Monster World IV Walkthrough Last updated 7-6-07 By R2 ========================================================================== ========================================================================== Contents: Section 1) About This Guide It's so meta. Section 2) Game History It's Wonder-ous. Section 3) Controls ROMs don't come with instruction manuals. Section 4) Walkthrough 4a) Estahaan Point 4b) Mute Tower 4c) Rapandaga 4d) Handera Volcano 4e) Pre-Stream Sanctuary 4f) Stream Sanctuary 4g) Pre-Ice Pyramid 4h) Ice Pyramid I 4i) Ice Pyramid II 4j) Ice Pyramid III 4k) Pre-Aegis Island 4l) Aegis Island 4m) Showdown 4n) Subterrania Section 5) Bestiary 5a) Monsters 5b) Mini-bosses and Stage Bosses Section 6) Missed Chances, Glitches, and Rumors It's a secret to everybody. Section 7) Legal Junk Every guide's got it. ========================================================================== ========================================================================== Section 1) About This Guide In this guide, a line of equals signs is a break that splits sections. A line of hyphens is a break that splits parts of a guide within a section. A line of equals splits the "Controls" section from the parts above and below it. Within the "Controls" section, a line of hyphens split the general description of buttons and what they do, the part about Asha climbing, and the part about dialog. In the walkthrough section, a line of equals signs indicates a shift from one part of Monster World to another. A line of hyphens is the difference between one "screen" and another -- Asha walks off the side of one part of the map and onto another. Going in and out of doors only calls for a line of hyphens when it enters a new area, rather than introducing the "background" of the area you're in. For instance, going into the door to Asha's house doesn't switch screens, so Asha's house doesn't have a different section from the "Estahaan Point Village" screen. The pipes in Stream Sanctuary move you from one screen to the next, and use a row of hyphens. Walking into the front door of Mute Tower is a change from Estahaan Point to Mute Tower, so a row of equals signs is used. ========================================================================== ========================================================================== Section 2) Game History Monster World IV was released in 1994 for the Sega Mega Drive. Normally I'd say it was for the Genesis, since I'm American and that's the Mega Drive's American name, but the game never made it outside of Japan. So, it was only for the Mega Drive. Monster World IV is the fourth game in the Monster World series, a spinoff of the Wonder Boy series. This leads to some folks -- including GameTap in the first official US release -- erroneously calling the game "Wonder Boy 6: Monster World IV". The series history is all quite confusing, really. "Wonder Boy" was released for arcades and Sega Master System in 1986. Without much of a story, it was a pure run-and-jump-and-shoot action platformer. The sequel to Wonder Boy is "Wonder Boy in Monster Land", released in arcades in 1987. It was still a sidescrolling platformer, but added the much-ballyhooed "RPG elements" to the game, like the ability to accumulate money and buy weapons and armor. Wonder Boy in Monster Land was ported to home systems as "Super Wonder Boy in Monster World" or "Super Monster World: Super Wonder Boy", depending on what system and geographic location you're talking about. So the first "Monster World" game is actually called "Wonder Boy in Monster Land". Hang on, it gets worse from here. The next Wonder Boy game to come out was 1988's "Wonder Boy in Monster Lair", which was more or less an autoscrolling shooter. While "Land" is considered the first "Monster World" game, "Lair" is not considered part of that continuity at all. Japan saw release of the simply-named "Monster World II" in 1989, which picks up right where Wonder Boy in Monster Land left off -- the first level of MW II is a remake of the last stage of WBiML. Unfortunately, this game came to the USA and Europe as "Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap" -- Monster World isn't in the name despite it being second in the series. And yet, even in Japan, it's considered part of the Wonder Boy series, because the next game is... Wonder Boy V: Monster World III, released in 1991 for the Mega Drive. The European Mega Drive and American Genesis release saw this game translated as simply "Wonder Boy in Monster World", without the "Super" in the name given to the Mega Drive predecessor four years previous. And then comes Monster World IV, which unlike Monster World II, was not considered part of the Wonder Boy series even in Japan, even though it is a direct sequel to and has references from Wonder Boy V: Monster World III. Got all that? Furthermore, Wonder Boy was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System despite being a Sega mascot character by developer Hudson Soft. He was given a cap to wear, renamed "Master Higgins", and his game was rechristened "Adventure Island". The Adventure Island series got three sequels on the NES and one on the SNES, all of which are completely unrelated to any of the games mentioned above. Whew! To summarize: The original games in the series are called Wonder Boy, Wonder Boy in Monster Land (WB in Monster World in the console versions), Wonder Boy in Monster Lair, Monster World II, Wonder Boy V: Monster World III, and Monster World IV. Wonder Boy is the first in the Wonder Boy series. Wonder Boy in Monster Land is the second in the Wonder Boy series and the first in the Monster World series thanks to the name it was given on home consoles. Wonder Boy in Monster Lair is the third game in the Wonder Boy series. Monster World II is the second game in the Monster World series and, despite not being part of the name, the fourth game in the Wonder Boy series. Wonder Boy V: Monster World III is the fifth game in the Wonder Boy series and the third game in the Monster World series. Monster World IV is the fourth game in the Monster World series and not in the Wonder Boy series. It's confusing enough in the original Japanese names, but then you throw in a bunch of mistranslated names and it it just gets messier. ========================================================================== ========================================================================== Section 3) Controls Being a Mega Drive game (that's Genesis for you American folks, remember), the game is controlled with directional keys and four buttons, originally A, B, C, and Start on the Mega Drive controller. Directional controls: Move Asha left and right. Double-tap left or right to run. Stand in front of people and press up to talk to them. Stand in front of a treasure chest and press up to crack it open and claim its contents. Stand in front of a door in the background and press up to go through it. Stand by a door in the foreground -- marked by a dashed line -- and press down to go through that. Press down to whip out Asha's shield. A Button: Call Pepe, or throw Pepe once he's in your hands. B Button: Swing Asha's sword. Asha stops walking or running and drops Pepe if she was holding him. You can slash while jumping. Press up or down and the B button while jumping to perform an upthrust or downthrust attack. C Button: Jump. You can still control Asha's movement while she's in the air. Press down an C to drop through thin platforms or jump down off of rooftops and similar structures. If you can jump up through it from below, you can probably drop through it from above. Press Start to go to the subscreen. On the subscreen, you can use the directional controls to highlight the items in Asha's inventory, and if they're useable, press the A or C button to use them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A note on ropes and chains: Asha can climb on ropes and chains you find hanging here and there. Jump towards the rope and press up on the directional controls to grab on. From then you can slowly scale up or down the rope by pressing up or down on the directional controls or switch which side of the rope she's on with the left or right buttons. To quickly slide down the rope, press B. To quickly climb up the rope, press up repeatedly. To jump off the rope, press C. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dialog: A lot of characters in the game have something to say. Since this game was never officially released with an English translation, that means a lot of people won't be able to understand a gol-durn thing that's going on. While there is a translation patch out there (and this guide uses names and locations from it), I'm writing this guide under the assumption that the player doesn't have this patch and is forced to struggle through the Japanese text. So, I'll be giving you the gist of what's said at any point. Asha will occasionally be prompted for her input, but only in the form of a yes/no question. When the window opens for Asha's response, the answer on top, with two Japanese characters (ha-i), is "Yes". The answer below, with three Japanese characters (i-i-e), is "No". If you press B when prompted for a choice, you'll always answer "No". The only way to answer "Yes" is to highlight that answer and press A or C. ========================================================================== ========================================================================== Section 4) Walkthrough ========================================================================== 4a) Estahaan Point You begin the game on Estahaan Point, while our green-haired heroine Asha hears a cry for help on the wind. Asha's father Higge tells her she's just daydreaming, and points out that adventuring is no job for a girl. But if Asha wants to go out, he's sick of arguing, so off you go. You might be wondering if you can make this the shortest game ever by taking a nosedive off that cliff. The answer? Nah -- it just sets the precedent for falling off the screen, onto spikes, or getting into another impossible jam in the rest of the game. Namely, you lose one heart, and you restart the room wherever you came in. So go right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walk over to the first house you see -- it's Asha's -- and press up while standing in front of the door to go in. Drop down, walk to the left, and talk to your mother (stand in front of her and press up). After a short speech on how much she'll miss you, she reveals a treasure chest. Stand in front of it and press up to crack it open; inside is an Elixir. This handy drink will restore all your hearts when you use it from the subscreen. If you use it anytime before you enter Mute Tower, you can come back here for another. Inside this house, immediately to the right of the rope you'll need to get back out, is a door that looks like a curtain hanging on the wall. Stand in front of it, as above, and press up to go in. The woman in this room is your grandmother, and she gives you the skinny on Life Drops. When you collect ten of these handy blue items, you get an extra blue heart added to your life meter (the number of pink hearts is determined by the armor Asha is wearing). She reveals a chest with five Life Drops inside. Go left, stand in front of the door outline on the left. Doors that are in the foreground are always outlined like this, stand in front of them and press down to go through. On the far side is a chest with the Gall Crystal that you'll need later. Leave the house -- that's back through two doors, up the rope, and out the last door. The man outside echoes the old Nintendo Power #1 tip: talk to everyone, explore everywhere, and generally do anything that would make a nuisance of yourself in the real world. He also tells you to check out Mute Tower, off to the right. On the way to the right, you'll pass a bizarre-looking statue. Stand in front of it and press up to pray for your life to be restored. The man in the next house explains the bit about climbing ropes and chains I covered in the Controls section of this guide. The woman gives you a hint on how to find the Mute Tower. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the next screen, the villagers have gathered to give Asha a fond farewell. Asha's dad makes another mysoginistic comment, asks if you've got the Gall Crystal, and reminds you that it's important later before you head out. The last woman in line hates you for some reason. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sign on the next screen tells you how to run: double-tap the directional controls either left or right. Handy! There's a Life Drop floating in the air for you to collect, too. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other than a couple of those bizarre bovine creatures you saw in the village and another Life Drop, there's nothing on the next screen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the next screen, you see a man with a long beard and a blue robe. He's the Recording Sage, and he'll save your game for you. After a rather long introductory speech (during which you're reminded AGAIN to get the Gall Crystal), you are given a choice to save your game. Point at "Yes" and press C to confirm your decision, then select a save slot to save your game in. The sign on this screen tells you how to upthrust and downthrust, which I covered in the controls section of this very guide. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next screen is combat training! Those clear slimes are hideously weak. They take one hit to kill, and if they happen to bump into you, they just knock Asha away without doing any damage. Kill a couple and pick up the coins they drop; another Monster World tradition is that you have to chase down the goods that fallen enemies leave you. Once you get the hang of killing things for profit, collect the Life Drop and keep heading right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next area is a forest, but there's nothing new here. Kill slimes and collect the hard-to-see Life Drop floating just before the exit off the right side of the screen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next screen has fire slimes. These take two hits to kill and can actually hurt Asha when they touch her, but otherwise behave like the clear slimes from before. Fortunately, they're also worth more cash than the single gold piece you got from the clear slimes. That's how it goes, usually: the tougher the enemy, the more money he's worth. If you can get the drop on the fire slimes, downthrust onto their heads. Many enemies in the game, slimes included, will recoil back from the impact and Asha will bounce forward off their heads, and more often than not, you'll hit them again before Asha touches the ground. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next screen has more fire slimes and a Life Drop. That oughta make ten, so you get an extra heart added to your life bar. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next screen introduces obnoxious hopping mushrooms. They'll jump around and scatter damaging spores into the air. Hit them twice to fell them, and they'll often drop a life-refilling heart instead of money. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next screen has you coming out of the forest and back onto cliffs. You can upthrust through the platform to get the slime and mushroom bombarding you from above as you climb upwards. Jump off the blue pillar on the left to collect a Life Drop. The sign at the top tells you how to use items: press Start to go to the subscreen, then highlight the item you want to use and press the C button. Keep heading right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing but enemies here. Move along. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next screen has another of those weird statues. Have yourself a seat to restore any damage you've taken so far, and keep going ri-- hey, what? You can't go right. Hmm. So now it's time to put together all those clues the villagers and signs have given you. Stand in front of the statue, press Start, highlight the Gall Crystal in your inventory, and press A. Oh. So THAT'S Mute Tower. Head inside for your first dungeon. ========================================================================== 4b) Mute Tower Save your game and have a look around. Hmm, that locked door looks like something we'll have to investigate later. And the door on the far right is blocked by a wall. Well, guess you oughta check the rooms that are open to you, huh? The room on the far left has a mummy enemy and a Life Drop to collect. The second door from the right (you know, the only other one you can enter) has a pig-like enemy with a club. These guys are suckers for the downthrust. If you can't get the drop on them, they get dizzy after swinging their clubs at you -- wait out the attack (or block it with your shield) and hit them when they're stunned. Two hits brings this guy down, and you hear a chime. Back in the main hall, you'll see the wall blocking your way to the rightmost door has been removed. A famous example of the Mute Tower Pig Lock! Head through the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next room has another pig enemy and a rope to climb. Scurry up the rope, grab the Life Drop, and go through the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A mummy and another door await. Kill the pig inside that door and come back out into the hallway. The enemy's porcine demise has created a moving platform, so hop on. This next level has just one door to go through, so go through it. Kill the enemies to reveal a chest with a key inside. Yeah. Now you do some backtracking. Go back to the very first room, the entry hallway with the save point. Save your game if you like, then stand in front of the locked door and use your key. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Claim the Life Drop and kill the pig to get the platform moving. Ride the platform up, kill the pigs to open the pathway forward, and go through the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scoot up the rope and you'll find two doors. The one on the right holds a pig whose demise will create a moving platform to get you to the next level of the tower. The door on the left holds a pig whose demise will create a platform to let you get to the platform you made in the room on the right. After creating both platforms, jump up to the next level. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Four doors, four enemies, four platforms to create to get to the next level. The wolves here are stronger than anything you've met before, but they're still a cinch. When they wind up for their flurry of punches, take a swipe at them with your sword, then immediately press down to whip out the shield. The shield will block their punch, keeping you safe until your next opportunity to attack. Once you've cleared all four rooms on this level, you'll be able to climb up to the next. This level has two doors on the left and one locked door on the right. The unlocked door on the right takes you to a room with a wolf whose demise will clear a block above you. The door on the left takes you to the same room with another wolf whose death rewards you with a moving platform. Take the platform up and open the chest for a shower of cash and three Life Drops, then head right and take the Key from the chest. Go back into the hallway and use the Key to unlock the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Climb the rope, collect the Life Drop, and go left once you reach the top. The spike traps here will extend and retract -- run past when they're retracted. Even though there's still the tip of the spikes sticking out when they retract, they can't hurt you. Go through the door on the far left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next room is a little tricky. There are mummies and spike traps here -- you'll need to navigate through both and hop across the platforms to get to the elevator on the right that will take you up to the next level. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's a door above you when you come onto this screen. Go through it if you need the recovery heart on the other side, but be warned: you'll have to navigate the spike traps all over again! Through the door to your left is a large one-eyed giant. When he raises his club, hit him with your sword, then step back a skosh so he doesn't hit you with said club on the downswing. Repeat as often as necessary (four times) and he'll give you a Life Drop and reveal a chest with a Gold Bar inside. Go back into the hallway and go all the way left, through the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember that speed-climbing technique I told you about earlier? It's pretty useful here, when you've got to dodge the spike traps as you climb. At the top, work your way through the halls filled with spike traps to get to another door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in the hallway, you have two options. Go left and press down and C to drop through the thin floor -- this rewards you with a Life Drop and a save point. But as before, this path requires some backtracking through the last room full of spike traps. You won't be coming back to Mute Tower, and Life Drops exist in limited number, so you should probably go ahead and take this route the first time. That Drop should bring your number up to 10 again, so you get another heart. After reaching this room again, go right and drop down. The odd device on the right is a Heart vending machine, allowing you to trade gold for health if you need it. Hop up the platforms and go through the door to the first boss battle of the game! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Centipede Dodge the spiders and scorpions as you shoot at the centipede; each section you destroy will turn into a mushroo-- oh wait, wrong game. The veiled centipede woman will crawl around the room slowly. If she rears back on her back legs, she's about to lunge downward to attack you. So, uh, walk away when she does that. She's only got the one attack, and it's easy to dodge, so just hack away merrily until she dies. Twenty hits oughta do it. Collect the money from each section of the centipede's corpse and open the chest she left behind. You get the Magic Lamp! ...also, you're stuck. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roam around the centipede's room for a while. There's no door, no rope to climb out, no switch to flip, nothing! All you've got is this crummy lam-- Oh, right. Use the lamp from your inventory screen. The genie kvetches a bit during his introduction, but he says that travel is his specialty. Just the thing for a girl who wants to see the world, huh? The genie offers to take Asha to the town of Rapadagna. Matter of fact, at any point in the game you're stuck or just need egress from a sticky situation, you can use the Magic Lamp to warp back to the center of Rapadagna. Not a bad thing to keep in mind! ========================================================================== 4c) Rapandaga The genie drops you off in the center square of Rapadagna. A helpful bird-person tells you the castle is off to the left, and the town is to the right. We'll cover all of Rapadagna in a little while. For now, head to the castle (you can save your game in the square, too). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The guards in front of the castle gates ask if you want to see the Queen. Well, yeah. Answer yes and they'll make another crack about Asha being a girly-girl, but they'll let you inside just the same. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the Castle Courtyard. Climb the stairs and go into the castle proper. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once inside, go up to the upper level and through the door. Yes, I know that's skipping a lot of explorable corners. We'll get back to those, promise! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Climb up the stairs to the next screen, then go through the door on the far left. That's the Queen's chamber. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- When talking to the Queen, she asks if you're willing to uphold the Knight's oath of valor, peace, love, and not kicking fuzzy little woodland creatures or whatever. Answer yes to get on with the game, or answer no to have the oath recited to you again. After you've accepted, a guard pipes up and mentions your first mission. See, there's this (only slightly cliched) evil force growing in the land, and four elemental-themed spirits in elemental-themed dungeons that you'll need to track down to defeat the ancient evil that threatens Monster World. Ho hum. Accept this quest, too, it's the plot of the game. The Queen then tells you to check out the treasure room. Well, don't mind if I do! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the queen's chamber, go left to the door, out the door, drop down the stairs onto the next screen, then drop down another set of stairs on the same screen, go left, and head through the door. On the next screen, go left and through the door. Treasure Room! Score! If you backtrack into the courtyard, you've gone too far -- go back inside, climb to the door above you, and head left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the chests are: an Elixir (bottom left), three Life Drops (bottom center), a load of money (bottom right), the Terran Medallion you need to get into the Earth Temple (top left), a Gold Bar (top center), and a Pepelogoo Egg (top right). You can come back for the Gold Bar later, but nab the rest. Leave the treasure room and head to Rapandaga Square. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gotten lost in the castle? From the treasure room, go right, through the curtain door, jump up to the higher platform, go through that curtain door, drop to the lower part of this screen, go through the big open door to the Courtyard, go left and through the door to exit the castle, then run to the right. Now you're back in the Square. Whew! Hop up onto the platform in front of the fountain/statue. Pray for health if you like. Then, just like when you uncovered Mute Tower, use the Pepelogoo Egg in front of the fountain. It hatches into an adorable little critter that the game calls Pepe, so I will too. _______________________________________________________________ / \ | About Pepe: | | | | Pepe is Asha's adorable, indestructable pet. | | | | Press the A button to call Pepe to Asha. She'll grab onto his | | underside and hang on. Using the sword or shield will make | | Asha drop Pepe, but if Asha jumps, Pepe will flap his ears, | | wings, or whatever those are to keep her afloat for a little | | while. Press the A button again to throw Pepe at something -- | | he's good for handling all sorts of situations you'll meet | | later on. | | | | When in the air and holding Pepe, you can press C again to | | double-jump. | | | | Finally, if Asha runs out of life, Pepe can automatically use | | an Elixir on her if Asha has one in her inventory. | \_______________________________________________________________/ All right. Now that we've got the ability to glide and double-jump, it's time to go explore Rapandaga and loot everything we can carry. Head back to the castle. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- To the left of the castle's front gate is a temple with four sealed doors. That's where we're headed eventually, once we've scoured Rapandaga for anything valuable. Go through the castle's gate into the Courtyard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Call Pepe and use him to jump to the high platform on the left from the not-quite-as-high platform to the right of the door you came in. This is the Garden. The chest on this screen has three Life Drops. The tree here doesn't have anything yet, but you'll be back here later. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go into the castle proper. There's only one door to go through on this screen, so go through it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go downstairs and to the right (to the left is the Treasure Room, which you've looted, and the Library, which doesn't have anything valuable). Go through the door, go right, and go through that door to enter the kitchen. There's a Life Drop hanging up out of reach; double-jump for it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go back to the Courtyard. From the Courtyard, go off the screen to the right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's nothing on this screen (you're "behind" Rapandaga Square), but go right to get to the back alleys behind Rapandaga town. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Climb on the pots and use Pepe to boost your jumps to get over some of the tall buildings. Go through the door for a chest with three Life Drops in it. Go back out to the alley and proceed right; again, Pepe lets you get over the high building walls. On the next screen, you'll find is a chest with some money and three more Life Drops inside. Go back to the castle courtyard and back out through the front gates. Then go right through Rapandaga Square to get to Rapandaga Town. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huh, look at that. Everybody in this place has got a Pepelogoo. In the first house you come across, a rich woman will buy your Gold Bars for 1000 gold. That sounds like a lot, but her prices get much better later in the game, so don't sell more than one. Chances are good you've just got a smidge over 1000 gold now, and that'll just get you a suit of armor. You can spare a Gold Bar to get a new sword and shield, too, if you want. If you come to this woman before you get Pepe, she'll buy your Gold for 500 gold pieces, and if you decline, she'll bump her offer up to 800. You get 1000 afterwards because she's impressed by Pepe's blue fur. The treasure chest in the back of her house has a Gold Bar inside. Now that you know what's inside, you can leave it there for later so it doesn't clutter your inventory. Beside the Treasure Chest in the rich lady's house, take the door leading onto her roof for a Life Drop. Use Pepe to glide to the next rooftop for another Life Drop. Then glide to the next rooftop on the next screen... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ...for ANOTHER Life Drop, two more on either side of the tall tower in the center of town, and then to the next rooftop for a chest full of money. Finally, glide off the right side of that screen... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ...and snatch the Life Drop out of the air. Whew! You're on the far right side of Rapandaga now. The man with the unusual pack animal here sells armor. Right now, he just sells Battle Armor for 980 gold. This increases the number of pink hearts in your life bar from three to five. Not bad... Go to the leftmost pair of trees on the screen with the armor salesman, stand between them, and press up. A chest holding an Elixir will fall from the treetops. Go left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You've leapt across the rooftops from the left side of this screen to the right, now you're on the street level going right to left. The woman in the first house is a fortune-teller who tells you that Blue Pepelogoos are exceptionally rare -- you might have the only one left! There's a man giving Pepelogoos away in front of the tower, and the next house belongs to a wannabe adventurer. There's nothing inside but a mention of Stream Sanctuary. Go left to the next screen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first building here is a shop. The man on the left sells swords: the Hyzer Sword for 700 gold is STR +1, the same as Asha's sword you started the game with, but the Hyzer sword occasionally does "Magical Hits" for extra damage. The Shah Sword for 1800 gold is Strength +2, but can't do Magical Hits. Do you want a cheap sword with unpredictable power, or a reliable weapon that won't ever exceed your expectations? It's up to you, but if you're hoarding those Gold Bars, the Hyzer sword might be all you can afford. The woman on the right sells Shields. I'm not sure what the "Defense" value of shields does -- a shield either blocks an attack or it doesn't. Maybe shields with higher defense values block more powerful attacks? Anyway, both of the shields she sells are Defense +2 for 450 gold. But the one on the left is the Heat Shield that occasionally absorbs fire attacks, and the one on the right is the Golem Shield that ocasionally absorbs electrical attacks. The Heat Shield is the better choice at the moment. The chest at the back of the weapon/shield shop has an Elixir inside. After leaving the weapon shop and going left, you're back at the rich woman's house. Okay, that's it! You're done in Rapaganda! Go back to the Square to refill your life and save your game, then head all the way left, past the castle, and into the temple. Stand in front of the leftmost door and use the Terran Medallion to go to the Handera Volcano area. ========================================================================== 4d) Handera Volcano The first screen just has a sign telling you you're in Handera Volcano. Go left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The second screen has a sign telling you that a Pepelogoo can be used to double-jump. Call Pepe to get up onto the cliff and proceed left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Again, use Pepe to scale tall cliffs. There are fire slimes here, so you might get a chance to test out your new equipment. If you hit a foe and there's a small starburst around the enemy you hit, you just did a Magical Strike. If a foe hits you and a blue bubble appears around Asha, the hit was absorbed by the elemental property of her shield. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Continue going left for several screens, using Pepe to reach high places or cross wide gaps Asha wouldn't be able to overcome on her own. On the screen where you have to climb up spaced platforms instead of jump across them, there's a Life Drop on the bottom left and a recovery heart on the top left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next screen has more one-eyed club-weilding Ogres, so I hope you brought your ogre-slaying knife that's got a +9 against ogres. If you didn't, just weave back and forth like you did back in Mute Tower to dodge their attacks and hit them when their clubs are raised. Each ogre gives you a Life Drop. The last one also reveals a chest with a Bomb inside that you can use to clear the door to your left. Do so and enter Handera Volcano. ========================================================================== Head left when you get inside the Volcano. Walk on past the door you see and head all the way left. The mud monsters will slide around on the floor and spring up to attack, but you can dispatch them when they form or by downthrusting as they move around on the floor. On the far left, throw Pepe at the stream of lava. The heat doesn't seem to bother him much, because he sits on top of the lava fountain and makes a convenient platform for you to hop up and get the Bomb out of the treasure chest. Now head back to the door you passed up earlier. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The stone golems in this room are tough, partly because they take several hits to kill and partly because the rocks they throw travel in an arc, which means that they might hit the top of Asha's adorable little head instead of bouncing off her shield. Run in, slice, and put up your shield to stop the rocks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the next room, turn Pepe into a lava platform and climb up. Make sure you grab the Life Drop above the lava geyser before you continue, though. As you climb the rope to the top of this screen, gravel will fall on either one side or the other. That's your cue to switch to the side the gravel didn't fall on, because a big honkin' rock is about to fall and you don't want to be below it. Use the Bomb you found earlier on the blocked door, or drop down and use the Heart Machine -- but if you do, you'll be back at the start of this room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another room, another stone golem. Defeat him and proceed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sign tells you, in so many words, to use Pepe as an umbrella. Call him and walk down the hallway with Asha holding Pepe over her head to block the falling fireballs. It looks cruel, but Pepe doesn't seem to mind. The third rope in the climbing section has falling-rock traps on it, like before. The sign tells you that a single Magical Hit is worth five regular hits. Experimentation seems to indicate they're not quite that powerful, but they're awfully useful anyhow. When the path branches, take the lower path for a Bomb, then double back and take the higher path to use the bomb. You can block the fireballs coming out of the walls with Asha's shield. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's a stone golem about halfway down this passage. If you can knock him down to a level beneath you, you can usually downthrust onto his head for two or three easy hits. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Throw Pepe at the switch to activate it and get the platform moving. Drop down and hold Pepe over your head to block any falling fireballs. When you get to the far right side, open the chest for three Life Drops. Throw Pepe at the switch to activate it. A platform rushes out of the floor and immediately sinks back down. Stand where it was (under the green arrow) and activate the switch again, then when Asha rides the platform as high as it will go, jump to the left onto the moving platform. Keep climbing up and around to the right. Eventually, you'll fall into a deep hole that you can't climb or double-jump out of. Throw Pepe at the switch and blocks will fall, forming a stairway. Gravel falls before each block, allowing you time to get out of the way. There is only one block that falls on the far left, so that's generally a safe place to stand. When you reach the top, there's another long fall to take. Call Pepe and float down, gliding to the left when you do so. Your reward is an Elixir. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sign here encourages you to more Pepe abuse. Throw Pepe at the geyser and he'll block it with his body until the pressure builds. Stand on his head and he'll rocket upward, taking Asha to otherwise unreachable heights. You'll pass a chest with a Bomb inside on the way up; drop down, collect it, and rocket back up to the door you open with it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drop down before you start climbing up -- there's a chest with a Bomb inside at the bottom of this area. Then use Pepe to scale the lava geyser and start platform-hopping your way up to the top. When you see the second rope, use Pepe to jump to your left, because there's a chest over there with a whole lot of money inside. When you reach the top, just above the money chest, bomb open the door and go through as usual to reach the mini-boss, a bare-breasted bird woman. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Harpy Harpies are known for a lot of things, but I suppose modesty was never one of them. The bird woman here has two modes of attack depending on where Asha is. If Asha's on the ground, she'll spit a giant fireball that erupts over the floor. If Asha's on one of the platforms, she'll try to tackle Asha onto the floor. The fireball hurts. The body checks don't. The bird woman is evasive and hard to hit unless she's trying to tackle Asha, at which point she's in the perfect position to get hit by a sword. Needless to say, you'll want to be on the platforms as much as you can during the fight. Sometimes the bird woman will fake you out, stopping her charge just out of range of a sword swing. But the tackle still doesn't hurt, making this a temporary setback at worst. Your reward is a big ol' life-restoring heart and a Bomb to open the next door. Onward! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The fiery ghosts in this room are annoying but not especially dangerous. The ropes here are trapped, and the last door is (sigh) blocked with a rock. The treasure chest in this room has money and a restorative heart. Once you've got that, head through the unblocked door on the left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drop down, collect the coins, and go through the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Save your game and open the chest for a Bomb. Go back out the way you came. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Throw Pepe into the geyser, and ride him to the top. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use Pepe to climb to the top of the room, bomb open the door, and continue. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This corridor has bugs that will roll into spiny balls and leap at you. They're vulnerable as long as they're not in the air; kill them and continue. Sometimes they drop moneybags instead of individual coins, so they're not bad for making money if you're lucky. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jump the lava streams as you proceed left. Before you drop down, though, throw Pepe at the last stream and use it to climb up to a chest with three Life Drops. THEN drop down. The sign tells you that it's possible to turn around while Asha holds up her shield. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another corridor full of bugs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This area is split into several rooms, and you must clear all enemies out of each room to proceed to the next. The first room is a stone golem, the second is two bugs, the third is two stone golems, and the last is a stone golem and two bugs. Open the chest at the end for a big heart, you've earned it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another corridor full of *yawn* bugs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fireballs, free money, and a Life Drop. If you haven't forgotten that Asha has a shield, you can probably get to the end without a scratch. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This time it's a vertical passage with bugs in it instead of a horizontal passage with bugs in it. Downthrust as you drop for best results. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fireballs and fire ghosts. Asha can hold Pepe over her head and still swing her sword -- she'll drop Pepe and can't use him as an umbrella, but it beats taking a hit from an attacking ghost and you can always call him back before you proceed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A short passage with only one bug in it. How novel. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Open the chest for a Gold Bar, then throw Pepe at the switch to get a platform up out of the lava. Use the platform to cross the lava -- it bucks a little, but won't sink. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take the right geyser for money and a Life Drop, then the left geyser to reach the exit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing new here, just platform-jumping and ghosts to kill. The chest in the top right has loads of cash in it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corridor, this time with bugs and a stone golem. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use the Heart Machine if you need it. This room has lots of Pepe-assisted jumps in between bouts of Pepe pushing switches, so keep your finger on that A button. Below the third switch, there's a chest with money and a Life Drop inside. Like so many rewards in this game, getting it requires you to do part of this obstacle course over again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corridor. Bugs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use Pepe to glide down the vertical passage full of fireballs, and he'll pull double-duty protecting your head and slowing your fall. Grab the Life Drop on the left side as you descend. Climb the rope for a save point, then drop down. The next section has lots of fireballs to block with your shield and high jumps for Pepe to help you out. When you get to a section where the ground looks different, use down and the C button to drop through them. At the bottom of the shaft is a Life Drop. At the end of the room, a fixture on the wall spits fireballs in threes (Dracular!) while a platform blocks your progress downward. Block the fire as you approach, then call Pepe and use him to glide over a barrage. Once you're safe, throw Pepe at the switch and drop into the next room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This part's tricky. If you fall into the lava in any of the next several rooms, you lose a heart and have to start that room over. Most of the jumps you need to make are Pepe-assisted, as usual. The switch to the right of this room's entrance summons a lava-crossing platform. Like the one before it, it'll sink under Asha's weight but will never drop her into the lava. Use Pepe to glide between the next several platforms that poke in and out of the lava to cross to the next room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unlike the switch-summoned platform in the previous room, all the platforms in this room will sink Asha into the lava if she stands on them too long. So, uh, don't do that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This room has fireballs jumping out of the lava as you leap from one sinking platform to another. Keep Pepe overhead as you jump, and remember that you can jump straight up to return a platform to its unsunken position if you need to wait for a fireball to get out of your way. At the end of this room, you'll need to wait for the tall platform to sink a bit, then jump as far as you can to the left while avoiding the fireballs. Whew! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The last jump in this room is like the last jump in the room before -- a long Pepe-assisted glide through fireballs off of a sinking platform. But now the goal is even further away, so you'll need to double-jump out of Pepe's grasp to get to the end. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another long jump culminating in a double-jump, but hey, that's the last one. The sign asks if you're up for a fight. Say yes. The next sign asks if you're the little girl who wanted to be a hero. Remain firm in the face of gender discrimination and say yes again. How does a sign know that, anyway? The next sign doesn't ask a question, just taunts you a bit and opens the door. Drop down to face the boss. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Infernal Warlock Hey, that guy looks familiar! Yeah, he was the one selling Pepelogoos back in Rapandaga! He introduces himself as the Infernal Warlock, transforms into a strange-looking fiery beast, and attacks. The Infernal Warlock has two forms, and the first is far more difficult than the second. In the first, he hops around and tries to smack Asha with the spiked balls on the end of his arms. If you can get it to work, he's a sucker for downthrusts. Otherwise, lunge in, hit him, and retreat as quickly as you can. If you have an Elixir, you can probably just trade hits until he comes apart into his next form. The second form hangs from the ceiling and flails his arms around. Stand directly below him and use the upthrust and you'll win without a scratch. Your reward is some money and the chest containing the Spirit of the Earth! The Spirit thanks and congratulates you, but doesn't say anything particularly important. Once you have his blessing, the genie will automatically take you back to Rapandaga, and you can say goodbye to Handera Volcano forever and ever. ========================================================================== 4e) Pre-Stream Sanctuary Back in Rapandaga, it looks like pretty much everybody has a Pepelogoo of their own now. How cute! The rich woman now buys gold bars for 1500 gold a pop. The woman at the shield shop doesn't sell anything new -- just the Heat and Golem shields from before. If you can afford it, the Golem shield will protect you from some of the electrical attacks enemies in the next section will be attacking you with. The shield she's selling for 100 gold is the Wooden Shield you started the game with, and you certainly don't want to pay money for that old thing! The man who sells weapons is in the back room of the shop instead of at the counter now. He has the Hyzer and Shah swords from before (whichever you didn't buy) as well as a refreshing, fizzy, fruit-flavored Fanta sword for 3000 gold. It's as strong as the Shah sword at Strength +2, but it's capable of dealing Magical Hits. Finally, the man at the far edge of town is selling Knight Armor that increases your number of pink hearts to seven. It's a hefty 3600 gold, though, so it might come down to either buying good armor or buying a good weapon, huh? If you find you can't struggle through the next area without upgrading both, remember that you can always use the Magic Lamp to return to Rapandaga, sell some gold bars, and buy the one you're missing. But you really should try to horde those bars as long as you can, the endgame equipment is really expensive. Since you defeated the Infernal Warlock, he's no longer selling Pepelogoos in front of the tower on the right side of town. Go inside and you'll see two similar looking men and a chest holding the Lunar Medallion. The men seem a bit rude, but they won't stop you from taking it. Remember where the Garden was? Through the castle gates, then left over the high wall? Go back there and you'll find the tree has borne a single fruit. Stand in front of the tree and press up to shake the roots and the fruit will fall, and Pepe helps himself. Huh. How odd. Oh well, with Pepe bigger, he's now able to handle different challenges he'd be unable to endure at his smaller size. Off to the temple and wherever this new Medallion will take us, then... open the second door and you're off! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first several screens of this area are pretty mundane -- just platform jumps and hopping electrical slimes. The slimes behave just like any other slime you've seen, but take more hits to kill and attack with electricity (as nulled by the Golem Shield) instead of fire (as nulled by the Heat Shield). Eventually you'll reach screens where fish will leap out of the water and shoot lightning, the first of which has a Life Drop suspended in the air near the entrance. The fish won't hurt you by touching you, only by shooting lightning, so avoid the bolt as you slash the fish and you'll be fine. The second screen with fish in it has another Life Drop floating over a bridge. The third fishy screen has yet another Life Drop at the end of a low platform, near the water's edge. It's guarded by a single electric slime. Eventually you'll reach an old, ivy-covered marble ruin. Some of the statues here animate into flying gargoyle-like enemies that shoot lightning when you approach. They're quite vulnerable to upthrusts and each hold a Life Drop, so they're worth your time to take down. When you get to the end, the sign tells you that the special pillar hides a secret. So go back and look for the pillar with something different about it. The one you're looking for has no reflection in the water below. Once you've found a pillar that casts no reflection, press up to read a hidden sign that says the entrance to Stream Sanctuary is right there. Press down and C to drop into the chute below you and enter. ========================================================================== 4f) Stream Sanctuary It's a long way down into Stream Sanctuary, but there's some money on the way. The pipes in the background are doors -- press up and Asha will crawl inside to the next room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jump left off the platform and Asha will land in a stream of rushing water. You can leap out of the water anytime you like, and should do so after you go through the first pipe. Use Pepe to glide over to the right, where a sign asks you not to put out the nearby fire. What's RPG rule #102, kids? Whenever someone asks you to do something, immediately go and do that thing. And whenever someone forbids you from doing something -- immediately go and do that thing. Throw Pepe at the torch to extinguish it. Then jump back into the water and take it to the end of its course. Floating, electricity-shooting jellyfish attack here, but just one quick upthrust should dispatch them. When you jump off of this platform, bear right -- there's a chest to be had with a Gold Bar inside. Jump into the water and it takes you up a spout. If you missed the gold bar, jump to the right to try again. If you got the bar, you're done with the room. Hop into the pipe to the left of the spout; since you blew out the torch, the barrier blocking your access to it is gone. Jump out of the water early enough to not get fried by the hovering electric field and exit the room, stage left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This room has some free money and floating platforms that look like... well, like some very unflattering Chinese stereotypes. Remember that holding on to Pepe can give Asha some additional mobility in the air and this room is a breeze. The exit pipe is on the top left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everywhere you look, you sea anemone! Or see an enemy, whatever. The tentacled terrors in this room are a little tricky -- they whip at you once, then again, THEN pause. Let them swing twice before closing the distance and slicing at them. For reference, the tentacles can be blocked with your shield. The leftmost part of this room is blocked by an electric barrier, so take the pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More jellyfish attack in the first part of the room. The first sign reads "Water Reservoir", meaning the flowing water to your left that you can't jump into. Jump down into the water, and then hop out to collect a floating coin before going through the pipe, up the spout, and offscreen to the right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing to do here but jump into the water, so do that. After going through the first pipe, hold right and hammer the jump button to leap out of the stream -- the chest you jumped towards holds an Elixir. Once procured (or skipped, if you've got one already), jump back into the stream to head up the spout. When you come out of the pipe, you might land on a jellyfish. So downthrust to kill it instead. Head on through the pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go left, kill the anemone, and blow out the torch. Continue left until the area forks -- the lower path is blocked by a fire (and another sign asking you not to blow the fire out). This fire's too big for Pepe to extinguish himself, so take the unblocked upper path. Head up and around, dispatch the anemones, and go through the pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take what, four steps right? Go through the pipe. Wow, tough room! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's a Heart Machine here. Go through the pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As soon as you land in the water here, jump out to claim your Life Drop. Exit to the left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Collect the coins, hop into the tube, and go through the pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the left side of the third room, where you fought anemones for the first time. Blow out the torch to remove the electric barrier, then go through the pipe on the far left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You fall into another stream of water as soon as you enter. Jump out and onto the platform before you enter the tube, climb the floating platform, and open the chest for a bucket. Then back into the water with you! Before the second tube, jump out of the water for a heart -- get it even if you don't need it. Then take the tube and leave the screen to the right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the fifth room again. Take the tube up (and nab the Elixir if you left it before and need it now), downthrust onto the jellyfish again, and exit through the pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proceed through the next several rooms until you get to the third room again -- you'll know you're there because the electrical barrier to your right will lift automatically. When you were here before, you took the leftmost exit. Now take the middle exit (or the first exit you see by going to the right). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stand in front of the Water Reservoir and use the Bucket to fill it up with water. Doesn't Asha look happy to have a bucketful of water? Jump down into the water. You've been through this part twice before -- the first time, you could jump out of the water for a coin. The second time, your prize was a heart. This time, you get a Life Drop. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proceed once more to the room with the large fire. Stand near it and use the Bucket to put the fire out, then walk past into the rest of Stream Sanctuary. I don't know about you, but I was getting tired of seeing the same four or five rooms over and over! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kill the anemone, drop down, downthrust to kill the anemone at the bottom, and take the rightmost door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drop down and go through the pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Extinguish the fire, then go back out the way you came in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drop down into the water -- the two jellyfish you pass on the way are obstacles for those who take the middle two doors from that room with the long central shaft a couple corridors back. Once you've reached the top, jump out before Asha gets fried by the electric barrier, grab Pepe, and float as far left as you can. It's another reservoir, so refill that bucket before jumping back into the drink and leaving through the pipe on the right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kill the anemone, then the torch. The electric barriers on both sides of this room's central shaft go up, so jump across to the left, climb the vine, kill the anemone, and open the chest for three Life Drops. This too releases an electric barrier, basically for convenience. Drop down and take the leftmost pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go through the pipe. What else are you going to do? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go to the right -- by blowing out the torch a while ago, the electric barrier previously in this room is gone. The path forks -- and this time both ways are blocked by fires! The top path has a chest with seven (seven!) Life Drops inside, so go that way first. Then you need to refill your bucket: go all the way to the left and through the pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take the stream to the top of the room, then float across and, just as planned, refill the bucket. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back down, back through the leftmost door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As though it bears saying again, go through the pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go right and extinguish the bottom flame. Go through the pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jump in the stream, then out again to grab the vine. That chest has money in it. Go back into the water after you collect your cash, then jump out and grab the next vine to avoid getting fried by the electricity. Hop from one vine to the next to reach the exit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jump out of the water as necessary to collect coins or avoid electricity. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Same premise as the last room, just different obstacles and more free money. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More fun with water and moving electric fields. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Of the five streams in this room, only the leftmost one goes to the exit. But make sure you loot all the coins from the other streams first, yeah? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The pipe in the middle of this room leads to a save point and a Heart Machine -- but don't waste your money unless you're in truly dire need. Leave to the left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a linear room; just kill anemones to reach the exit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Giant Evil Chicken If the save point and opportunity to heal didn't give it away, you're fighting a mini-boss now. This bad bird is only difficult if you give him time to amass a fighting force, otherwise he just runs away from you. Dash back and forth to keep the pressure on, slashing him whenever you get close enough. If he happens to lay an egg or two, kill the little birds that come out before resuming your chase. Your reward for filleting this funky fryer is a large heart that restores all your health. Now aren't you glad you saved your money on the Heart Machine? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This room has five torches. The torches, not surprisingly, are a puzzle that's a bit time-consuming to solve; skip down a few paragraphs for the answer if you're impatient. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This room has a long vine to climb. At the top, extinguish the torch to remove the electric barrier at the bottom, then pass through said barrier and put out the torch there. Then climb the vine to the now-open passage and blow out that torch, too. Finally, climb all the way up, jump left, grab Pepe, and drop down and to the left to exit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Through the pipe you go. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Refill your bucket at the reservoir, take the spout up, kill the jellyfish, and go through the pipe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Extinguish the campfire in the middle passage on the right to find a man so dehydrated he can't move. Dehydrated. In the excessively-damp Stream Sanctuary. Well, whatever. Go back to the reservoir you just found, refill the bucket, and splash him with it. He rather snidely gives you the clue to solve the torch puzzle: "Two and four unlock the door." Go back left to the corridor that has five torches in it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blow out the second and forth torches, but leave the first, last, and middle torches lit. There's your exit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The chest on the right has a Golden Bar. The pipe on the left has a sign that gives you a hint for the next section: if you're underwater, call Pepe for a lift. Press up when you're sinking to slow your descent. Head left to move on. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cross the floating platforms. If you fall in the water, press up to slow your descent and call Pepe to bail you out, just like the sign said. The central platform has a water creature that, despite all appearances, is remarkably like the mud creatures from Handera Volcano, and should be dispatched as such. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This room is virtually identical to the one before it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This time you want to fall into the water, both to collect money and get swept up in the undertow. Jump out of the stream when you have the chance and exit to the left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Again, jump in the water and sink into the current. When you come out of the tube, call Pepe -- it's tricky to get the timing right, but the goal is to sink low enough to grab the Life Drop before Pepe grabs you, but not so low that you get electrocuted. Pepe will take you out near a torch, have him blow it out and jump back into the water. Have him drag you out again, then blow out the torch to your left here, too. Now sink into the water until you're caught by the current and swept away to the right. Go through the pipe -- as though you have a choice at this point. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jump on the platform and call Pepe. Face away from the direction you want to go and Pepe's powerful lungs will get you there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sign says "Go ahead, toss something in!" Hmm. Not your sword. Not your armor or shield, either. Not the lamp, that thing's darn useful. And certainly not a precious Elixir or Gold Bar. The only thing left to throw is this old bucket you've got... A man appears. He mumbles a bit before asking if you dropped a Silver Bucket into his well. Say no. Oh. Was it a gold one? Er, no. Ah. Then it must be the LEGENDARY bucket. Um, still no. If you're honest, he'll get out of your way. If you lie, he'll make you answer all his questions again. Jump into the well to meet the boss of Stream Sanctuary. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Guardian of the Sea Hey, I recognize you! You were in the tower back in Rapagadna! This guy's the Guardian of the Sea, and before you know it, he transforms into a serpent and attacks. His serpent form might hit you once or twice, but it's easy to find a safe spot. Go to the left side of the screen as quickly as you can, and if you stand in the middle of the leftmost waterfall, he'll arc back and forth over Asha's head without ever hitting her. Slice at him as he goes by and he'll reveal, as the Infernal Warlock did before him, his second form. In his spidery form, the black legs will hurt you. His blue legs are his weak spot. Keep your distance and he'll jump over you, turning in the air so that his blue legs are near you when he lands. Cut him once or twice, then retreat as he turns around and advances. This guy's even easier than the Infernal Warlock, so you should have no troubles whatsoever. Your reward, as before, is a bunch of money, the freedom of the Spirit of the Moon, and a free ride back to Rapandaga. ========================================================================== 4g) Pre-Ice Pyramid Things aren't looking too hot in Rapandaga. Everybody's angry, people are grumbling, and shopkeepers can be downright rude. Even queen is being nasty, and her guard is making snide PMS jokes. The rich woman is offering 2000 gold for gold bars. That's good, but she can afford more than that. The key items to get through the next dungeon require no fewer than five empty inventory slots, and there are still two more gold bars to be found inside you'll want to get. So sell stuff until you have seven empty slots in your inventory. The shield shop has replaced the crummy Wooden Shield in its middle slot with the Aqua Breaker, again for 450 gold, that (not surprisingly) blocks water attacks. The guy who sold you weapons previously refuses to do so now. Head to the next screen to the right, where you'll meet the swarthy-looking man you helped out back in Stream Sanctuary. He'll sell you weapons -- he's got the old Shah sword, the somewhat-better Fanta sword from before, and the Raster sword for 5500 gold. It's Strength +4, but can't do Magical Hits. The armor salesman is selling Force Armor for a staggering 9800 gold. You probably don't have much money after selling only one gold bar, but it wouldn't hurt to do some fundraising in the next area, then using the lamp to come back and pick up Force Armor to make things a little easier. On your way to the armor salesman, stop by the tower. With the tall Guardian of the Sea defeated, he's no longer blocking a doorway near the entrance. Go through that door to find the Solar Medallion. Oh, and remember the old fortune-teller lady in the house between the tower and the armor salesman? She asks if Asha, like the townspeople, is letting the darkness consume her heart. Say no and she'll give you about 2000 gold and five Life Drops. The tree in the castle Garden has borne fruit again. You know the dri-- whoah! Pepe's huge! At this size, Asha can barely hold him up. You can't move while holding on to Pepe anymore, but the size change is mandatory for the next area and more beneficial than you might think, so go ahead and feed the critter. Pray at the fountain in the square, save your game, and head back to the temple to open the Solar Door with your Solar Medallion. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huh. For the land beyond the Solar Gate, this place seems kind of... well, cold. You'd expect a sunny place, like a tropical beach or maybe a desert or something, but nope -- just tundra as far as they eye can see. Maybe Asha should have picked up something warmer than a sleeveless top and baggy pants before she left Rapandaga? As with Handera and Stream Sanctuary, there are several screens of enemies before you get to the next stage proper. Ice slimes are about what you'd expect -- just like the other slimes in behavior, but with attacks that are nulled by the Aqua Breaker shield. The hunched humanoids attack with swords a-flyin', but can be defeated with downthrusts onto their unprotected heads. Oh, and jump over the ice spikes. They hurt. Get Pepe's help for the big ones. Your goal is far to the left: the Ice Pyramid. There's one Life Drop on the way, hovering over a large patch of ice spikes. You can't miss it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ice Pyramid is a climbable series of slippery frozen ledges with a huge Sphinx statue in the top-left. Climb up to the platform above the Sphinx and drop down to grab a Life Drop floating above his forehead, then talk to the Sphinx. The Sun Spirit is trapped inside the Ice Pyramid, and speaks to you through the statue. He says if you don't rescue him before sunset, the sun will be gone forever! And that, of course, is bad. He also tells you the Ice Pyramid is split into three sections, and you'll have to clear each one separately. That, too, is bad. But he does open the door to the first section for you, it's to the right and down a few levels. ========================================================================== 4h) Ice Pyramid I You start in a room that goes either left or right. It doesn't really matter which direction you go first, but go right for now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This corridor has vipers that come out of their pots and hock chunks of jagged ice at Asha. They're not difficult to beat and Asha can block the ice with her shield, and they drop recovery hearts sometimes. Not bad... The end of the right passageway has a sign on the wall: The Adventurer's Code is ABCB. Once you have the code, go all the way to the left, past the area where you came in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The leftmost passage is the same as the one on the right: vipers, pots, and a message at the end. This one is smudged, though: all you get of this Adventurer's Code is "BAA..." If you've investigated the doors up to this point, you'll notice that they prompt you for a color-coded password. You've got two (well, one and three-quarters) passwords so far: the Red one "A-B-C-B" and the Blue "B-A-A"-something. Head back to the right and examine the first door you see. This door asks for the Red Adventurer's Code. The A, B, and C in the code refer to the buttons on the controller: press A, B, C, B and the door will open, allowing you passage. If you get any of the codes in this Pyramid wrong, Asha will get skewered by spears flying from the left and right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grab the Life Drop above the door and head right. The guards here will stab at you with swords. To beat them, charge! Run in, and when you get within range, swing your sword at them. Asha is fast enough that she can beat them to the draw. After you hit the guard, hold down to bring out your shield and block the retaliatory strike. The force of the guard's sword will send Asha slipping backwards, giving you ample room to dash in and hit him again. Exit the room to the right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This room has a large, gaping pit with money in it. But don't jump in yet! Use Pepe to glide across to the other side, then open the chest for a Dog statue. Then jump down the shaft and head right. The sign here says "Coming from the left!" After you read it, spears will come. From the left. Hold up your shield to block them, or just don't read the sign and the trap won't be triggered. Take the elevator up when you see it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the end of this corridor, there's a Life Drop above the door and a Heart Machine in the corner. Grab the Drop and use the machine if you need it, then go back the way you came; the door will take you back to the entrance of the Pyramid with the Red code. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drop down the shaft with the elevator in it and go right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grab the Life Drop above the door, then go through i-- Aw, nerts. It wants the Blue code, and you only have part of it. Give it what you know: B, A, A... and you'll just have to guess the last one. Since this is a walkthrough and the whole point is to help out with this kind of thing, I'll save you from a potentially pokey death and tell you the last letter is C. The Blue code is B, A, A, C. Go through the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's nothing to the right but another sign that warns you of a spear trap that isn't triggered if you don't read the sign. So go left, through more vipers. At the end of the hallway, there's a chest with a Goddess Statue inside. Head back out the way you came in, through the door that prompts for the Blue code again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go all the way left, through two other screens. At the far left side, there's another Life Drop above the door. The door itself prompts for the Blue code, so give it what it wants. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- To the left, another trap sign. So go right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you're low on health, beat up snakes until they drop some recovery hearts. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You're on the far side of the wall where you got the Goddess Statue. Grab the Life Drop from the top of the elevator shaft, then drop down it. You had to leap out of Pepe's grasp to grab the Life Drop, so take the elevator back up until you see an alcove to the left with a treasure chest in it. This has a Map of the Ice Pyramid in it. Nice! Glide down to an alcove on the right side of the shaft for a Tortoise Statue. Drop down to the bottom of the passage again and go right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The bottom of the Pyramid has bigger snakes in bigger pots. These take more hits to destroy and spit giant ice shards in threes: one high, one out, and one near the floor. These can still be blocked by the shield, though. The big snakes drop plenty of cash, about eighty gold each, so if you're struggling through the Pyramid, this is a good place to do some fundraising for stuff back in Rapandaga. These are also the first enemies I've found that drop healing herbs, which remain in your inventory and restore three hearts when used. They're kind of a mini-Elixir. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the far right side of this passage is another Adventurer's Code, written in white: CACCCA. The door here prompts for a Dark sequence, so head left back the way you came, past the elevator. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sign at the end of this passage is another trap, so just go through the door. It'll ask for the Light sequence, which you got a moment ago: CACCCA. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you look at your map, you'll see the room to your left isn't connected by a passage like the others. It's a semi-secret room, see? Just jump at the wall to your left and you'll pass right through it into the room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All that's here is a measly nine coins. Some secret! The sign says that all scavengers work alone, which doesn't tell you much. Grab all of the coins except one -- taking the last coin triggers another bout of spear traps that are nearly impossible to dodge. Or if you really want the coin, you can take the hit. Whatever. Head back out the way you came. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go right, past the door you initially came in. There's a guard here with a shield, preventing you from dashing in to hit him like the rest. And if you jump to downthrust onto them, they raise their shields to block that, too. The best strategy I've found here is the one that I developed years and years ago, playing Zelda II and the myriad Iron Knuckles therein. If you've played that game, you probably know the general idea already. Jump into the air and get as close to the guard as you can without bumping into him. Anticipating a high attack, he'll raise his shield high. Wait until Asha's just about to hit the ground and swing her sword -- if your timing is just right, you'll drop past the shield and strike at his unprotected belly. Then, like the human guards before, raise your shield to block the counterattack and repeat. These guys are also great for raising money, they're worth about 100 gold a pop. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go right, past the shaft above you. We'll get back to that in a minute. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You're in a room with alcoves in the back wall. There's nothing to do here for now, though, so keep going right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's a sign here that tells you that Dark is the opposite of Light. Ah, a clue! Go back to the Light door you used to come here a few screens back and go through it with the Light code. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go all the way to the right until you get to the door prompting for the Dark code. It's the opposite of the Light code, and the light code is CACCCA, so the Dark code is ACAAAC. Make sense? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like the room on the other side, there's a secret passage in the outside wall here. Go right and jump through the wall to access a better room than last time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jump up onto the ledge and talk to the chest. Yeah, that's right; talk to it! The chest introduces itself and asks which of its treasures you want. If you want an Elixir, say Yes at the first prompt. If you want six Life Drops, say No to the Elixir and then Yes at the second prompt. If you want a Golden Bar, say No to the Elixir, No to the Life Drops, and Yes at the third prompt. His last question is "Nothing?". Say No and he'll quit in frustration. Say Yes and he'll ask if you want to save. Personally, I go for the Life Drops. Elixirs are easy to come by and money can be taken from monsters, but there are only so many Life Drops in the game to be had. Once you've claimed your reward, go back out the way you came. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go left, past the Dark door. There are more shield guards here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take the elevator up, grabbing all the money you can. Exit to the left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Open the chest here for an Owl Statue. Yeah, really. The signs in this room give you two clues: "The Tortoise and Goddess are apart" and "The Owl is on the Dog's right side". Hmm. Go left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Glide, don't drop, down this shaft. There's a passage on the right you don't want to fall past. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's another clue here: "The Swallow is between the Goddess and the Owl". At the end of this passage is a chest with the Swallow Statue inside. Go back out to the shaft. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drop the rest of the way down the shaft and go right. You're back in the room with five alcoves. And you have five statues. And three clues hinting at where they go. Hey, it's puzzle-solving time! Don't you want to do this yourself? I gave you the clues and everything! Oh, fine. Okay, the Dog and the Owl are beside one another, right? And the Goddess, the Swallow, and the Owl are right beside one another with the Swallow in the middle. So that gives you the combination Dog, Owl, Swallow, and Goddess. That fills four slots, leaving only the Tortoise. But the Tortoise and Goddess are apart, leaving only the slot on the far left. So the combination is Tortoise, Dog, Owl, Swallow, Goddess. Sheesh. Go through the door that appears and fight the boss of this section of the Ice Pyramid. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Minotaur Ghost The Minotaur Ghost floats around, spitting chunks of ice in a spread and swinging at Asha with a huge axe. But he's a cinch, really. Go to the far left, face right, and wait, blocking any incoming ice chunks with your shield. The Minotaur will float right up to Asha, allowing her a free hit. The Minotaur will fall back; close the distance and hit him again. He'll fall back again, so hit him again, et cetera. Once you've chased him off the right side of the screen, return to your perch on the left and wait for him to come close again. Your reward is a full-recovery heart and the ability to leave the first section of the Pyramid. One down, two to go! ========================================================================== 4i) Ice Pyramid II Once you've left, talk to the Sphinx again and he'll open the next door for you. If you want, you can fly back to Rapandaga to spend some of the money you've earned on new gear if you need it. When you come back, the second door will still be open. If you had a tough time with the first section of the Pyramid, go on back and buy the armor or weapons you missed; it only gets tougher from here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You drop into the second part of the Ice Pyramid. You've still got your map, and it's been updated to show this part of the Pyramid. Thank heaven for small favors. Go left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The man here will tell you that Pepe can find secret doors. Throw Pepe around as you search and he'll eventually find a door on in the rightmost room. If Pepe stops and looks puzzled, stand beneath him and press up to go through the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's a long way down! Search for another secret door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- To your left is a chest with a Golden Bar inside. Go right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- To your right is another chest, but be careful! The floor right in front of it is illusory and you'll drop right through it. Use Pepe to glide over to the chest from a safe distance, just to be sure, and you'll get a Dog Statue. Yeah, again. Take a few steps to the left and drop through that false floor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's a Heart Machine off to the right if you need it. Four or five blocks to the left of the Heart Machine is a secret door; go through that instead of heading left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's a shield guard in here. Exit's to your left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The exit door is too high to reach from the floor. Off to the left, a strange object blows blue smoke into the room. Touch it, and it hurts. You might be thinking, "Hey, I used to throw Pepe into streams of lava, bounce fireballs off his head, and stuff him into geysers. Isn't there any way I can abuse him in this level, too?" Well, now's your chance. When Pepe touches the blue smoke, whether you carry him into it or he just happens to touch it, he freezes into a solid block of ice. Push him to the right, position him below the door, and stand on him to reach said door. Don't worry about him, he'll be fine like always. If you misposition your block, call Pepe and he'll thaw out, giving you another chance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The chest to your right has a bit of money in it. Which is better than having a Bit-O-Honey in it, those things are gross. To your left is a yellow batlike creature. When you approach, it flies around in a tizzy and drops a chunk of ice that rolls across the floor. The ice can be blocked with the shield. Dodge the ice it drops and stand below where it was roosting on the ceiling. As it returns to its perch, upthrust it until it dies. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huh. Another elevator shaft. Take it all the way to the top, grab the Life Drop hovering overhead, and exit to the right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Goddess Statue is at the end of this corridor, behind a platoon of ice slimes. Grab it and start heading back to the left, using Pepe to search for secret doors. When he finds one, go through it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go left, searching for secret doors until you find one to go through. If you need to go back to the beginning of the level (for instance, if you missed the Dog Statue), you can take the elevator up and go through the door there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's a chest to your right. It's got some money and a Life Drop inside. To the left is another secret door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Downthrust as you fall down this shaft, and you'll catch the last version of the Ice Pyramid guards by surprise with a shamshir through the cranium. These tall, jackal-headed guards are better with the shield than their bird-brained cousins, making them extremely difficult to hit unless they're hitting you, too. Mix up your attacks as best you can; I haven't found a foolproof strategy for beating these. Search for secret doors when you're done. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Tortoise Statue is to the right, guarded by a bat. Once you've procured it, go left and look for a secret door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Behind two shield guards, a chest holds a stash of money. There's another secret door here to take. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ah, the elevator shaft again. This time, drop to the bottom and go all the way right. A jackal-headed guard keeps the Swallow Statue back here. The two clues are "Sacred Gates Open Dark Tides" and "The Statues' names hold a clue". Hmm. Go back to the elevator room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hop on the elevator and take the second passageway on the left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kill the slimes and keep going left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kill the bat and keep going left. What looks like a dead end is an illusory floor; drop through that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- To the left, behind a shield guard, is the Owl Statue. Go right and drop through the illusory floor here, too. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The chest to the left has money and three Life Drops. To your right is a jackal-headed guard. Keep going right once you beat him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You're in another puzzle room! There are only the two clues; do you know the solution? Okay. "Sacred Gates Open Dark Tides". And then your statues are called Swallow Goddess Owl Dog Tortoise. See how the first letters of each word are the same? There's your answer. That must have been a real pain to translate from the original Japanese. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Save your game and go through the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You've got a Pepe-freezing puzzle on your hands -- Pepe freezes at the top of the room, and you've got to figure out how to get the block to the bottom of the room correctly to reach the door there. Before you start, snag some cash from the chest in the upper left. Freeze Pepe. Push him to the left, then the right, then the left, then the left, then the right. Go through the door to fight the Horse Ghost. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Horse Ghost Without an easily-exploitable pattern, the Horse Ghost is pretty tough. He swings a morningstar in a circle when idle and throws it straight at Asha when he attacks. The timing is tricky here. Your best bet is to jump in and attack when he draws back to throw the morningstar. Failing that, try to jump the spiked ball and hit him then. Unlike the Minotaur Ghost, you don't want to let him corner you on the left side -- he'll pound you silly. Once you win, you get another Large Recovery heart and the passage back to the outside of the Pyramid opens. ========================================================================== 4j) Ice Pyramid III Talk to the Sphinx again. He tells you he's the Frozen Sphinx of Monster World -- uh oh! You're not talking to the Sun Spirit anymore! The Sphinx, in the tradition of Sphinxes everywhere, wants to ask you some questions. You have to get ten yes/no questions in a row correct to proceed. If you fail, he drops you onto some spikes (once you know you got a question wrong, hold right. When he drops you, you can avoid taking the hit). If you run out of time, he stops asking questions but doesn't drop you. Unfortunately, the questions he selects are random! If you're playing this game in Japanese, you'll have a hard time figuring out what he's asking in the two seconds or so you're given. If you can't manage that way, abuse your emulator's Save State and use trial-and-error to get through. Does the Recording Sage carry a cane? Yes Is the sun larger than the moon? Yes Are there curtains in the Genie's lamp? Yes Is the Pepe Tree fruit red? Yes Do the Imperial Soldiers carry swords? Yes If you return to your mother, can you get more Elixirs? Yes If clouds melt, does water form? Yes Is this Pyramid too big? Yes Was Pepe's egg blue? No (It was orange with spots) Is your father named Bigge? No (It's Higge) Is Koitsu cooler than Demi? No (These are the armor salesmen's kids) Does the Genie like his job? No (He gripes when you use the Lamp) Was Asha's Sword given to you by your mother? No (You start with it) Does the Queen like Horo Salad? No (Someone in the castle tells you this) Does the sun rise in the west? No (Basic astronomy) Are there three save slots? No (Just two, hombre) Looking down from above a pyramid, can one see all three corners? No (Uh...) The following questions may be yes or no, depending on your inventory: Right now, are you carrying an Elixir? Do you have a Golden Bar right now? Do you own a Golem Shield? That last one's particularly odd. I was carrying an Aqua Breaker shield, answered "No", and got kicked out anyway. Maybe he's asking if you've ever carried a Golem Shield, or maybe the answer is always "Yes" regardless. Pass the quiz and the Sphinx will open the door to Ice Pyramid III. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The third section of the Ice Pyramid has floors that are even slipperier than the ones Asha's been sliding across so far. If Asha goes onto one foot and skates across a given area, it's too slippery to be agile. Try to jump off of those floors and Asha will fall, sliding helplessly across the icy patch until she reaches the end. If Asha falls, call Pepe to help her stand up. Start out by going right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cross the icy patches of floor and slice your way through the enemies here. Pass the two doors, jump over the spinning blade in the floor and go all the way right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grab the Owl Statue, then head back out the way you came in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head left until you see a door. You're on slippery ground, so you'll have problems trying to go through it. Call Pepe to stop Asha from sliding, and if you time it right, Asha will be standing in front of the door when she lets Pepe go. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go all the way left -- watch out for spinning blades on slippery floors -- and open the chest for some money and three Life Drops. Go right and drop to the next level. Don't step onto the slippery floor yet; there's a spinning blade coming your way, and if you're sliding around, you can't jump over it. Wait until it stops moving before you jump over it onto the slippery patch, then slide your way to safety. Well, relative safety. There's a bird-headed guard on this patch of floor, and again, jumping is a no-no. It's frustrating, but you'll have to slide back and forth and slice at him when you can -- if he blocks your sword, or if you block his, you're sent sprawling. WheSpn you drop onto this level from the one above, open the chest for the Tortoise Statue. Go left, avoid the blade, then drop down once more. Lure the guard to the left here so that you don't jump into the blade above when you beat him, and you're done with this room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go all the way to the left, past all the spinning blades, slippery floors, and doors. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take the elevator up, and grab the coins and heart at the top. Exit to the right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You're back at the beginning now. Go right again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use Pepe to stop at the first door and go inside. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go left and throw Pepe at the blocks of ice barring your path. He'll melt them, allowing you to drop down one level. Go right, jump the blade, melt the ice. As before, wait until the blade comes to you before crossing the icy patch. Melt the ice and drop down. There's not enough room to jump over the blade on this level. Once it moves away, slide after it. Thankfully, there's a bit of normal floor you can use to leap over it when you get to the end of the slick spot. Jump the blade and open the chest to claim the Dog Statue. Go back to the left, over the blade, melt the ice, and drop. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You're on the same level you were on when you exited the room with the Tortoise Statue. Go all the way to the right this time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ellelator go down the hole. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Beat the two human guards and go into the first door you slide by. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go left and grab Pepe before jumping down. There are blades set into the walls of this shaft, and we wouldn't want you getting cut up as you fell! It's possible to weave your way through without Pepe, but that's just crazy. Go right, take the elevator up, then go left and around to the chest to claim the Swallow Statue. Drop down and melt the ice. Beat the shield guard and go right for a Life Drop. Then go left across the slippery floor and bounce of the shield guard there. It's possible, if you retreat slowly enough, to lure that guard back onto solid ground, making his defeat a much easier prospect. Once he's out of your way, go back down that slippery passage. At the bottom, walk past the exit door and keep going right. Jump over the fast-moving blade coming your way and open the chest in the corner for money and a recovery heart. Then double back and go through the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go all the way to the left, past the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's a Heart Machine by the elevator here, and a Life Drop at the top of the elevator shaft. Your goal is to the right of the Life Drop. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go in the first door you see. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wait until the blade starts moving before you try to jump it; there's not enough room to clear it unless it's coming towards you. Work your way to the bottom of the room, through guards and gears. In the bottom-left corner is an elevator. Take it, then use Pepe to glide over to the slippery corridor to your right. Defeat the dog-headed guard there and open the chest for a Goddess Statue. Drop back down to the lowest level and head right to find the exit door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go all the way right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You've got the statues, but you don't know where they go. Go right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grab the recovery heart, money, and Life Drop. The signs tell you that the statues in this room give you clues to the statues' positions, but one is lying. The first says: The Dog is furthest to the right, the Goddess is second from the left. The second says: The Swallow is the leftmost, the Tortoise is second from the left. The third says: The Tortoise goes in the middle. The Owl is on the left. Only one statue manages to contradict both others: the middle one. Follow the clues from the left and right statues to get the order: Owl, Goddess, Tortoise, Swallow, Dog. Go through the door that appears once you've got all the statues in place. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Keeper of the Tundra Hey, I recognize y-- oh, you know. This guy's the Keeper of the Tundra, and he's your endlevel boss this evening. But like the other bosses before him, he's a cinch. He doesn't even have a second form! The ice golem he transforms into will march toward you and swing his arms now and then. Just jump and hit him in the chest to simultaneously throw him off his charge and dodge any high attacks he throws. If he attacks low, you're probably already sliding away from him from the impact. Dodging his attacks is nearly automatic, so it's just a matter of time before you get your reward, the Sun Spirit. The Sun Spirit tells you that the Queen will know how to stop the darkness from spreading over Monster World. But wait, the Queen herself is turning evil? Something must be done immediately! The Genie takes you back to Rapandaga. ========================================================================== 4k) Pre-Aegis Island Heal up at the fountain and head into town. The rich woman is upstairs in the back of her house, instead of on the ground floor where you found her previously. She won't name a price for the gold bars, but she'll give you 9999 gold for them if you say yes to her. Now's the time to sell all of them off! Sadly, she's standing where the chest in her house used to be, so you can't take it from her and immediately pawn it back. Oh well. The Shield Saleslady has all-new stock. The Pricey Shield for 6600 gold has Defense +2 and will null hits that don't carry an elemental property -- that means normal hits, but not fire, ice, or electrical. The Rainbow Shield, for 2700 gold, has +1 Defense and will null fire, ice, or electrical attacks. The Magical Shield, for 4000 gold, is Defense +2 and will null fire, ice, and electricity. This woman seems to be one of only two or three people in Rapandaga who isn't turning eeevil. The sword-selling man you rescued in Stream Sanctuary has only the Fanta Sword and a Raster Blade, the same as before you left for the Ice Pyramid. The armorsmith at the far right side of town now sells Legendary Armor, giving you fifteen life hearts. This is the best armor in the game, so if you buy only one thing while you're in Rapandaga, make it this! The Legendary Armor carries a hefty price tag of 24500 gold, but you probably just made that much by selling your gold bars. Go to the fortune teller's house, the rightmost building in Rapandaga town. She'll scream for help, and then her yellow Pepelogoo will... transform?! Yeah, it turns out that all the Pepelogoos are actually evil critters in disguise, and now they're shedding their disguises all over town and tormenting people left and right! ...oh, come on. The Infernal Warlock was giving these things away, remember? And they're not so much tormenting people as just hovering around. Most people don't even seem to notice. Once you're done shopping, go back to the Square to heal up and save. There's a man in white robes walking around in the Square, he's an emissary from Aegis, the city in the sky. The Queen also took his Blast Medallion and won't give it back, damn her blackened heart. Well, you know where to go now, right? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now instead of walking around and spouting useless clues, the guards in the castle will attack you! They move close and swing their swords in a flurry, but when they do so, they become extremely vulnerable to downthrusts. Get a hang of their timing and they're no problem. Go through the door in the first room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drop down, then go through the door on your right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go up the stairs and to the right, through the door you find on the next screen. In the training room, you'll find a chest with nine Life Drops. Score! Go back to the second hallway where you went down the stairs. This time, climb up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go through the door to the Queen's chamber. You'll pass the Warlock of the Heavens on the way, who starts his battle speech but realizes at the last minute it's not time to attack you yet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Killer Queen The Queen says she doesn't know nuthin' about no Medallion. Then her Pepelogoo sprouts a giant missile launcher and fires! Pepe valiantly knocks Asha out of the way and takes the hit himself, leaving Asha crying over his corpse. Yeah, I know. You threw him into lava, froze him solid, and generally abused him the entire time you've known him. You'd think he'd shrug off a little explosion like that, but this is a cutscene wound outside of normal gameplay, like Aeris getting stabbed. There's nothing you can do about it. The Queen sneers at your loss, then attacks! For being a monarch, the Queen is pretty darn tough. She throws fans at you, of all things, and they hurt! Your goal is not to beat the Queen, but force her into retreat. If you hit the Queen, she'll teleport away, but the hit still counts -- as far as I can tell, she doesn't have a set HP, but will retreat after she and her Pepelogoo take about twenty hits combined. The Queen will walk around and throw fans at you most of the time. Her Pepelogoo hovers nearby, occasionally flying to the top of the screen for a diving attack. When the Pepelogoo dives, upthrust it for an easy hit. Sometimes the Queen grabs onto her Pepelogoo and flies around, dropping fans. Keep your shield up to block them until she comes down again; you can't hit her from the floor. Once you defeat the Queen, she escapes, leaving Asha to sob over the corpse of her big blue friend. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in Rapandaga Square, Pepe's egg has been placed on the fountain as a memorial. The Recording Sage offers his condolances, and the Aegis Emissary gives you the Blast Mediallion he stole back while you kept the Queen busy. As you can imagine, you can't use Pepe in the next dungeon. Pressing A to call him does nothing, he can't be used to float over obstacles, and there aren't any switches or traps he'll handle for you. Take your Blast Medallion to the temple and go through the last door there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As usual, you have a short section to go through before you reach the dungeon proper. Defeat the cloud spirits you see and avoid the lightning they drop; it splits into two sparks that travel along the ground when it touches down. One cloud spirit leaves a chest with a Magic Carpet inside upon his defeat. Go all the way to the right and use the Carpet at the end of the cloud bank. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's plenty of free money and three Life Drops in the clouds before a bunch of flying snakes attack. The snakes are guaranteed to knock Asha off the carpet if they hit her, so stay on your toes and slash them if they get too close. Downthrusting is not advised; Asha bounces too far on a successful hit and will surely fall. At the end of the Magic Carpet section, you enter Aegis Island. ========================================================================== 4l) Aegis Island Start by running left. There's a hidden spring in the floor that will vault Asha into a group of floating coins -- keep your eye out for more springs like this throughout the stage. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hop onto the green button to raise the spiked gate. Just past is a skeleton fencer. Asha's shield will NOT block his rapier attacks, so keep your distance, jump in, bounce off his cranium, and keep your distance until he stabs again. Go right, beat another skeleton, and go to the next screen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Duck into the alcove in the floor with a coin in it. A box full of gears and springs will squeeze down the hallway shortly thereafter -- if you're ever in the path of one of these, it will crush Asha, meaning you'll lose a heart and be sent back to the beginning of the room. Let this one pass, then run down the hallway where it came from and duck into the next alcove before the next one comes. Climb halfway up the chain at the end of the corridor and let a block go overhead. Grab the coin to your left, then dash down the hallway before the next block comes. Past the skeleton guard, a spring will shoot Asha up to the next level. Wait until a block drops in front of you, then jump onto it to reach the next corridor. Open the chest for a Golden Bar, then press the button and run to the left as fast as you can. Jump over the gap where the spring sent Asha up here the first time and get through the spiked gate before it closes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Duck into the alcove and wait for TWO blocks to pass by -- there isn't enough room to get to the next safe spot between them. Climb the chain into the next alcove and wait for two more blocks to go by. Drop into the last alcove and let another block pass, then run for the exit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jump over the spinning spikes. The next bed of spikes is too large to cross, so drop down the shaft to your left. There's a spring at the bottom that will shoot Asha up into another spring in the wall that will send her hurtling to the right, picking up a Life Drop on the way. Another spring gets Asha over the wall. Beat the skeleton to open the spiked gate, then go through it, drop down, and go right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are electrical slimes and another gate. No new challenges here! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The floor in the center of the room hides a spring that sends Asha up to a chain. Grab the chain and climb it, then jump off to the right. A spring will fire Asha over to the far side of the room, where a normal jump wouldn't reach. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jump on the moving block to reach the first chain, then use the next several blocks to cross from chain to chain and into the next hallway. A group of electrical slimes guard a chest holding three Life Drops. Once you have them, go back to the previous room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drop to the floor, and go right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Step on the spring and press against the right wall to reach the top. There's a Recording Sage at the bottom of the next shaft. Save your game and climb the chain to exit to the left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go left, bounce up, go left, bounce up, go right. Jump on top of the green block and balance on it. Ride it up the rightmost wall and jump off, then jump the gap and exit to the left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ride the green block, grabbing coins and the recovery heart. Ride it across the bottom floor and jump to the green button, but don't press it yet. Wait until you see the next green block before you hit the button, or you won't have enough time to dash left through the gate without getting squashed. Use the springs to get to the top, then avoid the green blocks as you drop to the exit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This room is a doozy -- floating, moving conveyors will get you over the spikes, but you've got to keep from sliding off of them! Near the top, there's a button in the middle of the screen and one off to the right; you've got to press the middle button, ride the conveyor to the right, press that button, then ride the conveyor left before the first button resets to reach the exit. It's tricky! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drop down to the floor below. The giant coins here will spin at Asha as long as she's on the same level as them, and they're invincible while they spin. Jump, or hang from the chain, to get them to stop so you can slash them. In the right corner is a Heart Machine, in the left corner is a button. Press the button, then run as fast as you can to the right, back to the chain. Grab the chain and hammer up to climb as fast as you can to get to the top before the gate closes. Slide down the next chain to fight two more giant coins and claim a chest with four Life Drops inside. There's a gate that automatically opens and closes in this hallway, and past it, another button. As before, you've got to press the button and run like hell back to the top passageway before the gate it opened slams shut again. Good luck with that, it's tough. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The tiny conveyors here wrap around the hanging ceiling. There's a spring after the fifth conveyor; use it to reach a Life Drop in the air before moving on. A pit near the end of the room has two giant coins in it, downthrust them to continue. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dodge through the gates at the beginning of this room. There's a giant moneybag to fight halfway through the corridor. It spouts fire from the top that flies at Asha in an arc. When defeated, it drops more money than anything else in the game you've fought so far. Nice! There are four gates that slam at the same time near the end, so proceed with caution until you know where they are. Once they're opened, run for it! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Climb the conveyors. When you get to the longer one, go down the hallway to your left for a Golden Bar, or ride it to the right to find a Recording Sage. Then go back to your climb until you reach the top. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The people here are too small to hear when they talk. Weird. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The rats here often drop recovery hearts when slain, but don't make any effort to heal up yet. Go through the door on the right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whoah! The room hasn't changed, but Asha has! Having shrunk to less than half her size, those tiny rats are huge beasts now! Fortunately, the treasure they drop is the same size it was when Asha was big, meaning now they drop large coins and full-recovery hearts. Go back to the room with the little people in it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talk to the guy in the middle. Turns out there's a beast down below giving them trouble, and you've gotta take care of it. Business as usual. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Giant Slime The giant slime here releases small electric slimes, and as the guy up there said, can't be harmed by weapons. Just kill the little slimes for a while. Eventually, the pink slime will leap backwards and lash out with his tongue. That means you're making progress, believe it or not. Keep killing electrical slimes and dodging the giant slime's tongue until he leaps back far enough to reveal a door. Go through the door to resume Asha's normal size... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Not Quite Giant But Still Larger Than Usual Slime ...and really get this miniboss battle underway. Once you recognize his attack pattern, the big slime is easy to beat: he sticks his tongue out after he jumps and after Asha hits him. So slash, retreat, jump in, repeat. Kill or avoid any electric slimes he releases; they're not important anymore. Your reward is a large recovery heart, a chest full of money, and a secret passage off to the right. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take the Golden Bar from the chest, then keep going right through another secret passage. Open that chest for a healing Herb, then the next chest for five Life Drops, then the NEXT chest for an Elixir. What a haul! Go back out the way you came in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in the slime battle arena, exit to the left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Open the gate and ride the conveyors again. Save your game with the Sage if you like. Exit to the top left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use the Heart Machine if you need it, then use the conveyors to cross all those spinning spikes. There are two Life Drops that indicate the presence of springs that will vault Asha through the room. Don't try jumping to the last patch of solid ground on the right -- jump to the wall on the left and hit a spring there instead. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go right as soon as the fan's gusts die down and climb the chain. Go left, drop down, kill the slimes, loop around to the right, and climb the chain. There's a red ogre to the right. Let him club his way over to the left, where Asha can stand on the raised platform and slash at him from safety. When the ogre dies, the gate to the left opens. Navigate the fans leftward to reach the exit. Below the exit is a chest with a healing Herb inside if that kind of thing appeals to you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Run left and climb the chain. Jump to the next chain, then the next -- make sure you have enough room above Asha's head that she can make the jump. Climb the chain on the far right side of the room, push the button, then drop down to go left through the gate that opened. After you beat the red ogre, navigate some more swiftly-moving conveyors and a fan to climb the chain to the exit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More conveyor fun. Don't miss the Life Drop and mind the spiked gate. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't miss the Life Drops on your way down. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOSS: Warlock of the Heavens The Warlock of the Heavens has a simple attack pattern that can be tough to avoid nonetheless. Fortunately, Asha should have the fortitude of a cute little Sherman tank by now, so you can probably outlast him. Step 1) The Warlock will shoot a lightning bolt from one hand. The only spot onscreen he can't hit is right beneath his own nose, so stand directly under him to avoid the shot. Step 2) Another hand-bolt, as above. Step 3) The Warlock fires bolts from both hands that sweep the ground back and forth. Thankfully, they still don't reach his own center of mass, leaving Asha safe. Step 4) The Warlock balls up a hand into a swirling fist and hits Asha with it. These can go anywhere onscreen, so keep on movin' to avoid them. Step 5) Another tornado punch Step 6) A third tornado punch Then repeat. While the Warlock shoots lightning, stand underneath his head and upthrust him -- he's invincible while he launches his own attacks, but you'll get him eventually. When it's punching-time, keep moving to avoid his attacks and get back into position before the next bolt of lightning comes. The Warlock moves and attacks faster as you damage him, but doesn't have a second form. When you win, you free the Sky Spirit, who tells you to report to the Queen for another ass-whooping. Should've left her in the chest if you ask me. ========================================================================== 4m) Showdown Back in Rapandaga, the citizens of Aegis (all eight of 'em) thank you for what you've done. And doesn't Pepe's egg on the fountain look... uh, bigger? The rich lady will buy the Golden Bars for 5000 gold a pop from here until the end of the game. Whether you buy anything from her or not, the lady who sells shields will give you 1000 gold. The sword-selling adventurer now sells a Babel Sword. It's only Strength +1, but it almost always does a Magical Hit. It's only 1600 gold, but I'd give that a miss. The man who sells armor is gone. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go back to the castle, to the Queen's chamber, like the Sky Spirit told you to. There's a Guard outside her door who will try to talk you out of going inside -- say No to his question (Do you want revenge?) to be granted access. You'll battle the Queen again, and this time she's ridiculously powerful. Those fans do a whopping five hearts of damage each! Fight your best, but don't bother using any herbs or Elixir. When you get down to