Daikatana FAQ(GBC) version 1.0.0 by Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. However, 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. Special stuff I'll ignore for this guide only: I have no idea what the PC game is like. I've heard the jokes. But I have nothing concrete to judge. Except I think Superfly Johnson is a bit of a silly name. **** AD SPACE: **** My home page: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762 ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 1-1. EVALUATION 1-2. NOTATIONS ETC. 1-3. PLOT AND SPOILERS 2. CONTROLS AND INVENTORY 2-1. MOVING 2-2. ITEMS 3. ENEMIES AND SUCH 4. WALKTHROUGH 4-1. DOJO AND SEWERS 4-2. FORTRESS 4-3. FORTRESS 2 4-4. FURNACE 4-5. LEVEL 4 4-6. DAIKATANA AREA 4-7. ANCIENT 4-8. UNDER ATHENS 4-9. ATHENS 4-10. MEDUSA 4-11. VILLAGE 4-12. CASTLE 4-13. SAN FRANCISCO, 2030 4-14. SHUTTLE 4-15. SHUTTLE LEVEL 2 4-16. LAB AREA 4-17. HELIPAD AREA 4-18. MISHIMA'S TOWER 5. VERSIONS 6. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION 1-1. EVALUATION Daikatana for the GBC is a much less ambitious effort than the full-scale effort for the PC. But from what I can piece together about the PC version's release and its commercial failure and my experiences with the GBC version, the focus served the game well. Some of the time travel bits are mumbo jumbo, and there's too much of the people from the future constantly rewriting the past, and yet the ending absolves all of the hard-coded plot lines. And although you don't really have to use much of the large selection of weapons you've been given, it's no less fun to go through several periods of time whacking bad guys with sticks. Enough to put off some atrocious dialogue and the confusing morphing effects created by the three main characters you switch between during the game. Athens and the ancient village are done rather well and while the futuristic parts seem wound up a bit too hastily, it's still fun to thrash a motorcycle with a magic sword. Much of the game's strategy revolves around hitting someone with a sword and causing them to bounce three squares away and hiding around bends. There are a few puzzles, and a bit of mapping doesn't hurt. I completed this game in five hours with the aid of save states, boss fights being the main impediment. A few days later I completed the deal with 855 armor points left(using save game status.) Despite not having much to do physically, the transfer between the past and the future works well. And if the game is outlandish and goes beyond suspension of disbelief, that's tempered by some likable cartoon graphics. Overall Daikatana does a good job of looking back on 2-d NES games such as Metal Gear and Zelda and capturing parts of them as well as their feel. It's a bit on the short side, but it's better to be too short than too long. 1-2. NOTATIONS ETC. U, D, L and R mean up, down, left and right. 3U means 3 squares up. UR or DL mean upper right or down-left respectively, and 3U2R means 3 up, 2 right. 1-3. PLOT AND SPOILERS For those who want to go through the game and say, well, you are trying to find a lost magic sword that lets you go through time and then you need to find the other guy who has a duplicate of it that's the same thing and beat him up, this may not be necessary. But here is what I got after a couple of play throughs of the game and analysis of the text. [later] 2. CONTROLS AND INVENTORY 2-1. MOVING The directional arrows let you move Hiro. You can move him diagonally, or if you run diagonally into a wall, you will continue in the direction you can still go. You can also tap the controller to move slightly and turn around. This can be critical if you are hiding out. The A button lets you jump. When you are in the air you can jump up to two squares in any direction, and you can steer yourself while airborne. You may want to run before you jump to get the full range. It does not let you jump over enemies. If you touch enemies, you suffer damage. The B button lets you perform an action on an item. If there is a secret floor tile(usually denoted by a square around the tile) stairs will be revealed down. Otherwise the action is usually performed on the square above. If there is a door, and you have the key or don't need one, the door opens. You can even push some objects. If you have no item to perform an action on, B lets you use your weapon. You may push it rapid-fire. When pushing an object you must release and press the B button to move it multiple squares. The select button lets you pick an item. If you push any button other than select it cancels the operation. The save button lets you save games in one of three slots. If you are using an emulator and wish to use save states, my recommendation is to have one for non-boss or non-fight settings and another for tough fights, because you can get zinged without knowing in, or you can be in a position to get nailed. Save states can make the game too easy if abused(i.e. you know where a boss will teleport next.) And thus I don't recommend using them too much. The game is natural enough to get through pretty quickly. 2-2. ITEMS You pick up an item by standing on it. It then goes in your inventory. If it's a special non-weapon it goes on the right--this never fills up, because you will for instance give that item back to its rightful owner or lose that item. For instance, a bomb is classified as a weapon you can't fire. Then there's medicine for a sick person as well. Sometimes there are refills for certain projectile weapons. When your total shots are at 99 for any one weapon, or you do not have that weapon, you can't pick up the refills. There are also capsules and armor of various colors. Capsules heal hit points. Armor adds armor points. If an enemy hits you, you lose armor points first and then hit points. If an enemy takes away the last of your armor points, you never lose hit points on top of that. You can't take a capsule if you have maximum hit points. This poses an interesting problem--if you have, say, 87 rounds of ammo and a couple more fights, it might be worthwhile to come back for the ammo later if you want to maximize things. Items' effectiveness can be color coded. Yellow capsules/armor = 50 Red capsules/armor = 100 Green capsules/armor = 200 Blue capsules = 200+? There's not enough armor in the game to get to 4 digits, and even if there were you'd have to play perfectly. If you can save armor for a boss fight, that is for the best. Since before then there should be healing tablets lying around. Items do not regenerate, but you can find them in drawers(push B below drawers) or even fireplaces. Movable items are reset once you leave the room and return. 3. ENEMIES AND SUCH There are a few relatively effective ways to beat enemies. One of the first things you note is that, if you hit an enemy straight on with a sword, it usually bounces backward. Sometimes it bounces at an angle. This can work to your advantage. You can defeat melee opponents pretty easily by moving in and timing things right--especially since you don't bounce. Also you are immune after a hit so if you really need a quick win, or two monsters are too much for you to handle, you can just zoom in and clobber opponents. The main thing to watch for is getting outflanked--you can usually handle one enemy, but two from different directions spell trouble. There is one major solution to this: hide in a corner, or off to the side of a tunnel. Because your enemies' main weakness is that you can hit them at a diagonal, even though you can't face that way. If someone is 1U1L of you you can hit up and usually get contact. Now, it may be more like .5L, but the point is that you can hit them before the computer AI ever considers hitting you, or turning to hit you. So the enemy will bounce back and come forward again, and you can repeat until your fingers get cramped. Computer monsters also get trapped in corners, where it's fun to bash them. Sometimes you have to have rhythm and not just bash enemies indiscriminately, though, especially when they get fast. Melee enemies go down pretty easily this way, but missile weapon enemies can be tougher. Fortunately they take a while to set up, and you can often let them line you up, move diagonally out of the way, and move in. Sometimes you can use the same trick as for melee enemies in tight quarters, but other times you may have to run, duck, and zigzag back in to kill off long-range foes. Fortunately, their arrows are very slow. There are a few more tricks to learn, however. The most important one is knowing when and how to leave and reenter a screen. Sometimes where you enter can fool the enemy AI. Let's say you had the following map: XXXX X... X.XX X.XX .... < monster comes from here .... XXXX You'd do well to enter this room from the bottom of the two squares and not in the middle. Because you can actually run at the monster, turn up quickly and score a hit. If you do it right the monster bounces back right and comes back left. Other times you may want to position yourself in the middle of two tiles. For instance if there are robots coming from above and below, you can hit them before they turn into your entry niche, but if you were absolutely on one square, a robot might be able to turn before you hit him, since enemies can only pivot once they reach a background icon square. And here's a tip--they really, really don't like to. If you're able to get two enemies to lump together, you can hit them both at the same time with your sword. It's amazing how sparingly effective missile weapons are in this game if you sit down and consider how the sword works. Another good occasional trick is to kill one enemy quickly, go off the screen, and come back to kill the other. This is useful when you know two will rush you and it's easier to pick them off individually than to pick one off in a scramble. Monsters don't regenerate unless you take stairs somewhere and come back. Elevators don't count as stairs. Don't be intimidated by bigger monsters. Although they injure you when they touch you, they're also much bigger targets. Don't feel guilty if your sword thrusts force an enemy back in the corner. Just sit kitty corner and wallop them. Enemies are not damaged by stuff like heat tiles that can take 5 HP from you. However, if they fall into the deep water as a result of you hitting them, they disappear with a splash, which is cute, but not practical on a wide scale. Sometimes you may want to just avoid enemies. You don't really get points for killing them. Goad them one way and turn them another. Other times you may find it easier to kill an enemy from one exit than from another. Sometimes you'll be in the perfect cul-de-sac just around a corner and an enemy won't oblige. Then you may have to show yourself a bit and retreat. Also note when an enemy is kicked back so that, as he is coming at you, he will be more than one square away when he turns. Move forward on them so this is not the case. 4. WALKTHROUGH 4-1. DOJO AND SEWERS Map: 1-pre-pre | 2 | 3 | 9 4 | | 8-7-6-5 You start out as Hiro and there's a scene with talking. Come on! Wooow! I'm tired!! That's all for today. Is this the Dojo of Hiro Miyamoto? I need to meet with Hiro. I'm Hiro Miyamoto. Do you work for Kage Mishima? No, I despise the Mishimas. ...Well...come inside. We'd like to talk in private...would you mind? (3 people go off) I'm Toshiro Ebihara. I have a very important story to tell you, as long as you are a real samurai. Ok, ok, just tell me your story. Centuries ago, there was a huge battle after a long discord between the Mishimas and the Ebiharas. Mishima made your ancestor Usagi forge the mystic sword Daikatana in order to have an advantage in the battle. But it was so hard and took a long time to achieve it. Usagi finished the Daikatana enough to be satisfied with its power. Then Inshiro asked Usagi to hand it over to the Ebiharas. In order to avoid the disaster when Mishima got it... Then Usagi and Inshiro worked together to defeat Mishima and they sealed the Daikatana under Fujiyama. But then, why are we still under complete control of the Mishimas? Because Mishima has found the Daikatana sealed beneath Mt. Fuji! And then he changed history! Changed history? No way! That is the power of the Daikatana. Master! Our Dojo is being attacked! It's Mishima's Team Ninja! They found this place at last! OK guys, I'll leave the fighting to you! This virus is spreading extremely fast. My parents were victims of the virus... Because Mishima owns everything, anger grows on a daily basis. But no one can resist Mishima, because Mishima monopolizes all rights to the vaccine. Master Ho! We need to be stronger! Strong enough to end Mishima's fear politics. Move Hiro off to the left(his henchment block the way to the right) and on the next screen, have him move to the stairs. This gets you to the first puzzle area. This bit will be largely introductory. Dojo-1 Stand below the box. The game will tell you what to do. Hold B and push up. Release B, hold it and push up. "I used up all my resources searching for the Daikatana. But a descendant of the Mishimas, Kage Mishima, got ahead of me. ?? But Mishima anticipated my discovering the Daikatana!" Get the ion blaster in the upper left. Dojo-2 The game explains what you need to do to jump. You can direct yourself while you're in the air. Jump the gap--with two squares jumping range, you don't need to be at the edge. If you miss, you lose 5 hit points for each try. "My ancestor Tatsuro Ebihara was creating a cure for this awful virus. Yes, there is a cure for the horrible virus that's spreading through out[sic] the world!" Get the armor in the upper niche. This gives you 50 armor points, which will substitute for hit points lost. Then jump over the gap to the left and go down the DL stairs again. Dojo-3 Push the switch at the top(step on it) after the instruction to do so. That will open the door guarding the DL stairs. "Tatsuro worked so hard, and finally finished the vaccine. But Kage Mishima stole it by abusing the power of the Daikatana." "That means...our history was..." "Changed by Kage Mishima! We have to defeat Kage, and change history back as it should be!" You may want to save before the next bit, just in case. It's your first fight. Dojo-4 First room with enemies. They come right at you and you'll probably suffer one hit, maybe two. This should not be a problem with your armor. It's possible to retreat, run down, and win cleanly, but it's impractical. Retreat quickly if you were not ready. They do 6 damage, so it should just be your armor that takes a hit. You can stand in the entryway and fight them off. Once you do, you get a cut scene. Nooo! Hiro... I have one more favor to ask you... Don't talk! Your wound may open... I know that I'm dying...the virus has torn down my body... Hiro...please do me a favor. Please save my daughter Mikiko! She's crept into Mishima's fortress but she has not come back yet... Please! Get into Mishima's Kyoto fortress and save her from Kage! P, please... ... Slump [get: hologram of Mikiko] Dojo-5 This is a room with an alligator. There are two ways to get around him. Note you move as fast as the alligators. The first plan is to go to the square on the bottom that doesn't have a guard rail and jump down just when the alligator passes. You can run left and make it pretty easily. The second is to kill the alligator, which requires you either to move diagonally and quickly and stab up, or to wait a bit after the alligator goes back left. If using an emulator wth save states you might want to try both. Dojo-6 Here you can just wait for the alligators, which appear to be coming at you, to head up before they get in the gap. Then you can run left to the next screen. You can also follow them up and hit them with your stick a bunch of times. They're sitting ducks. Note that there are stairs to dry land, but the alligators can run up there, too. Dojo-7 This is the first time you'll have to kill the alligators or take serious damage. You'll learn about niches here. Go up/left and face down. The alligators will come to you from the left. Keep hitting down with your stick and they'll be dispatched pretty easily. When you are down in numbers you don't want enemies attacking you from both sides and this level helps enforce this. Dojo-8 A bit easier here. Just go left and hit the alligator when he comes at you and note he slides diagonally. This will happen a lot in the future. You may need to go down to the bottom edge and hit left a bit if you want to kill him, but you can also move diagonally UL to get to the next scene. Dojo-9 "This is Mishima's fortress... Mikiko's trapped somewhere inside." Walk a bit forward and you'll fall through as the walkway is zapped. "Ooooh!" You fall through to the swampy area under the fortress. 4-2. FORTRESS Fortress-1 Not much to do here except go up and pick up the ion blaster. The waters are dangerous here. Touch them and lose five hit points, regardless of armor. Shouldn't be a problem in this roo. Fortress-2 Or this one. It's not clear if that's a big door or stairs just above you, but if you approach them, a ghost will appear on the left strip you couldn't reach. "It's locked!/What the hell was that?" The door goes up and you may continue. This ghost will reappear. If you've overdosed on time travel stories as I have, or if you remember the final trick in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, you may have a guess. (No, it's not Napoleon activating a waterslide for you to go across the toxic sludge.) Fortress-3 You'll have your first encounter with swooping birds here. One will stop just when your passage north ends. You can wait for it to come down before moving forward and striking it. You can wait there for the birds to come back and nail the bird the second time. I just sit there flashing my sword a bunch and don't worry about timing the swoop. Now for the jumps. They're pretty easy if you just hold left down as you jump and let go when you land. Back off to the right a bit if you're too close to the edge. Then go up on the other side and repeat, mirror-image, two jumps each way. Taking the left passage up leaves a dead end. Fortress-4 Another two birds to destroy before you start your jumps. You can stand on the uppermost square to hit at it and it's one of those cases where the game gives you the benefit of a very serious doubt. Here the jumps are a bit trickier and again the trick is to stand about in the middle of each square as you jump. Left, up, left. Then go up to the next screen. Fortress-5 Two more birds and a similar set of jumps back. Right, up, right and now go through the hole in the top center. Fortress-6 Here is your first puzzle. You need to create a bridge across the muck. From top to bottom, here is what the switches do. You need to pull two down. 1. UR bridge part 2. DL bridge part, but vanishes next turn 3. UL and DR bridge part, but vanishes before next turn 4. DR bridge part, but vanishes next turn Only 1 then 3 works. Fortress-7 One purple bad guy will run at you, and if you can stay in the center of the edge, you can whack him to bits. Then go left and up and sock the other guy into the corner and beat him up. He's pretty stupid and never figures out you're around the edge. Get the ion blaster recharge. Fortress-8 There's no shame in taking a hit or two here, but I find going UL to take the one purple guy out works well. You can lead them left and then turn. They should be pretty much stuck together. Go up and hit B to enter the elevator. You'll come out on another floor. 4-3. FORTRESS 2 Fortress2-1 First of all there's a capsule here if you need to restore any hit points. The yellow/orange restored up to fifty. If your hit points are at 100, nothing will happen. The capsule will be left for later. If you're at 80 or 90, then, you may want to wait. Finally a choice of which direction to take. You can go right to start, but you get a clue if you go down first. So we will. Step on the DL button and you'll see the room below. A door will open there. Go down. Fortress2-2 The bad guy will go into the left dead end and just sit there. You should be able to smack him down and continue on. Fortress2-3 Your first meeting with a gold robot. These are intimidating and take a few hits and do good damage, but if you can get one to approach you in a corridor, it's a matter of striking when it is a unit away. It will keep running at you. As you get better you can run after it while it's hit, back it into a corner, and whack it to death more quickly. Hit the DR button and go to the previous room and talk to the prisoner for a clue. "Push 4 buttons in the correct order and the door should open. The order was 3, 1, ... I'm not sure of the order after that." Well, it's not much of a clue especially because they won't be labeled. But it probably saves time overall. Back at 2-1, step on the other button and see a door open to the right. Fortress2-4 You can run by the blue gunner thing, which takes 7 hits and does 8 damage, and will hit you twice even if you run in and club it. It's not worth wasting firepower either. Kill the purple guy and go through. (If you really want to kill the blue thing, sucker it out of the top hole and go to the DR. Go one up and start hitting your stick down. It'll keep getting kicked to the left and you'll win without damage.) Fortress2-5 You need to beat the golden guy to open the door at the bottom. Quickly go left so you are UR of the robot and then swing down. It'll bounce back into the corner and you can move in and keep thrashing it easily. Fortress2-6 Another grey patrolman. You can just move in to the left and thrash him before he has a chance to shoot. Fortress2-7 This is the room where you have to use the code. Note that the bottons have depressions on them telling you what numbers they are. If they weren't in order it would make for a bit tougher puzzle. Anyway you know the combo is 3,1,2,4 or 3,1,4,2. It is in fact a clockwise march from the DL. Fortress2-8 Another intersection. You'll see Superfly Johnson to the north if you go visit him. But you'll probably want to go down first. Fortress2-10 You'll probably have to take 5 hit points' loss running into the orange or purple ball buzzing around. Fall left and go UL to get the security card(the big red thing) and push B under it. The guards disappear. You can now retreat back up and run away from the gold robot. In 2-8 you will want to stand just below the purple machine and push B. You'll see the door open and there'll be a big cut scene. Fortress 2-11 "Hey! Can you hear me? Are you all right?" "...Who, are you? I really don't care who you are... help me please! If you do, I can lend you a hand! I can be freed by the access card. When you get the card, insert it into the console of the next room to free me..." You saved my life! Thanks! My name is ... Superfly Johnson! I'm Hiro Miyamoto! I'm here to save a girl named Mikiko Ebihara. ME? Is she a prisoner? Anyway, leave it to me! I was once the security chief of this fortress! What? Why were you...? well, mishima was torturing people so I asked him to stop it! I told him I wanna quit my job, then they locked me in here! I see, so you are on my side, fighting against Kage Mishima? Yup! Well, let's go and give a good scare to Kage! Search her name in the Database... Mikiko...No...no match. I don't think Mikiko is the usual kind of prisoner, she must be top secret. What do you mean? Her name is not in the prisoners list... If only I knew what she looked like... [hiro shows hologram] Oh, this is Mikiko right? That will help me with the search!! ... ... Ya, I got her! I got it! Really? Where is Mikiko? She's on level 4, kept in isolation and being treated as a VIP! It's further on, in the fortress. I can guide you! Superfly, Security Ex-Chief can show you a pretty fast shortcut to her! (Superfly breaks the gate in the UL. You now change to have Superfly as the lead. Before following you might want to go in the room where he was locked to get a capsule.) 4-4. FURNACE This is a tricky part of the game, with many walkways and so forth. The best bet is to run through all this and avoid enemies, especially with well timed jumps. If you know the way through, it's pretty easy, but if not the motion can be confusing. You also have to work with a mechanical device late in this level. One thing you need to know about walkways is that they do not affect when you jump, so if you want to cross one that goes in the opposite direction you want, you can jump onto it a few times. If it leads out of the room, jump onto it and when you land, you'll be able to enter the next room if your jump made it to the very edge. Walkways won't kick you out of a room--you still have to push that way. Map to L4 | 10 | 6-7-8-9 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 Furnace-1 XXXvXX^XvX XXX X XXX^XXvXXX XXX XX XXX XXX^XX^XXX XX XX XXXX XXXXX There's a grey guy waiting at the top and a bird off to the side. If you're very quick you can angle UL to get on the walkways and then go up and attack the bird to the right. There's no wrong way to leave this room, but the best exit is in the UR. Furnace-2 XX^XX^XX^X XX X XXvXX^XX^X XX >> >> X XXvXX^XX^X XX XX XX X XX X X XXXvXX^XvX If you entered from the DR this is pretty easy. Just tear up the right edge. However entering from the DL is a bit trickier. You may have to kill an enemy bird, and you don't want to exit to the UL or center, because those lead to lava pits that drain HP rather quickly, and you'll need to jump your way back. The best place to cross is the center row with the walkways. Get on solid ground so you can kill the birds. Furnace-3 Assuming you came in on the right, it's a straight shot to the big door(push B below it.) Otherwise jump and push down for all you're worth. Furnace-4 Here you need to step on one button to get the platform started back and forth. You can run quickly to jump on it its first time across, but waiting is much safer. Jump to get off it so you don't fall down the pit and use the walkway above. Furnace-5 You can go right and down here to get the capsule to heal hit points, if you need to. Otherwise you will want to go up the right wall(jump past the blue shooter) to get the sidewinder, retreat down, go all the way left, and take the UL walkway. You may corner a golden robot there, but the blue robot may get to snipe at you. Back down if it does, and if you need to avoid losing HP. Furnace-6 If you entered the right way, you just need to walk up and left. Otherwise start jumping and holding the down button. That fan chops up hit points even more quickly than the lava. Furnace-7 Not really bad if you just run and jump right from the start and avoid the golden guy in midair. The DR exit leads to a dead end where the blue machine will ambush you if you go back. Again, survival is more important than killing the bad guys, but you can probably jump to an easy place, hit the blue from a slight diagonal, and push it around in a corner. Furnace-8 Another level where I recommend you just head right. If you want to kill the bad guys, XXXXXXXXXX XXX ^v^v X >> ^v^v X XXX ^v^v X XXXXXv^v > XXX Xv^v X >> Xv^v X Furnace-9 XXXXX.XXXX X///=..//X X=//...//X X.////.//X >.///////X X///.././X X////////X XXXXXXXXXX Here's a puzzle with a grappler that moves around. Step on the button. Jump up when you see the pincher one square above you. Then hold the controls up and left as it goes across the exit to the north. This will make you fall on the main platform in the north, and because you didn't start too late, you won't fall off after you land. Waiting to drop from the grappler after this forces you to wait to drop left near the end, which leaves you back where you started. The shadows are a bit deceptive. You can get back by stepping on the other button and catching the grappler at the bottom of the upper island, but you won't need to. Furnace-10 Bash the gold robot into the door, which you will open with the B once you've won. You can even circle around and not kill the robot. This leads to an elevator that leads to level 4. 4-5. LEVEL 4 In this area you need to go back and forth a little more. You find Mikiko here, and there's even a basement with a special item. There are also some areas requiring a few jumps--or the ability to know when to sacrifice a few hit points by landing in watery stuff, which takes six and not five hit points from you now. You're now playing with Hiro. Level 4-1 This floor is level 4... Top secret lab complex... They keep the temperature of this place terribly low... Body Temp. Regulator should be somewhere on this floor! OK, I'll take the lead! You might need that capsule to recharge here. Or you can save it for later. Go down to 4-2. Level 4-2 You can't go left just yet. You need a body temperature regulator. It's in this room, but first, push the gold robot into the DR corner and hack it to bits. Then wait for the blue guy to move around, and when it is in a corner, stand at a diagonal and hack it to bits, too. Push B on the left of the two doors in the room. Voila, your item. Go up to 4-1 and left to 4-3. Level 4-3 You don't need to destroy the enemy here. Just head down quickly. Level 4-4 Four quick jumps in a row here. Jump down off the walkway when you get close to the blue/purple water. Then jump down again. This releases the door to the left. Two jumps left, use the walkway, jump up and go left. This path, quickly executed, should allow you to avoid the blue shooter, which always tries to line up with you. Level 4-5 "Mikiko... We need to turn off this shield to get Mikiko... Let's look for the shield switch! There's a switch in this room. It's not the shield switch, but it has you say "What was that noise?" That noise opened a passage in 4-1, in the UR. Go back there. You may get hit by a blue guy in 4-4 and 4-3, but I have a strategy to avoid that. When you get to 4-4, don't move. Wait until the blue shooter comes near and hit it. Run a square right and then jump up. Lean one square right as you jump. Depending on where the shooter below is, you can either jump straight up or up/left. On 4-3, again wait for the shooter to pull up and jump forward to the left/right of him. You should be able to make it to the top, where you can go right all the way. If it is about to shoot, just jump and land one down. Level 4-6 Get the sidewinder cartridge. You have three machines here that show different colors: red, green and blue from left to right. There's a machine at the bottom flashing purple--the color of the dome around Mikiko. The smaller machine changes colors based on which ones you switch. Its color is a combination of the ones turned on. Purple=red+blue so hit the two machines on the end. (Note hitting a machine a second time turns it off, in case you mess up.) Now go back to 4-5. Mi:... ... groan... Wake up, Mikiko! ... Are you awake yet, Mikiko? ...you... who are you? I'm hiro miyamoto and this is... Superfly Johnson! Why are you here? Your father Toshiro Ebihara... He asked me to save you... Dad! Where is my father? Did he come with you? ... I miss my father so much! Mikiko, I'm sorry but... your father... he's gone... He asked me to rescue you, then ... he died oh...no... sob sob... he was killed by the virus, right? No...he wasn't. He was killed by Mishima's Team Ninja... Oh my god! Kage Mishima!! Now I must have revenge for my father's death! But, what about the Daikatana? Haven't you recovered the Daikatana yet? No... not yet. Wait! It's very dangerous up ahead in this fortress! He's right. Let's retreat now and... ...What?! If you won't come with me to get the Daikatana, I'll go alone! OK, OK, Mikiko! I can't let you go alone, alright? Level 4-7 Mikiko shows you how to use the teleporter. Enter it and you'll get to the Daikatana area. mikiko, do you know the code? hush! I'm recalling.. .i stole a glance at the code when they brought me here ... yes, OK, I got it! Hurry up! Get on the teleporter quickly! (you don't have to but when you do...POOF!) 4-6. DAIKATANA AREA This area has a side quest and a timer release for a bridge to the Daikatana. You'll want to avoid, also, the pit traps in a combat room you have to pass through. The side quest has some cartridges and some armor, so why not give it a try? Map of area: 8 12 | | 6D7 5 | | 3 - 4 11 | | | 2 9 - 10 | 1 Daikatana-1 This is easy enough. Just get out of the teleporter and head up. Daikatana-2 Here you need to take care of the blue shooter. Stay below it and thrust up to send it into a corner. Stay diagonal from it a bit and keep thrusting up so that you hit it. With that nuisance out of the way you can concentrate on getting around that door to the right. You may notice you can jump on that small table but not the big one, which is twice its size. Well, if you move the big table left twice, you can jump on the small and then the big table. Push B to break the window you can now reach and A to jump through it. Daikatana-3 Go along the tunnel up, left, up and right. Fall down when the blue shooter isn't near, and you can ambush it for one hit staying just left of it. Then watch what corner it goes into and use the corner-diagonal bashing trick on it. Push B when under the switch to open the gate right. You don't have to go that way, but visiting 4 and 5 rounds the story out a bit. You can skip to 6 if you don't want to read all that. Daikatana-4 A grey gunner and a gold robot are here. You can outrun them whether you are going up to the Daikatana area or down to the side quest bit(Daikatana-9.) Daikatana-5 A computer room with a pit at the very north. The first time you enter, you'll see: "Hey...what's that?" "That's the long lost Daikatana!" "Problem is, how should we get it?" [note: this is skipped if you just visit the other rooms first and do what you need to do to get the Daikatana.] If you are going to get the Daikatana right now, skip to Daikatana-12. Otherwise, continue. Daikatana-6 This is a room with plenty of pits(orange squares.) If you depress a button in the room above, monsters may appear. Button 1: 2 gold robots Button 2: purple fighter, blue shooter These monsters are meant to disrupt your trip to the Daikatana room, but they only appear once. Daikatana-12 I got it! I finally got the Daikatana! Ha, ha, ha,... ... ...I didn't expect you to make it this far! Who is that? Kage Mishima! pink Hey! Look at him! He also has a daikatana? SF Two daikatanas exist? Hi Ha! You are such idiots! This is what happens when you can warp time and space! I sensed a distortion of the dimensions and came back to see you all here, the descendants of Ebihara and Usagi! Kage Mishima! Time to die! (blu) You don't understand, do you? You'd better be careful, Hiro. Don't you know that our Daikatanas are one and the same? So what about it? ...no, stop, Hiro! Kage is right! What do you mean, Mikiko? It's extraordinary! An object can exist as two separate entities at the same time and in the same place! But if the two Daikatanas ever touched... They would repel each other, try to deny each other's existence, much like matter and antimatter, and the world may collapse upon itself! Ha, you can test your hypothesis if you'd like, but I wouldn't recommend it. No chance! Fight fair and we can settle who the real owner of the Daikatana will be! Shut up, you fool! You think you can stand a chance against me, the great Kage Mishima? Ha! That's a laughable concept! What!? Usagi created this Daikatana, and you're one of his descendants. But you don't know how to use its true power! OK, I wil show it to you, silly Ebihara girl and stupid Superfly! I'll banish you all forever to the ultimate prison...the inescapable Prison of Time! watch and see the true power of the Daikatana!! Aaaauuggg!! (fall thru space) heh heh heh... ha-ha-ha-ha!! [new scenery appears] 4-7. ANCIENT This isle has some tricky bits, with backtracking, two critical items and your first boss. Oh. You also have better power-ups. Map: 7 | 13 - 14 6 # | 12 - 11 8 - 5 : | | 10 - 9 4 - 15 | | 1 - 2 - 3 16 Ancient-1 ... ... ...? W, where am I? ...Mikiko? ... Superfly? I must have lost them somehow... And the Daikatana seems to have lost all its power. There's a red armor worth 100 armor points off to the side. Take it and go right. Ancient-2 "Charon's Horn! Give it to me! I can cross the sea by riding in Charon's boat! Charon's Horn! Let me hear it! The sound of Charon's horn can call Charon!" OK, we get the point. It's best to be as brutally repetitive as possible with the upcoming fight, too. Go up and when a skeleton is about to appear below, go right. Then start clubbing left. The other may come, but if not, bait him in. Ancient-3 Here you can just face up and the spider will come down and try to go after you. They proceed in leaps and bounds. The skeleton will try to throw knives at you through the rock. When you tire of this charade, go up or down. Then duck back when the skeleton runs after you. There's always a corner to run around so you can take care of the skeleton and whomp him in said just-turned corner. Before entering the next screen, ready your sidewinder. It'll make things a lot easier. Ancient-4 Go up and face left across the gap. Gun down the spider and shoot twice at the skeleton. You may have to duck down when the skeleton fires at you, but you can move back up and fire left again. Should only take 2 shots with the sidewinder for the spider and 3 for the skeleton. Jump across the gap. Exit up. Ancient-5 Here boulders will be falling. You can see the shadows--or the vertical passage of the rocks. Head diagonally towards the stairs, but don't worry if you get hit. There's a capsule just past. Ancient-6 You'll want to rush the titan above soon after getting the capsule and energy water. Just go up again. Shouldn't be too tricky to avoid boulders, but with the sidewinder it shouldn't take long to annihilate your enemy. Ancient-7 This is a tricky boss fight as you may think it's the hammer that does the damage. It's not. When the titan hits the ground, a boulder drops on you for five damage. He can't damage you directly. So the solution? Get in close and whale away. It takes 20 hits with the sidewinder, 35 with the ion blaster. You can fire 5 times or so close in, which means you only lose 20 of your hit points, and you got at least 50 from the capsule in the previous room. Easy enough. On winning this fight, you get fifty extra maximum hit points, the standard for a boss. You also receive a hammer, which is about twice as vicious as your stick/sword. It also allows you to bust through those rocks that are blocking important items. So get the hammer equipped and keep it. Ancient-8 Duck down and left, and the skeleton will come right. Bash him twice as he runs by. Then take care of the spider after it stops its runs. Use the hammer on the UL of the rocks and exit down. Watch out--read ahead a bit if you are a perfectionist about taking damage. Ancient-9 hold down/left immediately to get away from the skeleton chucking missiles. Go behind the single rock and club the spider once it stops. The skeleton will be hitting the rock, so move up/down to dislodge him and run around so he comes at you. Then nail him as before. Or you can just chicken out and run away. But you'll have to deal with him the same way later. Ancient-10 Bust the rock in front of you and walk on the plank. Falling in the water costs 5 HP. Just if you were wondering. The object of the boat area is to get the drachma from the locker and get out. Once you get the drachma, monsters will appear in every room. But it's best to run away and avoid them. Ancient-11 A bedroom. Exit left. Nothing in any of the drawers. Ancient-12 A room with some weak boards. Since falling through them does you no damage, you can take a small shortcut dropping through the rightmost one. Nothing in the drawers. Ancient-13 A bedroom. Hit the UR drawer to get a red capsule. But don't take it until after you've gotten through the fights--you'll need it more then. Ancient-14 Some water around a chest. Enterprising players may note that a full diagonal jump will get you across. But you can just walk around if you don't want to risk it. Stand below the chest and hit the B button. A skeleton appears. "What will you do with my money? I won't give the drachma to you!" Use the box as a shield and trash him and leave. You can probably run circles around your enemies--or more precisely, run diagonals around them. Don't stand still except to lure the skeletons--often moving the opposite direction you ultimately intend to lure your opponents works well, because spiders and skeletons take so long to figure where to move and to throw, respectively. Running into skeletons' lines of fire when you're far enough away effectively freezes them. Room 12 is a bit tricky if you need to avoid the weak floorboards. But 11 has the beds as a bunker. With all this done, you'll want to move back to Ancient-5. You shouldn't need to take the left down exit and go right to get the capsule behind the boulder, but you can. Taking the lower right exit features a bend in Ancient-4. Ancient-15 Here, from the UL, you have to jump two gaps. Charon's horn is beyond a boulder you can smash although you may want to deal with the spider first. Then go south. Ancient-16 Just walk to the pier. If you have the horn, Hiro will blow it. If you don't have the coin, Charon will demand it and leave you. If you have the coin, you move on to Athens, the next part of the game. 4-8. UNDER ATHENS 14 : 13a 13b 13c \ | / \ | / 12 | 11 4-3<<
Nothing to see here. A simple bend. Please move on--but stay on the right 
edge of the up passage for the next fight!

Athens-10

The dragon here charges at you quickly and seems intimidating. But he doesn't 
breathe fire, and because of his size he's a rather easy target. He does 30 
damage and needs 8 hits but you can just sit there whacking him with your 
sword. Then you can move on to the left.

Note here that the light blue water doesn't do damage but does slow you down. 
It doesn't slow down or lessen your jumps, though.

Athens-11

The deep water will cost you hit points here. But you can also knock enemies 
into it.

The first time through here I might recommend just going up three squares and 
left into the water. Head left and up and jump left over the next dark water 
square to avoid enemies completely. Exit up, on the right side.

On the way back, the enemies are more broken up. Go above the block in the 
water, face left, and whack the archer as she comes up. Easy pickings. The 
green guy can't get to you. But you can just jump down on the left edge and 
run around him or beat him up--your choice.

Athens-12

You'll need to defeat the archer here. Start swinging your sword up and on 
the first hit, if the archer bounces right, wait for her the second time. If 
she goes into a corner, pin her down. You'll need to jump over some deep 
water here. The upper part, you'll get to see soon.

Athens-13

Here you want to go back to Athens-12 and you don't even need to defeat the 
archer. The best way to defeat this archer is to hide around several corners. 
She does seem to bounce around. Also notice that the close-together tiles 
are, actually, stairs. You can stand at the top of them and actually gun the 
archer down, or you can wait a bit and watch her fire futilely.

The second time through Athens-12, take the second exit above, being careful 
to wipe out the green guy--or just jump past him in the water. The first exit 
is a dead end.

Athens-14

Be prepared for the green guy right off the bat. You may need 6 hits on him, 
but he goes back into his corner after each one, so it's really easy. The 
tricky part is exiting on the lower of the two tiles to set up for the next 
bit.

Athens-15

If you entered correctly, you just need to wait a bit and the archer will 
eventually come up the chute where you entered. Just start whacking away. 
Seven hits to the archer. Then the green guy is easy enough. Get him, and you 
can go left.

Athens-16

There's a tablet in the enclave. Go get it. Now you can go back to Athens-8 
where you have the door that you need to put the tablets in. You can also 
make a detour--up from Athens-13.

Athens-17

Remember that passage to the north you didn't go to, when instead you looped 
back to a room you'd been before(Athens-12)? Well, there's a capsule there. 
You may wish to save it for after the catacombs, though. There's a door there 
that you can't enter--it's one-way.

Athens-18

One archer and one green guy. Exits above and (blocked) the right. Don't 
cross into the passageway going up, and the green guy won't be tipped off. 
You could do worse than blast the archer with a long range weapon here, but 
you can use the common sneak and evade tactics, weaving as you go up to avoid 
arrows. On the way back, you might find an easy time coming through the 
narrow door.

The short version? It's best to sneak by the bad guys, go up and whack them 
later.

Athens-19

You may want to go off to the right and hide in the UL corner of the DR bit. 
The enemies will eventually come around, and you can swat them down. You can 
also run and jump by them, but if you exit up, the archer will present 
problems later.

With the bad guys cleared out the UR exit leads to discus refills. The DR 
leads to a dragon fight and a gate you can't enter. So you will want to 
detour UR and go up, unless you are returning from the catacombs.

Athens-20

Coming from below, step out of the way of the archer's fire and off to the 
side. Jump hard UR over the deep pools and exit UR. You'll kill her on the 
way back.

From 21-DR, go right and wait for the archer to come in and ambush from the 
left. Don't let them gang up on you; don't get too close to the left block. 
You can probably get the archer to bounce left/right.

Off to the left you have a dead end that's a catacomb exit. It has some 
refills, though.

Athens-21

If you entered from 20-UR, not much to do here except round the bend.

If you enter with the intention of going up, swerving hard left works well. 
The archer should follow you and go to the left edge. You'll want to stay 
1U1R of the DL. Start whacking to the left. The archer should get boxed in, 
but you should be able to shuck and jive(that's my time machine going to the 
'80s, Hazzard County) to beat up the archer.

Athens-22

This one is closely linked with the next scene for you to get the next 
tablet.

The first order of business is to take care of the archer. You can play hide 
and seek and be wary that she can climb on the upper columns, but there is a 
quick knockout. Go one square right. Wait for the archer to be above you. 
When she squares to shoot, go 2 squares right. She'll square up again. Circle 
around and shoot her down from the top. This also works if you let her come 
in from the left on the bottom.

Once done with that take the stairs on the right and go all the way up. Jump 
left, go 1L and 1U. That leads you to room 22.

Athens-23

Jump left and up. You may have to inch up a bit after this, so you don't fall 
off walking right. Go to the edge and jump up on the big slab. Two jumps left 
should get you to the towers with the rock. Now if you need the capsule, it's 
there, but otherwise drop straight down to get out. From there go left to 21, 
down to 20, around and back up to 21, and up to 24.

Athens-24

This is where you drop down into the catacombs. The map below shows you which 
crumbly bit leads you to which subterranean passage.

XXXXXXXXXX
X........X
X1...X44.X
X.X.X.X..X
X...2....X
X..2..33.X
X........X
XXXX..XXXX

Now the two places you want to go here are areas 2 and 4. The others don't 
hold much.

Athens-25

This is a dead end if you haven't visited a catacomb, but it has  a nice 
recharge.

Athens-26

Entering the DL: Oo, big scary dragon here. Stay all petrified and still and 
just hack at him when he comes near.

Entering the UL: follow the bend to 27 for the disc recharge.
Athens-27:

I'll describe what to do behind the gate.
Catacombs map:

      1--5
      |  |
4--3--2  6
   |     |
   8     7
         |
         9
         |
        10

Catacombs-1

XXXXXXXXXX
X1X2222222
X1XXXX2222
X1XXXXXXXX
X1X33XXXXX
X1X33X444X
X1X33XX4XX
X1X3XXX4XX

If you dropped in a "1" area then you will want to go down to room to, left 
to 3, beat the rats that rush at you(4 hits with a stick, 8 damage) and go 
left into the next room, #4. You can just jump over the spikes to get to the 
doors. There's a Daedalus disk next to the right one, but the center is the 
only one that opens. Before going to the doors you can make a detour to the 
DR to step on a button to stop the spikes.

If you dropped in a "2" area then go right to room #5, kill the rats, and go 
down to #6. You can go down 1 and jump diagonally DR to get around the spikes 
and go back up to the switch in room #5. That allows safe passage to room #7. 
Now in 7 there is a fake door in the UL and a real door in the UR. If you did 
not disable the spikes, you'll only have to take 5 damage to get to the real 
one. Once you do, you'll be kicked out to Athens-27. Negotiating the water is 
tricky here. You can go 1D and jump DL, but D and L jumping is safer. Then 
you can go 1L and jump UL to get on the tablet's island. A little more 
careful jumping and you can take the gate out of the pool. It's not one way 
but the catacomb gate is.

If you dropped in a "3" area then you can go down to room 2 and fight it out 
with the rats--I recommend switching to a long-range weapon if you wish to 
avoid damage. The best place to position yourself is in the middle of the two 
columns, facing down, but I've had trouble with this. Off to the left is room 
3, with a button you don't have to push for room 8, but it helps. If you 
didn't push the button, you'll want to move left just after the arrow passes 
by. The right door is locked, but the left leads outside to Athens-25.

If you dropped in a "4" area then go down and right and down, through rooms 2 
and 6 and 7. Then change to a missile weapon and go down again, to a new 
room. With the annoying fairy, you might just have to take a bit of damage. 
But fire away and when you're done, go to the middle and jump DR when the 
arrow next to you goes by--this can help you avoid damage, though it's not 
much of a big deal with a capsule right by. Go up the center passage, hit the 
button in the room above, come down and unlock the UR door. There you will 
get to a hidden room that had only been inferred before--2E of the big door 
with the stone indentations. Get the stone and whatever you need to refill. 
Go left and bust the door in Athens-18 down.

    4-10. MEDUSA

  If you go back to the shield door, you'll get the following conversation:

These scratches are probably Greek letters...Mikiko, can you read this?
I'll try... well, these Greek letters... they make up the word SHIELD.
SHIELD? What could that mean?
Wait! The door is gonna open!
Strange shield, isn't it? It shines and reflects like a mirror!
It's the shield of Perseus. He's a hero of Greek myth.

Walk in.

Medusa-1

MI: It's a little bit creepy in here... too quiet...
Yeah, weird. Well, I'll go first.

Get the armor and, if you need it, the capsule. Go up.

Medusa-2

This is your first encounter with an alligator(5 hits, 10 damage.) Just don't 
go forward too much trying to hit him. Duck left and right so as not to go 
off the screen or in the nasty water. Eventually you'll get him in a trap 
where you hit, he bounces back, and you hit again.

Medusa-3

Room's a bit more constricted here so the left-right stuff is a bit more 
important here. If you're really gung ho you can angle-jump up 2 squares but 
otherwise go to the right and jump up and walk along.

Medusa-4

It's a statue of the Greek Goddess Athena. It's very lifelike...
It's too lifelike and it's not a real statue! Athena was turned to stone!
...Hiro, we must leave this place! Now! The world Shield! The shield of 
Perseus! And the stoned Athena! This can only be...the House of Medusa! (exit 
blocked) Medusa somehow locked us up!

Note: step under the statue to recover HP if you need to, before leaving by 
the north exit.

Medusa-5

One guard has been turned to stone, but you can walk around him to the next 
room above.

Medusa-6

Here a guard blocks your way and you can't jump over him. Jump up 1D1R of him 
to move on.

Medusa-7

A slightly tricky walk north but no huge impediments.

Medusa-8

Look! This looks like Superfly?
Yes, MEdusa turned him to stone!
Wait, Superfly... you're back from being stone now!

Medusa-9

The boss fight.

"Medusa's gone and everything seems detoxified ? No more poison."

...8:
HI: Superfly! Are you OK?
SF: Yeah, I'm doing fine now! Just some joints ache a bit though.
MI: Good god! The monsters outside should be turned back from stone now that 
she's dead.
SF: Huh! Let me help you guys now!

Work back to the statue of Athena.

SF: Wow! And you are?
My name is Athena. You saved me from the Curse of Medusa and I thank you very 
much. I shall give you some of my power.
Woooo! Amazing! I feel as if the Daikatana has regained its power!
Brave man, listen carefully...your sword keeps great power inside but the 
power has not awakened yet.
Tell me, athena! What should I do? How can I master the skill to handle the 
Daikatana properly?
Broaden your experience by using the sword. And train your concentration.
But what if the DAI loses its power before Hiro masters that skill?? What 
should we do?
You'll need to find someone to grant you power like I did.
From the one with the most power of the age you arrive at... It's time for 
you to leave here... This is not where you should be! Go where your power is 
required and fulfill your mission.
OK, you two, come closer! Let's go!
a difficult fate is waiting for you...but I believe you will survive through 
it...
SF: Waaaaoooo! My god! That was so cool, Hiro!
You've gained more mastery over the Daikatana.
Yes, somehow. Hey! Look at that!
Silly fools! You think you can travel beyond space and time without my 
knowledge?
Shut up! It's my turn to have my revenge!
Who are you talking to, boy? I'll let you know who's the most powerful one 
here!
Waaooo!!
Heh heh heh... Ha ha ha ha!

HI ...! Are you both OK?
MI Well, it seems like we are.
SF Damn! Kage's cheap tricks stranded us again!
MI We have to just accept our fate... Hiro isn't at Kage's skill level with 
the Daikatana!
HI: ... Sorry...
Anyway, we should leave here. It's too cold and we should move along!

    4-11. VILLAGE

Map:

      5
      |
      4
      |
      3
      |
10    2-1
|     |
9--7--6
   |
   8
Village-1

A rats (15, 5 hits sword/2 Daikatana) will attack you after this brief scene.

Are you all right, Mikiko?
A rat bit me. But...I'm ok. Let's move on! ... hmm ...

Village-2

Get the bolter. Push the right box right one. Push the other box right next 
to it. Jump on the smaller, then the larger box. Push B to break in.

Village-3

Get the bolter arrows and go up.

Village-4

Go past the piano and open the door to the north.

Village-5

A box push puzzle. This is a moderately tough one.

  abcdefgh
1 .+B.B...
2 BB.X.BB.
3 .Br.B.BB
4 ..XB..X.
5 .BB..B.B
6 ..B.B.u.

Push the box at f5 up. Then push the box at e3 up and get the rope. Push the 
box at c6 left twice. Push b5 up one. Push a2 up and b2 right. Talk to the 
priest.

Shriek! I beg you to spare my life, please!
Hey man! Who are you?
I, my name is Mu...Musilde. W, Wolfman speaks!
SF I'm not a Wolfman!
Don't worry, we're just travelers!
MI Musilde, we really need your help. Please tell us about this place.
Anything about this village.
All right, I'll tell you...This wasteland was once a very peaceful 
village...One day, an unknown disease attacked this village.
But the disease of unknown origin...what could have brought this disease 
here?
I can't imagine, except that at the same time, the rat population grew in the 
village...
!!
One more thing, the ruler of this land, King Gharroth has totally changed! 
(big monster enters palace) King Gharroth was actually the King of Kings. But 
one day, a strange wizard approached the king. The wizard's name is...Nharre. 
Since he appeared, the Black Plague has broken out.
Nharre...very fishy.
I agree! Since then, King Gharroth has become a tyrant!
Either way, we should meet with King Gharroth!
SF: It's a waste of time, isn't it? King Gharroth is being controlled by the 
evil wizard Nharre!
MI: Athena came back to life after we defeated Medusa! So, maybe by defeating 
Nharre we can help King Gharroth and in turn he might help us increase the 
Daikatana's power?
That's what I wanted to say! Musilde, please trust us! Where can we find King 
Gharroth?
He lives in the castle beyond the sealed gate. But I don't know how to open 
it.
We'll figure out how to open it! Let's go!
I'll pray to God for your success.

Go back down. You can exit the church through the big door now.

Village-6

There's a house here. There's also a capsule and two slugs. They take 4 
sword/2 daikatana hits and do 12 damage. They are very slow and move 
haltingly, so don't be fooled if they stay around a while. Wait for them to 
move.

Visit the house inside. It contains a flint.

Village-7

Capsule here and a well too.

Go below the well and hit B: "Hiro used the rope!" Go down one screen and at 
the bottom of the second you'll get a Rune Stone. Go back up. A detour south 
is optional--you get a new weapon--but not necessary.

Talk to the man:
HI: No answer. Looks like it's already dead.

Village-8

2 slugs outside a hut. There's a silver claw in one of the cabinets inside. 
THere's also a person.

Sorry but I can't give you lodging. As you can see my living conditions are 
not good...
what happened to this village?
a deadly plague swept through the vilage, and all the residents are ill or 
have died. I wonder how Father Musilde is doing? He's in the village 
church...cough cough...

Worry about...Musilde...cough cough

Village-9

Rat and slug to dispose of. Enter the non-boarded house.

[ghost pries book out of bookshelf]
SF: W, what was that?
The spirit of Usagi perhaps... My ancestor and a swordmaster. He forged this 
Daikatana.

[get the book of old songs and leave]

Village-10

Rat you can probably get around but kill it if it's too nosey.

Enter the house here. Push B below the fire to get Hot Water. Open the door 
in the UR. Enter there.

Village-11

Push B to pour the hot water. Wait for the rats to come to you and hack them 
up. Go north.

Village-12

Get the runestone #2 and retreat to the chapel room with the organ.(village-
4.)

!!
I often sang from it when I was young. I'll sing the song for you! [tune 
plays] [3rd runestone revealed] Wow, I've never seen such a mechanism.

Get the runestone. Exiting is a bit tricky as Musilde is blocking you, but 
there's nothing really to risk. Go north from the well now.

Village-13

Ok, ready to go!
Heeey! Please waaait! Please take this charm. It's the charm of the Musilde 
family, handed down through the ages.
I appreciate this. Let's move on!
MI: !!
Are you really all right?
I'm OK...Just a little dizzy... Thanks for your kindness, Musilde!
Thatis not a sign of the plague? No, no way... But I have a bad feeling about 
it.

By order of King Gharroth, none shall open this gate!

    4-12. CASTLE

Map:

               34    31-30
               | ~    |  |
   14  16     /   33-32-29
    |  | \    |       |  |
   13  15 17 22      27-28
  ~    |     |        |
12-11  9--8-21 24-25-26
    | ~   :   ~ |
   10~    5    23
         |
         2
         |
         1

20
 |
19
 |
18

Castle-1

HI: Are you OK mikiko? You look pale.
MI: Never mind. How can we get inside?
SJ: It opened automatically... This might be a trap...what do you think?
HI: We can't go back!

[cut scene: 2 wizards go visit King]

Castle-2

Hello! I'm windrax, nharre's first disciple! Too bad you won't ever meet my 
Master after what I'm going to do!!
[tiles are trap doors to fight with minotaur]

Castle-3

Semi-boss fight with minotaur

You have to run around a lot and whack the minotaur with your Daikatana and 
rely on hitting him after he makes his rush. That kicks him off to the side 
enough for you to move around. I constantly go in circles and pin back only 
to provoke him into a rush(and I step out of the way) or to stab him after I 
provoked him. When in doubt I always go in my circle pattern, or I run 
diagonally so that my distance from him increases. It's pretty quickly clear 
if he's going to rush once you cross his path or if he's just walking--for 
the first, pull back and for the second, cross over all the way. Don't waste 
any time after you hit him moving in your circle. The advantage of moving in 
the circle is that you can get away from him and force him to charge from a 
distance. Also if he is running parallel to you to catch up your pattern you 
can pause a bit, which makes him rush when he sees he's lined up with you. 
But it's tough to keep things up for so long.

You can't really stick him in the corner either unless you get at a bit of a 
diagonal. I've gotten it done, but it's been random.

Get the jail key after you win.

Castle-3

Castle-4

Talk to the man on the bed.

!!
Why do you have my family's sacred Charm?
HI: Are you a relative of Musilde?
I'm his brother. How did you get the charm?
HI: I'll explain ... explains ...
I see...Musilde's still alive.
Now it's my turn to ask you...why were you put in jail?
...I see. I was caught by Nharre when I tried to warn the King. Nharre gained 
the favor of the King and made him break the Holy Sword. It seems Nharre's 
afraid of the Holy Sword of King Gharroth.
The power of the Holy Sword might bring King Gharroth back to his senses?
Maybe...but his Holy Sword was broken into pieces...bring him the pieces of 
the Holy Sword -- they may be of some help.
Thank you. Well, let's move on!

Push B beneath the door to use the jail key. Note the green capsule. Climb 
the stairs.

Castle-5

Mikiko!! Are you ok?
... ...
She looks sick, seriously. She should take a rest.

Castle-6

Mikiko!! Are you ok?
..I'm all right, just a bit tired. I'll take a rest here, so you both go on 
ahead...
No way! You know we won't leave you here alone!
I don't want to hold you back...!
...OK...
!! What? Hiro! Do you really know if this is the right thing to do?
Because of her grim condition, we can't do anything else...

Use the sword on the UL box to reveal stairs down.

Castle-7

2 zombies attack you here. They require 5 sword hits(2 dai) and do 20 flame 
missile damage. Head quickly down into the DL corner and right 1. Nail them 
before they get to the corner. Bottom chest has a red capsule. Top one has a 
key to the castle gate. Go back to 5. Use the key on the castle gate to enter 
the castle proper.

Castle-8

Grey archer here(6/3 hits, 17 damage from arrow.) You can just loop him 
around either dragon statue. But deal with the rat first off to the side--2 
daikatana hits.

Castle-9

A grey archer and a rat here. Just push left and hack the rat up. Then open 
the door and go down the stairs. They'll regenerate anyway.

Castle-10

Tap the control left. Swing at the troll(3 sword/1dai, 20 damage) when it 
comes near. Move down and hit the other troll. Now look at the screen. One of 
the tiles on the rugs is not like the other. Step on it and hit B. A secret 
door in the north! Take it.

Castle-11

Two more trolls to kill as you turn left.

Castle-12

Two more trolls before you climb up the stairs.

Castle-13

Two more trolls here. They should be easy to trap. Head north.

Castle-14

The garden you saw in the cut-scene. Go up to get the queen's necklace. Then 
hit the flower with your sword to get a piece of the Holy Sword. You probably 
won't need the green capsule, but it's there.

The way back is not too treacherous, but you will need to watch out for 
climbing the stairs. The rat can make a run for you. Push down if this 
happens. Then go back up against the top wall, face down and start slicing. 
Hide behind walls to get rid of the grey archer. Go up.

Castle-15

My goodness! The queen's necklace! How did you get ahold of it?
To tell you the truth.. explains
Oh, I see. You came all the way to save King Gharroth... Please help the king 
come back to his senses! This is for you.
[you get key to Windrax tower]
Thank you. Well, time to go!

(you can now use the key to enter Windrax's to the north.)

The queen was gentle and kind. But Windrax was evil and mean. Umm...let's 
just keep that between us, OK?

Let's attack Windrax's tower next. It shouldn't be too bad. Go up.

"Please take care and help our King."

Castle-16

Notice the tile with the hole in it? You can push B on it to reveal a secret 
trap door to secret compartment. When you get back up you have a weird game 
to play stepping on colored tiles.

room 16 UR tile goes to 16a
room 16a DL tile goes to 16b, DR to 16a, UR to 16
room 16b DR tile goes to room 18, DL and UR to 16, UL to 16a

So from the outside room, you go on the UR, DL and DR tiles respectively to 
get to the room with the dragons breathing around(18.)

Castle-17

Here you can pick up a blue capsule and green armor(+200.)

Castle-18

You can bail out to 16b stepping on the colored tile or avoid the dragons. 
Generally you can pass the face of the dragon just after it breathes. There 
are three of these.

Castle-19

You can step on the left square to go back to 16 or the right to go to room 
18, the other side. The second time through you just have to go up, but 
beware that lightning/flame can go through the walls to strike you.

When you get back to room 19, there will be two rats that come from the 
basket. Stay in the DR and wipe them out. Then slash the basket from below to 
get to Windrax's room.

Castle-20


Huh?! The rats wouldn't play hard enough?? Ok. I, Windrax, will be pleased to 
play with you! Time for an ultra-smacking!

Equip yourself with the bow for this one and stand in the center. Be prepared 
to turn and fire and run quickly in a diagonal away from where Windrax 
appears--he will appear u/d/l/r of you and fire quickly, but he'll stay 
around as long as his arrow does. It took me about 20 hits. Trying to cut in 
with the Daikatana is too risky. This way makes it relatively workmanlike 
without too much drudgery.

On winning, you get a key for the tower of Nharre, 50 armor and maximum hit 
points, full healing, a healing leaf(for Mikiko,) and a piece of the Holy 
Sword.

Castle-21

First time through you may want to get to the north to get an extra weapon. 
If not, you can duck below and make it to the stairs OK here. Because the 
monsters will regenerate anyway--why strain yourself killing them?

The best place to kill off the enemies is in the small area with the stairs. 
You can't go right in the UL corner as that will let the archer shoot at you, 
so inch down a bit from there.

Castle-22

Open the door and get the ballista. There are also some other refills. They 
might be best saved for later.

Castle-23

Push B beneath each of the candles. The flint will light and open a passage 
to the
north.

Castle-24

You can just hook right and skip the fights in this room. You've beaten these 
monsters
before.

Castle-25

Getting around the zombie is tricky but if you go UR before DR, it won't be 
able
to shoot you at point blank range. Again, why sweat the fights?

Castle-26

If you're very quick(or you double back to the previous room and return) you 
can
go straight UR to the next room. But it may be easier to go right and hook 
back 
up to avoid fights.

Castle-27

You'll have to fight the bats here. Move forward and if you stand near the 
edge 
you'll get one. The other will fall the next time it lurches. Be prepared. 
Now you
have two ways to go.

1. Go to Windrax's, skip the goodies(armor) and jump left, up, right(or UR if 
you're brave) and go up to castle-32. From there jump up, up/left and left to 
room 33.

2. Go to the boulder pit. Jump right and go right to screen 28.

Castle-28

Jump right twice. Go below the squarish boulder the same color as the 
ground...2U and 2L of the DR corner. Push it up. It's a makeshift pier that 
is far enough out to allow you to jump up to screen 29.

The UL island is a dead end either way off the screen.

Castle-29

Here, if you do it right, you can go U and L and push the boulder up. Face up 
and swing away and you can peg both bats with one swoop. Nowhere to go here 
except up.

Castle-30

Another boulder to push, this time to the left. The blue capsule above may be 
useful, but you really just want to jump left to move on. The blue capsule 
may be useful on the way back because a tricky jump is coming up after the 
lava.

Castle-31

Two things to do here: Jump left from the left edge of the original isle to 
get some armor. Then jump back right and down onto the DL isle. Jump left 
from its left edge to get to the new room.

Castle-32

The jump here is rather tricky. There's a 2x2 hole a boulder keeps falling 
into. First things first: You touch that boulder, you die. So only try to 
jump after it's fallen down, and do head straight for the niche when you're 
done jumping. It shouldn't be too hard to do, since you will be jumping 
diagonally. The trick here is to position yourself in the top center of the 
square next to the boulder's big hole. Push UR and jump and hold the keys 
down for all they're worth. Step in the niche. Move UL after the boulder 
passes by.

Castle-33

Keep holding UL when you enter here. This should get you in the niche on the 
left before the next boulder passes. Go UR when the boulder passes by and 
then you can go and jump UL if you need hit points(the red capsule.) 
Otherwise you can go UL and jump back UR to get out of the boulder's way. You 
have enough time but not quite as much as you think.

Castle-34

This area has the first of two big bats(40 dmg, 3 dai) you'll encounter. The 
easy way to win is to sit back about 1/2 unit above where you started and 
swing your Daikatana a bunch. The bat will eventually swoop but it won't get 
close enough. When it dies you may have a tricky jump onto the island the bat 
forms on drowning-- Jump UR left of the right dragon's head if the island is 
too far right to be walked on.

Castle-35

A cheaty way to do this is to go up when 2L from the edge at the previous 
screen and start swinging your sword. The bat will land to your side, but it 
will still take a hit. Another is to come in firing with your bow at the same 
location. The more fair way is to wait for the bat to swoop and bounce off a 
wall and fire just after that. But all's fair in time travel disputes.

Use the rocks where the bird lands to get a piece of the holy sword.

Retracing will be much, much easier because you are running away from the 
boulder, and the jump over the big pit isn't so tough. Just stay at the left 
edge and jump DL. Then circle back around to the door at room 36.

Castle-36

Jumps up, up-left and left get you where you want to go.

Castle-37

You need the key to Nharre's tower to advance further. You should have it 
now.

Castle-38

Here you have a sequence of teleports similar to the whole Windrax episode.

      UR  UL  DL  DR
38     0 37a   0   x
38a   38   x 38b   x
38b  38a   x  39  38

So the pattern from outsde is UL, DL, DL. For 38a and 38b you can pretty much 
head left and turn DL. That will avoid the rat and the archer.

Castle-39

You should go up but stop short of the second dragon, which will breathe 
fire. After the second one has a burst, hold U and UR to get the ballista 
ammo and to step on the teleport to the other side of the room. From there, 
head up.

Castle-40

On entering,

SF: You are Nharre, aren't you?
Heh? No, I am just Nharre's servant.
Where's Nharre?
In this pot. He used magic and disappeared into this pot.
SF: In the pot? Are you sure?
Look inside if you don't believe me.
Woooo!
Superfly!! You were tricked!
You are careless, sucker! Ke Ke Ke!

Nothing to do but go up.

Castle-41

This is a tough little fight unless you take immediate action. Head directly 
up and start swatting when you're at or near the top of the left white mark. 
If you do it right your dojo "friends"(an illusion, of course) will get 
themselves bounced around. If not you may just want to bite the bullet and 
run into one, take a little damage, and hack him to bits. Because the two of 
them are good at trapping you, and while you can run and fight, they can 
bounce to the side randomly when you hit them, making a trap easy. 10 hits 
for each, 12 damage. When you win, the scene goes back to normal.

Castle-42

You'll again want to use a bow to take out Nharre. He will appear from two 
different sides and fire at you. So you must fire quickly and move 
diagonally--and you must also determine which version of Nharre blinks. The 
one that does is really him. The other, you may notice, lets arrows pass 
through it. Stay in the center again. It may take some time to develop the 
quick recognition, and you need to score 25 hits to win--and it seems that 
you can't get credit for hitting Nharre more than once for each appearance he 
makes. Once you do...

Grrr, disgusting! I'll be...back!

[you got Nharre's Wand]

Go back down and use Nharre's Wand to rescue Superfly
Whew...it's very tight! But I got some useful things. There another dimension 
down in the pot...Nharre was hiding many things there.
[Get Piece/holy sword, now full sword, and medicine]

Now return to 38, go south(if there's a guy in the left room, visit him) and 
go see Mikiko.

Gulp! ... groan ...
SF: She came around.
Good. Mi, you need more rest.
No! I can go!
SF: No you can't!
I'm OK! Don't worry!

Now you need to go up, right, and up and there should be a guy who really can 
heal your Holy Sword. He'll also find a key inside a wand(kind of cute.) Now 
down, left and push B to get through the gate just above.

Who's there? Go away... I don't want to talk with anyone. That... that's my 
Holy Sword! How did you get it?!? Nharre told this holy sword caused the 
plague! Why did you put it back together? Someone! Call Nharre!
King Gharroth! The evil wizard Nharre is gone. We destroyed him. 
Please...come to your senses!
You defeated him? Nharre is a great wizard! No one can beat him so eas... ?! 
That... that's Nharre's wand!
Yes, it's proof of his death!
You idiots! ... poor Nharre! Nharre pledged his loyalty to me. Whom should I 
believe now...? I shall avenge his death!

Now you have a boss fight with Gharroth. It is not that tough. Basically he 
launches himself in a berserking move. If you can pin him against a wall he 
won't be able to start it. If not, you can usually avoid it as his berserking 
moves tend to be pretty random. You also can catch him after he berserks in 
your direction--the old duck, dodge and swing. He takes 15-20 hits from the 
Daikatana. He also does 60 damage.

Once killed, though, he doesn't really die. He just comes to his senses. You, 
however, get an extra 50 hit points from the deal.

"It's my wife's necklace! ... The first who was affected by that plague was 
my wife. As soon as she knew she was infected, she wanted me to kill her. And 
with that Holy Sword, I...released her from the pain...
I see Nharre had taken advantage of you whil you were in deep shock...
You're right...how shameful. I was tricked by Nharre, I tortured my people... 
I..I can only apologize by...!
[Don't be so hasty!]
Grr.,,rrr...
[You're back to your old self!]
Uh...Yes, I'm all right now! I feel much better and clear headed! The Holy 
Sword's power awakened me! Everyone! Sorry to have troubled you! Please don't 
worry anymore! Musilde brothers! Hiro and pals! I do appreciate you all! 
Musilde! Do me a favor, please! Get the Healing Leaf from Hiro!
Yes, sire!
Make the medicine from the LEaf and deliver it to all the patients! 
(turquoise text, but Gharroth speaking)
As you wish, sire!
Hiro, what is your wish? You shall have anything you want!
It's very kind of you and I will avail myself of your offer.
What about my prize, King?
Nharre!?
Poor king! You'd have lived longer if you stood by me! But now I'll burn the 
entire village down!
HI: You shall die this time!
Hiro! Use the holy sword!  Fight with its power that can beat the dragon!

Dragon boss fight:

Note here the extra 50 hit points you get do you no good in this fight. It 
still takes 5 hits to beat you after your armor is down.

I have no words for how much I must thank you! Hiro, let me hear your wish? 
You shall have anything you want!
King, actually... We... explains
That's the purpose of your quest!? OK, Hiro, I am happy to help you now! OK, 
Hiro, hold the Daikatana tight! It's starting now!
Wooo!
Now yuou gained some of my power! Hiro, it's time to leave this place and 
fulfill your destiny.
OK! You both come closer! Let's go!
Hiro, may the holy power be with you!

You haven't learned enough,idiots! Grow up and get out now!
Watch it, Kage! You don't know who you're messing with!
Mmm, you're getting better now? Then, I'll give yo a reward! Remember, the 
Usagi family shall die by your betrayal!
What?! What do you mean?
Ask Usagi what I mean! SARABA!
You got it! Great, Hiro!
I didn't get rid of him yet! Don't take your eyes off! Our real purpose is  
to save the future of humanity! Let's go for it!

    4-13. SAN FRANCISCO, 2030

2030-1:

MI: Hiro, where are we now?
This should be San Francisco... The year 2030.
SF: Whyare we here?
This is the time and location where Kage changed history...
...I remember! my ancestory Tatsuro Ebihara made the vaccine,and KAge stole 
it from him!
So we came here to stop his crime.
MI: But this place doesn't look like a laboratory...
Yeah, it looks very dangerous! OK I'll go first!


You play as Superfly Johnson here.

Get the glock and look in the left drawer for green armor. Go left.

2030-2:

Kill the bad guy(18 damage, 5 hits.) Just a bit longer fight than other 
melees but not really tricky.

2030-3:

There's a guy in the UL cell. Just open the door. You need to talk to him, or 
the enemies won't appear on 5 and 6 and you won't be able to find the secret 
passage.

What do you want? Don't bother me! I'll tell you what you want so you'll let 
me sleep! / Suddenly Kage appeared with strange weapons. With those weapons 
he overthrew this world and began to reign over this world as a dictator.
HI: He brought many superior weapons from the future...then...he gained 
control of the world...
SF: Thanks man! OK, go ahead and get back to sleep!

2030-4:

Two more melee goons. You can probably beat up one before the other rushes 
you but if not, head to the top to fend them off and keep them together.

2030-5:

A machine gunner here is pretty easy to avoid(15 damage, 4 hits) if you move 
around when he starts to aim.

2030-6:

Two melee guys. Doors lock. After you win

SF: They'll be looking for us now! Watch out!
**WARNING! This door is locked due to emergency. Please take the passage No. 
M41-0302 instead.
SF: What's that mean?
MI: There seems to be hidden passage, let's search a little more.

This passage is back in the first room in the upper right. You'll have one 
guy rush you in room 2 and it will be quick. So keep low.

2030-7:

You obviously have to push that box somewhere. There was a puzzle earlier 
with pushing boulders into a stream and this is the same. Push it up 3, left 
2, up 1 and left 2. This will block the waterflow. You can jump left and go 
down. If you mess up, leave and re-enter.

2030-8:

If you got here before you blocked the water, you'll lose points for falling 
in. Otherwise just walk left.

2030-9:

Here you'll have a back-and-forth as you get the bomb above the stairs(walk 
down to fall back) and go to the tunnel. Use the bomb and a new one will 
return. You'll need to repeat this a bit.

2030-10:

If you need to heal, bomb the right rock and retrieve another bomb and come 
back.

The passage to room 11 is behind the left rock.

2030-11:

There's nothing behind the right rock, but there's a glock recharge behind 
the center. I found I didn't need this, because there would be some later.

The passage to room 12 is behind the left rock.

2030-12:

Just a simple bend here off to the right. You can leave this area by either 
jumping on the stairs and right onto the huge boxes or jumping against the 
grain several times on the walkways. I prefer the second, taking the lower 
walkway.

2030-13:

If you enter via the box, whack the gunner right away. Otherwise you will 
need to jump DR and you can outrun everyone, but killing them won't be too 
hard. The gunner doesn't like to jump down from the box and you can whack him 
from the side--after dealing with the melee first. Jump on the conveyor belt 
to the right a few times.

2030-14:

Jump off the conveyor belt. Push B when under the single box. Superfly will 
come in it. A grapple will take it and dump it in a truck coming by.

HI: Are both of you all right?
I'm ok...
Me too, but it's a bit tight...
Be patient for a while...this cargo should be delivered to Kage...

Phew...we arrived...at last.
Where's Superfly's crate?
Was it delivered to another place? what a mess!
Superfly will do fine on his own! Hurry up and let's get inside...

Are both of you all right?

    4-14. SHUTTLE

elevator to shuttle-2
          |
5  7  9  11
|  |  |   |
4--6--8  10
|
3--2--1

Shuttle-1:

Capsule inside truck here.

Shuttle-2:

Electric tool inside truck here, 2 guards. You can make it to the truck 
pretty easily first, or you can go UR of it and goad enemies in here where 
they're easy targets.

Shuttle-3:

A guard and a gunner. Given how slow the gunner is, you can just push the 
guard back to the left. You don't need to worry about killing the gunner.

Shuttle-4:

You can get the guard to come into one of the exit tubes to the right, and 
that blocks the gunner above from shooting you. Then zigzag in to zap the 
gunner.

Go up for another fight if you'd like, but I'd skip 5 to take the UR passage 
to room 6--if want meta-maser refills. If not, take the DR passage to room 6.

Shuttle-5:

Watch the gunner on the left as you enter. You may just want to exit and 
reenter to get on the left side of the entrance.
Get the refills and leave. If you fall into the empty shuttle tracks you will 
need to jump to get off.

Shuttle-6:

A linking room. If you entered the top left, go UR for supplies and come DL. 
If you entered lower left, just go right.

Shuttle-7:

Storage. Get the meta-maser stuff and leave.

Shuttle-8:

Here's a rather silly puzzle where you need to switch the colors on each 
machine to the same color as the force field. They rotate red, blue, green 
and purple.

Note that you only need to move 6 switches no matter what the (random) field 
color is. The switches are one of each color, so one switch is what you want, 
another is 1 away, another 2 and another 3.

Shuttle-9:

Get on the silver platform, which leads you to a new shuttle room.

THIS SHUTTLE IS FOR THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF MR. MISHIMA. PLEASE IDENTIFY 
YOURSELF.
MI: Maybe we should put something on it that only Kage would carry...
YOU ARE IDENTIFIED AS MR. MISHIMA. PLEASE BE SEATED, SHUTTLE WILL LEAVE HERE 
FOR LABORATORY VERY SOON.
HI: Yes, the Daikatana. It's actually the same one that Kage owns...this is 
some sort of Time Paradox...

Shuttle-10:

Glock refills here and an elevator to the north. If you are already maxed 
out, or close to it, load your glock, win the fight, and come back.

Shuttle-11:

Here there are two guards waiting to do business with you. The wide open 
spaces make for trouble. If you're a perfectionist with hit points, now's a 
good time to bust out a glock as there will be ample refills. I've found I 
need to fire the glock, kill one, retreat and kill the next.

After that's done, take the elevator.

    4-15. SHUTTLE LEVEL 2

A very linear level with a nasty false trail.

 elevator
    |
    7
    |
    6
    |
    5
    |
  3-4
  |
1-2

Shuttle L2-1:

Gunner and fighter here. Take them out and go east.

Shuttle L2-2:

Here you'll need to push that grey machine to get an access card. You'll need 
to return here a lot to get a new one. In fact, just after you use the access 
card dispenser, push the gate to the left of it and get another card. A bit 
cheesy, hmph.

Shuttle L2-3:

You probably have 99 glock shots now, and you may not even need a meta-maser 
cartridge. So you could just skip this.

Shuttle L2-4:

There's a man in a locked off room here and a fighter in your area. Take the 
fighter(push him back horizontally) and use the access card on the right 
door. There is nothing up the left way except a colossal waste of time.

Shuttle L2-5:

Coming in from the right side, duck to the right so the gunner doesn't hit 
you. In tight quarters you should win fairly quickly.

On the left, stay where you are and hit the guard and then just hide around 
corners. (By the way did you remember to go back and get an access card?)

Shuttle L2-6

Coming in from the right side, don't move, unless it's to retreat quickly and 
inch to the left edge of the entry square. When facing up, whale away with 
Daikatana and the bad guys will go down like hoes.

On the left side, hope you retraced your steps for another access card.

Shuttle L2-7

There's a gunner here waiting to fire at you. You're pretty safe from either 
side, and he's slow enough you can pummel him into a corner.

    4-16. LAB AREA

Map

         12
         |
9     10-11
|     |
8--7--6--5
         |
         4--1 3
             \|
              2

Lab-1

There's a green pill here to grab, but note the square on the floor. That's 
where you'll want to go down. A huge brain is there. After fighting it you 
may need that pill.

Lab-2

First: walk down the stairs. If you fall left, the brain will hit you. The 
brain touches you for 55, the brain-halves after it dies, 26.


The fight with the brain can be pretty tough. Because you can beat it up 
pretty easily, but then it splits off into two brains which rejoin after some 
time if you don't destroy the brain. So it's critical to sucker it into a 
corner and whale away. But the problem is, which corner? It seems that you 
have

     X  <-not here
    X   <-here!
XXXX

Plus there are the heated squares which take away your hit points. That's a 
red herring. You'll want the setup to be as follows:

   u
   b X
   bX
XXXX

Keep whacking down here and when the brains break up, move down towards them 
to thwack them as much as possible. You can make small adjustments within 
each swing to make sure you have a strong diagonal position so one of the 
brain-halves doesn't go leaking out. The brain looks as though it takes up a 
2x2 area but that is in fact just 1x1.

If you are very careful, with just the right amount of diagonal walking near 
the bottom of the stairs, you can trap the brain right away. If not, circle 
around, and hit it once to drive it into a corner and follow up on this. It's 
as fast as you and reacts well, so you can't run long.

With the brain defeated, the door to the north will open.

If you are very quick you can climb down the squares

Lab-3

Jump over the heating squares to get to the high-level pass at the top of the 
screen. There's also a green capsule which probably allows you just to run 
over the heating squares and back. After grabbing the loot, head back 
upstairs.

Lab-4

4 hits per golden robot, who do 10 damage. You can bash through and take a 
few hits, but I found it's even better to enter at the top of the two 
squares, slash left at the top robot and down at the right, and zigzag in to 
the left corner, where they'll line up to be pummeled.

Lab-5

Refill time. A glock cartridge and 200 points of armor(green.)

Lab-6

There's a golden robot. Inside the machine room:

"I heard there is a machine that will upset our sense of directio"

There is also a big important looking door for use later.

Lab-7

Another golden robot.

Dialog w doctor ??

Go back to room 6--well, room 8 first if you need the hit points. Then skip 
to room 10.

Lab-8

There's a room you can't get into until you've talked with the doctor. The 
blue capsule would be nice. Above you have the elevator to the next level.

Lab-9

Without the ID card you can't get to the next part of the game.

Lab-10

The trick here is to recognize what the squiggly arrows do. They make your 
character move in the opposite direction you push them, once you cross them. 
So get on the first arrow and then push down to go up another square. You now 
have a bunker from which you can whale on the two golden robots. It will take 
a while because Mikiko is a relatively weak character and can't use the 
Daikatana, but it's a sure thing.

On your controls, use 2D 2L 2U 3L 2D 3L to get to the next scene.

If you are going for perfection, exit between the two tiles as you go right.

Lab-11

Still in backwards land here. If you left between the middle two tiles, then 
don't move and just swing away. You may get hit once. Once finished, you are 
still facing the wrong direction. U L 2U 2L D L D and jump D. D 2L and face D 
and push. Now you are back to moving correctly. Go left and up.

Lab-12

Get the capsule if you need it.

.......ab.
... *.....
...f .....
F.......dc
e........E
....AC....
...B  D...

Jump in teleporter C and head down to E. Then head up to F. Get the 
experiment data and return through f, e, and c. With directions no longer 
goofy you can go back the way you came, except at the end when you get on the 
arrow squares, push up instead of down.

Now go back to the lab on square 6.

    4-17. HELIPAD AREA

A cool but all to brief area. Because the scenes are divided up I will not 
give a room by room description.

Map:

3-6
| |
2-5
| |
1-4

Room 1 has meta-maser and a green capsule.

Room 2 has a pair of ladders up. There's a guard and a gunner too. We'll take 
the left way up first. That leads to room 3 and a button you can push behind 
another guard. The button starts the helicopter in room 6.

Climb down to room 1 and back up the right stairs--watch the enemies here as 
the narrow corridor means you're vulnerable. Up at room 3 you'll see a small 
ledge you can fall off to the right. Do so and exit down. Then go right to 
room 5. Step on that button. Go left to room 2 and fall down twice. Go down 
to room 1 and right. On room 4 there will be a button in the far right. Push 
it. It starts a platform moving.

Back up the right stairs in room 2 all the way to room 3. Fall down off to 
the right. Go right after returning to room 2. There's  a yellow and green 
platform in room 5 now. Jump down as it is about to come in all the way, and 
don't jump full force. You should be able to judge when it's as far down as 
it can go. Jump down then.

Go down to level 4 and take care of the gunner and guard. Go up the UR 
stairs. Then you have two stairs in room 5 to climb and two in room 6.

Kage escapes in the helicopter. Hiro tries to grab the railings but it 
doesn't work. He falls. But Superfly gets the deus ex machina as in "Geez, 
silly machine"--a pilot pops out from nowhere to talk about the landing code 
and such, and the upshot is, you're pretty safe.

    4-17. NAVAL BASE

On first blush this seems like it will be a very impressive level, but 
because it's easy to stay out of the way of the motorcycles, the fights with 
big things(including an alligator,) though impressive and entertaining, are 
risk-free. There are some small fast annoyances though.

Map:
            8
           /|
 12-11-10-9 7
            |
      4--5--6
      |
1--2--3

Naval-1

Nothing to do here. Go right.

Naval-2

Kill the guy chucking bombs and get the glock if you need it. Or save it for 
after you mow down the motorcycles. What motorcycles? Go to the right.

Naval-3

But first there is a golden robot and a guy with a bazooka. Box the golden 
robot in so that when the shooter comes, you can fake him out. See if you can 
kitty-corner him. Then move north.

Naval-4

You can just swing upwards as you enter with the Daikatana to wipe out the 
golden robot. Then you can switch to the glock and fire at the motorcycle as 
it goes by. If you want to kill it with the Daikatana it is possible to stand 
near the UL hide out and swoop down for a hit if the motorcycle isn't too 
high up--or back up when it is.

Naval-5

Enter at the highest point(or if you didn't, retreat and do so) and go UR 
'til you're at a dead end. Fire down with your glock and then just shoot the 
next motorcycle as it passes by. Head along the top to the next room.

Naval-6

The motorcycle only goes halfway across the screen here, so you can wipe it 
out with your Daikatana. 6 hits. 25 damage.

Naval-7

Meta maser cartridge here. Nothing in the UR exit.

Naval-8

If you're quick enough, go UL into the culdesac and slash the robot from the 
left. Then go UR and U along the wall to smack the gunner(23 and 6) into the 
corner. IF you're too slow you can retreat, hit the gunner, and trap him by 
the stairs or stay there themselves to smack him as he comes in.

Naval-9

I always seem to take damage from this but if you climb down the stairs, go 
left and hack wildly left and down it's possible to avoid damage. If you just 
stay at the top of the stairs and concentrate on one of the enemies this room 
isn't much of a problem. You'll take one hit. 35/5.

Naval-10

You can ready your glock and fire six shots for a quick win. Using the 
daikatana(run forward, slash, go up, slash when necessary, go to the top for 
the final kill) works out OK too.

Naval-11

With that big gulf it's pretty obvious that button better to something 
special. It does. But ready your glock before jumping.

Here you have to jump on the button and fight a giant crocodile. A worm will 
waver back and forth to distract you. Just stay on the left edge of the 
button and wait for the crocodile to pop up above you and, when it does, fire 
your glock. Note the being on the edge allows you to take a shot at the 
alligator when it appears in the center. And don't worry if a few shots get 
deflected by the thing that goes back and forth just above the bridge. Enough 
will get through.

11 hits should do it. Don't bother with a couple of shots at once. That won't 
work. Switch back to the Daikatana when you're done.

Naval-12

Glock refills and unuseable transporters. When you try to enter the door to 
the north, you fall through a trap. Mishima murders his general in front of 
you.

    4-18. MISHIMA'S TOWER

You're never told explicitly what to do here, but fiddling with the dragons 
allows for some trial and error. You can probably guess they're the only 
thing to manipulate, really.

Map:

     11
    /
12 4--5--6 10
  \|  |  |/
   3  9  7 (9 goes to 14)
   |     | (14-21 = north/stairs
   2--1--8  all the way)
     / \
   13   0

Usagi unlocks the first door for you, in the basement where you start, so you 
can plow around the tower.

The plan here is, first, to go into each of the four sub-towers. They are 
behind the closed doors on the perimeter. To open any one of those doors, all 
four dragons must be facing in one direction. The door that opens is that 
direction from the center.

You can make this a whole lot easier on yourself by setting all the dragons 
to point east at first. Then you can just continue to circle around and will 
only need a 3/4 revolution each time.

The dragon orientations are confusing and I would like to note they rotate 
counterclockwise(U-L-D-R) and whiele left and right are pretty easy to 
see(the dragon's front is beige) you will see a coil from behind if the 
dragon faces up. However, if you keep circling around clockwise to hit one 
button each time, including after you left the open tower, this should not be 
a problem.

I've included a first-time-through walkthrough with the understanding that, 
after you leave a tower, you step on a button, proceed clockwise, and step on 
a button in each room you come to afterwards.

Mishima-0

Just climb up the stairs, but be sure to have the Daikatana ready first. 
You'll be repeating a lot of rooms and, I'm afraid, battling a lot of the 
same monsters over and over. At least three times through each room. The 
sword does best through all this.

Mishima-1

A guard will rush in to "greet" you the first time through. Stay back, use 
your Daikatana, and get him(35/3). First time through you need to push the 
button under the dragon three times. Make sure it's gone up before you step 
on it(leave the square entirely.)

Mishima-2

Entering from the right, go a square or two left(so the guard above gets 
stuck) and stick to the top. Turn down and slash just before the 
shooter(23/6) crosses your path. Deal with the guard in the bottleneck.

Mishima-3

Duck and run around to confuse the shooter here. You don't need to push the 
button the first time through.

Mishima-4

Duck into the right side of the entry, tap left, and wait for the shooter to 
come to you. Beat him up.

Mishima-5

Step on the button once your first time through. Also pick up a Novabeam 
below in room 9 if you want, but room 9 isn't relevant just yet.

Mishima-6

I go 1R 1D and face right to deal with the guard. The shooter should get 
stuck below for a bit, but when he gets out, you can creep right and smack 
him as he comes up or even outrun him to the bottom. Killing isn't necessary 
now. Just sneaking by.

Mishima-7

Glock refill and capsule here. Step on the button twice the first time 
through to see something open! Note: the drama of the fight is contained in 
Mishima-10 so there's a bit of a skip.

Mishima-8

Approaching from above it's pretty easy to see the tunnel where the bad guys 
can come up for you to help them meet their maker. Then just follow the long 
winding corridor.

Mishima-9

This door will open when you've cleared all four side towers. A capsule and 
treasure here.

Mishima-10

A fast guy(45/6) can be suckered into chasing you as you hide below the 
middle barrier. I've found random hacking doesn't work to kill him perfectly. 
You must add a split second of timing before you nail him. Otherwise he will 
get in and nick you once.

A novabeam cartridge and a green capsule are your reward here.

Mishima-11

A variation on the previous theme. Here you have twisty arrow squares. Move 
up quickly and push down when you step on one so you're a square below the 
UL. Then whale away at the enemy before he gets to the corner. You have to be 
careful with him because he shoots missiles from his sword(45/8.) But eight 
hits will do the trick. Another novabeam cartridge and green capsule. Arrows' 
disorienting effects are invalidated once you kill the bad guy, too.

Mishima-12

This guy charges at you when he attacks, a few squares at fast speed. The 
solution: get 1U1L of the DR and goadhim to follow you. Then smack him down 
once he gets in the corner.

The reward here is nice--200 armor + a green capsule.

Mishima-13

Here the screen turns dark once you start in on things. Two solutions: the 
cheapest is to go 2U so the enemy starts looking around. Then go 1D and turn 
around and wait for him. But it's a bit quicker to go 2U 2R D and then note 
that you'll be able to tell which way the enemy's coming due to the 
obstacles.

Once you win this fight you'll get energy water and a green capsule. Not that 
the energy water does you much good right now.

Mishima-14

Energy water and a novabeam cartridge here. Head north.

Mishima-15

Your typical anticlimactic anteroom. Head north.

Mishima-16

Some big dude twirling a stick is after you. And you have to move pretty 
quickly too since the walls close in on you. Still this guy's a wuss. With a 
few well placed blows you can push him into a corner. Stay UL of him, 
hammering right, and he is no problem. It may seem tense when the walls close 
in, but if you are turning him various colors not much should matter.

+50 hit points for this.

Mishima-17

Some tricky jumps here. Generally you'll wnat to make a jump when the 
platform you want to land on is in the middle. But from the first platform a 
UR jump when it's at the bottom works. This is the toughest jump of the lot 
and then a simple jump right from #2 at its right end works. Then jump onto 
#3 when it's in the center headed right and off when it's centered heading 
left. You can almost walk off #4 but a jump might help you adjust your shadow 
to make sure you land OK.

Mishima-18

The jumps are a bit tougher here. You want to get to the right edge of 
platform #1 and jump when it's just past the center. Jump from #2 UR when 
it's centered going right. Jump left from #3 in the center. Jump on #4, 
straight up from the left of the island, when it's centered and going right. 
Jump left off it. Climb up the stairs.

Mishima-19

An anteroom with another Novabeam and a green capsule. The novabeam does no 
good; equip the plain sword instead.

Mishima-20

The big fight. Equip your sword for this. It takes 40 hits and 2 swings to 
get a hit but it's not as bad as you think. Here's what happens.

Mishima will appear on the center of one of the edges protected by two 
globes. He'll fire a missile right at you. Duck diagonally away and circle 
back for the kill. You'll want to strike between the two protective globes in 
front of him. If you do they will both part and you can get a shot in at him. 
This seems tough at first and often you'll hit just one or touch them or even 
touch Mishima. But you'll get it right eventually. It's a bit of a long trial 
but very doable.

-?? hp for getting hit

Once Mishima is destroyed, you get +50 hit points and a recharge from Usagi. 
This is worthless except as a last ditch effort, as Mishima does 90 damage, 
i.e. you still get 5 hits with your armor down before you're toast. Mishima 
turns into a weird beast.

There are only three things this beast can do. They have surprise value, but 
once you get your reflexes in order, none's tough to respond to. With each 
attack you can respond with one hit.

1) Materialize just to your right. For this, move L and DL a bit, turn around 
and shiv him when he materializes.
2) Drops from above. You'll see a shadow. Move down a half-square and slash 
upwards.
3) Goes to the top of the screen. Stand in the center, wait, and move to the 
center before he appears. Only when he's fully there and has raised his sword 
do you move up. Discs will come in from each side, trying to hit where you 
just were. If you go up and hit him directly then you get hit, too, which is 
not cool.

The only thing you need to watch for in this pattern besides all this? Stay 
in the center.

But wait! One more thing! Head north for the finale!

Mishima-21

Here Mikiko attacks you. You can just spend all your time facing down and 
slicing at her. She does 50 damage and takes 25-30 hits but as long as you 
pause so slightly to strike after she bounces back, this is a pretty easy 
knockout. You can also head to the left or right edge and take a hit and 
bounce her back that way where there's more time/room to wait for her to come 
back.

End of FAQ proper

================================

  5. VERSIONS

1.0.0 sent to GameFAQs.com 3/12/2005 mostly complete. Some scripting and maps 
to fill in. I may add graphic maps for Athens or the Castle, too.

  6. CREDITS

Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang. They know who they are, and you should, 
too, because they get some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, 
daremo, falsehead, RetroFreak, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, Sashanan, 
lisanne, and others I forgot.

Brian Sulpher for his patience with my putting off that cowriting FAQ a bit 
just so I could see what this game is about.