RISTAR
For Sega Genesis/GameCube (Sonic MegaGames Collection)
FAQ/walkthrough by William Walker

1. Introduction

It's taken me much longer to get to it than I'd hoped, but I've finally
gotten to my last major FAQ/walkthrough I plan to do for the Sega Genesis!
Like most of my latest projects I have already done a FAQ/walkthrough on this
game and posted it on GameFAQs.com, but I wish to expand and improve on it.
In any event, right now the future of my FAQ writing remains uncertain. I
hope to eventually update my Zelda FAQs (which I get a lot of queries on) but
whether I will ever have the time to do that I do not know.

In any event, Ristar is an action/adventure game originally released for the
Sega Genesis, an offshoot of the excellent Sonic the Hedgehog series.
Although this game isn't as good as the Sonic games (particularly sonic the
Hedgehog 2) it does have the super-smooth gameplay, cool character,
interesting levels and bosses, and awesome music that make Sonic great.
Ristar is a somewhat hard game to master but not that bad, and there are
cheat codes available for people who wish to master the game faster or have
problems with a particular level. Put simply, Ristar is a great game which
was recently re-released for the GameCube as a "secret" game in the Sonic
MegaGames Collection (you have to "unlock it by playing the other games
enough times first). I think this game is very underappreciated considering
how good it is, and I am very glad to finally get to it!

This FAQ/walkthrough is copyright William Walker, March 2004, all rights
reserved. If you wish to post it on your own site please e-mail me first
asking for permission. Do not use it for any commercial use or do anything
else that violates international copyright law!!!

If you wish to e-mail me with questions/comments/additions or for any other
reason, my e-mail address is [email protected] . Please do not send
any stupid e-mails!!!

Credits: Sega for making such a great game, and Jess Regan, whose
FAQ/walkthrough for this game helped me master it as fast as I did. Thanks
guys!!!

2. Basic Information

"In a far off galaxy, an evil alien force is at work. The evil tyrant Greedy
has corrupted the planet leaders and enslaved the populace. Even the
legendary hero has been captured. A desperate plea for help is made... and
answered by the hero's own son". That's the story that plays in the game
intro, and as you can see, it is not too complicated. You are that son,
Ristar, the little black ball with a gold star face who's got to save the
solar system from Greedy's evil plans by battling through six planets, each
with its own challenges. At the title screen you can choose start or options.
The options menu is fairly basic. Here are the things on the options menu:

Difficulty: Change from normal to hard difficulty (there is no easy mode).
Controls: The basic controls are jump for A and C and grab for B. You can
reverse them here if you want.
Sound Test: You can listen to all the music played in the game (it's easy to
spend hours there).
Passwords: You can enter passwords to put cheat codes into effect. See the
end of the walkthrough for passwords!

Now, the game. You will have to go through six planets; each has two areas
and a boss. The first area ends with a mini-boss. Each area has a special
spinner (for more information on spinners, look a little farther down) that
will take you to a bonus round for that area. In bonus rounds, you will have
one minute to get to a treasure chest in a strange and sometimes very
difficult mini-level. If you complete the bonus round very quickly (in well
under a minute) you will also get a free continue! If you fail to complete
the bonus round you will be sent back to the regular game empty-handed. There
are twelve separate bonus rounds, one for each area, and you only get one
chance per game to complete them. The treasures you obtain from bonus rounds
are useless, but if you get enough of them, you will be given some of the
cheat codes when you complete the game. See the walkthrough for the locations
of the entrances to bonus rounds, and see the end of the walkthrough for
information on each bonus round itself!

To control Ristar as he moves through the planets, press left or right on the
directional pad to walk left or right. Ristar cannot duck or look up. Press A
or C to jump, although unlike Sonic the Hedgehog, Ristar isn't a world
champion jumper... he can only jump about his own height. Press start to
pause/unpause the game. Now, the main move: Ristar's grab. Ristar's springy,
stretchable arms are both his main weapon and his main method of getting
around other than walking. Press B and Ristar will extend his arms about
twice as far as his body is thick. You can grab in eight directions; Ristar
will grab in the direction he is facing or moving unless you override this by
holding the directional pad in the direction you want to grab. Ristar will
hold his arms out in the extended position for about half a second if you
hold the B button down.

If Ristar grabs an enemy the enemy will struggle helpless in his grasp as
long as you hold the B button down. When you release it Ristar will head-butt
the unfortunate enemy and send it bouncing around the screen to its utter
demise. This is Ristar's main method of defeating his foes (DO NOT jump on
enemies in this game). If Ristar grabs a handhold on a wall or ceiling he can
grab onto it and move hand over hand across a series of handholds, and climb
walls or cross chasms in this way. Ristar can also swing across some poles by
grabbing them, and drop through some floors by standing on them and pressing
down. The same floors can be moved up through by grabbing them from below.
Ristar can even "swing" on moving objects (and some enemies) by grabbing them
and holding the B button down until he gets to where he wants to go. Note
that once you grab something you cannot let go without head-butting it, no
matter how hard you try. Finally, Ristar can also "climb" walls without
handholds, simply by grabbing them at a higher point each time since every
time you grab a normal wall, you bounce off slightly higher than you were
when you grabbed it. This move is not necessary until fairly late in the
game, however.

Unlike Sonic the Hedgehog, Ristar does not have anything like rings; it has a
simple health bar system. Ristar gets four stars (in the top right corner) at
the beginning of each area and life. Every time he gets hit, he loses a star.
When he loses all four stars, he dies. A few things can kill you instantly
but these are not until near the end of the game. When you die you usually go
back go back to the start of the area (with a couple of exceptions). Ristar
begins with five lives (like many games, it is possible to have "0" lives).
When he loses all his lives, the game is over unless you continue. To
continue, press start before the countdown reaches 0. You will have to return
to the beginning of the planet you lost your last life on, though. I forget
exactly how many continues you start the game with, but you can get more by
completing bonus rounds very quickly. Obviously, if you fail to continue or
run out of continues, you have to start the game over.

The only difference between normal and hard mode is that on hard mode, you
get only TWO stars, start the game with three lives, and also start with
fewer continues (I forget how many). I've never played the game on hard mode,
but if you want more challenge, I suppose you could do it. There is no time
limit in this game. Most power-ups in the game are located in treasure chests
but some are just lying around, or fall from the sky when you grab a wall in
the right place. To open treasure chests and collect power-ups, grab them The
power-ups in this game are:

Gems - Worth between 200 and 1000 points, depending on how difficult they are
to reach.
Gold Stars - Restore 1 hit point.
Blue Stars - Restore all hit points.
Ristar doll - Worth an extra life (every 30,000 points you get is also worth
an extra life).

One more thing I need to explain, before I get on with the walkthrough, is
how to use devices called spinners. These look like small devices you'd see
at a casino with a handle for you to grab (these may have a more official
name, but I never got the game's manual). Grab one and you will start
spinning around it. Hold in the direction you were facing when you grabbed it
to rotate faster and faster until a circle of blue stars appears around the
spinner. Once this appears release the B button (which you must hold all the
time you're spinning) and you will fly off like a rocket (these move greatly
exceeds the spin dash of Sonic the Hedgehog in coolness, I think). Any
enemies unfortunate enough to be in your way will be instantly destroyed!
However, you need impeccable timing on these devices because you usually want
to fly off in a certain direction and must time your release perfectly so you
are heading in that direction when you let go. You also need to be holding in
the direction you want to go as you release; otherwise you won't fly off,
just drop back to the ground. Oddly enough, bashing into walls repeatedly
actually INCREASES your flying time, so take as much advantage of them as
possible!

3. Walkthrough

3a. FLORA

Welcome to your first planet. Like the first level of most Sonic games, it is
a heavily vegetated place. It's not that hard, more of a training level
actually, so take it easy and get used to your new moves.

Area 1:

After you begin the game, the first enemy you will encounter will be a small
blue-green orb that moves back and forth along the ground. These guys I will
refer to as orbots, although I don't know their official name, and they are
the most common enemy in the game. They can move on the ground or in the air
and are different colors in every planet. Butt the little bugger and continue
right to a wall. Jump and grab it and press up to climb up, hand over hand.
At the top is another wall, with a small depression in front of it where
another orbot is. Avoid this one (he's tough to beat without getting hit
yourself) and climb the wall by jumping over the depression and grabbing it.
At the top continue right and a rabbit will jump out of the bush to attack!
As soon as you see him, reach out and butt him, then jump and grab diagonally
at the wall above you. This will cause a gold star to fall from the sky;
collect it and cross the chasm ahead via the ceiling handles (watch out for
the orbots moving vertically up and down). On the other side are some vines.
These can be traversed by grabbing them, but rather than do that, drop down
to the ground. Go right and you'll come to some spikes which you can cross by
means of some ceiling handles. On the other side grab the two vines above you
to climb up; you'll avoid a rather nasty flying chicken if you take this
route. Be sure to grab inside the hole with an arrow pointing at it; there's
a 1-UP in there!

Grab two more vines and continue right. After you pass through the bush, a
rabbit will hop out of it, but ignore him and continue right. Drop down and
go right to a hole; grab inside it for a 1000-point gem. You can drop through
the ground here and take the under-way, but there's a chicken down there you
want to avoid; instead grab a pollen seed and hold on tight. It will airlift
you up to a ledge on the right. Grab the gold star and grab the vine to
safely swing over the spikes. Drop down and go right to a bush. Jump over
this bush if you can; if you go through it you will see a purple mine
attached to you as you come out. Jump immediately to shake it off or it will
explode and hurt you. Continue right until you come to a spinner (it's in
plain sight).

This next part is somewhat tricky; you need to grab the spinner and shoot off
up and right. First you need to master spinning around fast enough to get the
blue stars to appear. Then, you need to time your release so you go in the
desired direction. This may take many attempts, but luckily you have
unlimited tries. After enough tries you should fly off up and right and land
on one of many otherwise unreachable floating platforms. Make your way to the
right on these (some of the jumps are rather tricky so beware) until you come
to another spinner with a few sparkles around it as you first encounter it.
This is the special spinner that will send you to the area's bonus round.
When grabbing it, be sure to do so accurately or you might fall and have to
backtrack and try all over again. After you play the bonus round, drop down
through the floor and go right to the mini-boss.

Mini-boss: This is easy. You'll battle a pink snake whose lair consists of
nine holes; he will move from one hole to another and not do anything else to
attack you. To move between the cells grab the vines. You need to hit the
snake three times to defeat him; you can get in all hits at once if you're
daring. If you want to play it safe, just stay in an adjacent cell to the
snake and if he moves into the cell you are in, hit him. He will change color
slightly as you hit him; this is typical of bosses in this game and does
nothing (he doesn't speed up or anything). There is a blue star at the top of
the snake's lair if you need it. After you defeat the snake, go right to a
spinner with an aura around it; this is the end-of-area spinner. To complete
the area you simply need to walk off it to the right but don't be so hasty;
grab the spinner and shoot up and exit the screen as high as possible to
maximize your "height bonus". This bonus is offered at the end of every area,
but some areas have a ceiling which puts a limit on how high you can exit. If
you exit as high as possible you can score as many as 20,100 points! It's
generally best to grab the final spinner FACING TO THE LEFT to make it easier
to shoot higher (thanks to Jess Regan for this tip).

Area 2:

You generally want to take the high road in this area, since you can only
access the bonus round if you do that. At the start you'll see a purple
lizard lying in ambush in the ground. He is easy to defeat - walk close
enough to him to get him to spring up, then step back and grab him once he is
within reach. But REMEMBER HE IS THERE or you might blindly walk over him and
get hit as a result. Next you'll see an orbot in a red cocoon; don't hit the
cocoon or the orbot will pop out and cause you trouble; just grab the tree
branch without touching the cocoon. Climb over the tree and to the right will
be a wall with handles extending part of the way down it. Jump over and grab
the handles (it's not that hard) and climb up and continue right. Watch out
for another purple lizard, then climb the tree trying to avoid the red cocoon
(if you hit it by accident just defeat the orbot who comes out). At the top
of the tree it is possible but difficult to "ride" the bat who flies above
and drops mines to the left and reach a gem. I recommend you try to do this,
since later you'll need to do the some thing to get to the bonus round
spinner.

Continue right until you come to a tree blocking your progress. Butt it twice
to knock it down and create a bridge. Defeat any orbots in your path and
continue to a large depression with a spinner. You can just cross this
depression with the ceiling handles but try grabbing the spinner and shooting
yourself up/right or up/left. It's tricky for a beginner but you want to try
to land on the ledge above the depression, where a 1-UP and a chicken are.
Keep trying until you make it or get too frustrated and just move on. Anyway
ahead is another tree; knock it down too and cross your bridge. Continue
right to a tree you can climb; climb to the top and wait for a mine-dropping
bat to fly your way. When he is above you jump and grab straight up and hold
down the B button. Hopefully you'll grab the bat from below and dangle below
him as he flies to the right, without swinging. Don't press left or right or
you'll start to swing, which makes landing on the next ledge much trickier.
When the bat flies close enough to the next ledge, release B and hold right;
you'll butt the bat and land on the ledge if you were close enough. Be very
careful because if you mess up, you have to either pass up the bonus round or
die on purpose to make the bat reappear.

As if that wasn't hard enough, you now need to do the same thing AGAIN. Take
it easy, stay calm and be sure to grab the bat directly from below, not
diagonally. If you grab him while he's dropping a mine your arms will go
right through him; hopefully, this won't happen though. After your second
successful ride go right to a chicken (what makes these chickens so mean is
that they like to swoop down and charge along the ground; try to bop them
when they're in the air) a blue star, and the bonus round spinner. After your
attempt at the bonus round drop off this ledge to the right the last part of
the area involves the screen darkening and a lizard in the background hurling
purple strawberries at you. The strawberries usually miss by a wide margin
but if on the mark they can be very hard to dodge. Jump and grab diagonally
at the lantern tree things to turn the lights back on and stop the lizard in
the background. Watch out as the screen will darken a second time. Be VERY
careful of the purple lizard who waits after the second lantern tree (he
still gets me even though I've played the game many times). After the second
lantern tree is the end of round handle. There is no mini-boss at the end of
area 2, but now you will face...

Boss:

Time to fight Riho, the boss of Flora. All boss battles begin with you
running right to the actual battle (sometimes you will be attacked as you do
this but not here). After the light comes on and Riho appears, enjoy the
beautiful boss music, because Riho isn't that hard. He'll float around and
throw little whirlwinds down at you, and sometimes cause giant snowflakes to
fall from the sky. The former are easy to dodge; the latter are somewhat
harder but if you grab him fast enough, he won't have time to do that attack.
Grab him three times and the monkey on his back will fall to the ground; hit
him too. Repeat this three times (if Riho is too high for you to grab you can
still grab him by jumping and grabbing straight up at the peak of your jump,
but eventually he will move down) and the monkey will be defeated and Riho
will surrender. Congratulations, you have completed the first planet. Be
warned: Ristar is notorious for its extremely hard boss battles, and though
you got off easy this time, you will not on future planets. Grab the spinner
that appears and Ristar will automatically fling himself off of Flora (you'll
get your end-of-planet bonuses as Ristar flies through space, cool!!!) and
onto the next planet, Undertow.

3b. UNDERTOW

Time to get your feet wet and master swimming! Unlike Sonic the Hedgehog,
Ristar does not need to breathe at all (hooray!) However, you may find
swimming tricky at first. Press the directional pad to move and hold button A
or C to swim faster. To jump out of the water swim to the surface, hold up,
and press A or C. You'll probably find you have trouble grabbing underwater
even though your controls are still the same (I still have trouble with
grabbing underwater) because you tend to grab in the wrong direction, so
you'll have to take it really slow. Add to that some rather nasty fishy foes
to handle (including the mother of all sharks as the boss) and you've got
yourself a bit of a challenge. Let's get it on!

Area 1:

This area is simple enough and is kind of an introduction to swimming. The
basic rule of swimming is TAKE IT SLOW - avoid pressing the speed button most
of the time, even if you are experienced. You never know what lurks behind a
corner or off the screen. In any event when you land walk right and the ocean
will rise to fill up the level. Immediately swim to the left to the bonus
round spinner. Wasn't that a piece of cake? Now for the main area... Swim to
the right along the surface. When you encounter some land jump out of the
water and onto it, and walk to the right. Flying fish will attack but if you
hold to the right you will not get a scratch and avoid some nasty swimming
below. Once the land ends, jump back into the water and swim to the right.

I should mention another key rule of swimming right now: ONLY FIGHT WHEN YOU
HAVE TO. It's very difficult to grab underwater enemies and the more agile
ones have a big advantage over you, so avoid them if you can! Besides,
especially in this level, there are so many you'd have to be a masochist to
try to defeat them all. Anyway swim down and right, through the gap in the
stone wall at the ocean floor (swim over the jellyfish blocking your way;
don't grab him or you might get shocked) and watch out for a red lobster who
pops out of the sea bed. Swim back up to the surface and hop over the stone
wall. Back in the water, the water will rise and fall rapidly, so swim to the
right in the churning ocean avoiding water creatures as best you can. Watch
out, as on the ocean floor is a moray eel, a fellow you don't want on your
tail. These guys are extremely agile and absolutely relentless in their
attack, so avoid probing the ocean floor (they'll only appear if you get
close enough) and if you find one after you, try to run rather than fight. If
you must fight you're virtually certain to get hit; just try to grab the
little devil before it makes off with your whole life bar.

When the water rises swim over to the far right, and hop over the narrow
wall. On the other side swim down and right to an area with spiny sea
urchins. Avoid contact with them and only defeat enemies directly in your
way. One such enemy is another jellyfish; your best course of action here is
to grab him and *hope* he doesn't electrify himself at the moment you grab
him. After this guy, a moray eel swims up to attack, so QUICKLY swim down and
right and once in the narrow shaft, swim up as fast as you can. The eel will
be hot on your tail and may get you if you aren't quick enough, but try your
best, and at the top of the shaft, hop out of the water to escape that eel!
Walk to the right and the flying fish won't get you, then drop down the
chasm. If you are at full health, hold to the right. If you are at less than
full health hold to the left. There are spikes on the right side of the drop
but a blue star on the left, in a small alcove. Grab it (deftly avoiding the
spikes) and jump out of the water. Go right to the mini-boss.

Mini-boss: This is the easiest mini-boss in the game. A huge wave will appear
behind you. It will crest once, then crest again higher, this time revealing
three orbots, one of whom will drop a projectile on you. Avoid that. Then the
wave will go really high, all three orbots will drop something on you, and
the wave will crash (it's quite a cool effect) leaving the orbots high and
dry. Stay away from them as the wave falls and once it is safe, take them out
one by one. The pattern will repeat three times, the second time with gray
fish in the wave (watch out, they shoot a lot of projectiles - slip in
between them) and the third time with jellyfish (the easiest; they don't
shoot anything at all). After defeating the three trios of aquatic foes,
proceed right to the end of the stage.

Area 2:

This is a completely different area from area 1. Basically you'll be going
through a submerged series of tunnels, encountering various enemies and
obstacles, and have to defeat enemies to open barriers. This stage is harder
than the first so beware and take it slow. In the first area you'll probably
notice a treasure chest on a ledge; that chest contains a 1-UP. To get it is
rather tricky, however. Swim to the right on the surface and jump onto the
dry land. If the little starfish grabs onto you and impedes your jumping
ability, drop into the water to knock him off. Wait for a purple bubble to
float up, then jump onto it. A series of bubbles will float up out of the
water and when you land on them, they stop moving and disappear after a
second. You need to use these as stairs to reach the chest, impossible as it
seems - the key is to wait a split second on each bubble before you make each
jump to avoid jumping over the next bubble and having to start over. Even if
you get frustrated and give up, I recommend giving this a try, since later
you'll need to do the same thing to reach the bonus round.

Alright, on with the main stage. Swim down to a blue face in the wall that
resembles an Aztec calendar who spits orange squids out of his mouth. After
he releases a squid swim down and butt him to destroy him and open the path
ahead. The next room has another similar enemy; defeat him as well and swim
up. The third area has two squid swimming around it. Defeat them both to open
the barrier, and swim up and out of the water. Walk right over the land, over
the closed barrier, to another blue Aztec calendar guy, this one releasing
frogs. Defeat any frogs he releases, and when possible run under him and grab
the handholds. Climb up and when you are high enough, grab diagonally up and
left and hopefully you will hit and destroy the foe. If you have trouble it
may be worth grabbing the bare wall above the handles several times to get
extra height. Watch out for the frogs, and when the enemy generator is
destroyed, swim down through the gap.

Next you'll encounter a large nautilus (honestly, who thought up these ideas?
They deserve a promotion) who is inactive, but his three children are
swimming around the room. Bop them being careful not to swim into them, and
when they hit the sack, Daddy wakes up and starts shooting mines at you from
his shell. Press yourself against the floor (which is somewhat difficult,
since Ristar naturally floats up) and after his mine flies off the screen,
grab his head with a horizontal grab. After one hit he'll launch two mines;
use the same strategy, attacking after the second mine falls out of the way
and staying well back so the mines don't hit you. Then comes three mines; hit
him one more time (don't try getting in all three hits at once; it's best to
take it slow here) and he'll die, leaving two gems and a star. Grab the booty
and swim down/left.

As soon as you enter the next tunnel, swim right AS FAST AS YOU CAN. When you
get to a turbine at the end of the tunnel ,hit it to smash it and swim up. If
you are too slow the turbine will generate a powerful current which will slow
you down and could sweep you back into the spikes. It's possible to duck into
an alcove on the floor or ceiling of the tunnel but that's too slow; it's
much faster and easier to just grab the bull... er, turbine... by the horns.
After that you'll be in a chamber with slowly rising water and six squid
stranded in the air. Take them out BEFORE they get submerged and become
active, or they can cause you some trouble. Don't just grab aimlessly; grab
carefully to accurately hit the stationary creatures. After defeating the six
squid jump over the right wall into a large area. This part is hard, because
it requires you to destroy two enemy generators. The one on the floor that
releases squid is a pushover; the one in the top right corner (above the
water) who drops frogs onto the surface is quite hard.

I recommend luring the frogs he releases (he can only release three at a
time) over to the left, then swimming under them and back to the generator,
and destroying it before they can get back when the water is high enough
(watch out for the fireballs the frogs release). After defeating both
generators swim down to meet another nautilus. Defeat him the same way you
did the first and swim up/right to a small room with two treasure chests.
What is inside them is random; it can be a squid, a gem, a star or a 1-UP.
Open them and get whatever you wind up with, then swim down/right to another
tunnel with a turbine. Like before just swim to the right like mad and put
the turbine out of commission before it can sweep you backward. Then swim up
into a tunnel with some nautilus kids. Swim left, taking out the kids, and
Daddy at the end, then swim back up to the surface.
Now you could just swim right to the end of the area, avoiding a generator on
the way, but not so fast. See that ledge high above the water that's
seemingly inaccessible? That's where the bonus round spinner is. To get there
you'll need to use the floating bubbles. They are very small and tough to
predict, but you do get infinite attempts (defeat the generator to the left
to keep his frogs from bothering you first). I know those bubbles can be
horribly frustrating and I myself have trouble with them from time to time,
but if you take it easy and jump just a split second after you'd make an
instinctive leap, you'll make it. When you do finally get to the ledge play
the bonus round, then swim right to the end of the stage.

Boss:

It's now time for a duel with Jaws' relative, Ohsat the hammerhead shark.
Ohsat will begin the battle in the background. You cannot hurt him now and
likewise he cannot hurt you. Eventually he will swim off the screen and re-
appear about a Ristar's height from the arena floor, in the foreground. Butt
him when he does this. Easier said than done, since he moves very fast. Your
best bet is to just swim toward the direction he will coem from and grab
repeatedly; hopefully you will connect with him. When you do get him he will
break one of the four corks holding the water in and the water level will
drop, limiting the space you can fight in. Unfortunately, Ohsat won't always
come to the foreground when he swims off the screen - sometimes he'll remain
in the background and do another attack. His favorite is bashing the pillars
in the background with his head and shaking rocks down onto you - quickly
swim to either side of the screen when he does this (otherwise you should
stay in the middle) and they will miss. Less frequently he'll release some
ugly-looking fish which you can dodge by staying high, or some jellyfish
which will blow up and are easy enough to avoid - just don't be in front of
them when they blow up.

Ohsat requires a lot of patience and good luck to defeat, since you never
know when he's going to be vulnerable and when he is, you have to time a
horizontal grab at him perfectly to avoid being hit yourself. If Ohsat swims
off the screen at great speed swim to the surface immediately as he will fly
across the foreground at an equally fast clip and will plow into you if you
are in his way. You will only get some good chances to get him, so make the
best of them. Also, the battle gets harder each time you hit him since there
is less water to maneuver in. Just keep trying and HAVE FAITH!!! After four
hits the water will drain completely and Ohsat will be totally helpless; butt
him (it's always nice to deliver the final blow to an especially hard boss
who is helpless against your attack, and you will have another chance to do
this later on) and he will be sent to Davy Jones' locker. Watch Ristar
celebrate and grab the handle to be zipped on to...

3c. SCORCH (or, star's bums were meant for toastin')

First of all, please enjoy the absolutely awesome music of both areas of this
planet. Second of all, prepare for a hot time on this fiery world! If you
thought Undertow was bad, this place is much worse. You've really got to be
on top of your basic skills (especially grabbing) or you won't stand a chance
here. Making matters even worse is a very hard boss fight at the end of it
all. Is your tolerance for the heat high enough for this challenge? We will
find out...

Area 1:
Ristar is not a subtle game. The game sends a message to you at the very
beginning of this planet: this is not going to be easy. It begins with
flaming meteors raining down on your head. Run to the right as fast as you
can and when you get close enough to the green thing that's launching orbots
into the sky (who come down as flaming meteors) press down to drop into a
small chamber below the ground (which is, thankfully, also a safe bunker).
Hit the lever to burn the orbot launcher (too bad it doesn't fly off like a
rocket when the thrusters turn on - that'd be cool) and proceed right. Climb
up the wall and bash open the chest to find a gray statue of yourself. This
will be useful shortly. Grab it and you will hold it until you hit B again;
then you will throw it (other objects you can pick up work the same way).
Walk right and throw the statuette onto the three white circles on the ground
in a triangle shape; this will set off a trap to fall, thankfully not on you.
(If you lose the statue you can trigger these traps manually by setting them
off and walking to the left, and if they do fall on you, they won't hurt you
- but they will trap you for a second, giving nearby enemies a chance to nail
you).

Destroy the trap and continue. Defeat the orbot who throws red rocks at you.
You'll see another trap, set it off the same way BUT BE VERY CAREFUL!!! There
are some thrusters below this one that will turn on and off rhythmically, and
you don't want to be turned into a star fry (get it? French fry... star
fry... oh never mind). Run over them when they turn off and you'll come to a
large depression. There are handholds on either side that you can use to
climb up, but there is also fire on each side, and a very nasty vulture who
patrols the area. Try to get him by swinging over the pipe hanging from the
ceiling on the left and grabbing him in midair. If you miss him but manage to
get by him don't bother going back to kill him. Don't let him grab you in his
talons; he will throw you in the fire. Also, beware with the grab to the
handholds on the right; the jump/grab looks and is hard to make.

At the other side is another Ristar decoy. Grab it and walk right to two
ceiling handholds on the ceiling. Throw aside your sculpture and grab them
'cause the heat is comin'!!! An ocean of flame will rise from the planet's
crust and engulf the surface, so cling to those handles for dear life! When
the fire recedes drop down, grab the statue and throw it right to set off the
trap, destroy the trap and run right to more ceiling handles. Grab them to
avoid another onslaught of the sea of fire and when it recedes again, walk
right and it will disappear (for now). Grab a much-needed blue star to
restore your health. Things don't get any easier, though, as you'll now face
a series of chasms with handholds and fire inside them. Jump over the first
one; grab onto the handholds on the right side of the second one and clamber
up and out. The third one has a spinner in it. Take a deep breath and walk
off the ledge; and grab down and right and hopefully you will grab the
spinner and avoid a too-close encounter with the planet's fiery interior.

Now you are spinning around at breakneck speed above a burning fire; I
wouldn't want to be in Ristar's shoes now, would you? The reason why you
grabbed this spinner, though, is that it leads to the bonus spinner. If you
want to get out of here alive and don't care about the bonus round do this
anyway; you'll avoid tangling with a vulture to the right who is pretty mean.
Launch yourself straight up and hopefully you'll sail between some floating
pipes. Once above them move over to the right with your remaining energy.
Hopefully you'll land on a floating platform to the right of the pipes where
the bonus round spinner is. If you fail to make it there it is possible, but
difficult, to swing across the pipes and reach it that way, but that requires
extremely accurate grabbing. Play a mercifully easy bonus round and when you
return, hold right. You should land beyond the chasms on safe ground.

Ahead of you is an orbot launcher; thankfully these don't fall as flaming
meteors, but the thing is rather inconveniently in your way. It launches two
orbots in quick succession then pauses; use that pause to jump over it. You
cannot destroy it, so move on and swing up on the pipe. Grab the gold star
and haul to the right to avoid another meteor shower. You'll touch some white
circles that will cause a gem to appear behind you. If you are an experienced
video game player you might suspect that this gem is a decoy. Trust your
intuition and don't go back for that gem; rather, get to the right as fast as
possible, swinging between the pipes to move faster, avoiding touching the
ground. This isn't that hard as long as you've mastered grabbing to a fairly
advanced level, but you must hurry since more fire is coming, and if you are
too slow, it will catch you and turn you into a piece of star coal (heh heh).
Move to the right, swing up, then zip to the left and up again.

Having escaped the fire, you now face some flaming meteors, but if you grab
the pipes to the right and don't miss a beat, they won't hurt you (you cannot
be injured while swinging). Once under the platform that serves as a nice
umbrella, grab the blue star (probably much needed) and swing down the pipe
to the right. Don't be too hasty with the next pipe, though; an orbot patrols
the next chamber below. Wait for him to move to the left along the bottom
before dropping down on the right. Take him out and repeat the procedure with
the next orbot, taking it nice and slow. Once past him drop down to the LEFT.
You'll land on a ledge with a spinner and an area to the left covered in
fire. If you have any daring left at all after this very hard stage grab the
spinner and shoot to the left, over the fire (fire cannot hurt you after you
launch off a spinner, BTW) to a 1-UP and another spinner to send you back.
This 1-UP isn't really that hard to get, as long as you can shoot left
instead of right on a spinner. Be sure not to miss it by mistake. Anyway drop
down to the right and go right to (thank you God!)...

Mini-Boss: Take a deep breath, RELAX, and get out a pen and piece of paper.
This mini-boss is a joke, and after all this hard work you don't want to blow
it. Okay, four pairs of eyes will appear out of the six holes in the
background, with numbers above them. Then orbots will pop out of them, and
you must kill them in the order they appeared. If orbots are in the way, jump
over them - it can be nerve-wracking but isn't that hard if you take it slow.
To grab orbots in the air, I recommend grabbing diagonally. Be careful not to
grab the wrong orbot! After defeating them IN THE ORDER THEY APPEARED, a gem
will appear. Round 2 has five orbots but the numbers don't stick to them. On
your pen and paper, write a 2 by 3 grid and write in the numbers where the
orbots' eyes appear, pausing the game after each one appears. Then defeat the
orbots in order again, using your paper to remember the order. Round 6 has no
numbers at all, just pairs of eyes, and goes much faster and involves all six
holes. Again, write the order they appear in on a piece of paper and defeat
them. That ocean of flame below is there in case you make any mistakes... heh
heh heh. After you defeat the three batches of orbots go right to the end of
the stage but don't be too hasty; make sure to grab the 1-UP that falls from
the sky first! YEAH! Half of Scorch clear!

Area 2:

This isn't as bad as area 1, luckily. You're under a huge factory and will
tangle with more fire and new enemies. I'll be having you take the low road
simply because it's the simplest and no more dangerous than other paths.
First walk right, ignoring the spinner and shaft above you. You'll come to a
pulley, jump in and press and hold B to grab onto the pole. These pulleys are
simple to use - just hold B and press up or down to move up or down along the
rope - but complicating matters are the holes inside the walls that shoot
fireballs. You'll need to carefully climb past them after they shoot and stay
in the sometimes very narrow space in between them between when you make your
moves. They aren't too hard to handle, just take it slow (a recurring theme
in this game). Also, at the top to jump out you must release B, but as soon
as you do the pulley will drop back to the floor, so jump out as soon as you
release the B button. Next you'll meet an orbot with a ring of fire around
him (which brings back many fond memories of that song by... uh, I forget his
name). This fellow will singe your hands if you attempt to grab him normally;
instead you must jump and grab diagonally down/right in midair, which isn't
easy. I hate these guys. If he burns you take him out while you are flashing.

Continue right and drop through the pipe if you want to try to reach a gold
star (it's tricky though; you must bounce off the right wall and reflect onto
the ledge) and you meet an enemy who looks like half a large orbot. Hit him
when he is not on fire (or when he is but away from the fire) but beware;
some of these guys are totally invincible and will burn you if you try to hit
them. To the right is a spinner. Breathe a sigh of relief, since this area is
one of the richest in the entire game. You'll need to have good spinner
skills to get the stuff but this is a great opportunity to practice them.
Grab the spinner from the bottom right (and *try* not to fall into the fire,
for Ristar's sake) and spin off. To the bottom right is a blue star. To the
top left on a small ledge is a 1000-point gem. To the top right, higher up is
a 1-UP. At the very top left corner is the bonus round spinner. You can grab
the pipe below it to pull yourself up if you don't have enough height to
reach it. Keep trying to get all these goodies; they are worth a lot of
effort even if you get frustrated. Be sure to grab the 1-UP and gem AGAIN
after the bonus round!

Alas, the rest of the stage isn't nearly as fun. Up/right of the spinner is
the path ahead, and on it is an orbot and a half-orb. Defeat them and drop
down, then swing to the right. Climb up and drop down again. If you can help
it; don't let the orbot touch the bomb; he will blast a huge section of floor
away, leaving flame in its wake. Go to the right, climb up and grab the gold
star to the top left. Climb up farther and avoid the flame hole. Jump into
the pulley and it will drop to the burning floor (why doesn't this factory
just burn down?) and hopefully you won't hit a fireball on the way down. Now
jump onto the rather dangerously small post the pulley is attached to, and
from there jump onto the next pulley. Rather than deal with the third pulley
(which gets dicey because of the flame holes crisscrossing up there) just
jump directly from one tiny pole to the other on the floor. Swing up and drop
down to the right, ignoring the spinner. To the right is another orbot with a
ring of fire (Applebee's commercial?) around him. Grab him from above as best
you can, and climb into the pulley and climb up, being careful of flame
holes.

At the top jump to the right and swing up through the pipe (farther to the
right will take you back where you were before) and go right. You'll come to
a bridge that an orbot will destroy with a bomb; allow this to happen and
drop down, and swing to the right ignoring the spinner. Above you an orbot
will set off a bomb that will gut a large portion of the factory. Run to the
right without stopping and just as the explosion starts to clear, or just
before, JUMP! You'll avoid a pit of fire that opens up below you. If you fall
in anyway just jump out and go right to the end of the stage. Nice job making
it through that heated planet, but before you can pat yourself on the back
and listen to a nice song to congratulate yourself with, there's the little
matter of a demonic boss to be taken care of...

Boss:

The leader of Scorch is Adahan, an enormous, mechanical mole with relentless
attacks. Unlike your first tow boss battles, here you'll have to deal with
falling rocks as you approach the main battle. There is a blue star on the
way to help you out but it may or may not be useful to you. The rocks are
very difficult to dodge but fall randomly so hopefully they will miss you.
Also, remember that if you die (as you undoubtedly will on your first try)
you will resume the battle at the main battle and will not have to deal with
the rocks.

Anyway, once past the rocks, Adahan will make a spectacular entrance -
blasting through the floor with his claws first (he always appears in the
center, so *please please please* don't stand there) and do one of two
things: hover in the far upper corner or land in the far lower corner. If he
hovers he'll shoot his arms at you; they will miss if you stand below and a
little to the side of him. After he launches his arms he will drop back to
the floor and burrow into it. Run over and grab where he will land and you
will hit him if you touch him before he touches the floor. It is very
difficult to hit him when he takes to the air, however. If he lands he will
again do one of two things: shoot his arms at you, one by one, or launch a
series of ground waves at you. Whatever he sends at you, jump over it (if he
shoots his arms you'll need lightning reflexes) and hit him with a horizontal
grab from the floor. You need to aim low to hurt him.

After two hits the floor will collapse and you'll plunge down an endless
shaft. Adahan will appear above you and try to drop through you. You need to
grab him in free-fall - very difficult. Thankfully you'll only need to do it
in this battle. Your grab must be timed perfectly to connect with him and not
vice versa. If he falls off the screen he will reappear clinging to one wall;
it's a long shot but grab continuously at one wall (don't get to close to
it!) and you might get him. Otherwise, it'll just take lightning reflexes
again. Good luck. After hitting him once you'll land on ground once again and
the pattern repeats. If you made it this far you *can* do it again, it just
might take a few tries. After hitting him twice on the ground and once in the
shaft again, he will blow up. You'll land and parts of him will fall around
you, along with a little red mole who was inside the robot controlling it. If
you let him he'll start launching mini-ground waves at you so butt him
immediately and enjoy as he starts crying all over the place. Whew, glad
that's over with! Snatch that handle and fly away to a more peaceful (well,
somewhat) world...

4. SONATA

Now I *have* seen it all. Many action/adventure games have a water level, an
ice level, a volcano/fire level, but this is the weirdest place I've ever
seen. Ristar's designers certainly deserve some sort of award for creativity.
This is a music-obsessed world, and the game designers did some no-holds
barred creativity with that theme: handholds are in the shape of flutes, as
are grabbing poles, and enemies will launch dangerous musical notes at you.
Wowwee! Although this world isn't exactly calm and easy (it's too late in the
game for that) it is easier and less frenetic than Scorch, and a good place
to relax for the great challenges ahead. So get ready to tune out...

Area 1:

This area has four major sections, and in each section, you've got to get a
metronome safely through a series of obstacles to a large, imposing songbird
who will not let you pass until given his desired timer.

Section 1: A warm-up section, you'll see the metronome right in front of you,
btu don't pick it up just yet - go right and take out the orbot first. If an
orbot gets his hands (stubs, whatever) on a metronome he will steal it and go
back, forcing you to backtrack to retrieve it (and take him out as well) so
try not to let these guys touch your precious cargo. Also, the fan, although
it is unnecessary, will lift the metronome vertically in a column of air.
This section is extremely short.

Section 2: Now the "real" level begins. One thing you may notice is that the
level's music gets longer and more intricate each time you complete a
section; nice touch! The metronome here is resting on some spikes. To grab it
you'll need to grab straight down for it as you jump over it; it's tricky but
you can try indefinitely. Only get hit grabbing it as a last resort. Tote in
right and stand under the claw to have your burden eased for a short while,
as the claw will take the metronome over to the right past two enemies. The
first is a blue creature who bounces around and launches dangerous musical
notes (these home in, so watch out) and the second is an orbot. After
retrieving the metronome go right and throw it onto the fan. Climb up the
flute-holds to the left and at the top, stand at the edge of the ledge and
reach out to grab your metronome back from the column of air. Now stand under
the claw to have it airlifted over the perilous spikes to the left; get
across yourself by means of the flute-poles (which shouldn't be too hard by
now).

On the other side, throw the metronome onto the fan and climb up on the
floating green platforms (grab onto the grips on the sides of them) and once
at the top, retrieve your metronome but leave it where it is. Climb onto the
green platform and jump onto another green platform to the right. It's a long
jump but keep trying; you'll need a up/right diagonal grab. Once on this
platform you'll see another platform to the right. Get ready for another hard
jump; the best way to make this one is to jump off the platform you are on
and hold right, grabbing HORIZONTALLY as you are level with the flute-hold on
the left of this ledge. Hopefully you'll grab it and pull yourself up to the
bonus round spinner. That wasn't too hard, but the bonus round itself is a
different matter. After your return drop down and defeat the orbot. NOW bring
your metronome over. The last obstacle in this section is a bed of spikes
with a pole floating above it. Stand a few paces away from the left edge of </pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
the spikes so the metronome doesn't hit the pole and bounce back when you
throw it right, but flies under the pole and lands at least halfway across
the spikes. Swing over, re-grab your metronome from the right and give it to
the demanding songbird.

Section 3: This section opens with a blue star, but don't savor your full
life bar just yet; you'll be dropping one unit of it shortly. Jump to the
right and swing over the pole onto the bed of spikes; you will get hit but
should be able to grab the metronome (why oh why are these dang things always
on spikes?!?) and get out of there with no further damage. It's very hard to
nab this one without touching the spikes, btu you're welcome to try. The way
to the right is impossible to take if you want to take your metronome with
you, so throw it onto the hole with a down arrow over it to transport it to
the underground. Swing down yourself and throw it onto the switch to open the
door. When you try to re-grab it though, the door slams shut. What's a star
to do? Stand to the right of the door and grab your metronome from there, and
Ristar will pull it through the door before it closes.

To the right is an annoying section with several enemies. Try not to let your
metronome get stolen and don't let the claw get it either - it will take it
backward here. Get through as best you can and on the other side, throw the
metronome onto the fan but LEAVE IT THERE - swing up to the main area and
kill the orbot first; you wouldn't want him getting his grubby little
hands/stubs/whatever on your precious metronome. Then throw the metronome
into the transport pipe and give it to the songbird.

Section 4: The final, but also the hardest, section. First of all the
metronome is itself very hard to get; it's in an alcove in the right wall of
the chasm you immediately encounter. If you fail to grab it on your first try
shoot up using the spinner to the top right ledge, drop and curl your fall
around by holding right to land in the desired spot. Matters get no easier as
you fall to the bottom, though there is a blue star to restore your health.
First you'll need to get the metronome over another spike pit like the one
before, only this time there's just a tiny stub of a pole hanging from a low
ceiling for you to use, so I hope you can grab accurately. Next come some
bombs; do not worry, as they will only explode if you grab them (so, boys and
girls, try not to do that).

Halfway through the bombs is a blue guy; he's very nasty as you'll have to
throw aside your metronome, defeat him without touching a note, and re-grab
your metronome, always being mindful of the perilous bombs. Jump over the
remaining bombs and again, throw away your metronome (TO THE LEFT) and take
out the orbot before proceeding. Open the door like you did before and throw
your metronome onto the fan; climb up and retrieve it. Let the claw take it
over some spikes and go under them yourself; there's a tunnel in the floor
guarded by a blue enemy. On the other side lift up your metronome again and
head right. Drop your metronome for a moment to deal with the three bird
heads ahead. They will drop to the floor randomly and try to crush you, so
take them out! You can only do this when they slam the floor but they take
only one hit, so grab continuously at the spot they are aimed at and you will
hit them when they do take the plunge. Be patient; these guys are not worth
getting hit by.

After this you come to a large chasm. Stand close to the edge but not right
on the edge, jump STRAIGHT UP, and at the peak of your jump throw the
metronome to the right. It should land on the other side of the chasm, and
you can cross yourself by jumping and grabbing the handholds to the right. If
you or the metronome fall into the chasm you'll have to play a section of the
level again. On the other side is another chasm. Grab your metronome and drop
down the left half of it - DO NOT throw away your metronome, even though it
may be your immediate instinct. You don't want it getting stuck on the spikes
to the right. At the bottom give your metronome to the fourth and final
songbird, grab the blue star and go right to the...

Mini-Boss: This is easy enough; you'll need to dispose of three bird heads
that crash down to the floor like the ones before but take three hits to
beat. The strategy is identical - stand close to the spot where one bird is
pointed at (but not so close he'll hit you) and grab continuously at that
spot. If you have a turbo function on your controller, use it. You can get in
2 hits at a time at the beginning of the battle, but only 1 thereafter. After
a while the heads will start bobbing and orbots will float in a wave motion
across the screen. Stand near the middle and dodge them or take them out,
being careful not to stand under a bird head as they will resume their normal
sequence abruptly. When they do so, continue flailing your arms. You should
take them out in the second or third sequence, hopefully.

Area 2:

This area is something of a challenge but nothing inordinate. Everything
here, even more than area 1, is music-oriented, and the music is rather disco
club-esque, don't you think? In any event swing across the pole and grab and
HOLD ONTO the zipline. It will carry you down over a dangerous, spike section
but will crash and drop you onto spikes, so drop off as soon as you see land
below you (you'll need good timing as you'll be going pretty fast at this
point). Drop down and you'll meet a bird who is looks and acts something like
a sumo wrestler. These guys are a PAIN. They stomp and cause a doll to fall
into their hands; it may seem harmless but it's a deadly projectile when they
wind up to chuck it at you. Stand about two Ristars away from them and when
you think they're about to throw their doll, walk away and JUMP! Hopefully
the doll will be thrown short and sail under you, and you can take out the
foe (quickly, or he'll get himself another doll, and when he is holding a
doll he is invulnerable).

Climb back to the surface and hit he large drum the zipline is attached to.
An object - randomly a gem, star, 1-UP or enemy - will come out. To the right
is a tube-shaped thing that launches orbots who float in a wave like at the
mini-boss, but are a bit harder to avoid. Take it slow here - these guys are
the cheapest hits in the whole level, and I still get hit by them - and butt
the tube to smash it. Drop down after hitting the second and last drum that
yields an item; now you will face three dancing electric guitars (now I've
seen everything in a video game) who sometimes slam the floor. You get often
get past them unscathed by just dashing by but you improve your odds of doing
so by jumping over the spot they are dancing in front of. Sometimes, though,
they'll get you anyway; that's just the luck of the draw. On the other side
is another sumo bird; this one is even more of a pain than the first because
behind you is a dancing guitar which reduces your room to run. Take him out
as best you can and flip up back to the surface.

To the right will be some drums which serve as VERY powerful trampolines;
bouncing on these will send Ristar spinning and flying into the air. However,
this part isn't all fun in games and has a major dark side: spikes, and lots
of 'em. Bounce to the right twice being careful to avoid the spikes between
the drums, and grab the pole halfway up the next drum shaft and swing to the
right. The next shaft has spikes sheathing its right side. Hand onto the left
and just before you hit the drum at the bottom (or just after) grab the left
wall to bounce off and break your fall, so you do not have to impeccably time
your grab to the right to avoid missing the pole and hitting the spikes
instead (though you'll still need to time your grab very well). The next
shaft has a stationary orbot blocking the way to the next area. At the peak
of your bounce reach right and butt him out of the way, being careful not to
accidentally grab the spikes instead. The next shaft is spiked on BOTH SIDES,
so tap left and right quickly as you tumble down it to avoid impalement.

Grab the gold star to the right but don't proceed just yet; drop back down
the shaft (if you're daring). At the bottom is a pole on the right side. If
you have lightning (and I mean godlike) reflexes grab it and swing over; if
you are mortal like myself you will most certainly miss and grab the spikes;
just don't hit the drum and bounce back up, wasting your precious hit point.
Once across the pole you'll be in an area with four drums, the second and
fourth blasting you right into ceiling spikes. Avoid them by grabbing the
sides of the shaft afer you hit the drum to break your ascent and hold right
to proceed. The second shaft is shorter and thus harder than the first. To
the right is the bonus round spinner. Zip off to bonus land and retrace your
steps to the top of the spike-lined shaft when you return. Now go to the
right along the surface.

You'll now need to cross some spikes via poles, but here there's a twist: the
poles can only be grabbed where they don't have green horns attached to them.
That makes matters rather hairy, but try to grab the right portions of the
pole and swing across. If you grab horns you aren't a pincushion - you just
bounce off and can try again if you're quick enough. On the other side drop
down to a series of shafts that I don't believe require a great deal of
explanation. Just be careful of spikes and orbots (and take them out if
they're in your way). Eventually you'll get to a wide shaft with platforms
extending out on each side (you must have noticed by now, but the floor in
this area is piano keyboards) making it very hard to bounce up. You must tap
left and right to weave between the obstructions and will probably soon give
up, but if you do succeed through dumb luck or persistence, you will be
rewarded with a 1-UP.

Farther along is a large room with drums separated by four orbot tubes: two
on the floor and two on the ceiling. Again, this room is pretty easy if you
take your time and destroy each tube one at a time, allowing the orbots
released by each one to disappear before proceeding. On the other side bounce
back up to the upper level, and you'll face on more sumo bird. This one you
hopefully won't have as much trouble with because you've got plenty of room
to jump over his doll and don't really need to get in close and move back as
long as you keep your distance. Then comes a last orbot launcher tube; duck
in and out of the wave of orbots and destroy the tube at the end. Drop down,
swing over to the right and you're done. Time for the stage - and a battle
with...

Boss:

Awaunek, the giant hawk at the end of Sonata, isn't that bad, as Ristar
bosses go. Walk right and the curtain will open to reveal an awesome
background. A songbird will start to sing, but Awaunek isn't having any of
that (he isn't very fond of good music) and he (she?) rather rudely rams the
poor chap off its perch, and takes over the orchestra. The background goes
all wavy and the boss music goes wild (if there's something Ristar hasn't
done yet, please tell me) and Awaunek will launch a few attacks from his
perch. He will shoot trios of ugly, painful musical notes out, or sometimes a
single note that bounces along the floor and must be jumped over. He also
periodically causes debris to rain from the roof - avoid that too. I know you
are SICK of hearing me say this, but if you have any patience with me left,
TAKE YOUR TIME. Awaunek can prove very troublesome if you try to beat him
fast and don't have total confidence in what you are doing, as he takes a
while to beat.

Basically, you'll need to butt his perch (not him) three times to knock him
off of it while dodging his attacks. Every time you hit the perch you'll be
bounced far back so DON'T try getting more than one hit in at once unless you
are suicidal (or just in a big hurry and very good at the game). After three
hits he will tumble off his perch and the music and background return to
normal. After Awaunek recovers he will either dive at you, rain down feathers
on you, or just ram the floor. If you wait about five seconds the songbird,
restored to its perch, will give you a gold star, an endless supply of life
restoration. The problem is that Awaunek's attacks (especially the feathers)
are rather hard to dodge so it's risky to try for this. Hit him twice (you
can always get in one hit as soon as he recovers, and he's a very big target
to hit - when he's flying mid-screen, you can hit him with a jumping vertical
grab) and he will ram the little bird off his perch again and repeat the
whole pattern. After a long, exhausting but hopefully not TOO difficult
struggle (you need to knock him off the perch four times) he will succumb to
your relentless head-butting and bite it. Enjoy the songbird's (now
rightfully established in its rightful place) tune and the warm feeling you
get from the crowd's applause - it may do you some good in the next world...

3e. FREON

Okay, you had your siesta from regular adventure gaming (Sonata wasn't
exactly a normal planet by anybody's standards) but now it's back to the cold
(in the case, very cold), hard reality. Your next stop and target for
liberation is an iceball in the middle of nowhere (two things I want to know
- how the heck does anybody live here and why the heck did Greedy bother
taking it over?) Named after a cooling gas that is currently tearing up the
ozone layer and, ironically, making OUR world more and more like Scorch (now
wouldn't that be bad?) this place has the slipperiest terrain in any video
game I know (if you think I'm wrong just play for a little while in this
place) some melted areas (maybe global warming is affecting this world as
well) and a boss whom I'd prefer not to talk about just yet. Get ready for
some frozen fun...

Area 1:

This area is a training area to the mechanics of ice and snow and is not too
hard. You'll spot the mini-boss sneaking glances and sometimes taking shots
at you throughout the level. It begins with a sequence ripped off of Sonic 3:
a brief ski ride down a steep slope as Ristar plummets to the surface from
outer space. Once that's over go right to a spinner and shoot up/right (in
general, take the high road in this area, as the bonus round spinner is at
the end near the top). Swing over the pole at the top of the ramp and walk
right to the "ice slide". When you touch one of these you will lose all
control of Ristar as the poor fellow slides uncontrollably in one direction.
The directional pad will do nothing when you're on a slide but you can jump -
and you must to avoid enemies and/or jump free of the ice slide. This fist
one has no enemies but does have a glowing diamond that will shoot you away
like if you had shot off a spinner. Touch it but hold right to angle yourself
to the right, and land on the higher ledge with the gem to the right.

To the right over a pole is another slide; this one with some obstacles;
three small sets of spikes, with an orbot positioned above the third. The
first two are fairly easy to hop over, for the third, don't jump too soon or
you will crash into the orbot. Be sure to jump off at the right side or
you'll slide back to the left. Grab the gold star and swing down to another
slide; slide to the right. When you see the end, jump (all slides have ramps
on their ends that will flip you up and send you in the other direction, so
you must always jump off) and grab the pole in midair to swing across to
another ice slide. This one has two orbots on it; jump over them. When you
get to the end you'll need to jump off at the last possible second (after the
slide moves down a little bit near the end) to avoid a mid-air collision with
the orbot. Now you are on a snowy, stable (non-slippery) ledge with an orbot
floating midway across a chasm to the right.

Now for the aggravating part. It is possible (but EXTREMELY hard) to get
across this gap by jumping, but your most practical way of getting over is to
jump and grab the orbot diagonally in midair. When you do this he will start
to fall; you'll swing to the right of him. Then, release B to head-butt him
and hold right to land on the slide. If you mess this up you cannot try again
since the orbot will never reappear (unless you die) so unless you absolutely
must reach the bonus round, you might as well take the low road for the rest
of the area. On this road you will be on your own, so good luck. Once on the
ice slide to the right of the chasm you'll face another tricky spot; as the
ramp at the end flips you up you must grab the pole to the right horizontally
at exactly the right moment (it's very small so your timing must be on the
mark) or face the prospect of sliding back to the left and in the same
predicament as before. *Hopefully*, though, you'll make it, but your troubles
won't stop there. Ahead is a gap in the slide guarded by a vertically moving
orbot; rather than try to avoid him and risk falling into the gap just take
the hit but hold right to be sure to land on the right side of the slide.

At the end of the slippery area (at last!) JUMP and grab STRAIGHT UP in
midair. This is the key to grabbing that little nub of an ice pole sticking
out from the ledge to the right, though your timing must still be very good,
it's almost impossible to grab it if you grab diagonally. If you succeed
you'll get 2 1-UPS as a reward! Even better, drop down to find a blue star.
Heal and relax; you're past the worst now. To the right is a bed of ice
spikes that starts bouncing up and down when you get close to it. The key to
getting by it is to run straight at it, jump and grab horizontally at the
handgrips o the right, and pull yourself up to the ledge above. If you do it
without missing a beat you'll make it just in time and avoid damage, but be
ready for it and avoid the freeze response, since it is almost impossible to
get by without taking a hit once the spikes start bouncing up and down.
Following the first one is a second one, this one trickier because it has
only one, lower handhold, but the same tactics apply.

Okay, almost there! Ahead is a slide in a tunnel but above you is a
horizontal and vertical pole; grab them and swing up to the level above.
You'll face some gargoyle-like creatures who drop icicles, but they aren't
much trouble; avoid them and go right to a series of blue floors. These
floors "collapse" (not really collapse, but change position so you can no
longer stand on them) when you touch them, so try to touch as few as possible
as you cross the bridge, making use of the patches of normal ground. Once on
the other side take a deep breath for your final challenge. Above and to the
right is a single handgrip on the cliff. Jump to the right and grab up/right
in midair. If you miss, it is possible, but difficult, to make your way back
up, but the bridge will be harder because some of the floors will be
unusable. Hopefully you'll grab it straight and true and pull yourself up to,
at long last, the bonus round spinner. This is what you came all this way
for. When you play a remarkably easy bonus stage and come back, HOLD RIGHT
HARD. You'll land on a high ledge; jump off to the right and go right to the
mini-boss.

Mini-Boss: You'll be battling that weird alien dude who's been following you
throughout the level here. If you don't return from the bonus round you'll
first meet him when he holds out a bomb to you. Jump and hit his top part
when he sets the bomb down while avoiding the bomb at all costs. Bonk him and
proceed right to the main battle. You'll be having a snowball fight and need
to hit him three times with a snowball to beat him. Unfortunately, he can
throw back, and rather hard. Jump over his horizontal tosses and just avoid
his high, arching ones (they should never be a problem). Between his throws
stand still and a snowball will appear at your feet. Pick it up and throw it
like you do any object. BUT, you can only hurt him when he's holding a
snowball over his head, about to throw it at you, otherwise he will block it.
This makes matters VERY tricky, as you'll need to throw BEFORE he holds his
projectile aloft so it hits him at the right time. It will take a lot of
practice to nail the timing down, but if you get good at dodging his
snowballs, you should get plenty of tries. You can throw your snowballs high
by holding up as you throw them, but those are no more likely to hit him as
his are to hit you. Bash him three times and he'll get a headache and beat a
hasty retreat. He'll fight on your side later on, but first, it's time to
test Ristar's tolerance of freezing water...

Area 2:

Luckily, Ristar doesn't mind water that normal human beings would freeze to
death in, but unfortunately, neither do a lot of other, less likeable things.
This area is harder than area 1 so take it slow and easy. First you'll face
the threat of three pink mine shooters on the ground. These shoot two mines,
then pause; jump over them during those two pauses. The mines will drop back
to the ground and explode near the launcher; it's a wonder they don't blow it
up, actually. These can be destroyed by butting them but in my opinion it
isn't worth it. After that you'll face a more serious threat of bombs being
dropped by a guy who floats back and forth out of reach and resembles Lakitu
in Super Mario Brothers. You can take him out if you want but again I'd just
as soon move on, being very careful of the ground waves the bombs launch in
both directions when they explode. If you can, grab the bombs in midair to
disable them and prevent them from making ground waves. Drop into the water
on the right being careful of the spawning salmon. Swimming is no different
than before, but of course, this water area is more difficult.

It starts with an underwater, sideways mine launcher. Like the others you can
either destroy it or swim by between mines. Grab the floating diamond-shaped
rock blocking the passage t the right to destroy it. Grab the gold star being
careful of the ceiling spikes. Next comes a section that's quite familiar; a
horizontal corridor with a turbine at the end that attempts to push you back
into the urchins with its strong current. However, now there's a crucial
difference: there are now enemies (salmon) in the corridor, so blindly
plunging ahead is not the best thing to do. Instead, slowly (without hitting
the A or C button) swim ahead, taking refuge in alcoves in the top or bottom
of the tunnel whenever possible to wait out the turbine's onslaught and
proceeding when it slows back down. When you get to the turbine you don't
need to destroy it; it's optional to do so. Being wary of salmon, jump out of
the water, go right and grab the gold star, and drop back into the drink.
Swim down and you'll face a pair of mine shooters guarding the shaft. Dispose
of them one by one; otherwise they're likely to hit you. Below is another
tunnel with a turbine; this one has no urchins or things to hurt you at the
back and is relatively short. Swim through it using the same tactics, then
swim up and back to the surface. Go left and when you see a tall snowman, hit
his middle or upper sections; this will knock him out of alignment and allow
you to climb up and over him. While standing on him you should also take out
the bomb-dropping guy too. Walk left onto the ice slide, and allow yourself
to be flipped up. As you slide back to the right, jump and grab the handles
and climb up. Now walk to the right and grab the blue star. You'll have to
deal with four large toad statues at this point; luckily, this is the first
and last time you must face them, since they are no fun to play with. The
first and third drop bombs that launch ground waves; the second and fourth
drop normal mines which are much easier to deal with. It's very tricky when
you're in between them and jumping over ground waves from both directions,
but just plunge through as best you can.

When under the last toad statue grab the pink mine launcher from behind to
dispose of it and jump over to the ice slide. As you tumble down the ramp,
get ready to jump! Jump right over to another ice slide at the right time -
as soon as it comes into view, but not too soon or you'll get a face full of
the floating orbot between the two. Drop back into the water (if you miss the
jump you'll have to backtrack a bit to try again). Now you'll need to get
through a corridor blocked by rocks while staying ahead of a sea urchin who
will slowly pursue you. The sea urchin is invincible so to escape this
situation, use your head - that is, use your head to break through the
obstructing rocks (that's a joke from Toy Story 2). Once through you'll face
a nasty mine shooter; it's advisable to quickly shoot by and down between
flying mines here.

Next up is the third and last turbine tunnel; this one is much harder,
because your only way of avoiding being swept back into oblivion is some
ceiling handles midway down the tunnel, and it has three salmon swimming
around in it. You'll probably need to do some power swimming to get to the
turbine before it can sweep you back; hopefully you wont crash into a salmon
by doing so. After destroying (or just bypassing) the turbine, swim up. Now
for the maddening part. Ahead of you in a small, surface pool is an orbot
surrounded by seven mines that rotate around him. One spot around him will be
empty; when it goes by swim up and grab him directly from below, hugging the
right wall in the tunnel below to make sure your grab is on the money. Take
him out and hop onto a series of ice slides. These form a pyramid of sorts;
you'll need to jump from slide to slide and move up.

The problem is two-fold: you need to jump off each slide at the LAST possible
second to make it to the next slide, and should you miss a jump, not only do
you need to start over, you'll also take a hit (hopefully only one) from Mr.
Orbot-with-the-Mines down below, who regenerates. This makes for a very, very
tough situation here, as there are about six or seven perfect jumps you have
to make. The slides get smaller as you go up as well. This is one spot where
I can't be of much help; your timing and the precision of your jumps will
decide your fate. I can, however, tell you something important: the bonus
round spinner is in the top left corner of this area. To grab it requires a
real leap of faith (beginners who are having big trouble with this section
are well advised to skip this, as you'll need to start over afterwards) on
the seventh slide (the fourth one up on the left) which is very small. As
soon as you land on it, jump and you'll sail over the ramp at the end and fly
to the left. Be prepared to almost instantaneously grab diagonally up and
left to grab a tiny floating pole and swing over to the bonus round spinner.
You can reach it from the ground if you miss it on your swing from the pole.

After that you'll probably need to start over (you can swing back to the
seventh slide with the pole but most likely won't have enough speed and just
tumble back to the pond and its nasty inhabitant). Your second time through,
on the seventh slide, get ready to make one more nail-biter jump. Then you
must make an almost instantaneous leap from the tiny eighth slide. On the
ninth and final slide which extends to the right, jump over the ramp at the
end (you don't want to get sent back into that mess) and drop down to... the
exit!!! At long last! After that hard challenge, you're probably hoping for a
nice, easy, or at least not too frustrating boss to this ice hole. No such
luck...

Boss:

Time to fight (drum roll please) Itamor. He is probably the coolest boss in
Ristar or in any video game and would be a lot of fun if he wasn't so
horrifically tough. A hideous beast of living rock, he's a cross between the
abominable snowman, the devil, and Jabba the Hutt. As you walk to the right
you will quake with fear as the monstrosity rises out of the frozen ocean and
leaps to the foreground to do battle with you. You will witness his great
girth in its full might and should suspect that your puny head may not be too
useful against this guy... as it turns out, it's totally useless, so don't
waste your time and lives. You'll need to figure out another way to beat him.
Please bear in mind that this boss is the one I consider most likely to
frustrating people into never playing Ristar again, so please be patient!

Your foe-turned-friend (the mini-boss of area 1) will periodically run onto
the screen toting, of all things, a steaming pizza (the madness never stops
in this game). Resist your temptation to gobble it up in this frozen world,
however; you need to use it to thaw Itamor out by throwing it in his mouth.
The trouble is, you can't make him eat the dang thing unless his mouth's
open. (This will likely remind veteran gamers of Wart, final boss of Super
Mario Brothers 2, a fellow who was not a vegetable lover by any means). He
opens his mouth after he chomps down his red icy thing (I'm not sure what it
is, but man does this guy have some appetite). Stand about at the fourth orb
from the left (in the background) and after he stomps chomping, he will
pause; throw your pizza then. It will take a few tries to get he timing down.

Trouble is, Itamor doesn't always open his mouth obligingly; like Ohsat he
can do a few other things. One is to throw blocks of frozen tomato sauce at
you (which explode, strangely enough). Dodge these like you did the sumo
wrestlers' dolls on Sonata: stand halfway across the screen as he winds up to
throw, then as he throws, move BACK and JUMP to make him throw short. He also
breathes out blasts if freezing gas (Sonic 3 ripoff again) that freeze you in
a block of ice. This itself doesn't hurt you but you'd better get loose fast
(by banging on the buttons like crazy) as he'll either try to nail you with a
tomato sauce throw or attempt to eat you (!)

When he attempts to eat you run to the left; it seems there is no way to
avoid the suction of his gaping maw, but actually there is; just grab
continuously in midair. Ristar cannot be sucked up while he does this. Sure
it defies the laws of physics but who cares; it's enough to prevent Ristar
from becoming an ice demon's lunch! Eventually your alien pal will bring you
a pizza. Throw it at Itamor's wide-open mouth! This is made complicated by
the fact that he will be sucking you up at the same time, so you'll have a
short window of time in which to throw, but that's the way it is normally
anyway. Also, oddly enough, even should Itamor ingest you, you won't die!
You'll only be hurt. Unfortunately, if you ever miss with a pizza, it will
disappear as the frozen ground turns it into useless sludge.

Those are Itamor's attacks, but should you successfully get him to eat a
pizza, watch out! He will go nuts (either he really hates it or he really
likes it, I'm not sure) and blast up off the screen. (How the heck does he
lift all that weight?!?) Watch his shadow as it coasts to the left and stops
and stand AT LEAST A RISTAR'S LENGTH from it. Itamor will plunge back to
Earth and bounce back to his favorite seat on the right of the screen. As
soon as he lands and bounces up, RUN UNDER HIM!!! However, if you are too
close to his shadow, you might wind up underneath his great bottom and end up
flatter than a gumdrop under a chair. After this proceed with the battle as
usual. Note that on your very first attempt at the battle your pal will
automatically throw a pizza into Itamor's mouth; this will NOT damage him but
is intended to show you how to fight him if you were clueless. You WILL have
to dodge his blast up and down routine, though.

Itamor will take four pizzas to thaw out (ever eaten four whole pizzas? I did
on a bet once - no, just kidding). When he is satiated at last he will vomit
black orbots (yuck!) and go to sleep. He can no longer harm you so enjoy
dancing around his sleeping hulk until you give him a final bonk with your
head, and send his now-inert mass flying back into its own, underwater final
resting place. Proceed to dance with joy (and have some pizza if there's any
around); you have bested one of the hardest bosses in video gaming! Your
alien friend who proved so indispensable will wave good-bye as you leave the
snow and ice behind and head off to a small, dark blue world that is your
last stop on this endless quest.

3f. AUTOMATON

In case you thought the game would cut you a break after what you just came
through, prepare to be disappointed. I warned you at the beginning of the
walkthrough that this wouldn't be easy! Automaton IS the last planet (though
you've also got a showdown on Greedy spaceship in store) and is, as you can
get, a super-mechanized place ruled by robots, analogous to Scrap Brain,
Metropolis, Launch Base, Death Egg, or Gene Gadget/Panic Puppet Zones
(depending on the Sonic game). It is also the nearest thing to "H" in
Ristar's solar system - at least the first area is. The second area and the
boss are actually a royal cinch, but the first round simply will not let up.
Bear this in mind: if you can make it just a little further, through the
first area, you've made it past the worst of the game, and there won't be any
more ridiculously hard boss battles (although Greedy, the final boss, is no
pushover). So let us get this on with!

Area 1:

This area is to normal levels what Itamor is to bosses: it is the worst. It
is long and full of nasty spots. Its only redeeming factor is cool music. The
background looks weird; what's that blue smoke above the factory floor
supposed to be? Anyway, the first thing you'll encounter is the first of
three enemies in this area (besides orbots): a fire-tube thing. It will move
along the floor over a space and periodically stop to shoot blasts of
fireballs into the air. Luckily the fireballs don't fly too far horizontally,
so grab it - and get back, as it will split into two miniature versions of
itself! Destroy them the same way and proceed to another new foe: a spiked
see-saw guy. This is a robot that continuously bounces back and forth,
tottering on a pole with two spiked balls on either side. To get by this
fellow safely you must grab the pole he is tottering on when the spiked ball
closest to you moves up, which will knock him out. But, your timing must be
excellent or you'll get a handful of pain. Wait for him to slow down before
you make your move.

The first major weird thing you'll encounter is a huge area of purple girders
that change positions (appearing and disappearing) whenever you hit the B
button. Otherwise, they function like normal poles. There are spikes at the
bottom of this area so be careful. Basically, what you should do is climb up
and if the girder you want to grab disappears on you, try to avoid falling.
It's risky but sometimes productive to grab at empty spaces hoping a girder
appears there. There's not much advice I can offer on this crazy part; just
climb up as best you can! It's not THAT hard and is actually kind of fun. If
you're having trouble some of the girders on the left ALWAYS are solid, so
bear that in mind. Anyway at the top there will be a way to the right, but
you want to get to the upper left, where you'll see a glowing pad. Touch it
to be propelled upward at an incredible rate (like the drums on Sonata and
the glowing floors in the bonus rounds).

Grab the handholds on the ceiling and climb right (if you're climbing
backwards, that is okay) carefully timing your moves to avoid a collision
with a floating orbot. On the right side drop onto a greenish, glowing floor.
This floor is exactly like the ice slides of Freon; slide to the right and
DON'T JUMP at the end. You'll land on another similar floor below it; NOW
jump IMMEDIATELY or you'll be slung back to the left by the ramp at the end.
If you did it right you should be standing on top of or next to a chest.
Stand on top of it, jump straight up and grab straight down to crack it open
without risking falling onto the glowing floor. It contains a 1-UP. You only
get one shot at obtaining this, so do it right.

Next, drop down to the right and walk right. A floating red robot will appear
and shortly zip away. If at all possible jump and thwack him IMMEDIATELY, as
he'll come back and shoot three laser beams at you given a chance. These guys
are a pain, like the other two guys. Jump over the small bed of spikes, grab
the gold star, and swing over the spiked pole (which simply can only be
crossed one-way). Drop down to a glowing pad that will blast you up; grab the
handholds on the right and climb up to some weird gray shoes. When you are
wearing these (and you will for a while) the whole bottom half of the area
you're in is like water. I know most of you out there hate swimming and even
if you're pretty good at it, it makes grabbing enemies much harder, so most
of you aren't too happy about this, I suspect. Luckily, though, this is a
check point; if you die later on you'll come back to this spot (and I've used
four whole paragraphs just getting here).

The next part I won't go heavily into; it's just a matter of "swimming"
through some corridors avoiding orbots and spikes. Take it easy and you
should be okay. Don't defeat enemies unless you have to! After a while you'll
come to a fork; you can go left or right. Right is the main path; left leads
to the bonus round. The bonus round is somewhat hard to access so I can
understand it if you don't want to bother (that's what I did when I first
played this level) but if you want to, here we go: first of all you'll
encounter a spiked see-saw and a fire-tube on the ceiling. Defeat the fire-
tube, CAREFULLY, grabbing it from the side and moving away after the first
hit, before dealing with the see-saw. Defeat it as well and go left to a
large, dangerous room.

You'll need to master a new skill here: climbing up a bare wall by repeatedly
grabbing it at a successively higher point. It's not hard really; you'll need
to climb up the left wall in this way. There's a fire-tube attached to it but
he won't be much trouble - you'll take him and his kids out automatically as
you climb the wall, or just climb past them uninjured. Have you noticed yet
that when you flip over after head-butting something your are invulnerable
for a half-second? This will be necessary to employ against the boss of
Automaton, so remember it. At the top of the wall (you'll have outstripped
your anti-gravity shoes at this point) get ready to make a tough move. Grab
the wall close to (but not right at) the top, then as soon as you flip over
and can grab again, grab up/right, clutching the floating orbot at the
ceiling in your hands. He will fall down; swing to his right side and
release; land on the ledge to the right. If you mess it up you can leave the
screen and come back to make him re-appear. Climb the handholds to the right
and at the top one, jump off to the left. There's the bonus round spinner.
Luckily, you'll find the bonus round to be a joke.

On your return you'll need to get back down; there are several ways you can
try to do it but it seems that any way will likely get you hit, even if you
take your time, so it's up to you what to do. Once back down go right and
bash the see-saw thing again (don't bother with the fire-tube on the ceiling
this time) and go right to a wall of spikes. If you skipped the bonus round
path you'll be here as well, but will still have your anti-gravity shoes (you
lose them if you play the bonus stage). If you are in the former case, jump
and grab diagonally at the corner of the shaft above and pull yourself up
into it. If you can still float it's much easier; float up and jump up (out
of the "water", as it is) and grab the red girder with spikes on the top side
of it from below.

You are now in for the hardest section of the game; from now until you
complete this area. This part is one of the worst; you'll be trapped in a
shaft with smooth, bare walls and a series of four red girders crossing it,
with spikes on the top and nothing on the bottom. You need to grab each of
them from below in succession to climb up. BUT, in each "chamber" you'll need
to grab the walls continuously to avoid hitting the spikes below, and from
there reach up and grab the girder above. This will prove extraordinarily
difficult and you will likely drop plenty of lives in this section before you
get it down. It's best to grab horizontally at the walls then time your grab
straight up when you are able to grab again but still high enough to be able
to reach the girder above. Most importantly, do not panic and keep calm, even
down to your last hit point! After four girders you will be at the top and
must either instantaneously reach up to the ceiling handles or hold left or
right to land on a ledge to avoid hitting the spikes.

You're now at a fork. To the left is a path that leads to a 1-UP with the
following enemies: a fire-tube, a spiked see-saw, and two red laser robots.
Not worth taking, in my opinion, and I suspect you will agree with me. To the
right is a much-needed blue star, and more problems. To the right of the blue
star is a bed of spikes (rotating around a cylinder but no less lethal). Your
means of crossing these things of pain is a tiny green robot that resembles a
propeller cap. Grab it diagonally and it will float to the right and you will
swing from side to side of it. When possible (when you are to the right of it
and it is close enough to the edge of the spikes) release B (which you must
hold onto for dear life when riding the thing) and Ristar will bonk the
little thing (and not dent it) and hopefully land on safe ground.

Drop through the floor to find (GREAT) a whole series of these things. This
time it's MUCH HARDER, since you will need to grab each one after the first
in mid-air after bouncing off the previous one. One misstep will mean your
doom as you bleed your life out on the endless beds of spikes below. Even
worse, sometimes the choppers will move so close together that you will
automatically release your grasp (usually you're close enough to the next
chopper to grab onto it when this happens, but it might startle you and cause
you to fall). HAVE FAITH!!! Make some daring, well-timed grabs, and good
luck! After five choppers (and a great deal of lives and muttered words)
you'll coast to the right, and bounce off on, at long last, solid floor. Walk
to the right to a spinner. Grab onto it and shoot right and you'll blast
through a wall (coolsville) and wind up at the mini-boss.

Mini-Boss: Even this is maddening (although not as bad as the level). You'll
be facing an army of seven or so orbots (though there are more in the
background) led by a leader with a helmet, who attack in several formations.
To defeat each formation you must HIT THE LEADER ONCE. Then they will move
onto another formation. If you hit any orbot besides the leader, it will turn
black and no longer be able to hurt you. You must go through five formations;
they go in random order, except that the first one is also always the last.
Here are the four formations:

Helix: The orbots will fly down in a V shape, then rotate around the floor
you are on in a helix formation, some in front of or behind you (like a
strand of DNA). Luckily, this formation is a snap - just stand a little to
the left of the first orbot to the left of the leader when they come down.
After the leader hits the floor and moves up and to the left, reach straight
up. You'll grab him and beat the whole formation before it even starts! Be
careful though: if you mess up on the initial chance you WILL have problems,
so try, try, try to get it right!

Cross: The orbots fly at you in a cross formation with the leader at the
center. Grab at them and hit as many as you can; just grabbing relentlessly
at their formation, and hopefully you'll get lucky and grab the leader,
and/or incapacitate some of the normal ones so they don't get you. This is a
formation that takes guts to beat, since you'll need to grab relentlessly and
time your grabs well.

Ring: Similar to cross except the orbots form a circle around their leader.
Same strategy as for cross but much harder and more likely to get hit, since
the orbots are more spread out and there's more chance that your wild grabs
will just miss. Keep trying and should you get hit, go for the leader
immediately.

Frisbee (sorry I can't come up with a better name): The hardest formation,
but like Helix, you have a chance to take it out immediately, but only if
you're lucky. The orbots will come to the floor in a flat circle shaped like
a frisbee. Grab them. If you're lucky you'll get the leader and move on.
Usually, though, you'll just grab a normal orbot and incapacitate it. After
the initial attack they float out of your reach and launch themselves from
their ring at you, one by one. Run away from them and bear in mind that they
bounce off the floor. If you can, try to hit them to incapacitate. Try not to
get cornered. The leader fires last of all; try as hard as you can to get
him! If you fail they'll repeat their pattern without lowing to the floor
first (they only do that once). This is a nasty one so good luck!

After five hits, the orbot squadron commander falls like a helpless duck to
the center of the screen. Your immediate impulse will be to bash him into
kingdom come but not so fast; hold him in your grip for a while and savor the
moment (this is, incidentally, the last point in the game where you can
really do this) before booting him into the stratosphere. Mosey on over to
the right and... the exit!!! Yes!!! Automaton 1 clear!!!

Area 2:

After what you just came through you probably desperately need a respite, but
for once, the game cooperates. Area 2 is no picnic but nothing like as bad as
area 1, and is actually kind of fun. One reason it is much easier is when you
die you don't need to go back at all, since each teleporter is also a check
point!!! You'll be in the bowels of a factory on Automaton trapped in a
series of rooms connected by teleporters. Before you panic at the prospect of
getting lost in this huge maze relax; getting lost is almost impossible. Each
teleporter is one-way so you simply must progress from room to room avoiding
the perils of each one. Some rooms do have two teleporters but all the time
the harder one to access simply leads to something good that the easy one to
access does not. Some teleporters need to be activated by throwing a diamond
into the slot next to them; the diamond is to be found somewhere in the room.
Other ones you just need to make it to in one piece. This level has some of
the craziest situations in any video game in some of the rooms, but most of
them are only a problem if you don't know what to do... which can only occur
without a handy-dandy walkthrough sitting right next to you, of course. So
let's plunge right in!

Room 1 - Nothing to harm you here; just throw the diamond in the slot and
proceed.
Room 2 - This room has a robot floating around it. He gets faster every time
you hit him and takes three hits to beat. He is a real PITA but hopefully
you'll be able to get the better of him by this point in the game. Once he is
in the scrap pile, a yellow diamond will appear. Do your stuff.
Room 3 - You'll encounter a moving platform here. This platform must be
manipulated to make it take you to the teleporter, which is otherwise
unreachable BUT BE VERY CAREFUL!!! If this baby should push you into a wall,
floor of ceiling, you DIE INSTANTLY, no questions asked. So don't play
around. To manipulate it hit it in the direction you want it to go. I
recommend hitting it when it is near the floor to get it moving horizontally,
then when it moves over to the right, hit it from above to get it moving
vertically, and ride it to the teleporter.
Room 4 - A piece of cake; just walk right to the teleporter; you'll get
zapped into the background but that's no big deal.
Room 5 - Grab the spinner and shoot up/right to the teleporter. Don't worry;
the spikes can't hurt you when you're in "shooting star" form. Remember you
can press button A or C to stop shooting whenever you want.
Room 6 - A breather room with no danger; grab the gold star to restore your
health.
Room 7 - The "big blue robot" room. You'll immediately meet a large, imposing
big blue robot that will slowly step forward and try to crush you into the
wall on the left. Should it succeed, you are a flat star and a dead star, my
friend. To avoid that fate hit its feet when one foot is in the air taking a
step. It will fall back and totter - IMMEDIATELY run forward and hit its feet
again. If you aren't fast enough it will take a huge leap forward - bad news.
Repeat the pattern until you knock the machine into the wall and it self-
destructs. Glad that's over with...
Room 8 - This is the hardest room in the level, IMHO. It's got FOUR moving
platforms that work the same as the one in room 3 worked. You'll need to get
on of them to get you to the teleporter without getting turned into a star
pancake by them. I'd recommend getting one platform away from the others and
using it like you did the one in room 3, trying to avoid the other three
platforms at the same time. TAKE YOUR TIME and DON'T BE DARING!
Room 9 - This room is annoying. It's got four pieces of the background that
you can pull down to reveal things behind them. There's nothing for it but to
grab one and pull it down, and cross your fingers. In random order, inside
the four openings are single orbot, a group of orbots, a green droid like the
one in room 2 (egads!) And the necessary activator diamond. Be sure to
destroy any enemies you release as soon as you release them to avoid getting
overwhelmed!</pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
Room 10 - This room has the first, and only, moving spinners in the game.
Eight rotate in a circle. You can just exit in the bottom right corner if you
wish, or grab a spinner and attempt to reach the other teleporter in the
upper right corner (you'll need to bounce off a wall to do this).
Room 11 - Made it to the hard to reach teleporter in the previous room? Your
reward is a 1-UP.
Room 12 - Meet the tanks, nasty little (or not so little) machines that shoot
missiles at you. Jump over the missiles, which move quite fast (you can
actually pick them up, but it's very dangerous) and when you get close
enough, butt the tank. After one hit it will charge at you; stay calm and
immediately upon falling back grab again and you'll send it to the scrap
heap. The hardest part is approaching while jumping over the missiles. You'll
need to make it past three tanks on three separate levels to make it to the
teleporter. Don't bother destroying the ceiling tank.
Room 13 - IMMEDIATELY walk right, smash through the wall with your head, and
grab diagonally from the floor at the spinner and HOLD ON!!! a few seconds
after your arrival in this room orbots will start raining from the ceiling
like there's no tomorrow, and they will surely bludgeon you to death unless
you cling to that spinner for dear life. Eventually they will stop raining
and an activator diamond will appear.
Room 14 - Grab another gold star.
Room 15 - The second room with you moving in the background, this one's more
complicated, but remember that anything (spinners and handholds) you see in
the foreground will be in the background as well, and you'll be fine.
Room 16 - This room is shaped like a large L, with you starting at the vertex
of the letter, teleporter #1 to your right and teleport #2 far above you. You
have a spinner before you and must decide which way to go. Teleporter #2 is
obviously much harder to reach, but if you succeed...
Room 17 - Nothing here except the bonus round spinner. Accessible through
teleporter #2 in room 16.
Room 18 - The final room (hard to believe there are only 18 rooms, only 14 of
which have anything dangerous in them!) And it's a cinch; just grab the
spinner and shoot right, past the tanks, to the end of the stage.

Boss:

You're probably trembling with terror as you prepare to meet the boss of this
planet as you remember Adahan and Itamor, but don't worry. Uranim looks hard
and is hard if you don't know what you're doing, but if you do know what to
do, he's a pushover! Alas, your trek to Uranim's lair will not be peaceful,
as your antagonist will hurl metal bolts along the floor at you as you run to
meet him. When the monitors behind you show him throw a bolt, JUMP. After a
while you'll reach him. Uranim will use all sorts of attacks (many of which
involve throwing things at you supplied to him by his operator, the mad
scientist with the huge head in the machine in the background). He seems
impossible but don't worry. Grab the cyborg, er, the bull by the horns and
run up to him and start pounding your away at his armor with your tough
little head. Unlike the monstrous Itamor, Uranim's armor will be pierced
(even though he's a super cyborg, Greedy's finest invention) but he will take
a certain amount of abuse before falling to your knees. He will do all sorts
of attacks but as long as you beat on the B button like crazy and grab him
continuously, they will miss, since you cannot be hurt as you bounce off an
adversary.

Keep pummeling him (a turbo controller will help) ignoring his attacks until
he falls over, stunned. Now the claw above you will move over to you and try
to hit you. Avoid it and stand to one side of Uranim with the claw on the
other side. As the claw comes toward you jump over Uranim - the timing is
tricky but you can try as long as you need. Eventually you should be able to
get the claw to hit Uranim instead of you, which will really hurt him and
also re-awaken him, so get ready for another round of incessant bashing away.
The only thing Uranim can do to cause you problems is when he jumps or throws
himself across the room. When he does that run over to him and continue
bashing him like there's no tomorrow. Sometimes he will fake being stunned
but not really be so beware of that. After four hits from the claw and a
final series of head-butts from you, Uranim will hit the sack. The huge
machine behind you, however, will pick up his mutilated frame and blast out
of the room; it's Greedy's spaceship in disguise!!! Grab the spinner and
follow the space pirate. Your next planet will be a dark red world - WAIT A
JUST A MINUTE THERE...

3g. GREEDY'S SPACESHIP

Well, here you are. You've blasted through all six planets in this crazy
solar system and smashed their corrupted leaders, and made it onto Greedy's
spaceship itself. Oddly enough, the ship sometimes looks like a spaceship and
sometimes like a castle on a cloud, but inside, it's just one huge,
mechanical mess. Amazingly, the "normal" portion of this section, far from
being a living hell, is not only a complete cinch, it's very short. You'll
need to get through one very easy and simple area and then face two bosses in
a row. The bosses are a challenge but not any worse than anything you've
faced so far, and this IS then final section of the whole game, so I hope you
understand. Alright, let us start marching through this spaceship and whip
Greedy's tail once and for all. Best of luck!!!

"Normal" section:

This begins with Ristar flying into Greedy's spaceship with such velocity
that he smashes a large hole in its outer shell with his rock-hard head.
Aside from how the heck Ristar manages to burst through a sheet of solid
metal, why doesn't the gaping hole in the side of the ship suck all the air
out? Ah, the impossibility of video games. Anyway this section involves
climbing up through the core of Greedy's home (I'm telling you, the guy has
no taste; he's painted his ship's interior purple and green) while bopping a
few sluggish orbots and being watched by a floating robotic eye that has been
disconnected from its body. You're going to find out what socket that eye
goes into very soon... be prepared. A major disappointment is that instead of
an awesome, climactic tune playing, that awful "battle entry" music plays in
this area.

Luckily it isn't very long. Begin by flipping up through two flashing beams
(Greedy's cruiser sure looks cool - check out the background - but much of
what's here is just for show, not dangerous) and walk to the left (there's a
few orbots throughout this section, destroy them obviously). Climb the
handholds located so conveniently for your use (apparently Greedy is anxious
to meet you). At the top grab the two vertical electric beams to your right
(it'll take diagonal grabs) and grab more handholds on the right wall (you
can also just climb the right wall through the "continuous bash" method, but
that way is slower). Climb up and walk left. Next you need to climb up the
narrow shaft to the left; there are no handholds so you'll have to use your
head and arms. Just keep bashing the wall continuously higher; you can try as
long as necessary. After that drop down to the left and a spinner awaits you.
Shoot almost straight up and either grab the horizontal beam overhead
directly from below, or land on the ledge on the right and use that for a
lift-up. You can also grab and climb the walls if needed. Once on top of the
beam, walk right through the doorway of doom and WHOOMP! You are done! Ole -
you have made it through the easiest area in all of Ristar.

Boss:

Now the fun begins. As soon as you enter the boss room (which has an even
BETTER floor and background) run to the right to avoid being zapped by an
electric field. Charge right to meet... Inonis (name from boss rush mode),
that dude with the big head who operated Uranim recently and has a gift for
inventing large, annoying things of pain. He will be sitting in an inactive
machine that resembles a Black & Decker power drill with a cool-looking
extension cord, armed to the teeth. When that little eye nestles itself on
the machine's socket (which you cannot prevent) Mr. Big Bad Robot will awaken
and start shooting everything at you but the kitchen sink. His attacks are:
boomerangs, streams of bullets, white bolts of energy, and huge electric
blasts from a pistol-like device.

The boomerangs are a real pain since they will fly behind you and swing
around several times before disappearing and the energy bolts are no picnic
either as they will launch at chest height and are almost impossible to jump
over (the holes on the back of the robot's scalp will turn white when one is
about to fire). The bullets shouldn't be too hard to dodge, but don't stand
directly in front of the machine. The same strategy for Uranim applies but
there's a twist here. Whenever you hit Inonis you will be knocked quite far
back, so it is impossible to continuously butt him without spending some time
on the floor, where you are vulnerable. This makes your life MUCH harder but
use the same tactics - keep butting and butting his head repeatedly, ignoring
the shield it throws up (every time Inonis bounces in his seat you've scored
a hit) and eventually (4-5 hits) the machine will be temporarily stunned and
Inonis will drop down to attempt repairs. Butt him and there will be a small
explosion; this indicates a major hit.

You then must repeat the process. Do NOT at all retreat, as Inonis will
advance and you'll find yourself eventually pressed between him and that
electric field, a bad situation. The best way to dodge his attacks is just to
keep bashing him and hope that you are bouncing back off him when the attack
fires and it misses. This is the only real way to dodge the energy bolts and
electric blasts from the pistol thing. It takes excellent timing but can be
done. The boomerangs can be dodged the same way. Just keep up the relentless
assault. You are going to take a couple of hits; hopefully you can outlast
the machine. After five explosions Inonis' latest creation will be reduced to
a pile of junk. Walk to the right and under the tube to be taken to...

Final Battle:

The beam will take you up, Star Trek-esque, to meet Greedy himself in an
orange-brown, flashy room in the spaceship. Aside from the awful music (can't
they come up with something decent to play now, of all times, when they've
spoiled us for the whole rest of the game? Oh well) Greedy makes the perfect
end boss. A lot of final bosses in other games require incredible feats of
dexterity to defeat and can be very frustrating for even experienced players.
Greedy has no such problems. I did have a lot of trouble defeating him the
first time I played the game, but it is my hope that you will have less
difficulty. The first thing you'll realize is that the Greedster isn't
exactly solid; he's more of an apparition than a real enemy, and he can
teleport around the room. The final fight has four phases:

Phase 1: Kind of a pre-fight, Greedy will launch five laser droids from his
hand to cause you trouble to decide if you're worth fighting. These droids
will warp to a different location every few seconds and fire a small blue
energy ball at where you're standing. The best way to avoid them is to run in
one direction and hopefully the balls will miss; occasionally they get you
anyway. After they fire turn around and hit one of them (you'll probably need
to jump and grab to reach them) to knock it into oblivion. Then run in one
direction again as you can only knock out one before they move again (it is
possible to try for more if you're daring but that's quite risky). After
defeating Greedy's vanguard it's on to...

Phase 2: Greedy will now warp around the room at great speed, sometimes
disappearing and appearing somewhere else. Although his erratic movements
make it tricky, you must jump and grab him when he's fully formed. He never
moves to the floor so it's unlikely he'll hit you directly. When you get him
he'll drop two orbots. Defeat them and continue. Always defeat them before
you do anything else! If you fail to hit Greedy for long enough he will raise
his arm and surround himself with eight black orbots. He will now be out of
grabbing range so all you can do is dodge the orbots as he shoots them at
you, one by one, similar to the "Frisbee" formation of the mini-boss on
Automaton but easier because they don't reflect off the floor. If you manage
to grab one of the orbs as it flies at you a star will appear, but this is
not advisable, as 90% of the time, your arms will miss the projectile and it
will smack you instead. After shooting off all his orbots Greedy will resume
his pattern; try to hit him before he can do it again. Five hits and the room
darkens and phase 3 begins.

*BUG: Even though it rarely happens, if you grab Greedy just as he is about
to surround himself with the black orbots and hit him after they appear, he
will continue warping around but also shoot black orbots at you! This is
almost always fatal to you; a horrific bug!
Phase 3: The hardest phase of the battle, Greedy will floaty in the top
center out of reach and generate a black hole to one side of him that
attempts to suck you up. Getting sucked into Greedy's vortex will kill you
instantly! To avoid that fate grab the orbot that falls from the ceiling
(and, strangely enough, will not get sucked up) and HANG ON for dear life!!!
After a few seconds another orbot will fall. If it falls far away from you,
you lucked out and can stay put. If it falls close by and moves toward you
IMMEDIATELY (how the heck many times have I capitalized that word in this
FAQ?!?) butt the orbot you are currently clinging to and immediately grab the
new one. If you wait until the new one is almost on you chances are you'll
touch it as you bounce off the first one and take a hit, which usually means
instant death. If you find yourself with no orbot nearby to grab you can also
grab continuously (same principle as with Itamor) to avoid being sucked to
your doom. A third orbot will eventually fall, but by this time the black
hole will usually disappear and you're on to the final phase!

Phase 4: This phase causes me to die uncountable times until I discovered a
new method for it, which makes it a total cinch! Greedy will be directly
above you. He will appear two times for a brief second; it is possible but
extremely hard to jump and grab him from below. Don't even try that; instead,
wait for Greedy to appear and disappear twice and the screen will darken.
Greedy will now appear directly to your top left and throw down a bolt of
lightning he's borrowed from Zeus. You can dodge this by running to the left
but instead, as the screen darkens grab up/left continuously. Most of the
time your arms will be right where Greedy will appear and you'll land the
space pirate a solid blow to the underside. He will do this twice; repeat
your attack. Occasionally you'll miss and get zapped but hopefully that will
not happen. Greedy will then appear directly above you; pay him no heed if he
appear to the left or right, but if he appears in the center jump up and hit
him NOW! If you miss he'll create another black hole and you'll have to
repeat phase 3 again! Stay in the center to make sure you're positioned
correctly to hit Greedy should he try this. After five low blows the
Greedster will hit the mat and you've won the game!
Congratulations!!!

NO, I AM NOT REVEALING THE ENDING! FIND IT OUT FOR YOURSELF!

4. Bonus Round walkthroughs

This section gives information on how to complete the twelve bonus stages in
the game. Unfortunately I do not have the times you need to complete the
stages under to earn continues; maybe I will have them in an updated FAQ.
Obviously the continue times are longer for the harder stages (although you
have the same amount of time to successfully complete each stage, 1 minute).
You can't die in a bonus round but some stages have spikes; touching them
will speed up the timer. Some of these mini-levels are challenging to the
extreme, so prepare to get frustrated!

1-1: This one's a joke (but not a harbinger of things to come). Grab the
spinner and shoot straight up to either side (not in the center) and land on
the platform in the top center of the stage where the treasure is. If you
don't quite make it you can also just climb the walls, head over head style
(see the end of the walkthrough for details) high enough to fall on the
platform. Your first treasure is a star on a pedestal I call a SUPERSTAR.
1-2: This one's a bit trickier but you should be able to do it. It requires
some fancy grabbing like you'll need to do late in the game to stay alive.
All grabbing poles in bonus rounds are glowing red pads, and there's a whole
series of them here, vertical and horizontal. You'll need to rappel and flip
yourself around these pads and climb up to the top, where your treasure, an
APPLE GEM, is. There are some tricky spots like when you need to swing
horizontally and then immediately grab straight up to grab another pole, but
it's good practice for later in the game and you do have enough time to have
several slip-ups and still make it.

2-1: This one's interesting but really easy. First of all, although the area
appears to be empty, it's filled with water (as is appropriate as you are on
Undertow). The treasure is in plain sight and it's a snap to swim over and
open it, but... the prize, the PEARL, will float around the room and you've
got to grab it as it floats by. There's several strategies - you can swim
after it if you're on top of your swimming skills or stay in one place and
wait for it to come to you - but either way it'll take a quick, nimble grab
to snare it. Luckily you've got all the time in the world to do so.

2-2: This is the first really hard bonus round. The room will have water at
the bottom and a series of spinners leading up to the treasure, at the far
top left. You best bet is to grab the spinner overhead (not as easy as it
looks, as you must jump out of the water and grab it) and shoot up and a
little to the right, so that you're not right up against the left wall. You
want to shoot up onto the ledge at the far top left, but you don't want to
bump your head on it and get sent back down. If you manage to grab another
spinner you might as well take aim and cross your fingers, but I think it's
easiest (at least no harder) to shoot for the treasure from the first, bottom
spinner. Don't try to climb up from spinner to spinner like the programmers
intended. It will take a very lucky shot to get this one, especially if
you're bad with spinners. You do have a good bit of time to make that shot
but the pressure of the ticking clock can break your concentration. Good
luck, peoples! Your treasure is a GOLDEN TEAPOT (?)

3-1: This one's PATHETIC. Yeah, there's some spikes, but all you need to do
is grab the glowing handholds, climb up, over, and down to reach your prize.
You can get impaled repeatedly and still make it with ease because the path
is so short. Plunge on through and grab the treasure, the FIRE SWORD (which
sounds like it belongs more in Final Fantasy than an action game).

3-2: Another easy round, you'll face a horizontal row of spinners over a bed
of spikes with the treasure at the far side. Just grab the first spinner and
shoot right, reflecting off the ceiling or floor to go farther, and when yo
run out of steam grab another spinner and repeat. Easy as pie. You might get
stabbed once or twice but don't let your jumpy timer unnerve you. Your reward
is a STONE POT (the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, perhaps?)

4-1: This is a hard one (it seems that all the bonus rounds are either really
easy or really hard, doesn't it?) You'll face a 5 X 5 box of 25 empty chests
that disappear when you grab them, with the real chest (that holds the COW
BELLS - quite appropriate for this planet) on a high wall to the right. To
get there first you'll need to make a stairway by destroying some chests
being very careful not to destroy chest you'll need to stand on. I recommend
using two columns and destroying every other chest in each one, and climbing
up to the top row that way. When destroying a chest jump toward it and grab
diagonally at it (time it well or pay dearly). Once at the top row jump and
grab straight up to grab the ceiling handles. Climb to the right and get
ready to make a tough move. The only way to reach the elusive treasure is to
drop off the ceiling handles to the right and almost instantaneously grab
up/right at the tiny glowing pad and swing over. It's very hard to time and
you will likely miss a few times before getting it. If you miss go back to
the left destroying any chests necessary, but be sure to keep your stairway
intact! There are spikes at the bottom of the wall as well, so watch out.

4-2: Another pathetic one, this time involving glowing pads that blast you up
high into the air when you touch them. You'll know how to handle these pads
as they work the same way as the drums in the main level, and all you have to
do is bounce over to the right over some spike-encrusted mountains. You are
likely to get impaled once or twice as you go but no matter. After three
mountains you'll reach a mountain that's too high to bounce over but does
have a tunnel through it, so go through there. Bounce up and to the left and
land on the (spiked) top of the final mountain to the right. Drop down the
spiked crags and at the bottom, you will be the proud new owner of a BASE
CLEF PEDESTAL.

5-1: All you need to do here is make one tough grab (or two). Jump straight
up and you will tumble down the ice slide and eventually fall onto a new one.
When you do immediately jump and grab up/right. This slide dumps you into the
bottom one where you don't want to go (if you go there you'll need to climb
back to pretty much where you started from). But, jump and grab and if you
time it right you'll grab a horizontal pole floating above the end of the
slide. Now you must immediately grab the pole AGAIN and swing BACK across it,
and land on the slide going to the left. Your final test is to jump over a
small rise in the slide which, if you touch it, will send you back to the
right. Hop over it and you'll be slid right to a decadent CHERRY SUNDAE!
Sweet... but who'd want ice cream in this frigid place? Pack it away for a
warmer world and proceed...

5-2: Time for another nasty one, this bonus round has three sections, all of
them quite difficult. First you'll be on two ice slides with a tiny hole
between them and you must jump into that hole, which is quite difficult as
you'll be sliding very fast and must time a hop perfectly to avoid being too
short or too long. Once you finally get in there you'll face an underwater
gauntlet of spikes. Carefully swim through the caverns (don't even THINK
about pressing the A or C buttons) and remember that if you stay still you
will float up, so try to keep moving. It's not really hard, just take it
really careful. At the end just before you jump out of the water beware:
there are some INVISIBLE spikes on the ceiling there! Jump up onto an ice
slide and get ready to make a hard jump. You must jump from this slide to the
one on the left by jumping at the LAST possible second (which should bring
back memories of the section preceding the bonus round). It will take some
attempts but you can keep trying as long as your clock lasts. Once on the
final slide you're still not done; you must jump straight up and grab that
teeny tiny bar above you as you fly by it. Jump and grab straight up... and
pray! You'll keep sliding back and forth as long as you don't jump off
(please, don't do that) so you can keep trying. Once you finally make it jump
from the little bar to the right and get your much deserved treasure, a
magnificent diamond I call the STAR OF FREON.

6-1: The hardest stage in the game by far actually has the EASIEST bonus
round, believe it or not (hey, they do cut you breaks in this game, despite
what you might think). All you need to do, my friend, is climb up the left
side by bouncing on the glowing pads, swing over to the right, and drop back
down (it's easier to grab the little bars blocking your way if you grab the
sides of the shafts to break your momentum). At the bottom is the GOLDEN WAND
(another treasure inappropriate for this game). It's cute watching Ristar
bounce up and down for a few seconds after he grabs the treasure, too!

6-2: Well, they sure saved the best for last. This bonus round is one of the
hardest I've seen in ANY game, period. You'll first need to climb a wall with
crags that are seemingly impossible to climb. The key to winning this bonus
stage is knowing the exact second after you grab something and bounce off it
when you can grab again and grabbing right then. First climb the wall to your
right (you must have total mastery of that skill to stand a chance) and grab
just below the purple gem on the platform above (the highest possible point
that can be grabbed) HORIZONTALLY (so you bounce off a little higher). Then
at the earliest possible second grab diagonally at the wall above and to the
right. If you grab at the earliest possible second before you fall you will
make it. Now on the first crag you must do the same thing to reach the next
one (again, grab horizontally as high as you can, then immediately grab
diagonally). Jump and grab the bar above you to make it over the first wall.
The next wall you must climb has the same principle except you must grab at a
swinging bar above instead of another wall, which makes it a little easier.

Once at the final section you've already made it farther than the average
gamer, but alas, you have only gotten through the easy part. Your heart will
fill with dread as you look up and see four surfaces you must grab in
succession, with no handholds, just rocky walls. Jump and grab diagonally at
the bottom right corner of the first platform, then grab it horizontally as
high as possible a few grabs later, and from there grab diagonally at the
next platform. It's the same as before except one false grab and you'll fall
to the bottom or at least a lower platform and need to do part of it again,
with your clock dwindling away and your movements getting more and more
panicked. Try to stay calm and cool while doing this. Once you've made it to
the fourth ledge (the
platform with the treasure) get ready for your biggest grab of the game. Grab
the ledge horizontally as high as possible, then grab up/left, at the
horizontal pole. You must time it perfectly for your arms to be close enough
to latch on, but once you grab that pole, you're done. Hop to the right and
grab the STAR OF AUTOMATON, a flat, orange but no less magnificent
counterpart to the STAR OF FREON, and rejoice - you have beaten 6-2's bonus
round!!!

5. Passwords

These are secret codes you can enter at the passwords screen of the options
menu (select "passwords") to put cheat codes into effect. The four six-letter
ones get revealed to you at the end of the game - IF you got all the
treasures. If you didn't get all the treasures you'll get some of them, or
maybe some letters of some of them. If you got less than four treasures you
won't get anything at all. Here are the passwords (spell them out by pressing
the A or C buttons and press "end" to put them into effect)

AGES - See some "about the game" information (like the year it was released)
but that's about it.
SUPER - Play the game with one hit point, one life... and infinite continues.
Try it if you want to practice playing bosses or levels perfectly (or just
want one heck of a challenge).
MAGURO - Enter this and go to sound test and you can turn "ONCHI" on or off.
When "ONCHI" (something in Japanese?) is on, the music sounds really bizarre
and terrible. Have fun torturing your ears.
MUSEUM - Play the game in "boss rush" mode; you'll fight all eight bosses and
try to beat them as quickly as possible. See how fast times you can rack up!
DOFEEL - Similar to the previous code but with bonus stages instead of
bosses, and you can play any one you want and try to beat your best time any
number of times rather than play them in order. Sega has complied the fastest
possible times (although some of those times may have used debugging or
something; there's NO WAY you could beat those bonus rounds in those times)
and you can see how close you can get.
ILOVEU - The level select code. You can begin play at any level or boss you
want.
XXXXXX - Erases all codes currently in effect (turning the power off does the
same thing).

6. Conclusion

Well, I hope you enjoyed Ristar and that my FAQ/walkthrough helped you with
it. It's a nice game to fool around with, whether on the old Genesis or the
new GameCube. If you have any questions, comments or concerns I am happy to
answer them; my e-mail address is [email protected] . Thank you for
playing Ristar. Again, thanks go out to Sega for making the game and Jess
Regan for writing the first walkthrough on it. Once again, this
FAQ/walkthrough is copyright William Walker, all rights reserved. If I ever
write more FAQs I hope to change gears to the SNES games and write/revamp
FAQ/walkthroughs for those games. Good luck with Ristar and see you on the
dark side!

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