Nazo no Murasame-Jou(FDS) FAQ/Walkthrough
version 1.0.0 by [email protected]

First of all, this walkthrough tries to describe some of the details of the
game. You can probably learn more by watching than by reading this guide. But
I wanted to write for the game, as it had some neat maps I could make.

NuroXS has a really cool video walkthrough here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXLEtKo5jcY for stage 1. Then the rest are in
responses.

Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. If you
write a polite e-mail to me referring to me(and this FAQ) by name, then I
will probably say OK. But if I ignore you that means no--and I am bad about
answering e-mail. Sorry.

My maps on GameFAQs were intended to be used in conjunction with this FAQ.

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           OUTLINE

 1. INTRODUCTION

 2. CONTROLS

 3. STRATEGIES AND ENEMIES

 4. WALKTHROUGH

 5. CHEATS

 6. VERSIONS/CREDITS

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 1. INTRODUCTION

Nazo Nu Murasame-Jou(NMJ) leads you through 5 outside areas and 5 castles
before you get to beat up the big guy. You have to face sneaky ninjas that
pop up out of nowhere and a variety of mini-bosses that are not too bad once
you know what to do with them. It's a simple yet creative game and it even
has a few mazes in each area, with dead ends and secret power ups.

There's a walkthrough on YouTube that takes less than ten minutes, and it
probably shows you more than I could. But this guide, along with the maps I
made, should show you more about the game. If using this walkthrough, you may
want to take a couple times through each maze to get comfortable with it.

The only ROM I could find crashed out at the end, with or without the
translation patch. The patch is available at romhacking.net and is not really
necessary to get through the game. You just get anglified versions of the
castle names and a new cover screen. But just having the game translated got
me to look into it.

 2. CONTROLS

Movement works as expected. The (A) button allows you to swing your sword if
someone is around, which almost always kills them, and you can throw
something if they are not.

blue ninjas 100/200 appear from bushes and throw stuff
black ninjas 100/200 jump at you
flashing ninjas 200/500 explode if you hit them(kills you)
red ninjas 200/500 throw flames
barrow guy 300/500 appears from ground
bald boss 1000/2000 throws bombs
princess-monster 8000 is persistent coming at you
big boss 8000 does various things
level 5 helmetty guys 500/1000

 3. STRATEGIES AND ENEMIES

For the bigger enemies, once you learn the pattern to get around them, they
are pretty easy. You're best off just running through, overall.

Once you get triple-firepower, the rest is a lot easier. You can just kill
random enemies and pick up the scrolls they leave behind(10 firepower.) Use
the firepower on bosses with impunity. You aren't playing for points.

 4. WALKTHROUGH

   4-1. AOSAME

Note--the translation says murasame, but the youtube walkthrough says Aosame.
Since stage 5 is blank, I suspect that it is really Murasame.

You start out with 300 time units, which should be more than enough. As you
have a maximum of 20 rooms to look through on any one level, that means you
can afford 15 seconds per room. Most will be quick hitters, so you have more
than enough time.

The first room is empty, so go left. Here the thing going in circles is
harmless and will in fact give you a flame power up. That is the best one to
have, so take it. Go left again. Now if you want to stock up on power-ups,
what you can do it get the blob, exit up, come right back down, and get it
again. That is pretty risk free. You can do this for about 50 time units,
then go back right, get the flame, and return.

It's probably best to go left from here. The water in the upper part is
tricky to navigate. Go along the bottom of the lake in the next screen, then
go down and double back right. That's a shortcut to the bottom bit, and
you'll use a lot like it during the game. Hack anyone who gets in your way.
Watch for guys jumping at you over the bushes.

The next area is a bit mazy, and you'll need to hack at any stars the blue
guys throw at you from the bushes. It's a bit of timing but nothing too
drastic. In the next area, you can hack away in the center of the crop field
to reveal goodies. You may have to hack at more enemies. Go up and left at
the next room.

Here go up right away then left. If you went up enough, there is another
treasure to pick up. Keep going left til the enemy appears. When he pauses,
go down to the path bottom and left and then hack at him to defeat him. Watch
for random enemies jumping you, and hack them first. The next room is an
antechamber. You're about midway through now.

The next area is a T. Go south to get to the end quicker. There's some
treasure to the north,  but it's not worth the risk. In the next area you'll
probably have to deflect some shurikens. The next area has some water, and if
you go just south of the pool, you may be able to make it past the bomb to
the left before it goes off. If not, and you hit the shrubs, go down and wait
for the explosion. You can make sure of things by running down into the
bushes at the start.

There's another T here. You can just run past the boss above to get to the
next bit. The next area has a boss, which you can dispose of. You may wish
for an enemy to run at you a bit before getting the boss to appear. Remember
to go up, duck the bomb, down and left.

The final guy is tough. You can use invisibility(B key) here if you want to
wipe him out, or you can just wait at a 45 degree diagonal to him and when he
pauses, zigzag in. If you want to be safe, fire at him. You only get 1000
points instead of 2000, but points don't really matter here.

It doesn't matter which item you choose, ultimately, in the next area. You
may get a nice bonus or you may not. The cut scene has you walking into the
castle. The red ninjas here throw flames, which is annoying.

     4-1-1. AOSAME CASTLE

Go up to the next room. Go to the right and when you are half under the edge
of the ventilators above, press A. The enemy should have his sword raised,
and you will hit him. You may just throw something at him, but as stated
before, points aren't a big deal.

You can go above if you want, which leads to a room with guardians on each
side(kill them both to advance, standing in the middle of the boxes) and then
a princess/enemy room. In there, you'll randomly face a princess(8000 points)
or an evil death's head which takes about 20 hits and is also worth 8000.
He's tough. So you can detour if you want, to see if you get easy points.

But if you just want to plow through, go to the right. Then go up. Here's
another 2-guardian room. Be patient with random enemies and wipe out the
guardians. Above you have a room with three dwarves. You can shoot them from
afar, and you can shoot the ones moving up/down from the bottom(they fire
left/right) and let the left/right ones walk into your path. Generally they
shoot, move, etc. So they are pretty easy as long as you don't take on too
many at once.

Go north to a T-room. The white guys here are tricky, and you have to kill
the guardian to advance. So take care of the small guys, then the big one.

You don't need to kill the guardian here. You can go N E N to another
princess if you do, or you can just go to the next room. Go down in there to
avoid the fire breathing blocks more easily, then chop through the two
guardians. Chop through the guardians in the next room, too, then take the
door north. The dwarves are a bit tricky here since there are five of them,
but you should be able to pick off a couple as they head to the bottom. Just
stay where you started and pop up as they come down. The guy on top will
dictate which side you go to first--avoid his attacks. Then blindside whoever
is remaining. The bridge opening to the north leads you to the first boss!

The key thing to remember is that you have to hit him in the head. So my
optimal strategy is to get to the top just as he fires off the final of his
round of four shots, shoot twice, and move back down. If you let him fire the
first shot when you are halfway up the screen, then you can avoid each
subsequent one and fire to the side a few times. I often crisscross left and
right so that the shots are easier to avoid--he runs at you, and you need
time to duck. Just remember the shots come in lumps of four, and it should be
pretty easy.

   4-2.AKASAME

Go left. Walk through the water to get the blob with the fire. Avoid getting
close to the flashing guys as they explode when they are hit. Shoot them down
to get rid of them. Go left and now the T allows you to go north or south.
North leads to some cool power-ups, if you can find them. But south is
quicker.

Go down at the T. If you want, you can detour left and up, then fire by the
lower left shrub in the center, and retreat. That gives triple firepower.
Just walk around the edges to make sure everything's okay. Then go left and
there is a boss, so go to the top and duck down.

Next there's a turn up. Let the two bombs go off--walk below them--and then
go through after they explode. There's a boss in the next room. You can take
him out as before, remaining at 45 degress til he fires. The next room is a
T. You don't need to go up, but if you do, you get a 4-way shot power-up.
There's another boss in the next room. You can avoid him taking the long way
up, but it's probably better to move up, go left and go down and fire right.
His bomb has a long range, so beware. You want to take him out, though,
because the area above is a bit sticky. Zigzag to get him if you don't have
the firepower.

Left through water(avoid the blob if you can) and then left(shoot the center
of the field for oxygen) and up and up. It is not too long a walk. There's
another boss guarding the left, and you need to go that way. Trigger the
bombs to the left in the next room, then go that way and down. There's a boss
to the right now. Then there are two bombs below(get the flame power up if
you want,) then two bosses. If you have extra fire power, use it, but if not,
back up left and kill the DR one first, then the other. The next room has
another boss, and you need to watch for the statue that may block your usual
runs.

I went counterclockwise from the DR to get all objects.

     4-2-1. AKASAME CASTLE

Okay, this has a few new enemies and just a lot more enemies in general. The
guys with golf clubs swing around and wait, and you should fire when they've
stopped swinging them. They are pretty easy then. The first guy is in the
room above. Now right, up, up is a 3x firepower if you want, but you may have
it already. Right-right(guard)-up(2 guards)-up is a princess.

Left you'll have another samurai you need to defeat to advance, then a room
of 4 dwarves. The walls shoot fire now. But they cannot touch you if you stay
on the right side of the open doorway. Pick off a few dwarves as before til
only a couple are left, then take on the remaining one(s).

Walk through the center of the next area for a treat--note the enemies are
invisible but their shadows are there, so use that to see when to swing. A
guard is in the next room to the right. Two samurais are in the next room
above.

Left from this room is a princess detour. Left, guard, up, 2 guards, up,
princess.

Going up from this room is the way to level 3. Guard, go right, go down,
guard(oxygen in UL), go right, 2 samurais, up, 4 dwarves, big fight. This is
a bit trickier with regular enemies floating around, but if you have triple
firepower, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Deal with the small enemies
close by before taking on the big one.

     4-3. RYOKUSAME

White guys jump out at you here but they should not be a huge deal. They are
just like the black guys in previous rounds. Go left and there will be a boss
as you saw outdoors. Wait for him to fire before moving from 45 degrees away,
then go left and up and wax him. Go up, because the area to the left  doesn't
even have good treasure, though it does have weird monsters crawling up from
nowhere to fire at you.

Now you have an interesting choice--left(shoot the boss to the left,) up and
left you have an invisibility potion in a dead end passage. It wastes a bit
of time, but it helps you get a bit further after you come back. But whether
you try that or not, there is a pretty one way trip ahead. Go up, cut through
the bushes to below the pool, go right, then go up--the gift you'll unwrap
gives 3 fireballs firing in different directions, which is not worth it. A
boss guards the left and he may be tricky with all the blockades. The blob in
the upper right has a fire power-up, but you can probably just kill enemies
to get to the boss.

To the left you have a mountain pass. Birds drop missiles, so be careful. Go
left again through a straightforward place and then you'll reach one with two
bombs. Try to set off the top one and run by the bottom one. Do the same for
the next area. This leads to a T-intersection in a quasi-castle room.

The detour is to the left. And there is nothing good there. So don't bother.
There are some prizes and power-ups but they are not worth it. Just head
south twice. You'll have to go in the water, so save button A for when
someone is close and you'll need to kill him. Otherwise you'll be rather
vulnerable. Go down again. Then floor it left. Two screens left you have a
boss. It's tricky to move away from him so just fire at will to stop the
bullet from hitting you. Dispose of the boss n the next room the same way.
Then trigger the bombs and run by and you are at the bonus room. I went from
right to left here but again it seems it's probably random.

     4-3-1. RYOKUSAME CASTLE

This one is bigger than the previous castle. The green guys here are kind of
fast, but they are not particularly lethal. What's really annoying is the
wizard type guided by a circle of fireballs. Go up, kill the right guard and
go right. Now you can go right-up-up to get lightning in the upper right
corner of the dead end, but to move on, go up.

Up through a fireball-guarded guy(just keep shooting from a distance, move
left/right and shoot again, then get the guard) and then 2 guards, you have a
princess room. But you probably want to go left. Beat the invisibles, go up,
beat the dwarves, go up, beat the fire guy, go left, and you have another
branch here. Going down leads to a long useless princess quest(down left up)
so let's just go left. Hack the guardian and go up. Beat the drawves and go
up. Beat the wizard and go right.  Beat the guard and go right. For a detour,
you can beat two golf club dudes going up then left, then two guardians to go
up to a princess room.

But you probably want to go right. There's a guardian to kill. Go right and
kill the guardian and wizard. Go north and kill the dwarves. Go up and now
you're in one weird boss room. Four guys. They don't show when they're hurt,
and they reappear in random places, so wait for them to fire before you move
and shoot. You will need some luck to be close to under one, but it's best to
position yourself to the side for when they shoot, so you can move under and
fire. It's a bit of work but you should have the time to take them out.

   4-4. MOMOSAME

Go left to start, as you always do. Now there is a detour up and left for
flame missile weapons that you should get, if you don't have the three in a
bunch. You need to get some bombs to explode. Beat the enemies up to maximize
your scrolls if you want. Then go down. 2 bosses so early! Attack on a
diagonal as before. Going left and up gets you to another power up if you
muck around in the upper left of that, but that's not really relevant.

Go right. Trigger the bombs then go down. Go left--a power-up in the UR is a
power-down. Now you have two mini-bosses in the next room. Take out the first
one--run left and down--then the second as you do before, coming in on an
angle. The next room is a bit tricky, as you have bombs and a boss, so shoot
him from afar and worry about any small guys as they approach you.

The left room has a scattershot powerup, which will hurt you, so just go up
instead. I wasn't able to find anything in the room above, so I suggest you
go left. Watch the water when dealing with the first boss--go down and fire
left--then trigger the bombs and shoot the boss above.

There's another boss in the room above--I was able to go up all the way and
fire left to blast him. Then you can go to the left. This is a mountain area.
Enemies fly at diagonals, so be careful. What's worse, they'll appear more
regularly to the left in the new area. Just go up to get out of this mess,
then left to a mountain area, then left again. Then go down--note there's a
werd bug if you go along the top here. You can half disappear of the screen.

The next square is a bit of a break. You can hack for two treasures in the
center area, at the corners. I didn't find anything down and to the  left,
and right is the way to go to get to the end of this. You need to avoid two
cyclones here, so step out of their way and blast them when they reappear.
Defuse the bombs and go down. You only have to defuse one bomb to go down in
the next area if you can sneak in--otherwise defuse them one at a time.

More bombs to defuse to go left, through the water and left again, then left
on a mountain path. Go down in the entrance and left to open a treasure. Get
it and go up. Go up again, then take the shortcut to go right. A boss guards
the up exit. A boss guards the left exit--shoot it in the beginning, then
don't get the treasure from the blob as you exit. There are two guys in the
next room--just shoot them down.

     4-4-1. MOMOSAME CASTLE

Go up. For a detour, kill a guardian to expose the way to the north--another
guards the way to the left and two more guard the north way. There's a
princess there.

Go right to get closer to the boss. Go up past the invisibles, then kill the
wizard to go up again. Dwarves are next--go up--then go right. An old
fashioned boss guards the right, but you can sweep by him from the far right,
if you hug the left of that column. Kill the guardian to go north.

Two samurais and a guardian can be tackled from distance to open the way
north. There's a detour left. Two guardians, left, samurai, up, and a
princess.

The main line is again up and up through five dwarves. Defeat the two
samurais and guardian.

The way up is another detour. Go left and you have another branch. Up,
dwarves, up leads to oxygen in the UR, and left, up, guards, up leads to a
princess.

Left, boss, left, boss, left, up, wizard and guardian, up, dwarves, up and
you have the next boss. Its items explode in different directions. Your best
bet is to line up just to the side, fire and then stand 2 body lengths away
from the shot fired. Move up and down as necessary to avoid the 8-way
scattershot that would otherwise take you out. Just a few hits and down she
goes.

   4-5. THE NO NAME PLACE

Cool, skulls all over. This will be fun. And no break even on the first
scene! There are even some rooms where you can't get to the left half from
the right. So you will have dead ends and a rather sticky map to keep track
of. The enemies are faster than you, too, so just run through this. Go left
and up. Your first detour! If you go right and up, shoot the enemies behind
the wall, and go across the bridge that opens, there's treasure in the right
pool. But it is not worth it.

So go left. Avoid the red pool, which will kill you, and go up. The way left
is a dead end--see my map for details. Go up, kill the monsters across the
bridge, go up, go left, kill the boss, go left and go down. Kill the boss and
go down. Detour is left, up, up, drawbridge, up, but I couldn't find anything
there.

So go down, down, boss, down, boss, left, boss(shoot at him,) left, boss, up,
left, up/boss(down/boss is not worth it) and right/killing the boss. Go up,
beat the boss, go up, kill the enemies to cross the drawbridge, and go up.
Here's the final boss, at least according to the slightly defective ROM I'd
gotten. Stand below the enemy and to the side. After he fires, step aside and
fire up. Go up into the enemy's mouth after you beat him. This gives an ERR
40. The YouTube walkthrough gives a bit more detail but it is nothing too
terribly more complex than what is here.

 5. CHEATS

0x668 = 100s digit of time
0x669 = 10s digit of time
0x66a = 1s digit of time
(undo cheats when you get through a level)
0x701 = lives
0x702 = health
0x707 = # of projectiles(max = 255)
0x70b = # of invincibilities left
0x710-716 = digits for game score

End of FAQ Proper

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 6. VERSIONS/CREDITS

1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 12/26/2008, complete though not as detailed as it
ultimately could be

Thanks to GameFAQs for being, well, THERE.
Thanks to the NES completion project in general.
Thanks to romhacking.net for hosting the translation, odino for pointing it
out, and Spinner 8 for, well, making the translation.
Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they
are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done.
Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow
Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog,
Lagoona, Da Hui and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-
yet-banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want
him to be part of mine.