Cliff Hanger(Arcade) FAQ/Walkthrough
version 1.0.0
by Andrew Schultz
[email protected]
Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. If you
write a polite e-mail to me referring to me(and this FAQ) by name, then I
will probably say OK. But if I ignore you that means no--and I am bad about
answering e-mail. Sorry.
This FAQ is hopefully not just about the moves but also about getting Daphne
up and running if you happen to have the video files. It's a bit tricky, but
I made some mistakes getting it to run, and I bet a lot of other people may
be frustrated almost getting it to run. So I want the FAQ to do that,
eventually.
Ad space:
Visit haitchlee's video walkthrough. I didn't notice a walkthrough had been
written before I wrote mine. I hope that my walkthrough provides some ways of
figuring out how to process the information.
(well acknowledgements really)
http://www.dragons-lair-project.com
http://www.daphne-emu.com
See haitchlee's FAQ for more links specific to Cliff Hanger/Lupin.
Wherever I got the discs with the image files on them. They were worth it!
Without them I could never have replayed the game.
================================
OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CONTROLS AND SCORING
3. STRATEGY
4. WALKTHROUGH
(organized by scene groups)
5. CHEATS
6. VERSIONS/CREDITS
================================
1. INTRODUCTION
1-1. THE GAME
Cliff Hanger is a Laser Disc based on the Anime Lupin III series, and it
takes scenes exclusively from the movies Castle of Cagliostro(from which this
game borrows heavily for plot) and Mystery of Mamo. Lupin III himself is
based on Arsene Lupin, the main character of Maurice LeBlanc's detective
books. There are lots of funny short stories.
It's pretty linear as Laser Disc games go. You have 4 ways to move the
joystick and Hands and Feet buttons. On some machines you have options for
Continue. There is a prompt at the bottom of the screen telling you what to
do next, though sometimes it's completely unclear what to do, or you have to
prompt a move before you see what happens. If you mess up, the game tells you
what you do wrong. After certain moves, you get cut scenes which signify the
next stopping point if you die.
The plot of Cliff Hanger is: thugs chase princess for Count Draco to marry
her. Thugs capture princess. Lupin(known as Cliff in the game, with his pal
Jigen, who is never referred to by name) goes to rescue her from Count Draco.
Some of the plot may seem confusing and parts even show wild inconsistency--
the night and day differences when Lupin is going about on the rooftops, and
there's even a brief appearance of Fujiko, and Goemon drops by at times for
no apparent reason. This did not make sense to me until I saw the movies,
which I really enjoyed. But it's an entertaining game and a pretty quick one
to boot.
I really enjoyed the game, too, getting stuck on the Ninjas. I wasted a lot
of quarters getting there but by the time I did, the laser disc craze had
died. Here's a chance for you to play a game you maybe heard of via anime, or
remembered vaguely from the arcard, and to get through it.
<add Daphne/DaphneLoader text to begin>
DaphneLoader is a great frontend that helps you play the game. To get Cliff
Hanger running you need the Cliff Hanger roms(a zip file including cliff_u[1-
5].bin] or the files themselves in
[daphne directory]\roms\cliff
in another directory you need the cliff.m2v, cliff.txt and cliff.ogg files.
You can specify this directory in
configure : game/laserdisc : configure laserdisc
1) yes, use virtual laserdisc player
2) no, I will install any missing video/audio files manually
(you can say YES if you can get access to a torrent)
MPEG Framefile Location should be the location of the cliff.txt file e.g.
c:\games\daphne\cliff\cliff.txt
You should be able to run the game now.
Running just daphne from the command line,
daphne cliff vldg -framefile c:\games\daphne\cliff\cliff.txt
Sorry, I won't/can't tell you where to get these, but you should be able to
google them pretty easily. There are torrents for the non copyrighted laser
disc games(not Dragon's Lair/Space Ace/Thayer's Quest) but the convenience of
having a file on a disc may be worth the price of a DVD, as the m2v file for
Cliff Hanger is 1 gigabyte.
1-2. CAGLIOSTRO AND MOMO
The hanging scene is from the beginning of Mamo.
The scene in the French city is from Mamo, as is the scene with the car.
Parts of Cagliostro are cut out. For instance, you do not see Lupin escaping.
None of the death scenes in the game feature Lupin actually dying, and some
are blended in to the "correct" narrative.
Wikipedia has information on the details of the plots, and you should be able
to pick up a VHS of either pretty cheap.
Some scenes from either movie are repeated several times in the game, often
right after each other(ninjas, thugs throwing bombs.)
2. CONTROLS AND SCORING
You have 6 moves possible: up, down, left, right, hands and feet.
You may push the button for a move in advance without penalty. However, some
moves have a smaller time window than others, so you may need to tap
repeatedly.
You will hear a noise on a correct move, which is a big help for when you
have to make a few moves in a row.
You get 5000 points for each successful move and 10000 for completing a
scene.
3. STRATEGY
There's no real strategy besides memorization. Or just getting used to what
happens. Picture what happens ahead of time and fit your moves to that.
Pinpoint any moves that don't make sense. And if you have Daphne, use 'p' to
pause the game and review. Especially for the ninjas sequence.
The ninjas sequence has a lot of moves but many of the combinations are
repetitive, so that works in your favor. Oh, and the fight with Draco uses
"hands" a lot. Don't be scared to look for the prompt saying >STICK< ( 1 of 4
joystick directions) or >ACTION< (1 of 2 actions.)
Even using guesswork, you should be able to get through each scene in 5
tries, especially if you have enabled the "SHOULD HAVE DONE X" feature after
you die. And because you have an option for unlimited continues and/or
infinite lives, you will eventually make it through.
There are a lot of cut scenes where you don't have to worry about much. Just
enjoy them and keep an eye on the bottom. Conversely, if you have an action-
intensive scene, just keep pushing the same button over and over again until
you're wrong, or if you switch stick/action, switch to the last action/stick
you had. You'll get it right eventually. I did.
4. WALKTHROUGH
4-1. INTRODUCTORY SCENE
FEET to jump over the barrier.
FEET to jump over the barrier. You may and probably should push this before
you land.
HANDS to open the car door when the car appears.
UP to start the car running when Jigen appears.
4-2. FREEWAY SCENE
LEFT past the truck
RIGHT to the center line
DOWN past the blue car
LEFT when the next screen appears
RIGHT when you've gone to the left
HANDS when Lupin pops up through the sunroof
4-3. COUNTRY ROAD SCENE
Jigen fixes the tire. Princess Clarissa drives by. Then the thugs drive by.
Jigen and Lupin talk.
DOWN to enter the car
HANDS to pull the clutch and start the car
LEFT to get the car started
RIGHT to swerve the car back on the road
RIGHT when going along the S
LEFT when going along the S
LEFT when you see the car come around the curve. This is tricky because of
the sudden switch.
RIGHT when the trailer is coming right at you.
DOWN when the car is in the center of the road, balancing on two wheels.
4-4. MOUNTAIN DETOUR
LEFT when the first bomb comes from the thugs' car ahead.
LEFT when the second bomb comes from the thugs' car ahead.
LEFT when the second bomb comes from the thugs' car ahead.
HANDS when Lupin is in view. You need him to break the car's front window.
UP when the car goes on its side(to go up the mountain.)
RIGHT when the car is at the top of the mountain, so it does not fall off the
cliff.
(drive through forest, wait for bird to fly by)
LEFT when the car appears on the other side, to avoid flying off the cliff.
4-5. RESCUING THE PRINCESS
DOWN when Lupen says "hold on!"
LEFT when the scene changes from going down the mountain to around the bend.
This is tricky and probably unfair, so be on guard for it.
HANDS to climb onto the Princess's car.
FEET once you are on it, to leave your car.
FEET to climb down into her car.
FEET to apply the brakes so you do not hit the construction workers.
RIGHT when you see the frontal view of the car, to swerve and miss the
bulldozer
HANDS when the Princess's car begins to fall off the cliff and Lupin yells.
You will throw a spike on a rope, and it will wind around a jutting tree
branch.
4-6. PARIS(I THINK)
HANDS to open your belt.
HANDS quickly again to wind the string so you reach the ground before the
tree branch supporting you breaks.
Now three quick moves.
LEFT to jump over the door
FEET quickly to jump in the car and hit the gas
UP to get away from the helicopter
RIGHT when the car goes around the corner
LEFT when you have the view from behind and are about to rear-end a car
LEFT as you go past the alley so you swerve back into it
HANDS to reverse. This is tricky because you need to push while you still see
the helicopter.
DOWN immediately to duck the fire.
RIGHT when you get out of the alley, to back up
LEFT to reverse your previous path
4-7. CONSTRUCTION ZONE
UP to enter it
DOWN to keep moving. You can push the next buttons in quick succession.
LEFT
DOWN
RIGHT
UP and you will fall down a chute. Lupin and Jigen will laugh at their close
shave.
4-8. SEWERS
UP when the helicopter appears and you see the back view of your car.
The next part is easy if you just push left-right etc when you see > STICK <.
There are 5 pairs of left-rights starting with LEFT, so this should not be
bad. You can anticipate the moves ahead of time. They are not evenly spaced,
but usually once you cross the helicopter fire you'll want to push the other
way.
There's a cut scene with Goemon next.
RIGHT to escape the blast once the helicopter explosion carries in the
tunnel.
4-9. NINJAS
A bunch of ninjas scurry around across rooftops. Jigen and Lupin are set to
head them off at the door, but one goes flying through the window. Here is
the first fight. A lot of the cut scenes repeat. I followed the >STICK< and
>ACTION< prompts. Fortunately there's only one STICK and one ACTION, making
it easier to get through this rather long episode.
HANDS
HANDS
RIGHT ( you won't see Lupin when you need to do this, just the enemy about to
strike)
RIGHT
RIGHT
RIGHT
HANDS (a bit of a wait--weapons meet, then send the enemy hurtling through
the window)
That kills the first bad guy.
HANDS
RIGHT
HANDS and then
HANDS quickly after to kill the second.
HANDS (?)
--- break here if you die
HANDS
HANDS
RIGHT ( you won't see Lupin when you need to do this, just the enemy about to
strike)
RIGHT
RIGHT
RIGHT
HANDS (a bit of a wait--weapons meet, then send the enemy hurtling through
the window)
Another guy flies through.
UP
HANDS (quickly)
RIGHT
HANDS-HANDS-HANDS
Now the ninjas really fly at you.
HANDS
HANDS
RIGHT
RIGHT
HANDS
HANDS
Another guy appears frog like.
UP
HANDS
RIGHT
HANDS
HANDS
HANDS
HANDS
HANDS when you bring out the dynamite.
4-10. ROOFTOPS
Be careful here if you die and be ready to push FEET. I'd watch the prompts
here as the whole bit is counter intuitive and even tapping FEET preemptively
is not a perfect
FEET when you see Lupin running. There's not a big break here once the scene
starts.
FEET again
FEET
HANDS (Lupin stumbles a bit)
FEET
FEET (twice quickly)
LEFT in the car
RIGHT with the ninja on the car
RIGHT when you see two of them
4-11. THE CASTLE SEWERS
HANDS to remove the bar
You'll see two hats in the water.
HANDS when you see Lupin hold onto the wall above the waterfall, so he can
put on the scuba gear.
LEFT when Lupin is underwater. (you'll hear bubbles)
FEET when you see the waterfall they are about to fall over--the screen will
suddenly be brighter when you do--you'll have gone through a narrow passage.
A long wait, and Lupin won't be able to grab onto Jigen anyway.
4-12. THE GEARS
RIGHT when you see the cogs.
DOWN quickly.
LEFT but there is a bit of a delay before you need to.
You're under a cog now.
HANDS to grab the cog teeth.
UP to get through the grinding gears when >STICK< appears.
4-13. UP THE CASTLE WALLS
Another cut scene. Lupin takes off his wet suit.
HANDS as Lupin climbs up.
FEET When he can see over the roof gutter.
FEET quickly
HANDS quickly after that
LEFT once you are on the roof.
HANDS while you are balancing.
FEET quickly so Lupin catches himself when he falls.
UP quickly so Lupin gets back up.
Wait for Lupin to get to the edge.
FEET to make it to the next turret.
LEFT quickly to walk around the turret.
LEFT once you are looking at Lupin and he looks up.
FEET to walk around the turret quickly
UP to climb up the roof quickly
4-14. ON THE ROOFTOPS
HANDS to throw the spike as Lupin climbs the side wall
UP to start climbing to the very top
HANDS to grab the rocket as it starts to fall
DOWN to follow it once you see Lupin
HANDS to grab the rocket when you see Lupin's foot next to it
FEET as Lupin runs down the roof and is about to jump off
FEET quickly even before he lands on the next roof
FEET quickly again when he is on it
HANDS to grab the turret Lupin jumps into
4-15. ON THE TURRET
HANDS as he is about to slide off
UP as he starts to do a pull-up
HANDS as he grabs in his pocket
UP once his spike catches
4-16. THE PRINCESS
The first action is tricky as you shift to day right away.
FEET to kick open the window hatch.
HANDS after Lupin talks to the Princess.
HANDS to grab the princess.
4-17. THE WEDDING
Lupin is the bishop in disguise, disrupting the wedding.
UP to blast off with the dynamite once you get a close-up of the rockets.
UP once Lupin takes Clarissa's hand in the 1/2 overhead view.
FEET to move away from the gears.
FEET for Lupin to jump on the gears.
FEET to avoid Count Draco's sword.
RIGHT quickly after that.
4-18. THE FIGHT
FEET to run from Count Draco.
HANDS quickly after that to parry.
HANDS to parry.
HANDS
HANDS
HANDS
HANDS quickly in succession.
When Draco shows up again,
HANDS 9x. Just listen for the beeps.
Draco will appear on the top of the gears again.
HANDS 11x.
Lupin and Draco will be on the gears.
HANDS when Lupin comes around.
HANDS when you see the close-up of the Count.
HANDS when you see the next close-up of the count.
Lupin will lose his balance. Push HANDS when he starts talking and he will be
hanging from the edge of a gear.
The Count will chase Clarissa up the stairs, laughing.
4-19. THE FINALE
LEFT to avoid the missiles the Count fires at you.
FEET to use your feet as you slide down.
FEET once the Count kicks Clarissa and she falls.
FEET to jump at her when you see Lupin and Clarissa in the picture.
HANDS right after when you are in midair, swimming toward her.
HANDS to grab Clarissa when Lupin gets close.
Now the finale. The Count is killed by the clock, and you do not have to make
any more moves. You win! You don't even have to use "hands" when kissing the
Princess.
5. CHEATS
Look in the options menu. You can have infinite lives, turn hints(dying and
in-game) on and off, and determine the number of lives, etc.
================================
6. VERSIONS/CREDITS
1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 9/24/2008, complete, but there is probably something
to proofread, and I want to discuss the game's relationship to the movies it
takes the scenes from.
Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they
are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done.
Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow
Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog,
Lagoona, Da Hui and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-
yet-banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want
him to be part of mine.
Thanks to bloomer especially for pointing me to Daphne, where I could get the
DVD's, and for general encouragement. It especially helped here.
Thanks to dragons-lair-project and daphne-emu for all their inspiring hard
work.
