careful. Don't scroll too forward too fast, or you'll run into the next group of enemies, two blue ninjas from the right, and one from the left. Slide or Knee Drop, and continue on. You'll come across the second Mini-Boss in this game. It resembles a sort of small dragon... or maybe a large insect with claws. Either way, it follows the exact same movement and attack patterns as the Harpy boss of Sector 6, but since there's only one of them, you shouldn't even need to cast your Shield spell. If you have the Blazing Flip Kick, just stick to the center of the screen and use it whenever it swoops toward you. Otherwise, use whatever tactics you used against the Harpy boss. Once defeated, you'll see more goodies appear at the top of the screen. Like before, don't bother unless you're desperate. Continue on, and you'll be assaulted by four green ninjas. The problem with this batch is that some of them seem to be smart, and others aren't. Three of them will run off to the left if you let them, while one will stick it out and use normal tactics: kicks, evades, and throwing stars. Sliding is a bit dangerous, as that can trigger even more enemies off to the right, so try to Knee Drop them without taking too much damage. If you scroll just a bit to the right, a fifth green ninja will appear (the stupid kind). Continue on, and two more green ninjas will attack from the left, one smart, and one stupid. Immediately walk to the LEFT to attack them so you don't accidentally scroll the next enemies into triggering. If you scroll slow enough, you can trigger them one at a time (the smart one comes first). Not long after, you'll run into five, yes FIVE Red Rolling Golems that fall from the sky!! Try to position yourself between them and do a Blazing Flip Kick (or Vertical Press Kick if you don't have it) to protect yourself. This skirmish is a pain in the arse, and it's likely you'll get hurt no matter what tactic you use. I suggest a short jump, Knee Drop, and quickly repeat it before they all start rolling. While they're rolling, do a high jump and try to land where it's safe. With that mess out of the way, continue and you'll come across another green ninja and another Red Rolling Golem from the right. After that, the same group will attack from the left. Then two more green ninjas (one smart and one dumb)... as a side note, you can tell which ones are "smart" because they take more than one hit to kill. Continue on and you'll find a Heart within jumping distance. Nab it, and continue towards this stage's boss. This is going to be a VERY HARD battle. Approaching a coffin at the end, it's struck by lightning revealing... a vampiric cross-dresser!! Er, no, it's just a vampire. :) This boss follows the exact same pattern as the Gargoyle boss of Sector 3... and we ALL remember how much fun THAT guy was, right? The only difference is that he fires three orbs instead of one, causing three lightning spreads. TACTICS: Use the same tactics as you did versus the Gargoyle to send this creep back to the shadows. Once again, you WILL get hurt, so hopefully you have been hoarding all your MP! Try your best not to take too much damage, because this is NOT the last level or the last boss, and you WILL need MP later!! I suggest you use Sweep Kicks. They're quicker to execute safely, letting you get out of the way of necessary. Be careful while attacking, since each time you kick him, he moves a bit away, which means the lighting spread he's firing might hit you! If he keeps flitting out of your range and won't come down so you can attack, a Sliding Kick will close the distance. You might also try using your Blazing Flip Kick while he swoops down, but you'll definately take damage if you do this. 19 or 20 Sweep Kicks will take this guy out (I had trouble counting, sorry). Once he's defeated...oh boy, another boss! It's that green dragon-bug thing again! It's the exact same thing that you saw earlier in the level, so follow the same tactics. Continue to the right. You'll be taken to the last area of this sector to fight two more bosses! The first is a mage... or is it? It flashes, then... Oh no! It's a Clone of Thonolan!! He has many of the same techniques as you do (and some that you don't!), including invulnerability during certain kicks, but his AI isn't very smart. It's pretty simple to take him out using 7 quick Knee Drops. Try to corner him if you can. Finally, you'll find the last boss of this stage... a giant ugly spider! A heart will appear in the center, just out of jumping range. This spider crawls along the ceiling, dropping down on a web when you're under it, and releasing small spiders. The baby spiders can be easilly defeated with a single Sweep Kick. The webbing, however, can get to be annoying, since it blocks movement. Kicking it destroys a piece of the web, and you can actually use this to your advantage to get to the Heart at the top of the screen. TACTICS: Try to position yourself so the spider only comes down in one or two areas (preferably around the Heart in case you need healed). That way, your entire air space isn't blocked by webbing. Properly timed, the Lightning spell (NOT Whip Lightning!) can do over a bar of damage, but you may want to save your MP for the final sector. If you think you can spare the MP, stand right underneath one of the webs that the spider crawls down. JUST as the spider is about to start its descent, activate Lightning. If you timed it right, all three bolts should smack the spider, and it'll remain at the top of the screen. When the spell ends, beware the baby spiders that will come dropping down. If you plan to use kicks, then try the following: Stand right below the web where the spider descends, like you would for the Lightning tactic, only use your Blazing Flip Kick (or Vertical Press Kick) when the spider is close enough. You will only get one hit in! IMMEDIATELY move to the left or right to evade the baby spider that will be released, Sweep Kick it, move back to the web, and repeat. If you time this properly, you can get through this boss without taking ANY damage, so don't be intimidated by its size! This boss takes 20 Blazing Flip Kicks to defeat. Thanks Mom! She helped me count because it's kind of a pain trying to time these hits (it takes practice) and count how many hits... I kept losing count when I messed up! Mmuwa! Using this method, it'll probably take about 4 minutes. :P Once this boss is defeated, you will recieve the final spell, Earthquake! Sector 8 - Belzed's Haunted Tower This is it! The final sector! Belzed and Silphee await to see who is the true master! You start in a vertically scrolling area, so like in Sector 2, be careful not to fall down into a "pit". Your first foes are three yellow Barbarians and a blue swirling thing. Unfortunately, you do not have any real head room, so you can't defeat them with Knee Drops. Try a standard kick (normal, Roundhouse, or Double Butterfly, whichever you have), then retreat slightly and repeat...it takes three hits this way, but you can evade taking damage. For the enemies above you, try Blazing Flip Kicks. Standing below the opening will keep them from dropping down to your level. Kicking the bricks to the left will reveal a Large Award in case you need it. The bricks in the upper right hide a Small Bottle. Continue upwards and two more blue swirling balls will appear and bounce around. Be sure and take them out before proceeding so they don't interfere later. Continue upwards to fight another Barbarian (you can jump through the tiles that don't look like solid brick. If you're careful, you can trigger a second Barbarian and defeat both with Blazing Flip Kicks from below, then continue. As soon as you jump up, two more blue swirlies will attack. Take them out. A third waits to harm you the instant you leap toward the pile of kickable bricks, so trigger it by leaping straight up first. These bricks hide nothing, so don't bother destroying them. Another blue swirly waits to catch you mid-jump just after those bricks, so again, trigger it by jumping straight up. Next, you'll find two golden fishmen waiting for you, along with more blue swirlies. Those swirlies are placed in such a way to strike you where you are most likely to jump. Keep that in mind while you proceed. There are some goodies under a ledge that you can Slide Kick to acquire: a Large Experience Award, a Small Bottle, and a Heart. It's quicker than standing on top of the ledge and waiting for it to crumble. Proceed by using the crumbling ledges so you don't get struck by yet more blue swirlies. Continue on, and you'll find a stair-step area with more bricks, more annoying swirlies, and a couple of green soldiers. They're not hard to defeat with a couple of kicks. You'll find a Large Award, Large Bottle, and a Heart here. Careful of the swirlies on the stairs. Jump upwards to find this area's Mini Boss, a Winged Demon. This looks like one of the creatures that kidnapped Silphee, doesn't it? This creature flies in one of the corners, shoots a barrage of crescent shots at you, then rushes along the ground, flailing its hand axe. It will then flit around a bit, firing occasional crescent shots before it repeats the process. Dodge the crescent shots, and time a high jump when it rushes you, to evade damage. Around 12 or 13 Blazing Flip Kicks should do it in. Kicking while leaping toward it during its "flit around" pattern seems to have the best effect, and you can destroy its crescent shots with a kick, too. Once defeated, the game will let you continue to the left. Scroll SLOWLY!! The first thing you'll come across is a slow-moving guard with a sword. They aren't hard to defeat with normal kicks. A bird will swoop in next (use a Blazing Flip Kick) and another guard. DO NOT SCROLL FURTHER YET! There's trouble if you do. Once you've triggered the bird, and you can see the second guard walking toward you, go back to the right and let the guard come to you! Defeat it, and continue. You'll see some platforms. IMMEDIATELY jump onto one so you're at the top platform! Ignore the birds that fly by, the main concern here is an annoying and INVINCIBLE enemy that follows you around and weaves in a snake-like motion. There's a Large MP Bottle hidden in the bricks on the top platform, but when you move to get it, another guard will drop down on top of you. Blazing Flip Kick it to death. Now comes the hard part. That weaving tower thing will follow you while you try to continue to the left... and unfortunately, the corridor narrows so you can't jump! Worse, there's a Guard in your way! Trigger the guard by moving to the edge of the top platform, then move right until you can make a mad dash for the corridor without the guard getting in the way. If you move fast enough, you'll scroll the weaving tower thing off and won't be bothered by it again. Three birds will fly down to impede you, so use a Sliding Kick to get past them. Leap up a level, and you'll see a Large Award and Large Bottle waiting for you. There's also a couple of those Mutant Chickens flying around. Defeat them and continue on. The screen scrolls up now, and you'll see another Large Bottle in a niche to the right. Be careful not to scroll up too far if you want it. Hop up the platforms, Blazing Flip Kick as you go to get rid of the enemy that drops from above...if you miss, he'll come back upwards in the same area, so don't assume you're safe. If you cast the Magic Boots spell, you can get to another Heart, Large Award, and Large Bottle without taking damage from the spiked floor. It's essentially 1 bar for 10 MP, so if you're injured, feel free to nab it. You'll have to stand on the crumbling platforms to get to the items. There's another Heart and Large Award hidden in the platform when you continue upwards, just walk over them to get them. Another Heart and Large Award is just past them under a crumbling walkway with a couple of ninjas on them. They can be easilly taken out with Blazing Flip Kicks. Jump a bit on the platform next to the crumbling walkway to scroll some more Reapers will fly around to harry you. Defeat them before proceeding. Further up, after more Reapers, Soldiers, and such, you'll find even more goodies above a spiked floor: A Large Award, Large Bottle, and a Heart. Continue upwards towards another mini-boss. This time it's a Centaur! He jumps around from platform to platform firing arrows into the air, which then come raining down in groups of 5. It's not a complex pattern, but it's an annoying one, as the arrows can keep you from getting to the Centaur. These shots can't be destroyed with a kick, unlike the last mini-boss. There is a very simple way to defeat this boss... wait in the left corner until it reaches the ground and cast Earthquake. Then just flail at it with your standard kick until it's defeated. Be sure and grab a row of Magic Bottles, if possible, when you kill it to make up for the 20 or 40 MP you spent. Now you can continue to the right. You'll find a couple more of those Mutant Burgers that we all loved in Sector 2, this time in a pretty red color! They're just as easy to defeat, too. A Drop Kick will do it. Scroll right a bit, but don't enter the next room yet. Let the Mutant Burgers come after you, and take them out. The next room's floor crumbles, so you'll want to get to the platforms above it without having to worry about your lunch attacking you. As soon as you enter the room, a Mutant Burger will drop down from the ceiling. It splits into four more when you hit it! Be careful while taking it on that you don't tarry on a single tile for too long, or you'll fall through and be done for. Two Large Bottles, a Large Award, and a Heart await you, just be quick about getting them. Green soldiers (the stupid kind that kick and run) will come at you from both sides while you get the items, so be wary. You may want to destroy the blocks on the top platform first so you can just jump straight up out of harm's way. After more enemies, including more splitting Burgers, you'll reach the end of this right-scrolling area and have to scroll up again. Bubbles, like the ones the Octopus boss spit, will rain down, and you will have to dodge those, dodge Red Mages and their shots (which go down and follow the ground), and be watchful for large spikes that thrust in and out of the ground! Joy. There's a heart in a niche on the left side of this area, but it's hard to get to without a well-executed Flying Kick. Don't bother unless you're desperate, as you may lose a life trying to get it. Continue up and you'll find more Red Mages, and the falling bubbles will stop. Take your time and defeat all of the Red Mages do they don't harass you later. You'll find another stone spike that appears, and you'll need to jump on that platform when the spike is down so you can proceed. Be careful about the Red Mages that appear here. Try to take them out, but don't jump over any "pits" you've created by scrolling out of reach of platforms. Continue upwards, after defeating the mages, and you'll find another stone spike on a platform and some orbs that fire sparks at you, like in Sector 2. The sparks make it difficult to continue without getting hurt. You'll have to jump quick in between shots, using the edge of the platform. Continue upwards, destroy the Orb that is in reach, and further up, more Red Mages. If you use Harpy Wings to get to the area with breakable blocks, you can find some hidden Bottles, but don't bother. Further up you'll find more Red Mages and another rain of bubbles! The two threats make getting up the next set of platforms difficult without getting hit and falling down into a "pit", so you may want to consider blowing the MP on Harpy Wings and taking the hidden area mentioned above. There IS a way to prevent the rain of bubbles, but it doesn't always work. On the platform (the one you can jump through) that is even with the breakable blocks... stand below it and jump on top of it... but jump so that you just BARELY make it. The screen may scroll up slightly, and you'll probably trigger a Red Mage or two. Defeat them, continue on, and hopefully the rain won't come. Jump back and forth from platform to platform, but be careful, as stone spikes appear on two of them! Continue to the solid area on the left part of the screen, and be careful, as that rain of bubbles may trigger now. WHAM! Just when you least expect it, a mini-boss! ARGH! It's the boss from Sector 3 (the one after you obtain the ? spell), but with the rain of bubbles, you can't Drop Kick it. And with nothing but a big "pit" below, it isn't exactly safe to get hit, either. Get onto the stone platform with the breakable bricks, FACE RIGHT (so that if you do get hit, you fly backwards to the left) and try to kick it to death with standard kicks. You WILL get hurt here, so try and finish this fight up as quickly as possible and move on. Jump up using the platforms you can jump through, break the blocks, and move to the left to exit this nightmare...and begin a new one! FINAL CONFRONTATION Belzed awaits! First thing Belzed does is cast a spell upon the whole room. Bars of light will zoom around, but don't worry, they do no damage. What that flashy display WILL do, however, is activate the four guardians on the sides of the screen! One at a time, you will have to destroy four Dopplegangers. Their shape changes after they take so much damage, just like the creatures in Sector 3. Make sure you change your tactics depending on what form they take. If you can corner them, you can quickly take them down by repeated Sweep Kicks, though the Armadillo form may escape you. Once you have defeated the four guardians, it is time to fight Belzed! She will drop down from the top, raise her hand, summon a bolt of energy that drops down from the sky to wherever you're standing, and fly back up. She repeats this process over and over, and she doesn't pause for very long. Her attacks are fast, and they HURT, capable of taking at LEAST one bar away from your life meter. As we've learned, there is a very simple way to take care of such speedy foes. EARTHQUAKE!! It will take a few shots of Earthquake and constant hits before she goes down. For best results, Earthquake her when she's in one of the lower corners of the screen, then Double Butterfly Kick her to death. This is the final battle, so spare nothing! If you can time it just right, you can position Belzed so she is in range of your Blazing Flip Kick. When this happens, just Blaze like mad and Earthquake every 5 seconds. Pulse Wave Spirit also works quite well, especially in conjunction with Earthquake. Twin Power will keep Belzed's energy bolts distracted, but if you switch to any other spells, the Twin will vanish. When she is finally defeated, get the Awards (if you feel like it, heh heh) and watch the ending! There's more, though... when you're finished, you can play again on a harder difficulty! Enemies are more difficult to defeat. Unfortunately, your Level, Experience, HP, MP, and Magic is reset. The only thing you get to keep is your number of lives. So here's a password that starts you out with nine of them! - 5(Heart)2DKQ ZGD?R6 Area 1, Level 0, 0 MP, 9 Lives. No Magic. Difficulty: HARD ============================================================================ Finishing notes Well, it's finally finished. This is my first actual Walkthrough for a game. I've made other documents to help players, but they've been for things like item hacking or lists or things like that. Nothing as comprehensive as this. I hope you all enjoy it. By the way, here's a secret uber "password" for people who know how to use it: 06B9 06BA. I'm not gonna tell you what it means, so don't e-mail me asking. Can you figure it out? Be sure to check out my other FAQs! :) Remember, in order to contact me, you'll need to visit my website and click "Feedback" to see what my current e-mail address is. Wyrenth ============================================================================ Version History 04/09/2017 v1.1b 67.2 KB - Removed homepage. Cleaned up document. 04/17/2003 v1.1 67.2 KB - Removed e-mail contact information--use website. 10/27/2002 v1.0 66.8 KB - Initial relase. ============================================================================