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Challenger Guide and Walkthrough V 1.10
An informative FAQ written by Frankomatic
Copyright 2004 Frankomatic
All Trademarks and Copyrights contained in this guide are owned by their
respective Trademark and Copyright holders.
Any extra questions, corrections, or concerns can be sent to
[email protected].
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Table of Contents
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i. Version History
I. Introduction
II. Controls
III. Main Characters
IV. Walkthrough
-Scene 1 (S1)
-Scene 2 (S2)
-Low Difficulty (LD)
-High Difficulty (HD)
-Scene 3 (S3)
-Scene 4 (S4)
V. Future Additions
VI. Credits
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i. Version History
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1.00 First released version of this guide. Will get you through the game, but
is incomplete in terms of enemies for the final stages. (6/15/04)
1.01 Fixed a small error at the end of Scene Four. (6/16/04)
1.10 Added in more complete information for scenes 2-4. (6/17/04)
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I. Introduction
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Frankomatic checking in once more, this time with what may be the most obscure
game I've ever covered. I've been gaming since the NES first came out (yes, I'm
that old), and even I hadn't heard of this odd little game known as Challenger.
I'm not even entirely sure that this was released in the states due to a
certain in-game message that I'll mention when we get to it, and I also have no
idea what the names of any of the characters or enemies are supposed to be, so
bear with me on this one.
Anyways, if for some reason you must e-mail me about this game, be sure to put
the name of it in the subject line. I don't generally open e-mails from people
I don't know, so this'll let me know that it isn't some sort of horrible virus.
Now, let's get this party started. To jump from scene to scene quickly, hit
ctrl+F, then type in S followed by the number you with to get to.
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II. Controls
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The controls for this game are all simple, but here's the list anyway for those
of you that might not know them.
Directional pad: Move your character in the pressed direction. Up and down only
work during Scene 2.
A button: Jump. During Scene 2, this throws knives instead.
B button: Throws a knife.
Start: Pauses the game.
Select: No function.
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III. Main Characters
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The Challenger: This is you! You happen to be a little man wearing a white
cowboy hat, a white shirt, black pants, and white boots. You throw knives to
attack and have a vertical leap that would make Mario himself jealous. You are
also on a quest to save a princess from the evil bad man of the game. Yes, I do
realize how completely insane this sounds.
The Princess: The famed damsel in distress. She is wearing a white dress and
has white hair. She is also, notably, the only female in the game and is
therefore rather difficult to miss. The speech balloon with 'Help!' in it also
distinguishes her from everyone else.
The Villain: If he has a name, I don't know it. He's wearing an all black
outfit aside from what appears to be a white cross on his shirt. He's also bald
and really, freakishly ugly. He might actually be a troll for all I can tell,
but I digress. He's bad and you want to kill him.
There are also minor enemies, of course, but I'll just mention them during the
scenes they appear in.
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IV. Walkthrough
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A note before we get started. When you first turn the game on, you'll see a
little bar on the title screen that looks vaguely like this.
L======== H
This is how you select the difficulty you want the game to start at. You can
move it towards the L (easy) by pushing left, and the H (hard) by pushing
right. Once you're happy with your difficulty level, press start and the game
begins.
S1. Scene One
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In Game Stage Description: Stop Express!
Enemies
-------
Fire Wisps: These annoying little fellows only appear when you get inside the
train. They're invincible, so all you can do is duck under them. They also look
vaguely like those enemies from the third stage in Donkey Kong.
Malicious Birds: These only appear if you're not in Round One on the lowest
difficulty. They fly about the top of the train trying to smash into you. You
can either jump over them or shoot them to kill them.
Men in Green: These guys appear both on top of the train and inside of it,
again only if you're not in Round One on the lowest difficulty. On top, they
just run at you, inside they run a few steps, jump forward, run a few steps,
and jump forward. You can shoot them to kill them, or run under their jumps
inside the train.
Storm Clouds: These only appear if you're not in Round One on the lowest
difficulty. They hover back and forth above some of the cars of the train
before turning into lightning bolts and moving downwards. They stop once they
hit the roof so you're safe on the inside. All you can do is avoid them. The
sky flashes when they change, so watch for it.
Bomb Cars: These only appear on higher difficulties. They ride along the train
a bit before hopping up on the roof. When they hit, something falls inside the
car. Just avoid getting hit and you'll be fine.
Stage Walkthrough
-----------------
Notice how the Challenger not only manages to move only a tiny bit slower than
the train on foot, but that he also manages to jump clean from the ground to
the top of it with no difficulty at all. Take a few moments to groove to that
funky tune and to memorize the faces of the Villain and the Princess below you.
I'll wait.
Done? Alright then! Notice how you're on the front of the train right now, and
that the train is going to the left. This means that unless you're feeling
suicidal, you want to go to the right. Your current objective is to get to the
rightmost car and enter the train. At its easiest, this is just a simple matter
of not falling between the cars. On higher difficulties, you also have some
birds and storms and henchmen to deal with. Just take your time and you'll make
it. The 99 second timer is very generous.
Once you get to the furthest car from the front, walk up to the rectangular
line on top and you'll fall inside. Now you want to get all the way to the left
again. At the easiest possible, you'll just have to duck under some Fire Wisps.
On higher levels, you also have green henchmen to kill and bomb car droppings
to dodge. Just go at a steady pace and it'll be pretty easy.
Once you get to the front, it's time to have a showdown with the Villain. He
is, unfortunately, invincible at the moment and throws you out of the train.
The scene ends with the words 'Escape!' on the top of the screen.
As a small side note, am I the only one that's really amused by the fact that
the game forces you to watch the whole train pass by if you happen to die here?
S2. Scene Two
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In Game Stage Description: Search Princess! (Ah, engrishy goodness.)
Enemies
-------
Fire Wisps: They're back! They roam about certain areas of the field now. Some
of them are rather docile and stay in a certain area, while others will
actively chase you around. They're still invincible to your shots unless you've
gotten a knife power up and it hasn't worn off before you shoot them.
Men in Green: These guys are also back! They run on the screen randomly and
just try to run into you. Shoot them and move on. They also don't appear on the
lowest possible difficulty.
Weird Dancing Skeletons: These don't appear on the lowest difficulty either.
They appear in front of the various caves to Scene 3 and are invulnerable to
knife shots. To get rid of them, you need to kill enemies in the area they're
at until one of them drops a pink thing. Shoot the pink thing and the skeleton
will die. Also, if you shoot a knife power up, you can kill them with your
shots for a few seconds.
Green Rabbit Things: They're small, they hop around, they drop pink things
sometimes. So, shoot away! They also don't appear on the lowest difficulty.
Heads with Shoes: Yeah, I don't really get these guys either. They're just like
the green rabbits for all intents and purposes, and don't show up on the lowest
difficulty.
Dinosaur Skulls: The same as the previous two in every possible way aside from
looks! Not on the lowest difficulty.
Man Eating Plants: See Green Rabbits/Heads with Shoes/Dinosaur Skulls.
Benevolent Whale: These guys aren't actually enemies, but they're worth
mentioning. If at any time a whale happens to be on the screen, your health bar
will start to flash between the meter and the words 'Power Up!' This means that
you're being healed. You can also shoot them for 400 points, but why give up
the free healing?
Stage Walkthrough
-----------------
In this stage, you have free reign of movement in all directions. You also
can't jump for the duration, but that's okay. You also have gained a health
bar, so you can take about 4 or 5 consecutive hits before dropping dead now
instead of one. The object here is to move along and eventually find the
Villain's hideout. You have a 99 second timer again, which probably won't be
enough to make it in one run. Luckily, there are caves along the way that you
can enter to visit Scene Three and score some points. When you exit again, the
timer will be restored to 99 seconds and you'll return to that point again if
you die. This guide is now split for low and high difficulty, so control-f for
LD or HD as is appropriate. Now to get moving!
Low Difficulty (LD)
-------------------
You start off in an area that looks like part of a village. Follow the path
left and up and you'll eventually run into the first cave. Refer to the Scene 3
section if you need help with this part. Once you return, follow the wall to
the right and then head up when you reach the water. Keep following the water
until you reach some rocks and some fire wisps, Dodge the wisps and keep
heading up.
When you reach the gray area, continue to head north. The uppermost building
has an open doorway that takes you to another Scene Three. Once you return,
head left and cross the gray bridge. Head down and follow the water until you
reach some rocks, then go left between the second and third rocks. Head down
and follow the right side in this new area and you'll reach another cave to
Scene Three.
When you return you'll want to head to the left. Dodging through the deserted
town area will make it a little easier to dodge some of the fire wisps, but
you'll want to end up almost directly left from the cave. Cross the bridge you
see and head south following the river to reach the next cave. Head to the left
next and follow the water up to find another bridge. Head left and pass the
dead trees to enter a desert area. Follow the canyon wall on the far left to
find the next Scene Three cave.
Head to the right when you get back and keep following the wall upwards until
you can go no further. Continue right until you see a pass with some rocks,
then follow that until you get to a slightly wider area. From here you can
continue upwards or go down and to the left through cracks in the rocks. If you
go up, you'll find two more paths, one of which is a dead end with fire wisps,
and the other leads to a dead end gray area with a cave. Do NOT go into this
cave. It is a trap and you will lose a life. In fact, don't bother going up at
all.
Go down and to the left through the rock openings and you'll find the next real
cave to Scene Three a little further left. Keep going left after you exit the
cave until you get to some more rocks. Head down very carefully here, and
you'll see a weird looking swirl in the sand with a large hole in the middle.
If you walk into this swirl at any time, you'll be sucked into that pit while
the word 'Arijigoku!' appears on the screen and you will die. I have no idea
what to make of that whole scene aside from the obviousness of it being a death
trap.
What you want to do not go down, but instead go left through that path in the
rocks and around the weird trap. Then head down until you see some more rocks.
Carefully pass by the right side of the rocks while avoiding the trap, and keep
going right. Then carefully head upwards and around the trap to get to the
final Scene Three cave.
After you get back, carefully head down and around the trap again, then follow
the lower side of the water around some rocks. Keep heading down until you hit
a rock field. On the right side, there will be a little path you can head down
and left through, then head straight down to another gray area with a pyramid
structure on it. Enter the Pyramid to finish Scene Two.
High Difficulty (HD)
--------------------
You start off in an area that looks like part of a village. Follow the path
left and up and you'll eventually run into the first cave. Kill some enemies
until the pink object appears and then shoot that to get rid of the skeleton
guard. Enter the cave to go to Scene Three. Head to the right after you exit
the cave and follow the water northwards. Keep going north through the rocky
area and you'll get to a gray area. The northernmost building here has another
cave to Scene Three, so kill the skeleton and head on in!
Go to the left after this and cross the gray bridge, then head south. When you
reach the rocks, head left between the second and third rock and then follow
the rightmost wall south to reach another cave to Scene Three complete with
skeleton. Go left when you return and cross the bridge. Go to the south and
stay to the right to find another Scene Three cave and skeleton.
Travel left and northwards until you find another bridge and cross it. Head
straight left to enter a desert area and keep going left until you hit the
wall. Go north following the wall to find the dancing guardian of Scene Three.
Keep following the wall north and right until you get to some rocks. Follow the
path north through the rocks until you see a small path heading to the left and
a larger one to the north.
The north path leads to nothing but a dead end and a cave that causes instant
death, so take the left path between the rocks instead. Head a little further
left and you'll reach another cave to Scene Three. The skeleton for this one
can be kind of tricky since not many killable enemies spawn around this area.
Continue to the left until you reach a bunch of rocks with a path heading
south. Running south like a giddy school girl will get you pulled into the
Arijigoku sand pit of doom, so take the small path left between the rocks and
go around it.
Pass around the pit on the left side and head south until you see two rocks.
Carefully go to the right around the rocks without falling into the death pit.
Keep going right and north around the trap to reach the next cave to Scene
Three and its dancing guardian. Head south until you see some water, then
follow the south side of the water to the left. Go around the large grouping of
rocks and head south to find another group of rocks.
On the right side of this set, you should see a path where you can pass south
and left through the rocks to a small clearing. Follow that path and head south
from there to reach a gray area with a pyramid. Remove the skeleton like you
have for every other cave and enter to get to Scene Four.
S3. Scene Three
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In Game Stage Description: Get Keyword!
Enemies
-------
Fire Wisps: These don't appear on the lowest difficulty. They hop around the
bottom of the screen a bit before making a leap upwards between two of the
geysers. Just don't hit them while you're jumping.
Blue Birds: Only appear on the highest difficulties. They fly down the screen
attempting to ram into you and kill you. Dodge or shoot them as appropriate.
Storm Clouds: These guys hang out around the top of the screen and turn into
lightning from time to time. You'll only get hit if you're up very high on the
screen.
Stage Walkthrough
-----------------
You're on the right side of the screen. In the middle are four geysers that
rise and fall. On the left is your "keyword", which happens to be either a key
or jewelry for some reason. The object here is to jump across the tops of the
geyser spouts and get the "keyword", then make it back to where you were and
leave the screen.
Sounds easy you say? Well, it is. The only thing you have working against you
here is the fact that your character will automatically die if he falls too
far. The limit seems to be about three character lengths from where you were
originally standing, so keep that in mind when you're making your jumps. The
Fire Wisps are easy enough to avoid if you watch what you're doing. If you make
it there and back before the timer gets beneath 80, you get a bonus of 100,000
points. Otherwise, it's only 10,000.
Anyone else confused by the fact that you jump between Scene Two and Scene
Three a bunch of times before Scene Four?
S4. Scene Four
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In Game Stage Description: Save Princess!
Enemies
-------
Blue Fire Wisp: Just like any other Fire Wisp, only blue. Still invincible
though, so don't try to fight. More of them appear as the difficulty level
rises.
Green Birds: They fly about the screen in a vague attempt to run into you and
kill you. Shoot or jump over them. They stop appearing after the Villain is
taken care of.
The Villain: He's not invincible this time around, and he's wandering back and
forth aimlessly on the highest platform. Go up there and shoot him until he
dies already!
Stage Walkthrough
-----------------
If you didn't find the Key in one of the many Scene Three areas, a boulder will
be blocking your path. If you followed my walkthrough, you visited all the
Scene Three caves anyway, so don't worry about this. Run down the little
hallway and jump onto the rock. When the Blue Fire Wisp is on the far side of
the next platform, jump up there and quickly jump to the right to avoid it.
Note that if you're on the higher difficult levels, there may be another one or
two of these guys on the platforms to the right to dodge as well. Now make your
way up to the high platform to face off with the Villain again.
He's not playing nice this time, and touching him means death. You can jump
over him if you want, but you have to kill him to win. He takes ten hits to
kill, and will do nothing to stop you aside from continuing to walk back and
fourth. Once he's dead, there is one last, slightly tricky move to perform. See
the sorta rounded corner on the left? You need to jump so that you land on
that. If you do it right, the Challenger will fall diagonally instead of
straight down and land on the small platform in front of the Princess. The cage
the Princess is in will open for you to jump inside, so do it. Congratulations,
you've won!
As a reward, the game restarts with two bars added to the difficulty level. Get
crackin', cowboy!
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V. Future Additions
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Well, all that's left now is to find out what Arijigoku means.
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VI. Credits
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fealu_bryne for stopping by to visit even though she's really busy and tired
lately.
CJayC for creating and maintaining GameFAQs.
Hudson Soft for getting their start somewhere. This isn't really too bad of a
game anyway.
Adaml for pointing out some problems with my guide regarding higher
difficulties.
See you next time, Magic Cowboy!
