LUPIN III: PANDORA NO ISAN
                           Famicom / NES

                         FAQ / Walkthrough
                            Version 1.0

                      Written by Mindtraveller
                   mindtraveller at mail dot com


TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Introduction
2. Story
3. Controls
4. Characters
5. Gadgets
6. Walkthrough
7. Strategies and Tips
8. Conclusion and Contact Information
9. Version Info
10. Legal


1. INTRODUCTION
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for reading this Lupin III: Pandora no Isan FAQ/Walkthrough.
It will guide you through the different stages of the game, providing
tips and hints on how to make your gaming experience more enjoyable.

Lupin III: Pandora no Isan was released in 1987 by Namcot. The game is
based on the Lupin the Third manga and anime series. It could be best
described as a platform / maze kind of game.


2. STORY
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarisse has been kidnapped by an unknown fiend (or just disappeared)
for mysterious reasons. It's up to you to rescue her and discover what
secret lies behind this foul turn of events.

You are Lupin the Third, thief extraordinaire. Along with your friends
Jigen and Goemon, you'll have to travel around the world looking for
information that will bring you closer to Clarisse's location.


3. CONTROLS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
At the title screen, press 'Start' to enter the character selection
screen. Move the control pad up or down to choose Lupin, Jigen or
Goemon and press 'A' to begin.

During the game, press 'B' to shoot or attack, and 'A' to jump (or swim
when underwater). If you press 'Up + A' you'll jump higher, and if you
press 'Down + A' you'll jump down (if possible).

Needless to say, you can jump and attack by pressing 'A' then 'B'
(except with Lupin).

The 'Start' button pauses the game and lets you select one of the six
different usable gadgets by moving the control pad to the left or to
the right.

Once you go back to the game again, press 'Select' to use the gadget
you just chose.


4. CHARACTERS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three playable characters in the game. You can switch between
them at any point of the game, as long as you have the correct device
(the radio) for doing so. These characters are:

Lupin - The skilled thief who travels the world in search for riches
is the only one who can take advantage of the different gadgets found
throughout the game. However, he has a short range weapon, shoots slow,
and can't attack while jumping.

Jigen - Lupin's right arm and a quick gunman, Jigen has the longest
range shot of the three, he also can shoot quite fast. He appears to be
more nimble and quick, too.

Goemon - The descendant of a family of swordsmen, he wears a sword that
can easily cut through almost any material. He has no use for fire
weapons and relies solely on his sharp edged blade. This means, of
course, that Goemon's attack range is the most limited.

On your journey you'll come across two other important characters:

Inspector Zenigata - He won't rest until Lupin is behind bars, and I
mean it. Making his entrance in stage 2, he will appear from time to
time and make your life miserable. You can't harm him in any way and
he'll run after you incesantly in an attempt to catch you and put you
under arrest, no matter what character you are playing.

Fujiko - A mysterious woman who will help you (if you find her and have
the right item), or at least that's what I think. You'll recognize her
for the tight black outfit she wears.


5. GADGETS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Throughout the game, you'll come across white briefcases. Shoot them
three times or slice them up and you'll get different gadgets that will
aid you in your quest. Remember that Lupin is the only character that
can use these items. The only exception is the radio, which any of the
three characters can use.

There are two different kinds of gadgets. Those that you select and
those that activate themselves automatically when needed. You'll be
able to tell them apart by looking at the top of the main screen. The
ones to the left of your score are those that you can chose when to
use. The ones to the right of your score are automatically activated.

The above said, and for simplicity purposes, I'll list them in "left"
and "right" groups:

Left:

Radio - You can use the radio to switch characters at any point.

Bomb - Set up one of these, and after a few seconds they'll explode,
killing all enemies on screen. They are also useful to destroy weak
points of buildings, allowing you to get some hidden items.

Spread Gun - This weapon causes a lot of damage to the enemies by firing
five bullets that create a screen. Each gun lasts five shots. When
using it, it makes Lupin move slower.

Jetpack - Just what the name implies. Lupin attaches one of these to his
back and is able to fly across the screen for a limited time. Necessary
to gain access to certain parts of the game.

Infrared Goggles - Wear these to see where certain "laser eyes" are.
These "eyes" activate traps that will make an amount of bottles, screws,
and similar objects fall from the roofs, causing you damage (or death).

Right:

Oxygen Tank - If you fall to the water, and you don't have an oxygen
tank, you die. If you do have one, you'll be able to explore underwater
and go through passages that will lead you to places otherwise
unreachable.

Balloon - These are helpful if Lupin falls from a cliff, as they will
let him float towards safe ground again.

Bullet-Proof Vest - By wearing this, Lupin will be able to take more
hits before dying, the number of hits depends on how many vests you've
collected.

Ruby Ring - They will allow you to "bribe" certain characters you'll
meet, gaining information that otherwise they wouldn't tell you.


6. WALKTHROUGH
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

STAGE 1: MANSION

You start at the rooftops and have to make your way to the mansion's
top entrance. There are three basic things you should keep in mind:

First. Pay attention to the top archway before reaching a sort of
bridge, you'll notice a white thing that looks like a briefcase (seen
from the side). It is indeed a briefcase, and you should shoot it (or
slice it up) to obtain gadgets. You'll come across these briefcases
all throughout the game, remember to destroy them to acquire the
special items.

Second. Use the sides of the roofs to run down and gain momentum when
jumping from one building to the other. If you just try to jump in a
normal way, you'll die most of the time by falling.

Third. Whenever possible, go at a medium pace, do not rush your way,
if you do, you'll probably die at the hands (or should I say 'claws')
of some nifty black ninjas that will appear from the bottom of the
screen, this is especially true when jumping from one roof to another.
As soon as you see a small explosion of white light below, stop and
shoot the ninjas before proceeding.

Once inside the mansion, you are on the third floor, and you have to
descend to the first.

Again, there's one basic thing you should keep in mind: This is the
part of the game where you'll become familiar with doors. You can
press up to enter a room. There are six things that can happen when
entering one:

- Nothing. Your character will go out immediately. However, if you
 hold the control pad up, you'll 'hide' in these doors. Useful to get
 out of trouble.

- Rescue captured friends. If one of your characters 'dies' (they are
 really just captured), sometimes you'll find him tied up in a room.
 Just walk up to him and you'll set him free.

- Obtain gadgets. Some rooms contain many briefcases. Shoot them up and
 get the items.

- Talk to characters. At different parts of the game, you'll come
 across many different persons and creatures. They'll give you some
 information. Some of them won't tell you what you need to know unless
 you bribe them. (See the Ruby Ring description in section 5 for more
 details)

- Go to the next level of a stage.

- Battle. You'll confront bosses inside a room.

Ok, now that you know the basics about doors and rooms, let's continue.

As stated before, you start on the third floor. The enemies here are
not really hard to beat, just keep an eye on the ninjas and on the
dogs, sometimes they will catch you off-guard if you are not careful.
The guys in red are quite wimpy, but towards the end of the floor they
might appear carrying a sword, which will block your shots at times;
just keep shooting until you destroy them. In one of the rooms in this
floor you will meet a butler. There's a room with briefcases, too.
Once you've reached the staircases, just press up to go down.

On to the second floor. Ok, if you've paid attention to the background
so far, you may have noticed some knight armors; well, in this floor,
many of them will come back to life and attack you. They have shields,
so you have to look for a weak spot to get rid of them, usually the
legs; or if they are kneeling, the head.

Time for another basic thing to keep in mind: On this floor, you'll
notice some sort of fireplace. Just place one of your bombs in front
of it, and upon explosion, you'll see a hole has been created. Press
up to enter it and obtain hidden items. Unlike briefcases, which give
you one gadget, these hidden places will give you a bunch of them
(I mean, it will be one gadget, but you'll get three or more of the
same). There will be places like this on most stages, only that they
won't always be fireplaces.

Once you reach the first floor, you'll face most of the enemies you
found on the third and second floors, so there shouldn't be much
trouble in dealing with them. In one of the rooms in this floor you'll
find a girl who will take away one ruby ring when you talk to her. This
is the first example of a character that will tell you something
different if you have a ruby ring. Anyway, keep an eye for fireplaces
to get some bullet-proof vests and other goodies. Speaking of which,
you'll find two rooms with briefcases; once you exit the second one, put
on your infrared goggles and quickly make your way all the way to the
right, ignoring any other doors (they don't have anything), and avoid
touching the "laser eyes" you'll see on the walls. If you touch them,
these will set off a trap: A lot of bottles start to fall from the
ceiling. If you accidentally touch a red eye or don't have goggles, try
to stand still and avoid them until the danger passes. (Once you have
mastered the game, you might want to avoid them while you are actually
running.)

* Boss 1 - The Giant Knight *

After you've made your way to the last door, enter the room and you'll
face the first boss: A giant knight that throws clubs. He's fairly easy
to defeat. Just use the radio to switch characters and select Jigen.
Stay in the left side of the screen and shoot the knight like there's
no tomorrow. He has no chance against Jigen. Power is Jigen.

Once defeated, the guy who was inside the knight's armor will tell you
something, which I think has to do with going to China.


STAGE 2: CHINA

Many people get stuck in this stage, and with a reason; it can be
really confusing if you just wander around without a defined idea of
what you are doing. So don't just run around trying to reach the 'end'
of the stage by going far to the right. You have to follow a certain
pattern to find your way through the stage.

Again, there are three things you should keep in mind while inside the
buildings of this stage:

First. Enter every room you see, you'll meet many characters who will
give you information; you'll also acquire a lot of gadgets when you get
into a room with briefcases.

Second. Sometimes the enemies will hit you and make you fall into the
water (if your character is Lupin, that is). Try not to go through the
building underwater, unless you are 100% sure that you will not miss an
important conversation.

Third. Look for spots with ripped wallpaper, you can further identify
these spots by the wooden squares behind it. Set up a bomb to find the
hidden stuff.

Ok. The first thing you'll see when starting the stage is the entrance
to a building, take it to go inside.

You'll now have to go all the way to the right, looking for an exit;
however, enter the doors you see along the way, there are many rooms
with briefcases. You'll also meet Inspector Zenigata in one room, I
don't know what he says, but I guess it's some sort of warning about
how he's going to catch you. Anyway, the enemies in here are some kung
fu fighting guys in blue, they are not that difficult to kill, but
don't be overconfident, sometimes they'll leap around and hit you
unsuspectedly. You'll also face some girls in pink who throw knifes,
they are harder to defeat because they'll crouch and avoid your shots,
even if you are kneeling; you have to be very precise and shoot them
as soon as they are getting up again or getting ready to throw a knife.

When you take the last door, you'll go outside again. Don't go to the
right, instead, turn left and go through the first entrance you see. It
can be identified by the ugly fluorescent green color that surrounds
it.

Again, make your way to the far right, enter the rooms to look for
briefcases. A known enemy, the nifty and clawed ninja, will make his
appearance in this building; he's his usual self, so follow the same
advice given in the Mansion section to deal with him.

After the second room of briefcases, you might want to put on your
infrared goggles, because the old "laser eyes" are back to set off the
falling bottles trap. Use the goggles whenever you go outside of a
briefcase room for the rest of your journey through this building.

Once you reach the last door, you'll meet Fujiko inside. You need to
have a ruby ring or she won't give you the necessary information.

After talking to Fujiko, go left and dive underwater right away. You
can go through the water because you are returning to the original
entry point, so it's ok. Anyway, underwater you'll face some swimming
guys, just shoot them. Make your way to the left until you can't go any
further. Get out of the water and continue left until you reach the
entrance/exit door.

You'll be on the outside again. Now make your way to the right, you'll
reach the exit of the first building, ignore it and continue going
right. You'll soon reach another entrance, this time you can identify
it by its blue frame. Enter the building.

This is where things start to get a bit harder. In this building you'll
face the kung fu fighting guys and the ninjas, but in addition to
this, rolling barrells will start to come on screen; you have to avoid
them by jumping over them (or if you are playing with Goemon, just
destroy them with his sword.). If this wasn't enough, this is where
Inspector Zenigata will start to chase you incesantly (for the rest of
the game), he'll also stop and throw handcuffs at you; you can't harm
him in any way, so you have to avoid him at all costs. You can use doors
to hide or lead him through a water opening, so he'll fall when he tries
to cross it. He might disappear completely or reappear immediately.
This is a random situation, and if he disappears, don't worry, he'll
appear in the same way at some other point of the game (at random, that
is).

In this building you'll find a lot of rooms with briefcases. You'll
also meet a redheaded guy with a ponytail. Talk to him. Keep going
right until you get out of the building.

Outside, go right and you'll see a brick wall. Be careful because here
you'll find some phantoms dressed in black and with their arms
extended, leaping at intervals. You have to shoot them twice to destroy
them. Keep running to the right until you reach another entrance. (This
time it should be a grey building.

Go through the building just as you've done so far with the others.
Here you'll find an old man in a green chinese outfit.

Once you exit, you'll see you're outside another grey building, go left
and enter the red building with green rooftops.

You'll meet two more characters here: A woman with purple hair and a
fat guy in red. Put on your infrared goggles after leaving the room of
the woman, the "laser eyes" are here. Once you reach the end of the
building, dive underwater and make your way back to the entrance.

Now you'll be outside again. Go right and ignore the next entrance
(which is the exit from the grey building), you'll see some sort of
alley in the background and another building just to the right. Get
inside that building. There you'll find another fat guy, but this
one is dressed in light blue.

When you get out, you'll be outside a grey building with dark yellow
stripes and some green rooftops. Go right and enter the next building
(a green one). A short guy in a red robe can be found here. Proceed
to look for the exit. You'll be exactly outside the last building you
can find by going to the right. Now turn left and enter the final one
(it's red with three windows at the top).

You'll find the last piece of the puzzle in the form of a girl wearing
a purple dress. You need a ruby ring to get the correct information, so
be sure to have one. Once again, after exiting the second briefcases
room, put on your goggles whenever you are outside a room.

* Boss 2 - Iron Butterfly Master *

If you've followed the walkthrough correctly, the last room of the
buidling will be where you meet the boss. Otherwise, it will be empty.

This boss is a very tall man wearing typical chinese clothes. He will
summon a bunch of iron butterflies that will fly towards you. You can't
destroy them by shooting them, so Jigen and Lupin are not the best
choice here (although you can defeat him using any of them, but you
need to be very good); simply switch characters to Goemon, the
butterflies can't hurt him at all, so all you have to do is get close
to the chinese guy, and slice him up left and right until he is
defeated.


STAGE 3: DOCKS WAREHOUSE

This stage is very similar to the first one, it shouldn't be very
difficult to go through it, as it is quite linear.

The docks will be your starting point, and from here you have to make
your way to the warehouse entrance. The first enemies you'll see are
some masked thugs with knifes, very easy to defeat. However, look for
rolling boulders soon, especially one that comes out at the first
big ship in the background (you'll pass two trucks and the ship will
be exactly after the second one), just walk forward through the
barrells and into the little platform spot. The barrell will fall and
you'll be able to continue without trouble.

Then you'll come across the "frog sailors", they can be dangerous if
you don't measure their leaps correctly. Just one shot and they're
dead, though.

After those, you'll see another truck in the background, get ready for
another tricky rolling boulder; you'll see two little platform at the
bottoms of the screen, one formed by two squares and another one formed
by three, just jump quickly from one to the other and you should be
safe.

Two new enemies will try to stop you. The little flying droids and the
bazooka guys. Timing is the key; with the droids, stand still and just
wait until they get close enough for your shot to destroy them, the
bazooka guys will shoot at intervals, avoid their shots and try to
shoot them quickly. The entrance to the warehouse should be quite near
once you see those enemies.

With the basic things you've learned in stage 1 and 2, you really
shouldn't have any trouble getting through the inside of the warehouse.
However, here are some things to remember:

Go into every room. Even though in this stage it really isn't necessary
to talk to anyone, you should enter the rooms to search any briefcases.

Look for bar doors on the background, these are the ones you can blow
up with a bomb and get special items.

Most of the masked thugs who previously had only knives, will be
carrying guns. Also, beware of the "bull sailors", they are gargantuan
guys who will take a few shots before dying, and once you shoot them,
they'll charge quickly. Attack fast.

Keep an eye on the following:
Rolling boulders - On the first three floors of the warehouse.
Inspector Zenigata - On the third and fourth floors.
Laser eyes - On the fourth floor. (You don't want to get screwed.)

* Boss 3 - Fireball Robot *

Once you reach the last door of the fourth floor, you'll enter the
boss' room. This time you'll face a big robot that shoots fireballs
through his eyes, as well as dropping bombs from time to time. It isn't
that difficult to defeat, but here's how to get rid of it quickly:

Select Jigen. You'll see there are many blue boxes on the room,
concentrate on the three at the left. Position Jigen at the very edge
of the first box (the one nearer to the door), and from there shoot the
robot, kneeling when needed to avoid the straight fireballs it'll shoot
towards you.


STAGE 4: EGYPT

So you thought stage 2 was hard? Try to beat this one.

In order to be able to make the following part of the walkthrough work,
you have to keep Lupin alive at all times (don't let him be captured!);
you'll also need to have some oxygen tanks and jetpacks, this shouldn't
be a problem if you've entered the rooms of the first three stages and
collected enough gadgets. Also, the way this part of the walkthrough is
presented is somewhat different from the rest, this is due to the nature
of the stage itself.

Ok, let's get started.

The first thing you'll notice is that the game mechanics have changed,
you are driving a car through the desert and you can see your character
coming out through the car roof. It's better to select Goemon, for his
sword can destroy the rolling rocks. Along with those rocks, you'll face
the following obstacles:

Stationary stones - Jump them by pressing "A" + Right on the gamepad.

Bomb dropping vultures - Accelerate by pressing right on the gamepad,
and when the vird drops the bomb, quickly press left to slow down.

Ponds - You have to jump this with enough impulse, so accelerate all
you can and jump.

Bridges - Let the screen drive you at its speed, then jump whenever
needed, except for the last jump, you have to accelerate to reach
the next edge.

Soon you'll reach some sand mountains (dark redish brown), beware of
the small rocks at the bottom of these, you have to jump over them.

After the drive, you'll reach the Pyramid, this is where things get
interesting. All the skill you've gained through your journey will
be tested to the maximum here.

The Pyramid consists of four levels, all of them are really big mazes
of rooms and passages. You can easily get lost and spend hours trying
to find your way. Read the following instructions -carefully- in order
to reach your goal.

Level 1. (Brown)

From the starting door, go left and take the passage, then go right
and take the next passage, you'll be at an entrance "guarded" by two
statues, from here, turn left and take the passage. Now, go right and
you'll find the door to level 2.

Enemies and obstacles you'll meet here:
- Female Warriors with sword. (Easy to destroy, just shoot them.)
- Blade traps. (On the floor, jump over them, timing is important.)
- Rolling rocks. (Same as rolling boulders on stages 2 and 3.)
- Animated Skeletons. (Shoot it at distance, it will 'explode' and its
 bones will damage you if you are close to it; two shots and it's
 destroyed; keep an eye on its jumps, too.)

Level 2. (Green)

Go left, take the first passage you see; go right until you find an
entrance, go through it; go right and take the first passage you see,
passing over the pond (if your ability at jumping isn't good enough,
you might require an oxygen tank or a jetpack); go all the way to the
left and take the passage; go left and take the first entrance; go
right and take the first passage; go left and take the passage, you'll
reach the door to level 3.

Enemies and obstacles you'll meet here:
- Female Warriors with sword.
- Rolling rocks.
- Animated Skeletons.
- Archers. (Beware of his jumps, shoot him once to destroy him.)
- Mummies. (Slow, but extremely resistant, 10 shots to destroy then (or
 two sword slashes).)

Level 3. (Blue)

Go right, take the first passage; go all the way to the right, take the
passage; go left, take the passage; go right, take the passage; go left,
take the passage; go right, take the passage; go left, take the passage;
go all the way to the left and take the passage (you'll need a jetpack,
an oxygen tank and a bomb here); go right and the door to level 4 should
be there.

Enemies and obstacles you'll meet here:
- Archers.
- Snakes. (Shoot them quickly if they are coming out of a container,
 if they are on the ground, kneel and shoot; otherwise, it's better
 to simply jump over them.)
- Mummies.
- Flying Seraphs. (Annoying, one shot and they'll fly away, but will
 come back faster to attack. Two shots to destroy them.)
- Ceiling Crawler. (Try to stand over some rocks to shoot it, or jump
 and shoot/slice him; beware of the rocks it throws.)
- Animated Skeletons.

Level 4. (Gold)

Go left, take the first passage; go right, at the first chance you have
dive into the water and swim right all you can (you need one or two
oxygen tanks here, depending on your ability), as you get out of the
water, take the first entrance you see; go right and take the second
passage you see (you might need a jetpack to cross the pond); go left
and take the first passage (you might need one or two jetpacks,
depending on your ability); go left, take the entrance; go right and
take the first passage; go left, take the first entrance; go all the way
to the right and take the last passage, the final door is here.

Enemies and obstacles you'll meet here:
- Snakes.
- Female Warriors with boomerangs. (One of the hardest enemies of the
 game, you'll need to be very precise and agile; their boomerang
 serves them as a shield, so you have to wait for them to throw it,
 problem is it will usually hit you, best to avoid them if possible.)
- Flying Seraphs.
- Ceiling Crawler.

* Final Bosses - Flying Sphinx Duo *

When you enter the room, you'll notice you're inside some sort of temple
or holy place. Two creatures that resemble a sphinx are sitting at the
center, facing each other; they wear swords and shield and shoot
fireballs in diagonal and horizontal directions. They are not that easy
to defeat, however, your best bet here is, again, Jigen. As soon as you
enter the room, move to the very left and jump into the first platform
above the door, start shooting the left sphinx (by now it should be
awake and flying), there will be a point where the sphinx will be on its
back getting close to you, do not retreat, keep shooting it; after a
few seconds, it'll try to escape by going upwards, jump into the upper
platform and keep shooting relentlessly, if it tries to go down, return
to platform above the door, and if it goes even lower, go to the ground,
but keep shooting it. After a while, you should destroy the first
sphinx, just as the second one is coming to life (or has been alive for
a few seconds already). Do the same thing with this one. If any of them
manage to "escape" from your shooting, try to concentrate on avoiding
their fireballs whenever you think they might hit you.


7. STRATEGIES AND TIPS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Enemies follow certain patterns, study them to have an easier time
fighting them.

Remember to enter every room you can, some of the gadgets are really
necessary, especially at the last stage.

Look for captured friends in rooms, visit even those rooms you've
already covered before.

Use Inspector Zenigata to your advantage. Whenever he appears on
screen, no other enemies will be there.

If you have difficulty at a certain point, try to overcome it using
a different character.


8. CONCLUSION AND CONTACT INFORMATION
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, I hope you found this FAQ/Walkthrough useful, if it made your
gaming experience more enjoyable, then it has accomplished its
purpose.

As you may have noticed, there were parts where I wrote things like
"I think this characters says this or that", this is due to to fact
that most of the game's text is in japanese, and I can't understand it.
If you can, and would like to make this document better, please get in
touch with me.

I'd also like to say that English is not my first language, so there
might be some grammatical or spelling errors here and there, if you
see some, please let me know. However, one thing I'd appreciate the
most is if someone could make a style correction to the text.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or further questions, don't
hesitate to contact me at: mindtraveller at mail dot com


9. VERSION INFO
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0 - First release.


10. LEGAL
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lupin the Third and its distinctive characters is copyright by Monkey
Punch. All rights reserved.

Lupin III - Pandora no Isan is copyright Namcot (Namco). All rights
reserved.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by
their respective trademark and copyright holders.

This document may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise
distributed publicly without my advance written permission. 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.

This document is authorized to be hosted on the following websites:

http://www.gamefaqs.com
http://www.neoseeker.com

If you want to put this FAQ on your website, please ask me first. This
is just to keep track of where my work is being published. Thank you.

This document is Copyright 2004 Mindtraveller (David V.B.).
All rights reserved.

You are viewing proxied material from gopher.endangeredsoft.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.