We're deep into the castle, and this game isn't going to get any easier.
Stage 7
The Spear Armors have spears, obviously. If you're above them, they will know you're there and stab upwards. It is possible to de-spawn the second one in the first section if you get the candles at the beginning in a certain order. Ditto with the second Ax Armor if you go left towards the candle instead of continuing towards the Ax Armor.
The small ghosts from Stage 1 appear again, and from this stage on, they take three hits to kill with a fully powered-up whip instead of two.
The next section is strictly vertical and contains two new enemies. The first is the flying Minotaur skeleton that fly around much like the Medusa heads, and if you don't destroy them quickly, they'll turn around after going off-screen and fly at you. Holding Y and then holding Down will lay your whip downwards so you can stun them in it and kill them. The books will fly at you as soon as they appear on-screen, but you can kill them like you did the flying Minotaurs.
The green book platforms move around in specific patterns, and once you're able to figure those patterns out, they're easier to deal with. Watch out for the Blood Skeletons.
If you see any pictures of old women moving, strike at the bottom of the picture frame to destroy their hands. The hands don't damage you, but they do stun you and leave you at the mercy of other enemies.
The statues of the gargoyles carrying spheres crumble when you get to close, and if you don't stop moving, the spheres hurt you. The red zombie dog will jump up and knock candles out of the air if you leave it on-screen long enough, but it goes down after one hit.
When you see low spiked ceilings, duck-walk under them. There will be lumps in the floor that will move towards you in an attempt to send your head into the spikes, and if you're standing when this happens, you're going to die.
The red worm will move around, and while you can hurt it, it will eventually go past the top of the screen and disappear, allowing you to get all the candles in the area.
The boss here is a giant suit of armor with an axe. Keep your distance when you attack, and stay away so you don't get hit by the ax. At half health, the giant suit of armor has a sword instead of an ax; you'll also want to keep your distance and jump over the boss in case you get cornered.
After this, you'll drop down into Stage 8.
Stage 8
Everything here is on a global timer, which means everything in the stage moves at the same time regardless of whether it is on the screen or not. As soon as this stage starts, you'd better get a move on.
The spider enemies from Stage 2 return, and you get new versions of the crushing spike platforms from Stage 4. Unlike the Stage 4 variety, however, you can stand on the top and use it to get past some obstacles as well as make certain parts of the stage easier. You'll also get the seaweed enemies again as well as the Peeping Eyes.
The green water damages you for as long as you're in, so stay out of it. Also, the green acid droplets that drop from the ceiling also hurt you. It should also be mentioned that the droplets as well as the water itself used to be blood; it was censored and turned into green, acidic water when the game got a Western release.
The Bone Totems take four hits to kill with a fully powered-up whip instead of three from this point forward.
There are swinging platforms that swing back and forth, and their undersides also have instant-death spikes. As long as you don't get caught up while underneath them and remember to duck-walk when necessary, you'll be fine.
There are double-sided spike blocks that move up and down on tracks in the background; touching those are also insta-kill.
The spears that drop down the ceiling only do so when you get close enough and they do not do that much damage. They only deal damage when they drop down.
When you see the two Bone Dragons in the second section, take out the first one with your whip, then spawn the second one, hit the candle that is on top of where the first one was, then use the cross necklace you get to destroy the second one.
On the block bridge, move slowly to the right. On the third bat, start moving. The fourth bat will hit you, but if you keep holding right on the D-Pad, you'll still be able to cross to the other side before the bridge completely falls out from under you.
In the vertical section, there are stairways with red sections. If you attack these sections with the whip, they will break apart and the resulting debris that scatters will hurt you if it touches you. Watch out for those double-sided spike blocks.
After the vertical section, duck-walk to get past the spike blocks, and take care of the skeleton before grabbing the brown jug. You can get past the swinging spike platform without a problem after that.
At the platform before the second set of spike blocks, walk off the edge to the right when the first block is all the way up. The candle between the first two blocks in this set contains a dagger, so don't hastily hit it if you don't want one. Duck-walk to get past all of the spikes that jut out of the ceiling, and use the whip wiggle to hit candles if you need hearts, health and points.
After that, there will be platforms that disappear and re-appear. Keep a watchful eye on them and pay attention to when each individual blocks fades in and out of the screen so you don't fall into the pit. These blocks are all on a global timer, meaning they are fading in and out regardless of whether they are on the screen or not, making this part feel very random every time you get here. Sometimes you can strike it lucky and rush through this; other times you'll have to exercise the utmost patience. It's even worse when you realize that there are blades that drop down from the ceiling in this section as well.
The boss here is a Frankenstein's Monster that throws beakers. Some of them create a short wall of flame around where the beaker lands; others split into a five-way shot when they go all the way up. He also can send out a doppleganger that goes down in one hit unlike the real one, a la Shredder from the TMNT games.
Stage 9
Be careful with your jumping, and watch out for enemies. This is especially true of skeletons; they may be waiting for you as you're about to land on a platform while jumping over a pit.
Jump over cracks in the floor; while they don't hurt you and they don't create bottomless pits when stepped on, they can take you by surprise.
The gold platforms on chains immediately crumble under your weight. The hard-to-reach lead mostly to hearts, particularly of the big variety, but not much else.
The gold pit is much like the water; you can sink into it and die if you stand in one spot for too long.
At the part where the blocks are falling you will want to advance quickly but carefully; you don't want to get hit by a blocks and knocked into insta-kill spikes.
The holes in the cave walls in the background that suck in air will drag you towards them and stick you in place until they stop sucking in air, but at least you can still defend yourself with your whip.
The vertical section before the end is a source of a lot of points; every candle except for any that contain health contains money, and even the skeletons - which are all gold in this stage and will throw bones at you - will drop money when killed. There's even a Bone Dragon near the end of this section, and if you kill it, it will turn into a bunch of money bags. Don't get greedy; if you drop down to the bottom of the screen, you can die even if you drop to an area where you know floor exists.
The boss here is a giant bat made of gold. Whenever you strike it, it drops gold that can do damage to you on its way down. Be sure you are directly under the bat when you strike it so this doesn't become a problem. At half health, this bat splits into three smaller bats that drop coins downwards and fly all over the screen. Keep your distance when hitting them, and remember that they all share a health bar. If you have the cross, you can do multiple hits. It won't be long until you enter Stage A.
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