Shadow of the Beast II
Sega Genesis version FAQ/Walkthrough
By JWL

This is a Walkthrough for the Sega Genesis version of "Beast II".  This might
provide some help in the Amiga and Sega CD versions, but it was written for
the Sega Genesis version, and I know for a fact that the Amiga version is
much different from the Sega Genesis version.  For information on the Amiga
version, check SPaul's Shadow of the Beast II FAQ/Walkthrough.

Disclaimer:

Shadow of the Beast II was presented by Psygnosis
Original Game by Reflections
Sega Genesis conversion by WJS Design
Copyright 1992 Electronic Arts
Copyright 1992 Psygnosis
Shadow of the Beast II is a trademark of Psygnosis Ltd
Licensed by Sega for play on the Sega Genesis System
Sega and Genesis are trademarks of Sega Enterprises, Ltd

This is an unofficial guide meant only to help people complete this game.
Feel free to share any info presented in this FAQ/Walkthrough, as helping
people with the game is the entire point of this guide.  Just don't sell it
or put your name on it.  Give credit where credit is due!  That said...


Contents

1. Prologue
2. Getting Started
3. Walkthrough
4. FAQ
5. Credits


1. Prologue

You are the former warrior-messenger of the Beast Lord Maletoth.  Maletoth's
minions kidnapped you when you were a young child, and through the use of dark
magic, transformed you into a creature meant only to serve the Beast Lord.  But
one day, your father was captured and executed before your eyes.  As you looked
into your father's eyes, the memories of your life as a human returned, and
you wanted revenge for what the Beast Lord had done.  You fought through hordes
of enemies seeking the Beast Lord, and eventually came across Zelek, the Beast
Mage.  You defeated Zelek in combat, and your human body was restored.

Yet Zelek lived, and sought revenge for his defeat at your hands.  After
learning that you have a sister, Zelek kidnapped her and took her to Kara-Moon,
a hostile land full of dangers.  His goal is to transform your sister into the
new warrior-messenger.  Now it's up to you to journey to Kara-Moon and rescue
your sister from the vengeful Beast Mage.


2. Getting Started

Before you start playing, you can adjust the game controls and difficulty
level.  The Default Controls are:

A Button - Jump
B Button - Fire Weapon/Use Object
C Button - Select Weapon/Object from Inventory

The rest of the controls cannot be adjusted, and these are:

Start Button - Pause/Access Inventory-Offer Screen
D-pad Left - Run Left, or Face Right while on a vine/chain
D-pad Right - Run Right, or Face Left while on a vine/chain
D-pad Up - Climb up a vine/chain, Enter/Exit the Inn
D-pad Down - Duck, Climb down a vine/chain, or Make an elevator go down
D-pad Left/Right & Down (Diagonal) - Slide down a vine/chain
D-pad Left/Right & Jump - Jump to the Left/Right, or Jump off of a vine/chain


The three difficulty levels are:

Easier
Normal
Ridiculous

I recommend that you play ONLY on the "Easier" difficulty level.  After you
beat the game, you might want to try "Normal", but unless you are a masochist,
avoid the "Ridiculous" difficulty level.  It's not called "Ridiculous" for
nothing!  It's much, much harder than "Normal", which is already plenty
hard enough.


3. Walkthrough

a. The Explosive-Tossing Trees

You start out in the middle of Kara-Moon and may go left or right.  You
should travel to the left.  You will come to a group of trees that throw
explosives at you (strange but true).  If you stand as close to a tree as
possible, the explosives won't hit you, but you're likely to take a few hits
here even if you are careful.  Run through the area as quickly as possible,
stopping only to mace explosives that you're about to collide with.  React
quickly with your mace and you will suffer little to no damage.

b. I Wish I Could Kill Those Fish

After the Trees, you'll come to a bridge.  Gigantic, man-eating fish will
jump up above the bridge and chomp on you if you come into contact with them.
There are infinite fish here, so don't bother trying to fight them all.  It's
practically impossible to not get hurt, so just run and jump across the bridge.
You should only take minimal damage.

c. Ishran's Servant, Barloom's Servant

Next you'll see an imp attempting to kidnap a man.  "Help, help", calls out the
man.  The imp is a servant of the evil dragon Ishran, and the man is a servant
of the good dragon Barloom. So naturally you should attack the imp and help the
man.  Jump up and mace the imp before he gets away.  If he gets away, hit reset
and start the game over.  If you kill the man... whoops!  Hit the reset button.
After you kill the imp, the man will thank you for saving him.  Pay attention
to what the man tells you.  He'll say something about an "Upper" or a "Lower"
switch, and you need to know what he said for later on.  He'll also ask you to
save his companion, who has been captured by Ishran.  Before you can tell him
that you're there to save your sister, not his friends, he will tell you that
his master, Barloom, will reward you well for the rescue.  In other words,
Barloom has something that you need in order to beat this game.  Curses!
Next stop, Ishran's Lair.  If you are feeling particularly sadistic, you may
now kill Barloom's servant and it will have no effect on the rest of the game.

d. Tree Roots and a Vine

There is a pit with roots going across it, creating a passageway to travel
downward.  Ghoulish bats will attack you as you travel downward.  Do not
stop and try to fight them!  If you do, you will just get hurt more badly.
Hurry down through the passage of roots as quickly as possible, attacking with
your mace only when it's absolutely necessary, and get to the vine.  Climb 
down the vine a little bit and you'll see a passageway to the left.  Jump off
of the vine and start going down this passage, which leads to Ishran's lair.
Be careful that you don't accidently slide down the vine, as you will slide
down right into acid sludge.  Not a good thing.

e. Ishran Hates Door-to-Door Salesmen

Soon after you start going down the passageway, an imp will fly past you.
Duck to avoid being damaged.  After it passes, immediately chase after it,
and you'll find it cutting the vine.  Smash that imp with your mace before it
cuts the vine, because if the vine is cut, you'll need to fall down into the
acid sludge below to retrieve it, and that is not cool.  While you can
restore the cut vine by falling into the acid sludge and then using it as an
item, you will take considerable damage in doing this, so it's best to kill
the imp before the vine is cut.  After you kill the imp, go left down the
passageway again.  Now there's a muscle-bound giant pushing a spiked stone
at you.  If you hold down the attack button, your mace can just barely hit
the giant.  Now, you can just keep attacking and attacking this giant, but
none of your attacks will actually hurt him until he is near the end of the
platform, over by the vine.  Also, he has only 1 Hit Point.  So, just stand at
the point where you can barely see the vine on the right side of the screen and
wait.  When the giant gets close to you, mace him once and he'll die.
Fortunately for you, his spiked stone disappears along with him.  Continue
travelling to the left, and you'll be stopped by a pair of spiked stones
falling from the ceiling. Hit them with your mace by rapidly tapping the
Attack Button until they explode, then immediately run through to the left.  If
you don't run through right after you destroy one, another will fall down,
which will either prevent you from getting through, or damage you if you are in
the process of going through.  Now there are two more imps trying to stop you
from entering Ishran's lair.  Smaller spiked stones will be hurled at you and
another imp will appear above you as you begin to walk up the hill.  Hit the
spiked stones with your mace to destroy them.  You must also jump up and
destroy the imp that is above you and take his key.  Sometimes the key will
fall down to the bottom of the hill, so you must go back down and get it if
this happens.  Then walk back up the hill, firing your mace at the spiked
stones as you go.  Once you get to the top of the hill, however, for SOME
reason, you cannot destroy the spiked stones, so you have to duck.  Look very
closely at the hill, and you will see where it stops and the ground becomes
completely level.  Stop and duck RIGHT BEFORE you reach the level ground.  If
you did this right, the stone will go right through your head, but you will not
be damaged.  If you're at the top of the hill, you will take damage.  You MUST
BE about 95% of the way up the hill, and ducking, to not take damage.  After
the stone passes by, continue running to the left.  Once you reach the end of
the platform, you will drop off into the lower chamber of Ishran's lair.  An
imp will fly towards you.  Let him go; there does not seem to be any way to
destroy him.  Just jump over him.  If you try to fight him, you will get
nothing but frustration and more Health loss.

f. Passageway to Ishran's Lair, Upper Level

Near the entrance to the lair is a vine.  Climb up the vine and find a platform
which you can jump on to by jumping to the right.  There is a locked door here,
but you have the key.  Use the key you have and the door will open.  There
will then be a little bit of a hill to run up.  Run 95% of the way up the
hill, then STOP.  A spiked stone will fall from the ceiling.  Attack the stone
with your mace to destroy it.  As you continue onward to the right, you'll find
two switches.  Below the switches is a dangerous looking bridge over a pool of
acid.  Hmm, could this be another of Ishran's traps?  Now, which switch do you
hit?  I hope you remember what Barloom's servant told you in "c. Ishran's
Servant, Barloom's Servant", because that's the solution to this puzzle.  If he
told you about an "upper switch", hit the upper switch.  If he told you about
a "lower switch", hit the lower switch.  If you hit the wrong one, the bridge
will be withdrawn and you will fall into the acid, taking damage.  If you hit
the switch again the bridge will come back, but you don't want to take any
unnecessary damage!  Jump up and mace to hit the upper switch.  Stand up and
mace to hit the lower switch.  When you hit the proper switch, an elevator will
come down to take you to the Upper Level.  Just stand on the elevator for a few
seconds and it will automatically take you up to where you need to go.

g. Ishran's Lair, Upper Level

As you step off of the elevator and continue running to the right, you will be
attacked by bats.  Fend them off the best you can with your mace, but move
quickly.  Do not stop and try to fight them, or else you will suffer more
damage.  The first thing you'll see is a chain that leads down into a
guardroom.  In this room there is an imp, two switches, and a huge, very nasty
looking beast in a cage.  Avoid this room for now and continue onward to the
right.  Go all the way to the right, and you will drop down four large steps.
Beyond the steps,  you'll find a key on a table.  You will also be attacked by
more bats.  As usual when you are attacked by infinite numbers of a particular
enemy, you should run away first, fight later.  Do not stop to fight them
unless they are right in front of you, as you will only take more damage.
After you get the key, go back to the steps.  Jump up onto the second step, and
there will be a chain above you.  Jump up onto the chain and climb up it and
you'll find a hidden room.  There's a treasure chest up here with a healing
potion and six coins in it.  Use the potion if you're at less than 70% Life,
and grab all of the coins.  Now you're ready to mess with the guardroom.
There are two ways to do this; the correct way is to climb down the chain and
jump towards the beast's cage, making sure that you do not touch the
imp.  The key you just picked up is the key to the beast's cage.  Use the key
to unlock the beast's cage, and then jump quickly to the chain and climb back
out of the room.  The beast will frighten the imp, causing the imp to fly away.
Then you just have to go down into the room while the beast is in his cage,
flick the lower switch with your mace, and climb back out.  To do this without
taking damage, position yourself on the chain so that you are facing towards
the switches.   As soon as the beast walks back into his cage, slide down the
chain (Left+Down Diagonal on D-Pad) to get into the room.  Then quickly duck
down & fire your mace at the lower switch.  Finally, jump up onto the chain and
climb out of the room.  You should be able to do this entire sequence without
taking any damage whatsoever.  And now for the incorrect way to do this.
If you come into contact with the imp, he will pull the upper switch, thus
raising the chain out of the room.  He will then unlock the beast's cage and
fly away.  If this happens, quickly flick both switches with your mace.  The
chain will lower back down for you so that you may climb out.  Either way, the
whole point of Ishran's Lair, Upper Level is to flick the lower switch in this
guardroom.  This will create a bridge back down in the Lower Level.  As for the
beast in the cage... don't even think about fighting it.  It cannot be killed.
By anything.

h. Return to the Lower Level

Run to the left and take the elevator back down.  Bats will get in your way
again while you're doing this.  Stand in the elevator and actually press "Down"
to get it to move.  After you get off the elevator, run straight to the left
until you get back to the vine.  You don't have to worry about traps, for once.

i. Ishran's Lair, Lower Level

Slide down the vine and run all the way to the left of Ishran's Lair.  You will
see a bridge over a pit of acid; that bridge is the reason why you went to
the Upper Level to flick the switch.  You need that bridge to reach Ishran! In
this area, you will see two pools of acid; one with a bridge over it and one
with no bridge.  Jump over the second pit of acid.  You will now see a huge
boulder, three switches on the left wall, a crane in the ceiling, and a spike
in the ground on the other side of the acid pit.  The three switches control
the motion of the crane.  Now you must play "Skill Crane" to pick up the
boulder and drop it onto the spike.  Jump up and mace the top switch to open
and close the claw on the crane.  Stand up and mace the middle switch to move
the crane left or right.  Duck down and mace the lower switch to move the crane
up or down.  To solve this puzzle based on how everything is set up when you
first reach this room, first hit the middle switch once to move the crane all
the way to the left.  Next hit the lower switch, which will cause the crane to
move up.  Hit the switch two more times for the crane to go down.  When the
claw appears to be in the correct spot so that it could grab onto the top of
the boulder, hit the lower switch one more time to stop the crane.  If it's not
lined up right, keep messing with the lower switch until the crane is
positioned right.  Now you need to hit the upper switch.  Jump up and mace.
The claw will close.  If you have everything positioned right, the crane will
now have a grip on the boulder.  Hit the lower switch to move the crane up;
if the boulder also goes up, you have done everything right.  If the boulder
does not go up, hit the top switch again to open the claw, and then the bottom
switch to reposition and try again.  Once the boulder is being held up by the
crane, hit the middle switch twice to move it all the way to the right.
Finally, hit the top switch one last time to drop the boulder onto the spike.
You must drop the boulder onto the spike; if you drop it ANYWHERE else, you
cannot complete the game, so hit reset if you did.  Now that you've dropped
the boulder onto the spike, you will see that most of the boulder has broken
and disappeared; only one relatively small stone is left.  Run into the stone
to move it.  Push the stone over the bridge (that's why you needed the bridge).
You should push it all the way to the right, so that it is sitting on the
seesaw-like lever.  The stone should now appear to be sitting on the lever
instead of on the ground.  Now you have to climb up the vine and jump off to
the right, landing on the other side of the lever.  This may take a few tries,
but keep at it.  Once you've done it right, the stone will fly up into the air.
When you see this happen, IMMEDIATELY run to the left and stand in the
elevator.  You have to be fast so that you are in the elevator when the stone
lands in the other side of it.  If you are not fast enough, the elevator will
rise without you, and it will be impossible for you to complete the game. When
the stone lands in the other side of the elevator, your side of the elevator
will rise up... taking you, at last, to Ishran.

j. Ishran

Run to the left after you step off of the elevator and you will encounter
Ishran, the evil dragon.  After he makes threats against your safety, he
will attack you.  Again, if you try to dodge his attacks, this fight is just
going to take longer and you will suffer more damage.  Just keep wailing on
Ishran with your mace and he will die rather quickly.  Now jump up and mace
the sack that is hanging from the ceiling.  As soon as the sack begins to
fall, STOP ATTACKING.  If you continue to attack, the man who was trapped in
the sack will disappear, and it will now be impossible for you to finish the
game (so if he disappears before he talks to you, hit reset).  Once the man
is rescued, he will thank you repeatedly for saving him.  He will tell you to
visit his master, Barloom, for your reward.  Now you can attack him, but you
can't kill him.  He will disappear, but it has no effect on the rest of the
game.

k. Good Riddance, Ishran

Run to the right until you fall back down in the Lower Level of Ishran's Lair.
Now go right and exit the lair, running all the way back to the vine from
"d. Tree Roots and a Vine".  You should encounter no enemies or traps
whatsoever until you reach the vine, where more ghoulish bats will appear.
Climb down the vine, and you will see that you have two ways to go; left or
right.  Jump either left or right off of the vine, avoiding the acid pit.

l.  If You Go Left...

Going left is optional.  The game can be beaten without you ever going this
way.  Travel to the left while jumping over acid pits.  After you jump across
the second pit, you will be attacked by a giant with a mace that is similar to
your weapon.  This giant can only be killed by being pushed into the acid pit
by your mace, so that's what you have to do.  The best way to do this seems to
be to almost constantly jump and mace towards the giant, preventing him from
attacking.  The giant cannot be hit with your mace while he is attacking, so
be careful that you don't run into him when he's not moving, since running into
him causes a lot of damage.  Keep jumping to the left and macing (hold down the
attack button for a far reaching mace attack) and push him into the next acid
pit.  Jump across that pit and you'll encounter a second giant, and this one
has to be pushed a lot further with your mace.  Use the same strategy, and push
him into the next acid pit.  You will see a treasure chest while you are doing
this; ignore it for now.  You'll get to it later.  After you push the giant
into the acid pit, jump across it and you'll come to an Inn.  Stand in front
of the Inn and press "Up" to enter.  The inside of the Inn is very interesting
looking, but you're here for one purpose only; a bottle of alcohol.  Go to
the left and run up the flight of stairs.  You'll find a bottle conveniently
left on the floor.  Pick it up and return to the entrance of the Inn.  Press
"Up" to exit the Inn.  Back outside, continue onward to the left.  There are
five more acid pits to jump across.  Be careful not to fall into the pit or
you'll get hurt.  When you finally reach the end of this passageway, you'll
find a treasure chest with six coins inside.  Grab the coins and head back to
the right.  There are no enemies on the way out, thank goodness.  Stop at the
other treasure chest that you ran by earlier, and take the Healing Potion and
six coins from inside.  Use the Potion and continue going to the left, all the
way back to the vine.

m.  If You Go Right...

This leads to Barloom's Lair.  There is a pit with tree roots growing in it,
so navigate down through them to get down into the pit.  There is some kind
of slime hazard dripping down on the sides of the pit.  Try to stay as far from
it as possible as you go down.  You will probably take some damage (of course).
The slime drops on the left side of the pit can explode at random, so watch
out for that, too.  Your mace has no effect on this slime.

n.  Barloom

Run to the right and Barloom's face will appear.   He will thank you for
saving his guard, and open the entrance to his lair for you.  Within his
lair you will find another treasure chest, with a Healing Potion and six
coins in it.  Use the Potion if you need to, and then climb up the vine to get
to Barloom himself.  He will give you a magic scroll, and will tell you that
the old man can use his ring on the scroll to create a weapon which can destroy
Zelek.  Be sure to pick up the scroll!  If you've made it this far, you're
about half way to Zelek!

o. Return to the Beginning of the Game

Leave Barloom's lair and jump back up the tree root passage to get out of the
pit.  Jump onto the vine and climb all the way to the top.  Luckily, there are
no Ghoulish bats this time. Use the tree roots to get all the way to the top
and then go to the right.  You must go past the bridge of the man-eating fish,
but lucky you, the fish are sleeping at the moment.  Now to get past the
explosive tossing trees, which are still active.  To get past them, do the
same thing that you did in the beginning of the game.  Once you've done this,
you'll be back where you started out in this game.  Now you've explored the
entire "left" side of Kara-Moon, so it's time to go to the "right" side.

p. The Pygmy Tribe Cannot Be Bought!

Venture to the right and you'll be stopped by a dangerous looking guy holding
a spear.  He will warn you not to enter the wood, but you don't have much of a
choice in the matter.  You can try to offer items to the Pygmy, but he will
not accept them.  Oh well, he'll just have to die, then.  Jump towards him so
that you jump over his spear when he throws it, then mace him until he dies.
When you jump over the spear, but be careful not to jump while too close to the
Pygmy, or you will collide with him and get hurt.  Continue on your way to the
right, and another two Pygmies will drop out of two trees; one in front of you
and one behind you.  Mace the Pygmy in front of you, then turn around and mace
the one behind you.  Continue onward.  Two more Pygmies will fall out of trees
in front of you.  Take a step back when the first appears, then turn around and
mace them both.  Continue to the right.  Once again, two pygmies will fall out
of trees; one in front of you and one behind you.  Mace the one in front of you
first, then the one behind you, and then keep on going.  You will see another
Pygmy jump out of a tree far behind you.  Ignore him and keep going, or go back
and mace him if you like.  It doesn't matter what you do here.  Eventually, you
will see a bridge.  Approach the bridge with caution, for as you approach, a
Pygmy riding on the back of a giant insect will fly in from the right and
start throwing rocks at you.  As soon as you see him, stop running for a
second, then run out a little ways onto the bridge.  To fight him without
getting hurt, watch him as he moves through the sky.  While he is in the
process of turning around, you should face in his direction, then jump up and
hold down the Attack Button to mace as far as possible.  Your mace will hit
him, and if your timing is just right, he will not hit you.  Turn around and
repeat this process until he is defeated.  After you defeat this flying menace,
continue onward across the bridge.  Three more spear throwing Pygmies await
you.  Jump towards them to jump over their spears, then mace them.  You are now
at the top of a big hill. Run down the hill to leave the woods of those crazy
Pygmies.

q.  Beware the Deadly Slime Cannon Beast

Once you get to the bottom of the hill, you will begin to hear a strange
wooshing sound, over and over again.  This is the Slime Cannon Beast, high
above you on a platform.  Run to the right and you will run behind a platform.
Continue going right and run past two crosses in the ground.  As you approach
the first cross, slime balls will start falling from the sky.  Be ready to hit
them with your mace if you need to.  Continue going right and you will see two
final platforms.  The very last one is the first one you need to jump onto, so
jump onto it.  Now you need to turn left and jump up to the next platform.
Remember to watch out for incoming slime balls!  On this second platform,
you'll see another, even higher platform to the left.  Jump onto it.  Run all
the way to the left side of the platform and then jump up onto the fourth
platform.  From here, you will see the highest two platforms, which are joined
together by a bridge.  You will also see the Slime Cannon Beast walking around
up there, firing slime balls at you.  Run all the way to the left side of the
fourth platform and jump up to the top platform.  Now you should run left
on this platform until you get to where there is a treasure chest.  Stand
right in front of the chest, and start continually macing to the right.  
The Slime Cannon Beast will walk over to where you are, but he will not walk
past where the chest is, thus you will not get hurt by coming into contact with
him... and as we know, coming into physical contact with major enemies leaves
you in a world of hurt.  Keep hitting him with your mace until he dies; it
shouldn't take very long.  He will drop an axe when he dies.  Pick it up, but
don't use it!  You may think that you've found a new weapon, but you're wrong!
Soon you will have the realization that it's nothing but another quest
item.  Ugh.  Run to the right, all the way to the end of the bridge between
the two high platforms.  You'll see a short vine hanging down.  Jump onto the
vine and climb up it to jump left onto an even higher platform.  Then you can
jump right to a secret room.  Run to the right and some kind of slimy barrier
will stop your progress.  Hit it with your mace and it will explode (why would
it do anything else?).  Continue onward to the right to find a treasure chest.
It contains a Healing Potion and six coins.  Now, you'll run into an inventory
problem.  You are already carrying your mace, the axe, the scroll, and the
bottle of alcohol.  One more item is one too many.  So... if you could use the
Potion, use it, but if not, leave it behind for now.  You can always come back
for it later.  Chances are that you do need it now, so that solves that
problem.  Be careful, though; if you have four items, and you pick up a fifth,
your currently selected item will be discarded and replaced by the new item.
Make sure you don't leave any vital items behind by accident!

r.  Welcome to Goblin Town

Run to the left to get back to the platform where you fought the Slime Cannon
Beast.  Run off the left edge of this platform to get back to the hill that
you ran down to escape Pygmy territory.  Now, run to the right until you see
that platform that you ran behind.  Look very carefully at the ground beneath
the left-most part of that platform.  The ground there looks different that
the ground elsewhere, hmm!  I have no idea how they expect you to find this on
your own, but this is the secret entrance to the Goblin Town!  You must stand
on this strange looking patch of land and jump straight up into the air.  Not
a 100% jump, because then you'll jump all the way up onto the platform.  No,
you must depress the Jump Button just enough so that you do a 90% jump.  This
can be very difficult, but keep jumping and it'll work eventually.  You just
have to figure out exactly how long to hold the jump button.  When you do a
90% jump, you will fall down and the ground will break away beneath you!  A
stairway leads down and to the left.  Follow it to reach the Goblin Town.
The first thing you will see are more acid pits to jump over.  But these pits
have an exciting new twist; deadly crystals that rise out of them when you
try to jump across them.  Wonderful.  The only way to get past these crystals
without getting hurt is to run to the VERY edge of the pit, and then hold down
the Attack Button and the Jump Button simultaneously so that you jump and mace.
Only if you jumped at the very last instant possible, and successfully jumped
and maced at the same time, will the crystal be destroyed before you run into
it.  This is EXTREMELY difficult.  If you screw it up, it's no big deal...
unless you're playing on Ridiculous mode.  Anyway, jump&mace across the first
pit to get to the first island.  Beware of slime dripping from the ceiling.  It
can be maced, but it's best to just try your best to avoid it.  Now jump&mace
over the next pit.  Now jump&mace over the third pit... and here's a problem.
You will jump right into a Healing Potion, which will cause you to drop one
of your items if you already have four.  You also need to act quickly here
because of the slime dripping from the ceiling, so, use the potion if you need
it, and if you don't need it, run to the left edge of the island, then run
back to pick up your dropped item and return the Potion to the ground.  Now,
jump&mace over the next pit.  The next island has a treasure chest on it.
Open the chest and take the six coins that are inside.  Continue moving to the
left and jump over the final, small pit.  Fortunately there's no crystal in
this one.  Now, onward to the left, where you shall encounter your first
Goblin.  He's going to pay for those crystals; oh, is he ever.  He'll be
napping at first, but when you get close, he wakes up immediately and runs away
from you.  Chase after him until drops a barrier behind him.  Now, it looks
like you should mace the guy through the barrier, and you can do this, but you
must not do this!  If you mace the Goblin through the barrier, his buddy on the
other side will retract the bridge beneath you, causing you to fall into acid
and die.  That's not a good thing.  No, instead of using your mace, you must
use the weapon that's actually a quest item, the axe.  Use the axe and a 9
second timer will appear onscreen.  You now have 9 seconds to throw as many
axes as you want.  Throw them at the Goblin who ran from you, and at his buddy
on the other side of the barrier.  You must kill them both before the 9 seconds
run out; it's really plenty of time.  Just keep tapping the Attack Button as
fast as you can.  After the second Goblin on the other side of the barrier is
killed, the two Goblins above you will suddenly notice that you're there.
They're not the most observant guys in the universe, are they?  Run to the
right so that the rocks they throw down won't hit you.  Get behind them, then
jump up and mace them to death.  They don't even notice that you're doing this
to them!  They must be the intellectual rejects of the Goblin society.  After
you've finished off all four Goblins, you are free to break down the barrier
that blocks your passage to the left.  Hit it with your mace many times, and
it will break.  Run up the hill to the left until you see a chain hanging from
the ceiling.  Jump up onto the chain to reach the higher platform to the left.
Up here, you'll see another chain, a sign that reads "Spikes", and a switch.
Stand just to the left of the chain and face towards the switch.  Jump up and
hold down the Attack Button so that you mace the switch.  When you hit the
switch, a message appears telling you that you hear a ticking sound, and that
your time is limited.  A 9 second timer then appears onscreen.  You now have
10 seconds to run all the way to the left until you cannot go left any further,
duck down, hold down the Attack Button to mace a switch, and then run to the
right, back to where you just came from.  See that part of the floor that
appears to be made of metal?  While the timer is active, it will not do
anything.  If the timer is not active, however, huge spikes will impale anyone
who tries to walk across this area.   You need to hit the switch on the left
side of the spikes before you do anything else in Goblin Town, so it's
absolutely imperative that you take care of this now.  The most important thing
is that you must hurry!  These spikes cause IMMENSE damage!  After you've hit
the switch beyond the spikes and run back,  fall back down where you were
before.  Now you can take the lower road, which ends in a cliff.  Run off the
edge of the cliff and you'll land on a chain.  Climb down the chain a little
bit and you'll see four Goblins down below you!  Slide off the chain and
attack the Goblins to the right with your mace.  After you take them out, run
all the way to the right side of the room.  You'll find a key on the table
here.  Now, forge your way through to the left, fighting the infinite swarms of
Goblins.  Keep advancing to the left until you make it far enough, and...
a cage falls down, trapping you!

s.  The Great Escape

You've just been trapped in the Goblin's cage.  They will now automatically
take you to a prison cell.  Don't worry; you can't get hurt during this
sequence.  You are now locked in a cell with a prisoner.  If you offer the
prisoner something, he'll tell you that all he wants is his freedom.  Now
run over to the prison door, and the guard will speak to you.  He tells you
that you will be executed unless you escape.  But... if you have something that
he wants, he'll let you escape.  Aha, so that's what the bottle of alcohol is
for!  Offer him the bottle, and he'll drink up and then fall asleep.  Now is
your chance to get out!  Rapidly tap the Attack Button to mace the prison door
until it breaks.  IMMEDIATELY after the door breaks, run out of the cell,
jump onto the chain (remember that switch you hit, the switch on the far side
of the spikes?  That's what put the chain here), hit "Right" on the D-pad so
that you are facing Left, and climb up that chain as quickly as possible!  At
the top of the chain, you will see a guard who will throw a rock at you.
Splatter him with your mace as soon as possible!  The reason why you have to
do all of this so quickly is that the man who was in the cell with you has
made a dash for it, and if he beats you to the top of the chain, he will be
hit by the guard's rock and killed.  You must protect that prisoner!  You'll
find out why in a minute.  But FIRST, back in "l.  If You Go Left...", I told
you that you don't need the bottle of alcohol to beat the game.  But how do you
escape from prison without it?  Simple.  Just start wailing on the cell door
with your mace, and the guard will run over to the door.  Now you can mace him,
too!  The reason why he runs over to the door is to send an electric shock
through the cell.  This causes a little bit of damage to you, but two shocks
will kill the man in the cell with you.  Fortunately, it's easy to kill the
guard before he shocks you twice, or even once.  After the guard is killed,
continue to mace the door exactly as you would if you had done this correctly
and given him the alcohol.  Anyway, after you kill the guard at the top of the
chain, you must now go back down.  Kill the sleeping guard who helped you to
escape (that's too cruel) and take his key.  His key will unlock the other
prison cell, so climb up the chain to the next cell and use the key on the cell
door.  The prisoner inside will thank you for freeing him, and then tell you
that the ring you're looking for is being held above.  Huh?  What ring?
Barloom said something about a ring earlier... a ring and an old man.. hmm...
Climb up the chain to the highest level, and jump off to the left.  You'll find
two more goblins.  These two guys are guarding none other than the infamous
"ring"!  Mace them both and take the ring.  Now run back to the right and
jump onto the chain.  To the right, you'll see the two prisoners you just
rescued trying to open the door to escape.  Fortunately, you have the key to
that door; you picked it up just before you were thrown in prison.  But... wait
a minute... doesn't that door lead to those deadly spikes?  Yes, it does.  And
you're about to do something really atrocious.  Get your key ready and
approach the door.  Unlock the door, and run out of the prison along with the
two prisoners.  Be sure to stay behind whichever prisoner is in the lead,
because he is about to be killed by a spike!  Stop so that you don't run into
the spike, then start running again.  You should now be behind the second
prisoner... who will now be killed by a spike!  Run past the spike right after
it goes down.  Congratulations, you just used the two prisoners to set off the
booby traps which prevent escape from the prison!  Continue running to the
right, drop down to the lower level, and keep on running right!  Jump back
across all of the acid pits (no crystals this time!), and finally escape from
this wretched Goblin Town!  I hope all of this was worth getting this ring!
Don't worry, it is.

t.  Crossing the River

Exit the Goblin Town and breathe the air of freedom.  After you're done taking
a breather, it's time to throw yourself into danger once again.  Run all the
way to the right until you come to a vine.  Jump onto the vine and climb down
it.  You will land on the second of four rocks in a river.  Now you have a
choice to make; fall into the river and float to the next area, or jump across
the stones?  If you fall into the river, it will carry you to a vine that has
arrows pointing to it with the word "Grab".  So, do what it says!  Jump onto
the vine and climb out of the river.  While you're climbing up the vine, you
will be attacked by bats, and there's not a thing you can do about it.  Just
keep climbing up as fast as you can and jump to the platform on the right as
soon as you see it.  Or, if you DON'T want to fall in the river... Run to the
right across the rocks, and then jump to the next rock.  When you land on this
rock, a huge beastly head will rise out of the water.  Mace him continuously
until he dies; unless you're playing on "Ridiculous" mode, the one attack that
he'll hit you with doesn't do much damage.  After he explodes (again with the
explosions), you will see two more rocks to jump over to.  Actually, one of
the "rocks" is a fake; it's a monster just waiting to dump you into the river
below if you try to jump onto it.  The left "rock" is the monster, and the
right rock is an actual rock.  Jump onto the right rock and you'll see the
rock-pretender pathetically attempt to attack you before falling into the
river.  There should now be a vine to your right.  Jump over and grab it.
Climb up the vine and jump to the platform on the right.  Your old friends
from Ishran's lair, the bats, are back for more annoyance.  Avoid and mace
them the best you can as you advance.  When you come to a vine at the end of
the platform, jump onto the vine, then immediately jump to the right off of the
vine to get away from the bats.  You're now back on solid ground!

u.  Old Man, Single, Seeks Jewelry

The first thing you'll see is another bridge.  Great, another river.  But there
doesn't seem to be any way to fall into this river.  Not yet, anyway.  Cross
the bridge and keep moving to the right.  Soon enough, a nasty looking ogre
with a sword will appear before you.  Unfortunately for you, he is invincible
to your mace.  What you need to do is get close to him, then quickly jump to
the left just when he is about to attack with his sword.  Keep going towards
him and then jumping away just as he is about to attack.  If you do this right,
you will lure him towards the bridge.  When he gets to the center of the
bridge, his excessive weight will cause the center of the bridge to break...
and he'll fall down into the river!  Ha, ha!  Jump across the gap in the
bridge and continue onward to the right.  The old man awaits!  When you meet
the old man, he will tell you that you must cross the eastern sea to reach
Zelek.  You need the horn to cross the sea, but, alas, the horn was lost to
the river below (guess where you're going next?).  Now, didn't Barloom say
something about an old man?  Oh yes, the old man can make the scroll into a
weapon!  So offer the scroll the the old man.  He will tell you that yes, this
COULD be a powerful weapon, but, alas, his ring has been lost, and thus he
cannot do anything with the scroll.  Oh but wait, you have a ring from the
Goblin Town!  Could it be the old man's ring?  Do you really have to ask?
Offer the ring to the old man, and he will thank you repeatedly for finding it
for him.  Now offer him the scroll, and a spell will appear at his feet.  This
spell has the power to destroy Zelek!  Alright, progress!  Run over and pick up
the spell.  Try using the spell.  It's not pretty, but it does decent damage.
It's also more effective against some creatures than it is against others.
Fortunately, it has infinite uses, so you don't have to worry about wearing it
out.  Now, it's time to get that horn!

v.  Farewell, Cruel World

Run left to the bridge that was just broken by the ogre.  Jump down into the
hole in the bridge and you will land in the river.  The current will sweep you
away, and you will sink into the river and be taken to another world.  When you
appear in this strange new world of giant mushrooms, you can go either left
or right.  Left is a dead-end, so go right!  You will be attacked by tiny
bats as you advance.  Constantly fire the spell as you run; that will clear the
way for you.  Run off the edge of the cliff you come to, then look to your
left.  How nice, a Healing Potion!  Grab the Potion and use it if you need to.
Run to the right until you get to a second cliff.  There is a vine which you
need to jump onto.  Jump onto the vine, then jump to the ledge on the right.
Look carefully at the ledge... you should see a horn on it.  Grab the horn and
make tracks for the vine.  Climb down the vine as quickly as possible, because
those tiny bats are murder.  When you get near the bottom of the vine, jump off
the vine to the right.  Run right until you come across a giant, talking snail.
He will offer to return you to Kara-Moon for a fee of 16 coins (so that's why
you've been looting Kara-Moon all this time).  Press "A" to accept the snail's
offer, and you'll be returned to the spot where the old man stands!

w.  One Last Battle With Your Trusty Mace

The old man will remind you about how you need the horn to reach Zelek.  Yeah,
we heard you the first time.  Switch back to your mace and continue onward to
the right.  Soon enough, you'll come across a pair of axe throwing giants.
Jump and mace them, jumping over their axes the best you can as you push them
across a bridge and to the edge of a hill.  They will stop retreating once
they reach the hill; now just keep wailing on them with the mace until they
die.  You are likely to suffer considerable damage here, but what else is new?
Once these jokers are defeated, you will not need to use your mace ever again.
It's kind of sad that you don't need it any more, isn't it?

x.  Frogs, Frogs, Everywhere

Switch back to the spell.  From now on, you'll only be using your spell to
fight.  Run to the right and you'll fall down into a swamp.  Yuck.  Once
again, you may choose to go left or right.  First go to the left, constantly
firing the spell ahead of you to kill the legion of frogs that are incessantly
attacking you.  Once you've gone all the way to the left, you'll find a key
sitting on top of the swamp.  OK, that's just downright bizarre, but, we'll
take what we can get, right?  Grab the key, and then head right, blasting your
way through the one billion frogs that will try to kill you.  Eventually you'll
get past the frogs, and you'll see something big sticking out of the swamp.
It's the home of an infinite number of gigantic, flying, swamp snakes!  You
just knew that was coming, didn't you?  Use your spell to destroy one of the
snakes while it's "flying" around near the ground, then run past the area.
Yes, at last, that was the final enemy before Zelek!  Victory is within your
grasp!

y.  Blow Your Horn!

Keep on running to the right, you're almost there now!  Go all the way to the
right until you can't go right any more.  Now, use the horn!  A dinosaur will
rise up out of the sea!  Run onto the dinosaur's back, and he will carry you
across the sea.  Once you're across, run to the right... and you'll run
straight into Zelek's castle!

z.  Zelek

This is it, the final confrontation!  Keep going right and you'll come to
a staircase leading down.  There is also a staircase leading up that you can
jump onto.  Jump onto that staircase going up!  You'll come to a locked door,
but simply use that key that you found in the swamp and the door will open.
On the other side of the door are two, count 'em, two Healing Potions!  And
chances are that you'll need them.  After you get the two Potions, go back to
the staircase that led down.  Keep on going to the right, and soon... you'll
see the big, bad Beast Mage himself, Zelek.  Only the spell can hurt him, so
don't even think about using your mace.  You must jump up and fire the spell at
him while avoiding his flames.  Whatever you do, don't get underneath him.
He will blast you with flames from the bottom of his staff, and this is more
painful than anything else he does.  Keep on attacking him and then running out
of the room as he advances toward you.  Do your best to avoid the fireball that
he throws down/left diagonally from the top of his staff, but make sure you get
your attacks in instead of just trying to dodge his!  And as a final bit of
advice, keep an eye on your Health, and use one of the Potions you found if it
gets low.  That is, if you haven't used them already.  It's up to you to
destroy Zelek once and for all and rescue your sister!  Good luck!  


4. FAQ

Q. How exactly is this game different from the Amiga version?

A. A lot of the puzzles have been dumbed down.  If you read through the
Walkthrough, you'll see where I say that you are allowed to skip an entire
section of the game, or un-flick switches that were flicked by accident.
The Amiga version is far less forgiving.  The Genesis version also provides us
with a difficulty level setting, so that we can set the game to "Easier" and
have it not be insanely hard.  Finally, there is very little text in the
Genesis version.

Q. What about the Sega CD version?

A. I have no idea.  I heard that it is also different, though.

Q. Why write a Walkthrough for such an obscure Genesis game?

A. Because this is one of the few Genesis games that I could not beat without
help, and I could not find a Walkthrough for it, anywhere.

Q. Argh!!! I can get the scroll from Barloom, but then I go to the right side
of Kara-Moon and am demolished!  What should I do?!

A. Practice doing the right side without doing the left.  You need the scroll
from Barloom to defeat Zelek, but you can practice everything else on the
"right" side without going to the "left" side first.

Q. Is "Ridiculous" mode really as hard as you make it sound?

A. No.  It's harder.  I honestly don't know how in the heck you could
possibly beat this game on "Ridiculous".  It's like every little enemy
attack takes away 10% of your Health, and direct attacks from major enemies
kill you in about two seconds.  You'd need to master the game and then just
get really lucky and not take too much damage to have any hope of winning.

Q. What can I do with the mace?

A. The mace is your most useful item.  The mace is used to fight (most)
enemies, flick switches, open treasure chests, and destroy spiked stones.  To
do a short distance quick attack, quickly tap the Attack Button.  To do a long
range attack that takes a relatively long time to execute, hold down the Attack
Button.  For medium range, let go of the Attack Button once your mace has gone
as far as you want it to go.  In combat, your most damaging attack is a flurry
of fast short range attacks.  But, it's usually better to keep your distance
and hit the enemy with long range attacks.

Q. I didn't complete (fill in the blank) puzzle as is it described in the
Walkthrough.  Now it doesn't seem to be possible to complete the puzzle or
advance to the next area.  What should I do?

A. Hit the reset button.  You'll be doing this a lot.

Q. What's the difference between "Using" and "Offering" an item?

A. To "use" an item, select it and then hit the "use" button.  To offer an
item, first hit Start to access the inventory screen.  Now select the item
you want to offer.  Once you've selected it, press Button A to offer the item
to whoever is close to you.

Q. Some monsters give point values when they are destroyed.  What's up with
that?

A. Don't worry about scoring points.  Points are completely worthless.  You
aren't even told what your score is when you win or lose the game.

Q. How do I open the treasure chests?

A. Hit them with your mace and they will explode.  Just about everything in
Kara-Moon explodes at one point or another; you'd think that the area is full
of dynamite.

Q. Killing Ishran is extremely satisfying, don't you think?

A. Indeed.

Q. Why does the back of the game's box contain the statement, "All new
monsters- More than 100 of 'em", when there are clearly fewer than 100 monsters
in this game?

A. This is a typical back-of-the-box blunder seen in countless video games
throughout the entire history of games.  Either that, or they're counting the
infinite monster spawns as multiple monsters.  But if that were the case, why
didn't they just say "More than 1,000,000,000 of 'em"?

Q. This game is too @#$% hard!!!

A. That's not really a question, is it?


5. Credits

"Shadow of the Beast II", or "Beast II" as it is called in-game, is a trademark
of Psygnosis Ltd.  Copyright 1992

The Original Game was made by Reflections

The Mega Drive/Genesis conversion was done by WJS Design

The Sega Genesis version is Copyright 1992 Electronic Arts.  This version is
for play on the Sega Genesis System.

Sega and Genesis are trademarks of Sega Enterprises, Ltd.

Special Thanks to Seth Paul (SPaul).  Without his help, I never would have
found the entrance to the Goblin Town!  Check out his Shadow of the Beast II
FAQ/Walkthrough for information on the Amiga version of the game; it was the
inspiration for this Genesis version Walkthrough.

"Prologue" plot background information summarized from the "Shadow of the Beast
II" instruction manual, Sega Genesis version.

Again, this is a completely unofficial not-for-profit FAQ/Walthrough, intended
only to help people play this game.  Keep it that way!

Thank you for reading this one-of-a-kind (as far as I know) Shadow of the Beast
II for Sega Genesis Walkthrough!  I hope it helped!