Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand Sunlight FAQ Version 1.01 3/07/04 Written by Thunderbird *********************************************************************** Copyright Notice *********************************************************************** 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 sscthunderbird@yahoo.com and I'll probably allow you to do so, provided that the above conditions are met. *********************************************************************** Copyright Notice *********************************************************************** 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 sscthunderbird@yahoo.com 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