Darkstar Ripclaw Presents... _ _ ____ _ / \ ___| |_| _ \ __ _(_)___ ___ _ __ / _ \ / __| __| |_) / _` | / __|/ _ \ '__| / ___ \ (__| |_| _ < (_| | \__ \ __/ | /_/ \_\___|\__|_| \_\__,_|_|___/\___|_| To look for the section that you want, press CTRL + F and input into the search box the subsection that you want (aka. Fillmore Offerings or Northwall Act 1, but not Basics or Walkthrough). 1. Basics a. Platforming -Platforming Controls -Platforming Magic -Platforming Items b. Simulation -Simulation Controls -Simulation Magic -Simulation Items c. Forcing Civilization Improvements d. Building in Fillmore and Bloodpool 2. Offerings -Fillmore Offerings -Bloodpool Offerings -Kasandora Offerings -Aitos Offerings -Marahna Offerings -Northwall Offerings 3. Walkthrough a. Fillmore -Fillmore Act 1 -Fillmore Simulation -Fillmore Act 2 -Fillmore Sim Aftermath b. Bloodpool -Bloodpool Act 1 -Bloodpool Simulation -Bloodpool Act 2 -Bloodpool Sim Aftermath c. Kasandora -Kasandora Act 1 -Kasandora Simulation -Kasandora Act 2 -Kasandora Sim Aftermath d. Aitos -Aitos Act 1 -Aitos Simulation -Aitos Act 2 -Aitos Sim Aftermath e. Marahna -Marahna Act 1 -Marahna Simulation -Maraha Act 2 -Marahna Sim Aftermath f. Northwall -Northwall Act 1 -Northwall Simulation -Northwall Act 2 -Northwall Sim Aftermath h. Death Heim 4. Professional Mode ------------ INTRODUCTION ------------ Back when I was little, I wandered into a pawn shop in Small-Town, Canada. It was here that I first encountered a copy of Actraiser. The logo plastered over the box was more than enough to draw me in; the obligatory information on the back sealed the deal for me, and I forked over the 20$. What a steal, as it turned out to be one of the more uniquely fun games that I have encountered in my lifetime. With only the lightest of censorships to cover up your identity as the God, I was immediately thrown into a bout of action, with beautiful and fluid motions. However, the game truly did not click with me until I got to the simulation mode of the game; in this, you give directions to the lands that you look over, and they build as ordered. Eventually, the faithful people will give you spells, extra lives and magical power that you can use to kick butt in the action mode. With that said, I was somewhat surprised to not find a fully comprehensive guide for this, so I decided to write out this project (done in two days for the most part) as a tribute to those old-school gamers whom still remain (my fourth project, as it were, even though I had only planned to do one guide ever in Chaos World...which then slowly turned to Warlocked, then Radiata Stories, and now this). I fully believe that this should be able to help you, the reader, out with basically anything you need help with, with complete platforming walkthrough, boss strategies and tips, and simulation information. As much, thank you for using this. ~Darkstar Ripclaw ------ BASICS ------ -------------------- PLATFORMING CONTROLS -------------------- Y - Swipe your sword when standing, jumping, or crouching X, A - Use Magic B - Jump Down - Crouch R, L - Do nothing Start - Pause Select - Does nothing When jumping, you can go either left or right without changing directions, but once you are moving in one direction, you CANNOT go the other way (you can, however, stop going left or right and instead just freefall downwards). Furthermore, when you land from a jump, you'll go into a crouch position for a half second, which may or may not screw your sword attack up. ----------------- PLATFORMING MAGIC ----------------- Magical Fire - Probably the most basic of the four magics, three fireballs will spit out from both sides of God's avatar, streaking across the screen and blazing through any enemies until they finally go offscreen. Magical Stardust - God's avatar will call down a slew of shooting stars from the sky, which will start at the upper-right corner of the screen and fall down diagonally to the bottom-left. As such, it's a lot easier to harm an opponent when he's on the right side of the screen, because it is a lot more difficult for him to dodge an attack. Magical Aura - Four orbs of protective energy will emerge from the avatar, two on either side. Each pair will then intermingle with each other, drawing close to each other, then retracting away, and drawing close together again up until they make their way offscreen. Any enemy that comes into contact with this energy will be destroyed. Magical Light - A bar of light will shine down on the avatar, and it will then split into two halves, each half going down to one end of the screen. The halves, on their way off-screen, will destroy anything on screen. The four Magics are obtained by fulfilling certain conditions for the townsfolks, and in the order they are listed here, they are gotten from, respectiely, Fillmore, Bloodpool, Marahna, and Northwall. While casting a spell, God's avatar is invincible. ----------------- PLATFORMING ITEMS ----------------- While going through the stages, you will find blue statues of angels holding orbs, ala the Angel Orbs. These Angel Orbs are the exclusive holders of items that may help your out on your trek throughout the Act. Without further ado... Apple - Completely heals all your bars of life. Bomb - All the enemies onscreen (but not in the general area; just enemies that you can see) will be killed. Doesn't work on enemies that teleport and are in their invisible stage. Crown - Adds 1000 points to your current score. Diamond - Adds 500 points to your current score. Flame Sword - This rare item is only found in Aitos Act 1, and with it (for your current life only), you will be able to slash with your sword, and it will send waves of energy down the screen. Half Apple - Restores one quarter of your TOTAL HP to your life bar. Source of Life - Gives you one more life to use if you die. Source of Magic - Gives you another use of Magic during the current Act, and sticks with you even after you die, up until you finish or otherwise exit the current act. ------------------- SIMULATION CONTROLS ------------------- Up, Down, Left, Right - Move around Y - Shoot arrows, cancel, get out of menus A, X, L, R - Do nothing Select - Does nothing Start - Pause screen while not on menu B - Open up menu, scroll through text, confirm choices MENU CONTROLS ------------- To Move -> Return to Sky Palace - Sends you back up to the palace to talk with God. -> Sky Palace Movement - Move around the world map. Direct the People -> Building Direction - Lets you choose where you want the direction of the roads to start building in. -> Let us Listen - Allows you to listen to the peoples' current concerns Miracles - Lets you cast a variety of magical spells. Offerings -> Take Offering - Take one of the Offerings the people of the current town have found/made and are offering you -> Use Offering - Allows you to use one of your items on the town Status -> Status of Masters - Shows your current stats, collected platforming magic and items. -> Status of Cities - Shows the population of each city and how many Offerings they currently have for you. Other -> Progress Log - Allows you to save your game. -> Message Speed - Allows you to toggle the speed text comes up onscreen ---------------- SIMULATION MAGIC ---------------- Lightning - God will call down a bolt of lightning that can destroy all non-permanent structures and forests. If a monster is on the panel that the magic has been called onto, it may also harm or kill said monster. 10 SP Rain - God will cast down a shower of rain which can be used to water down any desert terrain. 20 SP Sunlight - God will increase the amount of sunlight to an area, which will either evaporate wet marshlands, or else completely melt snow. 30 SP Wind - God will create a large breeze, which will blow all monsters in the area (not just onscreen) away for good. 80 SP Earthquake - God will make the Earth shake, destroying any fragile properties, such as lower-level civilization houses or non-wheat farms. 160 SP Each of these Magical powers are available from the get-go in your first simulation mode, but you will not necessarily have the power to actually cast them. In addition to the effects listed above, they also have several miscellaneous effects, which I will list and describe when the time to use them is correct. ---------------- SIMULATION ITEMS ---------------- Bombs - All monsters that are within your line of sight (onscreen, but not all in the general area) will automatically be destroyed. Source of Magic - This will add one use to the amount of times you can use magic during an Act. Source of Life - This will add one life to the amount of lives you have during an act. Strength of Angel - Multiplies the power of the Angel's arrows by four times for a limited period of time. Wheat - Turns a designated corn field into a wheat field. For the more obscure one-time use items... Ancient Tablet - Use in Marahna to obtain the Magical Aura. Bridge - Use in Bloodpool to teach the citizenry there how to build bridges. Compass - Use this in Bloodpool to get a Source of Life, OR use in Marahna to get the Magical Aura (the latter, however, can be done by use of the Ancient Tablet, so use it for the former). Harmonious Music - Cures the people of Bloodpool from their negative moods. Herb - Allows the people of Kasandora to recover from the plague. Loaf of Bread - Feed to Teddy in Bloodpool to get him to come home and obtain the Magic Skull. Magic Skull - Used to destroy the Red Demon Monster Lair in Bloodpool. Sheep's Fleece - Warms up the people of Northwall. --------------------------------- FORCING CIVILIZATION IMPROVEMENTS --------------------------------- For all you folks whom desire absolute perfection in the game, this is the section for you. Although your population statistics in-game might say "Maximum", in many cases, you can stretch it a bit farther and get a few more civilians out of it. Much of this information is reproduced from Admiral's Maximum Population Guide, which goes further in-depth than this section. For his full file, go here; http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/563502/47431 •Get as high a score as you can in the Act 1 and Act 2 of each level. This DOES affect your total possible population. Without getting into the technical, every 50 points you score in Act 1 and 2 will add another possible civilian that can join your city. This also means you must continue to overlook your city after Act 2. The cumulative score of Act 1 and 2 that must be scored for each level for the maximum population is; Fillmore - 20600 Bloodpool - 27100 Kasandora - 21100 Aitos - 22800 Marahna - 16300 Northwall - 23400 •Do NOT, DO NOT build any more bridges than IS NECESSARY. Each extra bridge takes up the space for another whole house, and the extras CANNOT be destroyed. However, this only qualifies in Fillmore and Bloodpool; this is because each region can only have 128 buildings max. Fillmore can be maximized with one bridge, and Bloodpool with three. It does not matter in Northwall and Marahna, because your total buildings will not match 128 anyways. In Fillmore and Bloodpool, take extra care to make sure that your roads are built parallel to the rivers, or else a bridge will be built automatically once construction occurs on the other side. For a map and instructions to avoid building more than necessary, see the section below aptly named "Building in Fillmore and Bloodpool" •Zap the lower-grade houses as soon as better options become available. When you finally have enough SP to be able to utilize Earthquake, use that instead to affect the whole map. The houses that are unable to withstand an Earthquake will be destroyed, and better (and higher-population) houses will be built in their place (The exceptions to this rule are the Desert Tents of Kasandora and Island Huts of Marahna, which house 8 people each, but are not Earthquake-proof. Nevertheless, use Earthquake anyways, as they can be replaced with better buildings). •Never, ever, ever, EVER leave a crop field as is. ALWAYS plant Wheat in it. Wheat will give you more food per field, which allows more people to live in each town, and thus max out the ratio of fields to civilians. You can get an infinite supply of Wheat from Bloodpool, so do not hesitate to use it. This does NOT need to be done in Fillmore or Northwall, but it is required in Kasandora and Marahna. •Except for going across rivers, build everywhere. Every bit of land is vital for obtaining the max population. Some areas have tricky spots that you might not realize is buildable land. You still need to build a road there. •In Fillmore, Aitos, and Northwall, there is a phenomenon called "phantom construction". What this basically means is that the town develops (slightly) when you leave the area. There are three houses in Aitos, one on each of the inhabitable squares at the bottom, one house in Fillmore two squares left and one square north of the temple, and a house in Northwall in the southwest corner. The reason this even occurs is because, oddly enough, townspeople simply can't go through other objects when trying to build something. As such, you have to go into another town for them to be able to build. While you are in another town, you have to wait for the hourglass to empty and fill itself thrice for a building to undergo phantom construction. ---------------------------------- BUILDING IN FILLMORE AND BLOODPOOL ---------------------------------- This whole section is reproduced entirely from Admiral's Maximum Population Guide. Only edits done are indentations. Within each square, structures will always be built as indicated by the image below. H = housing structures, S = supporting structures, and = designates roads. ------------------- |SSSS|SSSS|====|HHHH| |SSSS|SSSS|====|HHHH| |----|----|----|----| |SSSS|SSSS|====|HHHH| |SSSS|SSSS|====|HHHH| |----|----|----|----| |====|====|====|====| |====|====|====|====| |----|----|----|----| |HHHH|HHHH|====|HHHH| |HHHH|HHHH|====|HHHH| ------------------- Within each square, no more than 5 housing units can ever be created. Supporting units will always appear at the top left corner, and roads will separate the two. Even if roads or supporting structures do not exist on a particular square, housing can never be built on any part of there square where a supporting structure or road *could* exist. This construction pattern debunks some of the older tips for this game that told you to delete excess fields and supporting structures to make more rooms for houses. ================== DIRECTION OF ROADS ================== Roads within each square can run north-south or east-west. Roads will typically follow your building direction. For example, if you order the town to be built three units upward from the temple, roads will only appear north- south. Also, if you select a building direction and do not move to any different squares (just press B and remain on the current square), roads will typically be filled out in the square for both directions. This is how you can get N-S and E-W roads on squares in the corner of the screen that can only be approached from one direction. Road direction is important when it comes to regions where bridges are built (particularly Fillmore and Bloodpool). You can minimize the bridges built by ordering the building direction to run strictly parallel to rivers, rather than perpendicular (or right at them). If the roads are built perpendicular, bridges will automatically be constructed once you build on the other side of the river. o----------------------------------------------------------------------------o |EXAMPLE | | The image below shows 9 squares with a river (river indicated by ~) | |that divides squares 1-3 and 5-7 (similar to the river in Fillmore). If you| |command the build direction to go from 1-7, sequentially, only one bridge | |will be built (in square 5). If you build or enter squares 1, 2, 6, or 7 | |from the east or west, the game will build another one or two bridges over | |the river. This area can have as few as one bridge or as many as three. | | | | _____ _____ _____ | | | | | | | | | 5 | 4 | 3 | | | |~~~~~~~~~__|_____| | | | | ~~ | | | | | 6 | ~~ | 2 | | | |_____|_~~__|_____| | | | | ~~ | | | | | 7 | ~~ | 1 | | | |_____|_~~__|_____| | | | | | | Build parallel to the river and carefully choose where you wish to | |cross it to minimize bridges. | o----------------------------------------------------------------------------o --------- OFFERINGS --------- The following is a list of all the offerings that you can obtain from each area, coupled with the objective that you must fulfill to obtain said offering. The only item that you can repeatedly get from the people is Wheat from Fillmore. ------------------ FILLMORE OFFERINGS ------------------ Bomb - Seal the northwest Monster Lair. Magical Fire - Destroy the rocks just above the first mountain with a blast of Lightning. Strength of Angel - Seal the central southern Monster Lair. Bridge - Destroy the three Monster Lairs that house Bats. Source of Magic - Defeated the Minotaurus in Act 2. Source of Magic (2) - Defeated the Minotaurus in Act 2. Source of Life - Use the Compass obtained from Bloodpool and wait awhile. ------------------- BLOODPOOL OFFERINGS ------------------- Wheat - Destroy at least one Monster Lair, and wait a bit. Infinite supplies. Bomb - Seal the bottom center Monster Lair. Loaf of Bread - Wait for a short while after sealing off the central bottom White Dragon Lair. Magic Skull - Give Teddy the Loaf of Bread after you're told to do so. Magical Stardust - Destroy the Red Demon Lair in Bloodpool using the Magic Skull. Source of Magic - Defeated Zeppelin Wolf in Act 2. Compass - Use the Harmonious Music from Kasandora on Bloodpool after you defeat Zeppelin Wolf. Source of Life - Use Rain Magic on the northern end of the lake after destroying the Red Demon Lair (only works on some panels). ------------------- KASANDORA OFFERINGS ------------------- Strength of Angel - Seal off the Bat Monster Lair to the north and east of the Temple. Source of Magic - Build the road over to the man who was lost in the desert. Harmonious Music - Build the road over to the man who was lost in the desert. Bomb - Seal off the White Dragon Monster Lair in the northeast corner. Source of Life - Once the Pyramid has been revealed, use the Earthquake magic. Ancient Tablet - Wash away the plague with a Marahna Herb, and stick around for awhile. Source of Magic (2) - Build the road down south to the very bottom of the screen and head to the foot of the mountains at the east. --------------- AITOS OFFERINGS --------------- Bomb - Seal off the Flying Skull's Monster Lair. Sheep's Fleece - Sometimes after sealing your second Monster Lair (Possibly also after providing wind to the windmills). Strength of Angel - Seal off the White Dragon Lair in the center of the region. Source of Magic - Sometimes after sealing off the third Monster Lair. ----------------- MARAHNA OFFERINGS ----------------- Bomb - Seal off the White Dragon Monster Lair to the southeast of the Temple Strength of Angel - Seal off the White Dragon Monster Lair to the northwest of the Temple Herb - Sometimes after sealing off the third Monster Lair Magical Aura - Cast lightning on the bird-shaped island to the northeast, and use the Ancient Tablet on Marahna. After a short sailboat search, the people will present you with the Magical Aura. ------------------- NORTHWALL OFFERINGS ------------------- Strength of Angel - Seal off the Flying Skull Monster Lair to the north and east of the Temple. Bomb - Seal off the Red Demon Monster Lair in the northwest corner of Northwall. Source of Magic - Destroy the first two Monster Lairs, and build at least one bridge across the river. Magical Light - Warm up the panels surrounding the lake in the northeast area of the map, and once that's done, wait for the people to send out a boat. When it returns, you will obtain the Magical Light. Source of Life - Cast Lightning Magic on the Temple. ----------- WALKTHROUGH ----------- Input your name, then scroll down to Fight. Move the cursor right one, then choose Fight Monsters to head down to Earth. -------------- FILLMORE ACT 1 -------------- From the start, head right and chop at the two Goblins that are walking your way on the ground, then jump onto the ledge and slash at the third Goblin. Now continue, dropping down to the ground floor, until you get to the bottom. Ward off the Dark Ape coming in from above, then cut down the two Goblins below. Jump up the first two branches to the top and break open the Angel Orb for a Diamond (500+ Score). Continue onto the next branch, and then slash at the Bird that'll come dashing at you. Now, run and jump over to the tree to your right, and kill the Bad Bee that comes out of the knothole. Make your way to the top of the tree, and get onto the wooden platform to head down the line. One tree later, repeat the same actions over, but beware; once on the second platform, there'll be a Dark Ape that'll leap at you near the end of the line, so watch out for it and hit it before it can hit you. Furthermore, don't bother breaking the Angel Orb at this point in time. Anywho, continue on right up the cliff and over a couple of stumps. Up top, you'll see a Tree Man (the only one in the game), whom will spit out orbs of fire in your general direction. So long as you keep yourself moving constantly, however, he'll never hurt you. All you have to do is hit his head three times before he'll be destroyed, and then a ledge will extend out from the cliff wall to your right. Take it, and continue 'til you get to another tree stump, making sure to thwart off Bad Bee and Dark Ape attacks from above. Get onto the branches and head down the line going left, and at the end of the first line, you'll need to act quick to kill a Dark Ape. Go down the second line, and at the end, destroy the Angel Orb for a 1Up. Now go back to the last stump that you got to before heading left, and continue to go up right. You'll find another Angel Orb - destroy it to get an Apple, which will completely restore your life. Pursue the path once more, taking out a Bird, and once you get to the next tree, kill the Dark Ape and Bad Bee that will strike from above. Jump up onto the wooden platform, and glide down the wire, eliminating a Dark Ape at the end. Now drop straight down from your current tree, then head right and jump over the next stump, killing the lone Bad Bee that will interfere. From here, jump right onto the left hand of the Platree (from your view), and it'll start moving left and right. Get onto the top of the tree and slash at the Angel Orb up top, and grab the Apple. Wait until the Platree gets as far right as it will go on it's patrol, then jump off and down into the battlefield below. You'll face off the first boss of the game, the Centaur Knight. -------------- CENTAUR KNIGHT -------------- You'd expect that for the first boss of the game, Quintet would throw you an easy picking. And they did. The Centaur Knight consists of two attacks that are both pretty short-range, low-damaging, and easy to dodge (although coming into contact with the CK can be a lot more harmful to your health, so don't overreach your attacks). In any case, the first type of attack the Centaur Knight will employ is where he picks up his spear and holds it out horizontally. When he does this, he will then charge forward, trying to impale the hero. The reason this is laughably easy to dodge is because when he charges, he has the same speed as God, so you can just run to one edge of the battlefield. Once there, all you have to do is duck, and the spear will go straight over your head. This isn't to mention that the Centaur Knight never goes all the way to one side of the battlefield during his charge; his spear will stop short a bit of the walls, meaning you can just stand next to a cliff wall and virtually be unharmed. Furthermore, it's very possible to attack him while he's charging; all you have to do is duck, then retaliate by slashing at his legs to harm him. His second attack is a bit more difficult to dodge is you don't know what you are doing. The Centaur Knight will suddenly stop, and will raise his spear. It'll glow for a moment, and then it'll let out two bolts of lightning in rapid succession, the first slightly away from the Centaur Knight, the second a bit closer towards him. However, the bolts are so close to him that it's laughably easy to dodge them; the rare exception is when he manages to back you up far enough so that you have no breathing room. If that happens, take the bolt rather than trying to run past Centaur Knight. Should you wish to keep this type of situtation from happening, you're going to have to run up to Centaur Knight a lot, hack him down, then retreat as he charges at you; the farther away he is from one side of the wall, the much less likely it is that he'll back you up against that wall. END FIGHT ------------------- FILLMORE SIMULATION ------------------- Should it be your first time in the Simulation Mode of Actraiser, take a look at the Simulation section in this FAQ. With that out of the way, your first step should be to direct the road up and left to the Monster Lair in the northwest corner of Fillmore. Although the villagers won't immediately have the ability to destroy the Lair, they should be able to gain it while on the way to the Lair. At the same time, cast some Lightning on the bushes around the temple (in particular to the direct south of the Temple). Now set yourself just slightly to the right of where the Temple is, and shoot down all the Bats that come from the upper-right, upper-left, and the south. Once the first Monster Lair has been sealed off, take a hand again and direct the road to go far right, and then down into the second Monster Lair. During the building of this road, you'll have by then probably been alerted of the one villager's dreams coming true. Ignore this for now, as it won't hit a climax until later. Instead, continue as normal, killing off the remaining Bats that come your way along with the White Dragons (which take three hits to kill), and wait until some houses light up on fire. When they do, use your Rain magic to douse the fires, and continue to wait until the second Monster Lair is destroyed. When you've taken care of the second Monster Lair, start redirecting the path of the roads down south from the Temple, and then right to the third Monster Lair. At about the same time, you'll be told about a possible magical artifact nearby; when it does, go southeast from the Temple. There should be a pile of rocks just above the first mountain. Use Lightning to destroy the rocks, and you'll get the Magical Fire offering (a type of magic that you can now use during platforming). Once you finally finish off the third Monster Lair, you'll get a Strength of Angel offering, and the people will finally be able to build bridges. With the art of making bridges established, intervene in the matters of the people and direct the roads over the river to the left of the Temple, and send it straight to the Monster Lair that has the White Dragon. Once you've eliminated the last Monster Lair, however, you'll learn about the true evil in the land of Fillmore, and will be given the option to fight through Act 2 of Fillmore. Before doing that, however, you may want to consider building up your town as much as possible (and striking down early-civilization huts so that new houses with more population capacity can be built over them), so as to increase your level and add on more HP. Level 4 will be your max before you finally head into the second dungeon. -------------- FILLMORE ACT 2 -------------- As a side note, even if you equipped the Magical Fire for this battle, it'll be useless for the current battle. From the start, head right and kill the Zombee that will appear out of the darkness, then drop down until you get into the water on the bottom floor. Destroy the Zombee zooming in from above, then head right, killing yet another Zombee. Duck if you need to to dodge the rocks the Troll will throw at you, then jump over the spike pit and kill it. Continue, killing another Troll, until you make it to the stones. Get up, slay the Maggot on the platform right next to you, and kill the Death Orb on the ground. From here onwards, you have two paths that you can take now; Path A will take you going right and down, while Path B will take you up and right. PATH A ------ Head right, and just before the end of the cliff, wait a few seconds. A Zombee will materialize and come attacking you, so take it out quickly instead of being caught unaware. Once that's done, drop straight down to the ground below, and then head left over the spike pit. Here, you'll find a Cave Troll that's pretty much the same as his Troll cousin except for color scheme, and another Zombee. Eliminate them both, then destroy the Angel Orb for an Apple. Now go back onto the last platform, then head right until you spot another Cave Troll on top of the next ledge. Kill the Zombee that's perching on the ceiling above first, then jump onto the same ledge as the Cave Troll, slaying it while you're at it. Now, time your next jump onto the next ledge so as to not get pierced by the spikes coming out of the floor, but once you've caught the attention of another Zombee, jump back one ledge and take it out. With that done, progress forward past the spike floors and spike ledges until you get onto safe ground again, killing yet another Cave Troll in the process. Here, jump up a number of platforms until you have Death Orbs to either side of you. Two Zombees will emerge from above; take care of them first, then jump to the left side, and destroy the Death Orb. Slash open the Angel Orb for a 1Up, then get back onto the platforms. Head up to the top, where you'll fight a Skeltous, and once it's dead, head through the door. END PATH A ---------- PATH B ------ Jump onto the stone pedestal, and then head left onto a rock platform. Destroy the Angel Orb for a Crown (+1000 Score), and then kill the two Maggots straight above to your left. Jump up to the left cliff and kill the Death Orb for good measure, then head up right to solid ground, taking out a Troll while you are at it. Go up to the right, killing the lone Death Orb, then jump along the stone pedestals to your left, slaying the two Maggots crawling on them. Back on rocky platforms again (make sure you don't jump into the spiked ceiling), kill another Maggot, then jump up and exterminate a Zombee. Now head up onto the left wall to crack open an Angel Orb for another Crown, then continue up. Once you get to the platform before the Death Orb, however, watch out; another Zoombee will swoop down from the left, so you'll have to fend both of them off at the same time. Continue on right, then head up rock platforms, killing one more Zoombee before finally dropping onto the stone ledge (you could, however, drop down to the left of the stone ledge, head right and down, and destroy the Angel Orb for an Apple, though.), and take out the Cave Troll. Progress right and take out a Death Orb on the ground, and then continue to slay another Zoombee and Cave Troll. Destroy the Angel Orb for an Apple, eliminate one more Zoombee, then drop down. Cut down yet another Zoombie while destroying the Angel Orb for a Half Apple, then drop down and head left, killing a Zoombee, Death Orb, and Cave Troll in rapid succession. At the end, drop down, kill the Skeltous, and wait for the door to open before entering. END PATH B ---------- In the next room, start heading right, and strike the Maggot over the first platform by crouching and slashing, then continue on to take out a Death Orb while avoiding fire from a Cave Troll. Get onto solid ground at the end, slay the Cave Troll, then start climbing up, fighting off a Maggot, then later another Maggot, and then a Death Orb. Do it fast, because if you remain idle, the Demon Mouths on both sides of the wall will begin to shoot out slow-moving orbs of fire. Eventually, you'll get to some platforms with some spikes on them. Get past the spiked platforms, slay a Death Orb and two more Maggots in that order, and make your way up to the top. Once up there, make sure that you don't get hit by the Cave Trolls, and then dispose of them. Start going left once you're done, then drop down onto the lower elevation. Destroy the Angel Orb for an Apple, and slay the Zombee coming in from the left. Keep an eye on the spiked ceiling; white-colored spikes will drop down once you get close to them, so be sure not to get caught in their path. Besides that, the only other thing you have to worry about is two more Zombees, and once you've made it through, you're clear at the boss door. Enter. ---------- MINOTAURUS ---------- Minotaurus can be a pretty difficult fight for first-timers whom would try to spam some hack'n'slash action. But at core, he's pretty much just a boss with one attack that isn't so much the decisive factor in the battling, but how you manipulate him into attacking. Y'see, Minotaurus's only attack is where he'll jump down from above, and throws his axe spinning in one direction horizontally. Although at close range it's impossible to dodge the axe, if you place yourself a few feet away from where Minotaurus lands, you can jump over the axe and slash'n'dash until the Minotaurus jumps up and repeats the same attack over again. The problem there is that the Minotaurus will usually jump straight down onto the spot where you were only a moment before. As such, you DON'T want to move to the side walls once Minotaurus jumps up, as you shall then have less breathing room to jump over his spinning axe. Instead, hang around the center for a few seconds, and then run to one side just as Minotaurus drops down, then repeat the strategy of jumping over the axe and kicking his ass. DragonAtma of the GameFAQs Actraiser forums also brings up a good point - you can just pull of a semi-kamikaze attack and go wild on him and let the Minotaurus hit you with his axe. While you will lose a bit of life, the damage you can cause to him is significantly greater. Eventually, he will fall. END FIGHT ---------------------- FILLMORE SIM AFTERMATH ---------------------- After you have defeated the Minotaurus, the townspeople will have discovered two Source of Magic scrolls for you. They basically each allow you to cast a spell once in platforming, so grab them, as they will be very useful in the next level, Bloodpool. Furthermore, once you have obtained the Compass from Bloodpool, use it in Fillmore, wait awhile, and you will get the Source of Life offering. --------------- BLOODPOOL ACT 1 --------------- Once the fight is underway, start off by heading right and jumping onto the wooden pier. Continue on, but watch out for the Rock Thrower - unlike the Trolls before them, their rocks will obey the forces of gravity, so don't think you can duck beneath their throws. Once you've effectively dispatched of him, jump over the bridge and cut down the Lizard Knight, all the time dodging the Rock Thrower from above. Once you've slain the Knight, climb up the platforms to the top, kill the Rock Thrower, and break open the Angel Orb for a Crown. Now jump off the wood onto the stone platform to the right some more, and duck down and slash at a Blood Bird. Continue, but don't jump onto the wooden planks in the lake just yet. Instead, walk to the edge, and a Flyfish will come out of the water in your direction. Dispose of it, then hop over the platforms (they'll start dropping down once you land on them) to the other side, where another Flyfish will come from your right. Jump over again, and attack the Lizard Knight from the rock platform (because he isn't to level, he can't hit you). Once dead, slay the Rock Thrower for good measure, then continue on and take out another Rock Thrower. Now head up and left along the wooden platforms here, taking out a couple of Blood Birds that may come your way. Up top, walk onto the bridge, but watch out; any rocks that look old, deformed, wilted, etc., WILL fall down once you put your weight on them, so walk on them and jump right quickly, then walk right quickly before the remaining rocks fall down. Take out a Rock Thrower and Blood Bird on the other side, and cut open the Angel Orb for a Half Apple. Now walk down and jump over the pool onto the next set of platforms. O'er here, climb up the wooden planks going right and up, and take out two Rock Throwers in rapid succession. From the top, jump right again and land on another rock platform, under a bridge with an Angel Orb on top, and then head right to cut a Flyfish that will jump out. Jump using the lone platform to the other side, then climb up some more platforms to ward off a few Flyfish from the right, a Blood Bird from the right above, and then climb up to the left to kill the Rock Thrower. Jump over the bridge, being careful not to stay too long on the decaying parts, and kill the Lizard Knight guarding the Angel Orb. Once dead, open up the Angel Orb for a 1Up, then travel back across the bridge. Back at the ranch, head right a bit until you can jump onto the next platform, then jump up and left to the platform with a Rock Thrower. Kill him, and the go destroy the Angel Orb he was guarding for an Apple. Head right again, then head over the bridge. Jump up the few remaining platforms, and then fall down to the right to fight the boss. --------- MANTICORE --------- Here is the basic gist of Manticore's arena. You have two sets of wooden planks, one to the left and one to the right. Each set has one plank on the bottom, one in the middle, and one a bit higher. In between the two sets is a gaping hole which, should you fall in, is instant-kill. The Manticore will jump out of the pool of blood onto one of the bottom platforms. He will then spit out a ball of fire horizontally in the direction of the other set of wooden planks, then jumps one platform up, breaths more fire, repeats the pattern, then goes to the other top platform, goes down one, goes down one more, and finally gets into the pool once more. It is a constant that he will always jump up three platforms and jump down three platforms. What is not a constant is that he will stay on the same set of platforms for the first three jumps, or on the same set for the latter three jumps. This is because if you are on the same platform as the Manticore is, he WILL jump to the other side. There are some tricks to and around this thing. The first is that after he jumps up/down, he will not switch platforms twice or more, only the first time. The second is that if you're two platforms below or above him, he shall stay sitting where he is. The third is that he will shoot fire anyways if you have NOT YET landed on his side, even if you're going to. As such, if it looks like you don't have a chance in hell of landing before he spits fire, do not do it; if you get caught in the path of fire, you may very well land in the pit of blood. Other than that, there are only two other notes. The first is that when you are platform hopping, if you are one platform above the Manticore, stay at least a sword's length away from him in the direction opposite of the other set of planks; otherwise, when he hops to the other side, he will hit you while he's at it (this also happens if you are extremely close to him while you're one platform under him, so watch out). And if you are on the same platform as he is, DUCK AND SLASH; not only will you dodge his fireball, but he will also jump over you, and yet you will still be able to damage him. The second is the Magical Fire magic that you may want to use here; it will not cause much damage (it only takes away an eighth of his health max), but if he is beginning to become annoying, it may be helpful to you. END FIGHT -------------------- BLOODPOOL SIMULATION -------------------- It should be duly noted that your first step should be, before anything else, use the Bridge offering that you got from Fillmore. This will enable the people of Bloodpool the ability to build bridges. Next, use the Lord's Sunlight Magic on the three squares directly south of the Temple, and start building the roads two squares south and east into the first Monster Lair, that of a White Dragon. Before you've even gotten to the first Lair, the townspeople will bother you about a child named Teddy, but ignore it for now. Once the first Monster Lair has been destroyed, go ahead and redirect the roads to continue straight south from the Temple, and then west and south a bit to the White Dragon Monster Lair at the bottom center of the map. Along the ways, the people of Bloodpool will likely learn the arts of Wheat and begin to offer you Wheat. Finally, once you've sealed the lair of the second White Dragon, the people will find a Bomb to offer to you. With that out of the way, go to the northwest segment of the map and use Lightning magic to destroy all the bushes, then direct the road to start going north and west to the Bat Lair. However, by about this time, the townspeople will start bothering you about Teddy, who's apparently gone missing. When this occurs, go and take the Loaf of Bread offering from the people. then head to the southwest portion of the map while waiting for the Bat Lair to be reached. Next to the lake, you should see a Castle with a cave next to it, and there's a person wandering next to the person. Use the Loaf of Bread offering on Teddy, and after some plot, you'll be able to get the Magic Skull offering. At about the same time, the people will finally seal off the Bat Monster Lair. Now that that is done, go to the southwest corner of the map, and you should see some trees that you will be able to destroy with Lightning. Do so, and you should find the Red Demon Lair. Use the Magic Skull on it to destroy the Lair, and the lake will return to it's normal color. You'll get the Magical Stardust magic, but the true source of evil in the land will emerge thereafter. With that happenstance, build up the town as much as you can right now, then head to the overworld map, and get ready to fight the monsters (equipping the Magical Stardust magic is also something you should do, as it's usually a lot more useful than the Magical Fire). --------------- BLOODPOOL ACT 2 --------------- Your first action onscreen is to head right, and carve a path through the constant flow of mindless Goblins running your way. Once you make it to the end, there shall be a Gargoyle Statue that will just spit fire at you horizontally, so wait for it to shoot, then jump over the fireball, and slash at him until he dies. Afterwards, enter the castle. Inside, head down the staircase, and kill the two Goblins wandering back and forth before jumping onto the platform, then walk across, killing one more Goblin on the ground. Head on until you see a giant chasm in front of you, with two sets of chains with one having elevators going down, the other going up. Take the down elevator first, making sure to thwart any Red Slimes and Ghostheads that come your way when you do so. Near the bottom of the room, you should see a small room to the left, so jump off and destroy the Angel Orb for a Source of Magic. Now jump back onto the first set of elevators, then get onto the second set to go up. Near the top, you'll have a Red Slime on both walls, so watch out for them as they jump off, and be sure to cut them down before they can get close. A bit later, you'll finally reach your exit point to the right, so get off and start walking. In this area, drop down off all the rocks, ignoring the Ghostheads (unless you're here for the high scores). Down below, enter the next room of the castle). In this small room, the lights will turn dark, and go up in small levels of brightness, and will then begin to dim out again. When you're able to see clearly enough, drop down from the left wall onto a platform in the center, then head down left and kill the Goblin wandering around in the near bottom-left corner. Drop down to the right after that, and go kill the Gargoyle Statue. Grab the Apple from the Angel Orb he was guarding, then jump directly up the platforms on this side of the room. Kill the one Goblin that'll be in your way, and up top, head through the door again. Coming in, immediately kill the Red Slime hanging down on the left wall, then climb up the rock piles in the room, making sure to destroy the Red Slimes that are around before they can destroy you. At the highest rock pile, jump right onto the platform, then head right to find a giant spike pit. Hop onto the ledges here, but beware; they WILL fall soon after you land on them, so don't be idle. At the end, walk down the first staircase, and jump down onto the second one. Duck, and you'll stay below the Gargoyle Statue's line of fire. Now, if you're a score whore, then you should crouch-slash the guard statues littered over the staircases, but otherwise, ignore them and make your way down to the bottom, and fall down into the water. Once in the water, head left and cut down the Skeltmon before it can attack you, then break open the Angel Orb for a Source of Magic. Head right now through the doorway, and eliminate another Skeltmon on the other side (ignore all the Ghostheads unless you absolutely need to kill one). Press onwards, and watch out for the Electmachine - if you get shocked by it while it's shooting out electricity it can be quite harmful, so make sure to time your jumps over it correctly. On the other side, slay another Skeltmon, then jump over one more Electmachine. Finally, head through the door, and you'll be in another area with elevators. Jump onto the middle of the room, then wait for an elevator going up. During your upwards journey, be sure to watch out for the Red Slimes as, just like the last time, they will crawl down and up the walls, and on the occasion hop from one wall to the other. Later, when you get near the top, you should see a crevasse in the left wall with an Angel Orb. Jump onto the left temporarily, jump into the niche, and break open the Angel Orb for a 1Up. Jump back to the right again, and then head through the exit at the top. You'll be outside once more, so head right. A new enemy will encounter you quickly; the Flying Goblin. These guys will dive into the ground once they're straight over you, with the intents of coming into contact. As such, you should eliminate them before they get the chance to hit you first, so do so and press forwards until you come into range of a Gargoyle Statue, and kill it. Proceed to repeat the pattern of Goblin-slaying until you get to another Gargoyle Statue, and dispatch of it. Once that is done, head through the door and outside again. Inside again, quickly kill the Skeltmon wandering along the floor. Next, climb the rocky platforms up top, making sure to terminate the next Skeltmon before it can attack you on level ground. Once on the next solid ground, you'll have to deal with reclining and extending blocks from the background. Fortunately, there IS an easy timing to it; when Set A blocks go in, Set B comes out at the exact same time. When Set B blocks go in, Set A come out at the same time. As such, climb the blocks going up with a leftwards tilt until you come to a Gargoyle Statue, and destroy it if you need to to progress upwards some more. At the top, head left to break open the Angel Orb for an Apple, then go to the right side. In this last hallway of the castle, the boss is protected by two Skeltmons followed up by another Skeltmon along with a Gargoyle Statue, so take care of them in an orderly fashion. Once that's done, go through the door. ------------- ZEPPELIN WOLF ------------- Zeppelin Wolf has two forms; his regular form, and a werewolf form that he transforms into after he takes at least half damage. However, Zeppelin Wolf will not transform into a wolf straight after he loses half his life; he'll only do it during the first teleportation AFTER you damage him down to half his life or less. This means that you could knock 12 points of life off his bar and when he teleports away, he'll transform, or it means you could knock 12 points off his bar, plus another 7 for a full 19 before he teleports away and transforms, meaning he would only have 5 HP left. Anyhow, I digress. The battlefield here consists of a solid floor, and there are six rock platforms; three to the left, three to the right, the left has them dispersed in a backwards L shape, the right in a straight L shape. Zeppelin Wolf, while a human, will teleport around the arena various times, and can appear on one of eight different locations; any of the six platforms, and just under the middle platform of each sides and tilted slightly towards the center. When he teleports there, he will send out three purple rocks; one straight forward, one going 45 degrees upward, and one going 45 degrees downward, but they are remarkably easy to dodge. Next, he will cast three lightning bolts in rapid succession (unless he is on the ground), the first slightly away from his body to the center, the second slightly away from his body to the side, and the third dead center underneath him. Again, if you're trying to stay away from him, it will be remarkably easy to dodge, as it's range will never be able to reach you. Forging a way to kill Zeppelin Wolf is remarkably easy; it all has to do with the Magical Stardust you should have equipped. Since you can have a maximum of four Magical Stardusts currently (two regular and two extras from this dungeon), this is my suggestion as to what to do; hit him with one Magical Stardust at first, then attack him head-on until he has 13 HP left, then use another Magical Stardust so that he has very little HP left when he transforms (or you can wait for him to go down to the floor and then hack away at him). As another piece of advice, DO NOT cast the Magical Stardust when he is standing on the left side of the arena. Because the stars come in from the right side, he will be struck by more Stars if he is on the right side. Once Zeppelin Wolf transforms into a Wolf, it is safe to say that you may want to kill him as quickly as possible. Although he has no attack of his own, he can summon mini purple wolf-heads from the statues holding up the platforms on one side of the room to go straightforward your way. He also does a lot of leaping around (reminding me of Flame Stag from Mega Man X2), and is more than capable of running into you to cause that "damage-by-contact" rule that all platformers seem to have. A good trick to take him out quickly is to use the avatar God as bait by bringing him onto the upper-right platform, then waiting for Zeppelin Wolf to come to you. When he does, use the Magical Stardust (of which God is invincible during the duration of the time it's being cast), and Zeppelin Wolf will take lots of damage quickly. END FIGHT ----------------------- BLOODPOOL SIM AFTERMATH ----------------------- Afterwards, the people will give you a Scroll of Magic offering. At the same time, however, the population will become quarrelous, and to rectify the problem, you'll have to wait until you get the Harmonious Music from Kasandora. Once you do get it, use it here, and the people will offer up a Compass for later use. Also, a bit later, Bloodpool will be connected with Fillmore (which, if you look at the map, the two towns are the only areas not seperated by tough geographical boundaries), and Fillmore will also be able to produce wheat farms on their own. Furthermore, if you use Rain Magic on the northern end of the map (it only works on some panels), the lake waters will rise and the people will find a Source of Life Offering. --------------- KASANDORA ACT 1 --------------- The Magical Fire is recommended for this act. Start the mission off by heading right and jumping up to slice down the Spear Goblin on the head of the skull. Continue on, leaping over the Cacti, and knock off another Spear Goblin who's patrolling around the general area, then jump over a second Cacti. Go up the slope to the top now, and kill the two Spear Goblins here, then hop onto the skeleton. Walk across the skeleton to the other side, and ward off another Spear Goblin along with a Fireman coming in from the right. Once you've finished them both off, continue on, jumping over three more Cacti. When you come to the hill, climb it up by taking a series of long-jumps, and slow down once you hit the top; a Sand Flower will emerge from below, so make sure that you're going down at regular speeds. That way, you can kill the Sand Flower before you ever run into it. Repeat this for another Sand Flower, then head up the next hill onto some rock. From there, jump onto the bowl-shaped rocky platform, and eliminate the Spear Goblin and Fireman. Jump onto the next platform, kill another Spear Goblin. One platform later, take out two more Spear Goblins, then fall down to the right to find an Angel Orb with an Apple in it. Climb over the small rocky cliff onto the other side, then head right. A Sand Flower will pop out of the sand just before the next small expanse of rock, so take it out before it can cause any more trouble, then jump onto the rocks and kill the Spear Goblin. Head along some more sand now, where you'll have to deal with a two-pronged attack by a Sand Flower and Flameman, then go over some more rock, slaying another Spear Goblin in the meantime. Drop down to finish off one last Spear Goblin, then head right, and jump onto the platform with the door. Enter. On the other side, jump onto the tall ledges, slaying the two Flying Goblins that will attack from above, until you get to larger solid ground. Once down here, a Scorbee will emerge from the hole in the colony hive, so killl it, then climb up to the top, killing another Scorbee and two Goblins. Once at the peak of the hive, jump over right onto the next platform, and kill another Scorbee at the start. Climb up to the top again, killing another Scorbee and Goblin, and break the Angel Orb at the top for a Scroll of Magic. Leap to the right, and you should land about halfway on the next hive. From this vantage point, slay the lone Goblin, then start climbing upwards, exterminating any more Scorbees that decide to interefere with your progress. Once you make it to the height of the hive, jump over to the top of the next hive to kill a Flying Goblin and break open an Angel Orb for an Apple. Jump off the right down from here, and you should land on sand, just as a Sand Flower pops out of the ground. Kill it, and swat the Fireman out of the sky if you need to, then climb up the hill. Eliminate the Spear Goblin, then go up to the top to defeat another Spear Goblin. Head down again to break open a last- minute Angel Orb for an Apple, then go over the next rock. ------ DAGOBA ------ *Resists the urge to make Star Wars-related jokes* Fighting the Dagoba is remarkably easy, but not so much if you only have part of your life bar full. However, considering you just got an Apple, it should be full, so let us go. Dagoba will have two pincers that will extend from the slopes and then come earthwards, forcing you to either stand in the middle (which would render you vulnerable to getting hit by Dagoba when he pops out of the ground), or jump over the pincers (which gets easier the farther down to the center you are). Afterwards, Dagoba will emerge from the ground in the center, and then throws up five rocks; one goes straight up and then comes down from his position, two will be slightly to the left and right of him, and the remaining two will be flung very far off to his left and right. This attack can be dodged by slipping in between the outer and inner rocks on either side, and, if you don't get too close to Dagoba, he will literally continuously throw rocks, forever. However, we don't want to do that. Instead, you can weave through the outer two rocks, and hit him with some Magical Fire (of which with four Sources of Magic, can half his life). Once that is done, go down to him just as he's about to throw his rocks up, and start slashing at him. Because it takes a while for him to submerge, you have breathing room enough to deal at least two or three points of damage to him. From there, all you have to do is jump over his pincers again, keep up the ghost, and then leap at him and swipe. It technically is also a worthwhile strategy, as at a rate of losing one of your bars of life for every three or even two of his, you would still have a lot of life left by the time Dagoba dies, even without using magic. END FIGHT -------------------- KASANDORA SIMULATION -------------------- Kasandora is a unique place in that you'll have to cast the Rain magic over every single panel of sand, panel-by-panel. I can guarantee now that it will be at least somewhat frustrating to do. For now, you should carve a path, from the Temple, going East 2, North 5, and East 1 more, after which you'll have found all the Monster Lairs and a Pyramid, which will be the spot of your final showdown in Kasandora. With that done, start off by direting the road two panels east and north to seal off the first Monster Lair, that of the Bats. On your way there, however, the people of Kasandora will ask you to lead their roads to Kasandora explorers who have gotten lost. You can, however, ignore this event until later on, and instead focus on clearing the rest of the desert away and slaying monsters. After you seal off the first Lair, you'll get a Strength of Angel offering from the people. Next, start going south and east to the Red Demon Monster Lair in the southeastern corner of the map, and water down any desert panels that may block the people from building roads. The path to this Monster Lair should actually be fairly uneventful. Go south from here down to the mountains at the very bottom of the screen, and once you've built the road on the eastern end of the range, you'll get a Source of Magic Offering. With two Monster Lairs down and two to go, go back to where the Bat Lair was, and redirect the road to continue up north to the second Red Demon Monster Lair. Much like the Lair before it, sealing it and the lead-up into it will also be uneventful. Once you've sealed everything but the White Dragon Lair, however, don't focus your efforts on the last Lair just yet. Instead, look at the far right extreme of the map, and in the center. You should see a small person lying on the ground there, so rain a path through to him, and redirect the road to go to him. When you get over there, in rapid succession you'll get the Source of Magic Offering, the Harmonious Music offering, and will be told of suspicions about the Pyramid up north. Ignoring that for now, however, rain your way directly north into the Monster Lair of the White Dragon. With it sealed off, you'll get a Bomb offering. You'll also be told that the Pyramid is the true source of evil in the land, yadda yadda yak, all that stuff, so now you can go do Act 2. After you've finally destroyed all four Monster Lairs, however, use Earthquake if you have the SP to cast it. Once you do, all the non-Earthquake resistant homes will be destroyed along with the farms (to be replaced by sturdier buildings), but more importantly, the people will give you a Source of Life offering. --------------- KASANDORA ACT 2 --------------- Magical Stardust is a must to take on for this Act, mainly because the boss can be completely and utterly destroyed in pretty much one hit. Anyways, once you start, go down the slope to your right, and on the bottom, crouch and eliminate the two Visps, while dodging the arrow of the PharoahHead. Get up after the PharoahHead fires, and slash at it until it dies, then advance forward killing another Visp. Drop down into the tomb hallway, and Mummies will come out of their tombs. They're one hit kills, however, so you don't need to worry too much about them. Once you make it to the end of the first half of the hallway, you'll have to kill a PharoahHead, so dispose of him, then leap over to the other side to take out another PharoahHead. Slay the two Mummies from here on in, then continue and destroy yet one more PharoahHead. Climb up, and you'll face off an annoying Bird God, who can slash quickly and retreat even more quicker. Once he's done for, continue, and go through the door. In the next room, slide down the slopes quickly, but don't bother sticking around to kill any of the Wasps or Pharoahheads; you're more than likely just going to harm yourself by accident, and it's of no use unless you're a score-whore. Once you get down onto the ground, kill the Scorman and Wasp, then jump over the spike pit. On this side, continue left, then climb up the pole heads, jumping to the left at the feasible top to break open an Angel Orb for a Source of Magic. Next, wait for a platform moving up and down on the right wall to come down to you, then jump on it and jump off on the above platforms. From here, head left again, waiting for the first moving platform to move towards you, then get on. From here, kill the lone Wasp in the air, then wait for the other set of platforms to get close to you before jumping on. When they head towards the left. Get onto the cliff, break open the Angel Orb, and grab the 1Up. Drop down from the ledge from here, but keep yourself moving left while freefalling. Head left from here and kill a Scorman and a Wisp, then wait for the elevator platform to come down, and get on. Up above, get onto the moving platforms to your right. Ignore the first Scorman, but climb up the platforms and get off to the right to slay the second Scorman, and break open the Angel Orb for an Apple. Head back onto the platforms going left and right, and wait for the second platform on the left wall to come down. Jump on it, then head up to the top of the room. Get off and terminate the two Scorman along with another Wisp, then head through the door into the next room. In here, crouch down quickly to eliminate a Visp, then prepare for the Bird God that will be coming your way. Once you've disposed of him, run across the room to avoid the Acid Droplets (so long as you keep running at a constant, you'll be able to avoid all of them), and jump over the Visps when you see them. Don't worry; you still won't get harmed by the Acid Droplets even if you do jump on your way. Once you've made it to the end of the hallway, however, you'll have to fight another Bird God, so take him out as well. Climb up to the top now, avoiding the line of fire of the Pharoahheads by timing their attacks correctly to dodge. Once you've exited out to the left, head across the statue heads to the other end of the hallway, waiting for the Visps to go right before timing your last jump. At the left end, climb up the pole of statues, and then climb up some more to the top, slaying or dodging the PharoahHeads. At the top, kill the Mummy, then jump over the spike pit, cutting down two more Mummies that get in your way. Repeat one more time, then jump over one last spike pit. Head on, and you'll see a large slope. Slide down, but DON'T touch any buttons; you'll stay standing on the very edge of the slope. Wait for the elevator to come down, but don't jump on it as soon as you see it. Instead, wait for it to go into the spike pit and then come back up again, THEN jump on it. When you make it to the top, jump off to the left. Here, you'll be required to quickly stave off a Bird God, so fight him tooth and nail until he's done for, then continue left. Break open an Angel Orb for an Apple, then continue on to spot the Red Bird God. This guy takes six hits to kill instead of the regular three, and he can send moon-shaped beams of energy out of his sword when he parries, so be careful in fighting him. If you have to, you may want to consider running right past him (taking what could be less damage than if you fight him), and then run down the slope to the boss. ------- PHAROAH ------- Even though I said to bring Magical Stardust at the beginning of this act, which can easily destroy the Pharoah in just two uses, this is for those two of you who did not still have a legit strategy (wait, will two people even read this? My bad). Anyhow, the Pharoah will hover over the battlefield arena, and will continue to do so even when you run underneath him, until you pause long enough under him. When this happens, he will slam down onto the loor to where you were just a second before. After this, he charges up a blast of energy that will go horizontally, and which you will be able to jump over. The sad part of this is that it is so unbelievably SLOW; you could literally get in at least five hits before you have to run away, and if dodging it is not an issue, seven or eight. The only thing that would keep the Pharoah from being a complete joke is that when his blue orbs of energy hit a wall, a Pharoahhead will appear on one of the walls and shoot an arrow straight out at you, then disappears. However, if it's coming towards you from the front instead of from behind your back, you can literally just time your next strike to both destroy the arrow and harm the Pharoah further. Either way, he's still a mockery of our talents, and unless you for whatever reason come in with 2 HP remaining (impossible, given the Apple just before this boss arena), you shouldn't have any problem winning. END FIGHT ----------------------- KASANDORA SIM AFTERMATH ----------------------- After you win the battle against the Pharoah, the people of Kasandora will begin to suffer from the plague. This cannot be rectified until later, when you retrieve the Herb from Marahna. When you do, use it here and the Plague will be swept away from Kasandora. With that done, stick around for a while (you may have to continue road construction), and the people will find an Ancient Tablet Offering for use back in Marahna. ----------- AITOS ACT 1 ----------- Off the bat, head right into the field of vines and kill the Rock Thrower, then move right slightly a bit more. Wait for the Poletrap to slam down first, and then pass under it when it's rising up, killing another Rock Thrower past it. For the next Poletrap, wait for it to fall down, and then jump over it, killing a third Rock Thrower. Go down now and then jump over the pit to the next platform. Drop down onto the Bird Carriage. As the Bird Carriage carries you right, crouch down. Black Birds will come from the bottom of the screen and dash at you, and you cannot hit them unless you crouch-slash at them. Once you get through that obstacle, continue to stay down, as a Black Rock Thrower will begin to chuck rocks at you from below; it should be OK though, as he more than likely won't be ever able to hit you. The Bird Carriage will continue on, and you should keep your sword ready and steady; the volcano on the next cliff will spit out lava balls, but you can destroy them with a swipe of your sword. The Bird Carriage will finally stop to the right side of this cliff, so get off and kill the Rock Thrower to the right side. Get back on again, as the Bird Carriage will soon continue on it's journey. From there on, continue, dodging the Black Rock Thrower's firepower, as he can shoot a bit higher. You'll soon come upon an Air Fiend; when you see him, crouch down and wait for him to come up to you, and cut him down as quickly as is humanly possible for you. Soon, the Bird Carriage will drop down over some cloud cover again, so get ready, as not only will you be confronted by Black Birds, but Skulls will also appear. However, don't worry about the Skulls; they can't attack you, but are rather there as something for you to run into, and they can be taken out in one hit. At the end of the air path, get off onto the cliff and head up the first slope. A rock will come falling down from above, so jump over it, then head up past the Rock Hand; instead of waiting for it to reemerge and kill it, just ignore it, because it cannot throw uphill. At the top, break open the Angel Orb for a Diamond, and stand right next to the wall to escape harm from the rock the above Rock Hand will throw down. Now, go up four more of the same slopes, ignoring the Rock Hands but killing the Rock Throwers on the first two slopes. When you are finally going up the last slope headed right, kill the Air Fiend at the top. Now, drop down the volcano hole, going down to the left along the bunch of platforms strewn about the face, and on the left side of the bottom, break open the Angel Orb for a Crown. Now continue back up to the platforms and then drop down to the right side, and kill two Rock Throwers. Head through the door. In the next room, go right and slash at the Air Fiend, then fall down the long pit. Down below, immediately duck and weave to dodge attacks from the two Rock Throwers, and take them out. Continue on right some more, killing a down-to-earth Air Fiend, and you'll come upon a waterfall with a bunch of small rock platforms to traverse. Start off by jumping onto the first platform, then continue on right and destroy the Angel Orb for a Bomb. By doing this, all on-screen enemies in your sight will automatically be destroyed, so with your foes temporarily detained, head up left and up, then continue on right and drop down for the first Angel Orb. Break it open for an Apple, then drop down some more and head left to the beginning platform. Go up to the top once more, and head right 'til you find an Angel Orb guarded by a Rock Thrower. Kill the Rock Thrower, and destroy the Angel Orb to obtain the super-rare Flame Sword upgrade. With this, slashing your sword sends out a wave of energy during your current life, and is imperative for the fight with the soon-to-come boss. Continue on right, jump off onto solid ground, and head through the door. ------- SERPENT ------- It is almost admirable how Quintet was able to make this battle so easy, but they managed to do so, with the only fallout action being if you let yourself get knocked off one of the rocks (more on that later). In any case, the battle should be a piece of cake if you got the Flame Sword and Apple from earlier. First off, stay on the ledge that you're put on in the first place, as it is very hazardous to run around; if you get hit by the Serpent while jumping, you will more than likely fall down the waterfall to an instant death (to counteract this, just duck when he comes swooping at you if you have nowhere you can go; while ducking, you WILL NOT be knocked back, which is key here). Besides, the rate at which you fall back when you get hit by the Serpent is so little that you should still stay on. With that in mind, it brings me to two more important notes; the first is that only coming into contact with the Serpent's head will harm you. The rest of the body will not ever hurt you. The second is that if you jump to try and dodge his head, and he hits you anyways, snapback rate will be greater and you will very likely fall over. As such, you may want to stay in the center of the platform at all times. So long as you got the Apple and Flame Sword (which you should have, unless you are trying for a run based purely on skills), then you will not only have full or close to full health, but also be able to shoot waves of energy from your sword. Because the amount you can fire out is infinite until you die, slash like mad, and wait for the Serpent to get in the path of your fire and take damage. In other news, both Magical Fire and Magical Stardust magic can be effectively used here. In the case of the Magical Fire, all you have to do is wait until the Serpent gets close to cast it, but when you're using the Magical Stardust, wait for when the Serpent comes in and starts to do his weave around you so as to maximize the time he's onscreen, and your chances of hitting him. END FIGHT ---------------- AITOS SIMULATION ---------------- You'll get the start-off message of the people asking you to destroy the rocks using your Lightning magic. Before starting any building of roads, you should take the time to completely shatter the rock field to the left. This area consists mainly of White Dragons, but it also has a Flying Skull Monster Lair, a really annoying monster who takes eight hits to kill and is the fourth of the overworld monsters that you can fight and shoot down. Once you're done calling down lightning, start building your road left, first going up to seal off the Flying Skull's Monster Lair, then down and left some more to seal the White Dragon Monster Lair. After sealing the Flying Skull, you'll get the Bomb Offering. Further along, once done with the White Dragon, the people will make a request of you to send rain over the Temple building, so cast the Rain Magic over it. Once you've done so, you'll be thanked, and receive the news of horses. Now, go north, and start breaking down the forests with more Lightning Magic, just like the rock field before here. Once you've done casting destruction asunder the trees, start building the road up north of the Temple, and then hanging a right to the second White Dragon Monster Lair. On the way, the people will likely ask you to provide wind to the windmills, so use the Wind Magic (and as a bonus, it'll blow away the current White Dragons onscreen). They may also offer up some Sheep's Fleece, which will be useful for the sixth area of the game. Once you finally seal the third Monster Lair, you'll get a Strength of Angel Offering. With that done, start directing your road to go to the northwestern corner of the map, where the final Monster Lair, that of a White Dragon is. On the way, the people will pitch in their ability of mountaineering skills, and they'll likely find a Source of Magic Offering for you. However, shortly after you seal off the last Monster Lair, it'll turn out that the volcano - which will become active - contains the true source of evil in the land, so go up to the overworld map, and start fighting. ----------- AITOS ACT 2 ----------- Bring with you the Magical Stardust. It will make the boss fight seem easy-peasy. Aitos' second dungeon will start off somewhat different than that of the norm; instead of going right, you must first go left, where you should quickly kill the Red Flying Goblin floating through the air before he gets the chance to dive down at you. Continue on left, and wait for another Red Flying Goblin to float towards thee, and take it down as well. Now, jump onto the first platform, and a Fire Eye will jump out of the lava; back away quickly back out of the lava pool, before the Fire Eye explodes and sends flames diagonally in four directions. Now, repeat the same thing for the second and third rock platforms over the lava pool (or else try to cut them down in three quick slashes), and eliminate another Red Flying Goblin after the second platform. Once you finally make it back onto solid ground, you'll encounter a Gas Eye. He'll vibrate for a moment after you strike him once (try to cut down the Red Goblin at the same time) and break up into a single eye which will circle around you for a bit. Eliminate that as well, and then press onwards, slaying another Red Goblin and Gas Eye. At the end of the hallway, drop down the chasm to the bottom of the next floor. Down here, terminate the Flying Red Goblin, and destroy the Fire Eye that will pop out from the lava before it can explode. Jump over, killing a variety of more Fire Eyes, Gas Eyes, and Flying Red Goblins, and at the end, head through the door into the next room. Coming in, wait for the Gas Eye that you'll see at the right end of the room to cross over to you. Slash it then, and destroy it afterwards. Now, wait for the platforms, which go up and down, to be in their 'up' phase, then jump to the fifth platform before stopping. Once it goes up again, continue on to the end of the room, and head through the door. In this next room, cut down the arrows that the Archer will fire at you, pressing forward until the Fire Eye breaks out from under the bridge; when this happens, do the mandatory three-chop to slay it. Next, jump into the air next to the archer, but slash him before you fall to kill him. Otherwise, he'll leap back, and you'll have to continue catching up with him. If you do kill him, all you have to do is continue on, keeping an eye on the different-colored parts of the bridge (they are where the Fire Eyes will come in from), slaying three more Fire Eyes, a Gas Eye, and then one more Fire Eye. Once you make it over the pit of lava, head right and ward off any attacks from the Archer in line with you, and progress forward, killing him. Defeat the next two Archers, and then climb up the cliff. Jump onto the first platform, killing the Red Goblin, then head along onto the next platform, killing a Flying Red Goblin and a normal Red Goblin. Take one more Red Goblin out on the third platform, and break open the Angel Orb for a Scroll of Magic. Continue on slightly, and take out a Gas Eye. Now, head right again, and you'll see some Dragon Mouths. Here's how it goes; when the top Dragon Mouth stops breathing fire, jump onto the head of the middle Dragon Mouth, attached to the left wall. When the middle Dragon Mouth stops breathing, jump onto the head of the bottom Dragon Mouth, attached to the right wall. When the bottom Dragon Mouth stops breathing, continue the pattern for the next two Dragon Heads (for Dragon Head #4, stand at the very edge of the wall), breaking open an Angel Orb for an Apple. Drop onto the ground when you get the opportunity. Kill one last Gas Eye while going left, and then head through the door. ---------- FIRE WHEEL ---------- Before I say anything else, let me say this; while the Fire Wheel is spinning along the ground, use the Magic Stardust, and repeat this once. Very likely he'll die from two hits. Now that I'm done that, it's quite likely that some of you didn't pack your Stardust, in which case the fight is a bit more difficult. Fire Wheel has two different movement patterns; the first is where he will simply roll back and forth along the ground floor, and he only does this when you refuse to get up on one of the platforms. As your chances of being able to jump over him from the ground is absolute zero, you're going to have to get up on one of the platforms - specifically, one of the two lower platforms, and I'll explain why. When you are on any of the platforms, Fire Wheel will spin over to your side of the room. If you're on one of the lower platforms, you will still have to jump when Fire Wheel comes your way, as his diameter is long enough to still come into contact with you. However, the reason that you don't want to stand on one of the two longer platforms is that after he does his rolling, he'll jump up from the corner of the room onto the taller platform. From there, he will bounce down onto the lower platform (which you can dodge while still on the platform by moving very far away from the center of the room, and ducking), and then into the center of the room, where he will spit out some slow-moving green balls before bouncing back onto one of the lower platforms and then into the corner. It is during the time he's spitting out his green balls that you can take a quick session of slashing, while still running away quickly enough to dodge his green balls of fury (you'll want to run near the center, though - going to one side will just make it easier for Fire Wheel to harm you). It's admittedly slow, but it's realistically the only way to kill him while taking little damage and using no magic. Or, of course, you could just stand in his way while he's spinning, slashing like there's no tomorrow, and taking three or four of his HP for your every one, but it's up to you. DragonAtma from the GameFAQs Actraiser board also has an alternative strategy that you can use; "Fire Wheel is EASY. EASY EASY EASY. When he's in the center, stand on the ground beneath the second platform from the right. As he passes it, jump onto it. He'll respond by jumping upwards, which is your cue to walk left, off the platform, and then back undermneath it. He'll bounce onto the platform you briefly visited, then to the center to shoot projectiles. You're at the base of the aforementioned platform, so his attacks will miss. The best thing is that you can slash as he's on the platform, while he'll just repeat the previous strategy, so he'll never hit you!" END FIGHT ------------------- AITOS SIM AFTERMATH ------------------- Aitos is unique in that there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do after you defeat the area. So, yes. This section is here just to let you, the reader, know about this and thus not waste your time here afterwards. ------------- MARAHNA ACT 1 ------------- Head right and use the small platform as a stepping stone onto the building ruins. Dodge the blowgun attack the Tribal Native will likely use by jumping over it, and then kill him, making sure that you slay the Island Bat that will swoop in from above as well. Now, continue to the edge of the building and jump far right onto the next stepping stone, ensuring that you don't have to deal with the Swamp Jelly that will jump out from down below. Get into the next small building, and kill another Tribal Native quickly. Progress some more, and you'll have to take down two more Island Bats. Now, jump off the building going as far right as you can, preferably killing the lone Island Bat above. You'll be stuck between two Swamp Jellies; avoid their initial attack, wait for the right one to pop up again, and then kill him. Pursue the right once more, getting onto a stepping stone, and then head into the building. Climb up the first few steps and then head left to slay another Tribal Native, then get onto the small platform, and get up onto the right side of the roof. Cut down one more Tribal Native, then run past the two Green Living Columns (wait for them to turn their face around, then duck. They'll jump straight over your head). Take out an Island Bat and a Purple Living Column at the end, and drop down the hole in the roof. Back inside the building, head left, and jump over the next break in the floor, and continue on left. Slay the Purple Living Column and break open the Angel Orb for an Apple, then go down the break in the floor. Head right and eliminate a Tribal Native for a Source of Magic, then go the opposite way, cutting down any fire from the Purple Living Column, and go down the hole. dOWN here, you'll have to fight easily one of the more annoying enemies in the game,a Headless Spearman. Wait for him to jab at you, then jump close to him, swipe with your sword once, then jump back. Repeat twice more, and he'll fall. Now go right all the way down the hallway, headng through the door at the end. In this second room, things will hit a standstill for your first action. Go to the right edge of the building, and jump off onto the stone platform. During this jump, you'll have to go over a Swamp Jelly, yet still be under a Green Living Column, and also slash at a Visp that will fall down from midair. Once on the stone, hop up onto the next solid floor, and kill the Tribal Native seated up there. Continue up the building to the roof, and exterminate yet another Tribal Native. Now, jump from roof to roof (waiting for some Visps between the second and third to fall down), destroying or evading a Green Living Column, and break open an Angel Orb on the third roof for a 1Up. Eliminate the Island Bat that will likely circle around you, then head back to the first roof. From here, drop down the roof onto the floor below it, and head left, slaying a Purple Living Column. Break open the Angel Orb for an Apple, and then head right and drop down into the swamp. Kill the Swamp Jelly before it can cause any troubles, then continue and ward off any enemies that come in from above. Jump over the stepping stone, and take down a Headless Spearman. Continue to go right, slaying any Visps that fall down from above, and fight off one last Headless Spearman. Next, go up and head through the door. ---------- RAFFLASHER ---------- Rafflasher himself is an immobile boss at the end of the screen (can anyone say Magical Stardust?), but he has more than enough wards to make the process of defeating him somewhat sluggishly slow - but not difficult. In any case, Rafflasher is a big mess of tentacles, with a single blue venus fly trap-lookalike extending from his body. This lookalike is the only point where Rafflasher can be damaged, and you could harm it by either standing on the stepping stone and simply jump-slashing from there, or standing right under it, and jump-slashing. However, the Rafflasher has two things to stop you from simply killing it. The first is a tentacle that will float along the ground, partly obscured by the swamp. When it gets close to you, it will extend out from the ground and try to swat you around. It can be jumped over from a stepping stone, though, before it extends out. Because of this, an ideal strategy is to go to the right stepping stone (right next to Rafflasher), strike the boss multiple times, and when the tentacle gets too close, jump over it and head to the left stepping stone. Wait for the tentacle to come over to you, then run back to Rafflasher and continue striking. The other block isn't really difficult, however. Rafflasher will spit out from his mouth just below the blue part a blue seed which, after sailing horizontally awhile, will extend out brown vines. These brown vines will extend left and right from the seed, then up and down, interchanging at a constant pace. However, it can be destroyed in one hit, and the only real damage it can do is just knocking you off balance for a moment before you finish it off. As such, Rafflasher is pretty much an easy boss. END FIGHT ------------------ MARAHNA SIMULATION ------------------ As you'll find out from the people, Marahan is dominated by palm trees and marshland. However, before you do anything of the sort of razing and evaporating, cast your Earthquake Magic. It'll link the northwestern island to the Marahna mainland, allowing you to build up there. With that out of the way, raze the palm trees to the south and east of the Temple with Lightning Magic, up to the White Dragon Monster Lair, where you will need to evaporate the marsh to reveal it with Sun Magic. Start building the road to said Lair, and on the way, you'll be informed of a suspicious church-temple that has appeared in Marahna. After you finally seal off the first White Dragon Monster Lair, you'll get a Bomb Offering for your troubles. Next off, go to the northwest segment of Marahna, and destroy the two plots of palm trees, revealing the Red Demon Monster Lair and allowing you go up there. Now, redirect the roads to go northeast to the first Monster Lair (that of the White Dragon). Once you make it there and seal off the Lair, you'll get a Strength of Angel Offering. Continue on up to the Red Demon Monster Lair. On the way, you'll likely be alerted to an update on the religous temple in town. Now, head to the southwest corner of the map, and evaporate the marshlands with Sun Magic. Per se the usual, bring the road down south of the Temple and then far west into the final Monster Lair (Don't worry, they'll able to build a bridge on their own). On the way, you'll likely be alerted of the people being able to produce Medicinal Herbs, and you'll be able to obtain a Medical Herb Offering; Kasandora needs said Herb. After you finally seal off the last Monster Lair, you'll find the people missing, and realize the shrine nearby is the source of evil in Marahna. Time to fight. ------------- MARAHNA ACT 2 ------------- Once you start, head left, where you'll have to stave off an intense Serpent Man/Wynm assault. Quickly kill the Serpent Man, then crouch and wait for the Wynm. Head left, and you will have to take on another Serpent Man/Wynm duo. After that, continue on left and go onto the elevator at the end, standing in the center and crouching. This way, you'll dodge all the laser fire from the Stone Mouths, you'll be in perfect position to kill the two Wynms to your left and right, and all the damage that you will take is an unfortunate evil from a Fireball (unless you're confident in your platforming abilities, in which case, stand to one side and constantly hit the Stone Mouth statues as you get close to them to destroy them). On the ground, head through the door. In here, fight the Serpent Man that you'll encounter quickly, then head right and fight another Serpent Man. Continue, and you'll come to a large chasm. Jump over the platforms (which will fall down once you come into contact with them) to the other side, and break open the Angel Orb for a 1Up. Now, you have one of two paths you can take. Path A takes you going left, while Path B will see you taking the right path. ------ PATH A ------ Drop down a bit left from the ledge that had the Angel Orb on it, then jump onto the platforms going left, killing the Wynm while you're at it. On the other side, head through the door. Inside, wait for the Skull Head to activate and then retreat. Once it's done it's primary attack, go and attack it, and repeat the same pattern for the next two Skull Heads. Continue on. Now, there are two ways to get through this area; the first is to go down portion by portion, killing lots of Wynms and at least two Deaths, doubtless taking lots of damage and wasting time in the process. OR, you could just freefall by walking off the floor, then moving right once you're falling. That way, you'll land on the bottom. Either way, when you do get the bottom, head right. You'll encounter two sets of Orbs, which are electrical balls that will form a horizontal line, then a vertical line, and constantly interchange, sending an electic field in between them. Wait for them to start their phase change before advancing, killing another Serpent Man on the way to the edge. Head onto one of the rotating platforms, and once you get into the lower right corner, drop off to break the Angel Orb open for an Apple. Get back onto the platforms again, and exit out onto the upper-right hallway. Continue on to end Path A. END PATH A ---------- ------ PATH B ------ Drop down a bit left from the ledge that had the Angel Orb on it onto one of the platforms, then head back right and kill the Wynm. Go through the door. In this next area, go under the first spike once it heads up, then get on top of the second one and crouch. When it goes down, slip off to the right side, and run under the next two falling spikes. Repeat the crouch-freefall trick for the fifth spike, then run under the sixth, killing a Wymn straight after it. Now, in four quick motions while going down, fall down to the right, then to the left, right again (unless the Death gets straight in your face, in which case kill it quickly) and left one final time to get down to the bottom. Down here, head left, taking out a Serpent Man/Wymn duo, then continue on. Get onto one of the platforms, and at the center bottom of the room, drop off to break open an Angel Orb for a 1Up. Get back onto a platform and exit out onto the upper-left hallway, then head over to end this path. END PATH B ---------- Now that the paths have intersected, first off, jump onto the center platform at the top, and slay any Wymns around you. Next, drop off to the left, and kill the Death next to you, then get onto the platform he was on, and continue dropping down until you get to the bottom platform. Here, kill the Death to your left quickly, and take out the Wynms to your right. Drop off, and head left past the Orbs, killing another Serpent Man. At the end of the hallway, go down the elevator. Going down, jump off to the right before you fall into the spike pit, and run down past the last Death into the door. ----- KALIA ----- Again, if you bring Magical Stardust and a good number of Source of Magics with you, you can end the battle quickly. Even otherwise, Kalia is not very difficult to defeat. Anywho, Kalia, who remains immobile for the most part, has three attacks. The first is where you will happen to be standing under one of the spike platforms that Kalia has at his disposal. Kalia will have it drop down onto the ground with a thud, and it will then slowly go back up. It is ideal that you use this attack as the most common way to counterattack, as you can jump onto the platform to either the left of right of Kalia and slash at him two or three times before you will be forced to jump off. The second of his attacks is where Kalia will charge up a blue wave of electrical energy. He will then send it onto the floor, and it will head your direction. However, the energy WILL NEVER DIRECTLY HIT YOU; instead, the ball of electricity will hit the spot on the floor right beside you, and then go your way. As such, it is ideal to wait for it to hit the floor, and then jump over it, instead of getting in it's path when it's going through the air. Kalia's third attack occurs when you get too close to him. Spikes will emerge out from his bottom, and he'll hit the ground, and stay there for a few seconds. He will then get back up, doing a zig-zag through the air (so stay back a ways to avoid getting hit by him). Kalia is pretty easy so long as you know the patterns behind all his attacks, so you shouldn't have too much of a difficult in defeating him. END FIGHT --------------------- MARAHNA SIM AFTERMATH --------------------- Once you get the Herb, take it to Kasandora, where you will be able to fix the problems of the Plague with said Herb. Stick around there for awhile, and the people of Kasandora will find an Ancient Tablet that mentions something about a 'bird-shaped island'. This refers to the island northeast of the Marahna Mainland, so use the Ancient Tablet, and cast Lightning on the bird-shaped island - one of the trees will be destroyed. Once the Marahna sailboat gets back, you'll be presented with the Magical Aura. --------------- NORTHWALL ACT 1 --------------- From the start, head right, and when you are going up a small slope, you'll have to jump up if you want to get anywhere fast. At the same time, you will be required to kill a Roc. Once that's done, go up and right a bit more, and kill the Snowman while dodging his axes (which he'll throw, not slash with). Procede onwards, then when sliding down the slope going down, jump off to the right at the end, and kill the Snow Gargoyle Statute (ducking if you have to), and kill any stray Rocs that are around. Jump over the spike pit, and kill another Snow Gargoyle Statue. Next, slide down another slope, and while jumping off in mid-air, cut down any Rocs that get in your way so you don't get knocked into the spike pit below. Now continue down and destroy another Snow Gargoyle Statue, then head down three more slopes in rapid succession, jumping over the Snow Gargoyle's Statue at the bottom of the first, and jumping onto the plateau with the Angel Orb at the third. Break open said Angel Orb for a Source of Magic, then make sure that you eliminate a Roc before jumping to the right. For the ice bridge, the ice will only start to fall down when you've made contact and THEN moved again; not when you fall or stand on them at first. With that in mind, make your way to the right side and kill the Gargoyle Statue. Climb up two large slopes (slaying any Rocs if you need to) and enter the door at the top. Inside, ignore the Eyeball coming in from the left, and instead jump over another spike shift. Here, head right to an ice bridge, and exterminate the Snow Gargoyle Statue at the end along with any stray Eyeballs. Do the same for a Snowman at the end of the second bridge, then when heading down the first slope, jump to the right and climb the second slope. Kill the Snow Gargoyle Statue, break open the Angel Orb for a Crown, and then drop down the pit. On the bottom, head left, and wait for the Ice Cube to float over to you. When it does, jump on, and swipe down and Snow Bats that come down from the ceiling. When you float left, slay the Snow Gargoyle Statue from the safety of your Ice Cube, and when you float back another time, jump up and break open the Angel Orb for an Apple. Now head back to the point where you fell down from the room above, then go down the slope and into the water. Head right and open up the Angel Orb for a 1Up, then head back to the bottom of the slope on the right. Wait for the Ice Cube on this side of the water to float over to you, then jump on. On your way right, you'll have to fight off some Snow Bats, so do so. Get onto the second Ice Cube when you see it, and when you head right this time, crouch to escape the graze of some low icycles. Jump off at the end, killing the Snowman. Head through the door. In here, head right, and go up onto the second ice platform that's within sight, slaying any Eyeballs that decide to get close to you. When an Ice Cube drops down, you'll automatically fall down with it, and start sliding right. When you see some ice platforms, jump off the Ice Cube and get onto them. Climb up, and head left at the top, killing some Snow Bats and a Snowman. Destroy the Angel Orb for a Half Apple, then continue left, killing the Snow Gargoyle Statue guarding the second Angel Orb. Break it open for a 1Up. Now go back to the platform that you can use to get onto an Ice Cube, and wait. When you get on, ignore the first set of platforms this time around, and a few seconds later, the Ice Cube will be in midair. Jump onto these ice platforms while the Ice Cube goes down into the spike pits. Destroy the Angel Orb for a Crown, and start climbing. Destroy an Angel Orb on the second portion of the platforms for a Bomb, and exit out to the left on the third portion. Procede left, and cut down some Snow Bats from the ceiling. Drop down the small slope and slay a Snowman, then continue on and kill another Snowman. Destroy the Snow Gargoyle Statue while still standing on the ground, then go up a few platforms and slay the Snow Gargoyle Statue to the right. Continue up and to the right to destroy an Angel Orb for a Source of Magic, then head back left. Go up the left side of the area, then climb up, killing another Snowman, and bypassing a third and fourth Gargoyle Statue to get to the top. Up here, kill the Snow Bats, then head left to destroy the Gargoyle Statue. Break open the Angel Orb for an Apple, then head right up the slopes, destroying one last Snow Gargoyle Statue and Snowman before heading through the door. ---------- MERMAN FLY ---------- The Merman Fly is perhaps singlehandedly THE most annoying boss in the game, partially as unless you have some mad platforming skills, you're likely to take damage every time you try to attack him with one small exception. Allow me to elaborate. Merman Fly starts off in the lower-right corner of the screen, and when you get close to him, he'll fly up and start moving left. When he moves left, he'll summon up a charged blast of purple energy and send it earthwards straight down. This energy blast will also create a temporary ripple, which if you come into contact with, WILL HURT YOU. He will then continue left for awhile, until he'll drop down and then swoop to the right back to his position in the lower- right corner, requiring you to duck a good ways away from said corner to not get damaged. The problem is that if you try to hit him from the left when he's down in the corner, you'll have to waste a bunch of time getting out of the way during his initial onslaught of energy beams, then waste more time chasing after him, and even more time when trying to duck when he swoops down. The best method to actually consistently damage him is to make your way to one of the top platforms. Jump down at the Merman Fly from the top and slash and hack at him. You WILL take damage, but proportionally he can take as much as six times the amount of damage that he dishes out. As such, the fight with Merman Fly is mainly of patience, trying to duck and weave, and jumping from the top. END FIGHT -------------------- NORTHWALL SIMULATION -------------------- As you'll find out quickly, Northwall is covered with snow. Before doing anything, use the Sheep's Fleece offering that you obtained while in Aitos. Once you've done that, start staving a path north to the Red Demon's Monster Lair, and north & east to the Flying Skull's Monster Lair. With the snow melted on the left side of the river, direct the road to go first to the Flying Skull Monster Lair, and then to the Lair of the Red Demon. Once you've gotten the Flying Skull's Monster Lair sealed, you'll get a Strength of Angel Offering. With the Red Demon's Monster Lair sealed, a Bomb Offering will have been found. With the destruction of the first two Monster Lairs, the people of Northwall will figure out how to build bridges on their own. Use this opportunity to start warming up the land on and to the right of the river, starting off with the land to the south and east of the Temple. Once the White Dragon's Lair has been revealed, proceed to build the road from the Temple onto said Monster Lair, and continue on warming up the land around there. On the way to the White Dragon Lair, the people will likely find you a Source of Magic Offering. Seal up the White Dragon Lair, and once that's done, go right and up to the last Lair, that of another Flying Skull. Seal it up, and the giant tree will be revealed as the source of evil in the land, in this last and rather anti-climatic simulation. Before you go, however, cast Lightning Magic on the Temple, and you'll get a Source of Life Offering from the people. --------------- NORTHWALL ACT 2 --------------- Ah, yes. The last of the last. The final dungeon. Head down left and jump onto the cliff going up left. At the top is an Angel Orb containing a 1Up. Go back down now, and slip through the crack between the two ledges, killing any Eyeballs that may get in your way. Head to the left of this second floor to break open an Angel Orb for a Crown, then head to the far right for another Angel Orb, this time with a Source of Magic. Drop through the right hole (mainly because you won't be able to get up to the left side again), and slay the Snowman to your left quickly. With him out of the way, go up left and destroy one more Angel Orb for a Diamond. Now go down right. Fight another Snowman, and then head through the door. In here, start climbing up the right side, using the central platforms to advance your position upwards. The first thing you'll have to watch out for are the Carrier Eagles that swoop around, not only swooping down at you but also dropping Worms which will crawl along the floor. When you've dispatched the first set of them, kill the Snowman to the right, and continue up top while cutting down more Carrier Eagles, until you get to the Axeman (much like a Snowman, but he throws axes that go horizontally straight both along the floor and above it). Kill him, and then head right through one of the tree's branches. Head far to the right, and then jump onto the ice platform. Continue on up and outside, and then continue on up into the second branch. Break open the Angel Orb to the right for a Diamond, then head back left into the tree, killing another Snowman. Now jump up and left over the Tree Sap to get to a left branch of the tree, and kill an Axeman. While warding off a bunch of Eyeballs, head up a branch, and once you make it up, jump over the Tree Sap to break open the Angel Orb for a Crown. Head back over the Tree Sap and continue right, killing more Eyeballs and an Axeman. Back inside, jump up to the right to kill another Snowman, then continue up and to the left to kill yet another Snowman. Procede upwards some more, and two Snowman, many Carrier Eagles, and countless Tree Saps later, you should see a branch to the right. Jump over into it, and kill an Axeman guarding the front. Go right and slip down the hole, and down here, slay a Snowman. Break open the Angel Orb to the right for a Diamond, and then slip down the second hole, and a third after that. On this part, break open the right Angel Orb for an Apple, and the left for a 1Up. Drop down again to kill another Axeman, and then head back into the tree. When you get to the branch again, ignore it, instead going the opposite way and jumping over a Tree Sap, at the same time cutting down a Carrier Eagle in midair. Now head up a few more platforms, kill one of the Snowmen, and use the platform the dead Snowman originally was on to climb up to the next level of the tree. In here, you'll have to use bubbles to make your way up to the top. Ignore the Gold and Blue Bubbles, as the Golds will explode when you get close, and the Blues will break open quickly when you land on them. Instead, take the Green Bubbles (which you will have to jump on alot so that they have time to reinflate instead of breaking), first going up the right to get an Apple from an Angel Orb, then going up the Center and left. At the top of the tree, head up the branch into the next room. ------------- ARCTIC WYVERN ------------- Arctic Wyvern is another of those bosses that tip-toes a fine line between types of strategies to use depending on your current status. Asides from using Magical Stardust (which absolutely devastates him), he will be really easy if you have lots of HP remaining, and not so easy if you wish to keep from being damaged. The Wyvern's first step will be to swoop down from the sky, and then go back up, going off-screen for a few seconds. If you have the Magical Aura equipped, you can utilize it at this point in time while he is swooping down to pretty much cut his total HP in half. He will then come down again, and face the direction of God's avatar. He will fire a couple of ice balls in the direction he is FACING, but he CANNOT turn around. This means that you can take the time to run behind him, and get a few shots in, but you will still have to run away after that; while he can't necessarily turn around while firing, he can when he is swooping down. And that is pretty much it. You will have to choose in either ducking or running away from him when he is swooping, but otherwise, it is just another game of patience if you want to defeat him. END FIGHT ----------------------- NORTHWALL SIM AFTERMATH ----------------------- After the battle, the people will thank you for saving them from the Arctic Wyvern. With that done, go to the northeast corner of the map, and use Sun Magic on the panels over the lake. The people will then send out a sailboat, and when it gets back, they'll give you the Magical Light. ---------- DEATH HEIM ---------- In Death Heim, you'll have to fight all the Act 2 bosses of each of the towns one by one, and then Tanzra himself. The following are the rules that govern this battle. -You have four lives plus extras from Source of Lives that you can use up. Dying will only take you back to restart the fight you just lost, except in the case of Tanzra 2, where you'll have to fight Tanzra 1 again. -You will start off with the number of Scrolls of Magic you have collected from the towns (maximum of seven), and each time you use one, it's gone forever. Even if you die, it WILL NOT be restored back to seven, so if you're at low health in a situation, it may be wise to not use it. -Once you fight Tanzra himself, God's avatar will get a sword update that allows him to shoot waves of energy from his sword, much like the Red Bird God from Kasandora. With that said, I'll go straight to Tanzra, as I've already got boss strategies for the other six bosses. If you want to find them, then open the search box via Search + F and look their respective strategies up. Boss 1 - Minotaurus Boss 2 - Zeppelin Wolf Boss 3 - Pharoah Boss 4 - Fire Wheel Boss 5 - Kalia Boss 6 - Arctic Wyvern ------------- TANZRA FORM 1 ------------- This is it. Tanzra has two forms, the first of which has the customary amount of 24 HP, and he is actually rather easy. Tanzra's head will float in the sky, grey and closed. During this time, blue streaks of rain shall fall down from the sky and hit the ground, making small explosions on impact; both the rain and the explosion will cause damage if you come into contact with them. However, they are quite generally small, you never have more than three onscreen at one time, and they aren't so fast that you can't dodge them. Once the rain has finished, Tanzra will open his eyes up, and he should float down onto the bottom of the screen. What he does next is send four small orbs of blue energy diagonally in each direction. What's amazing is how it seems the developers MADE him intentionally easy; all you have to do is seat yourself a certain ways away from Tanzra (hard to describe in words. You will have to test and see for yourself), crouch, and then slash your sword to send out energy beam after energy beam after energy beam. Once he closes his eyes, he shall go back up to the top, and the rain of blue will start again. And amazingly, that's all there is to it, so all you have to do is repeat to win. END FIGHT ------------- TANZRA FORM 2 ------------- After the rather anti-climatic last battle, Tanzra reveals his true form, which has a whopping 40 HP. He also has a tri-prong of attacks, which he always does in order, and constantly loops. The first thing Tanzra will do is send out three pairs of orange energy balls from his hand. One half of each pair will float along the top, the other along the bottom, and when you get in between them, they'll collide together, hoping to hurt you in the process. As such, a good way to avoid this is by running forward past the first one, waiting for the second one to come to you and then running backwards, and running past the third one again. After that, Tanzra will open up what looks like a rib cage to reveal a blue heart. This is the only time that Tanzra is at all vulnerable to attack, and his blue heart is the key. As such, you must use this time to either swipe your sword multiple times to send energy wave beams, Magical Fire, or Magical Stardust at Tanzra. Magical Light doesn't do so much damage, but it is an option if the next part of Tanzra's trio of attacks annoy you, as it hits the center of the screen, then branches out to both sides, destroying everything in it's path and harming Tanzra's heart. Watch out when attacking, though; Tanzra will eventually charge up his blue heart for a split second, and then send out a burst of blue energy across the screen. When this happens, duck. After, Tanzra's rib cage will have closed. Tanzra will then drop to the bottom screen, and spit out of his mouth two sets of star-shaped icons, two blue and two orange (I do not believe there is any difference besides colors). These things will then hunt you down until you destroy them with your sword or magic (preferably Magical Light for it's efficiency). If you come into contact with them, they will hurt you, but WILL NOT BE DESTROYED, thus making them more annoying; and when Tanzra gets to third phase again and spits out more stars, the last set of stars will not be automatically destroyed. Eventually, Tanzra will fall, and with that, you will have won. END FIGHT With that, watch the ending. ================= PROFESSIONAL MODE ================= Once you have defeated Tanzra 2, wait for the ending to go through. When the game finally restarts and goes through the title sequence, put the cursor on 'New Game'. Press either Select or Down, and then hit A. Professional Mode results in more difficult action sequences, so beware if that is the part of the game you struggle with. ======= CREDITS ======= -The big contributor to this FAQ was also a very BIG help; the GameFAQs user The Admiral (who also goes under the name Admiral) had created an extensive guide on population mechanics, and allowed me to use his work. Much of what you see under the Forcing Civilization Improvements section is thanks to him. His own guide can be found here; http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/563502/47431 -DragonAtma (also off of the GameFAQs message boards) also helped provide some depth with his (her?) alternative tips and strategies in fighting various bosses. Need help with something that's not in this FAQ? Got a comment to make? Find something wrong in this FAQ, or else just want to contribute something extra? Email me at darkstar.ripclaw AT gmail DOT com if you need any of these things. Just a warning note; if I recognize a question as something being asked in this FAQ, it's not getting answered. ________________________________________________________________________________ ;;ff LLKK.. ..WW##ii tt####LL DD####DD ii########ii LL########LL ..WW########EE ff############;; ..KK############ff ii##############DD GG################;; ;;WW################jj LLKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKWW####################KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKLL.. ,,GG################################################################ii ..EE############################################################EEttttii,, ttKK######################################################WWLL;;,,;;jjffjj;; ..ttKK################################################KKtt::::::::ttjjjjff ..ttKK##########################################LL::::::::::::::::::LL ;;LLKK####################################jj ::ii;;;;;;..;;ii;; ii;; ;ttGGKK##############################GG::::::::;;,,;;;;.. ..iiii iiii .ii############################KKtt iiii ;;;;;; .tt##########################WWtt tttt ;;, ::DD########################WWii ;; ,;;;; .;;;;WW############EE##########WW.. ;i;; ii;;jj############ff..GG##########;; .. ;;ii....LL##########GG.. ;;KK########;; ii.. KK########DD.. iiWW######ii ii########KK,, jj######LL LL######WW;; LL######;; DD####WWii ..KK####tt ,,WW####jj ;;WW##GG ff####LL tt##WW,, LL##GG.. LL##tt jjKK.. ..KKLL A Darkstar Ripclaw Production ________________________________________________________________________________ ©2006-2007 Darkstar Ripclaw