Tuesday, September 3, 2019

PrinceWatercress plays Castle of Illusion for Genesis/Mega Drive - Part 2 of 4


Now that we've completed Practice Mode, it is now time for the real game.

Now it's time for the normal game. You'll need all seven gems to save Minnie and win the game this time, and you'll also have to defeat bosses and take on longer levels. This will be fun, however, so let's dig in.

On Normal Mode, you start with continues; on Hard, you don't have any at all.

Level 1: The Enchanted Forest


Mickey's main attack is the butt stomp. To perform it, simply jump, then either press the jump button again or press Down on the Control Pad to perform it. You have to use the Butt Stomp or else you'll take damage from jumping on an enemy. If you hold the button for the Butt Stomp down after jumping on an enemy, you'll bounce higher than you usually would; otherwise, it is a very low bounce.

The enemies here are very generic. The small moving trees will jump at you, but that's about all they can do. The mushrooms go back and forth, and the flowers will spit seeds at you that can also be destroyed with the butt stomp.

Jump into a swinging rope or chain and you can swing on it. If you run into enemies while swinging, you'll go straight through them and defeat them. Be careful when you jump, it is possible to simply drop down if you jump when the rope goes all the way to the side. To get more distance, you'll have to jump 

The apples act as throwing items for this level. This is an alternate attack you can use if you can't reach an enemy normally. They don't do as much damage as the butt stomp, but they still come in handy. The maximum you can carry is 30, and if you pick up any more after that, you'll get 1000 points.

The stars will refill one unit of Mickey's health. If your health is full when you pick them up, you'll score 1000 points instead. On Practice Mode, you'll have five hit points; on Normal, you'll have three; on Hard, you'll only have two.

The exit door will take you to the next section of a level. Just walk up to it and you'll enter. 

The second section starts as pleasantly as the first one. The leaf butterflies just fly forward in a zig-zag pattern. They're not that hard to deal with, as with much of the enemies early in the game.

The mouse ears icon give you an extra life (or try, as the game calls them).

Shortly after the beginning of the second section, you'll be dogged by a giant, rolling apple that acts as a boulder. To get past the big apple, hold Right for a second, then let go before the end so you can hide in the hole. 

The third section is a collection of spider webs and leaves. The leaves act as the platforms for this area. Some of them move when you land on them, so don't move off of them immediately when you land on one of them. You'll meet the spiders, but they just move up and down and get in the way. A butt stomp will take care of them.

In the fourth section, the forest gets dark. Butt stomp the ghosts to use them as platforms. You'll also meet the bats, which will fly at you if you're in the vicinity. You don't have to be that close to them in order for them to fly at you. Be sure you bounce off all the ghosts, as the high road is the only road and falling down will force you back to the start.

The small gems count as bonus points. You can get lives after collecting enough points (the first is at 40000 points, the rest are at every subsequent 50000 points) so they're worth getting.

The small brown bag gives you ten throwing items.

The boss is an enchanted tree. This boss is very simple. Just stay at the far left side of the screen, and jump over the face when it rolls towards you. When it smacks back into the tree and sends acorns down from the top of the screen, just stay at the far left. They'll never spawn there and they'll never reach you. Throw an apple at the face when it stops rolling. They do less damage, but you're far more likely to beat the boss without taking any damage this way. The pattern will then repeat endlessly from here.

After you beat the boss, you'll get the Red Gem, the first of the seven rainbow gems. You'll also get a technical bonus based on how much health you have at the end, as well as a secret bonus for all the secret stuff you found.

Level 2: Toyland


When you enter a new level, you'll lose all your throwing items and you'll have to find new ones. This time around, the throwing items are marbles.

The toy soldiers are easy to defeat. As for the jack-in-the-boxes, just wait for them to pop out before defeating them. Just make sure you're dead center when you butt bounce on them; otherwise, you're taking a hit.

The exit is to the right of the start in the first section, but you won't be able to enter it because the door has nothing in it. You'll have to make your way to the top and activate the exit to get to the next sections.

The planes move around in a zig-zag fashion like the leaf butterflies in the last level, but they're a bit faster. You can use them to get to higher areas

At the top of the first section, you'll find a key. When you grab it, all the stairs will change to steep slopes, allowing you to collect a bunch of white gems and go all the way back to the bottom in seconds so you can easily reach the now open exit.

In the second section, just jump on the springs to get higher. If you land on the spring at the bottom soon after the start, don't press the jump button or else you won't get anywhere.

You'll have to break some blocks with your marbles in order to continue. You'll be able to find some power-ups behind some blocks.

The square checkerboard platforms go up and down and move in rather interesting patterns. If you're used to the platforms in Spring Yard Zone of Sonic the Hedgehog, you'll have an exact idea of how they move: the center always moves the opposite direction as the ones on the side.

At the end of the jack-in-the-box part of the second section, there is a false wall near some yellow blocks. Go through it and break the blocks with marbles to find a star.

Jump repeatedly to get out of the red gelatin. If you spend too much time in the gelatin, you will die.

If you have than less than the default starting power when you exit a section, your health will get a refill to that default value when you start the next one.

In the third section, you'll find icons with an up/down arrow. This not only turns the level upside down (and you with it), but it also destroys all enemies on the screen.

Jumping repeatedly makes you move faster, apparently.

The gold apples give you points.

The clowns on unicycles will throw a ball upwards, which will land on whatever is directly in front of it. If you butt stomp or throw a marble at the clown, the unicycle will survive and take out any enemies it touches as it keeps going.

The boss is a springy clown in a box. He jumps two or three times before shooting his arm forward. Duck under the arm, then jump on one of the springs he leaves behind and land on his head. If you take too long, the clown boss will eventually recover. Walk under him as he jumps, and don't let him back you into the corner.

When you beat the clown, you'll get the Orange Gem.

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