Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand Sunlight FAQ
Version 1.01 3/07/04
Written by Thunderbird
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Copyright Notice
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This FAQ is copyright (c) 2003 by Sean Taylor
This FAQ is merely intended to assist you, the reader, with tips for
playing Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand for the Game Boy Advance video
game system. You may not post it elsewhere without first asking for
permission. You may not modify this FAQ and then post it as your
original work. You may not use this FAQ for money making purposes (this
includes running ads on the same page as this FAQ). If this FAQ is
posted on your site (with permission), it may not be placed in an area
that requires a special membership (paid or otherwise) to access. If
you would like to ask permission to post this FAQ on your site, please
email me at
[email protected] and I'll probably allow you to do
so, provided that the above conditions are met.
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Copyright Notice
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Purpose of the Sunlight Sensor
3. Advantages of Sunlight
4. Disadvantages of Sunlight
5. Areas that Require Sunlight
6. Sun Bank and Dark Loan - Effects based on Sunlight
7. The Solar Tree and Sunlight
8. Taking care of the Solar Sensor
9. Techniques for Improving Sunlight
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Email Policy
12. Version Information
13. Conclusion
1. Introduction
Welcome to my Sunlight FAQ for Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand. This
game is rather unique with the sunlight sensor on the back of the
cartridge. This FAQ is meant to expose how the game takes sunlight into
account. It is not meant to be a full fledged FAQ, so if you're looking
for one, you'll need to look at one of the others already posted.
2. The Purpose of the Sunlight Sensor
Konami might have wanted to get more people out into the sun with this
game. Whatever their purpose is, they integrated the use of the sun in
well with the game's storyline. The game will display how much sunlight
it is detecting (it looks for UV rays, so artificial light forms will
not work). Note that the sensor will still read 1 or 2 bars of sunlight
in overcast weather. If it is raining, the reading may be erratic.
Don't attempt anything that requires sunlight constantly if the reading
is erratic.
3. Advantages of Sunlight
Of course since the game has a sunlight sensor, you'd figure there'd be
advantages for using it, right? You can use the sunlight to recharge
your Solar Gun if you are outside or underneath a Skylight (the little
sun icon will be bright, compared to dim while inside). The Solar Gun
will recharge slowly with 2 or more bars of light, or you can press A
for a quicker charge. Note that your different Solar Batteries hold
their own quantities, so if you've not charged them since you stopped
using them, it might be a good idea to charge them as well when you
have the time. That way you have plenty of energy for use while the Sun
is not out. Sunlight while indoors will also activate Skylights, which
can light a dark area, and cause damage to Undead monsters who enter
them. Immortals will also take damage in Skylights, but most of the
initial Immortal battles do not have a Skylight in their area (the
Count of Groundsoaking Blood has one, but it moves around). Obviously
Skylights will go out if the sunlight level reaches 0.
Skylight and Full Moon note: If Otenko notes that a full moon is out,
the skylights will appear, but serve a different purpose. If you
attempt a Solar Charge under a Skylight while a full moon is out,
several Life Bugs will appear. This happens every time you try to do a
Solar Charge, so you can refill your life meter this way. Of course if
you fire off a Rising Sun Grenade, the Skylight will act as it normally
does. Skylights activated by a full moon will not light the room you're
in if the room is dark. They will also not harm any Undead who pass
over them (given that moonlight is much weaker than sunlight).
4. Disadvantages of Sunlight
WHAT? You mean there are DISADVANTAGES to using sunlight? Yes, a few
things vary based on how much sunlight you're getting. To make these
areas easier, you can cover the Solar Sensor (Otenko brings this up a
few times). Also, during the purification of Camrilla, she will
occasionally duck into her coffin and will not come out. In order to
get her out, you will need to cover the Solar Sensor until she pokes
back out (the Solar Generators will stop sending sunlight, but they
WILL NOT go back into their upright positions in this case). Some traps
will fire more often with higher sunlight levels (firetraps, mostly).
The wind in Sol City is stronger with more sunlight (covering the
Sensor will stop the wind altogether, and make it much easier to get
through the windy area). Also, if you have too much sunlight, the Solar
Gun may overheat (the game will indicate when the Solar Gun is reaching
the critical point). If the Solar Gun overheats, it will shut down for
a small amount of time. If it is constantly overheating, it will
shutdown until sunset. Try not to make this happen too much. And of
course, as the game cautions when you start it, you should not play
under strong sunlight too long. If you do, it may cause sunburn, which
is rather painful, and definitely not healthy.
Some items require manipulation of the sunlight hitting the sensor to
gain them. One of the Life Fruits and the Lance frame require careful
manipulation of this in order to acquire them. Both of these items
require an Undead to hit a switch, but there's a Skylight and a hole
covered by a Sun Path before the switch.
5. Areas that Require Sunlight
Of course you'd think that Konami would do this. The only parts that
absolutely require sunlight, though, are the purification phases of the
Immortals. Charge up your Solar Gun, activate the Solar Generators on
the Pile Driver, charge back up and hit A on the flashing circle to
activate this sequence. Sunlight MUST be present in order for it to
start, and if it reaches zero, the Solar Generators will shut down and
the Immortal will try to leave the area (exception with Camrilla as
noted above). So do not attempt these if the sunlight reading is
erratic. Stronger sunlight will cause the purification process to
proceed faster, so doing these on very sunny days should get through
quickly.
Pile Driver Exception: The final battle will start regardless of
whether or not you have sunlight on the sensor at the time. However,
given the amount of energy you will be using in the battle, it is
highly recommended to have sunlight available, or 99 Solar Nuts.
Sunlight might be required after Otenko brings up all 4 Solar
Generators in the area as well (I shut the game off upon entering the
final battle at night, and finished it off in bright sunlight (5
bars)).
Solar Paths: These are special paths that will only appear when
sunlight is striking the sensor. You only need one bar for the path to
show. Some paths may dissipate with a full gauge, so be careful (it's
rather hard to obtain a full gauge even in bright sunny weather, at
least in my experience, I've never seen more than 7 bars). Solar Paths
appear as early as the Catacombs, and they often lead to hidden items
(such as additional frames or Silver Coins). If you end up falling off
an edge, position the Solar Sensor in sunlight to see if a path appears
there, or use a Scan Grenade/See-All-Nut (these will reveal the path,
but you can't walk on it).
6. Sun Bank and Dark Loan - Effects based on Sunlight
When you enter either Sun Bank or Dark Loan, you will notice an
interest rate. It seems that this interest rate is affected by the
amount of sunlight you've been playing with. The Sun Bank's interest
rate will be higher with more sunlight, and the Dark Loan's interest
will be based on how much sunlight is hitting the sensor at the time
you enter (enter with 6 bars and get a 300% interest rate).
Also, the Solar Stations (which can be deposited into the Sun Bank)
will charge based on how much sunlight you are playing with. If the
Solar Sensor is detecting high amounts of sunlight, the solar stations
will charge rather quickly. This can be very handy for when the game is
played during the night. The charged energy accumulated is shown when
you get near a Solar Station, or when you complete a dungeon by
releasing a Trap or purifying an Immortal (in this case, it will only
show the amount that was gained during the dungeon that was played).
You can also view how much energy is in the Solar Station by equipping
the Star Lens (if you have it).
7. The Solar Tree and Sunlight
The Solar Tree is in a rather bad state when you first see it. However,
as sunlight hits the sensor, the tree will slowly improve in look. The
leaves at the bottom increase by defeating Immortals, and when
something is planted in them, playing in strong sunlight will rapidly
increase the rate at which the plant grows. In effect, the more
sunlight you play with, the sooner you will be able to harvest the
fruit (other items used also have an effect).
The status of the Solar Tree is affected by the number of "Sols" you
have. In order to see these, you must have completed the game at least
once, and be playing on New Game+. When you reach the Solar Tree, you
will see a warp point there (similar to the dungeon warp points).
Access the warp point to be taken to a chamber with 5 Hint Panels. In
this case, they do not function as hints, like they do in the dungeons.
Check the lower left hint panel for the Sol count. It will also give
you your total play time (for all games on that file including the
current one), play time of current run, number of times you've
completed the game, how many times you've been found (overall), how
many Continues you've used, how much you've taken out in Dark Loans,
and a Punish Room statistic (?).
Sols are gained as long as the sunlight level is above zero, no matter
what is causing this (whether it be from the Sun, or from a used item
in the game). If you are looking at getting the Sol count up, I
recommend taking on the Azure Sky Tower (it is reachable if you've
reached the Solar Tree, see other FAQs for its location), as it can be
a long run in which you gain many Sols.
The best status for the Solar Tree is for it to be pink. There are some
items that require a pink solar tree to acquire. The number of Sols for
it seems to be semi-random, but the estimations are around 1400-1700
Sols.
8. Taking care of the Solar Sensor
As you might guess, the Solar Sensor is a delicate piece of equipment.
In order to play and get anywhere in the game, it is vital that the
sensor is functioning. If it breaks, you will be essentially stuck in
the game without a cheating device. Standard precautions mentioned in
99% of game manuals apply here: Don't drop the cart, don't expose it to
liquid, don't try to take it apart (especially the sensor itself).
9. Techniques for Improving Sunlight
Of course there are some methods to improve the sunlight detection.
First off, play on sunny days if you can. This one is obvious. A GBA SP
can be partially folded so the cart is pointed more directly toward the
sun, to increase the sunlight detection. Some artificial ways include:
Cover the solar sensor in a dark area when setting it (go to the
Options from the game main menu to do this if you set it already) to
make it much more sensitive. Nighttime with all the lights turned off
is a good way to do this. Also, although I don't recommend this one,
you can use a black light to provide energy. A black light gives off a
lot of UV rays, and thus should make the Solar Sensor detect a large
amount of sunlight. Some risks you take with this method are:
overheating the Solar Gun by too much energy and sunburning yourself in
the process (a black light will cause a sunburn within minutes, so be
VERY careful). I am not responsible for any bad things that may happen
to you with the black light method. I do not do this myself. Your
mileage may vary.
There may also be a GameShark / Codebreaker code for it. I don't have
one of these devices, so I cannot determine if this is the case or not.
However, a GameShark / Codebreaker code likely exists for infinite
Rising Sun Grenades, and those give you 4 bars of sunlight.
10. Frequently Asked Questions
Okay, these aren't frequently asked, but I can see them coming up in
emails.
Q: Is it possible to get sunlight effects while inside?
A: No. Even though the manual claims this, I placed my GBA next to the
window, with sunlight right over the sensor, and got no sunlight on the
solar bar. The window only had a screen too, so even though the manual
claims that you can play with sunlight inside, it just isn't possible.
Note that this is just my experience. It could be possible in some
cases, but it's never worked for me. Feel free to experiment on this
yourself.
Update on this: There are a couple items in the game that will cause
the game to see sunlight. They are: Rising Sun Grenade, and Mr.
Rainnot. The Rising Sun Grenade will increase your sunlight gauge to 4
bars for a brief time (the timer bar will appear next to your grenade
count after you launch one). These aren't found very often, so save
them until you absolutely need them. As a side effect, all enemies in
the same room as the Grenade will take quite a bit of damage when it is
launched. Do not attempt to use them in order to use the Pile Driver,
as they will not last long enough to purify the boss. You can only
carry 20 of these, like the other grenades. The best use of these is if
you need to cross a Solar Path (path that only appears when the Solar
Gauge has some energy). Make it quick though, if the Solar Path
dissipates while you're still on it, you will end up using a Continue.
You will get the grenade(s) you used back, however.
A Mr. Rainnot is very difficult to obtain. You must have a Tonniar RM
to get Mr. Rainnot. Go under the Solar Tree just before night turns to
dawn, and look up (press A while up against the trunk). When night
turns into day, your life will be refilled, your Battery will be
recharged, and any Tonniar RMs you have will be changed to Mr.
Rainnots. Also, if you have the KAAMOS curse, it will be removed as
well. Make sure you move one screen in any direction before you save to
keep these items. If a Mr. Rainnot is used, the sunlight sensor will
increase to 2 bars and stay there until sunset. Of course, if you keep
changing the game clock so that the sun never sets in the game, you can
keep this effect indefinitely.
A Sunny Clog (found in the Azure Sky Tower only) will also generate
some sunlight.
Q: Why are there times when I can't enter the Sun Bank?
A: The Sun Bank only operates between 7AM and 12AM. If you are playing
outside these hours (according to the game clock), pressing A while
facing the door will inform you of this.
Q: What's the Solar Tree for?
A: It's for growing Solar Fruits. This subject is outside the scope of
this FAQ, but there is a very excellent Solar Fruit FAQ on GameFAQs as
well that I recommend you check out.
The speed of growing Solar Fruits is affected by how much sunlight is
striking your sensor. A message will appear when something you've
planted is ready for harvesting. Plant a Fast Carrot with another fruit
to speed up the process.
Whenever the Solar Tree changes appearance, Lita will be holding an
item for you. Talk to her to get it.
Q: Why are the Skylights flashing on and off? Why do I stop charging
before the gun is full?
A: Check your solar gauge. If it is flashing between 1 and 0, your
sunlight reading is erratic. While this is fine for normal play, do not
attempt purification while this is happening or you will most likely be
wasting your time (the Solar Generators shut off if the Sunlight is 0).
Q: What is the Sunny Clog for?
A: The Sunny Clog is an interesting item. I've only seen it in the
Azure Sky Tower (and it's not very common in there). When you use one
(you must be outdoors), it can land cloudy or sunny side up. Nothing
happens if it lands on the cloudy side, but if it lands on the sunny
side, your sunlight gauge increases to 2 bars regardless of current
conditions.
11. Email Policy
While I believe I have covered everything in the game, I might have
missed something (I have not yet completed the game, but am in the last
area, supposedly). If you think I left something out, please feel free
to email me at
[email protected] with "FAQ" somewhere in the
subject (ie: Boktai FAQ will do fine). Emails not following this
convention will be trashed promptly.
Also, please only direct questions about the FAQ to me. I may answer
other questions, but I might not actually have an answer for you if
it's not within the scope of this FAQ (I haven't yet finished the
game).
12. Version Information
Version 1.0 Written 3/6/04
Initial version.
Version 1.01 Written 3/7/04
Apparently (according to an email I got), some people have found it
possible to get sunlight indoors. I made a small edit in the part of
the FAQ that covered that. Personally I think people should just go
outdoors, but whatever works :).
12. Conclusion
I would like to thank the following people:
GameFAQs, for hosting this
Konami, for making this game
