Curses 'N Chaos
===============

About this FAQ
--------------

This is a collection of tips and other things that I hope will make this
wonderful little game a bit easier for people that are having trouble
with it. Contents include:

- About the game
- Walkthrough
- Items and mixing
- Monster listing
- Curses 'N Chaos OST power rankings

This is version 2.0 of the FAQ, and very likely the final version.

v1.0:

- Initial version was submitted to GameFAQs on September 25th, 2015

v1.1:

- Updated version submitted to GameFAQs on September 30th, 2015
- Added a monster listing
- Added more details to item listing (item damage and other effects,
  more detailed descriptions
- Added a note about the Crown item, in _Ending with the Crown_ section
  (long story short: use the Crown carefully!)

v2.0:

- Updated version submitted to GameFAQs on August 15th, 2017
- Major formatting changes: You can now run the text of the FAQ through
  a Markdown parser of your choice to get a fancy HTML document. Make
  sure your Markdown supports table formatting. _Markdown Here_ works.

### Thanks

This is the first FAQ I submitted to GameFAQs. I've gotten some pretty
nice feedback about it - thanks to those that contacted me :)
I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I hope you found it helpful.
Feel free to send comments and feedback to me via PM on GameFAQs.

About Curses 'N Chaos
---------------------

From the description on the Curses 'N Chaos website:

> SMASH MONSTERS, ESCAPE DEATH!
>
> CURSED! When brawny bounty hunters Leo and Lea are cursed by Algarr the
> Wizard King, they're swarmed by all manners of creatures and monsters!
> Alchemist Allison knows one way to get rid of the curse: The Elixir of
> Life! But the only way to get the Elixir's ingredients? SMASH ALL THE
> MONSTERS!

The idea is simple: Beat up on monsters to collect items, ultimately working
towards getting the Elixir of Life. Each level is a single screen, and waves
of monsters come at you. There are ten waves in each level, and if you
survive them then you're rewarded with a boss battle! To complicate things,
each wave is on a 60 second timer. When your time runs out, Death appears and
chases you around the screen. Death can one-hit kill you, so if he does
appear then make sure to finish off whatever monsters are left on the screen
ASAP while also not getting so close to Death that he can land a hit on you.
Death can also appear during boss battles. (Note: This game is hard!)

The controls are just about as simple as the idea of the game. Jump, punch,
etc.

LEFT and RIGHT: Walk
DOWN (hold): Dance on the spot (for extra points)
R (hold while walking): Dash
X: Jump
X (while in air): Double jump
SQUARE: Punch
SQUARE + UP: Uppercut
SQAURE (while dashing): Strong punch
SQUARE (in air): Flying kick
CIRCLE: Call out Owly to pick up or drop off an item
TRIANGLE: Use item
UP + TRIANGLE: Drop the item you're currently holding

You will need to get used to doing the strong punch and flying kick attacks,
as they do more damage than a normal punch. The faster you can take out the
monsters, the better. The uppercut punch is also useful for when flying
monsters swoop down at you, but only use it if you're sure that one upper-
cut is enough to kill the monster coming at you.

Regarding items: You can only hold one item at any given time, but Owly
can also hold a second item in reserve for you. You can only use the item
you're currently holding though. Whenever you pick up an item you want to
save for later, press CIRCLE and Owly will come pick it up. Then when you
want to use the reserve item, press CIRCLE again and Owly will drop it off so
you can pick it up and use it. This is, of course, sometimes not easy to do
if you're being mobbed by monsters, as Owly will drop the item in the middle
of the screen; monsters might be in your way.

Another useful tactic with items when there are more on the screen than you
can carry is to juggle them: Pick one up, then pick up the other, then
pick up the other again, etc. If you leave an item sitting on the ground,
it will disappear after a few seconds. You can make them stick around a
bit longer by picking up and dropping them, until you need to use them.
(This can be tricky if monsters are getting in your way... but if that's
the case then you might as well just use the items!)

Walkthrough
-----------

Walkthrough is perhaps not the right word. Rather than providing a wave-by-
wave breakdown of each level - which would be rather tedious to write! - I
have tried to provide notes on things to look out for in each level, such as
tricky monsters, places to acquire spells, and tips on beating the bosses.

Before getting on to the level notes, though, here are three things to keep
in mind regardless of what level you're playing:

1. Keep your chain going! (I know, easier said than done.)

   The more monster kills you chain together in a row, the more points and
   gold you get. You lose your chain when you take damage, or when you let
   too much time go by between monster kills. Sometimes losing your chain is
   unavoidable, but try your best to keep it going.

2. Dance like it's going out of style.

   When nothing is happening on screen, hold DOWN to dance and incrementally
   increase your point totals. The higher your chain is, the more points get
   added while you're dancing.

3. Regarding spells:

   Starting in level three, spells will start appearing in the levels. As far
   as I can tell, the waves in which they appear is predetermined, which
   makes life a bit easier for us. They are sometimes hard to get though!
   They zip across the screen, carried by a monster which you have to kick
   out of the air in order to pick up the spell. Also, it is not clear to me
   how the game determines which spell to give you (i.e., which element and
   which tier), but I'm inclined to think that the element of the spell is
   pre-set, while the tier of spell is determined by your chain as well as
   what is available in your Grimoire. At first it seemed like I was only
   ever getting tier 1 spells even though I had done enough mixing to have
   unlocked some tier 2 and even 3 spells - but I was also taking lots of
   hits and losing my chain. Once I got better at killing things without
   getting hit (i.e., keeping my chain), I noticed I was getting better
   spells. Just a theory, though.

With that out of the way, now on to the levels themselves...

### Level 1: Forest

Monsters: Goblin, Frog, Crow, Ghost, Skeleton, Crab, Skull.

The first level gives you a taste of most of the generic types of monsters
that can come at you in Curses 'N Chaos. There are monsters that simply walk
across the screen (Goblin, Skeleton), flying monsters that swoop down at you
(Crow), flying monsters that just flying side to side across the screen,
moving up and down along the way (Ghost), monsters that hop across the screen
(Frog), monsters that pop up out of the ground under your feet (Crab), and
flying monsters that follow you (Skull). The only types of monsters that are
absent are the most obnoxious ones: The ones that can teleport and/or shoot
projectiles.

There's nothing else special to note about this level. It starts out fairly
slow and easy, but there are spots in the last few waves where you might get
overwhelmed on your first tries. Get used to using the jump kick attack, as
right from the beginning there are already things (Frogs and Skeletons, for
example) that take more than one normal punch to kill. The only tricky
monster in level 1 is probably the Crab. You have to stand still for a
moment, and then when it's ready to pop out of the ground you need to move
out of the way and be ready to kick it out of the air.

Boss: Ghost

Jump and kick. Many times. Kill the small Ghosts when they get in your way.
Sometimes they will drop an Hourglass, which is handy if you're running low
on time. This boss is good for jump kick target practice. Jump and kick it
as it slowly moves across the screen, making sure to get close enough that
you kick hits but not so close that you bump into it and take damage. This
is an important skill to have! You'll notice that you can also jump, kick,
press jump again for a double jump, and then kick one more time. Get good
at that to take bosses and other high HP monsters more quickly.

### Level 2: Bellwood

(New) Monsters: Wolves, Bear, Spider, Witch.

As one might expect, some new monsters start appearing in this new level.
Wolves are tricky and take two kicks to kill. You need to land one kick, get
out of the way, and then land another kick. It takes some practice. Witches
are dangerous! Prioritize killing them. They take three kicks, which you need
to work on timing properly to kill them quick. If you leave them alone for
too long then they'll drop more monsters (Frogs) onto the screen. The
projectiles they fire are also annoying as they follow you around. Spiders
are the easiest new monster to deal with. They come down from a thread at the
top of the screen and then you go stomp them. Not much of a threat there.
Waves 3 and 8 feature a Bear (sort of like a miniboss?) which takes quite a
few hits to dispatch. Bears move slow and don't attack much, though. Just get
behind it and attack relentlessly. Keep in mind though, if you focus
singularly on attacking a Bear then enough time might pass for you to lose
your chain before you actually kill the Bear - so still attack the Bear,
but every few seconds run off and kill another montser that enters the
screen just to make sure you keep your chain going.

Boss: Chimera (?)

I had a really tough time beating this thing at first, though now I find it
rather easy. This game's learning curve is a bit steep, but you'll adjust.
Jump over it every time it crosses the screen, and then get as many hits in
as you can before it attacks. It primarily uses two attacks, which are fairly
easy to tell apart and dodge - in theory, anyway. If you get sloppy then
you'll be in trouble fast. When it's low on health, it will shoot a breath of
fire that covers the full width of the screen, which is a more dangerous
attack. Finish it off quick! If you try to play it too carefully you'll run
low on time, and Hourglass drops are random so you can't count on them to
keep the timer going forever.

### Level 3: Market

Monsters: Thief, Owl, Wizard.

Get ready to collect your first spells! Knock them out of the air as they fly
across the screen. It's rather sudden, and you have to react quickly, so get
used to snatching spells out of the air at a moment's notice. In my
experience with this level, you mainly (only?) get Fireball, the tier 1 fire
spell - that is, until you've started mixing things and filling out more of
the Grimoire. Keep one for mixing, and maybe a second one for selling if you
can. Below the next paragraph is a list of the waves where you can get a
spell. (Note: I think that, in addition to coming in predetermined waves,
spells are also dropped at predetermined times in the wave, for example 30
seconds into the wave, or at the very beginning of the wave. I have not yet
gone to the trouble of testing this theory though, much less recording the
times for inclusion in the FAQ. Maybe later!)

The first monsters you encounter in this level are new. They run across the
screen, and if they bump into you then you drop a few coins. I think they're
the only enemy in the game that will leave the screen and not return if you
don't kill them as they run by. A few waves later you'll meet an especially
annoying monster: the Wizard. They appear, fire a projectile, then teleport.
Where they teleport to is random, and sometimes you get unlucky and bump
into them just as they're teleporting into their new location. If that
happens, then there goes your chain that you worked so hard to build up. :-/
Sometimes you can't avoid bad luck. Also, their projectiles follow you
around, just like the ones the Witches shoot. Double :-/

Spell drops: Waves 1, 4, 7, and 10 feature a spell drop.

Boss: Pirates

Much easier than the previous boss. Take care of the parrot and pirate
lackeys - the lackeys each go down in one hit, while the parrot took three
kicks IIRC. Then take down the lead pirate. Unless you're low on hearts and
have no lives left, you'll probably beat this one first try. Dying once won't
hurt as long as you have the lives to spare; it might help clear out the
screen if too many pirates are running around. I'm not sure if the lead
pirate even does an attack? Just get behind her and attack her as she walks
back and forth, and she'll be dead in no-time.

### Level 4: Wheelwright

Monsters: Shark.

Only one new monster to mention in this level. Sharks come up from underneath
you, similar to a Crab. A Shark, however, has more HP so it takes two kicks
to kill them. There are a few tight spots in this level that require careful
play so you don't lose your chain. Sometimes it comes down to luck, and you
just happen to have a good item at the right time (for example when there's a
Witch flying around and a Wolf chasing you on the ground). It might be a good
idea to save an item or spell with Owly for just such a situation. There's
one spot in particular, when four Wizards appear in a row - I think it's in
either wave 4 or 7, as it happens immediately after a spell drops. That is
the perfect time to use a Balista or a Fireball spell. Keep in mind that
when dealing with monsters like Sharks (or Crabs, or Worms that you'll see
later on in wave 8), they can't bother you as long as you keep moving. At
times you can use this to your advantage to clear out all the other monsters
on screen before dealing with the Shark/Crab/Worm. Just keep moving and
attacking everything else until you're ready to lure the monster out from
under your feet.

Spell drops: Waves 1, 4, 7, and 10.

Boss: Thief? Rogue? Caped Crusader?

His attacks are hard to predict, I find. It's a rather annoying boss. For
best results, go into it with at least one or two lives left, as you're
probably going to take several hits. I usually don't even try very hard to
avoid attacks. Attack all-out until you win (or die trying!). One thing to
note, though: I have found that it's best to stay on the ground, stand right
in front of the boss, and just do normal punches. Jumping in front of him
might just result in getting hit in the face by the bombs he throws. When
he goes to the opposite side of the screen, I just run over and keeping
punching (jumping over bombs if they happen to be on the ground).

### Level 5: Ovu Cavern

Monsters: Scorpion, Locust, Statue, Bat, Dinosaur.

This level was my first real trouble spot in this game. It took so many re-
tries to get the win. Quite a few new monsters appear in place of the ones
we were used to. Scorpions simply walk across the screen. Locusts hop like
Frogs, but they'll need a second kick to kill. The Statues are the most
annoying. The pop up out of the ground and shoot projectiles at you. They
take a whopping four kicks to kill! The Statues that pop up in the centre of
the screen are easiest to deal with, as you can jump from one side of them to
the other and they won't be able to shoot at you. The Statues that pop up at
the edges of the screen will be a bit trickier though. Kick them twice, avoid
their shot, and then finish them off. Bats fly through the air like Ghosts.
Similar to the Bear in level 3, a Dinosaur appears in two waves of this level
as a miniboss of sorts. They take quite a few kicks to kill, but just like
the Bear they are slow and don't attack much. The Dinosaur is not espeically
difficult to deal with - it's everything else that's going on around them
that can cause problems. And again, similar to when dealing with the Bears,
don't let your focus on killing the Dino distract you from keeping your
chain going.

Spell drops: Waves 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. Now you start getting water spells.

Boss: Triceratops

This boss features a pretty easy pattern, though you could still find
yourself in trouble if you don't have lives left going into the battle. Try
to play the waves carefully to increase your odds of beating the boss, and
try not to get hit by the boss too many times. Running into it seems to do
two hearts worth of damage. That'll kill you quick.

### Level 6: Starfall

Monsters: Mummy, Crab (mk. II), Snake

Mummies come up out of the ground similar to Skeletons, but they take an
extra hit to kill. The newer Crabs are all red, and also take an extra hit
to kill. Snakes enter the screen from the side, pause a moment, and then rush
at you similar to the Thieves that started appearing in the Market. Snakes,
however, won't exit the screen like Thieves do, so if you miss hitting a
Snake on the first pass by, it will turn around and come back at you again.
I didn't find this level especially difficult. There are a few annoying
spots, for example in waves 9 and 10 when Statues come up on both sides of
the screen. Having a tier 2 or 3 spell in your back pocket for those times
really helps.

Spell drops: Waves 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

Boss: Rocketman (!?)

I don't really get how a character like this boss fits in with the rest of
this game, but I'm not going to spend much time thinking about it. I was
able to beat the boss on my first try despite not being able to avoid most
of his attacks. It feels like bosses in this game can either be very easy or
very annoying and challenging - I'm sure you've already started noticing this
in previous boss battles - and this one is definitely closer to the
_very easy_ end of the spectrum. He has a few different beam and missile
attacks that you can avoid (or not; whatever!). After a while there is a
little helper that floats across the screen, a little robotic orb. Kill it
for an Hourglass. Or ignore it and keep hacking at the boss! Doesn't take
much finesse to beat this one.

### Level 7: Gravefield

Monsters: Zombies (walking, hopping), Vulture, Flamethrower, Wizard (black),
          Flame

There are two new types of monsters in this level that I can't really tell
apart. There are what appear to be Zombies that come up out of the ground and
walk across the screen. Just like a Mummy, and I think they take the same
amount of hits as a Mummy. Then there are what also appear to be Zombies, in
orange and blue, that hop in from the side of the screen with their arms
sticking out. They hop across the screen as if to say, _Brains... Brains!_
They are very similar to a Locust and also take two hits to kill. What I have
dubbed the Flamethrower is a skull that comes up from the ground that shoots
fireballs across the screen. It takes three kicks to kill. Finally, this
level introduces you to a new kind of Wizard. They are black, rather than
red, and much more annoying than the Wizards you met previously as they take
*three* kicks to kill! They will cause a lot of problems. Make them dead as
fast as you can. If you let them stick around too long, they will take a
break from shooting at you and raise Skeletons from the ground. (I think
they do it after three shots/teleports.) You probably don't want that to
happen. In fact, I'm sure you don't want that to happen. Finally, there is a
new flying monster, similar to a Skull. It's a little Flame. They have more
HP than a Skull so they'll take a second hit to kill. Same idea as dealing
with a Skull, though.

I completely forgot to mention one new monster in the first version of
the FAQ: Vultures. The fly across the screen and swoop down at you like
Crows and Owls. They only have 2HP, so one jumping attack or one uppercut
will kill them. Don't let them hit you though, as they do 2 damage.

Spell drops: Waves 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. Now you start getting earth spells.

Boss: Bats

Easily my least favourite boss, and the one I have the most difficulty
defeating. The boss battle starts out with one big Bat. It flies across the
screen, moving up and down, like the small Bats do. Three small Bats
eventually join the big Bat - similar to the first (Ghost) boss. And if
that's all there was to this battle then it wouldn't be such a big deal. But
then a second large Bat comes out! The two big Bats seem to move at a
slightly different speed from each other, which always messes up the timing
of my jumps and attacks. And then the screen starts getting crowded with
small bats too. It's just... ugh. The first time I beat this boss, after
many failed attempts, I actually had to use a Berserker for the temporary
invincibility. Fortunately you can mix one for only 4000 gold, so it wasn't
such a waste, but I would have preferred to have beaten it without having
to rely on items. Oh well, don't sweat the small stuff. At least I beat it.

### Level 8: Hope's End

Monsters: Worm, Wasp.

This level is pretty easy for a level called _Hope's End_. The two new
monsters are fairly easy to deal with, though the Worms will take some
getting used to. They come up out of the ground like Crabs do, but they're
big, long worms that stretch up to the top of the screen. They remind me of
the Sandworms in Beetlejuice. Anyway, the Worms take three kicks to kill,
which you'll need to execute quickly in order to kill them before more
monsters come on screen. Wave 2, if I recall correctly, is a perfect example
of how you can get in trouble if you don't deal with Worms fast enough, as
Worms keeping coming at you in fairly quick succession. You have just enough
time to kill one before another enters the screen. And then another. Etc.
Wasps are very easy to deal with. They just fly across the screen, stopping
every now and then to shoot a stinger down. The stinger doesn't target you;
it travels in a diagonal line. So just don't get in the way of it. Jump and
kick them and they're dead. Wave 6 can be a trouble spot, with the Witches,
Snakes, and Worms. I often take a hit and lose my chain in wave 6. Waves 8
and 9 feature appearances by those extremely annoying black Wizards. Try to
hold onto a good item (Hammer, Bomb) or spell for dealing with them.

Spell drops: Waves 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

Boss: Knight (and Horse)

So very easy. Why can't all bosses be this easy!? Kick the horse in the face
until it disappears, and then beat up on the knight. Get behind him and he
can't attack you. Couldn't possibly be easier. Enjoy it, because the next
level will provide more of a challenge.

### Level 9: Castle Grimm

Monster: Sorceress, Eagle, Witch (mk. II)

If you ask me, this is the level that should have been called _Hope's End_.
Those last few waves are killers. I was stuck here for quite a while! Wave 9
is especially cruel. More on that later; first, the new monsters. You'll meet
the first new monster right at the beginning of wave 1. I've decided to call
her a Sorceress. Whatever. She will create a pillar of fire underneath the
spot you're standing on, which stays for a couple seconds - don't get hit by
it! While avoiding the pillars of fire, not to mention other enemies that
might join the fray - you need to jump and attack her. It takes four hits to
get the kill. Try to get it done as quick as you can. It isn't always easy,
though, as she will teleport like Wizards do. The second new monster is
another bird. I wrote down Eagle though it now occurs to me that it
doesn't look much like an eagle, I don't think. Oh well. They're like a
tougher Crow or Owl. They take three hits. It isn't always easy to get three
hits in on their first swoop down. Finally, a new kind of Witch (there's
probably a better name for this one too). Like the Witches we've seen
previously, they fly across the screen, stop, and then shoot a projectile
that follows you around. They also take three hits to kill. The difference
is that these ones shoot their projectile almost immediately after they stop
flying. The previous Witches had a pause, which made it pretty easy to kill
them before they got a shot off. You'll have to be extra quick in dealing
with these ones. The beginning of wave 9, for example, starts off with FIVE
of these Witches on the screen. That's trouble! It's the perfect time for a
tier 3 spell - that is, if you happen to have one. Then out come a bunch of
Mummies on the right-hand side of the screen, and then Locusts come in from
the left. But the Witches are definitely the biggest problem, and you need
to get rid of them fast. Wave 8 is also annoying, as there are Ghosts flying
up very high; it takes a perfectly timed jump attack to hit them. These
waves will take some practice before you ultimately beat the level. If you
can get good at the early waves and keep your chain up, maybe you can get
one or two tier 3 wind spells (Fujin) to drop in the later waves. Those
spells will really help you get by the tough spots in those later waves.

Spell drops: Waves 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. Now you start getting wind spells. Getting
close to filling out that Grimoire!

Boss: Medusa

Is this chick annoying or what? After a few attempts I got the better of her,
and now I don't find this boss all that difficult, but at first it was tough.
She pops out to the middle of the screen, where she doesn't do much of
anything. Attack her while she's hopping on the spot. She will then jump to a
side of the screen. When she jumps from one of the sides, she can either...

- Jump all the way to the other side of the screen, dropping three Snakes
  down along the way. When this happens, prioritize getting rid of the snakes
  as they're annoying.
- Jump back to the middle. Just run over to her and keep attacking.

When she's at one side of the screen she can also shoot these big rings
across the screen, which are easy to avoid. Attack when you can, take out
the snakes, avoid her shots, and she'll go down eventually. Snakes provide
Hourglasses, so you're not likely to run out of time.

### Level 10: Grimmalcore

We're not quite done yet, but if you've made it to Grimmalcore then you can
breathe a *small* sigh of relief, as I find this level to be easier than
Castle Grimm. The waves aren't quite as challenging, and the boss's patterns
are actually pretty easy to deal with once you've learned them. (It will, of
course, still take some repetitions to get it all down pat.) There also
aren't any new monsters to learn how to handle.

Spell drops: Every wave. (Or almost every wave? I should double-check.)

Boss: Wizard King

This is a two-phase boss battle which requires careful play to get through.
You only get to the second phase, though, if you have the Elixir of Life or
Crown with you. These get you different endings, while beating the King
without them gets you the bad ending (an ending that isn't really an
ending.)

In the first phase, the King teleports around the room and chooses from a
handful of different attacks he can use. Fortunately, you can see them all
coming and avoid/counter them.

When he teleports to the centre of the room, he will fly up in the air and
then skulls will pour lava (?) down from the top of the screen. Just get in
between in the streams so you don't take any damage. When they stop running
you'll have just enough time to get one or two attacks in on him before he
teleports away again.

When he teleports to the edges of the room, he can do a few different things:

- Dragon: He spreads his arms out and then summons a dragon which flies
  across the screen. There are safe spots underneath the dragon, as it flies
  across the screen in a S (well, sideways S) sort of shape. Just wait
  for it to go away. If he happens to summon the dragon from the right-hand
  side of the screen then try to get as close to him as possible, as you can
  hit him with your punches from the safe spot closest to him. (This doesn't
  work if he's on the left-hand side though, so when he's over there just
  wait it out.)
- Spears: He makes an uppercut sort of motion with his fist and then white
  spears shoot up from the ground. Jump over them and then take the chance
  to get an attack in on him.
- Locusts: He points forward and then Locusts start flying across the screen
  from behind him. All you have to do here is stand in front of him and
  punch, punch, punch. None of the Locusts are on the ground. Your punches
  will also hit the lowest flying Locusts, and they can drop Hourglasses for
  you if you kill some of them.
- Projectiles: He'll hop up in the air and then fire a projectile at you.
  It's the same thing the Witches shoot; it follows you around. When he lands
  he'll shoot a second one at you. The both go away eventually, so just focus
  on not getting hit by them.

During this phase of the battle, Death can still appear, so don't play *too*
slow and carefully or you'll run out of time. Keep in mind that you can get
some Hourglasses by killing the Locusts.

If you haven't brought an Elixir, then the battle ends when you beat the King
here. If you have an Elixir or Crown, however, beating the King brings you
into the second phase of the fight. (After mixing the Elixir or Crown, you
would have had to equip it before starting the level. Just give it to Owly.
Also, feel free to use it at any time, as the effects of the Elixir don't
appear to wear off if you lose a life.)

Phase two:

After you beat the King, he'll teleport to the centre of the room, put some
kind of ring on his finger, and then turn into a big, red, angry looking
monster. Death will go away during this phase of the battle, thankfully! This
phase is actually pretty easy once you get used to it. All the monster does
is hop from one side of the room to the other, stopping for only two
different kinds of attacks:

- When he is at one side of the room he'll shoot fire from his mouth all the
  way across the room. It stays kind of long, so you need to time your jump
  and then double jump just right. Once you landed keep attacking as the
  monster continues hopping along.
- When it's in the centre of the room, it will turn black and your attacks
  can't hit it anymore. The monster will initiate an attack the comes at you
  from through the floor, walls, and ceiling. It travels around the room
  starting from underneath the floor. Something like spikes - I'm not really
  sure what to call them - come out from the floor, then the right wall, then
  the ceiling, and then the left wall. You can see them coming, and they
  don't come out in a random order, so wait it out and avoid them by running
  or jumping. This attack is annoying mainly because of how long it attacks.
  I imagine speedrunners would find it quite bothersome. Anyway, once the
  attack is done and the monster turns red again, keep attacking.

That's really all there is to this phase, as far as I can tell. Avoid the
two attacks it can do, and get in as many attacks as you can while it's
hopping between the centre and sides of the room.

Congratulations! You beat the Wizard King for both the it's-not-actually-over
ending and the happy ending. Now a new level opens up on the level select
screen. It seems we have a few more things left to do...

### Wizorb

A Wizorb themed level. (For those that haven't heard of Wizorb before, it's
another game from Tribute Games.) The enemies in this level are fairly easy
overall, but in my experience healing items drop very rarely - or perhaps not
at all, as I've yet to see a Meat/Apple/Potion/etc. drop in this level - so a
few too many mistakes can get you in trouble. The green Blob enemies that hop
in from the sides of the screen take two kicks, similar to Locusts and some
other hopping enemies encountered in previous levels. There are also Wizards
which can make life difficult for you. Try to take care of them quickly
before they turn your screen into bullet-hell.

Spell drops: None, as far as I can tell.

Boss: Big Blob

A big green Blob falls into the screen, along with three normal Blobs.
Killing the three normal Blobs will just cause three more to spawn, so don't
think you can get rid of them permanently! If you go into this battle with
two or all three lives left then you don't even need to be careful. Just
attack relentlessly until you win. You'll lose a life or two but it won't do
any harm. Sorry if you were looking for better insight in this document, but
some of these boss battles are just messy, brute force affairs.

Make sure you pick up the item that the boss drops! (Cyrus)

### Ninja Senki

This level is themed after a game I had never heard of before, also called
Ninja Senki. It's available for free online, and appears to have been made by
one of the founders of Tribute Games (Jonathan Lavigne). The waves in this
level are a bit more challenging than in Wizorb, as there are some pretty
overwhelming spots; however, in my experience playing this level, healing
items drop quite regularly. As long as you can keep your hearts up, it
doesn't matter if you take some hits (unless of course you're focused on high
score). The red Ninjas are very easy to deal with as they jog across the
screen. The pink... Frogs...? that hop in from the sides, I found slightly
more difficult. They're really not that different from Locusts or the hopping
variety of Zombies, I don't think, and yet I still have trouble with them. I
feel like the timing of their hops is different. Easily the most annoying
monster is the guy that appears on the ground and shoots projectiles. They
pop in out of thin air and fire those things that follow you around. Try to
get rid of them as soon as they appear. There are also flying monsters that
follow you, similar to Skulls. They're not hard to deal with, but they are
sometimes in the way when you're trying to deal with other things. They're
a bit of a nuisance. Wave 3 features these monsters exclusively, and some-
times it's really hard to get them all before they run into you. There are
also Ghost-like monsters, as well as monsters that pop up from the ground.
(I'm getting too lazy to think up names for these things.)

Spell drops: None, as far as I can tell.

Boss: Tanooki

I found this boss to be quite easy. I played it really sloppy; didn't even
bother trying not to get hit. I attacked a bunch, died once, and then
attacked some more and it died. The battle didn't even last long enough for
me to notice if there was any pattern to Tanooki's attacks. It's that easy,
so don't over-think it.

Once the boss goes down, make sure you grab the item it drops. (Hayate)

### Chaos

To gain access to the Chaos level, first mix the Cyrus and Hayate together to
produce a Portal. Now go into a level with the Portal equipped and use it
(TRIANGLE). I don't think it matters which level you start in. I used the
Portal in level 1 (Forest). You will be taken to a strange place. The level
timer appears to be broken, and you fight what I believe are randomly
selected waves of enemies. It seems to me that for wave 1, it randomly choose
a wave 1 from any of the levels (1-10, Wizorb, or Ninja Senki), and then for
wave 2 it will randomly choose a wave 2 from any of the levels, and etc.
I don't know for sure, but that's what it seems like to me. After ten waves,
it says Boss Battle, but you don't fight a boss; it appears to be just
another wave of monsters. Turns out Chaos isn't all that difficult or scary
after all! When you've finished the final wave, pick up the item that is
dropped. (DarkMatter)

### Ending with the Crown

Now that you have DarkMatter, mix it with a 1up to produce a Crown. You'll
notice if you go to the buy screen of the shop, it costs 40000 gold to buy a
Crown - that's a lot! Of course, you'd never actually have to pay that much
for one as you can buy DarkMatter for 100 gold and the mixing ingredients for
a 1up for 14000 gold. Anyway...

On the equip screen, give Owly the Crown, and then go back to level 10
(Grimmalcore). Play through the level as usual, and then beat the boss after
having used the Crown to get the final ending. I usually hold on to the Crown
until late in the battle before I use it, as I don't know if the effects of
the Crown wear off if you die. With the Elixir it doesn't matter if you die
after having used it. I haven't tested it out with the Crown yet, though I
probably should.

#### Update

An email from Zack has confirmed my suspicions regarding the effects of the
Crown:

> I've been playing Curses 'N Chaos on my Vita and am at the end of the game.
> I used the Elixir of Life during the battle with the Wizard King, lost a
> life, and still got the Elixir ending after beating him. I then did the
> same thing with the Crown and learned a 14,000 gold lesson -- the Crown
> doesn't work like that. You have to kill the boss after using the Crown and
> before losing a life.

So keep this in mind while playing the final boss battle with the Wizard
King. When you get into the second phase, try to get in a good amount of
hits on him before using the Crown - and then finish him off as quickly and
carefully as you can! If you're down to only one or two hearts then you
might consider getting yourself killed before using the Crown so you can get
back to full health. This, of course, would require that you have at least
one spare life - I wouldn't recommend making this kind of sacrifice if
you're already out of lives. :P

Thanks again for the contribution, Zack.

### Now what...?

Beat all the levels: Check.

Filled the Grimoire: Check.

Got all the endings: Check.

What more is there to do? Get high scores! Lots of replay value in this game
if you're a high score chaser. There are also a few not-so-easy-to-acquire
trophies (ex: get a chain of 200 in Chaos; finish a level without taking a
hit) if you're interested in getting all the trophies.

A note on trophies: I've you're having a difficult time getting the _Get a
score of 100,000 or more in level x_ trophies, well... practice more!
Keeping your chain is the name of the game. Keep in mind, though, that you
can also artificially increase your base points multiplier by using luck
boosting items (you can equip them before start a level). Lucky Cat is the
best, but I find using a Horseshoe is plenty good enough. OR you could just
practice until you're so awesome that you almost never lose your chain. ;)

Items and mixing
----------------

### Item list

A list of items with their purchase prices, loosely organized by type of
item, or branches of the Grimoire (Power, Force, Luck, Health, ...)

The EFFECT column describes the amount of damage that attack items and
spells do, or the amount of HP healing items give you, or the amount of
time that items last (ex: Berserker), or the boost that luck items give to
your base point multiplier.

M = Points multiplier (default is points x1)

ITEM/SPELL | DESCRIPTION                           | PRICE | EFFECT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arrows     | Fires a volley of arrows.             |   500 | 1 (per arrow)
Cannon     | Fires a straight cannonball.          |   500 | 5
Bomb       | Explosive device, takes out crowds.   |   500 | 5
Balista    | Huge balista bolt, pierces enemies.   |  2500 | 2
Catapult   | Fires a huge projectile.              |  2500 | 5
PowerRing  | Punch gains impact.                   |  2500 | 
Bear Trap  | Chomp legs and other body parts.      |   500 | 2
Hammer     | A sturdy home improvement tool.       |   500 | 5
Shuriken   | Weapon of choice for Hayate.          |   500 | 2
Axe        | Makes heads roll.                     |  1000 | 2
Boomerang  | Ancient hunting stick.                |  1000 | 1 (per hit)
ForceRing  | Punch travels further.                |  2500 | 
Hourglass  | Postpones the arrival of death.       |   500 | Timer +15 sec.
Points     | Gives you a couple of points.         |   500 | 100xM points
Clover     | Increases luck by a little.           |  1000 | M + 1
Horseshoe  | Increases luck by a lot.              |  2500 | M + 2
Apple      | Delicious apple restores 1HP.         |   250 | 1 heart
Meat       | Fills an empty stomach.               |   250 | 2 hearts
Potion     | Magic potion cures 3 HP.              |  1000 | 3 hearts
Potion+    | Stronger magic potion.                |  2500 | 4 hearts
Berserker  | Become invincible like a berserker.   |  5000 | 10 sec.
Lucky Cat  | Extremely increases luck.             |  5000 | M + 4
MagicLamp  | Brings forth a fighting genie.        | 10000 | Summon
1up        | Adds an extra life.                   | 25000 | 
Fireball   | Lvl 1 fire elemental.                 |  5000 | 4
Inferno    | Lvl 2 fire elemental.                 | 10000 | 6?
Phoenix    | Summon a mighty fire elemental.       | 20000 | 8?
Wave       | Lvl 1 water elemental.                |  5000 | 4 (each hit)
Tsunami    | Lvl 2 water elemental.                | 10000 | 5?
Leviathan  | Summon a great water elemental.       | 20000 | 8?
Boulder    | Lvl 1 earth elemental.                |  5000 | 8
Quake      | Lvl 2 earth elemental.                | 10000 | 8?
M.Nature   | Summon a powerful earth elemental.    | 20000 | ???
Whirlwind  | Lvl 1 wind elemental.                 |  5000 | 6
Tornado    | Lvl 2 wind elemental.                 | 10000 | 7?
Fujin      | Summon a fierce wind elemental.       | 20000 | 8?
E.Flame    | An eternal flame.                     |   100 | + Points
Nectar     | Great water alchemy mix.              |   100 | + Points
Moly       | Great earthen alchemy mix.            |   100 | + Points
4 Winds    | Winds from the four corners.          |   100 | + Points
Panacea    | Legendary, cures all diseases.        |   100 | + Points
P. Stone   | Philosopher's Stone of legend.        |   100 | + Points
Elixir     | Drink, defeat the curser, and voila!  |   100 | 
Hayate     | Shurikenjutsu master!                 |   100 | Summon
Cyrus      | Master of the art of Wizorb!          |   100 | Summon
Portal     | Create a portal to another dimension. |   100 | 
DarkMatter | A souvenir from the chaos realm.      |   100 | + Points
Crown      | Crown of evil possession.             | 40000 | 
Junk       | A failed alchemy mixture.             |    10 | Nothing
Title      | Given for having a full collection.   |   100 | + Points

ForceRing and PowerRing sound useful, but I find that in practice they don't
help all that much. After using one of the items, you can see the difference
in your attack animation. If you use a PowerRing then the explosive force of
your punch is bigger (the circular animation that plays when you punch).
Your punches do not, however, get stronger in terms of damage! It's just the
area affected by your punches that gets a bit bigger. It's a similar case
with the ForceRing; your punches travel further in front of you, meaning
your punches can hit things that are farther away from you (that you
couldn't normally hit). These items can stack together, so you could use both
if you want. And their effects don't go away until you die. To me though,
these items seem like more of a novelty rather than something that is
actually useful. If PowerRing doubled your punch damage then I'd get a lot
of use out of that, but sadly that is not the case.

Clover, Horseshoe, and Lucky Cat increase your base point multiplier. The
base point multiplier is x1, which then increases to x2 when you get a chain
of 10. And it will continue to go up as your chain goes up by 10. Using a
Clover will get you a base multiplier of x2 even if your chain is 0.
Horseshoe increases your base multiplier to x3, and a Lucky Cat increases it
to x4. These items stack, so you could go into a level with two Lucky Cats
and use them immediately, and if you dance you'll notice you get 40 points
each time instead of the usual 5 points (i.e., a base multiplier of x8).
Using a few Horseshoes or Lucky Cats at the beginning of a level makes the
_Get 100,000 or more points in level x_ trophies rather easy to acquire.

MagicLamp is an interesting item, as the genie it summons seems to stay with
you until you die. The genie flies around the screen and shoots projectiles
at enemies. The projectiles do 1 damage, which isn't very impressive, but it
can still help clean up the weak monsters (Goblins, Thieves, etc.) while
you're busy taking care of the tougher ones. Hayate and Cyrus are also
interesting, as they're dirt cheap to buy, and each one does a summon that
sort of works like a tier 2 or 3 spell in that they can damage several
different monsters. Hayate summons a ninja that goes into the middle
of the screen and fires shuriken everywhere. Cyrus summons the thing from
Wizorb, which is like Arkanoid/Breakout. There's a paddle at the bottom
that bounces a ball around the screen, and the ball can damage monsters.
Each of these summons lasts for about 5 seconds. They could help you out of
a tricky situation, and they're cheaper than spells or MagicLamps.

Spell damage is still pretty unclear to me. I'm fairly confident about the
damage that the tier 1 spells do. For example, use a Fireball spell on a
Skeleton (which has 5HP) - you'll still need to punch it one more time to
finish it off. So Fireball does 4 damage. I tested all the other spells out
on stronger enemies, such as Mummies which have 8HP, and then counted how
many more punches it took to kill the Mummy (if the spell didn't kill it in
the first place). More things re: spells and spell damage:

- Wind spells Whirlwind and Tornado seem to do multiple hits, so it's hard
  to say for sure how much damage they do. Target them carefully.
- I have no clue what the tier 3 earth spell (M.Nature) does. Does it do
  anything at all? It doesn't seem to do much of anything.
  
For the tier 3 spells, I should test them against monsters with even more
HP (like the Bear or Dinosaur) to get a more accurate idea of how much
damage they can do, but that would require a bit more time and setup than
I think I'm willing to do! :P Anyway, what's important to know is that
using a tier 3 spell (Phoenix, Leviathan, Fujin) will clear out the whole
screen - even the 7 or 8HP enemies.

All of the items from E.Flame onward in the list that are labelled
+ Points do not appear to do anything, as far as I can tell, except give
you points when you use them. Most of them give you 15,000 points.

### Mixing the Elixir of Life

When you're getting started in the game and filling in the Grimoire, gold
can be a pretty limited resource. Don't waste it by buying anything but the
cheapest possible items! Lucky Cat sells for 5000 gold, for example. But why
waste 5000 gold buying one when you could spend 3000 gold on the mix
ingredients (Hourglass, Points, Apple, Meat) to mix it yourself?

Lucky Cat (3000 gold): 2 Hourglass, 2 Points, 2 Apple, 2 Meat

Berserker (4000 gold): 1 Arrows, 2 Cannon, 1 Bomb, 1 Bear Trap, 2 Hammers,
                       1 Shuriken

MagicLamp (7000 gold): 1 Lucky Cat, 1 Berserker (mix them, don't buy them!)

1up (14000 gold): 2 MagicLamp (again, obtain them via mixing)

To fill in the Elixir of Life sheet of the Grimoire, you'll need one of
each spell (Fireball, Wave, Boulder, Whirlwind) which you can find for
free in the levels. You will also need...

- 2 Berserker
- 2 Lucky Cat
- 4 MagicLamp
- 4 1up

...to do all of the mixing required to produce the Elixir. (And that's not
counting all of the Berserkers and Lucky Cats you'll need to mix those 4
MagicLamps, and the Berserkers and Lucky Cats you'll need to mix the
MagicLamps that you'll need to mix the 4 1ups!) You're going to have to buy
lots of mixing ingredients to get all of that. Fortunately it's all very
straight forward; the Grimoire shows you what to mix with what. It's just a
matter of getting enough gold to get it all done. The quickest way to lots
of gold is selling spells - the higher spell tier, the better.

When all is said and done, the game cuts us some slack. Once you've mixed up
to the Elixir of Life, you can always buy another for a mere 100 gold.
Imagine how awful it would be to do all that work to get an Elixir, and then
screw up the final boss battle and have to do it all over again! Thankfully,
the Elixir and final mixing ingredients are easier to re-acquire once you've
unlocked them. Though to be honest, I don't know if there is any use to the
other items you mix along the way to getting the Elixir (E.Flame, Nectar,
etc.). As far as I can tell, they just give you points if you use them.

### The final Grimoire sheet (_Cursed Path_)

The items needed here to ultimately produce the Crown are fairly easy to
acquire, and it's all covered in the final levels of the previous
(walkthrough) section. You obtain the Cyrus by beating the Wizorb level, and
the Hayate by beating the Ninja Senki level. Mix them together to get a
Portal, which is then used to access the Chaos level. Beat Chaos and you get
DarkMatter. (Should you ever need to acquire these items again, just buy
them; they only sell for 100 gold.) Mix DarkMatter and a 1up to get the
Crown - the item that you use to get the final ending of the game (again,
also covered in the walkthrough).

Monster list
------------

Two things to keep in mind while reading this table:

1. A normal punch does 1 HP worth of damage, while the other attacks (dashing
   punch, jump kick, and uppercut) each do 2 HP worth of damage. The damage
   from items and spells varies, and is detailed in the previous section.
2. The third column, monster's attack, may have one or two numbers. The first
   number is how much damage you take if you run into the monster. The second
   number is how much damage their attack does.

MONSTER          | HP | ATTACK
-------------------------------------------
Goblin           |  1 | 1
Frog             |  2 | 1
Crow             |  1 | 1
Ghost            |  1 | 1
Skeleton         |  5 | 1
Crab             |  2 | 1
Skull            |  1 | 1
Wolf             |  3 | 1
Bear             | 16 | 1 / 2 (swat attack)
Spider           |  2 | 1
Witch            |  6 | 1 / 1 (projectile)
Thief            |  1 | 1
Owl              |  1 | 1
Wizard           |  1 | 1 / 1 (projectile)
Shark            |  4 | 2
Scorpion         |  2 | 2
Locust           |  3 | 1
Statue           |  7 | 1 / 1 (projectile)
Bat              |  2 | 2
Dinosaur         | 32 | 1 / 2 (bite attack)
Mummy            |  8 | 1
Crab (mk. II)    |  4 | 2
Snake            |  2 | 2
Zombie (walking) |  7 | 2
Vulture          |  2 | 2
Zombie (hopping) |  4 | 2
Flame            |  3 | 1
Flamethrower     |  6 | 1 / 1 (fireball)
Wizard (black)   |  6 | 1 / 1 (projectile)
Worm             |  6 | 1 
Wasp             |  2 | 1 / 1 (stinger)
Sorceress        |  8 | 1 / 1 (fire)
Eagle            |  5 | 1
Witch (mk. II)   |  6 | 1 / 1
Blue Fox+        |  1 | 1
Blob+            |  3 | 1
Eyeball+         |  2 | 1
Wizard+          |  3 | 1 / 1 (projectile)
Skeleton+        |  6 | 2
Ninja++          |  1 | 1
Pink Frog++      |  3 | 1
Red Demon++      |  3 | 1
Annoying guy++   |  5 | 1 / 1
Ghost++          |  2 | 2
Green guy++      |  4 | 2

-    Thief steals coins from you if you run into them
- +  Monsters in the Wizorb level
- ++ Monsters in the Ninja Senki level

Curses 'N Chaos OST power rankings
----------------------------------

I *LOVE* the soundtrack in this game. Love it. Since I love it so much, I
thought I'd share with you my favourite tracks. (Yeah, you can stop reading
here if you want. :))

1.  Starfall
2.  Forest</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
3.  Castle Grimm (thank goodness the music makes this VERY HARD level
                  slightly more bearable)
4.  Grimmalcore
5.  Curses 'N Chaos theme
6.  Market
7.  Hope's End
8.  Mount Fuji
8.  Ovu Cavern
9.  Gravefield
10. Wheelwright
11. Bellwood
12. Wizorb
13. Chaos (it actually gets good eventually, but the intro is so dull)

The boss music is all fairly meh, except the music that plays when you
fight the King.

End
---

> Good skeleton-punch guys! You're punching the HECK out of those skeletons.