Rygar The Legendary Walkthrough James Browne 04.09.03 _____________________________ Version 2.0 (09.28.04) Glitch update: I forsaw wrong - tons of added glitches with new gameplay options Walker Boh from Bisqwit's NES time attack site (http://bisqwit.iki.fi/nesvideos/) has introduced us all to an incredible glitch called "Air-Walk" never before seen. Read the glitches section for more info. _____________________________ Version 1.0 (04.09.03) I do not forsee any revisions Copyright 2003 James Browne Used with permission ziplock1977@yahoo.com _____________________________ Rygar Info- System: NES Publisher: Tecmo, Inc. Release Date: 1987 _____________________________ Table of Contents: I. Introduction II. Story III. Controls A) Title Screen B) Platform Levels C) Overhead Levels D) Inventory Screen E) Notes IV. Items A) Weapons B) Drop Items C) Use Items D) Inventory Items 1) Use Items 2) Boost Items 3) Spells V. Statistics A) Explanation B) Tone C) Last D) Progression VI. Levels A) Platform Levels 1) Sueru Mountain 2) Gran Mountain 3) Rolsa 4) Eruga's Forest 5) Primeval Mountain 6) Den of Sagila 7) Ragua Sando 8) Lapis 9) The Tower of Garba B) Overhead Levels 1) Garloz 2) Dorago's Palace 3) Sky Castle VII. Enemies A) Minions B) Bosses VIII. Walkthrough A) Introduction B) Mission 1: Grappling Weapon C) Mission 2: Wind Pulley D) Mission 3: Crossbow E) Mission 4: Indora's Suit of Armor F) Mission 5: God's Coat of Arms G) Mission 6: Pegasus Flute H) Mission 7: Defeat Ligar I) Ending (**SPOILERS**) IX. Glitches A) General B) Levels C) Enemies X. Challenges A) Time Attack B) Deathless Rygar C) Level Progression D) No Healing XI. Notes ............................................................................... I. Introduction Somehow, somewhere, this m-piece got thrown into the mix and overlooked by just about everyone in the eighties. It wasn't until about three years after its release it started to get talked about and noticed for the advanced artistry it showed. Such a well planned adventure game deserves to be recognized by any classic gamer. Basically, Rygar was ahead of its time. It moved on from the strict adherence to level structure and numbers and allowed you to move freely throughout a large land, almost with a Zelda feel (especially in the overhead levels). The enemies were creative and well rendered, and as a kicker, they were properly placed with the right difficulty. The level progression was unique, yet cryptic, but didn't make you worry too much about levels, strength, hit points, and other confusing attributes way overdone in many adventure games and RPG's. Rygar was on my top-ten must play games of the time and still is good for a bit of fun and nostalgia. Advanced graphics combine detailed enemies with moving sunsets, as well as creative, diverse environments. Although freakish, the creatures, ranging from spiked pill bugs to two headed dragons, project the exact image they should - don't feel bad for killing everything in sight. Faceless Rygar is as technically structured as he needs to be considering the limitations of the time. In other words, he gets the point across without need for complex elaboration. The songs, while looping about every fifteen seconds, are quite catchy, and with their abundance, when they are repeated, it is usually much later in the game. While obviously not symphony orchestrations, the computer created songs in Rygar could have been much worse. The sound effects, however, are scarce and tried, and don't get me started on the annoying, repeating boss effect. As with many other games of the era, with proper utelization, two buttons is all you really need to make a good console game. With use of the start-menu option used in a plethora of adventure games, a whole new set of alternatives opens. Furthermore, Rygar uses a blend of platform fighting as well as overhead view exploration. Differrent abilities may be used in each, but it never gets confusing. The maps are well laid out and the player has little or no difficulty figuring out which way to turn. Some character overload can get a bit hectic, but whenever two or more enemies are on the screen in any Nintendo game, this is bound to happen. Bad guys get increasingly more thick skinned, yet always predictable, making it somewhat of a challenge the whole way, and the only problem with the game would be the absence of a save or password function, although continuing from the start of the recent level is always an option while the game remains on. The lack of a saving/password ability may take a few points from replay value, but if you have an hour to kill, Rygar is certainly a good way to do it. There is something about Rygar that a person can't put on paper, but I for one will carry it with me forever. Bash, smash, and kill anything that moves. It's not too brainy, but games like Rygar paved the way for the Grand Theft Autos of the world. ............................................................................... II. Story If they had to do it all over again, but could change only one thing, this would definitely be it. The player isn't exactly sure what Rygar's role is, how he rose from the dead, why he is killing everything, why he is being helped, etc. I was hoping to answer some of these questions by finishing the game, but alas, I was disappointed. The following comes straight from the NES Rygar manual: Once there was a holy place called Argool which was founded by five legendary Indora Gods. One day, suddenly the blackest tragedy happened. The prosperous holy place, Argool was attacked by the troops of the cruel king called Ligar. The sky of the holy place was completely covered with the flying castle of Ligar and his army of dangerous beasts. These animalized soldiers came down from the sky and committed the most atrocious cruelties. In a single day, they established the kingdom of EVIL. In addition, Ligar took away the "Door to Peace" symbolizing the peace that had been created by Indora. The hope for peace disappeared with the loss of the "Door to Peace" and the people of Argool ceased to smile and could only pray for salvation. They prayed an ancient passage to counter the fulfilled prophecy of Ligar's evil reign of terror. The legend says, "When the peaceful land is covered with EVIL SPIRITS, a brave soldier will be brought to life from the dead, for the purpose of saving persecuted people. The people of Argool's painful prayers were so loud that it reverberated throughout the mountains and traveled a long distance in the land of Algosu. And at last - Rygar, the hero came back from the dead in order to restore peace to the land of Argool, battling the forces of evil everywhere. Join forces with Rygar! O.K., this clears things up a bit, but the best part of an adventure game is the story and a bit throughout the game would made all the difference in the world. ............................................................................... III. Controls A) Title Screen Start: Begin game/continue game B) Platform Levels D-pad left: Move Rygar west D-pad right: Move Rygar east D-pad up: Nothing D-pad down: Crouch Select: Pause Start: Access inventory A: Jump B: Use diskarmor D-pad up/down + B: Use grappling weapon B (at crossbow stump): Use crossbow D-pad up/down (at rope): Climb rope D-pad left/right (at rope): Use wind pulley C) Overhead Levels D-pad left: Move Rygar west D-pad right: Move Rygar east D-pad up: Move Rygar north D-pad down: Move Rygar south Select: Pause Start: Access inventory A: Jump B: Use diskarmor B (at crossbow stump): Use crossbow D-pad up/down/left/right (at rope): Use wind pulley D) Inventory D-pad left/right: Scroll items D-pad up/down: Scroll spells A: Use item B: Use spell Select: Pause Start: Return to game E) Notes Notice the only real difference between the platform and overhead levels are the ropes and the grappling weapon. Obviously when you press down in the overhead levels you move your character south and in the platform levels you crouch. Otherwise, the attack and jump remain the same and even the crossbow and wind pulley don't change. It shouldn't take much getting used to. If Rygar dies, you will be returned to the title screen. Press start to continue at the beginning of the level on which you just died. There is no save function, so once you turn the power off, you start back at the beginning. Be sure before you end it all. ............................................................................... IV. Items A) Weapons -Diskarmor: You begin with this yo-yo like spiked shield. The diskarmor is with you throughout the whole game. It is the only weapon you'll ever receive, but it is also the only weapon you will need. Press B to swing the diskarmor. Powering up the diskarmor is an option as you progress. B) Drop Items -Single Star: Gives you one mind point in your inventory. You may store up to seven mind points allowing you to cast spells. Single stars appear sometimes when enemies are killed. -Double Star: Gives you three mind points in your inventory. Double stars also appear when certain enemies are killed. -Life Potion: Refills one HP of Rygar's life. Life potions will occasionally drop from enemies when they are defeated. C) Use Items -Grappling Weapon: They call it a weapon, but it's just a tool. Use the grappling weapon to climb to higher branches or pedistals, or even decend deeper into caves and mountains. Press up and B simultaneously to throw the grappling weapon straight up in the air. Press down and B simultaneously to decend down using the grappling weapon. The grappling weapon may only be used on platform levels and is located in Garloz. -Wind Pulley: You receive the wind pulley upon defeating Eruga and it is probably the trickiest item to get used to in the game. When you come across a rope, or create one using the crossbow, which lays horizontally across a cliff, river, or otherwise, position Rygar so his head is right next to the stump which holds the rope. You will hear a click and may cross freely. This is much easier to execute on platform levels, but once you get the hang of it, there's not much to it on overhead view levels either. -Crossbow: Many times you will find a tree stump separating you with your goal. Using the crossbow, earned from defeating Sagila, will shoot a rope from one stump to the other. Then you may simply use the wind pulley to cross. To use the crossbow, stand at the base of the stump and press the B button. If the rope doesn't appear, try again, as it must be present to cross with the pulley. D) Inventory Items 1) Use Items Two items may be present in the lower left side of your inventory. To use either one, move the arrow under the item you wish to use by pressing left/right and press the A button. -Physical Strength Potion: The potion completely heals Rygar's HP. -Pegasus Flute: Used at the top of The Tower of Lile in Rolsa, the flute has the sole purpose of creating the doorway to Sky Castle, the final stage. Note: Even with the Pegasus Flute, you may not enter the final stage until you have defeated the five bosses and collected the items from Indora. 2) Boost Items -Indora's Suit of Armor: The armor is earned from defeating Dorago, and it reduces the amount of damage inflicted by enemy attacks. You don't need to do anything to use it and simply acquiring it puts it on. -God's Coat of Arms: When defeating Belzar in Lapis, Rygar receives this as a gift from Indora. The God's Coat of Arms does nothing by itself, rather it allows you access to receive the Physical Strength Potion. Indora waits in several rooms throughout the game with the potion which you may take when you have the coat of arms. 3) Spells Three spells are on the right side spread out vertically in your inventory. Earn Mind Points (Magic Points/MP) throughout the game to use the spells. Seven Mind Points may be stored until needed. Each one does something different and will cost you a set amount of mind points. To use a spell, move the arrow next to the spell you want to activate by pressing up/down and press the B button. -Power Up (3 MP): Powering up will increase the distance, speed, and strength of your diskarmor. Power up as soon as you can, as the ability stays with you until you die. -Attack and Assail (5 MP): This spell allows you to attack multiple enemies from a distance. Using the spell will give you 10 attacks. Press the B button back in the game to use your diskarmor activating the spell. If there are no enemies on the screen and you swing your diskarmor, you will waste one of your attacks and the game will notify you with a buzzing sound. -Recover (7 MP): The recover spell has the same effect as the Physical Strength Potion, completely healing all of Rygar's HP. ............................................................................... V. Statistics A) Explanation In the upper left side of your inventory, you'll see two statistics, tone and last. Tone is the strength of your diskarmor and last is your defensive capabilities. B) Tone Tone is the strength of Rygar and his diskarmor. As this number increases, you will notice the number of attacks necessary to defeat enemies will decrease. Your tone begins at 30 points, but you may obtain up to 4095 points before the end of the game. C) Last As your last grows, so will your defense, allowing your HP storage to increase with each level and thus ableing you to receive more damage before you die. The level progression is a bit cryptic, but it is dynamic as it is harder to gain experience as the game moves on (mostly). Just like your tone statistic, 4095 points is the maximum, although you gain your final HP at 4000 points. D) Progression The levels seem to change with a pattern involving the number 48 for a while, but this breaks by level 6, and doubles for level 7, and then levels 7 and 8 are added to show what you need for level 9, and basically, it doesn't make too much sense. You probably won't be checking your stats that closely anyway, but the table below shows the level increments. (Notice it's harder to get to level 8 than level 9.) Level 1 (3 HP) - Last=10 Level 2 (4 HP) - Last=48 Level 3 (5 HP) - Last=96 Level 4 (6 HP) - Last=192 Level 5 (7 HP) - Last=336 Level 6 (8 HP) - Last=496 Level 7 (9 HP) - Last=992 Level 8 (10 HP) - Last=2000 Level 9 (11 HP) - Last=2992 Level 10 (12 HP) - Last=4000 ............................................................................... VI. Levels A) Platform Levels 1) Sueru Mountain Enemies: Rolpher Pragokelis The first stage of the game, Sueru Mountain, is a basic no-brainer. Just keep heading east until you get to Gran Mountain. 2) Gran Mountain Enemies: Rolpher Pragokelis Phollorakos Epolcon Gran Mountain holds the entrances to Garloz and The Tower of Garba. You won't even see the Epolcons until you have the crossbow and are on your way to the tower. You'll be ready by then. Gran Mountain also contains one recovery room and a God's Coat of Arms potion room. 3) Rolsa Enemies: Olbis Molgolin Rolsa is a valley with a couple of spins and turns taking you to Eruga's Forest at the end and Sky Castle atop The Tower of Lile. You should have the grappling hook before you enter Rolsa. 4) Eruga's Forest Enemies: Olbis Molgolin Kinatarnos Boss: Eruga Eruga's forest is home of Eruga, whom you must defeat to receive the wind pulley from Indora. Use caution, as it is very easy to fall to your doom in the forest. A hidden recovery room is here at the highest point in the forest. 5) Primeval Mountain Enemies: Rolpher Pragokelis Epolcon Primeval Mountain is a small transient level leading to The Den of Sagila. Not too much here, save the entrance to the cave. 6) Den of Sagila Enemies: Ammolum Sunyougi Wyrm Boss: Sagila A bit of a maze, The Den of Sagila is split into two parts. The first being a straight shot east to get back outside and the second is a bit tedious, but the enemies are all easy to predict and the jumps are pretty safe. Watch out for those fireballs though! The first part of the cave holds a recovery room, although I wouldn't bother going to it. Defeat Sagila to receive the crossbow from Indora. 7) Ragua Sando Enemies: Rolpher Pragokelis Epolcon Nothing here but a doorway to Lapis. A couple of jumps and a rope climb get you to the door. 8) Lapis Enemies: Ammolum Bargan Wyrm Boss: Belzar The robots are tough, but well worth it when you check your experience. Crossbow and grapple your way through the floating islands to get to Belzar and win the God's Coat of Arms. 9) Tower of Garba Enemies: Kuzeelar Demorobruzer Boss: Deathpigor Only seven different rooms, The Tower of Garba should be called "The Tower of Bosses." The only enemies here are three kuzeelars, one demorobruzer, and the boss, Deathpigor. Stand your ground, recover your health a couple of times, and win yourself the Pegasus Flute. B) Overhead Levels 1) Garloz Enemies: Hyoking Kinoble Garloz is the centerpoint for most of the game, containing the entrances to Rolsa (leading to Eruga's Forest and Sky Castle), Ragua Sando (taking you to Lapis), Primeval Mountain (and the Den of Sagila), and Dorago's Palace. It is also the first overhead view level, allowing you to see a bit more of what's going on. There is also a recovery room, a God's Coat of Arms potion room, and the grappling weapon. 2) Dorago's Palace Enemies: Red Hyoking Red Kinoble German Boss: Dorago Dorago's Palace is an overhead view level like Garloz with some pretty tough enemies. Follow the path, jump a whole lot, crossbow/pulley a couple of times, and skip the God's Coat of Arms potion room (you probably don't have it yet) to get to the boss Dorago and get Indora's Suit of Armor. 3) Sky Castle Enemies: Shadow German Shadow kinoble Shadow Dorago Boss: Ligar The final overhead view level (and the final level) Sky Castle holds one God's Coat of Arms potion room and a whole bunch of silhouette creatures, tougher than anything you've seen so far. Fight your way to the final boss, Ligar, and return peace to Argool. ............................................................................... VII. Enemies A) Minions -Ammolum Locations: Den of Sagila, Lapis These pill bug creatures come out of the ground and roll at Rygar inflicting minimal damage. Jump on their backs to stun them. Ammolum's are skin swaps of Rolphers. -Bargan Location: Lapis Bargan, the super-robot, falls from the sky and shoots lazers as tall as him at Rygar. He is worth extensive experience, but is difficult to slay. Jump on his head to evade, but he will not stun. -Demorobruzer Location: Tower of Garba This beast fights like Sagila the spider, but twice as fast. Hopefully, you'll have enough power to not worry about any strategy. Just jump and swing away. -Epolcon Locations: Gran Mountain, Primeval Mountain, Ragua Sando The token dragons of adventure games, Epolcons fly through the sky above Rygar's head and drop eggs on him. They are pretty thick skinned and cannot be jumped on. -German Location: Dorago's Palace These muscular beasts walk on all fours and mix up their movements to confuse you. Your best bet is to stay in the air keep swinging that diskarmor. -Hyoking Locations: Garloz, Dorago's Palace If you look closely, you can see a pig face on the Hyokings, who emerge from the ground and always attack from north to south. The red hyokings are a bit more powerful. -Kinatarnos Location: Eruga's Forest The kinatarnos reside only in Eruga's Forest and perch on tree branches firing spikes at Rygar. Avoid jumping around them, as Eruga's Forest is full of treacherous drops. -Kinoble Location: Garloz, Dorago's Palace The Ent-like tree people of Argool sway from left to right, spitting fireballs at poor Rygar. Jump to avoid them and kill the source as soon as you can. -Kuzeelar Location: Tower of Garba A skin swap of the boss Eruga, this snail like creature moves, of course, extremely slow, but fires a wave of fireballs every second or so. They fan out, so jump through the middle and top ones to survive. -Molgolin Locations: Rolsa, Eruga's Forest Molgolin fights just like the Wyrm, which is slow, yet follows Rygar always putting him at an empass. You can jump on their heads, but it's not recommended. Jump and dispose of this beast as soon as you can. -Olbis Locations: Rolsa, Eruga's Forest The flying lizard people, Olbis, will come from the water in Rolsa and Eruga's Forest, circling Rygar. Just stand your ground and let them come to you. -Phollorakos Location: Gran Mountain These lizard creatures infest Gran Mountain, dropping from cliff to cliff attacking Rygar at the bottom. Their moves are predictable and their skin is thin. -Pragokelis Locations: Sueru Mountain, Gran Mountain, Primeval Mountain, Ragua Sando These turtle like creatures are the staple of the game, providing power boosts and experience whenever needed. They are the weakest characters in the entire game. Crouch to hit them, or jump on their backs to stun and avoid. -Rolpher Locations: Sueru Mountain, Gran Mountain, Primeval Mountain, Ragua Sando The Rolpher will appear wherever the Pragokelis do and fights like Ammolum. Coming out of the ground, he rolls after Rygar with his spiked back causing minor damage. You can jump on their backs to stun. -Shadow Dorago Location: Sky Castle This creature is a sillouette of the boss Dorago, and is every bit as difficult. He is only found in Sky Castle, where all the creatures are shadows. You can avoid this creature when you see him by going through the nearing doors. -Shadow German Location: Sky Castle Shadow German fights just like the German from Dorago's Palace, with its confusing movements and thick hide. Stay in the air and eliminate him. -Shadow Kinoble Location: Sky Castle The tree people are back again, but Rygar can't really see anything but a shadow. They attack like Kinobles, but move faster with more fireballs. -Sunyougi Location: Den of Sagila This slug is a carbon copy of the Pragokelis and Rygar must crouch to defeat them. Jump on their backs to stun them. -Wyrm Locations: Den of Sagila, Lapis The Wyrm fight like the bat-like Molgolin from Rolsa and Eruga's Forest, following Rygar, slowly. B) Bosses -Belzar Location: Lapis Belzar, like many of Ligar's disciples, has two heads and perches above, spewing fireballs at Rygar. Be cautious and earn yourself The God's Coat of Arms. -Deathpigor Location: Tower of Garba Win the Pegasus Flute when defeating the boss of The Tower of Garba, Deathpigor, who fights Rygar in a tiny room, firing a multitude of fireballs at Rygar. -Dorago Location: Dorago's Palace Dorago moves side to side, releasing bat-like missiles all over the place. There is no cover here, but fight on to win Indora's Suit of Armor. -Eruga Location: Eruga's Forest Eruga is the first boss of the game Rygar will fight and, like everyone else in this retched place, has two heads. He is covered by a scally shell and moves like the snail, Kuzeelar. Be smart and win the wind pulley. -Ligar Location: Sky Castle Ligar is the largest creature of the game, throws too many projectiles to count, has two heads, and is by far the toughest bad guy in all of Argool. It makes sense he's in charge. Defeat him to return peace to Argool. -Sagila Location: Den of Sagila Sagila the spider moves around the walls of his web at Rygar, changing direction when he feels like it or when he gets hit. Definitely the easiest boss of the game, Sagila must be defeated to receive the crossbow from Indora. ............................................................................... VIII. Walkthrough A) Introduction In a nutshell, you want to accomplish the following things in order: 1) Start of game, Sueru Mountain, Gran Mountain, Garloz, Acquire Grappling Weapon 2) Rolsa, Eruga's Forest, Defeat Eruga, Acquire Wind Pulley 3) Garloz, Primeval Mountain, Den of Sagila, Primeval Mountain, Den of Sagila, Defeat Sagila, Acquire Crossbow 4) Garloz, Dorago's Palace, Defeat Dorago, Acquire Indora's Suit of Armor 5) Garloz, Ragua Sando, Lapis, Defeat Belzar, Acquire God's Coat of Arms 6) Garloz, Gran Mountain, The Tower of Garba, Defeat Deathpigor, Acquire Pegasus Flute 7) Gran Mountain, Garloz, Rolsa, Sky Castle, Defeat Ligar You can mix up the suit of armor, coat of arms, and pegasus flute if you like, but they are all on the way to each other as listed here, and the enemies progress in difficulty, thus it would be difficult to, for example, conquer The Tower of Garba before defeating Dorago and Belzar. And, again, you'd be backtracking a lot anyway. B) Mission 1: Grappling Weapon SUERU MOUNTAIN: You begin at the start of Sueru Mountain, and there's not too much going on here. Just a couple of chasms, some pragokelis (turtles) and rolphers (pill bugs), and a pretty sunset. Go right, jumping when necessary, avoiding basically everything you can, turning around every once in a while to waste something catching you, and enter the door at the end. You are now passing into Gran mountain. Go to the right until you see three rocks (as rocky as three squares can be) and a tree branch. Don't clear this part just yet. Instead, walk to the first extrusion, turn around with your back to it, duck, and hit everything that is thrown at you. This is a great place to get your strength up before continuing on in the game. I'd recommend going until you have at least 96 in your Last taking you to the third level, powering up as soon as possible. It takes about 5 minutes. By now you should have a full roster of mind points, be powered up, and have full health with 5 HP. Jump over those rocks and head to the right until you find a rope. Climb the rope by pressing up and continue right until you come to another rope that leads up, offscreen. Go up to find a door with a hermit who says, "In the 'Gran Mountain' lies the entrance to 'Garloz'." Well, let's go to Gran Mountain. Exit the room, jump to the right from branch to branch until you find a rope leading down. Decend it and you find Gran Mountain, land of the lizard people phollorakos, on the right. No door leading to it or anything, just "there's the mountain," but you won't be going back towards Sueru Mountain for the rest of the game. GRAN MOUNTAIN: Head right, jumping the holes, pass the first and second ropes, and climb the third. (Beyond the third is a hermit who says, "When you get to "Garloz", first go west, then go north.") After climbing the rope, go left, passing the rope, and enter the door to Garloz. GARLOZ: Garloz is an overhead view level with some hyokings (pig faces) and tree-people, kinoble, all of which are easy to defeat. Just stay in the air as often as possible and you'll be fine. Head north until you see a path both on your right and left. Take the left one and immediately head north, avoiding the water, until you find a fork in the road. The left fork is a long stretch that leads to a hermit with the advice, "Meet the 5 War Gods 'Indora' to acquire special powers." So take the right fork, go up, kill the kinoble, and head right as soon as you can't go up anymore. You'll come to a screen with a house like thing on a hill. Enter it and you'll see an item and a hermit who says, "The grappling weapon will help you complete your quest." It's not much of a weapon actually, but you need it to complete the game. Press up and B simultaneously a couple of times and get the hang of throwing it. Now exit and head to Rolsa. C) Mission 2: Wind Pulley Go back the way you came, down the path, killing the kinoble, take the first right you come to, and you'll find yourself at the first part of Garloz you saw, with a path on the opposite side of the screen. Take that path to come to a river. Go up the side of it, passing the two stumps with a rope between them, cross over at the very top, and come back down the right side until you each a path on your right. Take it and you will find the entrance to Rolsa on top of the hill. But skip that for now, head north until you see an opening on your right, and go north when you enter that screen. Enter the door you find and a hermit says, "Welcome! Take a rest to regain your strength." and heals your HP to maximum. This is quite a handy room, as Garloz is the center point for most of the levels in the game. Exit the room and head back to the entrance to Rolsa. ROLSA: This level is a connector from Garloz to Eruga's Forest (and the final stage, Sky Castle). Not too much danger here, except for some predictable olbis (flying lizards) and slow moving, but thick skinned, molgolins (giant bats). Head right along the rocks until you come to a rope. After climbing it, you'll find a door guarded by a molgolin with a hermit inside who says, "Arove here, in the skies of 'Rolsa' is a floating castle." I'm not too sure what "arove" means, but you're not going to that castle now anyway. Exit the room, go to the right and find another door. "From here, you can't go on without the grappling weapon." Not exactly true, but sound advice nevertheless, as you'll need it in Eruga's Forest. Moving on, exit the room, decend the rope, move to the right until you find another rope, climb it and you'll find three tower tops. It's easiest to grapple to the top of the first one then jump, but you can use the blocks below them if you like. Whatever makes your planets twirl. Climb down the rope on the other side and move along the rocks on the water heading right until you see the entrance to Eruga's Forest. ERUGA'S FOREST: Definitely not the easiest level, but certainly not the hardest, Eruga's Forest contains all the enemies Rolsa has, with the addition of some kinatarnos (spike throwing caterpillars); however, due to a little glitch, they are easy to defeat. As soon as a kinatarnos comes on the screen, reverse your direction and go until he's off the screen. When you return, he will have disappeared. This method may be used for all the kinatarnos in Eruga's Forest. Anyway, head right, climbing a couple of ropes and leaping some branches until you come to a rope that goes up offscreen. Take this and when you reach the top, you get to use the grappling hook for the first time. Go to the left edge of the branch you are standing on and throw it up to the one above. It might take you a couple of tries to get it and be careful not to fall off. When you land it, climb up, jump to the branch on the opposite side of the tree, and throw the grappling hook again. It will catch offscreen and you will find a secret healing room at the top. Exit the room, grapple down, beat up that molgolin, and head right atop the trees. Descend the rope and go right, making the kinatarnos disappear the whole way using the on-screen/off-screen technique, and stop when you can't proceed any further. Use the grappling hook to find a door with an advice giving hermit. "A monster, 'Eruga' lives deep within this forest." Yeah, I kinda gave that away already - sorry. Exit and again head right atop the trees, climb down the rope, go right getting rid of the kinatarnos and olbis, and jump those branches until you reach the entrance to Eruga's Lair. The last jump's a long one so watch yourself. ERUGA'S LAIR: Eruga's a tricky guy, but basically simple to beat. Method 1: By now you should be way full on your mind points. Grapple yourself to the tree branch and use the Attack and Assail spell. Slowly press B and hit him from afar. From this distance, it is pretty easy to dodge his projectiles. If this wasn't enough to beat him, proceed to either method 2 or 3 to finish him off. Method 2: Step up to him, but keep your distance as far as your weapon will allow. Hit him as much as you can until he throws the fireballs at you. Jump through the middle and top one and land yourself at the same distance from him as when you started. Keep this up until he dies. Method 3: By now you should have at least 5 or even 6 HP, so stand your ground against him, hitting him as much as possible and take his hits until you have one or zero HP left. Then press start and use the Recover spell, healing your HP to maximum. Then do this again. It should give you enough time to kill him before he gets you down. Method 4: Another gaming glitch! Run at him as soon as you enter the room and jump on his head as soon as you can. Position yourself so he is facing right and can't hit you with his fireballs. He will walk until he ends up in the tree on the right side of the screen, twitching, and unable to throw any fireballs. Stay on him and hold the right directional key until he stops fidgeting and sticks himself completely in the tree, with his back facing out. All of his fireballs are absorbed by the tree before they can hit you and he can't move, so jump off him and whack away until he dies. This method works the best, even though it may take you a couple of tries. If you die, you start right back in the room with him. It only takes one shot to get it right, and you're home free. Upon killing Eruga, a door will appear on the right. Enter the room and Indora says, "I'm 'Indora' I'll give you a pulley you must use to cross." Just the thing you needed to get to Sagila the spider and get the crossbow. Take the pulley, and you'll be transported to the entrance to Rolsa. You're done with Eruga's Forest and you don't need to return to Rolsa until the end of the game, so it's time to head to Primeval Mountain and The Den of Sagila for the crossbow. D) Mission 3: Crossbow GARLOZ: Standing at the entrance to Rolsa, you'll probably want to go heal yourself, so head up, then right, and up again to the healing room. Go back and take the path on the left just south of the Rolsa entrance. You'll see the two stumps with a rope again, and this time you can use it with the pulley. It may take some getting used to, just be careful not to fall into the water. If you're scared to try it, just walk around the top, but you're going to need to get it down eventually. Position your head next to the rope and walk left until you hear a click. Then simply push left until you're on the other embankment of the river. Head down the left side of the river, skip the first path on the left and the next two stumps with a rope, and go all the way down until you can't anymore. Go left and you'll see another two stumps with a rope. This time you have to do it, so play around the stump until it clicks. When across, go left, around the little bay, left again, and into the door which takes you to Primeval Mountain. PRIMEVAL MOUNTAIN: Great - another mountain. Here you'll find the pragokelis and rolphers from Gran Mountain, but they're a bit tougher this time, and a new enemy, the epolcon, is all over the place. He'll fly overhead and drop eggs on your head, which is especially difficult to avoid when crossing with the pulley on a rope, so be careful. Head right, as usual, jumping the rocks and crossing the two rope connected pits, and go all the way right until you come to a door. To cross with the pulley, simply push the right directional button until you latch onto the rope. Go into the door when you reach it to enter The Den of Sagila. DEN OF SAGILA: Holy skin swaping! New enemies here, but not really. The pragokelis have been replaced by sunyougi the slugs, the rolphers have changed a bit making ammolums, and the molgolins have switched to giant horned birds called wyrms. Basically they are the same as the originals, except they're a little quicker. You shouldn't have much difficulty predicting their moves. Sagila's cave can be a maze if you let it, but there's really not a whole lot to it. Head right, passing the rope on the floor, and jump over a couple of gaps. You'll come to a pit separated by a pulley rope. Get on it, but be careful, as fireballs are shooting out of the ground at you. Time it properly and cross the pit. Continue right, passing the spot on the ground where you can grapple down, and keep going until you reach a door. If you think you missed a whole lot back there and want to know about it, in the first part of The Den of Sagila, there is: 1 healing Room (It's a pain in the butt to get to.) 2 advice hermits which say, "You can go no further! You must go back the way you came." and "Continue straight in the top cave to see the sunset." 8 or so dead ends and cliffs. Basically, there's not much there. Just stay on the top level until you reach that door. Go in it and you'll be back outside in Primeval Mountain. PRIMEVAL MOUNTAIN: Man, those pragokelis look funky now after seeing the sunyougis. This is about as difficult as the first part of Sueru Mountain. Walk right, wasting everything in sight, until you hit another door. You'll be back in The Den of Sagila. DEN OF SAGILA: Now it gets a bit more involved. Walk left until you reach a small thingie on the floor. Grapple down by pressing down and B simultaneously, and climb down until you're standing on solid ground. Walk left, killing the sunyougis and wyrms along the way, grapple down at the next spot you can, go left again, and grapple down offscreen until you're standing on a small ledge. Jump left from ledge to ledge, avoiding the fireballs and killing the birds until you can grapple down again. The fireballs are taken out with one shot, so get as many as you can before jumping. Whe you see that spot on the ground, grapple down. Standing on another ledge, you can see right is the only way to go, so again, jump from ledge to ledge until you reach a door which leads to Sagila's Web. SAGILA'S WEB: Definitely the easiest boss in the game, there are two effective ways of beating Sagila. Method 1: Using Attack and Assail will keep Sagila at bay, and since he's such a weak boss, it shouldn't even take all 10 hits to kill him. If he doesn't die after 10 hits, proceed to method 2. Method 2: I wouldn't even bother wasting my mind points on Attack and Assail. Just time it right, go to the center of the room, grapple up until you lock on to the ceiling, and climb up to the top. You can swing your weapon left or right while hanging on to the grappling hook, and he swarms the room by going around the walls in a circle pattern mostly. When he comes at you from the left, attack to the left. He will either turn around, or drop to the ground. Do the same if he attacks you on the right. You don't need any special powers or any real strength to beat him, just a bit of patience. When he is defeated, a door will appear on the right. Enter and an Indora will give you the crossbow. "I'm 'Indora' I'll give you this crossbow." That was sweet of him. Take the crossbow and you'll transport to the entrance to Primeval Mountain in Garloz. E) Mission 4: Indora's Suit of Armor GARLOZ: There is no need to ever come back to Primeval Mountain or The Den of Sagila, so move on to Dorago's Palace to get the armor. Head left from the entrance to Primeval Mountain and go north along the embankment. Along the way, there is a door with a hermit who advises, "You can see the palace of 'Dorago' above this island." Well, that means you're close I guess, so leave the hermit alone and keep going north until you can't anymore. Go right and you'll see a tree stump on the ground. Stand beneath it facing up and press the B button. If you don't throw the rope, reposition yourself until it works. After the rope goes across, walk onto it and latch on with your pulley. Go around the rocks and into Dorago's Palace. DORAGO'S PALACE: Here, you'll find the same enemies as in Garloz with the addition of the germans (muscle crawlers). The hyokings and kinobles are also a bit tougher and red instead of green, but, as Dorago's Palace is an overhead view board like Garloz, your best bet is to stay in the air and it will be very difficult for them to hurt you. From the beginning, go north and watch out for that german - he's tough. You'll come to a door with an advice hermit who says, "Well done. But you will face more difficult challenges." Well, I hope so considering how easy it's been so far. Go right until the screen shifts, and then south until you come to a pit, and finally through the hole in the right wall. Go north, avoiding the hyokings, to find another door with a hermit who claims, "Defeating 'Ligar' will again return peace to 'Argool'." Yeah - lotsa made up words there. Just so you know, Ligar is the final boss and Argool is the land you are in. Moving along, exit the room, go north and you will come to an area with lots of kinobles and germans. Their attacks are pretty intense, but you can go up the very right side of the screen, jumping the whole way, and as soon as things get a bit overwhelming, go right, making the screen scroll for an easy escape. You'll come to a pit which you can clear easily (you don't need to crossbow/pulley where they let you) and continue on until you reach the top of the area, where you can go either left or right. To the right is a dead end with a hermit who says, "Do you have the God's Coat of Arms yet?" You don't, so you can skip that and just go left. You will come to an area with a kinoble where you can go left or down. Left is just a dead end, so go down until you reach the pit, use the crossbow to cross, and go left when you reach the bottom. There, you'll find two germans and a kinoble. Go in the door and a hermit says, "Your quest is half completed. Fight on!" Halfway there - coolio. Exit the room, stay in the air dodging the attacks, and head left. You'll end up in a small corridor and see the only way you can go is left. Continue on this way and you'll end up at a crossroads with the option to continue going left or switch up and head north. North is just a hermit who says, "If you see 'Dorago' ask him to 'release my daughter!'." Just a bit of a scenario hiccup here, as you're not going to be asking Dorago for much of anything when you see him. Skip going up at the crossroads and continue left. Entering this screen, you'll find a couple of germans and some hyokings. Go up (the only way you can) and continue until the end. About four more germans show up on the way, so just keep jumping. Head right as soon as you can. You'll come to a wide corridor with possibly some hyokings. Jump all the way across to the other side and you'll see the door to Dorago's Lair guarded by some kinobles and posts. Here is a great place to stock up on mind points if you need to. Move up and down the posts, killing the kinobles whose fireballs can't reach you and the german at the bottom. When you go offscreen where a kinoble was, he will return for you to kill again. When you feel like you're stocked up enough (I'd recommend being powered up with full health and full mind points), move up the center of the posts to meet Dorago. DORAGO'S LAIR: Dorago is the most difficult enemy to date, but easily defeated nonetheless. He moves left to right at the top of the screen shooting countless projectiles at a decent speed. Method 1: Stay at the bottom of the screen where the two posts are. His bat looking fireballs can go through them, so don't search for cover there. Instead, use the Attack and Assail spell and slowly hit him 10 times from a distance. When the fireballs are close to you, just jump over them. This probably won't be enough to kill him, but it will get him way down. To finish him off, proceed to method 2. Method 2: Dorago's pretty thick skinned, so being powered up wouldn't be all that awful, but even if you're not, staying in the air should give you enough advantage. Get below him and keep jumping, following him when he comes at you, swinging left to right opposite of the way he is coming. It doesn't exactly look right, but it works. Position yourself so he can't hit you with his body and oppose his back and forth movements. In other words, when he is moving right, you should be jumping left, swinging. Vice versa when he's on the other side. This teqnique is a bit of a glitch in the overhead view. I've beaten him not powered up without being touched using this method, which will help you later on in the final stage (also an overhead view level) in addition to defeating Dorago. When defeated, a door will appear on the top of the screen. Inside Indora says, "You can use 'Indora's' suit of armour for protection." I never did figure out the whole difference between armor and armour, but take it and you're back in Garloz at the entrance to Dorago's palace. F) Mission 5: God's Coat of Arms GARLOZ: No need to ever come back to Dorago's Palace, so use the crossbow/pulley to take you back across the river. Go down, around the bay, and head right off the screen. Go all the way down around another bay, and go right, off the screen again. Keep going down until you reach the stumps with the rope and cross. Go right offscreen and you'll see a river. Walk up the left embankment until you come to a rope across the river. Take that across and keep going up until you see another rope. To your right, there is a path. Take that path and see the entrance to Rolsa again. Pass by that, go right when you can, go all the way up to the healing room for a pit stop, then exit and come back down. But this time, keep going south until you see a path on your right. Take that and you'll see a housy thing on the hill which is the entrance to Ragua Sando, leading to Lapis. All the way to the bottom of this screen is a hermit who says, "It's 2 A.M. and time for the monsters to awaken." O...K. Go on in the gate to Ragua Sando. RAGUA SANDO: This one's a small one. Ragua Sando looks like Primeval Mountain, with the same creatures (pragokelis, rolphers, and egg dropping epolcons). Go all the way right, avoiding them, and climb the rope when you come to it. At the top, jump to the next branch and go in the door into the recesses of Lapis. LAPIS: Inside, you'll see floating islands. Jump to the one to your right and kill the wyrm (like the ones in The Den of Sagila). Climb the first rope, but skip the one at the top, as it leads to a hermit who says, "You need the grappling to continue past 'Lapis'." Instead, jump to the next island on your right. Walk a little bit to the right and throw your grappling hook up. It's pretty long up there, so you should hit it first try. If not, walk further along this island and try again. At the top is a super-robot, Bargan...weird. Also a door and a tree stump. In the door is a hermit who says, "From this point you can't go on without crossbow." Good thing you've got that already. Exit the room and here is a great spot to get your experience up a bit. As soon as you leave the room, Bargan will drop from the sky. He will extend his arm, glow a bit, then shoot a large fireball at you. Right when he extends his arm, jump. All you need to do aside from jump is whack away at him. After you beat him, go back in the room and repeat this process until you're bored. When you're satisfied (I get to at least level 8 with 10 HP), jump over the door and use the crossbow on the stump. Then get on it with the pulley and go across. You'll come to a small island with another stump. Repeat the crossbow/pulley process and you'll be on a series of small floating islands. They're not as hard as they look and there's no enemies, so continue right until you find an island with a door. Inside, the hermit tells you, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Well, thanks, waste of time. Exit the room and you'll be in the right position to grapple down. Lowering yourself to the next screen, you'll find a small island with another tree stump. (Guess they really wanted to make sure you got the crossbow before you came here.) Use it and come to a long floating island with a couple of super-robots and wyrms. Go until you reach the end and it seems like you can't go any further. In the background are a series of mountain looking post things sticking out of the floating island. Position yourself in the middle of the very last one on the left and grapple down. Head offscreen down and you'll see a couple of wyrms on your left and right. Kill them on the way down or they'll hurt you. You'll end up on an island with a stump and a rope. At least you don't have to use the crossbow this time. Take it across, jump to the next island to the right and you'll be on a long area with countless super-robots and ammolums out of nowhere. It gets a bit heated here, so head for the door at the end of the island. The hermit says, "Please go down from here. 'Lapis' awaits you." Again, when you exit, you'll be in the right position to grapple down offscreen. Yet another island with a stump and a rope awaits, so take it to the left. Jump through the series of islands with the green background, knock off a couple of creatures, and head all the way left to Belzar's Lair. Go in the door to beat up Belzar. BELZAR: He's not really a nasty one, easy to take out with a little timing. His fireballs are limited and slow, so just keep an eye out for their position and you should be fine. Method 1: Attack and Assail - good old faithful. If you just attack him at the bottom of the screen with this level of experience, it should wipe him out. If it's just not enough (and it will be just barely not enough), proceed to method 2. Method 2: Quickly grapple up to the island he is sitting on. As stated, his fireballs are slow and there are very few. Just jump over them when they come at you and wail away on him. Method 3: It seems most of the glitches so far occur on the bosses and this is about the funniest one yet. As soon as you enter the room, grapple down offscreen and you should be in a blank, blue area with nowhere to go. When you return, Belzar should be about an inch lower from his original position. Now he is within jumping distance and you have much more manuverability than you did climbing up to his turf. Avoid his simple fireball attacks and jump up to waste him. When finished, a door will appear on your left. Enter to receive the coat of arms. "O'great warrior, I'll also give you a coat of arms." At least he stopped introducing himself. He seemed to have the attention span of your average Alpo commercial. Take the coat of arms and you'll appear back in Garloz at the gate to Ragua Sando. G) Mission 6: Pegasus Flute GARLOZ: Take the path to your left to the next screen over then go to the top real quick to refill your energy if necessary. Come back down and go to your left again towards the gate to Rolsa. Go down a bit and take the path you see on your left. Now, instead of crossing that river, go down - all the way down to the bottom. The road curves to the right, so keep on it, head north, kill that kinoble, and go in the door you come to. Instead of a hermit, you see Indora sitting there with this red potion thing. "O'great warrior. You have earned the Coat of Arms." That's what that thing does. (If you come here before the Coat of Arms, a hermit says, "Do you have the God's Coat of Arms yet?" just like in Dorago's palace.) There are a few of these rooms in the game (one in Sky Castle, the last level) and you may come here to get that potion which fills your HP completely anytime you don't have one in your inventory. Also when you enter the room, your HP is completely filled as if you went to a recovery room (just to save time I guess, so you don't leave, take the potion, and come back for another). Tuck this life potion away in your inventory until you need it and exit the room. Speaking of your inventory, if you check it out, you'll be missing only one thing. You have the grappling hook, the four gifts from Indora plus the potion, but you're missing the Pegasus Flute which is actually atop Gran Mountain in The Tower of Garba, so head on over that way to the beginning of Garloz. Go down, then left, cross the river, and head north again. When you reach the path on your left, take it and go down to the door through which you first entered Garloz. Take it and you're back on Gran Mountain. GRAN MOUNTAIN: Go right a bit to the rope and climb it, but watch for the phollorakos at the top. To your right a bit is a hermit. "If you dare, approach 'Garba' found atop this mountain." Oops. I spoiled that one for you too. Head left and climb the first rope you come to. (Beyond that to the end, a grapple up, further left, and a rop climb gets you a recovery room, but you can skip that as there's a Coat of Arms potion at the very top of the mountain.) Once you climb the rope, head left, jump over the gap, and climb the next rope. Go left a bit, grapple up twice where it's obvious you can, and meet Indora for a quick heal and another Coat of Arms potion if necessary. You haven't come that far, so it probably won't be, but it's there if you need it. Grapple back down once, head right to the gap and jump down. You'll see a crossbow stump and a door with a hermit who tells you need the crossbow. Use the crossbow and pulley to move your way right to the Tower of Garba. Along the way, you'll need to crossbow/pulley twice more and get rid of some epolcons and some rolphers, but in no time you'll be at the entrance to the tower. Be cautious along the way - you'll need every bit of your HP. THE TOWER OF GARBA: The tower is the hardest level in the game - even more so than Sky Castle. There are only seven rooms in the tower, but they're difficult, so watch yourself. Room 1: Some eerie music and a rope await you in the first room. Climb the rope. Room 2: You'll see a kuzeelar (snail) with an opening in the ceiling on the other side. You must defeat the kuzeelar for the rope to appear, as the grappling hook doesn't reach. The kuzeelar is simply a skin swap of Eruga, but no glitch is going to save you this time. Time your jumps properly through his fireballs and throw everything you have at him when you can. Be careful not to fall through the hole in the floor and utelize the block on top of it for a bit more air when necessary. When you beat the kuzeelar, the rope will appear on the other side allowing you to proceed up to the next room. Room 3: Nothing here but an opening to your right. Whew. Head that way. Room 4: Another kuzeelar with an opening to the right. You can jump right over him, so do that for now. You'll enter room 5, but room 4 is the final place for you to get your experience up to the last level. The kuzeelar gives you 61 points of experience with each kill, so I'd recommend you go ahead and get it over with. As soon as you enter room 5, turn right back around and repeatedly hit the B button. When room 4 scrolls onto the screen, the kuzeelar will be right there taking your hits. At first, you might have to jump his attacks a bit, but if you leave when you beat him and come back and do it again repeatedly, eventually, he won't take much effort at all. When both your tone and last have exceeded 4000 points, you'll have 12 HP and it's time to move on. (Your tone should hit the max before your last does and you get the 12th HP, but make sure they're both maximized before you head outta there.) Go to room 5. Room 5: Piece of cake now. The kuzeelar should take two hits and the rope will appear towards the ceiling. Head up it to get closer to the end. Room 6: This guy's fast! But with you experienced where you're untouchable should make this a walk in the park. As you can see, Demorobruzer moves like Sagila, but don't bother grappling to the ceiling as that would take just a bit too long. Hide down below the room on the rope until he rolls right above you on the floor. Quickly climb out and he should be right in front of you. Hit him once and he'll turn around. Run after him and he'll climb the ceiling and you should be able to squeeze under him. Hit him when he comes at you from the other side, then follow him that way and stand on the block. When he comes at you the third time, hit him and chase him again. He only takes 2-4 hits at this level, and even if he drops on you once, it won't be enough to kill you, especially with the potion on hand. When defeated, the rope will appear and you can proceed to the boss, Deathpigor. Room 7: DEATHPIGOR: He fights just like Belzar, but you shouldn't even waste your time fighting him properly, as there are two places to heal just outside the tower (after you beat him). Method 1: Jump over the fireballs, taking a couple, and hit him about 4-6 times rapidly. This is pretty much the least amount of time you'll spend on any boss in the game. Method 2: If you're cautious, or you're trying to beat the game without getting hit once, use the attack and assail spell as soon as you enter the room, then stand on top of the block after you climb the rope and use it slowly about 4-6 times, jumping his fireballs from a distance. Be careful not to fall down the hole. When you beat Deathpigor, a door will appear behind where he was standing. Enter it and receive the Pegasus Flute from Indora. "Play this instrument atop the 'Tower of Lile'." The Tower of Lile is in Rolsa, so take the flute and you will transported back to Gran Mountain at the entrance to the Tower of Garba. Now you're going to head back to Garloz, then Rolsa for the final stage. H) Mission 7: Defeat Ligar GRAN MOUNTAIN: Go back left, crossbowing and pulleying where needs must and grapple up when you can to get yourself a refill and a potion if necessary. If you check your inventory now, you should be completely full on everything, with the grappling hook, wind pulley, crossbow, suit of armor, coat of arms, healing potion, and pegasus flute with your last and tone both above 4000. It seems to me you're ready for the battle with Ligar. Grapple back down twice, go right a bit until you see a rope on the ground, and decend it. Go right until you reach the gap, drop down, then continue right until you reach the rope at your feet. Climb down it and go left to the door which enters Garloz. GARLOZ: We're heading back to Rolsa to the Tower of Lile, so head north until you see the paths on both the left and right sides of the road. Take the right path, go north a bit, then cross the river using the pulley to save a bit of time. Take the path to your immediate right and you'll see the gate to Rolsa. Go on in. ROLSA: It's kinda funny how easy the enemies are to beat, so wail away through this stage. Head right along the rocks on the water until you reach the second tower with a rope. Jump up to the rope and climb it. You've seen all this before, so go right, skip the first door, and the second is the hermit who says, "From here you can't go on without the grappling weapon." To get to Sky Castle, that's true, so exit the room, jump to the highest platform, and grapple up. You'll see four platforms with two molgolins. Kill them quick and jump to the highest platform on the right. Grapple up to the next level. No enemies here, but four more platforms, so you have to keep going up. Grapple up to the highest platform on the right, then grapple up offscreen. When it catches, climb it to see two molgolins, a door, and Sky Castle in the distance. Be careful the molgolins don't knock you off. Inside, the hermit says, "You must meet 5 'Indoras' to reach the castle." Skip this room, as the molgolins will be there when you exit, even if you killed them. They're in a weird position to kill easily and once is enough. Instead, press start to switch to your inventory and move the arrow under the flute. Press A to hear the little tune. Press start again to exit your inventory and you'll see a rope leading to a door in the sky. Climb into that door to get into Sky Castle. SKY CASTLE: There's no turning back from here, so hopefully you did everything you needed to do. Sky Castle is an overhead view board which puts you at an advantage, as by now you should have mastered the "always stay in the air and you're invincible" technique. All of the enemies are rhino hides, but you've met them all before and should be able to predict their moves easily. You begin standing on the door you entered with no option of going back in it. You can go either east or north, and since north is a long way to nothingness, I'd suggest you go east. Scroll the screen right and you'll come to a narrow pathway, just outside the castle walls. You can see a bit inside and it doesn't look too different from the outside. Continue right and make the screen scroll again four more times until you are in a more open area. At least you now know how wide the castle is. Go up until you hit a wall then go right to make the screen scroll one more time. Go north until you see a door on your left. Any further north and you'll fall out of the sky, so go in the door to meet your first enemy. He is a silhouette of the kinoble monster from Garloz and Dorago's Palace. He moves a bit faster, however his moves are the same and he only takes a couple of hits, so stay in the air to kill him and go into the door on the top of the room. Immediately, you run into two more kinoble silhouettes and above them a silhouette of Dorago! But power through it and jump straight through them if you don't feel like wasting any time. You'll see a door on your left above Dorago, so go through it to find a couple of german silhouettes and another kinoble. Go down until you see a door on your left and take it. Hmm. Now you have the option of going north, south, east, or west. You came from east, so don't go there. North is an immediate dead end, and south leads you to Indora with a healing potion. Nice of them to put him in the final stage. May as well power up to max, so go down into a room that only heads south, take that door down to a room that only goes east, and take that door to see a waterfall, a kinoble, nothing but sky below you, and a door on the right. Take that door and Indora will fill up your hit points. Take the potion if you need it and exit the room. Come out of the room swinging as the kinoble is back and head back to the four way crossroads. Go left, up, and up again to be in the room with the four doors and the two enemies. The german should disappear as soon as you enter the room, so only the kinoble remains. (If it weren't for the glitches, I don't think I could beat this game.) Wipe him out and proceed to your last option, the door on your left. Take it to an empty room with a door below you. Take that, but STOP as soon as you walk through it. Be careful not to fall off the edge here and use your crossbow on the stump. Pulley across and you'll be on a small floating island with another stump at the bottom. Crossbow and pulley again to find a door on the right. Take this door and you'll be in a room with another german and a door on the right. Kill him, take the door, and enter a room with two kinoble silhouettes and a door to the south. Take that door to an area where the scenery changes a bit to look like Dorago's palace after you scroll to the left. Walk around the posts, scroll left again, and you'll find another door. Take it and you'll see the only way to go is up, so head that way, kill a couple of germans along the way, and you'll come to another tree stump at the edge of the walkway. Use the crossbow again with the pulley to make it across the gap where you'll find a couple of kinobles which are easy to jump past. Above them lies a door which leads up to another small room with a door on the top. Take that door and you'll see it's one-way, not allowing you to go back. But that's alright, because you're almost at the end anyway. Kill the kinoble ahead of you, and another Dorago silhouette is ahead (Dorago looks much cooler in grey) whom you can easily bypass by taking the door on your right. You'll wind up in an empty room with a tree stump. Crossbow that, take the pulley across, and here you are at the entrance to Ligar's Lair. Catch your breath and get ready for the final battle. LIGAR: Here's you versus Ligar (Lion/Tiger...get it?!) in an empty room with lots of spikes being thrown at you. There are a couple of ways to beat him, but they're both basically the same as with Deathpigor in the Tower of Garba, so you're basically dealing with jumping and swinging. Method 1: Attack and assail works on Ligar as well as any other boss, allowing you to attack from a distance. He only takes about 8-10 hits and you should be fine, especially if you have a lot of HP and a healing potion. Method 2: I always go ahead and use Attack and Assail, as I won't be needing my mind points if I win and I won't have them if I lose, but he only takes about 8-10 hits without attack and assail, so you may as well save those points for healing. Each spike takes off one HP, so don't worry too much about him taking you down too far. His vulnerable spot is his head, so jump over the spikes and hit him where it counts when you can. Be careful not to bounce off his arms, as that is more of a pain than a benefit. I) Ending **************************************************************************** ****SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**** **************************************************************************** ** ** ** ** ** The ending is typical classic Nintendo cheese, but the game is its own ** ** reward. A door (presumably the "Door of Peace" in the distance opens ** ** revealing Argool. This scene quickly fades to a close-up of that door, ** ** outside of which is a flapping bird, a rainbow, a couple of "clouds" ** ** and an area which represents Garloz (at least it looks like it ** ** represents Garloz). ** ** ** ** After you figure out it's not going to change on its own, press start ** ** to reveal a blue background with the words, ** ** ** ** "THE DOOR OF PEACE WAS OPENED ** ** AND PEACE DID AGAIN ** ** COME TO ARGOOL ** ** PEOPLE REGAINED THEIR SMILING FACES ** ** THE WARRIOR WHO FINISHED ** ** HIS FIGHT RETURNED TO ARGUS ** ** ** ** THE WARRIOR OF ARGUS-- ** ** YOU ARE REALLY A TRUE HERO ** ** ** ** END" ** ** ** ** They forgot some punctuation, and by some I mean all of it, but at ** ** least they spelled everything right unlike most Nintendo endings. ** ** ** ** Realize there aren't going to be any boring credits or cut ** ** scenes and press reset to return to the title screen. ** ** ** ** ** **************************************************************************** ****END SPOILERS**END SPOILERS**END SPOILERS**END SPOILERS**END SPOILERS**** **************************************************************************** ............................................................................... IX. Glitches What would a classic 8-bit game be without some serious bugs. While such glitches can be annoying or affect gameplay, sometimes they can help a player progress through the game easier by bypassing enemies or defeating them easier. Rygar is absolutely loaded with these helpful bugs and the game goes by so much faster with proper utelization. A) General "Air-Walk": This glitch was discovered by Walker Boh from Bisqwit's NES superplay time-attack site. Basically, in any platform level, you can come to the edge of any surface and duck, press forward, duck again, and repeat. You can walk in the air. It is certainly trying and not console friendly, but it is an invaluable tool for time-attack runs, as it can get you places you would ordinarily need the grappling hook, wind pulley, or crossbow for. Intense players need to practice and practice to figure this one out. Grapple to the top: Using Walker Boh's "Air-Walk" technique, crawl yourself over a cliff and stop in the center. Come out of your crouch and immediately throw your grappling hook. You will fall into the cliff, but instead of dying, you will emerge at the top of the screen. This is useful for getting to higher platforms you couldn't ordinarily get to. Rope air squatting: When you come to the top of a rope (or your grappling hook), you can duck down immediately by pressing down on the directional pad and actually squat down in the air. From here, you can jump just a bit higher than you normally could giving you a bit of an edge. There are no real places in the game where this will change your universe, but sometimes it does speed things up a bit. Through wall hitting: The overhead view levels are rife with little tweaks. Garloz, Dorago's Palace, and the final stage, Sky Castle are the levels where you can use many different glitches to your advantage. You can stand behind a wall, pillar, or some other obstacle, and where the enemy has no chance of hitting you, you are free to swing away with your diskarmor. A good example of this is the end of Dorago's Palace, right before you meet Dorago. There are pillars surrounding several kinobles and you can walk up and down on the outside of them just whacking away while staying out of reach. Other side of screen hitting: Another overhead view bug, (which works on the edges of the platform maps too) you can stand on one side of the screen and throw your diskarmor off screen to make it come out the other side of the screen and hit something there. In other words, you can stand on the very right side of the screen, swing your weapon to the right offscreen, and it will come out the left side. This is not nearly as handy as it sounds and it actually takes just a bit too much time to set up to make it worth while. Overhead view jumping: Back in the day, 3D rendering wasn't exactly what it is today. By standing a few inches below an enemy in an overhead view level and jumping, you can actually put yourself in range to hit the target where you should be straight up in the air. A little poor programming here, it does look a bit funny, but after you get used to it, you pretty much stay in the air for most of the overhead view levels making it part of your main attack. While in the air, the enemies cannot hurt you. B) Levels Warp: A strange glitch occurs when you die against certain bosses - because you enter a bosses lair and actually transport to a new playing field (they aren't coded as part of the level they are in), you can twitch them up to your interests. When fighting Eruga at the end of his forest, you can drop down over the ledge on your right just in time to get hit with one of his projectiles. If the fireball he threw killed you, you will die and get knocked to the right. The screen will scroll over to a scattered, smothered, covered, typically glitchy NES screen and you will die before you get the chance to fall to your death. The frightening words, "Game Over" will appear and you'll be taken to the start screen. When you press start to continue, you will appear at BELZAR, the king of Lapis. Now, when fighting Belzar, stand next to the door you would have entered from (the only door on the screen) and get hit until you can only take one more. Then, stand next to the door and get hit by one of his fireballs. When you die, you will fall into the door and again, the screen will scroll over. When you continue, you will be outside the lair of LIGAR! Go on in to win the game (but good luck with this level of experience). Sueru Mountain Wall Walk: When you begin the game, go right until you reach the door, enter it, continue right, jump the first set of extrusions, go a little further, and you will reach the first rope in the game. Instead of climbing that rope, you can instead jump into the wall on the right and catch yourself in it Super Mario 1 style. Fly through it until you reach the other side. This glitch saves about one half of one second, but it is just more proof that Rygar is the glitchiest game to ever be released on the NES. (Thanks again to Walker Boh for pointing out this little tweak). Garloz: Again, the overhead view levels contain the most glitches. First, in Garloz coming from the Gran Mountain entrance, go north until you come to paths on both your left and right, take the left path, go north until you find a fork in the road, take the right fork, go north, kill the kinoble, and here's the glitch. Whew. Right where the path curves right and will scroll the screen over, stand as close to the path on the top as you can. Then jump and scroll the screen right at the same time. Go back and forth until you are virtually on the side of the hill. Then scroll the screen right and go as far up as you can on the hill. Finally jump and make the screen scroll left and you'll be standing on top of the hill free to move about. This one isn't that useful and if you go a bit to far, you'll end up on a mirror map with no enemies, but you can't go through any doors either. Plus, you're never sure what's around the corner. Sky Castle: From the very beginning, standing on the door in which you entered, you'll see an option to move north or east, but did you know you can go west also? Run to the edge of the castle where it looks like you'll fall into ruin, jump left at the edge, and instead of you falling through the sky, the screen will scroll to your left and you'll land on top of the castle walls with no enemies. Of course, there is no way this helps you and you pretty much need to jump back to reality or die to return, but it's a fun way to explore nevertheless. Cave of Sagila: With Rygar's ability to bounce on the Wyrms, you can actually bounce to the top of some ceilings and walk about free from harm. If you go too high, you die, but it is an interesting way to explore the cave. Only one area proves beneficial, however, as the rest lead to glitchy areas, reminiscent of Sky Castle's "Jump-to-the-left-from-the-start" or Garloz's "Hilltop-jump" glitches. C) Enemies Eruga: The most beneficial glitches in the game come from the ability to tweak the game and beat up on your enemies faster. The most popular glitch in the game is the way to beat the first boss of the game, Eruga. Upon entering the room, run and jump on his head and move your bouncing body so he is facing right, but throwing his fireballs left. Keep holding right on the directional pad as Eruga sticks himself in the tree on the right. He will twitch around a bit, but when he finally sticks himself in there good, he will stop moving and throwing fireballs altogether, and you are free to jump off him and whack away. This bug is the hardest one to pull off, but don't get frustrated. You start right back in the room with him when you die and it only takes one time to get it right. Kinatarnos: In Eruga's Forest, there are these spike throwing caterpillars that are mostly ill placed making your passage rather difficult. Thank goodness for bugs. Kinatarnos don't move, rather they sit on tree branches and throw their spikes at you. As soon as you get one on the screen, double back from where you came until he is off the screen. When you return, he will magically have disappeared, leaving nothing but a couple of easy to avoid spikes as reminders. This method may be used for all the kinatarnos in the level. (Update: Actually, many enemies in the game share this glitch, including the Molgolins of Rolsa Valley and Eruga's Forest, the Wyrms in Lapis and The Cave of Sagila, as well as the fireballs in The Cave of Sagila. Basically, any slow moving enemy in a platform level that spawns from a specific rather than random point can be dispatched using this method.) Dorago: More of a recap, the overhead view jumping method is actually the most effective when fighting the third boss of the game, Dorago. Stand way below him, even further away than your diskarmor can reach, and jump from left to right, opposing his movements (when he goes right, jump left, and vice versa) swinging the whole time. You should be able to time it so you jump over all his bat looking fireballs, wailing away on him at the same time. It looks a little funny, but it works. Belzar: The boss of Lapis has, in my opinion, the coolest bug of the game. As soon as you enter the screen, crouch down and press B to activate your grappling weapon. Take yourself off the screen southside and you'll come to a blank, blue area. When you return, Belzar has lowered himself off his platform about an inch. You can now jump to reach him, so you can avoid climbing up to his turf to defeat him. From down here, avoiding his sparse fireball attacks is fairly simple and Indora's Coat of Arms is as good as yours. ............................................................................... X. Challenges It's difficult to keep older games interesting without stepping it up a bit or putting new twists on your methods. For example, I recently read a Zelda walkthrough on how to get through the entire game without using your sword... craaazzzyy. I'm still working on that one. But here are a few fun things you can mix up in Rygar to truly test your skills. A) Time Attack Tear through it as fast as you can. This boosts up the difficulty especially since you won't have time to stop and power up in select places as you normally would. By the time you get to Lapis, you'll notice the difference. B) Deathless Rygar Beat the game without dying. It can be done, but it's frightfully trying. Avoid stupid mistakes and take your time. C) Level Progression The levels are set up basically linear, and of course there are certain things you need to do before you can venture on, but after you obtain the wind pulley and crossbow, the world is your oyster. You now have Dorago, Belzar, and Deathpigor to defeat and your course immediately drops you off with Dorago. Head back to Gran Mountain and roll the dice with the Tower of Garba. With the experience you'll gain here, Dorago and Belzar may as well throw some pointy sticks at you. D) No Healing Don't get the potion, go into a recovery room, or use your healing spell throughout the entire game. You still get the airplane bottles the enemies drop, so you shouldn't have too much to fear. I've always thought there were too many ways to heal yourself anyway. ............................................................................... XI. Notes I have written two walkthroughs, the first of which is a teeny Zelda spin that is as of now unpublished. I hope to move on to more classic NES games such as Trojan or Section Z. If you have any questions, comments, or opinions, please feel free to contact me at ziplock1977@yahoo.com. Special thanks to Walker Boh and everyone at the NES videos forum for introducing me to the countless glitches I wouldn't have ever discovered on my own.