River City Ransom EX
Merlin's Mystery FAQ
Version 0.90
Written By Kaboobi (Kaboobi02474 AT yahoo DOT com)
THIS FAQ IS ONLY TO BE HOSTED AT WWW.GAMEFAQS.COM
If anything is incorrect or you would like an addition, please email me.
Version 1.00 - Started on May 30, 2004
Started work on the first version of my FAQ, I have everything available to me
right now, and I just need some information and opinions on a few items.
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I. TABLE OF CONTENTS
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I. Table of Contents
II. Information about the FAQ
III. What is Merlin's Mystery?
IV. Stats List
V. Disposable Items
VI. Skills
VII. Frequently Asked Questions
VIII. Credits
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II. INFORMATION ABOUT THIS FAQ
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This FAQ will cover what Merlin's Mystery is, what it sells, and what each item
does. This FAQ will NOT contain any information about other stores and their
items, how to beat the game, or any of that OTHER stuff. So if you're looking
for that, go away. Unless otherwise stated, I took all of this information by
hand, if you spot any major errors, feel free to e-mail me, my address is at the
top of this FAQ.
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III. WHAT IS MERLIN'S MYSTERY?
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For all of you who know what 'Merlin's Mystery' is, you can skip this section.
For all of you who DON'T know what 'Merlin's Mystery' is, read here.
Merlin's Mystery is a hidden shop that sells the most powerful (and expensive)
items in the game. It is located in the Armstrong-Thru Way, between the 4th and
5th lights. Just hold up against the wall, and a door should open, leading you
into the store. Now, the store has many different goods, and to find them all,
you need to either play though the game hundreds of times, or go into the
options menu and set the 'Restock' option to 'Every,' and it will have
different items every time you enter the store. Now the fun begins. Loaded
with armloads of cash, you can turn your average Alex/Kunio into a hardass punk
killing machine.
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IV. STATS LIST
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This section will cover all the different stats and what they do. Pretty
simple, this is just a quick reference for all of you who can't figure out what
they do by yourselves.
Punch - How strong your punches are. Simple.
Kick - How much damage each kick deals. Not too hard.
Weapon - How much damage you do when hitting people with weapons/bodies or
throwing them. Easy.
Defense - How often you are likely to block, and how easy it will be to do so.
Do I really need to explain more?
Toughness - How much damage your character can absorb, the higher the number,
the less damage you take. A very important stat.
Strength - Your character's overall strength. This also affects how much damage
you do.
Agility - How fast you run and move. Higher = better, but it's not a required
stat.
Jump - How effective your jumping attacks are. More jump = more effective air
techniques.
Willpower - The manual states that "Your character's willpower indicates his
general state of health. With more willpower, you character will find it easier
to keep on fighting. It's easier to attack and defend when your willpower is
high." So basically, it's a second life bar, kicking in when you're about to
die.
Stamina - You character's Life. Hit points. Force. Whatever other words you
use to show it.
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V. DISPOSABLE ITEMS
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This section will cover the items that you use once, and they give you some kind
of boost or effect, then disappear.
Lotto Tix
----------------
Cost: $10.00
Picture: A ticket.
Text: Varies.
Effect:
Randomly win nothing, $1, $100, $1000, $10000, or $100000. The odds are in
your favor, so buy a bunch.
Hemlock
----------------
Cost: $20.00
Picture: A green bottle
Text: ______ used Hemlock! I've got the giddies! Gack, poison! What the...!?
There was a mysterious effect...
Effect:
I'm not sure, it seems to change you stamina and willpower. Anyone know the
exact formula for this item?
Seraph Cola
----------------
Cost: $20.00
Picture: A yellow bottle
Text: ______ used Seraph Cola! Huh!? My body... What the...!? There was a
mysterious effect...
Effect:
It randomizes your stats, however, you can not lose or gain stat points, it will
only randomize them based on the points you have.
XRay Specs
----------------
Cost: $20.00
Picture: Red and grey glasses.
Text: ______ used XRay Specs! _____ felt guilty, then got really dizzy.
Effect:
Willpower up 40.
Stamina max increased.
Cough Meds
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Cost: $30.00
Picture: A red bottle.
Text: ______ used Cough Meds! So...Sleepy... Gack! Poison! What the...!?
There was a mysterious effect...
Effect:
This one is...interesting. It multiplies your current willpower by 4, to a max
of about 2048. This lasts for a while, and then your PREVIOUS willpower is
divided by 4, and is stuck there...for a short while. While under the effect
of the increased willpower, you are near invincible, so use this before fighting
the last boss or a tough group of enemies. However, be careful to rest
somewhere after the after effect of it hits you, or you will easily be killed.
Isis Scroll
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Cost: $100.00
Picture: A ring of jewels with a heart in the center.
Text: ______ used Isis Scroll! Warmth from the scroll flooded the area.
Effect:
Toughness up 50.
Willpower up 60.
Stamina Max increased.
Rodan Wing
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Cost: $100.00
Picture: A staff-thing made of three green circles. And angel wings.
Text: ______ used Rodan Wing! Feathers...Feathers everywhere!
Effect:
Defense up 50.
Willpower up 60.
Stamina max increased.
Excalibur
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Cost: $100.00
Picture: A sword. Namely Excalibur.
Text: ______ used Excalibur! It gives ______ great strength...maybe.
Effect:
Punch up 10.
Kick up 10.
Weapon up 10.
Strength up 10.
Willpower up 50.
Zeus' Wand
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Cost: $200.00
Picture: A wand with a red jewel on the top. And angel wings.
Text: ______ used Zeus' Wand! ______ gripped the power of Olympus!
Effect:
Agility up 40.
Jump up 40.
Willpower maxed out.
Stamina max increased.
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THE FOLLOWING THREE ITEMS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE AFTER YOU BEAT THE GAME
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Custom Move
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Cost: $9.90
Picture: A green scroll
Text: ______ used Custom Move!
Effect:
This scroll lets you change the button command required for any bought/merged
technique in the game. For example, you get set 'Dragon Kick' to be used
everytime you guard, or 'Acro Circus' to be activated by tapping A. Very useful
for skills like Killer Kick, as you can assign it to tapping kick, rather than
having to run everytime you use it.
Custom Self
---------------
Cost: $99.90
Picture: A red scroll
Text: ______ used Custom Self!
Effect:
This item lets you customize the appearance of your character in six areas:
Face
SkinColor
Hair
HairColor
Uniform
EyeColor
It's a nifty item, letting your character stand out from all the others, letting
you give it green skin, puffy blue hair, a purple and white suit, and a stupid
expression on his face. If you want, that is.
Custom Char
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Cost: $999.90
Picture: A blue scroll
Text: ______ used Custom Char!
Effect:
Ah, my favorite item in the game. This item can be used in two ways.
First, you can pick any boss in the game, and save him as a character, complete
with all his special moves, stats, and money.
Second, you can merge any two of your saves together. First, you pick a base
character. This character will retain his looks and skills. Next, you pick a
data to merge. First, the stats of the two characters will be averaged out.
The base character will obtain his inventory AND skills, allowing you to create
a 'Franken-Alex' or any other character with all of the best moves in the game.
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VI. SKILLS
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Pandora's Box
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Cost: $40.00
Picture: A heart-shaped bottle thing.
Text: $weet!
Effect:
Every time you get hit, you get $.10. Not to useful later on, when you have
enough money for everything, but can be useful early when you need to save up
for the expensive items.
Rocketeers
---------------
Cost: $200.00
Picture: A grey rocket.
Text: Run really fast
Effect:
You, well, run REALLY fast. Useful when you want to blast though the game in
10 minutes, fun to have.
Air Merc's
---------------
Cost: $200.00
Picture: A blue and black shoe with red wings.
Text: Higher Jump
Effect:
You jump REALLY high, up to the top of the screen. This makes in near
impossible to use any jump attacks, making it useless in normal combat. Not
recommended unless you want to look cool.
Springlines
---------------
Cost: $250.00
Picture: A grey shoe with a spring on bottom
Text: Jump + bounce
Effect:
After you jump, you bounce on the ground four times in a row. Pretty useful
if you like to use jump attacks, you can bounce though a group of enemies while
attacking. However, you lose much of you control when bouncing, and it's very
easy to bounce off the screen or into a pit.
Inlines
---------------
Cost: $250.00
Picture: A rollerskate.
Text: Rolling stop
Effect:
After you run, you slide to stop. Pretty useless, although it's fun to use
with Rocketeers. However, the ablity to slide and kick though a crowd is
pretty useful when harvesting money.
Narcishoes
---------------
Cost: $300.00
Picture: Yellow shoes with little rockets on the back
Text: Jump in midair
Effect:
Arguably the second most useful skill, these allow you to jump as many times
as you want while in the air. Very useful if you accidentaly fall into a pit,
or need a quick escape.
PhoenixWing
---------------
Cost: $300.00
Picture: A grey feather
Text: Jump high
Effect:
Similar to the Air Merc's, but slightly different in one way - you go up and
down very slowly, making it just as useless for combat. Bleh.
Custom Fit
---------------
Cost: $300.00
Picture: A white bag with a yellow circle in the middle.
Text: Run in midair
Effect:
Double tap left or right in midair, and you start running. Useful for skipping
entire areas. Plus, the smile on your character's face is priceless. I like
this skill, makes it easy to get past large holes or skip areas.
Magic Pants
---------------
Cost: $500.00
Picture: A pair of blue and gold shorts
Text: HP regenerates
Effect:
You recover stamina SLOWLY, about 1 every 5 seconds. Not worth the cash, spend
it elsewhere.
Skaterz
---------------
Cost: $500.00
Picture: A white bag with a yellow circle in the middle.
Text: Teleportation!
Effect:
The most useful (and cheapest) skill that can be bought in Merlin's Mystery.
This skill teleports you next to an enemy whenever you attack, whether you kick,
use Acro Circus, or throw something. Highly recommended on a powerful
character.
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VII. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Q. How will I make the money to buy all there expensive items?
A. There are a few ways to make quick cash in RCREX.
1. Lotto Tix - fill your inventory with them, and save. Use them all, and if
you don't get anything good, reload and try again.
2. The Entrees - This rare gang will give you $7 PER PERSON, run around for a
bit and you should find them. Set the 'enemies' option to 20 for more money,
you can make up to $140 IN ONE ENCOUNTER!
3. Loading a saved guy and fighting him - After you earn a bit of money on your
character, save and quit. Start a new game as a single character, loading that
character as both Alex AND Ryan, and progress though the game until you run
into yourself outside the tire factory. If you beat him you will get half the
money that character had on the save file. Pick up the cash, save, and repeat.
Please email any other questions to Kaboobi02474 at yahoo dot com
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VIII. CREDITS
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Thanks to Technos (RIP) for the excellent Kunio series.
Thanks to Atlus and Million, for making this great game.
Nintendo, for the GBA.
All you posters out there, for showing me various stuff.
Paragon, for being...there. And the copyright stuff.
Everyone at PortableReview. Hello.
GameFAQs and CJayC, for wasting thousands of hours of my life.
Me, for supplying myself with enough caffeine to write this.
GameCrazy Arlington, MA, for supplying me with this game.
And thanks to everyone I'm forgetting.
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Copyright 2004 by Brian Silva
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any other web sites or otherwise
distributed publicly. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part
of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
