PrinceWatercress plays Happily Ever After (NES) - Part 4 of 4

Here we are...Lord Maliss' castle. Believe it or not, you can get lives at the beginning of the stage and fill up on hit points in a matter of minutes, which makes this easier.

Stage 4

At the beginning of the stage, the purple guy with the sword will keep popping up over and over again if you just sit there. He is worth 1000 points, and if you keep attacking him with the magic cape, you can get your lives/hit points to the maximum value of nine after several minutes.

Walk up to the door on the right. Mother Nature will tell you to enter the mirror in the next room. Once you go through the door, go left. Attack the lizard that comes out with the magic cape, then enter the door. Go all the way to the right and enter the door after beating up the monster that comes out. Take the lower road to the right, go through the door, then walk left into the mirror.

From here, tap A to jump over the pits to enter the door on the right. then jump up the "stairs" and walk off the edge to go upside down. When upside-down, left and right are reversed on the Control Pad. (If you jump off the edge, you will die.) Enter the upside-down door. Head to the left, walk off the edge, and enter the door that is to the right. Jump to the door to the right, then go left and enter the door there.

You'll be at the boss rush for this stage. The first boss is a suit of armor. Strike it with the magic cape when its spear is right next to you, then back away so the armor segments don't hit you. When the armor suit pulls itself back together, wait for the armor suit to back into the wall, then strike it with the magic cape and keep backing away. After four or five hits, the armor suit is history.

Go through the door, and you'll have a boss rush of the enemies from the first three stages of the game, who you'll have to face one after another with all of the hit points that you have. Same strategies apply. You can use Thunderella's lightning ability to get rid of them, but it can only be used a couple of time before it stops working entirely. If you abuse it during the boss rush, you won't be able to use it against Lord Maliss...and while you could use the lightning against Lord Maliss, there is another method.

To beat Lord Maliss, stand almost right next to him and hit him with the magic cape. Duck down to avoid the throwing dagger as well as Maliss' somersault, and hit him every time he stops flashing while he stands next to you. If Lord Maliss jumps to the left instead of attacking, move a bit to the left and duck afterwards. Lord Maliss will jump back to the right side of the screen, where his attack begins anew. You may take the odd hit from the purple fireballs that move in a sine wave pattern, but that's probably all that's going to hit you. Strangely, you can keep the fireballs from appearing entirely just by standing at the correct spot and hitting Maliss with the magic cape while pressing B every time Snow White stops spinning.

When the screen starts flashing gray, Lord Maliss will turn into a stone statue and be defeated. Snow White and Prince Charming will be reunited, and you'll get your brief ending, which also comes with a roll call of the Dwarfelles and your final score. Congratulations!