Pocky and Rocky with Becky FAQ version 1.0 by Carl Chavez (comments@bubandbob.com) Last updated 26 October 2002. The latest version of this FAQ may always be found at bubandbob.com. The latest version of this FAQ may usually be found at gamefaqs.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Story II. Playable Characters III. Powerups IV. Walkthrough V. Expert Mode VI. FAQ History VII. Credits --------------------------------------------------------------------- I. STORY --------------------------------------------------------------------- Narrator: "Once upon a time... there was an evil ghost. He did many nasty things, so a Goddess had to keep him prisoner. However, a hundred years later, the evil ghost escaped." Pocky: "Oh no, what's that? It must be the big ghost! What could have happened? He must have escaped! He will surely start doing nasty things again. We have to re-capture him!" Rocky: "Oh no, what's that? It must be the big ghost! Pocky and her friends are in danger! I have to re-capture him!" Becky: "Oh no, what's that? It must be the big ghost! What shall we do? We're not safe. I have to do something." --------------------------------------------------------------------- II. PLAYABLE CHARACTERS AND MOVES --------------------------------------------------------------------- US Name: Pocky Japanese Name: Sayo-chan Special Power: exploding cards US Name: Rocky Japanese Name: Manuke Special Power: guided leaves US Name: Becky Japanese Name: Miki-chan Special Power: multidirectional cards All characters have a banishing move. This move will get rid of most enemies on contact. If timed correctly, it will also deflect many types of enemy shots. (In other words, don't button-mash and expect to be invulnerable...) It cannot deflect fireballs, fire-like enemies, or lightning. Rocky does less damage then Pocky or Becky, but his homing missiles make up for that because you can hit the enemy while you dodge. --------------------------------------------------------------------- III. POWERUPS --------------------------------------------------------------------- Red - grants fireballs The red powerup is good because it pierces multiple enemies and does extra damage to bosses. However, I find that you should avoid them if you're Rocky, because you can't get your homing missiles if you have fireballs, and homing missiles are the best weapons in the game. Yellow - speeds up shots Blue - extends range The blue powerup is very good to have before a boss battle. Purple - max power Get the purple powerup and your character will gain his or her special power. Yellow Ball - extra Crescendo Get the yellow ball to gain another Crescendo attack. Since the Crescendo is useless during a boss battle, you don't need to save them to cause extra damage to a boss. Instead, use it whenever your character is swarmed. It will save your life! --------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. WALKTHROUGH --------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1 After you start the game, go up a bit. On the left you will see a shrine. Wave your wand to get a powerup. On the right there is a dead end. If you go into the dead end and shoot into it, a crescendo will appear. Continue moving up. After you pass under the torii, some little monsters will charge you. Bat them away with your wand. If they reach you, they will grab your back and slow you down, but they won't hurt you. A shrine is to the right of the torii. You can get a powerup there. Keep going up until the path bends to the right. If you look in the upper-left corner, you'll find another shrine containing a powerup. Start moving to the right. A group of three fireball-like ghosts will approach (I'll call them "foxfires", in honor of Donkey Kong...). Destroy all three to get a powerup. Another set will be behind the first. You can get another powerup from them. The boss key is a bit farther to the right. You will reach another corner. The house there contains a long-necked female ghost. Behind the house is another crescendo. Just below the house is a shrine containing a powerup. The first boss is below the shrine. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: CROW TENGU "What are you doing here? Do you think I'll let you pass? Ha!" Crow Tengu's vulnerable spot is his head. He will periodically fire a three-spot spread. The bullets move slowly, so they should be easy to dodge. Sometimes Crow Tengu will fly upwards and move offscreen. This means he will soon charge straight down the screen toward you. However, he will never come right at you, so if you stand still, you won't get hurt. :-) You can shoot his head as he passes by if you want to do a little bit of extra damage. He is very easy to beat if you have the blue powerup. Just shoot him from the front or from a diagonal position. If you don't have the blue powerup, you'll have to get in closer, but he is still not difficult. "You're not bad... Alright... I'll let you through." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2 The easiest way to get through the first half of this level is to move straight down until you reach the second river. As long as you keep moving and you don't stop, you won't get hit. Once you reach the first shrine, you can get a powerup. However, it's not really worth getting because if you stop, you're vulnerable to attack. Skip the powerup and keep moving! Once you pass the stone fence, it will close behind you. You've made it to the first checkpoint, so you will restart here if you die. Move directly toward the lower-right corner and shoot it. An invulnerability powerup will appear, so grab it! If you're not fast enough, the fireball-shooting lantern ghosts may get you. To the left of the checkpoint is a statue. Shoot the statue to get another crescendo. Keep moving into a large courtyard. In the lower-left area of the courtyard is a shrine containing a powerup. Three foxfires will come out. Don't kill them until you grab the powerup. Otherwise, you won't get another one from them. Move straight up from that shrine and shoot the area to the left of the tree at the top of the courtyard (not the tree near the shrine). Another crescendo will appear. Get it and move to the right to get the boss key. Watch out for the projectiles flying from the well. Move left through the long hall without stopping. The demons coming from the roofs are invulnerable to your shots, but they can be banished with the wand. Once you've passed through the hall, you'll be in another courtyard. There is a crescendo in the bottom-right area and a powerup in a shrine on the left side of the courtyard. Exit the courtyard through the left side. You'll enter an area like a hedge maze. Take the lower route and three foxfires will appear. Get the powerup from them. A shrine is in the middle of the screen. It contains a powerup. The maze will snake downward. Before going down, move to the left of the wall before it bends downward. Three more foxfires will come out and you can get a powerup from them. Now you can go around the bend and grab the powerup. Dodge the ghosts and you'll eventually end up in the boss' room. Before you go into the room, though, you might want to double back. Sometimes you can get more powerups if a group of foxfires appears. You probably don't need the powerups, but if you die, you can get a few powerups by going back. Also, if you die, the shrine in the maze will contain a new powerup. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: NUE "Hey you! It's not my fault. It was the ghost that freed me." Nue's vulnerable point is NOT his head, but his tail. Aim for the tail! Nue will move around and throw fireballs at you for a while. When he stops moving, he will usually summon lightning bolts. If he stops near the top of the room, he may breath a large fan of fire. He is easiest to hit when he's stopped, and you can take off at least 1/3 (and sometimes nearly 1/2) of his hit points each time he stops if you have a good look at his tail. The easiest way to dodge Nue's lighting bolts is to watch for when he slows down. Before he stops, move toward the top of the room. When he starts firing, just move back down. His lightning bolts will strike above your last location. Otherwise, if you stay near the bottom wall of the room, you may get trapped by the bolts. You can mix the up-and-down movement with your aiming. If you are above and to the left or right with Nue when the lightning comes down, then you can move down until you're beside Nue, and then you can shoot his tail a lot from the left or right. Also, Nue's lightning bolts can be shot if you hit the bolt's head. You can walk through the lightning bolts' tails. Only the head can hurt you. Knowing these tips will make dodging the bolts easier! "Beyond this point many ghosts will obstruct you." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3 While moving up, use only your banish move. The humanoid demons are invulnerable to your shots, so this is the only way to get rid of them. The cat ninjas can be shot, but they shoot, too. Your wand or tail can block the shots, so just wave it around a lot and you'll be safe. When you reach the first bend, two lantern ghosts will come out. Avoid their fireballs if they shoot any. Shoot the upper-right corner and a sword powerup will appear. Keep using your tail as you move left because the cute ghosts can shoot now. Your partner will probably kill everything, but the tail can ensure your safety. Move as fast as you can to the left. If you're fast enough, your partner will be able to kill the stone block demon before he disappears. As you enter the next bend, watch out for a group of six foxfires. If you move down before they come out, they won't come out at all. Get the powerup in the shrine on the left side. Next is a room full of the buildings with the long-necked female ghosts. Snakes will come up and try to kill you. They can only be killed by shots and are invulnerable to your tail/wand. The boss key is in the middle of the room. Grab it, and go to the right if you want three powerups and two crescendos. Go down to get to the boss. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: GASHA "Welcome... but this place will be your grave!" Gasha is initially intimidating because the six spinning ghostly blue fires look hard to dodge. However, Gasha is really a wimp! The only thing to beware of are the boomerangs. Step 1: shoot at his jaw from the bottom until you hear a sound that is similar to a ricochet. Step 2: move around to the top of the room before the fires start to expand. Shoot downward at Gasha until you hear the ricochet sound again, and get back under Gasha. Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 until Gasha is defeated. "Unbelievable... you are so strong...!" --------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4 Move to the right and wave your tail/wand to kill enemies and block shots. When you get to the first bend, use your tail/wand to get rid of the grabber demons. When you get to the second bend, you'll find a crescendo in the lower-left corner. You'll find a third bend to the right. Go up, and at the end of the path you'll find the boss key. Go back down and start shooting, because three fast-moving demons will have spawned in the room below, and they are invulnerable to your tail/wand. Continue down and you'll see that a path to the right has opened up. In the fourth bend, you'll find a crescendo in the middle of the screen. Go down. As you go down, a group of six foxfires can provide you with another powerup. Continue past the fifth bend. Continue to the right. You can get another powerup from a group of three foxfires. A bit farther ahead, you'll see a group of three snow-covered shrines. A crescendo is hidden inside the middle shrine. At the sixth bend, a path up leads to the boss room. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: SNOW WOMAN "Welcome! I am a very cold person." The snow woman's weak spot is her head. This boss fires ice shards that become ice walls when they land. You will die if you touch either the shards or the walls. If you're using Rocky or Becky and you have their special attack, this boss isn't too tough. Just move in a clockwise pattern and shoot. Your bullets will hit Snow Woman, but she won't hit you. If you're Pocky or if you don't have your special attack, then it's harder because you have to aim at Snow Woman to shoot. In this case, wait for her to stop moving and/or firing, and then shoot several rounds at her. Dodge her shards when she fires, then shoot again when she stops. One thing to watch out for is her multidirectional attack, during which she fires eight shards simultaneously. These shards won't create walls, though, so just dodge them and resume circling her until she is defeated. "Oh no, I'm melting." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 5 Go up to the first bend and get the powerup from the shrine. When you go right, you'll see two red demons. Take them out with your tail/wand. You have entered a large maze. Use only your tail/wand because the screen will be filled with ghosts and demons, and all of them can shoot. The paper-like ghosts shoot three bullets in a spread pattern. Move downward and to the right. Eventually, you'll find a shrine and the boss key. Near the bend that leads to the key, there will be a fireball-shooting lantern. If it shoots at you, remember to dodge the fireball since you can't deflect it. Follow the path up and to the left until you reach an open area. Go up and take the first path on the right. It is a dead end that contains a crescendo. Leave the dead end and continue up and right. At the next intersection, go down to get another powerup. Go back up and head right. You'll cross a bridge and fine another shrine and a powerup. Keep going right to enter the boss room. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: GIANT SPIDER "Wow! You look delicious!" The giant spider's weak spot is the head. The giant spider has several threats to avoid. The first is its baby spiders. The giant spider will spawn some babies that home in on you. They move slowly, so you can dodge them, but there are lots of them and they keep coming, so you have to shoot them. There's no simple pattern (that I see) to defeat this boss. Just aim for the head. If you're about to be swarmed by the little spiders, retreat toward the opposite side of the room and spend some time killing them before targeting the giant spider again. If the giant spider jumps, watch its shadow so you can avoid the spider when it lands. A blue powerup is strongly advisable so you can stay away from the web shots and the little spiders. "Sorry. Please forgive me." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 6 (no walkthrough available yet) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: SMART BOY "Ha ha ha ha! How about a drink?" Smart Boy's weak spot is his chest. Smart Boy throws water from his cup in a spread pattern. If he teleports, he will usually appear very close to you, so keep moving. Right after he teleports, he'll shoot a beam straight down from his left hand. If you're moving to the left or right away from him, you'll easily dodge the beam. A Pocky with the purple powerup can take Smart Boy out really quickly. He can be defeated in as little as around twenty seconds! "I can't drink anymore." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 7 This is a straightforward level. There are no bends, so just move to the right until you get to the boss room. If you take out the foxfires, they seem to have a high probability of dropping a sword powerup, so try to get those so you can just walk through the level. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss: GIANT SNAKE "Hey, who are you? Don't disturb me." The giant snake's weak spot is its head. A giant snake will shoot big fireballs at you. They go straight down, so just get on the left or right side and shoot diagonally. The head will go from blue to green to red before it is beaten. Once the head is beaten, two snake heads will come out. The middle appears to be safe, so stand in the middle and shoot diagonally towards one of the heads. When it's beaten, you'll have a wide area of safety as you shoot the other head. Now four heads will come out. Pick one head and take it out quickly. I usually choose the leftmost one so I have some safety on the screen's left edge. Then take out the head next to it. That should give you enough space to safely defeat the last two heads. If you aim well, you should actually be able to take out two heads simultaneously before they even fire. When they come out, you'll see that they're close together. After you've defeated all four heads, a single head comes out again. I don't know what it does because I've blasted it before it has a chance... "...It's not over yet!" Notice that the hit point meter hasn't dropped at all yet... The giant snake will become a ghost snake. Its weak spot is still the head, but only when shooting the fireballs. It will now fire either a beam or a spread of fireballs. Its first move is always a beam. Lead the snake to one side so it will fire its beam on the side. Right before it fires the beam, you'll see its mouth glow. Soon it will come toward you and start firing the fireballs. Before it does so, move up if you're close to the bottom wall. The snake will also move up as it moves toward you. You'll need the space to maneuver as the fireballs get close. You don't want to be pinned against a corner or the bottom wall and get pummeled! Find a way around the fireballs and continue shooting at diagonals whenever possible. "Mmm... I'll never forget this..." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pocky, Rocky, and Becky all stand together as Pocky performs a ritual. The ghost is sealed under a rock shrine. ENDING Narrator: "Pocky has successfully captured the ghosts." Pocky: "We are safe now. Let's go home." The three walk back through the levels to their home. End screen: UP-DOWN-RIGHT-LEFT-LEFT-RIGHT-DOWN-UP-SELECT --------------------------------------------------------------------- V. EXPERT MODE --------------------------------------------------------------------- To activate Expert Mode, input this code: UP-DOWN-RIGHT-LEFT-LEFT-RIGHT-DOWN-UP-SELECT using the directional pad and the Select button. Chapter 1 There are now cats that shoot three fireballs, so you can't just barrel through the level with your tail/wand anymore. Crow Tengu: "I'll be more serious this time." His spread shot is now four shots instead of three, and he has a one-fireball shot that goes really fast and straight down, so don't shoot him from below. Use diagonal shots against him. "Ahhhh..., again? OK... I'll let you through here." Chapter 2 The cats are here, too, and there are more umbrella-like demons now. There is a point before the first bridge where you need to stop moving for a short time so you can let a spinning demon pass, but then you can keep moving. Or, you can just take the hit and keep moving (which is what I do...). However, you should be able to get through this level just as quickly as before. Note that the invincibility powerup is in the top-right corner of the first bend this time, not at the bottom-right corner. Also, the crescendo in the first courtyard has been replaced by a sword powerup, so you should definitely get that. The key is now in the hedge maze instead of the courtyard. Nue: "I'm strong! I'll never lose!" He shoots two fireballs at a time instead of one, and he shoots five lightning bolts instead of two. Otherwise, he's the same, so fight him like before. "There will be stronger ghosts waiting for you!" Chapter 3 NOW it's harder... instead of cat ninjas and snakes, you face the red-robed wizard demons, as well as red and blue demons that are invulnerable to both your tail/wand and your shots. Shoot the blue demons to make them move. The key is now in the room where all of the powerups are. Nasha: "Welcome... But this place will be your grave." The only change is that he shoots both boomerangs at once. "Unbelievable... you are so strong!" Chapter 4 The only difference is that there are snakes now, and there are more cat ninjas. There are a few blue demons, too, near the key room. Snow Woman: "Hey you! Do you like the cold?" Same thing, except she shoots two bolts at the same time instead of two bolts in succession. "Ahhh... I'm melting..." Chapter 5 (To do) Giant Spider: "I'll eat everything this time." I don't really see any difference... "Sorry! Forgive me." Chapter 6 (To do) Smart Boy: "Ha ha ha ha ha! Can you drink?" Same thing, except he can fall asleep and recharge all of his health. This gets really frustrating... he doesn't seem to do it if you stay above him, though. "I've drunk too much." Chapter 7 The key is in the lower-left corner of the entrance room. It may be hard to see because it is partially obscured by your lives counter. There is a sword in the upper-right corner of the same room, and it will get you through most of the level. Use a crescendo to get through the rest of the level. Giant Snake: "You! I suppose you've come to capture me again. Ha! It won't the same this time!" The heads have more hit points, but behave the same. "Mmm... It's not over yet!" "Hmm. I thought I could beat you this time. I'll never forget this..." Ending Narrator: "Pocky has successfully captured the ghosts." Pocky: "We are safe now. Let's go home." Rocky: (to do) Becky: (to do) END --------------------------------------------------------------------- VI. FAQ HISTORY --------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 October 2002: version 1.0 released. --------------------------------------------------------------------- VII. CREDITS --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to gamefaqs.com and CJayC for hosting this FAQ. Thanks to Taito for the characters. This FAQ is Copyright (C) 2002 Carl Chavez. It may be freely distributed for non-commercial, non-profit use. It may never be sold or distributed by individuals, organizations, or Web sites that collect money unless written permission is first obtained from Carl Chavez.