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Slashout Version 1.0
Created by hotsoup
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This is my first attempt on writing a FAQ. The reasons why I chose Slashout as
my first FAQ is because there is no current FAQ on it, I know quite a bit about
the game and lastly, my liking of the game. I am writing this FAQ based on my
own experience of the game only with the exception of the item locations which I
had some info gathered from the net.
STANDARD DISCLAIMER
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This document is copyright (2001 by hotsoup). Reproduction of this document in
part or in whole without the author's consent is strictly forbidden. If the
reader wishes to use the FAQ for their personal and private use only,
then a copy may be made.
This FAQ is written strictly for evaluation and reference purposes and should
never be used for commercial purposes. The FAQ can be distributed freely as
long as full credit is given to the author.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. Introduction and Background Information
2. Things on the Playing screen
3. Characters
4. Controls/Combos
5. Item locations
6. Walkthrough (Normal Mode)
7. Walkthrough (Time attack mode)
8. Boss Strategies
9. Secrets and tips
10. Closing
11. Credits
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1. Introduction and Background Information
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Slashout is an arcade game released by Sega in 2000 after the release of
its popular predecessor, Spikeout. Players who are familier with the controls
of Spikeout will find the controls of Slashout similar (charge attack, knock
down attack etc). These 2 games were never released in the Sega Dreamcast though.
The player only has one life and if his HP drops to zero, the game is over. Same
thing goes for time over.
The game is basically just hacking and slashing, occasionally shooting
enemies using magic (especially in the later stages). Unlike Spikeout, the game
does not have multiple paths within a stage (Opening different gates within a
stage counts as the same path to me since they lead back to the same place after
a SHORT WHILE. However, if you manage to clear a stage within the time limit,
i.e. time attack mode,(the time limit varies according to
the stage), you can open the other gate at the boss room, leading to a different
stage. The more stages one manages to clear within the time limit, the more
stages the person gets to play in the game. Hence the number of stages a person
plays can range from 5-8, depending on how well the person plays. The default
number of stages (without attempting Time attack mode) is 6 and all new players
should at least complete the game with normal
mode before trying time attack mode.
Enemies can still be attacked even if they run out of HP provided you do
not let them land on the ground long enough for the body to disappear. Hence it
is possible to multiple hit combos on a dying enemy if you chain the combo well
(i.e. using a knockup attack to hit the enemy up, then attacking, then knockup
again etc). Subsequent knockup attacks after a while on the same enemy will
cause the enemy to fly further and lower than usual and that makes infinity
combos not possible in the game.
The time limit in the game is very strict. If the counter reaches 0, it is
game over IMMEDIATELY. Time is re-added by killing a certain number of enemies
in the stage or damaging a boss to a certain extent. Attention must be given to
the time counter while doing long combos. Defeating a gatekeeper always resets
the time limit to 20 secs.
Life-ups in Slashout are rare, and most of them only restore 1/4 of HP.
Thankfully, after a character level up, his HP is fully restored. Characters
level up by collecting jems dropped by hitting/killing monsters. The higher the
level, the more gems are needed to level up (common sense). The character's HP,
attack, magic attack range (level 4 magic)increases during level up. I am not
sure whether defence increased during level up, but
even if it did, it is not significant enough for me to mention it. Another
thing to take note is that magic attack range for level 4 only increases
significantly at about level 8. It seems to me that once a character reaches
level 8, his range of magic attack is boosted tremendously while levels gained
long before and after level 10 hardly affects the range.
The range of magic attack varies according to each character as well (see
Characters section for details).
Score is Slashout is earned by doing multiple hit combos, especially the
ones with magic attacks included in them. Score has no real function in the game,
except to input your initials in the high score board if your score is high
enough. The best way to earn score is to trap an enemy in the corner and keeping
using level 2 magic onit. Level 2 magic is a knockup attack and when it connects
with an enemy, the enemy will be blown upwards.
Subsequent hits with the spell will cause the enemy to fall faster to the ground
and it becomes more difficult to chain the combo. Note that time is always a
factor while doing long combos on "already dead" enemies. Personally I don't
like to earn score since score does not do anything to the game in general and I
prefer to play time attack mode.
Slashout supports up to 4 players per game. All 4 machines must be linked.
Any player can also join in another player's game. This is discouraged unless
the other player has only started since a new player is level 1 and does not
have any ability ups and could easily die in a game that is in the later stages.
When a player dies (Ko'ed whatever), another player can take his ability ups
immediately. The player's gems can only be collected
when the player's continue timer goes to zero. Note that level 4 attack can hit
allies and ability ups and gems would be dropped from a player being hit from it,
although no life would be subtracted. While a player is in berserk mode (see
Controls/combos section), he can hit his allies with his normal attacks.
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2. Things on the Playing Screen
-----------------------------------
In this section, I will briefly cover the various things you can see on
the screen (other than your character and the enemies of course).
i. HP bar
The HP bar is located on top left of the screen. When you level up, the bar gets
a bit longer and is fully refilled. Lifeups always refill a fixed fraction of
the bar.
ii. Ability Ups Icons
These icons when collected are situated below the HP bar.
There are 4 types of Ability Ups Icons in the game (unlike Spikeout where your
character always do the same amount of damage regardless of stage 1 or the last
stage). They are power Up(red), defence up(blue), magic up(purple) and speed
up(green). Their functions are understood simply by their names. Note that
magic up only increases the amount of damage done by magic attacks and S-magic
attacks (more on that later). It does not increase the range of level 4 magic
attacks or decrease charging time. You can collect up to 3 per ability ups
except for speed up where you can only have a maximum of
one. Hence the maximum number of ability ups you can "equip" are 3 power ups, 3
defence ups, 3 magic ups and 1 speed up. Speed up does not increase the normal
walking/running speed by a lot but it increases the walking speed of a character
while charging a magic attack TREMENDOUSLY (No, you cannot run while charging
magic). During the later stages, having a speed up is more important that having
anything else since magic attacks are important during those stages. When you
get knocked down by an enemy, there is a chance that one or two of your ability
ups will drop out. You can quickly recollect them before they disappear and
trust me, they disappear faster than they really
should :( Same thing goes for the other items in the game.
iii. Level Up bar
Next comes the level up bar. As you collect gems, the bar gets slowly filled.
When the bar is fully filled, the character gains a level and the bar is
depleted once again. This bar just serves as a reference to know when the
character is going to level up (i.e. when the character is going to get a
restore).
iv. S magic icons
These icons comes after the level up bar. Each icon allows the character to use
either S magic, invincible rotating attack or trigger beserk mode once. See the
buttons/combos sections for details. The game start with each character having 3
of these. The maximum number a character can hold is 5. After every stage, one
of this is added to the character and getting a S magic item replenishes it by
one as well.
v. Magic Charge Gauge
This gauge is located at the top middle of the screen. Pressing AND holding the
charge button fills the gauge rapidly. The gauge is marked with numbers 2, 3 and
4 which symbolise the various magic levels. When the charge button is held long
enough and released, the magic at that corresponding level will be executed. For
example, when you hold the button and release while the gauge is filled to
between 2 and 3, level 2 magic will be executed.
Releasing while the gauge is fully charged will executed level 4 magic. Note
that you have 9 secs to release the magic when the gauge is fully charged. If
the magic is not released by then, the gauge falls back to zero.
vi. Time meter
The meter is located directly above the magic charge gauge. This shows how much
time you got left. When the meter reaches zero, its GAME OVER. Killing
a certain number of enemies per scene or damaging a boss to a particular extent
extends the time (similar to a racing game).
vii. Enemy HP bar
The HP of the enemy which damaged you or the enemy which you are hitting will be
shown at the top right of the screen.
viii. Ally Status
The status of your ally in multiplayer games is shown at the bottom left of the
screen. Normally, the HP, level up bar and power up icons of your ally are shown.
Holding the start button will show the number of S magic icons he has.
ix. Map
The map of the surroundings is shown at the bottom right of the screen. Pressing
start either zooms in or zooms out the map. There is only one level of zoom
meaning you can only have 2 views of the map. All creatures (friendly or
otherwise) are displayed as triangles on the map, while items or ability ups are
displayed as circles. Ability ups are also colour coded on the map. Projectiles
are also displayed on the map (useful for the fight with Evileye). Enemies are
displayed in red and gatekeepers are shown as larger red triangles. Players are
displayed in various shades of blue, depending on the number of players.
x. Timer
The timer is located below the map. This shows how much time you got left to
clear the stage with a time bonus, along with the choice to open another
gate(choose a different stage). Playing time attack mode means to clear the
stage before the timer runs out.
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3. Characters
-----------------
In this section I will discuss about the various strengths and weaknesses
of each of the four characters.
i. Slash
Like most other action games, among all the characters, there will be one
that is overall well-balanced. For Slashout, the character is Slash. He has
decent reach with his sword (although not as long as Axle), moves reasonably
fast and hits for good damage. Overall speaking, he has no weaknesses at all.
The only shortcoming might be his level 2 magic attack which he slams his hand
onto the ground. The range of this attack cannot be
clearly defined, hence making the attack difficult to aim at pillars or other
barriers for new players. In fact, he has a number of good points other than
those mentioned above. His jumping attack is second to none, hits easily and
does good damage. His knockup attack consists of 3 slashes which is the fastest
among all the characters. New players should use him first more than other
characters although Kamui might be a better choice for them if
they have a problem dealing with the Marionette.
ii. Luna
Female characters in action games are mainly speed-oriented, same goes for
Luna in this case. Her normal 3 slashes are very quick, although they cannot
connect all the time since her range is very short and the 3rd slash slashes
upwards instead of forward. That aside, her other main weakness is her level 4
magic attack. She takes very long to release the charge and the projectile does
not hit easily. The reason for that is unclear, PROBABLY because the "radiant
arrow" is too narrow. Also, her range of her level 4 magic attack is the lowest
among all the other characters. Her knockup attack is not very reliable as well,
consisting of 5 kicks which tend to miss for fast enemies that are still on the
ground (for e.g the skeletons in the mansion stage). Her jump attack consists of
2 kicks in midair that do not have a decent range and thus requires some aiming
in order to hit the enemy. Luckily, the producers of the game gave her the best
level 2 charge attack.
The attack creates a "force field" around her (a rather narrow one actually)
which knocks all surrounding enemies up. The lag after executing the attack is
very short as well. Hence her primary form of attack should be 3 slashes
followed by the level 2 spell. She has the fastest walking/running speed, the
best dashing attack (I based this on quick recovery and good range) and also the
best knockdown attack. Her knockdown attack consists of 2 kicks which are QUICK
and LONG. Players who want to try using her should only do so after they got a
hang of the game since her range penalty can be disasterous to new players.
iii. Axle
Frankly speaking, I did not use Axle often enough to write about his
strengths and weaknesses. For completeness sake, I will try to be as accurate as
I could. Axle has the longest range among all the characters. In fact, its so
long that he can sometimes attack 2 or more enemies simultaneously. His attack
power is not particularly high (mabbe about the same as Slash). His attacks are
the slowest among them and his knockup attack is the worst
of all. The attack consists of a downward hack followed by an upward swing, but
its way too slow to be effective. The only way to use it is to use it on enemies
that are not standing, i.e after they are being thrown with a level 2 charge.
His walking speed is very slow, even with a speed up. That makes dodging the
gatekeepers' "glowing attacks" rather difficult.
His dashing attack however, is quite effective. It has a relatively fast
recovery time and a wide range as well. His jumping attack is a lot like Luna's,
in terms of range and accuracy that is. Only advanced players should play as
Axle.
iv. Kamui
This cool ninja has a lot in common with Slash. They have about the same
range with their weapons, move with the same speed etc. The marked difference
among them is that Kamui's level 2 charge attack is much better than Slash's.
Kamui's level 2 charge creates a small hurricane that blows the opponent upward
and its can be easily aimed. It also has a fast recovery time. On the other hand,
Kamui's knockup attack is not as good as Slash's,
although its still better than Luna's or Axle's. It consists of 4 hits,
combining usage of weapon and legs. It executes a little slower than Slash's but
otherwise its still good enough to be used often. Kamui does less damage than
Slash as well but he makes up for that with his level 4 charge attack. His level
4 attack has the longest range among all the characters.
It hits easily as well (cannot really explain why but thats the case). His anti-
air attack is the best among all the characters and if it hits twice, it can be
furthered comboed unlike those from the other characters. Kamui's main weakness
is his knockdown attack and jump attack. The second hit from his knockdown
attack has only a small range (he seems to use his fists to knock the enemies
away) and his jump attack has the worst accuracy among
all the characters (for me anyway). Luckily his anti-air attack partly makes up
for it (especially for the fight with marionette). Overall, he is still an easy
character to use and newbies can pick him over Slash if they want to.
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4. Controls / Combos
------------------------
This section discusses about the controls and lists some of the basic
combos of the game.
i. Controls
I am assuming that the machine you are playing on uses the default button
settings:
The first button on the machine is the (B)lade button. I will use the letter "B"
to refer to this button from here on.
The second button is the (C)harge button. I will use the letter "C" to refer to
it.
The third button is the (J)ump button. "J" is used to refer to it.
The last button (either the 4th button on the right or the 1st button on the 2nd
row of buttons) is the Shift button. This button, while depressed, is used to
lock the direction your character is facing and can be used to strafe.
Joystick allows movement and facing in eight directions, moving the joystick in
any direction twice allows the character to run in that direction.
Start button changes the map zoom and level up bar and also shows the number of
S magic your ally has.
First of all, I must emphasise the use if the shift button. Without using it,
your character will usually die or suffer great damage at the hands of the 2nd
gatekeeper of stage 1. This is because only by using it can you avoid the
"glowing attacks" of the final gatekeepers of every stage. Hence, every new
player should try to master the use of the shift button as soon as possible.
Another thing to take note of is that in this game, you can never outrun the
enemies. If you want to run from the enemies, you should only run for a short
while, then quickly pressing shift and moving your character away from the
straight line which you were running from. In this way, you can avoid the
upcoming dash attack which the enemy will most likely be using.
Basic attacks:
Unlike most other action games, pressing the B button rapidly does not trigger
an enemy knockdown in Slashout. Enemies will only be hit 3 times and your
character will stop for a while, allowing the enemy to counterattack if they are
fast enough. Hence, most attacks in Slashout will be to press B 3 times,
followed by the the following moves: (Note that these attacks are available to
every character)
4 hits basic attack:
Press BBB BJ
This will do a simple 4 hit attack that sends an enemy flying and powerful
enough to kill most of the weaker enemies in every stage (provided you
havereached the appropiate level or collected some powerups).
This attack is most commonly used when clearing a group of enemies and when
doing time attack. This attack also has a high recovery time and not only that,
your character moves away while doing the fourth hit, helping to avoid some
enemy attacks. This attack is commonly used for attacking final gatekeepers in
the earlier stages and for some bosses as well.
Knockup attack (3 hits Slash, 5 hits Luna, 2 hits Axle, 4 hits Kamui, not
counting the initial 3 slashes)
Press BBB BC B(up to 4 times depending on the character)
This attack is commonly used as a starter for combos since it knocks the enemy
to the air and the enemy can be furthered attacked while they are falling. Note
that Axle's knockup attack cannot connect if the enemy is still on the ground
since his move is too slow.
6 hits heavy attack:
Press BBB CCC
This will do the 3 basic slashes first, followed by a level 1 magic attack and 2
strong kicks (with exception of Axle who will punch instead of kick).
This attack does about the same damage as the knock up attack. The difference is
that the enemy will be sent flying and hence cannot be further comboed upon. It
is best used as a finishing move since its execution is faster than the knockup
attack. It can also be used against some bosses which got exceptionally long
"exhaustive periods".
Magic attacks:
Level 1 magic attacks are hardly used, since they do not really do anything to
the enemy. Other than being used in the heavy attack, they can be used to
momentarily stun the enemy (not as long as level 3 magic). Its something like
BBB C BBB....
The dotted lines means any attack can be chained after the BBB. However the
enemies might counterattack after the C so this the move rather pointless.
Level 2 magic attacks are commonly used, since they have the knockup property.
Chaining three Bs and then level 2 magic can replace the normal knockup attacks
for all the characters (lower damage but faster execution). New players need to
learn when to press the C button and when to release it just in time after the
3rd slash to execute the combo. This simple
BBB C2 (C2 means level 2 charge, C4 means level 4 charge from now on) is
particularly useful for Luna since her C2 is exceptionally good.
Level 3 magic attacks have a stunning effect, i.e. they stun nearby enemies,
making them unable to move/attack for a short period of time. The time of its
execution is too slow to be comboed and it does not work on enemies that are
falling after being attacked. C3 will not be used often until the later stages
of the game (especially in Forest of Nano or Labyrinth of Pingue)
Level 4 magic attacks has the same property as the 6 hits heavy attack, i.e. it
sends the enemy flying and it usually kills the weaker enemies in one shot. With
3 magic ups, C4 does great damage to the final gatekeepers. You should only
start using it more often when your character reaches around level 8 or else you
will find that your C4 often misses the enemies
due to its short range.
Other attacks:
Knockdown attack
Press BC together (can press up to twice to execute a 2 hit attack)
This attack is commonly used after the character is being knocked down since the
enemies will be nearby and you need to get rid of them to recover your dropped
powerups. Pressing BC once will make the enemy fall to the ground, and a combo
can be started (commonly used for Axle). Pressing it twice will send the enemy
flying and usually kills weaker enemies as well. The damage done by a 2 hit
knockdown attack is slightly less than the 4 hits
basic attack. It can also be used to attack the final gatekeepers of every stage.
Anti-air attack
Press CJ together
This executes an anti-air attack that varies for various characters (Slash does
an uppercut, Kamui jumps slightly and spins his katana around etc). This attack
is not useful (with the exception of Kamui's) since it sends the enemy flying
quite far (although not as far as the heavy attacks), making further combos
difficult. Kamui's CJ is particularly useful against Marionette.
Ground attack
Press BJ together (while not doing anything)
This executes an attack in which your character attacks an enemy that is lying
on the ground. Upon connecting, the enemy can be furthered comboed upon. This
attack does good damage as well (for a single hit). Note than pressing BJ while
slashing will execute the light jump attack instead (4th hit of the basic
attack).
Light jump attack
Tap J lightly, then press B
This is the same attack as the 4th hit of the basic attack. Rarely used. Axle
must use this to attack the hands of the Marionette since his jump attack is too
difficult to aim properly.
Jump attack
Press J, then press B or C (press twice for 2 hits)
Nothing special, except that this attack is crucial for attacking Evileye or
Darkforce since their weakpoints are located rather high (see boss strategies).
A 2 hit jump attack does great damage. Slash has 2 forms of jump attack
(depending on whether B or C pressed). Pressing B will execute a vertical slash
in midair while pressing C will execute a horizontal slash in midair. Mastering
jump attack is easiest when using Slash since his
jump attack is easiest to connect.
Dash attack
While running, press BC
As the name suggests its a form of attack that the character can use while
running. Note that the attack has knockdown property and further combos after
the enemy is knocked down is possible.
Special attacks:
(all special attacks use up one S magic icon)
Super magic attack
Press BCJ together while not doing any combos
This creates a field around the character and all enemies hit by the field gets
knocked down. This is used mainly when the character is in danger.
However, this attack can deal good damage to final gatekeepers at corners since
they will not be knocked down and the magic attack can hit them multiple times.
Super rotating attack
Press BCJ together while slashing
The character spins 4 rounds (mabbe more) knocking nearby enemies away while
still landing multiple hits on the enemy while he is slashing at prior to
pressing BCJ. The character is invincible while spinning as well. The move does
great damage to one enemy and is useful in time attacks.
Triggering beserk mode
Press BCJ after rotating the joystick 360 deg (any direction)
The triggers the beserk mode and while a character is beserked, his attack power
increases while his defence decreases. He can hit his own allies while berserked
as well. (useful to kill off the annoying kids that joined your game eh?)
Berserk mode is useful for time attack but otherwise, the S magic icon is better
used for something else.
Poses
Each character can do 4 kinds of poses. The poses are namely:
i. Come on!
Rotate joystick 270 deg from left to up (4123698)* then press BC
*refer to the numpad to see what these numbers mean
ii. Help me!
Rotate joystick 270 deg from right to up (6321478) then press BC
iii. Sorry!
Rotate joystick 270 deg from left to up (4123698)* then press B
iv. Thank You!
Rotate joystick 270 deg from right to up (6321478) then press B
The poses serve no direct purposes in the game (as you might have guessed) but
on 2 occasions (thats all I found) doing the correct pose will trigger a minor
event. In stage 1, doing a "Come on" pose in front of a particular door will
invite an enemy out and killing it will yield some good items
Doing the "Help me" pose while fighting the last boss yields a Lifeup3!
Combos
In this section, I will list some of the longer combos that are commonly used.
Long combos should always be used when fighting one on one with enemies with
high HP (except for final gatekeepers of course since they cannot be knocked
down).
i. Knockup attack-BBB C2-BBB C2-BBB BJ
ii. Knockup attack-Ground attack-Knockup attack-dash attack (some character's
ground attack might not always hit and the dash attack needs to be
executed fast).
iii. Knockup attack-BBB CCC
iv. Knockup attack-BBB C2-BBB C4
Note that you can always substitute the first knockup attack with BBB C2 instead
for faster execution.
v. Knockup attack-C4
For fast finish for medium life range enemies.
vi. BBB C2-Ground attack-BBB-BBB C4 (hard to pull off for some enemies,
preferably done at corners). This attack is fast and damaging.
You can also chain a knockdown attack (2hits) whenever after a ground attack if
the enemy is dying and you want to save time.
vii. BBB C1-BBB C1 (up to twice maximum) THEN followed by any of the combos
above. Note that faster enemies can always recover after the BBB C1 attack so
this combo should only be done on slower enemies.
viii. Knockup attack-BBB C2-Dash Jump attack (2 hits)-if at corner continue with
basic combos that end with a knockup to keep chaining hits. BBB C2 can be
substituted for BBB CJ. Most often used on gatekeepers of Dragon's Den.
Thats all for the common combos. It is impossible to list all the combos
possible since there are almost infinite ways to chain combos in Slashout after
knockup attacks.
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5. Item Locations
---------------------
In this section I will list all the items (those that I know of) that are found
in the various stages. Note that Lifeup1 restores 25% of HP, Lifeup2 restores
50% and Lifeup3 fully restores HP. Note that if more than 2 players are playing,
there might be more items but I have never played more than 2 players so I
wouldn't know about them. "?" is an item that have random effects, it either
replenishes life, adds a S magic icon or polymorph the character for a while.
First scene refers to the scene at the start of the stage. Second scene refers
to the scene after opening the first gate.
Third scene refers to the scene after opening the second gate.
And so on.. The orders of some stages might be similar, depending on whether you
are playing in time attack mode or not. The default stages are those NOT in
brackets.
Stage 1 Ciliego Cathedral
Lifeup1: i. After killing all the chicks in the first scene (before the
pigs appear)
ii. Hit the small signboard by jumping and touching it. The
signboard is located after the first gate, about halfway
between the steps leading up from the previous gate and the
steps leading down to the final gatekeeper.
iii. When the life of the stage boss is down to one-third.
Lifeup2: i. Destroy both lamps hanging at 2 of the doors in the first
scene.
ii. Defeating a certain number of enemies at the final
gatekeeper.
Lifeup3: After the final gatekeeper appears, go back to the small
staircase leading up (the staircase is near the first gate)
to a closed door. Do the "come on" pose in front of the
door and an enemy will appear from behind the door.
Killing it yields a Lifeup3 as well as a S magic icon.
Power Up: i. Defeat all the 3 gatekeepers in the first scene.
ii. After defeating the gatekeepers in the first scene, do not
open the gate that the game tells you to. Instead, run all
the way to the right of the gate until you see a door. The
door is actually another gate. From there on, just destroy
all the 6 pillars (beyond the gate) nearby to yield a
powerup.
Defense Up: Defeat the final gatekeeper.
Magic Up: Another complicated one. Destroy the 2 lamps (see Lifeup2),
then after killing the 3 gatekeepers, run towards the 2nd
gate (see PowerUp). Nearby, there is a small pavillion.
Destroy all the 6 pillars there quickly and an enemy will
appear. Killing it yields a magic up. Note that the pillars
can only be destroyed AFTER killing the gatekeepers and
BEFORE opening the gate. Note also you only have 20 secs to
do the running, destroying the pillars and opening the
gate.
Speed Up: Destroy all the 3 barrels near the door which the 3
gatekeepers appear at the first scene. Note that you must
destroy the barrels only after the gatekeepers appear.
Doing so before that will yield nothing.
S magic: i. Defeating the final gatekeeper.
ii. See "Lifeup3".
"?": Defeating 50 enemies in the stage.
Stage 2(3) Mansion of Baron Bambola
Lifeup1: i. Defeating a certain number of enemies (only in multiplayer
game).
ii. When the life of the stage boss is down to one-third.
Lifeup2: Defeating the enemy (the one with the hat) which appears
with the final gatekeeper.
Power Up: i. Defeat 5 consecutive ghosts in the first scene. This means
you cannot defeat any of the enemy with the hat before the
powerup appears.
ii. After defeating the 3 gatekeepers and BEFORE opening the
gate, go to the grave to the top right (first scene)and
destory the patch of grass to yield a powerup.
Defense Up: i. In the second scene, touch all the 10 torches hanging on
the pillars (the light will flicker indicating the torch is
touched). After that, a green skeleton will appear.
Defeating it yields a D up.
ii. Destroy all 10 pillars in the boss room.
Magic Up: Defeating all the 3 gatekeepers in the first scene.
Speed Up: Defeating the final gatekeeper.
S magic: Defeating the final gatekeeper.
"?": i. Destroy one of the branches of a tree in the first scene.
The tree is located to the left of a huge boulder that is
at the left of the scene.
ii Destroy another tree branch. The tree is located at the
second scene, right of the steps leading to the final
gatekeeper.
Stage 3(2) Valley of Mineria
Lifeup1: i. Defeating the first of the 3 gatekeepers of the second
scene.
ii. When the life of the stage boss is down to one-third.
Lifeup2: Defeating the final gatekeeper on the bridge (i.e. you must
lure him to the bridge if you want to get this).
Power Up: Defeating the first set of gatekeepers of the first scene.
Defense Up: i. After getting the P up, and BEFORE opening the gate, run
back to destory the cart in the same scene. An enemy will
appear from the cart. Defeating it yields a D up.
ii. Defeating the final gatekeeper.
Magic Up: i. After the gatekeepers appear in the first scene, run to the
end of the railway line and jump high. Note that you can
get the M up regardless of whether the gate is opened or
not as long as you wait until the gatekeepers appear.
ii. Note sure about this one. Destroying all the pillars in the
boss room (time for clearing the stage must be over).
Speed Up: Defeating the gatekeepers of the second scene.
S magic: Defeating the final gatekeeper.
"?": Defeating a certain number of enemies (usually this will
appear at the second scene.
Stage 4: Forest of Nano
Lifeup1: i. Defeating a certain number of enemies (flying pumpkins) in
the first scene.
ii. When the life of the stage boss is down to two-thirds.
iii. When the life of the stage boss is down to one-third.
Lifeup2: Defeating 15 enemies (plants).
Power Up: i. Destroy the rock at the right of first gate. Note that no
other rocks can be destroyed prior to that.
ii. Run to the corner to the left of the gate to the boss. I am
not sure about the timing restrictions to get this but I
always got this after defeating the final gatekeeper.
Defense Up: Defeating the first group of gatekeepers on the first
scene.
Magic Up: i. Defeating the final gatekeeper.
ii. Again, one that I am not too sure about. The boss will drop
this if there is at least one rock remaining in the room
after defeating the boss.
Speed Up: Defeating one of the lizards before the gatekeepers appear
in the first scene.
S magic: Defeating the final gatekeeper.
"?": Destroy the rock to the right of the gate leading to the boss.
For the remaining stages, the items are not "hidden". They are all mostly
dropped by enemies as far as I can tell.
Stage (4/5) Lake Rovina
Lifeup1: i. Defeating a certain number of enemies (flying suns) in
first scene.
ii. Boss life down to two-thirds.
iii. Boss life down to one-third.
Lifeup2: i. In the second scene, go up the steps and jump high across
from left to right (or right to left it does not matter).
ii. Defeating the first of the 3 gatekeepers of the third
scene.
Power Up: i. Defeating the gatekeeper of the second scene.
ii. Defeating the boss (not sure about the requirements).
Defense Up: Defeating the gatekeepers of the third scene.
Magic Up: Defeating the gatekeepers of the first scene.
Speed Up: Defeating the final gatekeeper.
S magic: Defeating the final gatekeeper.
Stage (5/6) Labyrinth of Pingue
This stage do not yield items at all other than a few occasional lifeups which
are dropped after defeating a fixed number of enemies.
Stage 5(6,7) Dragon's Den
Lifeup1: Defeating a certain number of enemies (flying squids) in
the first scene.
Lifeup2: i. Defeating the gatekeepers of the second scene.
ii. Defeat one of the enemies at the third scene.
Power Up: Defeating the gatekeepers of the third scene.
Defense Up: Defeating the gatekeepers of the first scene.
Magic Up: Defeating the gatekeepers of the second scene.
Speed Up: Defeating the final gatekeeper.
"?": Defeating a certain number of enemies in first scene.
S magic: i-iv. Defeating the gatekeepers of the every scene
Stage 6(7,8) Diablo's Shell
There are no items in this stage although defeating each of the "shadows" will
yield a Lifeup1.
Also, doing the "help me" pose while fighting the last boss will yield a Lifeup3.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Walkthrough For Single Player (Normal Mode)
-------------------------------------------------
In this section , I shall discuss on the important points of each stage and how
I went about dealing with them. All of the points are simply based on my own
experience and liking and of course no one will play the entire game following
exactly what another person did. So it is up to you to decide how you want to
play the game. For multiplayer, the game is quite similar except that there are
more enemies but luckily, the number of gatekeepers remain the same (except for
the bomb squad in stage 3).
Stage 1 Ciliago Cathedral
Number of gates (not including gate to boss): 1
Number of gatekeepers (including final gatekeeper): 2
Scene 1
The starting of the stage is basically just a warm-up. Kill the enemy in front
and then destroy the lamp hanging above the green door. Remember this door, this
is the door which the gatekeepers will come from. Near the door, the 3 barrels
will yield a speed up when destroyed, but only after the gatekeepers have
appeared. After that, go around killing all the enemies, collecting the lifeup1.
Before doing that, you should destroy the second lamp
as well, it is hanging at the door directly opposite of the green door. Next,
the more powerful "pigs" will appear, together with one of each of the other 2
types of enemies.
Important note: In every stage, there are 3 types of enemies, 1 strong (much
more HP and 2 weaker ones. Whenever these appear as a group i.e. one strong and
2 weak (particularly for the later scenes of every stage), killing the weaker
ones without killing the stronger ones will cause the weaker ones
to re-populate up to a fixed number of times (I think its up to 3 times but its
unconfirmed). But, if you kill the stronger ones first, the weaker ones will NOT
re-populate. The good thing about this is that you can cut down the amount of
time to clear a stage if you kill the stronger ones first (impt for time attack
mode). The bad thing is sometimes Lifeups will only drop after killing a fixed
number of enemies and killing to little enemies might cause you to miss some of
those (especially the Lifeup2 in Forest of Nano). In the following walkthrough,
I will use the word "group" to denote an enemy group of 3 (one strong, 2 weak).
Okay, back to the walkthrough. The enemy groups will appear firstly to the right
of the 2nd lamp and also in front of the green door. Then another group will
appear at the door near the 2nd lamp. The order to take them out is: Group to
right of 2nd lamp, group near the lamp and lastly, group near the green door. In
this way, you can easily take them out one group at a time. Finishing the group
at the door last gives you the advantage of having a "first hit" at one of the
gatekeepers since you are near the door by the time you finished off the last
group.
Gatekeepers 1
The first group of gatekeepers are not pushovers, especially for newer players.
Having the "first hit" usually allows you to do a damaging combo to at one of
them. After that, avoid doing long combos, just stick to the basic BBB BJ attack
to finish them. Get the powerup and speedup (from the barrels) then run to the
right of the gate which the game tells u to open. It will be helpful if you lure
the last gatekeeper to the right of the gate first before
defeating it. Quickly destroy the 6 pillars at the mini-pavilion there and a
purple enemy will appear. If you think you got enough time left, you can defeat
it can open the gate but for safety, it is better to knockdown it, open the gate,
then defeating it to get a M up.
Scene 2
This scene is rather tricky if you opened the alternate gate since its rather
congested there and enemies are plentiful. It would be best if you have defeated
the enemy with the M up first before opening the gate because the enemies will
be at their original places when you get there. Anyway, the order to take the
FOUR groups out here is: group directly in front of the door, group to the left
of the door, group to the northwest of door and group to northeast of door.
Actually by the time you finished the second group, the third group would
already be close by and you can just continue hacking. The same goes for the
last group when you are done with the third group. After finishing all the
enemies, destroy all the pillars (one of the pillars
is at the door which you came in from) to get a P up. Note that the pillar at
the door can only be destroyed if you opened the alternate gate (meaning the P
up can only be gotten by opening the alternate gate). If you want a lifeup3 and
S magic icon, you can jump up the steps to the next level, go up a small flight
of steps and do a "come on" pose in front of the door. Like the M up, a purple
enemy will appear and killing it yields the items. Jumping and
touching the sign hanging at one of the buildings yields a lifeup1.
Final Gatekeeper
He is the easist among all the final gatekeepers since the enemies surrounding
him are rather weak. Dispatch him to get a D up and S magic.
Notes about final gatekeepers(FGs):
All final gatekeepers have the invincible "glowing attack". When they
execute the move, a sound can be heard and they glow blue. Quickly STOP
attacking and press the shift button and move the joystick to avoid the attack.
After that, they are open to some pounding. Move to their back after the glowing
attack finishes and do the basic BBB BJ attack. Alternatively you can just use
knockdown attack (2hits) (especially for Luna since her BBB BJ does not connect
too easily). Other than using S-magic, there are only 3 kinds of attacks
suitable for final gatekeepers. They are BBB BJ, C*2 and C4.
C4 should only be used from stage 3 onwards (when your character can shoot from
a decent range). The FGs in the earlier stages can easily be taken out by
running up to them to do BBB BJ (or BC*2) and using shift to avoid their attacks
(glowing or normal) followed by BBB BJ again. The FGs for the later stages are
mainly taken out using C4 (they are not dumb enough to be open to normal attacks
and their "bodyguards" are more dangerous.
Boss 1: 2-headed Lion
See "Boss Strategies"
Stage 2: Mansion of Baron Bambola
Number of gates (not including gate to boss): 1
Number of gatekeepers (including final gatekeeper): 2
Scene 1
The first part of scene 1 is the same for stage 1 except that you can get a P up
if you kill 5 ghosts consecutively. For a single player game, this is not really
necessary since you will already have 2 P ups upon reaching here and there is
anothe P up soon after. If you want, you can try getting the "?" from one of the
tree branches as well. Anyway, before killing all of the enemies, get yourself
near the graves at the left so that you can do a "first hit" (as usual). A
skeleton will rise from the grave and you can easily finish it in one combo (eg
knockup-C4). Next two more will rush towards you on the right. Dispatch them
while staying near the area because the gatekeeper will be coming immediately
after that.
Gatekeepers 1
The first skeleton will appear at another grave at the left, so if you listened
to me you can do a "first hit" on it before the other 2 skeletons reached you.
Note that the skeletons are formidable foes with fast recovery and it is crucial
to get rid of one of them first (hence the importance of the first hit). Get the
M up and then the P up from the grass patch at the top right grave.
Scene 2
Upon reaching, you will find 2 groups of enemies. The second group is further
forward and will not approach you provided you did not venture too far forward.
You can dispatch one group first, kill off the weaker enemies of the 2nd group
until they do not repopulate again and then hit the flames in order to get the D
up. Note that the D up can be gotten regardless whether the FG is around or not.
The tricky part of the scene is after you are finished
with the 2 groups. After the defeating the last skeleton, the scene is suddenly
filled with enemies and they will surround you if you are near the centre of the
area. If you want a challenge you can try to fight your way out of it. A safer
tactic is to start running immediately after defeating the last
skeleton(previous group) towards the previous gate. In this way, you can slowly
lure the enemies out bit by bit and defeat them easily.
Final Gatekeepere
If you are in need of health, simply defeat the enemy with the hat (one of the
two). He drops a lifeup2. The tactics for this FG is about the same for the one
in stage 1 except that the enemies surrounding him are more dangerous than that
of the previous stage. Another strategy is to lure him to the left/right corner
near the boss gate and then using the special magic attack. If you succeed, it
takes off about half a bar of his HP bar since the magic attack hits him
multiple times.
Boss 2: Marionette
See "Boss strategies" for fighting her.
Remember to get the D up by destroying all the 10 pillars in this room.
Stage 3: Valley of Miniera
Number of gates (not including gate to boss): 2
Number of gatekeepers (including final gatekeeper): 3
Scene 1
Like before, the first scene is all about warming up. Unless you already got 3 D
ups, you should leave the cart alone for the time being.
Gatekeepers 1
Unlike before, there are 5 instead of 3 of these guys this time round. Luckily,
they are pretty simple to dispatch provided you stay out of their range of dust
throwing. A simple tactic is to use C4 to blow one of them away from the group
and then dashing towards it to finish it off. When they are down to 3, you can
just rush in with short combos to finish them off. After that, you can destroy
the cart to get a D up, jump at the edge of the cliff
to get a M up.
Scene 2
Another simple one. Only this time round, the "strong" enemy of the stage makes
its appearance. Personally, I tink the crabs of this stage are the weakest among
all the "strong" enemies.
Gatekeepers 2
Piece of cake. You should stand near the next gate in order get a first hit on
one of them. In fact, you can toy around with them trying out various combos.
Scene 3
Essentially the same as scene 2 only this time round, there are more groups of
enemies to be dispatched of.
Final Gatekeeper
This giant crab is VERY dangerous and you should stay out of its range until you
dispatched all of the other surrouding enemies with C4. It seems like this is
the only FG that has a limited number of "bodyguards". It will be difficult to
damage it normally since its weak point is the tank on its back. You should
charge your magic, wait for it to do its "glowing attack" and then release the
magic after the its invicibility wears off. If you are confident enough, you can
run to its back after its "glowing attack" finishes and quickly do a BBB BJ
attack. Important thing to remember is not to stay in
front of it at close range. If u dealt the killing blow on the bridge, a lifeup2
will appear.
Boss 3: Machine Beast
See "boss strategies".
You can get a M up in this room by destroying all the pillars in the room with
the timer at zero. I have never got it before though.
Stage 4 Forest of Nano
Number of gates (not including gate to boss): 1
Number of gatekeepers (including final gatekeeper): 2
Scene 1
The usual warm-up scene. Note that the enemies here are much smarter and
dangerous than those in the previous stages. Grab the lifeup1 if you need it.
Proceeding forward, the "groups" will finally appear. The lizardmen in this
stage are really a pain which their fast reflexes and long range (windblade?)
attack. Remember to get the speed up (if you dropped it before reaching here)
since you will be needing to use C4 a lot more often than before. A safe and
slow tactic is simply to stand and shoot C4s at each and every enemy until one
is left in which you can deal with it as per normal.
Gatekeepers 1
Three lizardmen with high HP. A safe tactic is to stand further and shoot your
C4 at them. However, there is a ever-repopulating flying pumpkin messing around
here that makes the job harder. Try to shoot a lizard away from the group so you
can dash and follow up with your combos to make quick work of it. You can get a
P up from the rock to the right of the gate of you did not destroy any rocks
beforehand.
Scene 2
Similar to the second part of scene 1. Note that for each lizardman, there are
more than 2 "weak" enemies in its group. You can get a lifeup2 if you killed 15
plants or more from the start of the stage (i.e if you did not kill the
lizardmen first everytime). The last group features a red lizardman surrounded
with flying pumpkins (nice formation). Simply stand further and use C4.
Final Gatekeeper
The best way to deal with this dude is to use C4 on it. 4 shots will kill it
(with 3 M ups). Stand away from it and start charging. When he starts charging
towards you release the C4. Strangly enough, his charge will miss you. If he
uses his "glowing attack", just retreat a little (but enough to avoid his
tailspin) and shoot again. With some luck, he can be down in less than 20 secs.
If you still do not have 3 P ups, you can get one at the left
corner near the boss gate. Just run there and move around, a P up will appear.
</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
Boss 4: Evileye
See "Boss Strategies"
You can get a M up here if there is at least one rock left when the boss is
defeated (not confirmed).
Stage 5: Dragon's Den
Number of gates (not including gate to boss): 2-3
Number of gatekeepers (including final gatekeeper): 3-4
Scene 1
The "weak" enemies in this stage are the most annoying in the whole game. In the
first scene, if you are in need of health after the fight with Evileye, you
should just use C4 on all the enemies in sight. After that, the "strong" enemy
(fire-breathing griffon?) will appear along with SEVERAL other weaker enemies at
the front. Do not jump up to approach them, instead wait for them to come
towards you while you are constantly charging and releasing C4. A lifeup1 along
with a "?" will appear soon enough. Note that the boulders can be destroyed to
yield some gems. The boulder at the front yields a diamond along with several
big gems. After dispatching the enemies, the gatekeepers will appear (sometimes
in front, sometimes at the back but mostly in front). I am not sure of the
criteria which decides where the gatekeepers appear at though.
Gatekeepers 1
The gatekeepers in this stage are all similar, 3 griffons with different colours
each time. The same tactic applies to all of them and that is to lure them out
one by one. If unfortunately more than one gets lured out at one time, you
should do quick combos to them turn by turn. The griffons are nothing when alone,
but in a group, they are extremely dangerous.
Scene 2
After defeating the gatekeepers, you have a choice to open 2 gates, the one in
front or the one at the back(according to the map). If you open the gate in
front, you get to fight an additional group of gatekeepers which yields a
lifeup2 and M up. If you open the gate at the back, you go straight to scene 3
and get to fight the FG sooner. Anyway, I recommend opening the gate (more
experience if nothing else) in front unless you are dangerously low on health
(opening the back gate allows you to get the lifeup2 dropped from the enemy
sooner). The things you do up till the FG are basically similar (shooting C4s,
luring the gatekeepers out one by one etc) so I shall skip to the FG.
Final Gatekeeper
The golden griffon is tough. You should stand at the corridor and starting
firing C4s at the weak enemies, waiting for the FG to come out. Don't worry
about the time since killing the weak enemies replenishes the time after you
kill a fixed number of them. When the FG appears in front of the corridor, fire
you C4s at it. If you are lucky, he won't charge towards you after the shot but
will instead move around aimlessly or breathe his fireballs at you (little
damage anyway). A faster and dangerous tactic is to move in and lure the beast
out with him charging out from the staircase. When he does charges or pounces at
you, use your special magic attack to deal loads of damage to him (6 hits or
more) or you can use the same old "dodge the glowing attack with shift, move to
his back and knockdown attack" tactic. The only other concern is the disturbance
caused by the weaker enemies floating about so using the C4 tactic is safer
(takes longer though).
Boss 5: Bony Dragon
See "Boss Strategies"
Stage 6: Diablo's Shell
This is the final stage of the game. The only enemies in this stage are the eyes
on the walls and the "shadows" of the various characters. The eyes will shoot
fireballs out periodically and to make travelling around the stage safe,
destroying them is a must. To reach the last boss, you must defeat all the 4
shadows. Killing the eyes are optional, though they yield lots of gems.
Scene 1
From the starting point, WAIT. Wait till a fireball has been shot TOWARDS a
nearby wall. When this happens, quickly run towards the wall and destroy the eye.
Go back towards the starting point again and wait for the same fireball to pass.
Then quickly dash towards the origin of that fireball. On your way, there will
be a shadow in front of you. You can either i) do a dash attack on him while
running towards the eye or ii) stop and do a knockdown attack that sends him
flying in the opposite direction. Either way, the objective is to reach the wall
and destroy the eye before it shoots again. After the entire corridor is safe,
you can deal with the shadow. Note that the moves the shadow makes are entirely
similar to what a player character can do. ALWAYS do a knockdown attack on them
first (ground attack works too, but its too slow in execution) before doing
combos on them since they can counter your combos with S magic if they are still
standing on their feet. Repeat the entire process thrice to defeat all the
shadows that are scattered around the stage. After that, you are teleported to
the next level of the stage.
Scene 2
This is basically the same as scene 1. The only difference is that the shadows
have much more HP this time round but I am sure they can be handled. After this,
its the final boss fight.
Final Boss: (Name?)
At first he is just sitting motionless, leaving you to shoot at the orbs with C4.
After destroying 3 of his floating orbs, he will say "I must congratulate you
for coming this far, but now I will finish you off right away!"
See "Boss strategies"
Once you wasted him, congratulations! You have beaten the game. I won't spoil
the crappy ending here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Walkthrough for Time Attack Mode
---------------------------------------
Here I will cover the main tactics I used whenever I play time attack mode. Sad
to say that there are two stages that I cannot beat within the time limit
(Forest of Nano and Lake Rovina). In a 2-player game though, my friend and I can
do it. Some of the tactics used for time attack mode are similar to those in
normal mode, the main exceptions include (as you would have guessed) less usage
of C4, less collection of items, and a much more aggresive play pattern. The
strong enemies would be attacked first so that the weaker ones won't repopulate.
I would first list the stages in order if ALL the stages (except Dragon's Den
and Final Stage) are cleared within the time limit.
Some stages have different background graphics (night or daytime) depending on
the path you took.
Ciliago Cathedral-->Valley of Mineria(night)-->Mansion of Baron Bambola--
>^Forest of Nano(night)-->Lake Rovina(evening)-->Labyrinth of Pingue-->Dragon's
Den(night)-->Diablo's Shell
^: You must clear the mansion stage with at least one minute left on the
clock in order to access Forest of Nano(night) stage.
The time limit for the stages are:
i. Cathedral: 4min
ii. Valley: 7min
iii. Mansion: 5min
iv. Forest: 4min
v. Lake: 6min
vi. Labyrinth: 7min
vii. Den: 10min (not sure, since its not important anyway as it leads
to Diablo's Shell regardless of time left)
Now I will try to cover the multiple paths that one is forced to take if they
fail to clear one of the stages above before the time limit.
Failure to clear i. Valley --> go straight to Forest of Nano (day), same
as 4th stage of normal mode. This is the
fastest way to reach the last stage.
ii. Mansion--> The mansion has 4 gates available.
If you clear the stage with at least a
minute to spare, all 4 gates are
accessible. With 30-59 secs to spare, 3
gates accessible. With 0-29 secs, 2 gates
accessible. And of course running out of
time leaves only a gate acessible.
Counting the gates from the left, 1st one
leads to Forest(night), 2nd one leads to
Lake(evening), 3rd one leads to Lake
(daytime), 4th one leads to Forest(day).
iii. Forest --> go straight to Labyrinth, bypassing the
Lake Rovina.
iv. Lake --> go straight to Dragon's Den, bypassing
Labyrinth.
v. Labyrinth->go straight to Diablo's Shell, bypassing
Dragon's Den.
Here are the paths that one can take if they decide to play normal mode first,
halfway changing to time attack mode. This is usally harder as the time limit is
usually shorter. I am only speculating for some of the paths as I have never
seen it done before or done it myself. Note that the maximum number of stages
that can be played by this manner is only seven, compared to 8 in the above. A ^
means that stage is beaten under time limit.
The time limit of the stages are:
i. Cathedral: 4min
ii. Mansion: 4min
iii. Valley: 6min
iv. Forest: 4min
v. Lake: 6min
vi. Labyrinth: 7min(not sure, never played it by going this route)
Cathedral-->^mansion-->forest nightime(?)-->?
This is one path that I have never seen before. Since I don't tink that both
gates can lead to the same stage, I speculate that other than the valley
stage(which is the default), the other gate should lead to the forest stage
directly. From then on, I guess its similar to the pattern in time attack mode.
Cathedral-->Mansion-->^Valley-->^Lake-->^Labyrinth-->^Den-->Final
This is a more popular path as it allows the bypass of the forest stage(the
Evileye is tough to beat). I am guessing that if the Lake stage is beaten under
time limit, it leads to the Labyrinth and from there, either to the Dragon's den
or Diablo's shell (same as the pattern in time attack mode).
Cathedral-->Mansion-->Valley-->^Forest(daytime)-->^Labyrinth-->Den-->Final
Again I am only speculating for the above path since I have never seen it done
or done it myself. The default gate for the forest leads to Dragon's Den so I am
guessing that the alternate gate should lead somewhere that allows the player to
play an additional stage before it (i.e Labyrinth, NOT Lake since its possible
to go to the Labyrinth from the Lake, making the total number of stages to eight,
which I think is not really possible.)
Okay, back to the Walkthrough..
Stage 1: Ciliego Cathedral
You should have no problem clearing this stage in under 4 mins if you followed
my order of attack stated in the earlier walkthrough (i.e attack which group
first). Forget about getting the M up (unless you are really really confident
you can clear the stage with 20 secs left without getting the M up). Kill every
weak enemy with BBB BJ or BBB C2 (for Luna mainly). The main path for the stage
is something like:
Scene 1-->kill everything with BBB BJ-->kill the groups in order(just use the
fastest combo that can kill the "pig" in one combo-->kill gatekeepers-->get P up
and S up(barrels)-->open alternate gate-->Scene 2-->kill groups in order-->get P
up by destroying all pillars-->kill FG-->get D up and S magic-->boss fight
Items after clearing stage: PPDS
Stage 2: Valley of Miniera (night)
This stage has 7mins on the clock but its a long way to the boss with 3
gatekeepers to fight. The enemies on this stage are all pretty simple, with the
exception of the FG which is difficult to tackle since the range of your C4s are
not nearly as good compared to when you are fighting it in normal mode (since
your character is of a lower level now). As usual, take out the bodyguards of
the FG with C4 (not as easy as in normal mode reason stated above). After that,
you should wait for it to use its glowing attack, run to its back (use the map)
and hack at its tank. Using C4s is another alternative, though you need to be
close for it to hit. Note that if you fail to clear this stage under 7mins, you
will have to go directly to the Forest (daytime) stage and from there most
likely to dragon's den. This means you can have the final stage as stage 5.
There are also more gatekeepers for the first gate (6 if I am not wrong). Using
the "C4-follow up with combos" tactic might take too much time. I recommend
using the dash attack method. Wait for them to gather together as a group (they
always do this when they sweep the dust at you) then quick do a dash attack at
them. If you do it well, most of them will be knocked down and you can quickly
follow up on the closest one. The dash attack also helps to lower the HP of
several gatekeepers at once. Here is the main path that I took:
Scene 1-->kill everything with BBB BJ, leaving the cart alone-->kill
gatekeepers-->get P up, D up (from cart), M up (edge of cliff)-->open gate--
>scene 2-->kill everything (remember to kill in the correct order, strong ones
first)-->kill gatekeepers-->scene 3-->kill everything again-->fight FG(you shld
try to have AT LEAST 2 min 30 secs left when you reach here)-->collect D up, S
magic-->boss fight
Items after clearing stage: PPPDDDMS
Stage 3: Mansion of Baron Bambola
This stage has 5min on the clock (1 min more than normal) but you should try to
clear this stage with a min to spare (so that you can at least play 7 stages).
Normal enemies are not too hard so just proceed as per in normal mode (of course
you can forget about getting the "?"). The trickly part starts at the 2nd scene
when about 8 enemies appear simultaneously. The usual tactic is to run behind
the gate to lure them little by little but this tactic takes up way too much
time. A new tactic is to use the Super rotating attack here. Aim for the red
skeleton and after slashing 3 times, press BCJ to deal loads of damage to it
while killing off the surrouding weaker ones. You might have to do this twice,
one for each skeleton.
Remember, kill the skeletons first so the weaker ones won't repopulate.
The FG is rather simple to deal with, thankfully. Just use the tactics stated in
the normal mode. Get the lifeup2 if its needed. Path taken is something like
this:
Scene 1-->kill everything with BBB BJ-->kill skeletons (preferably with knockup-
C4 combo)-->kill gatekeepers-->get M up-->open gate-->Scene 2-->kill groups in
order-->use some S magic as stated above-->fight FG, get lifeup2 if needed (time
left after killing FG should be about 1 min 40 secs)-->collect S magic-->boss
fight
Items after clearing stage: PPPDDDMMS
Stage 4: Forest of Nano(night)
This stage is VERY DIFFICULT to clear within the 4min time limit (I have only
managed to do it in a 2-player game). Alone, the best I did was to reach the
boss room with 30secs to go. You should ignore collecting the gems dropped by
the normal enemies and try to use some C3 to stun a group of enemies and then
following up with combos on the lizardmen. Repeated usage of C4 should only be
used if you are dangerously low on health (no lifeup2 here unless you
specically targeted the plants before the lizardmen). For the 3 gatekeepers,
just rush towards them and do short combos on them one by one. Using S magic is
another option. For the "formation" just before the FG, you can use the Super
rotating attack at the lizardman and hope that the flying pumpkins are closeby
so that they are taken out at the same time. The tactic for the FG is the same
as the one used for normal mode. Remember to take the M up from the FG to
complete the items collection.
Scene 1-->kill everything-->kill lizardmen first, using C3 first to stun the
group-->kill gatekeepers-->open gate-->Scene 2-->deal with the groups as above--
>deal with formation-->FG fight-->get M up, S magic-->boss fight
Items after clearing stage: PPPDDDMMMS
Stage 5(4): Lake Rovina
Number of gates (not including gate to boss): 3
Number of gatekeepers (including final gatekeeper): 4
You will arrive here if you beat the Forest under 4min or opened the 2nd or 3rd
gate at the mansion. You can reach here if you clear the valley in normal mode
under 6min as well. This stage is not harder to clear than the forest stage,
although its still hard to clear under 6min playing solo. The enemies here are
just as annoying as the ones in the forest with the flying suns knocking you
down, mages stunning you and the floating knights' long
range attack. The same tactics applies here, i.e. using BBB BJ on the weak
enemies and using C3 if too many of them are around. Gatekeeper fights differ a
lot depending on whether you are trying to clear the stage under 6mins. Normal:
C4 to knock one away from the group followed up by combos, i.e. killing one at a
time. Time attack: C3 followed up by short combos, i.e killing all at same time.
Scene 1 and Gatekeepers 1:
After killing a few of the flying suns (getting a lifeup1), the first group of
gatekeepers will appear. They are quite simple to deal with, just keep moving to
avoid their stunning attack. The strategy used depends on you, either one at a
time or all at same time.
Scene 2:
After opening the gate, you will have to fight more of the "weaker" enemies of
the stage. Note that you can get a lifeup2 by jumping across from one side to
the other from the "cliff" after climbing up the steps. After killing all the
enemies, the gatekeeper will appear.
Gatekeeper 2:
The good thing is there is only one gatekeeper, a floating knight with higher HP
than the normal ones that will appear later. The bad thing is he is surrounded
by several minions. A standard strategy is to stand in front of the gate(face
OUT of the gate) before he appears, do a first hit on him that sends him flying
down the steps. If this is done successfully, then the rest is simply to dash
towards him to finish him off before his minions can catch up with you.
Scene 3:
More enemies this time round, but only one knight to deal with. Some C3s should
be used here as there are too many enemies flying about.
Gatekeepers 3:
3 knights this time, but no minions. A simple trick can be used here and that is
to lure one knight out at a time. From the centre corridor, one knight will
appear from the left branch, while 2 will appear from the right. Just imagine a
T junction with the centre corridor as the vertical part of the T. When the
gatekeepers appear, just quickly move towards the RIGHT so that only the
gatekeeper which appears from the left branch will come after you. After
defeating him, just go back to the centre corridor and slowly lure the other one
out. For time attack, the above tactic is not applicable as it wastes too much
time. The usual "rush in, do short combos on one at a time" tactic should be
employed. After finishing them, 2 gates are available. I recommend opening the
gate to the right. If the left one is opened, during the fight with the FG, all
his minions will rush towards you, making the fight harder. If the right one is
opened, then only one(or none) knight will keep you company while you are
fighting the FG.
Scene 4:
Just a few groups to be dispatched of. Use the same tactics employed in the
earlier scenes.
Final Gatekeeper:
If you opened the right gate, this fight is quite simple. Do not jump up to the
platform to engage him yet, wait for a while to see any of his knights are
coming from above. If yes, take care of him first. After that, jump up to the
platform but stay near the edge of it and blast the FG with C4 (some timing is
necessary since you won't want to release the charge when he is doing his
glowing attack). Another faster tactic is to use the one used
for gatekeeper 2 in this stage, that is to stand near the boss gate and get a
first hit on the FG immediately after he appears and then concentrating all your
attacks on him. This is much harder to pull off since the FG's minions are
harder, and the FG cannot be knocked down.
Boss 5(4): Darkforce
See "Boss Strategies"
Stage 6(5): Labyrinth of Pingue
Number of gates (not including gate to boss): 3
Number of gatekeepers (including final gatekeeper): 4
You will arrive here if you beat Lake Rovina in under 6 min or you failed to
clear the Forest of Nano(night) in under 4 min. This is a much easier stage to
beat in time attack mode compared to the 2 earlier stages above. There are no
items in this stage though, with the exception of one(two?) lifeup1s. So if you
are missing any of the ability ups, you will have to wait till the Dragon's Den
stage. The enemies in this stage are not really difficult
to deal with. The ones using the scythes are more annoying than the golems with
their spinning attack. The ghosts (devils, spririts etc) are simple to deal with.
Use the same tactics as before, BBB BJ on the scythe-bearers and golems, C3 when
there are too many of them around. There is no Scene 4 in this stage. Opening
the 3rd gate leads directly to the FG (a consecutive gatekeeper fight you can
call it). This decreases the amount of time needed to clear the stage
significantly, not to mention they gave 7mins for this stage, compared to only
6min for Lake Rovina. To be sure of clearing the stage fast enough, the first 2
gatekeepers should be dealt with quickly.
Scene 1 and Gatekeeper 1
After the initial warm-up, the first gatekeeper (golem) will appear soon enough.
Stand at the bottom of the steps to await its arrival. Do short BBB BJ attacks
on him since he is surrounded by lots of minions. Just concentrate your attacks
on him. The 4th hit of the attack actually helps in avoiding the attacks of the
enemies. He will go down soon enough since he does not have much HP.
Scene 2 and Gatekeeper 2
Basically the same as above except that this time round, the gatekeeper is the
ghost which got higher HP than the golem gatekeeper.
Scene 3 and Gatekeeper 3
After more running towards the centre of the labyrinth, you will reach a dead-
end with steps leading below. Note that the last enemy (before the gatekeepers
appear) usually spawns below the staircase. You should run in to finish it to
save time. However, there are 3 gatekeepers this time (ghosts with minions) and
they appear immediately after you finished off the earlier enemy. Hence, you
should quickly run back up the staircase immediately after killing the previous
enemy so that you can lure the gatekeeper out one by one. There is almost
certain enough time for you to use the luring tactic this time if you rushed
through the previous 2 gatekeepers.
Final Gatekeeper
Here comes the more difficult part of this stage. The fight with the FG takes
place in a large room and there are lots of minions moving about (which always
helped to absorb the C4 attacks directed at the FG). The colour of the FG is not
that much different from his ghost minions so using the map to find him is a
better way (look for a larger red triangle). The only suitable tactic (without
using S magic) is to use C4s at it, although its hard to hit him with his
minions absorbing the projectiles. The sheer number of minions
makes it almost impossible to engage melee combat with the FG without being
backstabbed. When he does his "glowing attack", he does not glow at all! So you
will have to depend on the sound to tell whether he is using the attack or not.
Using the super magic attack to counter his glowing attack on you is also a good
idea.
Boss 6: Genie
This boss is a pushover.
See "Boss Strategies".
Stage 7(6,5): Dragon's Den
Hmm..since this stage ultimately leads to Diablo's Shell, rushing through the
stage is rather pointless. In fact, its time to take a break from all the
aggresive play from stage 1 till now. Just follow the same walkthrough as the
one in normal mode.
Stage 8(7,6): Diablo's Shell
Refer to earlier walkthrough on the same stage.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Boss Strategies
----------------------
Here is the all important boss strategies section. In this section, I will
discuss the methods that I used to defeat the various bosses (I am pretty sure
that most people's strategies are similar to mine since in Slashout, there
aren't too many different ways to beat a particular boss).
Unlike many other games, luck plays a major role in boss fights in Slashout (I
would say up to about 30-40%). Most bosses have some form of invincibility
attack (i.e. they are invincible while doing the move) and if they keep
repeating the move, there is no way you can counter it except using S magic.
Also, most of the solid attacks that you can do to a boss (solid attack = an
attack that hits the weak point, deals good damage) can only be done after the
boss does a particular move that leaves him motionless for a while. So in an
unlucky day, the boss will be uncooperative and will do any move other that the
particularly exhausting move. In the following section, I will list 2 types of
attacks for all of the bosses.
Invincible move:
You will be countered most of the time if you try to attack the boss
while he is doing this move. This is the move which you hope the boss
will use the least often. When you see the boss doing the move,
you should stop attacking and be on the defensive (most of the time
anyway). Note that even if I name this move as invincible, this does
not mean the boss won't take damage if you managed to attack
it while its doing the move. It really depends on whether the move
gives the boss any period of invincibility or not.
Exhaustive move:
This is the move which you hope the boss will use most often. The boss
will usually be motionless after doing the move for a short while and
this is the opportunity to do solid attacks on him. Note that this move
is also most likely to be the more damaging of his moves and so
learning to dodge these moves is the key to winning boss fights.
I also included a difficulty level for the bosses (based on my opinions only of
course). One asterisk means very simple while 5 asterisks means very difficult.
Boss 1. 2-headed Lion
*************************
Weak point: The 2 heads
Difficulty level: **
Invincible move: All of his jumping moves, whether its jumping up or jumping
forward.
Exhaustive move: The firebreath move.
Strategies and comments:
For a boss in the first stage, he is not the easiest boss (IMHO) to fight in the
entire game. When he jumps and lands, he creates some form of air attack which
has knockdown property. So whenever he jumps up, the player should jump as well
to avoid the attack. Expert players only jump at the last moment and they only
lightly tap the jump the button and pressing B (i.e. doing a light jump attack
on him while he lands). There is a certain chance that he will use his claw to
swipe or charge at you while you stand directly in front of him. This makes
direct attacks on his head rather difficult. So the thing to
remember is not to stand in front of him while he is motionless.
Enough of defense, lets talk about offense now. Always try to stay to the side
of either of his heads. Attack with BBB only so that when he jumps, you have
enough time to jump too. Try to do a jump attack while landing to damage him.
However, this deals little damage to him only (unless you manage to hit the
head). The best chance to deal damage to him is when he starts to breathe his
fireballs. When he is about to perform that, quickly press shift
and move to his back and keep doing BBB CCC. You have enough time to do that
twice before his finishes his move. Make sure you adjust your position and check
if any of his fireballs can hit you since his fireballs spread out about 120
degrees in front of him. A MUCH faster way of defeating him is to stand at the
side of his head doing BBB, doing light jump attacks if he jumps while waiting
for him to breathe fireballs. When he is about to do that, quickly move to the
centre of the 2 heads instead of to his back. His fireballs will not hit you if
you are standing at the centre of the 2 heads. Just do BBB CCC (twice) and it
knocks off about 3/4 of a HP bar. Needs some courage and experience to do that
however. This tactic is usually used for time attack mode. He can really be a
pain if he refuses to do his breathing attack in time attack mode...
Normal attack: BBB and light jump attack while waiting for it to breathe
fireballs.
Solid attack: Stand at middle of the heads and use BBB CCC while it is
breathing fireballs.
Boss 2. Marionette
**********************
Weak point: The 2 floating hands
Difficulty level: * (for Kamui) and *** (for the rest).
Invincible move: Strictly speaking there are none. The hands can still be
attacked upon regardless of any move she makes. But from a safety point of view,
I should include the "continuous hand smacking" move as the invincible move
since MOST LIKELY the player who attacks the hands while she is doing the move
will be counter-attacked instead.
Exhaustive move: Icicle shooting move.
Strategies and comments:
This boss deserves a *** difficulty rating for the majority of the characters
simply because it requires some skill with jumping attacks to hit the weak
points. Hitting the marionatte herself deals a pathetic amount of damage so its
pointless to do it. Jumping attacks in Slashout are hard to aim, especially for
new players. For Kamui however, she is a piece of cake. Just go under any of the
hands (better still if both hands near each other) and press CJ (anti-air attack)
repeatedly. Move away when you see the hands are about to smack but usually
people just ignore it since the attack does not cause as much damage to you
compared with the potential amount of damage you can do to her if you are brave
enough to press CJ repeatedly without any regard for safety whatsoever. The
smacking moves are similar to the jump & landing moves of the 2-headed lion.
Here can the main attacking moves each character should use to attack the hands:
Slash: High jump attack (2 hits)
Luna: Same as Slash
Axle: Light jump attack (1 hit)
Kamui: Anti-air attack
How to tell if she is going to use the invincible or exhaustive move?
Simple. If she is going to use the icicle attack, she will glow blue AND a sound
could be heard (unless you are playing on machines that have no sound...). If
she is going to use the invincible attack, she will glow blue and NO SOUND cound
be heard. Sounds simple enough. Anyway if she is going to do the icicle move,
just quickly dash to her back. All the icicles will miss you and you can jump
attack the hands twice at least. If she is going to do the "continuous smacking"
move, you should stay as far away from her as possible. I have seen some real
experts attacking the hands while she is doing the move. What they do is they
wait till the hands are just about to smack down, then they jump and attack.
Sometimes this will not work since the hands seldom smack at the same time and
while you are avoiding the smack of one hand, the other hand might smack while
you land. All I can say is that unless you are desperate for time, just wait
till the move finishes. Note that you can get a D up by destroying all the 10
pillars in this room. Use the waiting time when she is doing the invincible move
to destroy a few of the pillars first.
Normal attack: Various jumping attacks for each character when you think
the hands are not going to smack.
Solid attack: Multiple jumping attacks after she does her icicle move.
Boss 3: Machine Beast
*************************
Weakpoint: Tank on his back
Difficulty level: *
Invincible move: He glows blue and starts shooting rocks in almost every
direction.
Exhaustive move: i. He shoots rocks in a 120 deg arc while his body is
turning as well. Note that he can turn either
clockwise or anti-clockwise.
ii. He pounds the ground at his feet and rocks starts
falling from the top to hit anyone near him.
Strategies and comments:
I am not sure whether to label him or the genie as the easiest boss in the game.
Anyway, he is a piece of cake and most people can defeat him without getting hit
by him at all. The important him to remember is to ALWAYS stay on his back. He
will always move around so make sure you move with him to stay on his back. You
can slash his back once while you are at it (damage done is quite insignificant,
better than nothing though). Standing in front of him makes you vulnerable to
his punch attack which can send you flying up to the ceiling. If you are super
unlucky, he might connect with a second punch
while you are falling!
Anyway, chances are that he will do either of his exhaustive moves if you
managed to stay behind him. If he does the shooting rock move, just press shift
and adjust yourself to stay on his back. Take note of which direction he is
turning to make the proper adjustment. Once he is done with the move, quickly do
a BBB BJ attack and stop there. He is not lagged that long after the move to
allow you to do any longer attacks to him. If he starts pounding on the ground,
quickly retreat a few steps (outside the range of the falling rocks). After all
the rocks have fallen, quickly dash and follow up with
the BBB BJ attack again.
Note that he will often do his invincible move if you do not stay at his back.
If its your unlucky day, he will still do the move even if you stayed on his
back. The ONLY way to 100% avoid this attack is to use S magic :(
I prefer to use the super rotating attack over the super magic attack since it
deals more damage to him.
Normal attack: Occasional slashes on his back while waiting for him to do
his exhaustive moves.
Solid attack: BBB BJ attacks on his back after he finishes his exhaustive
moves.
Boss 4: Evileye
*******************
Weakpoint: Her hair
Difficulty level: *****
Invincible move: i. She curls up and shoots a petrifying ray in a wide
circular manner below her.
ii. She shoots 3 flying claws at you. The claws do not
fly in a straight line, thus making avoiding them
much more difficult that it should be.
iii. Pretty much the same in (i) except she glows blue and
dashes forward before curling and shooting the ray.
Exhaustive move: i. She spins on the ground towards you 3 times. Note
that only the 3rd spin can hit you.
Strategies and comments:
She is HARD, mainly due the difficulty of hitting her hair and dodging her
flying claws. There are 2 main methods to hit her hair. The first method is to
use the dash+jump+attack method. This mainly involves dashing towards her (from
her back of course so that you can strike at her hair) and jump attack. The
second method is simply to shoot C4s at her from a distance (at least a few of
the shots must land on the hair or else there might be a time problem..) I
recommend using the C4 method only when using Kamui or Slash since their C4s hit
more easily than others. Even then, you have to properly judge the distance
between you and her so that
i. Your projectile can hit her.
ii. Her petrifying rays cannot hit you.
You should always wait for her to attack first, then follow up with your own
attacks. An exception to this is her flying claw attack. The flying claw attack
does not seem to lag her long enough for you to launch at attack at her but all
her other 3 attacks should be fine. The other rule is to stay away from her.
There are a number of advantages for doing this:
i. Allows you to dodge her petrifying ray attacks
ii. Allows you more time and space to avoid the flying claws (USE THE
MAP)
iii.Allows you more room to lauch a dash-jump attack
iv. Allow her to spin close enough to you (her only exhaustive attack) so
that you can counter attack her with a jump attack. If she does the spinning
move and you are too close to her, you will have to chase after her after her
move finishes and this wastes a potential chance of counter attacking.
Try not to use the dash-jumping attack when she is at a corner. This is because
when you land, you cannot find space easily to run away from her subsequent
flying claw or petrifying ray attack.
Somehow I always find that there is barely enough time for her. Your first few
attacks must connect with her hair or else...If you are really desperate for
time, run to her back and use special magic attack a few times. If her
petrifying ray hits you, she usually follows up with either another ray or
flying claws. Do not use S magic to break free of the petrification immediately
since her next attack will most likely hit you again just as your invincibility
time finishes. Instead, use your S magic only when you feel her
next attack is about to hit you.
Normal attack: None, since you should only attack after she finishes with her
attack.
Solid attack: Jump attacks or C4s after she has launched her attacks (except
the flying claws attack)
Boss 5: Darkforce
*********************
Weakpoint: His head
Difficulty level: **** (more like 3 and a half but I dont tink any of the other
bosses deserve a 4 star ranking so...) mainly due to his hard-to-reach weakpoint.
Invincible move: Fire Storm move
Exhaustive move: i. Fire Storm move (again?)
ii.Fireball move
Strategies and comments:
Again, another boss that has a hard-to-reach weakpoint. In order to hit his head,
your character has to jump really high (no dashing is required). Even then, you
need to be close to his body while you jump in order to hit the head (especially
for Luna). His other attacks other than the both invincible and exhaustive Fire
Storm move include a rarely-used swipe with his hands and the commonly used
fireball attack. Since its so hard to hit his head, you might consider the idea
of dropping the use of any jump attacks on him
since jump attacks lag the players by quite a bit. Instead, you can just do the
basic BBB BJ attack from his SIDE (doing the attack at the front or behind him
tends to let the player leap OVER him, making the 4th hit miss). If this is done
continuously, there will surely be enough time to defeat him compared to lots of
missed jump attacks.
Let's talk about the Fire Storm move. He is invincible ONLY when the move starts
since he is surrounded by some form of a fireshield and players hitting him
while that occurs will be knocked down. After that, lots of meteors will drop
from the sky (these do little damage but has knockdown property). I found that
standing directly behind him when he does his Fire Storm reduces the chances of
getting hit by the meteors drastically. So use that
to your advantage. After he finishes with the move, he is left in an "exhausted"
state (really "exhausted" unlike other bosses which I term "motionless"). He is
wide open to attacks while in this state, although it is hard to hit his head
while he is in this state since he is kneeling down..:(
Unlike Evileye, you have to stay as close to him as possible. Trust me, he
RARELY does the ground swipe attack. If he does the firestorm, too bad then. But
getting struck by the fireshield only deducts a tiny amount of health and he
compensates that by letting you to pound him in his exhausted state. Staying
close allows you to:
i. Avoid his fireball attack since the fireball shoots in front of him at a
distance
ii. Keep pounding him with either BBB BJ or jump attacks
Sometimes he might teleport towards or away (depending on the distance) from you.
When he reappears, he will most likely be shooting a fireball at you so watch
out. I find standing on the steps (higher than the one he is floating on of
course) helps in targetting his head since it allows you to jump higher and
nearer to his head. He switches his facing often too. Just keep a close distance
between him and you and the fight should be okay.
Normal attacks: Repeated BBB BJs or jump attacks while he is doing his
fireball move and BBB CCC or BBB BJs after his firestorm
move
Solid attacks: None, since you cannot hit his head after he finishes his
firestorm move I think its not impossible, but I don't know
how)
Boss 6: Genie
*****************
Weakpoint: His legs
Difficulty rating: *
Invincible attack: i. He turns around and starts throwing out bombs around him
ii. He glows blue and jumps (only vertically) and lands
really fast (faster version of the 2-headed lion jump
& land attack)
Exhaustive attack: He jumps up and shoots out fireballs from his mouth
while in mid-air
Strategies and comments:
Hmmm, for a boss in a later stage he should be harder. But this is not the case.
The only difficult thing about him is the amount of damage you can deal to him
is quite little (compared to the other bosses) and his high HP. As his weak
point is his legs, you can only use the knockdown attack to attack him while he
is on the ground. Some character's 2nd knockdown hit cannot hit his legs (e.g.
Kamui) since his legs are incredibly short. You can attack him while he is
airborne too, more on that later.
His bomb attack is amusing to see. He turns 360 degrees and drops several bombs
around him. The player should cease attacking and stay out of the bomb's
explosive range (quite easily done actually). After the bombs exploded, just
resume the attack on his legs. His second invincible attack is more dangerous.
He glows blue and leaps up and lands rather quickly. The player should stop all
attacks when he glows blue or risk be hit by
his landing. Moving a step backward followed by a tap on the jump button is the
best counter measure to this move.
Next comes his exhaustive move. He leaps (without glowing) and starts breathing
fireballs while airborne. When this happens, you can use each character's anti-
air attack to strike at his legs. His fireballs seems to only hit players who
are at a distance from him. The arc of fire is also rather small so standing by
his side while and pressing CJ should be safe
enough.
To sum up, just stay close to him and keep using knockdown attacks on him. When
he glows blue, jump. When he jumps and breaths fireballs, keep to his side and
press CJ until he lands. Continue with the knockdown attacks. You do not need to
worry about the bomb attack as it tends to miss you most of the time. The bombs
are scattered around him randomly so just try to position yourself between the
bombs and you should be fine.
Normal attack: None, since all your attacks should be concentrated on his legs
and there is no chance that you can be counter attacked upon if you don't overdo
it. (overdo = pressing BCs even after he jumps and be hit by his landing)
Solid attack: Repeated BCs until he jumps, CJs while he is breathing fireballs
in midair.
Boss 7. Bony Dragon
***********************
Weakpoint: Eyes
Difficulty rating: ***
Invincible attack: i. He breathes out a small hurricane that seems to
follow players for a while.
ii. Glows blue and dashes forward to hit anyone in front.
iii. He swings his tail to hit players that are standing
to his side.
Exhaustive attack: i. He breathes out fire which occupies a rather large
area below him.
ii. He knocks his head down fast to hit players below
him.
Strategies and comments:
First-time players might have difficulty locating his eyes. They are in fact
located at the base of his 2 legs(sorry i don't know how else to call the 2
hanging things).
If not for the unfavourable terrain (a bone line in the middle which make
travelling across it more difficult, this boss deserves only a 2 star rating.
Anyway the tactic to be used against him can be summarised in 3 words, "HIT AND
RUN". Do not hit him with anything more than a single slash when he uses any of
his invincible attacks since he will usually do one of his exhaustive attacks
immediately after. Actually, chances of him doing any exhaustive attacks
increases significantly if you try to slash his eyes once after he finishes his
invincible attack. So, the trick here is to lure him to do his
exhaustive attack by slashing once (regardless of it hitting or not) at him.
Most of the time he will try to counter your attack with one of the exhaustive
attacks. But since you only slashed once, you will definitely have enough time
to move out of the range of his exhaustive attack. THEN you can punish him with
either a BBBCCC attack (if he uses the fire-breathing attack) or BBB BJ attack
(if he uses the head knock attack).
To avoid the small hurricane, refer to the map of its location and simply move
out of its trajectory. It will disappear after a while. The front charge is
irritating not because it might damage the player, but because it forces the
player to chase after the dragon (no thanks to the centre bone line). The tail
swing is perhaps more dangerous since it tends to catch players off-guard. To
avoid it, quickly move to his front or back. You can see a slight prepartory
action just before he uses this move. The exhaustive attacks can simply be
avoided by standing far enough from the dragon. You need to stand
further if he is using the fire-breathing attack.
Normal attack: SINGLE slashes at it in order to lure it to perform his
exhaustive attacks.
Solid attack:
i. BBBCCC attack on the eyes immediately after it finishes with its firebreath.
(Of course you should dash instead of walking towards the eyes to buy more time
for your attack). Might have to be replaced with BBB BJ if you took too long to
reach the eyes.
ii. BBB BJ attack on the eyes after he finishes with the head knock attack. You
can use BBBCCC attack as well if you are really near to the eyes after he
finishes with the attack.
Boss 8: Final Boss
**********************
Weakpoint: None (his entire body can be attacked upon)
Difficulty rating: *****(seriously speaking, his difficulty varies a lot with
luck but since he is the final boss, I should rate him as a boss which I
fought on my unlucky day).
Invincible attack: i. Firestorm (just like Darkforce except that he will
NOT be exhausted after the move.
ii. Petrifying ray (with a larger radius than Evileye).
iii. Dashes towards the player and uses his fists and legs
to deal a multi-hit combo to the player.
iv. Re-spawning of his spheres.
v. Teleporting and fireball attack from behind the
player.
Exhaustive attack: (note that he is never motionless after doing any move,
exhaustive attack here refers to an attack which you can sneak up behind up to
pound him while he is still doing the attack)
i. Rock-shooting while turning as well (same as Machine
Beast).
ii. Icicle shooting (almost no preparation needed for him
to use this move unlike the Marionette)
Strategies and comments:
Wow look at his huge arsernal of attacks and you might be misleaded that those
are his most dangerous form of attack. Actually, his most dangerous weapons are
the 3 spheres orbiting around him. The spheres continuously shoot out purple
shots (with a short pause after a while, thankfully). These shots are hard to
evade because the spheres are always orbiting around the boss (referring to the
map helps). More importantly, the spheres cannot be destroyed by normal slashes
(if hit by a weapon, it will simply regenerate
immediately). They can only be destroyed with C4 shots. Having said so much
about the spheres, it is no wonder that his "Re-spawning of spheres" move is
number 1 on my hate list.
Okay, when you first reach him, he will let you have a chance to practice
avoiding the shots by his spheres and destroying the spheres itself. After that,
he begins his little speech and does a few poses(oh well, at least the other
bosses dont do that). Next the real battle will begin. The first thing to do
from then on is to charge up your magic and try to destroy the spheres without
getting hit too much. There is no need to destroy all 3 spheres and if your C4
hits him instead of the spheres, better still. Time is extended as you gradually
reduce his health and the total number of spheres destroyed do
not have any meaning to them. After he is down to one sphere (or 2 spheres if
you are brave), approach him and hack at him with BBB BJ provided he is not
using any of his invincible moves. If he does his hands + legs combo, quickly
press BCJ to reduce his HP by almost a bar!(with 3 M ups of course). If he used
any other invincible moves, just stay out of the range and approach him
afterwards.
Sounds simple? But often thats not the case. He will often re-spawn the spheres
(happens a lot if you are unlucky). Or, he will use his firestorm attack just as
you are about to hack at him. Anyway, while he is using the firestorm attack, it
is a golden opportunity to shoot at the rest of his spheres. His teleportation
move and re-spawning move looks similar at first, both with him glowing. The
difference is that for the re-spawning move, he will spin AS WELL AS glow. He
cannot be attacked upon while spinning (thats why I labelled that under the
invincible move list). Imagine after much effort you destroyed 2 spheres and
just as you are going to hack at him, he re-spawns his spheres. Firstly, you
lost a chance to hack at him. Secondly, you have to shoot the spheres again. And
that is NOT a rare occurance mind you. When you see him teleporting, cease all
forms of attack since he will 100% appear from behind you and shoots a fireball
at you. Instead just charge up, wait for him to appear and when he does, strafe
to avoid the fireball and release the charge at him.
Some people prefer to use C4s at him all the way, disregarding the possibility
of melee combat with him. That will work as well, perhaps even safer. Personally
I prefer the melee combat as it is much faster (meaning
the chances of time over is lower) and he will more often use his hands+legs
combo while in melee (meaning the potential one bar damage I can deal to him
with S magic). Note that anytime you are down on health, quickly do a "help me"
pose to get Lifeup3. With this, he shouldn't be a real problem. The only problem
lies with time. If he keeps respawning his spheres or doing the firestorm attack,
chances of time over are quite high...
Normal attacks:
C4s at his spheres and at him. BBB BJ at him when he is down with one or two
spheres.
Solid attacks:
None, since he is never left exhaused. (I feel tempted to include the BCJ
counter when he uses his hands+legs combo since it deals such a huge
amount of damage to him).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Secrets and Tips
----------------------
</pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
Other than the so-called "secret items" in the game that I've already covered,
there is only one other secret in the game that I know of. You can pick 3
possible colour
combinations for each character. Note that only the colours are changed, not the
costumes. Colours for hair, skin, clothes are changed but everything else
remains the same.
The way to do this is to hold the start button at the character selection screen
and press any of the 4 buttons to select your character. Each button represents
a different colour combination for the character. The first and last button
always represents the default colour.
Tips
----
Here I should include a few tips for NEW players to make it through the game:
i. LEARN THE USE OF SHIFT BUTTON
I cannot emphasise the use of the importance of the shift button in this game.
If you know how to use it properly you can easily make it to the end stages of
the game at least. To shoot C4s effectively, you should hold the shift button as
well as the charge button.
2. Level up at the correct time.
This means getting a life restore at the correct time. I shall roughly state the
important places which the player should level up (solo play, normal mode)
before fighting the boss.
i. After beating the FG at cathedral.
ii. After beating the FG at mansion.
iii. After beating FG at forest.
3. Getting the first-hits for gatekeepers
This is especially important for gatekeepers that appear in groups of three.
Killing one of them first makes fighting the remaining 2 much easier.
4. Try to get as much items as possible for multiplayer play.
In solo play, the items can be easily maxed out but not for multiplayer. Ability
ups can sometimes affect the difficulty by a lot. So try to get those items that
you will not usually bother to get for multi-player play.
5. Make sure each player has a speed up.
This is related to the point above. Since the programmers in the game made it
such that a player can pick up the inventory of another player (even if the
player is already maxed out of that item), extra care should be taken not to
take the speed up of the other player if the player already has one. Knowing
which monsters drop Speed Ups will help a lot. Speed up is essential to C4
shooting in the later stages.
6. Time the shots for C4
Usually, FGs will use their glowing attacks just as you are shooting your C4 at
it. To counter this, wait till they executed their moves, then you release the
charge. Excellent example of this is the lizardman FG in the Forest stage.
7. Don't get carried away with long combos
Sometimes players tend to get carried away doing long combos on each and every
enemy.
This might cause a possibility of time over.
8. Lastly, do not get discouraged if you cannot defeat a particular boss.
Every boss in this game has its own special attacks and weaknesses. Play a few
games to familierise yourself with it so that you know when to attack it, how to
attack it and also how to avoid its attacks. To improve on ANY game, everyone
needs to play it many times to be better at it.
Thats all that I can think of for now. I will list more if I can think of them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Closing
--------------
I hope this FAQ proved at least a little helpful anyone interested in playing
Slashout. I enjoyed writing it and might write another FAQ in the future. Anyway,
thanks for using it and if you have any questions or comments, like something
relevant that I missed, please e-mail me at
[email protected] . The english
probably wasn't the best but I was in a rush.
Till next time!
hotsoup
24/8/2001 2.58pm
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. Credits
--------------
i. Thanks to my arcade friends for introducing me to this game. You know
who you are!
ii. The author who created the item list at
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Denei/9920/slashout/slashout.html which
helped me to find a lot more items.
