Valis III
v 1.5
9-15-00
author: Dimetric Houston
e-mail:
[email protected]
CONTENTS:
Introduction
Updates
Story
Controls
Screen Description
Character Evaluation
Enemies
Magic
PowerUps
Stage Strategies
Tips, Tricks and Secrets
Credits
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INTRODUCTION:
Hello all. This FAQ covers the game Valis 3 for the Turbografx-16 CD system.
It is a good old-school action game. Valis 3 is the third sequel in the
Valis line of games. I believe Valis 1 came out only in Japan. Valis 2 was
available for the Turbografx-16 CD. Valis 3 was also available on the Sega
Genesis.
Being one of the early applications of the CD in video games, Valis 3 has
voice and anime cutscenes.
I am not going to bother with the copyright stuff. If you are low enough
to try to bank a profit off of this, or you decide to plagiarize it, that's
your wretched morality.
The latest version of this FAQ can be found at:
GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com)
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UPDATES:
v 0.5 12-21-99
-Preliminary edition.
-Some game info present
v 1.0 2-3-00
-Stage strategies up to Stage 5 present
v 1.1 2-18-00
-Stage strategies up to Stage 7 present
-Updated Credits section
-Updated Enemies section
v 1.2 3-17-00
-Formatting corrections
-corrected update dates
v 1.3 4-8-00
-Stage strategy up to Stage 8c present
-Updated Stage 7 boss strategy
-Updated Enemies section
v 1.4 4-10-00
-Stage strategies up to 9d present
-Updated Enemies section
v 1.5 9-15-00
-minor corrections
-updated Tips, Tricks, and Secrets section
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STORY
It has been quite some time since Yuko last wielded the Valis sword to save
her homeland. Now a new evil arises with the evil leader Ramses of the
Spirit World and Yuko must fight him using the Valis sword. This time,
however, she is not alone, and will have some help.
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CONTROLS
D-pad: Moves character. Down is crouch. Pressing up makes your character
look up.
Button 1: Jump
Button 2: Attack
Select: Pause
Run: Change character
Additional moves:
Large jump: Press UP and Button 1. You can move left and right while
doing this.
Slide: Press DOWN and Run. You are invincible while doing this and it
damages enemies too.
Magic: Press UP and Button 2.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCREEN DESCRIPTION
A description of the items at the top of the screen follows.
HP--Hit points. This is your life meter. When it hits zero, you lose a
life.
MP--Magic points. As you use magic, this meter goes down. When it hits
zero, you can no longer use magic. Refill by getting items.
Weapon meter--this is the sword under the MP bar. When you attack, this
meter empties completely and starts refilling. Attacking when the
meter is full lets you attack at full power.
This meter can be lengthened by getting certain items. A longer meter
gives you greater attack power and range. It can be lengthened twice,
which indicates three attack levels. You start at level 1.
Magic Attack Item--this is the structure beside your HP and MP meters. It
indicates what type of magic you are currently using.
Character Selector--this shows what character(s) you have available to
choose from and which character you are currently using. Character
heads which face sideways are selectable. The character face that is
facing forward is the character you are currently using. Character
faces which face away from you (you can not see their face or eyes)
are not usable. The character selection order is Yuko, Char, Vernal.
Timer--when it hits zero, you lose a life.
Lives Remaining--this is the "P" under the timer. It shows how many lives
you have remaining. When all of these are gone, the game is over.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The HP, MP, and Magic are SHARED by all three characters. So if you are
low on HP/MP and switch characters, that character will have the HP/MP
values that the previous character had.
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CHARACTER EVALUATION
Here I am giving an evaluation and description of the three playable
characters. Each has advantages and disadvantages and effectively using
them is one of the key strategic and fun elements in Valis 3.
YUKO:
=====
The main heroine. Yuko has been the focus of all the Valis games. As
this is my first Valis game, I don't know anything about her other than
what this game says (which isn't much). She uses the Valis sword.
Pros:
--good balance of power and magic.
--her Thunder magic clears the whole screen. Highly useful.
--her Valis sword attack has a wider area of attack than the others
characters.
Cons:
--the Valis sword wave does not travel very far if you attack quickly (you
must let the weapon meter fill up completely to get the best range).
CHAR:
=====
A young woman on a quest of revenge against Ramses for murdering her
father. Initially she steals Yuko's Valis sword to use it herself but
later joins Yuko in her quest. She uses a whip.
Pros:
--highest attack power of the three. Her whip can take out enemies much
faster than the other characters, even at low power.
Cons:
--Her attack area is really small. You have to line yourself up with the
enemies pretty precisely to be sure you hit them.
VERNAL: (the game calls her Valna, the manual says Vernal)
=======
Yuko's twin sister and princess of Vecanti. She is being held prisoner in
a tower and must be rescued before becoming playable.
Pros:
--has the widest area attack at level three weapon power. Really good for
attacking a group of foes in front of her.
--has the better magic and balanced MP usage.
Cons:
--low attack power. You'll need to hit enemies more times to kill them
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENEMIES
There are quite a few enemies opposing our trio. Below are their
descriptions. I am making up the names.
Blue Wolf Insectiod--looks like a combination of a wolf and an insect. It
comes at you and does a small leap.
Worms--brown worms that sit up and breath fire at you. They blow two
traveling flames at you. Jump over the flames.
Floating Brain--purple floating monster. It shoots an electric beam
straight down when you get close.
Worm Thrower--purple monster that travels on the ground. It shoots out
small worms when you get close.
Green Flys--these appear in the waterfall stage. They appear as shadows
in the water. When they get close to you, they jump out and travel
toward you. The angle and speed that they approach makes them
difficult to strike.
Little Head--just a small creature that sits on the ground. I haven't
seen it do anything, so just kill it. It does tend to blend
into the ground on the stage in which it appears, so watch
out.
Silver Knight--walks slow and swings its sword when in range. It can
crouch which allows it to avoid your weapon attacks.
Archer Knight--fires an arrow in an arc. The arrows travel with some speed,
keep a watchful eye. If you hit the arrow, it slows down and
drops straight down.
Leapers--green frog-men which leap out of the ground and take a swipe at
you. You have to look carefully at the ground to see where they
are. They are indicated by a black rising on the ground.
Flying Mouth--sharp-toothed mouths that appear out of nowhere and come
chomping at you ^_^. They move slow or fast.
Orange Ghost--fading spirits that carry a staff. When in range, they do a
small leap at you.
Large Scorpion--comes in two varieties, pink and green. It moves slow and
when in range, attacks. The pink ones thrust their tails at you.
The green ones thrust a spear at you.
Green Knight--these warriors carry swords that toss a wave out when they
swing them.
Horned monster--looks like a two-legged bull with the skin pushed up around
the head. When they see you they will come at you with some speed.
Flying Armor--winged armor knight carrying a shield. Just flies slowly in
an up and down fashion as it moves across the screen.
Skulls--white skulls which act just like the mouths, except they move
slower.
Skull Columns--a collection of skulls. They rise and fall into the ground.
When they are at their full height, they fire shots at you. The
shots are high, middle level, or low along the ground. These
enemies can NOT be destroyed. You can only avoid them by going
through them when they sink into the ground (you only see the
skulls on the ground).
Gold Insects--large yellow flies which resemble a flying stag. They
just fly across the screen, moving up and down.
Fish--appearing in the desert stage (kind of an oximoron, isn't it?)
they travel in the ground, occasionally jumping out. They can
only be killed when they jump out of the ground. You can only
see the fins when they are underground. Don't touch the fins as
they will hurt you.
Spinning Sand--a swirl of sand which spins in the air. Appears in the
most inconvenient places. I believe they may disappear after a
while.
Ground Crabs--large purple crabs which lie in the ground. They fire four
shots into the air. You can only destroy them with magic or by
hitting their body. The second method is near impossible, and will
be described in the stage where these foes appear.
Coins--large bladed coin-like objects. Spins while coming at you slowly.
Hoppers--black and red creatures which take large jumps at you.
Floating Snail--they look like snails, shell and all. They just float
the air. They'll be an annoyance and get in the way of your jumping.
Leaping Ice Ape--ice creatures which leap at you when you are in range. When
they hit the ground, they explode into four ice chunks which can hurt
you.
Valkyrie--female sword warriors with shield and winged tiara. They act just
like the Silver and Gold Knights, but appear to have longer reach with
their swords.
Electric ball--little yellow ball which is seen rotating around platforms.
It can NOT be destroyed.
Snow Flakes--large spinning snow flakes which bounce at medium speed around
the screen.
Floating Eye--Eyeball with a really big iris. Floats slowly toward you. It
has the habit of appearing out of nowhere sometimes. Not a big
nuisance.
Black Knight--large black knight. Acts just like the Gold/Silver Knights and
Valkyries. Takes more of a pounding than any other normal foe. Has
less reach than the Valkyries.
PR worms--PR means purple/red (just didn't like typing that over and over).
Ugly, stationary, worm-like creatures that spit slightly homing
fireballs. Can be a real annoyance while jumping.
Skeledragon--flying gray dragon of bones. Acts just like the Gold Flies. No
problem at all really.
Leaping Worms--bright orange worms that leap out of pits to take a bite out
of you.
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MAGIC
There are three types of magic in Valis 3: Fire, Thunder, and Ice. You
can use only one magic at a time. When you get a magic icon, it appears
in the magic attack item holder next your HP and MP meters and replaces
whatever previous magic you had.
The magic icons are yellow staff-like objects with a colored ball on them.
I will let the ball color indicate the magic type:
Red--fire magic
White--thunder magic
Blue--ice magic
Each character makes a different magic attack when using magic.
Experiment and find which works best in which situations. Below are the
magic attacks for each character. Names are from the manual.
Fire Ice Thunder
=========================================================
Yuko Flame Dagger Ice Cutter Thunder Flash (or Thunder Sword)
=========================================================
Vernal Heat Spinner Death Cube Thunder Bomb
=========================================================
Char Fire Dragon Ice Arrow Lightning Bolt
=========================================================
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MP usage:
Each character uses a different amount of MP when they use magic. Below
are the amounts of MP used.
Fire Ice Thunder
=========================================================
Yuko 4 3 6
=========================================================
Vernal 4 4 4
=========================================================
Char 6 3 4
=========================================================
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POWERUPS
Valis 3 offers some powerups to help our heroines on their quest. Below
are their descriptions.
NOTE: There is an error in the manual concerning two items. This will be
corrected in the descriptions to follow.
Item box--when you break open this box, power-up or magic items appear.
The manual has the wrong picture for this item. This box looks
like a yellow container with a red dot in the middle.
/\
__/__\___
\ /
O O--red dot
/_______\
\ /
\/
Small Life Restorer--This is a small red heart. Restores 4 HP.
Large Life Restorer--Large red heart. Restores 16 HP.
1 UP--brown box in gold trim with "1UP" in the box. Gives an extra life.
Weapon Power Meter--single sword. Increases your Weapon Power by one
level, to a max of three levels.
Weapon Power Meter Restorer--two crossed swords. Lets your Weapon Power
Meter refill faster.
Small Magic Crystal--restores 2 MP. This looks like a small green ball in
a gold 4-pointed star.
Large Magic Crystal--restores 8 MP. The manual has the wrong picture for
this item. It looks like the small magic crystal except that the
green ball is much larger
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STAGE STRATEGIES
This section will offer various strategies on each stage and the bosses of
each. I will also tell which character and magic would be most useful IMO
in each stage. The stages are not labeled, but for ease of reading I am
labeling them. Each letter indicates a new screen. (ex. 2c means the
third screen of stage 2)
INTRO
Suggested character--n/a
Suggested magic--n/a
Nothing to worry about here. Char has taken Yuko's sword and is running
away. Yuko must chase after her (still in her pajamas too). Just run to
the right. There is just dialog and some story action. Char is kidnapped
and Yuko recovers the Valis sword. Stage 1 will then begin.
STAGE 1
Suggested character--n/a (you only have Yuko)
Suggested magic--fire
Straight stage here. You will have to jump over gaps. Enemies here are
the wolf insectoids and the fire-breathing worms. You may have trouble
handling the insectoids immediately due to your low attack power. Wait
for them to come to you then jump straight up and attack. They will leap
into your attack and die. It takes some timing but you will get the feel
for it.
You can crouch under the worm's breath. Just make sure you are
horizontally even with it when you do so.
At the fourth gap or so, approach the edge slowly before you jump as a
wolf insectoid will be right there when you jump. Wait for it to come to
you and kill it before you jump.
The stage graphics here will make the powerup items difficult to see. As
I have seen it, there are a total of 12 powerups in this stage, so if you
don't get at least that many, you have missed something.
After the last worm, if you keep going straight, you will see that you are
not going anywhere. Use your slide and you will slide under the blue tank
in your way. The stage graphics makes them hard to recognize. Keep going
and you will reach the boss.
BOSS:
Easy boss here. He uses a spiked ball which he throws at you. He will
disappear and reappear in another spot. The ball may rotate around him a
few times before he throws it. Just attack him and jump over the ball.
Use magic to help speed things along if you wish. Beat him and Char is
rescued.
STAGE 2a
Suggested character--Yuko
Suggested magic--thunder
Enemies here consist of scorpions, floating brains, and worm throwers.
Some of the gaps are too wide to jump over (even using the high jump) so
use your slide to get over them. At one point you should get thunder magic
and another powerup. Head left to the lower ledge then continue right.
Look for the worm thrower below you so you don't land on it. You should
see the top of it before going down.
The gaps at this point all require the slide to get over. Place your
character at the very edge of the platform, then slide. Go onward to stage
2b.
STAGE 2b
Suggested character--Yuko
Suggested magic--thunder.
Waterfall stage. You must jump up the platforms and get to the top. The
green flies make an appearance here. They can really make this stage
tedious as they will continuously get in the way of your platform jumping.
Use thunder magic to clean house. Worm throwers and scorpions also make an
appearance here. Keep a distance from the scorpions and let your sword wave
hit them.
At the top is a hidden 1-up. The situation will be like shown below.
P P X
_ _ _
P --powerup
_ --platform
X --hidden 1-up
Use the large jump to get over the platforms and get to the 1-up. You
must attack the area where the X is in order to make the 1-up appear.
You will probably make it appear when you get the powerups.
Do a large jump straight up on the first platform (between the P's) to
fight the boss.
BOSS:
Another easy boss. Mostly he moves back and forth across the top of the
screen. He does two attacks. In the first, he will take a small dive at
you while he is moving across the top of the screen. Avoid this by using
the slide. He lets you know he is going to do it by stopping in his back
and forth motion. The time to see it is really small, so watch carefully.
Also, stay away from the left side as you can slide off and die.
In the second attack, he will rise off the screen an dive all the down. It
isn't very fast so you can avoid it easily. He then will come up from the
bottom of the screen and head straight up. You have to be a little more
watchful here to make sure he doesn't hit you. He will dive down again.
After this, he will slowly come back onto the screen from the top. Get some
hits in while he is doing this. Then he will back into the horizontal
motion as before.
STAGE 3a
Suggested character--Yuko
Suggested magic--thunder
Forest stage here. Enemies are orange ghosts, mouths, and the little head
creatures. I've yet to see the latter do anything, so just kill them. I
suppose their threat is that they are hard to see and you may run into them
unexpectedly.
At one point where you must jump to higher ground, watch for an orange
ghost that will be right there when you jump. Try to lure it so you can
kill it and jump unobstructed.
Continue on to stage 3b.
STAGE 3b
Suggested character--Char
Suggested magic--thunder or fire
The character you choose for this stage will also be the one you use for the
next so choose carefully.
Boat stage here. You are traveling on the water in a small boat to reach
the tower where Vernal is prisoner. This is a pretty short and quite easy
stage. Your only enemies here are leapers. You will see them in time to do
damage or kill them.
Do NOT use the slide here! The boat is small and the slide can easily take
you off the boat. You actually can slide safely but you must at one edge of
the boat to do so.
Grab the powerups. If Char's whip is strong enough, you can kill the
leapers with one strike.
At the end you face the boss. By the way, the boss says something different
depending on who you use.
BOSS:
Not hard at all. Even though you have very little space to move in (you are
still on the boat), you can take this fellow easily. The boss is a dragon
that will rise out of the water, throw an expanding fire ring at you, then
sink back into the water. It repeats this pattern while alternating sides.
If there are any problems here, it is that the fire ring may hit you cause
you are too close.
The boss moves slowly, so get in as many hits as you can. You can hit it
while it rises out of the water and while it sinks back into it. You won't
need magic here so don't use it. Using magic will prevent you from getting
hit though (you are invincible while in the casting stance).
STAGE 4a
Suggested character--whoever you used for stage 3b
Suggested magic--thunder (Yuko), fire (Char)
You are in the tower now. You must go up. Enemies here are the green
knights, worm throwers, and the horned creatures. The worm throwers are
the biggest threat as their worms may hit you while you are traveling up.
Whip out the magic to clean up if you are in trouble.
At one point, there will be a worm thrower on the left on a platform. You
will need to go to the right to continue, but if you kill the worm thrower
and get on its platform and do a large jump straight up, you will see a
powerup with a large heart inside.
At the point where you are traveling diagonally up to the right, you will
see a man in a cage with no apparent way to reach him. Kill the green
knight near him, then jump onto the ledge above the cage. Press down and
jump and you will fall through the floor/ceiling and talk to the man.
Do a large jump up at the end to go on.
STAGE 4b
Suggested character--4a character
Suggested magic--none
No enemies. Just go right until you get to the crystal. Keep striking it
until it breaks. You have now freed Vernal (even though the game calls her
Valna).
You will now use Valna to fight the boss (you have no choice in this).
Jump up the platforms until you reach the boss.
BOSS: Koliranbu/a
Not hard but can be a bit tedious. The boss floats and teleports like BOSS
1. He has three types of attack, all involving fire.
Attack 1: an rising and shrinking fire column. He signifies this by
raising one arm. The column always comes from the boss' side of
the screen. Jump over this column. You can time the jump to
jump over it while it is small, but you shouldn't get hit even
if it is at its full height (which is about a character
height).
Attack 2: pincher fire columns. A fire column will approach you from the
right and left. The boss signifies this attack by raising both
arms. Just jump to the side. When the columns meet, they will
disappear.
Attack 3: Fading explosion. The boss does this whenever he teleports.
When he teleports, eight fireballs will come from where the boss
was originally positioned. Just dodge. This will annoy you as
you may forget about it.
I've noticed you can use ice magic and freeze the boss, but I don't know if
it holds for long (I killed him when I used it).
STAGE 5a
Suggested character--Char
Suggested magic--thunder
This is an annoying stage. There is water running at the bottom of the
screen which will either slow you down or speed you up. The archers make
this stage somewhat challenging.
When you get to the statue, get under the middle of the upper platform and
do a high jump. You will jump through the platform and land on it. There
is a hidden large magic crystal at the left on this platform. Just attack
to your left to reveal it.
STAGE 5b
Suggested character--Vernal
Suggested magic--ice
I've died here so often it isn't funny. Use your slide to get across the
gap at the start. Watch for leapmen when you get to the horizontal stretch.
There is a part where there is an icon sitting on a column. This icon will
always be ice magic, so be sure you get it--you'll need it now. The gaps
here are too large to get over by any normal means. What you have to do
is freeze the enemies that appear and jump on them to get across. You
won't suffer any damage from jumping on a frozen foe.
When you get to the second moving platform, count the columns in the
background that appear. When the third column appears, cast your ice magic.
An archer will soon appear, and the early casting gives the slow Death Cube
a chance to hit it early and give you time to jump. There is another archer
higher up out of range of the Death Cube that will also shoot at you, so be
careful. You can also just strike with your weapon and let the projectile
takeout the lower archer.
Stage 5c
Suggested character--any
Suggested magic--any
Here you have to continuously hit the bell on the right. Jump on the
platforms and strike the bell as many times as you can. The horizontally
moving platform goes off the screen so you will fall eventually. Enemies
are at the bottom of the screen. They are Gold Knights and leapmen. They
keep coming, so concentrate on the bell. The moving water at the screen
bottom really makes this a hazardous battle. Use your slide to slide to
the left to damage enemies and get room. Avoid getting trapped in the
left corner though, as you won't be able to move to the right with any
speed to get away from enemies. The leapmen won't be able to harm you in
the left corner, but the Gold Knights can really mess you up here.
When you hit the bell enough times, a message will appear. You must hit
the bell a total of about 36 times (12 times for each message). Once you
get the last series of hits in, the door will open and you can go through.
Thanks to Kao Megura for the help here.
Stage 5d
Suggested character--Yuko
Suggested magic--Thunder
Still alive? Ok, this is a pretty short stage and is a breather from the
harder stage before. Enemies here consists of hoppers and coins. As you
travel along the way, you will run into two people (ghosts). These are
just plot points. Continue onward. At the end you will face the "boss."
BOSS:
A test, so it says. Your enemy here is a bunch of gold knights. They are
not different from what you faced before. There are about 12+ of them.
You may be better off staying in the middle of the screen, as the knights
come from both sides and the middle. You want some space for positioning.
Beat all the knights and you finish this stage. The anime scene following
gives a picture of your next boss fights. Also, Yuko gets a new outfit.
Stage 6a
Suggested character--Yuko
Suggested magic--thunder
Graveyard stage. The people you see just talk to you, they are not
enemies. The enemies here are skulls and skull columns. Also in this stage
you will see large green spikes (with blood on the tips) hanging in the air.
They fall to the ground when you get close to them, so time your movement
under them.
You can jump on top of the gravestones.
Later in the stage you will run into a bunch of hands in pits in the ground.
These slow you down, which can pose a slight problem because green spikes
are in this area also.
Continue on to the next part.
Stage 6b
Suggested character--Yuko or Char
Suggested magic--thunder(Yuko), fire(Char)
More of the same, except now you have the additional hazard of lightning
strikes. You will be able to see the strikes beforehand, so you will know
where the strike occurs. The strikes hit at an angle, and when you move
past them, they will strike the other way, but should not pose a problem.
If I am confusing you, I will explain slightly with a diagram.
x--stone
P--your character.
Initially, when you see a strike, it will hit in this direction
/
P x -->the strike hits the stone
Now, when you go past x, the following will occur.
\
x \ P
This still should not pose a problem, but it is something to watch
for.
Continue on. At one point, you will only be able to use Yuko, and she
will fight the boss as well.
BOSS: Rogulus (sp?)
Not a very hard battle, but it can be long if your attack level is low.
Rogulus will appear in a long robe. He will come at you. Hit him and he
disappears. He will reappear elsewhere and come at you again, faster.
Just keep hitting him when he appears. He continues to speed up every
time you hit him. Stay in the middle of the screen. If he appears above
you, slide to the side so he doesn't hit you. When Rogulus starts fading,
you can still be hurt by being in the area, so stay away from him
completely.
Ater you hit him enough times (17 as I have seen it) he goes into his second
form of attack.
In this form, Rogulus uses knives. When he raises his arm, 5 knives will
appear around YOU. After 3 seconds, they will converge toward you. Use the
slide to get away from them. Count 3 seconds after their appearance, then
slide. Also, if your timing is exact, you can jump in the air to hit
Rogulus and the knives will appear in the air. They are much easier to
avoid this way. Don't purposely try to get them to appear in the air.
Just use the slide method.
Rogulus will then go to other side of the screen and lower himself to the
ground. He will either disappear or attack. If he disappears, he will do
the above knife technique. If he attacks, he will come toward you slowly.
The knives will appear around HIM, and he will throw them at you
consecutively and quickly. Weapon strikes will keep the knives away from
you. Let your weapon meter fill a little before striking because the Valis
wave is what needs to hit the knives. The actual sword won't do anything.
So here's the strategy. When Rogulus appears in the air, jump and strike
once. Slide when the knives appear. When Rogulus comes down on the other
side of the screen, get some hits in on him. Back up when he gets to the
ground so you can tell if he will attack you. If not, get ready for him
to appear in the air again. If he does attack, strike quickly to keep the
knives away. Your attack should hit him and the knives. Watch your weapon
meter (not literally), as attacking too fast will keep it from refilling
and you not be able to get the sword wave out and hit the knives.
If you are too close to him, get some distance and settle for slow attacks.
Stage 7a
Suggested character--Yuko
Suggested magic--Thunder
Desert stage. Enemies here are gold bugs, fish, green scorpions, ground
crabs, and the spinning sand. Environmental hazards are quicksand and the
moving sand on the hills, which comes near the end of this part.
A word on the quicksand. It will pull you down slowly. You can still move
of course. When your character's knees hit the bottom of the screen, you
will fall through and die, so watch for this.
There is a part where you have to leap across large curved bones. Don't
fall here, as the apparant ground is not ground at all.
When you hit the downward slope, you will start moving faster, as the sand
here is moving. There is a ground crab near the bottom of the slope.
Just past it is some spinning sand.
The ground crabs will prove to be extremely annoying. As their bodies are
in the ground, you won't be able to attack them directly (here, anyway).
Your best bet is to use magic. Yuko's thunder magic is best here. Char's
fire magic is good too, but tends to miss the ground crabs. Method 2 to
beat them will be described in the next part. The worst part about these
foes is that when they hit you, the game has a tendency to draw you toward
them, and you will fall through them off the screen and die.
If you have magic, blast the crab and the spinning sand that is next to it.
If you don't have magic, use long range attacks to hit the spinning sand on
the other side (dodging the shots of the ground crab). After the sand is
gone, jump over the ground crab.
Continue on to the next part.
Stage 7b
Suggested character--Yuko; Char for crab fighting
Suggested magic--thunder
More of the same here. There are more incidents of moving sand on the
hills, so watch for it so you don't get caught unawares.
Ok, method 2 of fighting the ground crabs. The crabs can be destroyed
without magic, but to do so you must hit their body (the part deep in the
ground). Here you can do it. The crabs will be located in quicksand.
Let your character be taken down a bit until your attack area is even
with the crab body. Attack and destroy the crab. I suggest Char if you
want to use this method, as you need power so you can do this quickly.
Stage 7c
Suggested character--Yuko
Suggested magic--thunder
And yet more of the same. However, this is the stage to load up on extra
lives if you have the patience and are willing to die (no, no, not in THAT
sense--there is economy in dying this time). There are two 1-ups on this
stage, and if you die, you can come back and get the two 1-ups again. So
you get two lives in exchange for the one you gave up (actually, it's one
extra life, but the explanation gets complicated, so let's just say you
can get more lives here.)
Ok, you will do some bone jumping at the stage start. One of the powerups
you will come across will be a 1-up. Next to it in the air is a hidden
1-up. The situation is shown below:
X
___ P ____
P --visible 1-up
X --hidden 1-up
___ --platform (bones)
The jump is a bit far, so be careful.
After you fight the green scorpion on the quicksand, there will be a rising
hill next to the quicksand. On this hill some spinning sand will appear,
so watch out. More spinning sand appears on the downward slope too.
Continue onward. You will be going across quicksand for quite a ways--all
the way to the boss.
BOSS: Zarude
I suggest you use Yuko for this battle.
Now THIS is one heck of an annoying fight (and one that will make you
laugh at death quite a bit). The boss does three attacks:
Attack 1: Large spiked balls. He will throw a large spiked ball at you.
He throws them high or low and traveling on the sand.
Attack 2: Small spiked balls. He will beat his chest (like King Kong or
other gorilla/ape stereotypes) and many small spiked balls will
come out of the sand and rise into the sky.
Attack 3: Charge. He will charge from one side of the screen to the other.
The HUGE problem here is that you are on quicksand the whole fight, so you
will constantly be sinking into the ground. The thing about this, however,
is that this is your method of survival. Being in the sand completely will
let you avoid all the boss attacks. Of course, you aren't hitting him either
, so no one gets anywhere.
If you have magic, by all means use it! If not, get ready for a long
fight. Here is some strategy.
Ok, small jumps are what you must do here. Large jumps should only be done
when you are above the sand. Attack 1 is the easiest boss attack to deal
with, and the one the boss may start with. Here you want to be above the
sand. Attack the boss and dodge the balls. Keep some distance so you can
see where the ball will be (high or low). High balls can be crouched under,
low balls are to be jumped over. If you are in the sand, do quick small
jumps to quickly get to the boss so you can attack (the other attacks don't
give this much allowance for attacking).
If the boss does attack 2, you have two choices:
1) Above ground. If you are above the sand, attack the boss. You should
be able to see the balls form in the ground before they go into the air.
Dodge them if you can. If not, don't worry too much. Well, don't worry if
you are using Yuko, as she takes less damage than the other characters.
2) Underground. Well, here you are ultimately safe. Use magic here, or
do small jumps to get near the boss. You'll probably get hit on the way
up, but you just have to accept it. I think Attack 2 is one you can deal
with, even though it may do the most cumulative damage.
Attack 3: You don't want to deal with this one. Large damage plus you
can't avoid it above ground. Settle with staying underground here. If you
can't get underground in time, use the slide to buy some time.
There are two hidden powerups here. On the extreme left and right of the
screen (in the quickksand) are a large magic crystal and
large heart respectively.
NEW: Finally got past this guy. Take Yuko and Thunder Magic, then let him
have it with Valis sword hits. I really think the magic helps here, so use
magic.
Stage 8a
Suggested character--Yuko and Vernal
Suggested magic--thunder (Yuko), fire or ice(Vernal)
Ice stage here. The blue and brown people are folk to talk with, they are
not enemies. Your enemies here are Floating Snails, Leaping Ice Apes,
Valkyries, and the Electric balls. The environment is slippery, so you will
be sliding around a bit when you stop moving. Use a jump to make an instant
stop.
When you see Ice Apes, go toward them slowly until they leap, then move back
so they hit the ground and explode, then slide forward so the ice chunks
don't hit you.
There is a large jump after the second Ice Ape. Use your high jump to get
past it.
When you get to the moving platforms, you will see a pink spike pit below the
second platform. This pit will kill you in two hits if you have full life.
There is a green wall of blocks next to that spike pit. Use Yuko to cut
through many of the blocks at once. You MUST SLIDE from the platform to the
area the green blocks were in. If you jump, a wall in the ceiling will stop
you and you will fall onto the spike pit.
At this point, if you have Fire magic, switch to Vernal and activate your
magic. If you have Ice Magic, still use Vernal--just wait until the Snow
Flakes appear. If you have Thunder magic, use Yuko.
Ok, now the Snow Flakes will appear. I have mentioned above how to handle
this situation. Green blocks will block your way. Shoot them to get rid of
them. There are hidden powerups in the blocks. In the first batch of
blocks, a large magic crystal is near the bottom of the blocks. The second
batch is real important--possessing a large heart and a 1-up near the top of
the batch. The third set has a large magic crystal near the bottom.
When you get past the Valkyrie and more green blocks, you will see a cavern
lined with pink spikes on top and bottom. A platform will come floating
through this cavern. Get your character next to the spikes and wait for the
RIGHT edge of the platform to come over your head. Now jump and QUICKLY
press down. Your character will crouch and you must stay crouching will the
platform goes back through the spike-lined cavern. At the end, you must
slide to go on. If you aren't on the right edge of the platform, you will
slide too short and fall.
There is a hidden 1-up in this cavern. Keep shooting while you go through
the cavern and the 1-up will appear.
Stage 8b
Suggested character--Vernal or Yuko
Suggested magic--thunder
Jump across the platforms and get to the native. After talking with them,
wait. A platform will eventually come to you. Jump on it and continue,
crouching under the pink spikes. Floating Snails will be your enemies while
you go through this.
One of the platforms will go through a bunch of pink spikes. You must jump
over the spikes and land on the platform when it comes through the spikes.
After getting past that, you will see a Valkyrie next to a pit. Don't go
blazing forward to jump over the pit because an Ice Ape is waiting right on
the other side. Move forward until you see it, then make it jump to you. Go
backward so it explodes, then proceed.
At the end, on the slope, you may have trouble getting a high jump to work.
Use Vernal with lv. 3 weapon power to get rid of the green blocks from below
if this is the case.
Stage 8c
Suggested character--Yuko
Suggested magic--thunder or ice.
Here you will be in a thin cavern for a bit. When you see the pink spikes,
you must do SMALL jumps so you don't jump into them. You must slide over the
large gap.
When you get to the rising and falling platform, slide when the platform is
at the top of its trek. Watch for floating snails.
After getting past the Valkyries, a very tricky part of this stage appears.
You will see pink ceiling spikes in an area you have to go through. What you
must do is slide so that you will stop near the edge of the cliff, then slide
again so you slide over the pit and onto the platform.
This is hard to do, as you must have the correct initial position so you
slide into the right spot. Get about 1 character length from the spikes and
slide. ALWAYS hold the controller pad in the DOWN direction. This way,
your character should get up into the crouching position and therefore not
get hit by the spikes.
If you are hit, IMMEDIATELY slide again. Do this VERY FAST so you
can get out of this situation. If this doesn't work, try 1 and 1/2 character
lengths. Keep trying.
If you do get past this, you must leap over platforms. Ice Apes are the
pestilence here, as the exploding ice chunks will hit you and knock you off
the platform. Use magic if you have it. Cast it when the ape is about to
hit you. Your temporary invincibility will protect you from the ice chunks.
Continue on to fight the boss.
BOSS: Ashura
I find this boss MUCH easier than Zarude. Ashura does two attacks:
Attack 1: Ice balls. This is his attack on the ground. He fires several
mid-sized ice balls at you repeatedly. You can use magic to
destroy the balls or just dodge your way through them. Sliding
can help you avoid getting hit.
Attack 2: Red shots. His air attack. While coming down from the top of the
screen, he continually fires these red things at you. Just dodge
around them. You can try to get a hit on him while this is going
on, but it is somewhat difficult.
If the ice balls annoy you, use Yuko's Thunder Flash to get rid of them.
There is really not much to say on this boss. Just get in a hit when you
can. Use all your magic to help speed things along.
Some words of advice before we start on the next stage:
Ok, this stage actually makes use of your characters' unique qualities, so I
need to get a little more detailed with the suggested character bit.
YUKO: Take her ONLY if you have Thunder magic. If you get Thunder magic
then switch her in.
CHAR: ONLY use if you have NO magic. Char's power is helpful, her magic is
not.
**VERNAL**(Ice): The asterisks and magic should say it all. If not, I'll
put this in terms everyone can understand:
VERNAL IS WHO YOU WANT FOR THIS STAGE!!!
ICE IS THE MAGIC FOR THIS STAGE!!!
Ok, now that I've made it clear that you want Vernal. . .what? You still
don't get it? Use Vernal and Ice. If that isn't enough, use Vernal and Ice.
Now chant with me:
One for the money, use Vernal and Ice.
Two for the show, use Vernal and Ice.
Three to get it going, use Vernal and Ice.
Four for the final blow, use Vernal and Ice.
NOW that you understand that you will use Vernal and Ice magic, unless you
meet the thunder or no magic conditions, let's proceed.
This stage is actually short, but is divided into four segments which will
take up your time.
Stage 9a
Suggested character--Vernal
Suggested magic--Ice
You will proceed up in this stage (like the Tower stage). Enemies here are
Floating Eyes, Black Knights, and PR Worms.
When you start jumping up, a floating eye may emerge. There are actually two
of them. If both do not appear together, the other appears when you start
jumping to the left. Be watchful.
You will come upon small white spikes lining ceilings. Get right next to
them, then slide to get by without damage.
The PR worms are an utter pain if you don't kill them before they start to
spit fire. Use the Death Cube to stop them and make killing them easier.
At one point, you will see a Black Knight under a long trek of spikes. Kill
the knight, then slide under the spikes, MAKING SURE you HOLD the controller
DOWN the WHOLE time. Don't ever let go while you are sliding. Keep sliding
until you get through.
When you get to the moving purple platform, a floating eye will appear over
it when you jump, so be careful.
Jump into the red space at the top to go on.
Stage 9b
Suggested Character--Vernal
Suggested Magic--Ice
Black Knights, Skeledragons, and Leaping Worms make an appearance here.
There actually are very few enemies in this section, so don't worry about
anything too much.
You will do quite a bit of sliding here. My suggestion is that you slide
across all gaps.
At one point of the platforms, the leaping worms appear. They come out when
you go across the gap, so that's why you want to be sliding all the time.
Remember, you can't be hurt while sliding, plus you can actually hit the
worm while doing it.
There is a section where a black knight blocks the way and a pit is behind
you. Death Cube him and kill him. Don't try to kill him without the Death
Cube, as he could knock you off before you do kill him. Of course, if you
have Char. . .
Proceed onward to the next part.
Stage 9c
Suggested Character--Vernal
Suggested Magic--Ice
Another upwards trek. Enemies are Black Knights, PR Worms, and Floating
Eyes.
After destroying the second PR Worm (or about the second or third), you will
see no apparant way to continue up. Shoot your weapon to destroy the brown
blocks. Just keep shooting and going up (you do have Vernal's weapon at
lv. 3, right? If not, use Yuko to help here). Some floating eyes will
appear while doing this, so watch for them. There are platforms located in
these blocks. You won't destroy the platforms in your block-destroying
frenzy, so don't worry.
At the top with the vertically moving purple platform, slide across when the
platoform reaches its highest point. Then jump up into the red space to go
to the next part.
Stage 9d
Suggested Character--N/A
Suggested Magic--any
Boss stage here, so not much of anything. One or two skeledragons may
appear. Mostly you will be destroying block columns and loading up on the
magic crystals which are here.
The dripping water will NOT hurt you.
When you reach Nizzente (the old man), he will tell you only Yuko can proceed.
Above Nizzente is a magic crystal. Break it open and a random magic icon
will be there. Nizzente also tells you some things on Ramses.
Proceed onward to fight the boss.
BOSS: Ramses
Well, you're finally here. Time to end this. Besides being the largest boss
you've fought, Ramses packs quite an arsenal. He has multiple attack forms.
His attacks of his first form are listed below.
Attack 1: Blue Wave. A blue wave about the same size as the Valis wave. He
signifies this by raising his arm and nothing immediately
happening. Then he will swing this sword and the wave will come
out. You can crouch to avoid it.
Attack 2: Green Wave. A LARGE green wave. I think he signifies this by
raising his arm and immediately throwing out the wave. The only
way to avoid this is to slide through it or use your magic to be
invincible while casting.
Attack 3: Red Missiles. Essentially an enhanced version of Yuko's fire
magic. About 5 red missiles appears around Ramses and then come
at you. You can deal with them just like Rogulus' knives (attack
to stop them)
Attack 4: Thunder Flash. Just like Yuko's Thunder magic. Use the slide or
magic to avoid.
This form will actually go down quite quickly if you can get the damage in.
He signifies all his attacks by raising his hand. Get the slide or magic
going once you see the hand, unless you want to risk getting hit by the
Thunder Flash. ONLY the slide or magic will avoid this attack. The damage
is about 6 life units, which can add up fast. If you have high weapon power,
get some hits in with the Valis sword wave.
He doesn't actually attack with the sword, so get up in his face all you
want to attack him (risky because of his frequent magic casting).
If you die and have extra lives, you will start fighting him again. He is
VERY hard to beat without any weapon power or magic. It may be best to just
start the stage over, but go for it if you want (I did--lost quickly too).
After you hit him enough times, he goes into his second form.
Now Ramses will be floating all around the screen. He has two known attacks
in this form:
Attack 1: Green Wave. The large green wave from the first form.
Attack 2: Blue balls. 8-way blue ball shot (like Koliranbu's exploding
teleport).
He uses these two attacks frequently and often in rapid succession (2+ of
each type at a time). More magic and sliding here. His constant movement
all over the screen makes this fight hazardous. The corners are helpful
spots to be in, but get ready to slide when he come toward you.
That's it for now. More to come in the next update!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIPS, TRICKS, AND SECRETS (some from the manual)
Note: 1 and 2 are Buttons 1 and 2 respectively.
If you find a ledge that you can't reach by jumping, try using the slide
technique.
Power-up and magic items will disappear if you wait too long to pick them
up or change characters after you find them.
Debug Mode and Music Test
--you can find this trick at Gamesages (www.gamesages.com)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
CREDITS
God--for the strength, life, and intellect to do this FAQ
Kao Megura--for the tips on getting past the bell part (Stage 5c)
Gamesages--for the debug and music test tricks.
I hope you have enjoyed this FAQ. If there are any corrections, additions,
etc. that you see that need to be put here, please e-mail me and let me know.
Thanks for reading.
[email protected]
Dimetric Houston
The End
