Wrath of the Black Manta FAQ/Walkthrough v. 1.0
This FAQ is copyright 2001 by Ezra Poetker(Epoetker.) It may not be
distributed publicly without the prior consent of the author, which may be
obtained handily at
[email protected]. Posting it on your website
without my consent is copyright infringement and will result in legal
action. Copying it and printing it out for your own personal use will
result in absolutely nothing done by me. Distributing it in a
magazine...heck...why would anyone want to do that? This game's like 12
years old by now! Only GameFAQS and about.com are authorized to use this
FAQ as of this moment. All other rights reserved.
Ninjas are cool. Even in the years after the 80s, the height of ninja fame,
they were cool enough to be mascots for anything from pizza to cigarettes.
(A ninja Joe Camel would have been UNSTOPPABLE, I tell you!) So it pretty
much figured that the government would work one or two of them into the WAR
ON DRUGS, and boy, did they ever pick the right one! The Black Manta
doesn't take crap from bad guys wielding guns-he either tosses a few
shurikens their way, busts out his knives on their blue-jumpsuited hides, or
interrogates them...then kills them. For the love of God, don't mess with
this guy.
Anyhoo, it seems that children are disappearing around New York lately, and
rather than work with the police and FBI to find the criminal mastermind
that started all of this, our hero decides to use this episode to gain
enough brownie points with his master to complete his training. It's sort
of like Luke Skywalker showing that he can slaughter a whole horde of people
to "prove" to Yoda that he's advanced far enough to learn the new hidden
Jedi skills. But, unlike most instances of Nintendo Logic, this actually
makes a whole lot of sense in context. Police have the fussy little problem
of "civil rights laws" that keeps them from blowing criminals off the
street, so any police Manta brought with him would have just slowed him down
with paperwork. Besides, when they go back to an area Manta's been through
and find only a bunch of free children and dead guys in jumpsuits with ninja
stars protruding from their chests and throats, there aren't likely to be
any major questions. You just clean up the bodies, send the children home,
and celebrate the guy who just made police work in that precinct a whole lot
easier with doughnuts and beer.
A word on Arts:
This is probably one of the coolest things about this game, although not
strictly necessary until the very end. If you get tired of simply tossing
out clouds of shuriken, you can charge up your POW gauge and execute an art
of some sort. Note that the type of Art used depends on when you RELEASE
the B button, not when you first press it.
Arts you start out with and how to activate them:
SHADOW: Causes a copy of yourself to appear above you, will basically
imatate whatever you do, which in practical terms means you now have a wider
field of shuriken-fire. Release the B button while standing still.
FIRE WHEEL: Much more useful than it looks, and really strong to boot.
Great for bosses. Release the B button while walking left or right.
MISSILE: These fireballs are much more powerful than regular ninja stars.
Hold UP when you release B.
GROUND FIRE: Maybe you can find a use for them in hopping over crates to hit
enemies there. I didn't, but you can try. Release B while crouching.
Act 1: No, this game did NOT rip off Shinobi or Ninja Gaiden! Honest!
After a rousing chat with your master on the situation, you set out to
explore the odd back alleys of New York, frequented by gymnasts and former
basketball players who can jump as high as you can. The first note you get
erroneously tells you that the man in red "knows something." Well, go run
into the man in red if you want. Sure, he looks like a criminal-the type
you'd find in a 1920's silent film who ties damsels to railroad tracks and
can be taken out in one punch by ERROL FLYNN. Dastardly Dan doesn't seem to
know anything, so just kill the man and say bye-bye. The note on the other
side of the hole(if you didn't fall in already) says that the left wall has
a secret door-just shoot it (stand on the pipe, not the floor) and get the
POW box on the bottom. It's fairly necessary...you can theoretically make
your arts last longer, go faster, or do more damage with this extra
extension to your charge gauge. Grab the next red guy and threaten him
nicely, and he'll tell you he was involved in the kidnappings but not much
else. Once you get to the door with the exit sign, keep going in and
killing the guys inside until your life fills up to a healthy eight blocks.
Head on up and jump back out on the streets. The next two doors just go to
enemy rooms, and the third red guy tells you that his organization is
"pretty big" after you tell him to "be a good boy." I kinda figured out the
"pretty big" already, Einstein-how many criminal organizations are so big
and powerful that they can give identical blue and red jumpsuits to their
employees? SO hard to get good info these days...now the next door has a
life bar in it(you don't need to fight any guys) and the next red guy
promises to talk but fails to deliver. Gut 'im. Drop down the hole and
shoot the left wall again(note: you have to get really close and shoot
really fast to do this right) and pick up the POW block. Enter the door to
get the note that told you to shoot the door. Interrogate the first red
guy, he tells you that the reasons for kidnapping the kids are "Business
reasons." This leads me to think Donald Trump may be involved in this. The
next red guy by the door at the end talks about spies infiltrating the
governments of the world. Spies everywhere. I've got it, Watson, the red
men are Commies! Enter the door and kill all the people in the room to save
the kid, who for some odd reason is encased in a block of ice. WHY? What
conceivable purpose is there in putting someone in an ice block? A gag
would be just as useful, less time-consuming, and slightly less likely to
have chances of killing the person! Still, the kid seems happy enough with
his 80s hairstyle, so give a few encouraging words and shoot the right wall
that he was talking about. Advance upward and get back to the streets. Get
the note in the room, shoot the right wall while standing on top of the
doorpost, clear out all the doors in the hidden side street(taking time out
to make your name known among the children and to spread a few anti-drug
messages)and double back right. The commies know pretty much nothing, and
the doors are all uneventful, but for the one that warns: "TINY is in the
next room." Heh...walk through the big hole in the wall and meet him.
BOSS: Tiny
Obviously the name was an evil plot to FOOL the young ninja into thinking it
would be an easy fight. Actually, it still is, beacuse with the art of the
SHADOW, you can jump up and make Tiny take it on the chin easily. Just
avoid the nasty falling bricks.
Interlude: You learn the arts of INVISIBILITY and SPIDER, and Raffish Raplh
goes and tells his boss (Donald Trump with a mustache, looks like) that they
got their butts whooped. The boss, being an intelligent person when it
comes to ninjas, decides to go to Japan, where the leagues of ninjas on his
side shall SURELY destroy the intrepid, drug-busting Manta! What will
happen next? Tune in next week for:
Japan: What kind of crappy unskilled assembly-line ninjas carry guns?
Changing Arts:
Not that you have more than four Arts, you'll probably be wondering how to
unlock the new ones. Press SELECT to go to the Art subscreen, hit UP or
DOWN to go through the Art positions, and when you come to a position that
has more than one Art, hit RIGHT to bring up the little red cursor. Move it
UP or DOWN and press A to select which art you want in that position. Yeah,
they could have made the selection process just a LITTLE bit more intuitive.
If you haven't been practicing your arts yet, now would be a good time. You
really can't kill the red guys on carpets with shurikens before they just
float away...use the art of the FIRE WHEEL to knock them out quickly. Grab
the carpet and get ready to fly the not-so-friendly skies. Again, your
shuriken are BAD when it comes to fighting the dudes on carpets, so just
charge up your gauge to fire MISSILES at them instead. After finishing the
harrowing carpet ride, you drop down, whereupon I suggest you go right
first. Use the art of the SPIDER to roll underground and avoid the spiky
things falling from the trees, then roll back up to take on the next wave of
baddies. The first room can be used to refill your life, and the first red
guy shows, unlike most of the other commies, a thorough knowledge of his
company's mission statement. The next door contains a Japanese kid who
looks remarkably like that American Daniel-san guy from The Karate Kid. In
fact, only the bad guys actually LOOK Japanese in this stage(insert
anti-Asian comment here). Go left until you hit the wall(next commie has no
info for ya) and "shoot low," i.e: Duck and shoot. More POW for me! Go all
the way back through the throng of baddies till you get to the place where
you fight some REAL ninjas-these guys have knives, know how to teleport, and
carry firearms. Worst of all, they take from two to three shuriken hits to
kill, which means that they'll probably get close enough to inflict some
heavy damage with those knives before you get through here. Before you go
down the hole, duck and shoot the bottom wall(you'll have to duck to shoot
pretty much every other hidden wall in this game now, so just do that in the
future) to find a note that says kids are in the lower rooms. Bleh. Go
down, free the kid, and shoot the wall to find another POW block. Advance,
find out from Red that Japan is already completely controlled by crime
syndicates(like we hadn't already learned from anime that the entire
Japanese police force consists of a bunch of freelance heroes like Manta,
and most don't even carry guns...) get back up to the surface, learn from
the next native-Japanese commie that the boss is "like, a pretty heavy dude,
you know?" Head on down, free the kid who, though he says he doesn't know
Taro, somehow could identify him as he guy who left a note in the next
room(should have killed him...he's probably a double agent...) Next red guy
has nothing to say, just go up and shoot the bottom wall to get a life bar.
Then go into the first door to get ANOTHER one. Then get ready to face
another wave of EVIL ninjas...and after that, the REALLY evil ninjas that
turn into totem poles!
Boss: Ninja(s)
When these guys start dropping in the center, take that moment to stand
close and knife them, as it does a heck of a lot more damage than the
shurikens. Just dodge the fire that the totem pole spits at you, jump
around dodging the last piece when it begins to fly, and try to get close
and knife it for a quick and easy win...I beat this battle in about 15-20
seconds, maybe.
Interlude: You gain the art of the FIRE BOMB, and learn that the boss's name
ISN'T Donald Trump, it's El Toro!( Coincidentally, the same name as my city.
) Toro alludes to "this weapon...", but other than that, this encounter
doesn't reveal too much more.
Rio de Janiero: Arrgh, matey, I've noticed that the sewers look the same the
world over!
Make your way up the platforms, using the art of the FIRE BOMB to kill the
ninjas before they can descend to your level. Use the FIRE WHEEL to snag
another magic carpet, and (glitch heaven!) fly right through the metal post
if you want to. MISSILE the wave of baddies, and make your way to the ship,
dodging ninjas and refilling your life from the first door, and ignoring the
note in the second. Advance to port, and find out from the first door that
you're saving Rastafarian minors now-who'da thunk it! Shoot the bottom half
of the wall to find a life bar, then go down. Pirate Red don't know nuthin',
and even the kid you save doesn't tell you about an hidden doors-fortunately
her friend at the last door does, and you get a POW for the trouble of
shooting at the right wall. Get on up, find an L bar in the third door and
a not in the last one...which leads you to a kid who tells you to shoot the
bottom left wall down in the hole for another POW block. The second door
has a life block, and RedBeard the Pirate's an idiot, as usual. Head on up
and out; and enter the door to face...THE HORRIBLY EASY VOODOO WARRIOR!
Boss: Voodoo Warrior
Rather than being smart and killing you by, say, sticking pins in a doll,
this guy has to get out and make a volcano explode between two skull shaped
rocks to give himself the power of flight. If you have trouble on him,
there's no way you'll ever beat this game...
Interlude: You get the FIRE RAIN, basically a slower version of the FIRE
BOMB. Long John Silver goes and tells El Toro that the voodoo warrior was
defeated. Classic response: "What? That's...IMPOSSIBLE...no one could do
it except...(cue music) THE BLACK MANTA!!!" Yeah. Him and anybody else
with half a brain, doofus. That was the weakest boss yet...
New York: Aww, crap, now the CIA's in on this too!
Yep, you're fighting the U.S. army now, fortunately, in their extensive
miltary training, Uncle Sam forgot to teach them how to duck. Or at least,
duck low enough to dodge your shurikens. Sad, people. After you pass the
wrecking balls, the first door, like, has this, like, totally cool chick
that tells you to shoot the wall at the end before the hole. However, the
only thing in the door above or in the secret rooms are enemy "traps" and
life bar rooms. Head on down, past the first door(enemy room), and
apprehend the red guy for perhaps the greatest anti-drug lecture in Nintendo
history. Actual quote: "Drugs kill you think you're cool but you're not."
Don't laugh...this is what comes of being a ninja with John Brown tendencies
when it comes to drugs. Besides, the guy you catch looks like a Dick Tracy
villain, and you can lecture him all you want. Leave Muggsy and head on
past the doors-they all lead to enemy rooms and aren't worth bothering about
unless you need to refill your life for some reason. After you come out on
top, the second room has a girl who tells you to shoot the right wall, head
on out and do just that. Again, all there are behind these walls are
enemies and L bars. Drop down and pick up the note that tells you to use
the art of INVISIBILITY when fighting the robots. The first door takes you
to a meaningless trap warning, the second to an enemy room, the third to an
L bar. The next red guy brags about being bigger than the Mafia (Yeah, if
you have the US army on your side, you could probably say that...) just kill
him and ignore the next enemy room. There's another one on top, along with
another L bar room. The third room, as always, contains another kidnapped
kid, who, yet again, tells you to shoot the wall.( How the heck do they
always know this, anyway?) Go ahead and do it(the bottom one, BTW) to find
another POW, probably your last. Get down, get in the door, and prepare to
face...
Boss: The Mousers...ahh...the robots...
All you really have to do is make absolutely sure you hit them in the pods,
with shurikens, not knives, which for once aren't that useful. Use
invisibility if you want, but it doesn't seem to always prevent you from
getting hit...it's not really INTANGIBILITY, after all.
Interlude: You shall soon become a Master Ninja, Manta-san! Have fun
listening to El Toro give the usual evil-villain-in-a-tight-spot speech
(Quote: "My empire won't be destroyed by a single man!" He at least sees
something fishy about a single ninja slaughtering all of his best flunkies.)
Tower: Where's the Matrix team when you need 'em?
Fun place! The elevator sequences have a transparent behind-the-head view
of everyone's favorite Ninja in purple, and you get to turn left or right to
hit bad guys firing guns(and you have such deadly precision with your ninja
stars that you can HIT THE BULLETS THEY'RE FIRING AT YOU.) On second
thought, who needs the Matrix team to storm this building? There are a
fairly large number of guys here, but with the arts of LIGHTNING(extremely
cool to use) and TELEPORTATION(not really useful, but now you can do it too!
Door's an enemy room and Lumps don't know nuttin', just head on up to
Floor 2. First door here's an enemy room. Second has an unhelpful kid.
Get on up the elevators to Floor 3. Enemy room, a red guy who FINALLY tells
you exactly where the Big Bull is, L bar, and a guy who actually threatens
YOU by referring to Taro. Fiend! Floor 4: L Bar, Taro's final warning that
it will take four arts to beat El Toro, a mysteriously...empty...room...and
a choice of 4 rooms when you enter the elevator. They basically lead to a
fight with one of the bosses...choose whichever you think is easiest and use
LIGHTNING for a quick win. Then...it's a room with a jukebox! Time for
some tuneage...just gotta hit the right button with a shuriken and...aw
crud, it's Toro and Taro. Still, this fight is simple enough. Dodge the
odd projectile Toro spits at you, use the FIRE BOMB for your first hit, the
FIRE RING for your second hit, the SPIDER to get behind him, and then
squeeze off two MISSILES at his back for the coup de grace. If you use the
wrong Art, Toro'll regain all his hit points, and if you hit Taro, Toro will
regain his hit points AND you'll be automatically hurt. So be careful and
wait for the explosion and flash when you defeat him. A winner is you! All
your kidnapped children are belong to us!
I won't reveal the ending. It sucks anyway.
Thanks to...
Masvega, for kindly NOT MAKING his own FAQ when I called dibs on it.
J Dog, if I could ever find him again...
CJayC, for hosting this FAQ.
Al Amaloo, for asking nicely before he uses someone else's toys.
PUhler, for standing up to the Xenogears intifada like no one's business.
Jesus, for standing up to the Pharisees, them that had Manta's philosophy
but not his outfit.
Comments to
[email protected]. All other rights reserved.