ARKISTA'S RING Genre: Action/Adventure Publisher: American Sammy Corporation http://www.sammyusa.com/ FAQ Writer: Walter "SiliconHero" Williams misterpoyozo@hotmail.com FAQ Version: 1.0 ================================================================================ TABLE OF CONTENTS ================================================================================ I. DISCLAIMER II. VERSION INFORMATION A. CONTROLS B. WALKTHROUGH C. GAME INFO 1. Enemies 2. Equipment ================================================================================ I. DISCLAIMER ================================================================================ I, SiliconHero, claim myself to be the sole author of this walkthrough. The latest versions of this walkthrough can always be found at the following websites: http://www.skytowergames.net/ (Sky Tower Games - my website) http://www.gamefaqs.com/ (GameFAQs) If you want to use this guide on your webpage, you MUST ask for my permission first by sending an e-mail to the address (or addresses) above. This FAQ is only to be distributed in its original form, retaining this disclaimer, and any part bearing my name/alias. I worked hard on this guide, and I don't want anyone ripping off my work. And last but not least, this guide is NOT to be used for ANY commercial purposes. This includes game magazines, being packaged as part of a CD or other digital media, or placement on any "pay-per" membership sites. All questions concerning this guide and/or its author should be directed to misterpoyozo@hotmail.com. If you have anything that you'd like to add to this walkthrough, then it would be greatly appreciated, as well. ================================================================================ II. VERSION INFORMATION ================================================================================ version 1.0 - November 23, 2002 - This is a "complete" walkthrough, so to speak, as it includes help for getting through to the point where you have to defeat the Shogun to get Arkista's ring. Enemy information has been added, but I haven't added how many HP they have to take before going down. Perhaps I'll include that in a later update. ================================================================================ A. CONTROLS ================================================================================ Control Pad - move Christine around. A button - fires an arrow from Christine's bow. B button - pauses and selects an item from Christine's inventory. Press the A button on a highlighted item to use it. Select Button - only used between stages. Checks Christine's current status. Start Button - same as the B button. ================================================================================ B. WALKTHROUGH ================================================================================ Stage 1 + The first stage is very easy. You'll be met with very little opposition here, as Scorpions, Goblins and Poison Weeds are your only foes. You need only kill most of the Scorpions and Goblins to make the key appear. + After you kill three enemies, a Poison Weed will appear in the small forest maze to the east. Kill it to obtain an item. Stage 2 + Wolves make their first apearance on this level. They're faster than Scorpions, but can still be killed in one hit. Defeat the enemies and take the key sitting to the north of the volcano. + Both of the Poison Weeds (the one at the base of the volcano and the one guarding the door) contain items. Stage 3 + This field is a bit more open, with trees scattered about. There are a lot of Wolves here, as well. As you defeat them, a Magician and a Goblin should appear. Kill enough enemies to force the appearance of another Poison Weed, and kill it to obtain the Key to the gate. Stage 4 + Now you're in a village, where the Goblins have taken over. Watch out for the holes in the ground. If you walk on one of them, then you'll lose a health point. Weave your way around the buildings and slay the Goblins and Magicians until the Key appears. You'll see one of the Goblins being held in place by the door. Once you unlock the door, he'll attack. Defeat him and take the stairway that he was guarding. Stage 5 + This underground area is populated by Zombies and Bats. + There are three different exits that appear to lead to the next level, but only the one on the north-west side is the correct one. The others will disappear when you touch them. + If you're low on health, you can enter the room with the Healing Stone to recover (touch the block with the cross on it). You can only use it once per level, though. Stage 6 + In this level, the generation point of the Key is right near the staircase where you start, but you'll have to do a bit of meandering around and fighting Skeletons and Slimes until you can get it to appear. The door and staircase are both on the south end. Stage 7 + Now, you've entered a sewer. You'll see Worms emerging from the water to the right, and a quasi-invincible Skeleton Knight roaming around nearby. If you try to shoot it, its bones will crumble, but it will get back up after a few seconds. If you have yourself a holy stick from a previous encounter, use it, and the Skeleton Knight will disappear, leaving behind an item. When you kill all the Worms, the key will emerge, but so will some Squids in the locked rooms to the left. You don't have to kill them all to advance - only the one in the room on the northwest side. Stage 8 + The pathways in this section of the sewer are tight, and they're guarded by Squids. Since you can't maneuver very well in these paths, use the Thunder Wand to eliminate a cluster of them so that you can proceed. Most of the Squids carry items, so be sure to pick those up. The exit should be on the north-east side. Stage 9 + After escaping from the sewer, you should re-emerge on a snowy plain. There aren't many tough enemies to worry about here. The Scorpions should fall with one show of your bow, and the Amoeba shouldn't pose a problem as long as you have a Holy Stick. Getting to the exit will require you to push through the mountains in the northeast to make some of them disappear. Stage 10 + You're back underground, where you have to contend with Skeletons, Slimes, cave Bats, and a Will-o'-the-Wisp. The Wisp is in a room that guards the exit to the next area, so you'll need to get the Key on the north-west side by killing all of the other enemies in the room. Stage 11 + Your playing field is split in half by a long line of trees. On your side of the fence are a horde of Goblins, and on the other side, a handful of Fire Spirits (these monsters can take quite a beating). Defeat as many Goblins as you can until the Key appears, and then use it on the odd-looking tree (?!) to pass through. Defeat the Fire Spirits that stand in your way, and then head for the castle up north. Stage 12 + This castle level is relatively simple, with more easy-to-beat-up enemies. Kill them all and grab the key, and then go through the door to reach the stairs. Stage 13 + This floor of the castle is surprisingly wide open. It should give you enough room to run around while dodging and shooting at Pixies. There are also Shadow Spirits in the room. Your arrows will pass right through them, so break out a magic wand and zap them with it. Stage 14 + When you enter here, head right for the center room and kill off the Crawlers. When you turn to leave, you'll meet some hunched-over Skeletons. You can shoot at them, but they'll just regenerate themselves to attack you later. If you have one, use a magic wand on them. If you don't, ignore them and go after the Black Jelly outside of the room. This should generate the Key, which you can use to unlock the room with the Healing stone in that center room, and the stairway to the next level. Stage 15 + This stage is a little tougher. Take out the armored Knights in each corner of the room, and then go after the Ghosts flying around. When you defeat them, a Manticore will appear in the middle of the room. It will walk back and forth slowly and shoot its tail spikes at you if you get close. A direct attack against it will certainly cause you to lose a lot of life, so hide behind a wall and use the Fire Wand and pelt it with fireballs. Defeating the Manticore should earn you the Key that you need to proceed. Stage 16 + You'll be dropped off in the wilderness now. Beat up the surrounding Goblins for items (use any Cure Potions in your inventory to make room), and watch out for flying Tengus. Push your way through the odd-looking trees to reach the center of the forest and grab the next Key. Stage 17 + You'll be assaulted by Tengus in this part of the forest. Defeat them all, and then head north-east to the resting place of the Key. Unless you have a Holy Stick handy, just ignore the Amoebae and head toward the exit at the north- west. Stage 18 + Here in the graveyard, you'll be attacked by Ghouls, who hide in the ground, and then chase after you when you come near. Shooting at them will cause them to hide for a while, but then they'll get back up and chase after you some more until you use a Holy Stick on them. If you don't have one, then ignore them and go after the Slimes. Kill them all and grab the Key lying in the center, and then head back to the north to enter the tomb. Stage 19 + Head into the narrow pathways and shoot down the Slimes and Skeletons. You'll have to do a lot of walking around because there are a few coffins lying in your path. Stage 20 + More narrow pathways in this level, AND you'll have to contend with floating Skull Ghosts. Shoot them down and go for the Key in the center room. Next, head to the south-east toward the door, and follow that path to the stairs, clearing your way of the Skeletons by using magic. Stage 21 + Shoot down the many Bats flying around the room, and then go into the center room to fight the Vampire. You'll have a little more room to dodge his fire this time, but he takes a great deal of shots to bring down (even more so than the Manticore). If you have the Elf Mirror, then you can stand in front of him and face his shots. If not, then you'll have to go down the ladder into the room where he appeared, and stand on either side of him (he can only move up or down, never left or right). Grab the Key to continue. Stage 22 + This level will take you into a pinkish-looking cave, with four doors blocking your way. Defeat the swooping Bats to make the Key appear. Use a Thunder Wand or a Holy Stick on the Will-o'-the-Wisps that appear. There are plenty of fake exits in the narrow corridors, and each one you step on will cause another bat to appear. The correct one lies in a room at the north-east of the map. Stage 23 + Another cavern with more of those nasty corridors. First, take out as many Slimes as you can in order to generate the Key at the south of the map, and then go back to the North, heading down the LOOOONG path on the left side of the map. Open the door to reach the exit. Stage 24 + You'll start out in a wide-open room full of Crawlers. As you start to pick them off, slower-moving, but harder-hitting Golems will surface. They'll shave two hearts from your Health Bar if they get close. Stay at a distance from them and use the Fire Wand to power up your bow. When you defeat these enemies, a swift Ninja will appear, and start chasing you around the room. This bugger will do even more damage to you (3 hearts worth), but if you have good arrow strength, he won't last long. Grab the Key, and then open the second door from the left to find the exit. Stage 25 + This room is very wide open, and as soon as you move forward, you'll get swarmed by a group of Ninjas. Using a Thunder Wand won't get rid of all of them right away...you'll have to put a Fire Wand on and start shooting away. You'll have to be nimble, because one of those Ninjas will slash at you and do *6* life points worth of damage (which will kill you if you have anything less than a shield equipped). Use a Ninja Stunner if you have one. Stage 26 + Kill the Crawlers, and then take the second path from the left, making sure to check the wall for fake blocks. Defeat the Squids, and use a Fire Wand to push back the Manticore. Defeat it, and head straight ahead toward the Ninja pagoda. Stage 27 + The Green Ninjas on this level have an annoying habit of jumping over walls to try to get to you. If you have any Ninja Stunners saved, use them to immobilize these Ninjas, and shoot away. You'll have to beat every last enemy in this room before you can get the Key. Stage 28 + This room is filled with blue Star Ninjas. These guys don't have the ability to hop over walls like their green cousins, but they can still annoy you just the same with their shuriken-throwing ability. If you kill half of them off, a very speedy white Elite Ninja will accost you (it can also shoot and jump). Use the Ninja Stunner to prevent him from attacking you, and then unload a quiver on him. Stage 29 + You'll enter a wide-open room with Golems and red Ninjas of all varieties. Get them out of the way as quickly as you can, and then concentrate your fire on the lumbering Golems. Stage 30 + Lots of Ninjas will come swarming after you. If you don't have a handful of Ninja Stunners, then you'll have to rely on Cure Potions and sheer luck to survive this battle. Once all of the Ninjas are disposed, you'll have to find the Key, and navigate your way past a bunch of hard-to-see fake exits (note: the only real one is placed behind a door). Stage 31 + Oh, boy...you've done away with most of the Ninjas, but you still have one very angry Shogun Warrior to contend with. This Shogun will dart around the room throwing shurikens and lightning bolts at you. If you have the Elf Mirror, then you should be fine, but if you don't, you're in for a world of hurt. Try to stay as far away from the Shogun as you can, and shoot him down with arrows. Defeating this powerful baddie will earn you the prized Arkista's Ring. Grab the key in the Middle, and then use the Healing Stone on the upper-right if necessary, and escape the Pagode through the door on the upper-left. This will take you back outside, where you can watch the castle crumble. You've beaten the game!!!.....or have you? Exit the castle, and you'll start on Stage 32, where the enemies are faster and harder to shoot down this time around. ================================================================================ C. GAME INFO ================================================================================ C.1. Enemies ================================================================================ Scorpion - Moves slowly. - Appears on Stages: 1, 9. - Points: 100 Goblin - Moves slowly, and sometimes throws axes at you. - Appears on Stages: 1-4, 11, 16. - Points: 100 Poison Weed - Stays in one spot and shoots at you. - Appears on Stages: 1-3. - Points: 200 Wolf - Moves relatively slowly, chasing after you. - Appears on Stages: 2-3. - Points: 200 Magician - Moves quickly, darting around the field at diagonals. - Appears on Stages: 3-4. - Points: 400 Zombie - Moves slowly. - Appears on Stages: 5. - Points: 100 Bat - Flies slowly in a wave pattern toward you. - Appears on Stages: 5, 10, 22. - Points: 500 Skeleton - Moves slowly. - Appears on Stages: 6, 10, 19. - Points: 300 Slime - Stays in one spot and shoots at you. - Appears on Stages: 6, 10, 18-19, 23. - Points: 300 Skeleton Knight - Moves slowly. - Appears on Stages: 7. - shooting it will cause this Skeleton to fall apart. Use the Holy Stick to kill it. - Points: 600 Worm - Moves slowly. - Appears on Stages: 7. - Points: 100 Squid - Stays in one spot and shoots at you. - Appears on Stages: 7-8. - Points: 200 Ghost - Moves quickly, darting around the field at diagonals. - Appears on Stages: 8, 15. - Points: 400 Amoeba - Moves very slowly. - Appears on Stages: 9, 17. - can only be defeated with the Thunder Wand. - Points: 2000 Will-o'-the-Wisp - Moves very slowly. - Appears on Stages: 10, 22. - your shots will pass right through it. Use the Holy Stick to kill it. - Points: ? Fire Spirit - Moves very slowly while throwing rocks at you. - Appears on Stages: 11. - Points: 1000 Pixie - Flies slowly in a wave pattern toward you. - Appears on Stages: 13. - Points: 500 Imp - Moves slowly. - Appears on Stages: 12. - Points: 100 Shadow Spirit - Moves very slowly. - Appears on Stages: 13, 15. - your shots will pass right through it. Use the Holy Stick to kill it. - Points: 2000 Crawler - Moves slowly. - Appears on Stages: 14, 24. - Points: 100 Black Jelly - Stays in one spot and shoots at you. - Appears on Stages: 14. - Points: 200 Skeleton 2 - Moves very slowly. - Appears on Stages: 14, 20. - shooting it will cause this Skeleton to fall apart. Use the Holy Stick to kill it. - Points: 600 Knight - Moves very slowly. - Appears on Stages: 15 - Points: 300 Manticore - Moves very slowly (up and down), and shoots its tail spikes at you. - Appears on Stages: 15, 26 - Points: 5000 Tengu - Flies slowly in a wave pattern toward you. - Appears on Stages: 16-17. - Points: 400 Ghoul - Hides in the ground and chases you at normal speed. - Appears on Stages: 18, 22 - shooting at the Ghouls will force them into hiding temporarily. Use the Holy Stick to kill it. - Points: ? Skull Ghost - Moves quickly, darting around the field at diagonals. - Appears on Stages: 20. - Points: 400 Vampire - Moves very slowly, and shoots fireballs at you. - Appears on Stages: 21 - Points: 5000 Golem - Moves very slowly. Does 2 Life Points damage if it touches. - Appears on Stages: 24, 29. - Points: 1500 Sword Ninja - Moves quickly, and attacks with a sword. - Appears on Stages: 24-25 - Points: 500 Gremlin - Flies slowly in a wave pattern toward you. - Appears on Stages: 25. - Points: 500 Hopping Ninja - Moves quickly, and can hop over walls. - Appears on Stages: 27, 30. - Points: 2000 Beast - Moves very slowly (up and down), and shoots fireballs at you. - Appears on Stages: 27. - Points: ? Star Ninja - Moves very quickly, and shoots throwing stars at you. - Appears on Stages: 28. - Points: 800 Elite Ninja - Moves extremely quickly, shoots throwing stars at you AND hops over walls. - Appears on Stages: 29-30. - Points: 3000 Shogun - Moves very quickly, and shoots shurikens and lightning bolts at you. - Appears on Stage: 31 - Points: 10,000. Holds Arkista's Ring. ================================================================================ C.2. Equipment ================================================================================ Items are usually found in small pouches left behind by enemies. The items that they give away are completely random. If you pick up a pouch and hear the normal "item obtained" sound effect, but don't see anything pop up in your pouch, then you've probably stumbled upon a bow or arrow upgrade. Bow upgrades will increase Christine's shot distance, allowing her to hit enemies from further away, and Arrow upgrades will increase her shot power, allowing her to take down enemies with fewer hits. The bow/arrow strength progression increases like this: Short -> Cross -> Middle -> Long -> Giant In order to view how strong your bow or arrow is, you'll need to check the Status screen by pressing the Select button between stages. Fire Wand - gives Christine's shots the power of fire, allowing them to pass through most solid objects. Thunder Wand - destroys all enemies on the screen. Holy Stick - wipes out creatures that can't be killed with your bow, like the Skeleton Knights in Stage 7. Cure Potion - recovers Christine's health. Leather Armor, Shield, Gauntlet, Helmet, and Mantle - extends Christine's maximum hit total by one, allowing her to absorb an extra hit before she dies. If she has all of these items, then she can take as many as ten hits before dying. Extra Pouch - increases Christine's bag capacity, allowing her to hold one more item. Extra Life - gives Christine an extra life. Elf Mirror - Protects Christine from projectile attacks. Heart - restores one heart to Christine's Life meter instantly. Will usually happen if her bag is full when she retrieves a pouch. Point Bonus - Gives Christine a 500 point or 2000 point bonus Ninja Stunners - holds those pesky Ninjas in place. Doesn't appear until at least Stage 24. Arkista's Ring - restores your health as you walk around.