ARKISTA'S RING FAQ v1.0
Author: Blair Stephens (blairlq at gmail.com)
** TABLE OF CONTENTS **
1. Introduction
2. Game Story
3. Controls
4. Gameplay
5. Items
6. Special Items
7. Enemy List
8. General Tips
9. Stage Info
10. Game Genie Codes
1. ** INTRODUCTION **
Welcome to my quaint little FAQ for the quaint little overhead
action/adventure game titled Arkista's Ring, made by American Sammy Corp for
the NES in 1989. I should mention I've only ever played this game twice but I
wanted to write this to show some love for a charming yet unheralded titled
that fans of this under represented genre on the NES are sure to enjoy.
The game is said to be Zelda-esque in many regards but other than the shape
of the protagonist's ears, I don't find a whole lot in common with Nintendo's
acclaimed epic. Arkista's Ring is actually the illegitimate child of the NES
games Gauntlet and Hydlide (Gauntlet having way too much to drink of course).
Gameplay is quite linear and has you working your way through a seemingly
endless series of short stages, collecting items along the way. It's not a
difficult game, but there's enough danger lurking about most areas to keep the
player alert. Oh yes, and there are ninjas too. Did I mention the ninjas? Any
game with an elf chick fighting against a horde of ninjas is worth a play in my
book.
Please note that as the sole author of this original work, I need to grant
specific permission before any or all of this document can be reproduced in any
shape or form, regardless of the purpose. My e-mail is blairlq at gmail.com and
I welcome any and all questions or comments about this FAQ, especially
suggestions about additions or corrections.
2. ** GAME STORY **
From the game's manual:
"Once upon a time, in the Elven Kingdom, there was a city called Arkista
that was protected by a magical ring. Legend had it that the ring would provide
peace and harmony throughout the land. Elves from all over came to Arkista to
live near the ring and share in the happiness and prosperity. The elves also
had two ancient treasures: The Wealth Amulet which provided fortune to the
land, and the Elf Mirror which protected the elves from harm. Arkista became
the high point of Elven civilization.
Meanwhile, in his Forbidden Castle, the evil Shogun raged and fussed. 'I
will steal the Ring of Arkista and the Elven Treasures!' he screamed at his
horde of wicked and vile creatures. 'I will plunge this land into darkness and
despair!'
That night he hatched a dastardly plan to take the Ring and the Elven
Treasures. Later, as the elves slept, the Shogun's nasty ninja carried out
their master's bidding.
'The Ring is gone!' cried the elves the next morning, 'and so are our
treasures!'
'Oh, whatever will become of us now?' wailed the elves. Without the Ring and
the Treasures, Arkista began its slide into ruin. Birds refused to sing and the
sky grew very dark. The evil Shogun's army of horrible creatures overran the
countryside.
As the elves all huddled under their beds, the Elders agonized in the town
hall.
Suddenly the doors of the town hall swung open and in came Christine, a
courageous little elf. 'I will go and rescue the Ring!' she declared. The
elders looked at each other and shook their heads. Christine set out on her
quest anyway, armed with only a bow and arrow.
'Fear not, townsfolk, I will defeat the fiendish Shogun and return all he has
stolen from us!' she solemnly vowed."
Yeah.
3. ** CONTROLS **
Directional pad: Moves Christine in any of 4 directions. She cannot move nor
fire her weapon diagonally.
B button: Stops action and lets you pick an item to use. Left and Right on the
directional pad will select the item and the A button will use it. The B button
cancels out of this and returns to the game.
A button: Fires an arrow (or a fire blast if the Fire Wand is activated) in the
direction Christine is facing. You have an unlimited supply of ammunition.
SELECT button: Brings up a status screen showing various stats and all of your
weapons and items. This only works between levels when the stage number is
being shown and not during the stages themselves.
START button: Pauses the action and allows you to select an item just like the
B button. It won't cancel out of this however. You'll need to use B.
4. ** GAMEPLAY **
The game is said to consist of 125 stages. It actually consists of 31
different stages that will repeat 4 consecutive times (with the enemies
becoming tougher each time) for a total of 124 stages. I suppose stage 125 is
just the end screen, or something. The goal in each stage is to make a key
appear by defeating enemies and then going to the stage exit which is almost
always behind a door or obstacle that requires the key to pass through. Each
stage is basically a grid that's 16 squares from left to right and 24 squares
up and down, so they're not large. They're often maze like however, and filled
with monsters and obstacles that will slow you down.
Most of the challenge in Arkista's Ring stems from the fact you can't change
the direction you face without also walking in your new direction. Enemies are
smart enough to stay out of your line of fire as they move around and approach
you, and if a fast moving enemy gets close enough you'll be damaged several
times just trying to gain a little distance so you can shoot the thing.
You start the game with only your bow and arrow, 5 units of health (not 4 as
the manual states) which are represented by hearts, and 2 extra lives in
reserve. You'll pick up all kinds of items throughout your quest by defeating
monsters and walking up to the small bags they often leave behind. If a
specific enemy (not enemy type) drops an item bag, then that enemy will always
drop an item bag every time you're on that stage and you shoot it. The ones
that don't drop item bags never will. The items you obtain are random, to an
extent. You won't get any Ninja Stunners early in the game because the ninjas
only appear toward the end of the loop. That item only appears between stages
23 and 30 and their corresponding stages on higher loops. It may be that some
enemies won't drop specific items also. I get plenty of extra lives from those
black and green goblins but never seem to get any from certain other monsters.
Having only played the game twice I can't be very definite about any of this,
and yet I still have one of the top 10 best Arkista's Ring FAQs in all the
internet. Awesome.
To make the key in each stage appear, you need to defeat a particular enemy.
Do so, and the key will appear in a black spot in the stage referred to as a
well. Except in stage 31, the enemy that controls the key isn't in the stage
initially but is instead one of the monsters that appear while you defeat the
initial group of enemies. Destroying a monster (and then picking up its item
bag if it drops one) often triggers another enemy to appear in its place.
After defeating a certain number of monsters which varies for each stage, the
monster that triggers the key will appear. I've detailed in this FAQ the number
of monsters you need to slay to make this special enemy show up, and where it
shows up as well. Practical use of this knowledge is pretty limited since
you'll mainly just be killing everything you see anyway, and picking up as many
items as you can.
If you lose all your units of health, you'll lose a life, and restart on the
same stage with the enemies you've slain still gone and your key still in hand
if you've found it. If you lose all your lives, you'll have the option to
continue (up to 9 times in a game) which will restart you on the stage you were
at but with all enemies returned and obstacles back in place. You keep all of
your items when continuing.
In some stages you'll find squares with holy crosses on them. These squares,
or "temples", will restore your health in full if you touch them from the north
or south. They only work once per stage, unless you continue. Some of these
squares are solid while some are tiles that you walk over. The coffin in stage
21 works the same way as these temples.
Also, some stages have walls, trees, or obstacles that disappear when you
touch them. They usually hide shortcuts that save a little bit of time and I
mention in the stage info the ones I've come across, but there could be more to
be found since I didn't really go out of my way checking every stage. Fake
walls need to to be pushed on from a particular direction to give way (north or
south for some, east or west for others). In other words, pushing on a fake
wall from the right that crumbles from above isn't going to do a thing. Fake
obstacles outdoors disappear when you're adjacent and face toward them from any
direction, which is how doors and other barriers work once you have a key.
There are levels with seemingly more than one exit. Only one will take you
to the next stage while the others are fake. The real exit changes each time
you play the game so I can't point out the real ones in the FAQ. Stepping on a
fake exit will make it disappear and cause the enemy that triggered the stage
key to reappear as well. There are other fake exits (2 in stage 5 come to mind)
which don't spawn monsters and never work to exit the level.
After stage 31, things start looking familiar. As mentioned before, you'll
be repeating the stages over again with the difficulty increased. Enemies move
faster, and have more health. They don't increase in number though. Also, from
the 2nd loop onward enemy projectiles will now travel through obstacles. The
game runs through the initial 31 stages 3 more times for 4 loops in total
before it ends, with each loop getting increasingly harder. Enemies that posed
almost no threat at all become capable of damaging you relentlessly and get too
quick to outrun.
And now, onto the various goodies you'll come across during battle.
5. ** ITEMS **
There are a wide variety of items available to aid you throughout your
journey. A few of these items take effect as soon as you pick them up, and I'll
start by listing those ones first. These 3 each have their own distinct sound
effect when you pick up the item bag so that you know what you're receiving.
HEALTH BOOST - This restores 1 unit of health to Christine.
EXTRA LIFE - Adds 1 extra life to your reserve. You can have a maximum of 5.
POINT BONUS - Adds 2,000 points to your score. Also, picking up an item you
don't have room to carry will instead become a 500 point bonus. That only
happens when there's room in your inventory when the item bag appears but gets
filled up by other item bags before you collect it. If your item slots are full
when the bag appears, single use items seem to become health boosts instead.
And now, I'll list the single use items you store in your item slots. These
5 different items can be used when needed, then disappear.
CURE POTION - This handy item instantly brings Christine to full health when
used. When your health becomes zero there is actually a brief period of time
while a sound effect plays before you fall over and lose a life. This window
gives you an opportunity to use a potion and save yourself, so these cure
potions are essentially extra lives and quite valuable.
FIRE WAND - This item when used lets you shoot powerful balls of flame instead
of arrows until you exit the stage you're currently on. Fire is stronger than
your most powerful arrows and if you haven't fully upgraded your arrows yet the
difference is enormous. If you lose a life or even if you continue you'll still
keep this ability. Unlike arrows the fireballs will travel through any
obstacle, letting you destroy enemies before they get anywhere near you. If the
fireball destroys an enemy the fireball keeps going, capable of inflicting
whatever damage the first enemy didn't absorb. Enemy types immune to arrow
damage are also immune to fireballs however. The fireballs disappear at the
edge of the screen (not the stage).
THUNDER WAND - This item damages every enemy that's currently wandering the
stage when you use it. It's strong enough to instantly dispatch a lot of
different enemy types during the first loop through the game, but gets less and
less effective as enemies become stronger.
HOLY STICK - This item will damage all undead or unholy type enemies. Its range
is the entire stage like the Thunder Wand, and it packs more of a punch. The
drawback is that it only affects certain enemy types whereas the Thunder Wand
will damage or destroy anything. These two items become your only options if
you wish to destroy an enemy type that arrows pass through.
NINJA STUNNER - This item when used will temporarily immobilize any ninjas in
the stage, making them easy to defeat. They'll kneel down in this state and
walking right through them won't harm you. It's a very handy item in a few of
the later stages as some of the ninjas get quite dangerous. It doesn't work on
the Shogun or any other enemy in the game except ninja.
6. ** SPECIAL ITEMS **
Some item bags contain equipment that permanently improves your character.
These items and their effects are listed below.
ARMOUR - Each piece of armour you obtain increases your maximum health points
by 1. They get pictured beside the hearts you started your quest with. You can
pick up (in order) leather armour, a shield, a gauntlet, a helmet, and a mantle
for a maximum of 10 health points when all armour is found.
ITEM SLOT - You have space to hold 4 single use items in your inventory when
you begin your quest. Some item bags will add 1 to this amount until you've
reached the maximum carrying capacity of 7.
BOW/ARROW UPGRADES - You can improve both your bow and your arrows, separately,
as you play through the game and pick up item bags. Bow upgrades improve the
range of your shot and arrow upgrades improve the strength. There are 8 types
for each and the progression is as follows:
Short -> Cross -> Middle -> Long -> Giant -> Great -> Elf -> Ultimate
The manual neglects to mention the Great Bow, and doesn't mention any of the
arrows either. The short bow you start with shoots arrows a distance of 5
squares. When you pick up the Ultimate Bow your shooting distance will be 8
squares. Check the status screen by pressing SELECT between stages to see what
bow/arrow you currently have, as there's no indication at the bottom of the
screen among your other items.
WEALTH AMULET - One of the ancient treasures stolen from Arkista, this amulet
will add 100 points to your score for every square you move. Score is pretty
meaningless in this game and made even more meaningless when you can walk
around indefinitely and watch the points pile up, but it's still a neat little
item. It's very rare, and it's not impossible to play through all 124 stages
without ever coming across it. The first time I played through this game I
didn't find it, and I finished with something around 1,060,000 points. In my
2nd playthrough I found the amulet between stages 25 and 30 and without going
out of my way to take any extra steps I finished with about 2,400,000 points.
ELF MIRROR - Another one of Arkista's stolen treasures, this item is just as
difficult to find as the Wealth Amulet. This awesome mirror prevents you from
taking damage from any enemy projectiles, including the Shogun's lightning
blasts.
ARKISTA'S RING - The titular artifact and objective of your quest. The ring is
dropped by Shogun the first time you defeat him in stage 31, and is the only
item in the game you can't acquire randomly by defeating generic creatures.
Once you posses this item, you'll recover 1 unit of health for every 10
squares you move. This item proves invaluable enduring the higher loops when
enemies are their fiercest. Note that the amulet and ring track full steps
taken only. You can reverse your direction at any point during your movement,
and this makes it hard to regain health (or increase your score) by walking
back and forth a short line. Walking a tight 2×2 square is a better way to
recover health while staying in the same general spot.
7. ** ENEMY LIST **
For the sake of hammering out this FAQ quickly I wasn't originally going to
include any monster info, but like the grinch who stole Christmas, I've had a
change of heart. Quality matters, or whatever. I'll just group the enemies
together that have the same description to keep this as short as possible. The
only real difference between them is their sprite.
Some of the names I used below are slightly different than in the manual.
All flying enemies pass over walls and obstacles. No item bags are ever dropped
when defeating scorpions, worms, beetles, crawlers, wolves, bats, pixies,
gargoyles, skeleton knights, blobs, anemones, jellies, vampires, or harpies.
GOBLIN
- moves in 4 directions
- can attack with projectiles that travel 6 spaces
- 100 points
POISON WEED, GIANT SQUID, JELLY
- stationary
- can attack with projectiles that travel 6 spaces
- 200 points
WOLF
- moves in 4 directions
- 200 points
WIZARD, FLYING ORC, FLAMING SKULL
- flies around the stage in diagonal lines, ricocheting off the edges
- 400 points
BAT, PIXIE, GARGOYLE
- flies in a wavey "S" motion toward you
- 500 points
SKELETON, SKELETON KNIGHT
- moves in 4 directions
- vulnerable to the Holy Stick
- 300 points
BLOB, ANEMONE
- stationary
- can attack with projectiles that travel 6 spaces
- 300 points
ARMOURED SKELETON, REGENERATING SKELETON
- moves in 4 directions
- the killing blow from an arrow will only immobilize it temporarily
- vulnerable to the Holy Stick
- 600 points
AMOEBA, WILL-O-WISP, SHADOW
- occasionally moves 1 square in 4 directions
- invulnerable to arrows. vulnerable to the Holy Stick
- 2,000 points
FLAME MONSTER, CYCLOPS
- moves up and down a straight path, turning around at an obstacle
- will immediately turn to face you when behind it
- attacks with projectiles that travel indefinitely when facing you
- 1,000 points
MANTICORE, VAMPIRE
- moves up and down a straight path, turning around at an obstacle
- will immediately turn to face you when behind it
- attacks with projectiles that travel indefinitely when facing you
- 5,000 points
HARPY
- flies in a wavey "S" motion toward you
- 400 points
REGENERATING ZOMBIE
- moves in 4 directions
- the killing blow from an arrow will only immobilize it temporarily
- vulnerable to the Holy Stick
- 800 points
OGRE
- moves in 4 directions
- larger than other enemies and can be hit when firing from one row above them
- removes 2 units of health on contact
- 1,500 points
NINJA
- moves in 4 directions
- removes 2 units of health on contact
- 500 points
STAR NINJA
- moves in 4 directions
- can attack with projectiles that travel indefinitely
- removes 2 units of health on contact
- 800 points
JUMPING STAR NINJA
- moves in 4 directions, and can leap over walls
- can attack with projectiles that travel indefinitely
- removes 2 units of health on contact
- 2,000 points
MASTER NINJA
- moves in 4 directions, and can leap over walls
- can attack with projectiles that travel indefinitely
- held by ninja stunners about half as long as other ninjas
- removes 2 units of health on contact
- 3,000 points
JUMPING NINJA
- moves in 4 directions, and can leap over walls
- removes 2 units of health on contact
- 1,000 points
SHOGUN
- moves in 4 directions
- can attack with projectiles that travel indefinitely
- removes 2 units of health on contact
- 10,000 points
8. ** GENERAL TIPS **
Keeping one item spot free in your inventory will allow you to continue
picking up items you may want while weeding out the less valuable stuff. It
appears that single use items you would've have collected are instead health
boosts if your inventory is full when the item bag appears. Something to keep
in mind if you're having trouble keeping your health up and you don't have the
ring yet.
Stock a few ninja stunners as you start to collect them from level 23 on.
They help immensely in surviving a couple of the later stages (level 30 comes
to mind) and are more valuable than even cure potions if you have to choose.
Potions are very handy too in the later part of the loop. Fire wands will help
but you don't need more than one or two since one will do you for the entire
level. Thunder wands are not very useful at all in the later stages, and holy
sticks are useless altogether since no monster it can hurt appears after level
23 for the rest of the loop.
Try to deal with enemies one at a time whenever possible. If several enemies
swarm you at the same time you'll take a lot of damage very quickly because
they'll strike you in unison. Monsters that move in 4 directions will kinda do
their own thing if you're not around but then chase you as you get close. A
good way to deal with an enemy chasing you is to run the other way, turning
around to get a quick shot off and immediately turning around again to keep
moving away from it. By doing this, you can fire arrows at the monster without
taking a full step toward it (and losing a lot of distance) since your
character can reverse direction even mid step.
Don't be too stingy using your items if it can save you taking damage. They
get replaced quickly enough. Also try to get in the habit of using cure potions
when ALL your health is gone to maximize their benefit.
Enemy projectiles sometimes behave funny because they won't scroll with the
rest of the screen when you're walking north or south. Because of this they
appear to speed up, slow down, or suddenly move on a diagonal as the screen
scrolls. Be careful not to get hit if you're without the mirror.
The ninjas in later stages can sometimes jump over walls to chase you. They
may end up jumping around indefinitely depending on where you're standing,
letting you get rid of them without risk of damage since they can't harm you
while they do this. For an example, when stage 30 starts walk immediately left
1 step and up 5 steps so that you're lined up with the row of stairways. The 2
ninjas that appear will hop around defenseless, letting you blast them with a
fire wand until the others come at you from above. Anyway, this trick is quite
useful for dealing with the master ninjas that sometimes appear on this stage
when you walk over a fake exit.
If you get the key in a level but then need to continue before getting to
the exit, the key will disappear from your inventory and reappear in the key
well once you dispatch the appropriate monster. You won't need to recollect the
key however. If you had it before continuing, the game still acts as if you
have it and lets you go through doors etc. This bug can save you some time and
trouble battling monsters. Speaking of bugs, I made a cyclops walk through a
closed door in stage 27 while the screen was scrolling. I haven't been able to
duplicate it though.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 4 monsters. A goblin appears in top centre of
stage, 4 steps south of exit.
Notes: For the first few levels the exit is at the top centre of the stage. The
miniature tree maze on the east side has a tree that disappears directly above
where the poison weed appears. This makes it a little easier to kill the weed
and take its item bag.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 3 monsters. A goblin appears in upper left corner
of stage.
Notes: Another easy, straightforward level. Collect all the item bags you can
from monsters in the early part of the game so that hopefully your character
gets a lot tougher before the stages do.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 8 monsters. A poison weed appears right on top of
well in top centre of stage.
Notes: These wolves get very fast in higher loops. The best way to deal with
them is to hang around the starting point that's shielded by trees (leaving
only briefly to lure the wolves if you need to) and shoot them from there.
~LEVEL 4~
Enemy Count: 7 goblins, 3 wizards
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 5 monsters. A wizard appears on exit stairs near
top of stage and flies around.
Notes: The black spots on the ground here will cost you 1 unit of health if you
walk over them. I forgot to mention these in the gameplay section I typed up
above. Get a handle on how the wizards here move because a few other enemies
later on move the same way, and watch out for axes thrown by the goblins.
~LEVEL 5~
Enemy Count: 9 zombies, 2 bats
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 6 monsters. A zombie appears directly below
healing temple in lower left area.
Notes: The zombies unique to this level aren't hurt by the holy stick. The
first of many indoor or underground levels you'll play through is also the
first appearance of a healing temple square. It's at the bottom left of the
stage and restores all your health one time during the stage when you touch it.
Use it to make sure your health is full before you exit here, although you
might need it sooner. This is also the first time you'll encounter bats, which
fly in a tricky wave patten in your direction. You sort of have to time your
shots to deal with these effectively. You'll find what appears to be 3
different exits to this level but only the one closest to the top (slightly
left of centre) exits the stage while the others simply disappear. The piece of
wall 1 space up and 1 space right of this exit will disappear if you push on it
from above, creating a bit of a shortcut.
~LEVEL 6~
Enemy Count: 10 skeletons, 4 blobs
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 9 monsters. A skeleton appears in bottom left part
of stage.
Notes: More corridors designed to drag the stage out a bit. There are 2 fake
walls in the lower left area here to allow easier access to a few of the
monsters. The blobs can shoot at you.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 8 monsters. A worm appears in upper right part of
stage.
Notes: Shoot the worms before they have a chance to get annoying. The skeleton
here is the only one of its type with a sword and shield, but he's more or less
identical to the regenerating skeletons you meet later on. He'll leave an item
bag if you destroy it with a thunder wand or holy stick. So will the two giant
squids in the closed rooms.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 8 monsters. A flying orc appears in upper right
area and flies around.
Notes: One of my favourite stages since it's quick, easy, and full of item
bags. I've found the elf mirror in this stage both times. Don't run around too
much until you take care of the flying orcs.
~LEVEL 9~
Enemy Count: 11 scorpions, 2 amoebas
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 8 monsters. A scorpion appears in upper centre of
stage beside a volcano.
Notes: Again, easy. Once you have the key, you'll have to find a path though
fake mountains to the exit stairs. It begins from the lower centre of the
mountain range. The 2 amoebas here will leave item bags but I tend not to
bother destroying them. If you choose to, make your way to the exit first
before using your attack item, then double back for the other bag. You'll be
able to grab both this way.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 7 monsters. A skeleton appears in lower left part
of stage.
Notes: A couple more bats here, and a will-o-wisp near the exit. Nothing too
exciting. The skeletons behind the doors leave item bags for you, sorta like
trick-or-treating on Halloween.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 10 monsters. A goblin appears in lower middle part
of stage.
Notes: You need the key to get past the odd looking tree, and need to fight a
small army of goblins for the key. Be wary of thrown axes. Just use a thunder
wand if you're at risk of losing a life. Grab the item bags from the flame
monsters before moving on. They can't hurt you if you're to the left or right
of them.
~LEVEL 12~
Enemy Count: 8 minotaurs, 3 pixies
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 6 monsters. A minotaur appears in lower left
corner of stage.
Notes: Get rid of the pixies as soon as you can and this is a short, easy
stage. It's also the only stage you'll encounter these purple minotaur beasts.
~LEVEL 13~
Enemy Count: 7 pixies, 4 shadows
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 6 monsters. A pixie appears in top middle part of
stage and flies toward you.
Notes: Get used to enemies attacking you in this wavey pattern the pixies use
if you haven't got enough practice from those bats yet. You haven't seen the
last of it. Wiping out the shadows with a wand or stick will net you a couple
of item bags. Get the key first though since one of them is behind the door.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 10 monsters. A jelly appears in corridor lower
centre of stage.
Notes: I think I had some beetles and/or skeletons chasing me around the outer
corridor here in the higher loops the first time I played this game. Anyway,
take your time with the beetles if you need to. You have a temple here to
restore your health before you exit. The skeletons can be immobilized for a few
moments with your arrows, letting you walk over them harmlessly, but you'll
need a holy stick or thunder wand to destroy them outright (and the thunder
wand doesn't work very well in the other loops). The jelly here that triggers
the key uses a different palette than the one we saw in stage 10. White with a
little red whereas the other one was purple with a little white.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 5 monsters. A manticore boss appears in centre of
stage.
Notes: Carefully deal with the flying orcs to start, and shoot the skeleton
knights while you're at it. Wait until the manticore is as far away from you as
possible before lining yourself up with it and unloading some arrows. It will
fire at you while it approaches so be ready to move out of the way (and then
get back to where you were if you have time to get a few more shots in). A
black pit blocks the doorway so you're taking at least 1 unit of damage after
defeating this boss. Collect item bags from the shadows if you wish. Note that
using a fire ward and shooting down at the manticore from the very top of the
stage defeats him extremely fast. His projectiles can't touch you there.
~LEVEL 16~
Enemy Count: 10 goblins, 2 harpies
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 7 monsters. A goblin appears in upper right area
of stage.
Notes: Find the odd looking trees to make your way through this level. Be
mindful of thrown axes from the goblins.
~LEVEL 17~
Enemy Count: 3 amoebas, 7 harpies
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 5 monsters. A harpy appears in upper part of
stage, 2 down and 2 left from well.
Notes: You may want to stay near the bottom here while the harpies advance on
you so that you can move left and right while you dispatch them. Whatever works
for you. A fake tree will disappear here between the area with the key well and
the pathway to the exit on the left, providing a bit of a shortcut. Unless you
have holy sticks falling out of your pockets don't bother with the amoebas.
They're better spent on stage 18, 20, 22, or 23. Don't save any past level 23
however.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 5 monsters. A blob appears right below the door
near top of stage.
Notes: 2 regenerating zombies here to start the level, with another one
appearing eventually also. These guys get very fast on higher loops, and care
must be taken.
~LEVEL 19~
Enemy Count: 4 skeletons, 5 blobs
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 4 monsters. A skeleton appears in upper part of
stage, 1 square right of coffin obstacle.
Notes: Easy stage here, but I like to use a fire ward to save myself some time
walking all over the place. If you use a fire wand, head up the left side of
the level and wipe out the 4 blobs arranged in a square to the right, then
shoot the skeleton that appears beside the coffin. The key will appear just
above you and you can go through the door there. Otherwise, just walk around
clearing out enemies and make your way back for the key afterward. The coffins
are simply obstacles that make you take the long way around, and disappear like
doors once you have the key. The 2 coffins here the only things in this game
with crosses on them that don't restore your health.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 5 monsters. A flaming skull appears in upper right
corner on entrance stairs and flies around.
Notes: These purple skull things are no different than the flying orcs and
shouldn't give you much trouble. I tend to stay in the top right corner, moving
either along the top or down the right side until I clear away a bunch of them.
You can just shoot the regenerating skeletons and move on while they're
collapsed.
~LEVEL 21~
Enemy Count: 10 bats, 1 vampire
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 6 monsters. A vampire boss appears in centre of
stage, 1 square right of coffin.
Notes: Get rid of the bats when you have the open area around you at the bottom
of the stage. The vampire moves and attacks the same way as the manticore and
has about the same health too or a little less (12 shots with your ultimate
arrows defeat either creature on loop 2... 14 arrows for loop 3). The coffin
here works as a healing temple, allowing you to exit the stage at full health
and also letting you be a little careless with the vampire for the sake of
saving time.
~LEVEL 22~
Enemy Count: 7 bats (plus up to 7 more from fake exits), 3 will-o-wisps
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 6 monsters. A bat appears in upper right corner of
stage and flies toward you.
Notes: In this manly pink level you'll need to deal with a swarm of bats in
some tight corridors, and you have some will-o-wisps making you take the long
way around unless you use an item to get rid of them. The exit is randomly
picked from one of the 8 stairways you see here, and the others simply
disappear and trigger a bat in the top right of the stage when you touch them.
You might as well try the 2 possible exits adjacent to each other on the right
side of the screen first, since they're pretty easy to get to, and if they
don't work there's a fake wall here just below them to get you into the
corridor to the left.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 8 monsters. A blob appears near middle of stage,
slightly low and slightly to the right.
Notes: A few blobs here to exterminate. Pretty simple stuff, but the levels
won't be nearly so easy soon. A fake wall in the lower centre area saves you
going up and down that long pathway on the left side of the stage.
~LEVEL 24~
Enemy Count: 8 crawlers, 4 ogres, 1 ninja (plus up to 8 more from fake exits)
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 9 monsters. A ninja appears in upper part of stage
toward the right. Defeating ogres count as 1.5 enemies in regard to making
other enemies appear.
Notes: The large ogres actually get quite fast on the higher loops, and take a
lot of hits. The hallways below lead to 9 different exits of which the real one
is randomly picked from. One stairway you can get to right away but unlike
stage 30 I doubt it'll exit the level for you if you don't have the key (and it
won't generate a ninja either which all of these exits normally do after the
key is collected). The red ninja that generates the key here is pretty fast but
can't take much punishment, so try to get rid of him as he approaches and
before he's right up on you. Both the ninja and the ogres will take away 2
units of health on contact.
~LEVEL 25~
Enemy Count: 7 ninjas, 1 gargoyle
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 3 monsters. A gargoyle appears in upper centre of
stage 3 spaces below door and flies toward you.
Notes: Defeat as many of the ninjas as you can while they approach. A thunder
wand will probably do the trick here on loop 1. Keep moving while you shoot the
rest of them. I like to think that if the stages had names they would've called
this one the executive bathroom.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 7 monsters. A manticore appears at top of stage
between well and door.
Notes: The last outdoor stage in the loop. Find the blocks that are fake to
reveal the way to the castle.
~LEVEL 27~
Enemy Count: 7 amoebas, 2 star ninjas, 3 jumping star ninjas, 5 cyclopes
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 12 monsters. A cyclops appears on very right side
of stage, 3 steps above well.
Notes: The ninjas here can throw projectiles at you, and a few of them leap
over walls to find you. Better to remain stationary in most cases and let them
move into your line of fire. If you can play around with the jumping ones a bit
and figure out how to bait them into jumping all over the place trying to get
at you, you'll be better off for it. Don't waste ninja stunners here if you
have any, they'll be put to much better use in the next few levels. Try to keep
at least a couple on hand for level 30 if you don't know what you're up against
there yet.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 8 monsters. A master ninja appears in upper part
of stage, 1 square left of well.
Notes: Take your time with the gargoyles and the star ninjas, and make your way
up. When the white ninja appears, you have a problem if you can't make him
simply jump around without attacking you. This is a master ninja which are
jumping star ninjas with a whole lot more health. They're also held by ninja
stunners for around half the time (a little over 5 seconds for master ninjas
and an extra 5 seconds on top of that for other ninja types). You can't really
outrun them so do your best to inflict as much damage as you can as fast as you
can. Having him run at you down a hall gives you a nice head start. Anyway,
there are 4 fake walls in the upper left corner of this stage (that need to be
pushed on from above) which cut through a couple layers of that spiral.
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 12 monsters. An ogre appears 1 square above door
in lower right area. Defeating ogres count as 1.5 enemies in regard to making
other enemies appear.
Notes: The 6th and last ninja here looks the same as the others, but it's a
master ninja. Defeat it as fast as you can. A temple is in the lower right part
of this stage, so you can head that way while firing at the master ninja every
so often if you can't simply out race it in damage by slugging it out. A fire
wand helps here, too. As with other stages, moving along the very edges of the
stage makes it a little easier for enemies to corner you, so avoid that if you
can. Get all the item bags you can from the ogres.
~LEVEL 30~
Enemy Count: 11 jumping star ninjas, 3 master ninjas (plus up to 7 more from
fake exits)
Key Triggering Enemy: Defeat 8 monsters. A master ninja appears in upper centre
area.
Notes: Boss music plays here because it's the hardest stage in the game.
Hopefully you've got some ninja stunners or at least some potions handy. Also,
definitely use a fire wand if you have one. The darker brown looking ninjas are
the master ninjas. Target the weaker green ones first since you can get rid of
them faster and also collect item bags to help you survive. If a brownish one
is in your way shielding the others you may want to change your position or use
a ninja stunner. Hammer away at the master ninjas while the stunner is in
effect, and above all else don't let more than 1 ninja hit you from up close at
the same time. You'll die pretty fast. The exit here is in one of 8 different
spots - only 2 of which you need the key for. You can try your luck if you want
by heading up the right side of the stage as soon at it begins and going for
the stairway around the corner in the dead end 8 or 9 spaces up. If it ends up
being the correct exit this becomes by far the shortest stage in the game.
~LEVEL 31~
Enemy Count: 1 shogun
Key Triggering Enemy: Shogun.
Notes: Last stage in the loop. This battle isn't hard as long as you don't let
him get too close. If he gets right up on you you're in for a lot of hurt. If
you have a fire wand left over, use it for the range and extra damage. The elf
mirror makes this battle quicker and easier but don't worry if you haven't
found it yet. Anyway, he'll move about the room, tossing out a throwing star or
a lightning blast here and there. Line up on the other side of the screen 1 or
2 squares off from his position and face him, letting him have it when he walks
into your line of fire. He'll come after you at this point, so be sure to run
off before he gets too close. Both his projectiles do 1 unit of damage like all
others in the game. Once he's taken care of he'll drop an item bag which on
loop 1 will have Arkista's Ring inside. The bag will disappear before long like
any other, so grab it right away. Heal, exit the stage, and watch the castle
crumble to dust, ensuring no survivors (except for the guys who rebuild
everything for the next loop).
10. ** GAME GENIE CODES **
Just a few codes here to spice things up for those who like to use a Game
Genie. I don't use one myself but I won't think any less of you for trying
these :). These are Galoob's official GG codes for Arkista's Ring.
PAKETILA - 1 life
TAKETILA - 6 lives
PAKETILE - 9 lives
SZULXKVK - infinite lives
ZAKATIIA - start with fewer hearts
PAKATIIE - start with more hearts
LAEPYSYA - less damage from powerful monsters
GZOPTIST - infinite energy
IPUAGSLA - 20 continues
TAUAGSLA - 5 continues
Well, that's about all I can think of that's worth sticking in this FAQ.
Thank you kindly for reading, now go and enjoy some old school gaming.
