PrinceWatercress plays Jurassic Park for Super Nintendo AGAIN - Part 1 of 9

Oh, no...not again!

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Worth noting: you have to beat the game in one sitting. No wonder this game frustrated me back in the day. 

Also worth noting: The game is based on both the book and the movie. If you're wondering why you go into a ship in the game, that's why.

Also also worth noting: the fact that GameFAQs does have maps for every area in the game, including the Zelda-esque overworld in which you go from one indoor area to another. Thank you, Starfighters76. What would I do without you?

Even though you can do all six missions in any order, we're going in the order that the game mentions them, simply because I can.

The best ammo you can get are the rocket launchers (primary, fired with the A button) and the explosive bolas (secondary, fired with the Y button). They're the things that look like bumblebees and the things that look like a group of three black iron balls, respectively. Pick them up, no matter what, as the game lets you stockpile on ammo. To pick up items in the overworld, stand on it and press the X button. If, for some reason, you need to switch back to the cattle prod (those electric gates, man), just press Select to toggle back and forth between the rechargeable cattle prod and whatever special primary weapon you have. You can carry only one special primary type and one secondary type at a time.

Primary: Shotgun shells, Tranquilizer Darts, Rocket Launcher

Secondary: Gas Grenades, Explosive Bolas

The Compies are really easy to destroy. All you need to do is hit them with your cattle prod and they'll die in one hit. The spitters and the raptors are a little harder. You're better off using your special primary and secondary weapons on them, as hitting them with a continuous cattle prod shot will take time.

Jurassic Park Map (by StarFighters76)

From the start, go south through the forest. There's the Nublar Utility Shed area right there. The building should be a little further to the south. Touch the door and you'll automatically be whisked inside. If you need to, take the stairs to the roof and get the bolas, but watch out for the raptor that jumps out at you from below. Also, don't touch the electrical grid in the center. You will electrocute yourself.

Also near the building is a motion sensor. It's that grey thing that looks like a lamppost. Whenever you touch one, you'll get mission objectives. Be careful when reading the messages, as you'll still have to fight dinosaurs while you're reading! Also, touching one acts like a continue point. If you die, you'll go back to the last one you touched.

There are white letters scattered throughout the game. They all spell "Dr. Horner," a real-life American paleontologist who partly served as the basis for the Dr. Alan Grant character, was one of the first paleontologists to find proof that dinosaurs cared for their young, and also served as an advisor for all of the Jurassic Park films.

Nublar Utility Shed Map (by StarFighters76)

On to the shed. You could just go left, enter the first door you see, and keep going straight while taking down any dinosaurs you see and just simply turn on the generator and destroy just a few generators. But no...we're going to pull some dinosaur genocide because we can.

The spitters and the raptors are the only enemies you'll see here, and they'll just stand or walk around until you get close enough. Thankfully, you can pick them off from a distance if you can see them. I have to admit, this is impressive for Super Nintendo, even if the indoor view doesn't cover the entire screen and you see it only from Dr. Grant's "eyes."

If you go right at the beginning, you'll find a battery. This will power up your Night Vision goggles for the area, and will only work in the area that you found the battery in. Going in a dark room without one will kill you instantly. These dark rooms will carry some power-ups, and sometimes also carry ID cards of various Jurassic Park personnel (some from the movie, some from the books). Sometimes you'll find a door that triggers a message saying "You need So-and-So's ID card to access this area." That ID card will be in a different location entirely, so scan around whenever you're in a building. Thankfully, that's where the maps on GameFAQs come in.

You may notice a computer in one of the rooms. We won't be dealing with that right now, since it isn't working anyway.

The raptors will attack if they're hit with a non-explosive weapon. (This is why I usually choose the explosive ones, since there's no way I feel like dealing with that in the first-person areas.)

The room with the generator has a few of those green spitters in there. Thankfully, those guys never move (unlike the raptors) and they only use their spit attack when you're close enough to them, so take your time and pick them off with any non-cattle prod weapon you have. 

There is also an elevator that will take you down to the sub level. One of the doors here is locked and can only be accessed with Ian Malcolm's ID Card. You won't be able to get that until you enter the Raptor Pen, which isn't until later. In that room, you'll find Donald Gennaro's ID Card, which will come into play later...

Northwest of the Nublar Utility Shed is a small mountain you can walk around. Go up it and get the egg over there. While you're over there, stay away from the boulders. If one falls on you, it's instant death. Thankfully, if they split into three, the worst the pieces can do is trip you up and take a little bit of your health away.

PrinceWatercress plays Sonic Blast (as Knuckles) - Part 5 of 5

Fun fact: This was the first video I made in 2022. With this video popping up as late as it is, you can tell how much I work on at any given time. I have two main games from the Twitter try-outs, a capture device game that I do at night and a much shorter game that I only work on during Monday nights.

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Silver Castle Zone

The platforms go in a circle, and as you stand on them to rotate them, you'll fill up a gauge on the wall. When the gauge is filled up, you'll open a path up and be able to continue.

The enemies with the spinning spikes need to be hit from directly above. Their hitboxes are a little suspect, interestingly. Ditto with the enemies with the big spike on the bottom as well as the flying orb enemies that spit out mortar shots. 

The Act 1 special stage is here. By going down and to the right at the start, you'll find a diagonal line of rings going up and right. Follow the path, fill the wall gauge to get to the ring portal.

The proper route is the teleporter below the one leading to the ring portal. Take it, go left, then drop down the black area and run to the right avoid the spike wall. From here, head to the right and watch for enemies to get to Act 2.

For Act 2, watch out for the electrical barriers. The yellow floors will hamper your speed.

The Act 2 special stage is here. Get past the fallaway floor and jump to the teleporter above, then take the teleporter to the right and avoid the spikes on your way left to get to the final special stage and (hopefully) the final Chaos Emerald shard.

Now for the proper route. Go to as far right as you can, then drop down. Run to the left to avoid the spike wall.

Get to the left, drop down and go left again. Go down the fallway floors, then run right and then left after the drop-off. Ride the platforms to open up the teleporter, then run to the left away from the spike wall. At the drop off, go right to exit.

In Act 3, get all the rings, then take the teleporter above. For this battle, you'll be running left and right to move a platform above you. The beam from Robotnik's machine needs to bounce off this platform in order to be reflected back upon Robotnik. Doing so allows you to hurt Robotnik. If the beam misses the platform, be ready to jump over it when it reaches the bottom.

If you don't have all five Chaos Emerald shards, the game ends after this battle. If you have all the shards, however, you'll have a second phase. You'll have 99 rings to work with, which gives you plenty of hit points. The trick is to get above Robotnik's machine so you can hit it at the top of its head.

The top of You'll need to land on the bottom half when the top half is where you can jump to it. When you see an "up" arrow where Robotnik's face is, you'll want to jump up and over the spikes and land on the center of the top half. The top half will shoot sparks to the sides, but you can easily stand between where they will come down.

After enough damage, the bottom half moves independently of the top half. The more rings you have for this part, the better. You'll need to anticipate where the two halves will be in relation to each other very carefully in order to keep damaging the top half. At least the bottom half does not hurt you if it moves into you. Also, the top half moves more slowly than the bottom half. Once you get enough hits in, you'll get the ending. If you didn't get all five shards, Robotnik gets away as the Silver Castle sinks, but if you do have all the shards, he doesn't, and your character will have all the shards. After that, the credits roll. You've won!

PrinceWatercress plays Sonic Blast (as Knuckles) - Part 4 of 5

Blue Marine is very, very particular in where it wants you to go, which can make it difficult to clear, much less get to the Chaos Emerald shard.

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Blue Marine Zone

For Act 1, head all the way to the right for an extra life. When you drop down into the water, the current will strictly carry you towards a pipe. Go through the pipe, then jump and use the glide to get to one of the platforms in the water, then make your way to the right and go up to the pipe above where you came out from. Enter it, and you'll enter the second section.

From here, you'll need to make your way to the top, then go all the way to the left and jump on the switch to drain the water. Just like in past Sonic games, you can't stay in the water forever, and you'll eventually get a countdown from nine to zero signifying that your air is low. Look for a place where small air bubbles float upwards so you can jump into a big bubble to refill your air, or enter a pipe so 

you can reset the countdown for a little while.

Enemies here include octopi that move up and down as well as crabs that move back and forth.

The Act 1 special stage is here. Once you drain the water, go down and to the right. When you see the purple springs, jump over them, then use the platforms or climb the wall to get to the big ring portal.

In Act 2, go all the way to the right to get to ten rings. There is a fake wall to the right; go through it and enter the pipes for rings. You'll then end up when you need to be anyway. You'll need to make your way down and through the fallaway floors. When you see the small platforms, go all the way to the right and glide to enter a pipe and enter the second section.

From here, go all the way to the right and climb up the wall for then rings, then climb up the wall above it for a fake wall. Go right and hit the switch, then enter the pipe above the switch to refill your air. Climb back into the pipe, then head up and to the left. With the switch pressed, you can reach the next special stage.

The Act 2 special stage is here. With the switch from earlier pressed, you can make your way to the ring portal. Knuckin'!

Now it's time to do everything you did before, but when you take the pipe above the switch, enter the one to the left of where you come out. From here, go left and enter the pipe below the one you came out of. Go left to the next pipe, then drop all the way down and go left for a checkpoint. Make your way to the right, and when you can't go right anymore, start making your way up. Enter the top most pipe, enter the pipe to the left, then jump after you come out to get to the goal.

For Act 3, you'll need to make your way to the top by walking across the fallaway floors and going up the pipes. If you make it to the top, there will be a switch to the right. If you end up in the water prematurely, you can still go to the right, climb up the right wall and hit the switch anyway. This will help you get a 10 Ring monitor.

Once you reach the bottom, you'll face Robotnik. Jump into him whenever he shoots the harpoons forward, then wait two passes while staying on the far left side of the screen. When Robotnik shoots the harpoon downward, jump into the big bubble that he creates. You'll now have plenty of air to fight Robotnik with. From here, he will then shoot the harpoon forward once, then do the two passes before giving you another air bubble. Keep jumping into the visor of Robotnik's sea machine and you'll eventually defeat him in the hardest part of the game so far. 

PrinceWatercress plays Sonic Blast (as Knuckles) - Part 3 of 5

The action heats up in Red Volcano Zone. You'll be doing a little bit of searching in order to get to the Special Stages here.

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Red Volcano Zone

In the first act, you'll have to jump over pools of lava while facing sea monsters that live in the lava (jump on their heads) and orbs with singular flams orbiting over them.

The blue robot with the red top will launch you into the air.

The shield will protect you from one hit.

The Act 1 special stage is here. You'll need to get to the top on the way to the right, then jump to the right to get to the ring portal.

In the second act, you'll need to watch out for geysers that spit smoke out of the floor and ceilings.

The yellow air pumps in the lava are rafts. Leap straight up on them to ride across the lava.

The Act 2 special stage is here. After the big drop-off, go all the way to the left, then jump right at the slope and glide.

The blue machines with the red and white treads carry you up the wall if you spin dash on them, but since you're playing as Knuckles, you can simply climb on the walls.

In Act 3, you'll have to climb your way up to get to the boss. Below the start is a bunch of rings behind a wall; to open the wall, you'll have to stick to the left side of the area as you go up to find the switch to open the wall up.

The blue platform at the end takes you to the boss. To beat Robotnik here, stay in the center and jump into the visor of his machine has he makes his way up. You'll bounce off him; stay away from him so he doesn't hit you. After enough hits, Robotnik goes down.

PrinceWatercress plays Sonic Blast (as Knuckles) - Part 2 of 5

In the next zone, the bonus areas become a little harder to find, and it also becomes a little harder to stay alive.

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Yellow Desert Zone

Enemies here include bats that dive back and forth as well as red enemies that sprout spikes out of their head. Use the spin dash on the latter.

If you jump while rolling upside down on a ceiling, you'll drop straight down.

The first bonus area is here. Climb up the wall above where you come out from to find the ring portal. Also, the springs will send you into the air; use them to get the rings that are high in the air.

For the second act, you'll need to look out for spikes on the walls and ceilings. If a spike on the ceiling is colored differently, it will fall down when you get close to it. Also, there will be 

The Eggman monitor pick-up cuts the amount of rings you currently have in half. Not cool.

The second bonus area is here. Go left on the ground twice, then jump to the right. If you do it correctly, you'll be sent up and to the right by the many holes here and you'll be shoot into the ring portal.

In Act 3, go down a bit and then go left to find a switch. This opens up a nearby room for more rings.

To beat the Egg Goku, jump into the visor, then jump into it again as Robotnik stabs downwards with the staff. Robotnik will go down after twelve hits.

PrinceWatercress plays Sonic Blast (as Knuckles) - Part 1 of 5

So apparently I didn't know the story for this game as well as I thought I did. I fix that here in the blog. Anyway, let's knuck.

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In this story, Sonic is on South Island with a Chaos Emerald in his hand when it suddenly glows and splits into five shards that fly away. (This predates the story of Sonic Adventure 2 by five years.) As it turns out, Dr. Robotnik was trying to zap Sonic, but hit the Chaos Emerald instead, and he plans to find the shards and use them for himself in his new stronghold on the island known as the Silver Castle. Knuckles the Echidna, having seen this from behind a palm tree, teams up with Sonic and the two of them look for the shards.

Left and Right let you move left and right, and going in one direction long enough lets you run. 1 and 2 jump. Up lets you look up, and Down lets you crouch and look down. Holding Down and pressing 1 or 2 lets you perform the Spin Dash. By pressing 1 or 2 while already in the air, you can perform a special move depending on who you are playing as. Sonic will do a double jump, while Knuckles will glide. Knuckles will only continue to glide if you hold the button down, and you can change direction as he glides, too. If you glide into a wall, Knuckles can climb on the wall with Up and Down. If you reach the top of a platform, Knuckles can climb up to the surface at the top if you hold Up. You can also jump off and to the side while climbing, too.

When you press Start, you can choose between Sonic and Knuckles. We'll be playing as Knuckles here.

Green Hill Zone

By collecting rings, you'll be able to save yourself from dying instantly upon touching an enemy. Unlike other Sonic games, however, you only lose ten rings instead of all of them if you get hit, which makes the game a bit easier. Collecting

Enemies here include bugs that shoot at you as well as monkeys that climb on trees and throw stuff at you.

The rolling logs have sticks sticking out that will hurt you if they touch you. Just jump clear over them.

The monitor with the red arrow on it is a checkpoint. Jump on the monitor to break it and activate the checkpoint.

Believe it or not, you can stand on the tops of the trees. 

Here's the first of two ring portals for Green Hill Zone. Just get in the water, spin dash through this wall, and you're in.

In the special stages, you'll be running forward and picking up rings. The blue objects are speed boosts. Some of the rings will be in the air, and if you can time it right, you can get a lot of rings in the air. The prize for getting 50 rings in a special stage depends on what act you're in: if it's Act 1, it's an extra life, if it's Act 2, it's a Chaos Emerald shard. If you end with less than 50 rings, Robotnik takes the prize away.

The sign at the end can give you bonus rings and even lives. If you land on Sonic as Sonic or on Knuckles as Knuckles, you'll get an extra life (while the other character gives you thirty rings). A ring will give you ten rings, while a Chaos Emerald gives you a continue. If you can land on Super Sonic, you'll get a 1-Up and thirty rings. Robotnik gives you nothing.

In the second act, you'll start seeing the fish enemies that jump up and down; make sure you're somersaulting so you can hit them. Also, the pipes take you to different areas. If you climb the wall after coming out of the second pipe, you'll find a 1-Up.

Springs knock you into a direction if you jump into or land on them . Also, spikes hurt; don't hit them.

Knucking, defined.

The ring portal for Act 2 is here. Take the top route, and walk across the spinning log slowly so you don't get hit by the spikes.

The bumpers in the second special stage just push you back.

In Act 3, you'll be grabbing . If you can hit the red globe stuck to the wall soon after the start, you can go left and get a bunch of rings including a monitor that gives you ten rings.

To beat Robotnik, jump at the visor of Robotnik's machine when he shoots the boomerang at you. He will go down in six hits.

PrinceWatercress plays Batman: Return of the Joker (Game Boy) - Part 4 of 4

This is it. It's just this stage between you and The Joker...and beating The Joker is no easy task.

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Stage 4: Limestone Caverns

When you run to the right at the start, keep holding Right and do not jump. Crouch punch the guy with the rocket launcher away from you. Drop straight down where the water fall is, then make your way to the right. When you approach the elevator platform, duck down to avoid being shot by the guy with the rocket launcher. Take the middle path and keep jumping off the platforms to reach the next area. Punch the rocks to break them, then get the rocket launcher guy out of your way. Take the platform to the right and crouch down to avoid being blasted by another rocket launcher guy. Knock him into the pit (or beat him up), then go right, wall jump and take the platform down. Be ready to wall jump to the left to avoid being blasted by - you guessed it - another rocket launcher. The end of the section is to the right.

For the second section, stick to the bottom and watch out for falling rocks and ninjas. At the two falling platforms that are coming up next, hold right on the second one to go through the wall for the final health extension of the game. You should have eight units of health at this point. Keep going right. The ninja on the next platform will jump away. Keep jumping carefully to the right once you reach the top. Use the Batarangs you got with the health extension to keep the ninja away when you drop down to the end, and watch for falling stalactites. When the ninja is gone, head to the right to face The Joker, who does a little dance at the beginning of the battle..

The Joker has two phases. You'll also have a magnet that doesn't show up on Easy, and that magnet not only slowly follows you around and absorbs any thrown Batarangs, but also carries you up, forcing you to hold Left or Right in order to slowly struggle free. 

For the first phase, get in close and punch him. If he jumps, you'll want to jump with him. If you're inside where his sprite is standing, do a crouch punch. He will shoot a boxing glove at you at times; jump over it. If you manage to get away from him, stay there and get the magnet to come to you. If you're far enough away from The Joker, The Joker will just stand there, and you can use this as an opportunity to change the pace of the battle. From there, approach The Joker and get your shots in again. Whatever you do, don't just run at him; he will smack you with his cane, which has more of a reach than you would think. Also, keeping your health high during the first phases is absolteuly essential; you'll need all that health for phase two.

Once he goes down, it's time for the second phase. The Joker will be moving around no matter what this time, so you'll have to be a little more creative with him. You may have to use the magnet to your advantage by hitting him while you're in mid-air, and other times, you'll have to use the same tactics as the first phase to get your shots in.

During both phases, if you can trap The Joker in the corner and punch him multiple times, do it. It'll make the battle easier. Just don't expect it to happen very often.

Once you beat The Joker again, The Joker is down and heading for another trip to the Arkham Asylum. You've won!

PrinceWatercress plays Batman: Return of the Joker (Game Boy) - Part 3 of 4

After the craziness of the Machine Shop, the Train ends up being the easiest part of the game.

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Stage 3: The Train

The only enemy you will be meeting here is the football player that will run at you. While you can punch them as they run at you, you can also jump over all of them and hurry through the stage if you know how. There is a big heart pick-up at the end of the second section, the hard part is keeping all the enemies at bay so you can get to it.

The boss here is Foul Ball, who looks like the enemies from Stage 1 and is super easy to fight. To beat him, all you have to crouch punch him, jump over him as he slides, jump over him as he slides again, then crouch punch him again. Repeat until he's dead.

PrinceWatercress plays Batman: Return of the Joker (Game Boy) - Part 2 of 4

Manami Matsamae, who worked on the music for this game - if the stage select music is any indication - came up with some interesting music for this game, and the music here is a frantic little number. Also, this is where things get a little more difficult.

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Stage 2: Machine Shop

Be careful and gently tap A while running to avoid the crushers. After the crushers, stay low and jump off the exploding blocks as soon as you get on them to get the health extension. Once you get it, make your way up through the next pipe and be ready to jump as soon as you come out. Make sure you get the Batarangs, you'll need them soon.

The ninja enemies all over this stage will throw kunai at you and move around a little strangely when you approach them. This can make tangling with them a pretty odd thing to do, so if they somehow get close, hit them. They can also block your Batarangs, too.

Go up near the end of the first section for a big heart pick-up.

Next up is the tank. Stand at the front of the tank and throw Batarangs at the guy driving it until he goes down. That's it. Otherwise, you're getting in close and taking a lot of damage.

Stay up high in the third section. Wait for the block stacks to form to jump across them, and use the grappling hook to get past the last guy at the end. There is a big heart pick-up in one of the pits near the end.

The boss here is the Shogun Warrior. Your best bet is to corner him as quickly as possible and keep punching him. He can hit you with his sword and also throw shurikens at him. You have to get inside of his sprite and punch him from within to avoid getting hit if you can't do that, and he can hit you more easily than Dark Claw could. With practice, you'll definitely be able to beat him, but he is the hardest of the first three bosses in the game.

PrinceWatercress plays Batman: Return of the Joker (Game Boy) - Part 1 of 4

The Joker has returned again, this time on Game Boy. Guess we gotta stop him.

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You can play the first three stages in any order, but you must beat them all to get the fourth and final one.

Stage 1: The Sewers

Left and Right let you move around, Down ducks, B punches, A jumps, and Up lets you fire the grappling hook up and forwards. Batman is pretty slippery and does not stop on a dime, so you want to be careful as you move around and not force things.

If you are near a wall and facing it while in mid-air, you can press A to do a wall jump.

Batarangs give you a limited amount of Batarangs to throw. The game never tells you how many you have; you'll need to keep track of that mentally. Also, they end up being sort of useless, as you can't use them against bosses and there are quite a few enemies who can block them.

The guys in the hats are enemies and have to be hit several times to beat them. Sometimes, they will drop a small heart to refill one unit of health. Meanwhile, there are big heart icons that recover three units of your health.

Using the grappling hook is easy if you know how. If you can keep off ceilings, floors and walls, you can keep using A and Up to keep swinging forward on ceilings and reach stuff you may not otherwise be able to find.

Eventually, the water will start rising and falling. If you touch it in any way, it will hurt you.

The waterfalls that fall down every so often just push you back, but they can damage enemies. They can, however, also push you down into bottomless pits if you don't time your jumps right.

If you know what you're doing in the second section, you can get to the pick-ups in the upper-left corner. Also, if you stay high in the third section, you can find an icon with a heart on it and the word "UP" on it. This increases your health maximum by one point. Also, you have continues for lives, and if you die, you'll have to use a continue. Use all your continues, and it's back to the beginning of the game if you die again.

As for the third section, there are crates you can break and get small hearts out of, and there are also conveyor belts that will push you back.

Get rid of all your Batarangs before facing the boss. While it looks like you may be catching your Batarangs after throwing them, you're actually using them up. Again, all bosses block the Batarangs, as do some of the normal enemies in the game.

The boss is Dark Claw. Interestingly, normal enemies can do contact damage, but bosses cannot; they actually have to actively attack you in order to hurt you. As Dark Claw is jumping around, you want to jump towards him and punch multiple times. Another thing that you can do is get him in the corner and keep punching him. Since Dark Claw (and the rest of the bosses) don't have invincibility frames, trapping him in the corner and repeatedly punching can do a ton of damage. 

PrinceWatercress plays Towering Inferno - The Longplay

Now for one last game on Game Mode 1. See you next time.

Part 1 | Part 2

Here's a fun little diddy from U.S. Games for the Atari 2600. In this game (which isn't related to the movie called The Towering Inferno from the 1970s, strangely), you're rescuing people from a building one floor at a time.

You'll need to use the fire button to fire the fire hose up or down to take out the flames and you'll need to get to the white square at the top, then get back to the bottom and get out. If you can do it in time, you'll be able to get to the next floor, and you'll have less and less time the further up you go.

The flames can give you a hard time. The big ones take more water to take out than the small ones, and you can only fire the water from the fire hose up or down. Also, the flames jiggle around with seemingly no rhyme or reason - it's very random! If you get burned, you'll be taken back to the bottom of the screen to start the floor over. Also, if a flame is inside a wall, you cannot put it out; it has to be out in the open to be extinguished. 

Also, the hostages act as a timer. If the hostage meter in the upper-left corner flashes white, you're about to lose a hostage. Getting four hostages off the floor is very tough, and you'll have to be super quick to do it. (Good luck not getting yourself inadvertently stuck in a wall on the way forward and back!) The more hostages you have when you leave a floor, the more bonus points (twenty-five points for each hostage) you'll get before heading to the next one. You'll get a repetitive beep when you're on the last hostage, but good luck getting to the bottom and getting far enough to the right to leave the floor in time if that happens. If you lose all the hostages, the game is over no matter how many firemen you have in reserve. Speaking of which, you also have four firemen that are replenished when you clear a floor, and if you lose them all, the game is over. Oh, and if you rescue the hostages and get hit by a flame in any way, you have to rescue the hostages again.

When you get past the ninth floor of a building, you'll fly off to a new building of a different color where the whole game starts over again at a slightly higher difficulty.

And that's just Game Mode 1!

In Game Mode 2, pressing the reset button lets you continue from the floor where you lost with the same score. This is cool if you want to see all of the possible building colors.

Game Mode 3 is a practice mode where you can repeat a floor in case you die. You don't keep your score, but you do get a chance to get better and better with later parts of the game.

Game Mode 4 is the regular two-player mode, and plays the same way as Game Mode 1.

Game Mode 5 is also a two-player mode, except players alternate between floors. If any player dies on a floor, they get sent back to Floor 1 of the current building.

Game Mode 6 is the same as Game Mode 5, but players can repeat any floor that they die on.

Game Mode 7 is a more forgiving version of Game Mode 4. If either player completes a floor, both players advance, making this mode a true alternating cooperative mode.

PrinceWatercress plays Towering Inferno - Part 2 of 2

Now it's time to play the other one-player game modes as well as talk about the two-player ones.

Part 1 | Longplay

In Game Mode 2, pressing the reset button lets you continue from the floor where you lost with the same score. This is cool if you want to see all of the possible building colors.

Game Mode 3 is a practice mode where you can repeat a floor in case you die. You don't keep your score, but you do get a chance to get better and better with later parts of the game.

Game Mode 4 is the regular two-player mode, and plays the same way as Game Mode 1.

Game Mode 5 is also a two-player mode, except players alternate between floors. If any player dies on a floor, they get sent back to Floor 1 of the current building.

Game Mode 6 is the same as Game Mode 5, but players can repeat any floor that they die on.

Game Mode 7 is a more forgiving version of Game Mode 4. If either player completes a floor, both players advance, making this mode a true alternating cooperative mode.

PrinceWatercress plays Towering Inferno - Part 1 of 2

It's time for another Atari 2600 game, and this time around, we're saving people from a burning high rise! Can you get everyone out of all nine floors?

Part 2 | Longplay

Here's a fun little diddy from U.S. Games for the Atari 2600. In this game (which isn't related to the movie called The Towering Inferno from the 1970s, strangely), you're rescuing people from a building one floor at a time.

You'll need to use the fire button to fire the fire hose up or down to take out the flames and you'll need to get to the white square at the top, then get back to the bottom and get out. If you can do it in time, you'll be able to get to the next floor, and you'll have less and less time the further up you go.

The flames can give you a hard time. The big ones take more water to take out than the small ones, and you can only fire the water from the fire hose up or down. Also, the flames jiggle around with seemingly no rhyme or reason - it's very random! If you get burned, you'll be taken back to the bottom of the screen to start the floor over. Also, if a flame is inside a wall, you cannot put it out; it has to be out in the open to be extinguished. 

Also, the hostages act as a timer. If the hostage meter in the upper-left corner flashes white, you're about to lose a hostage. Getting four hostages off the floor is very tough, and you'll have to be super quick to do it. (Good luck not getting yourself inadvertently stuck in a wall on the way forward and back!) The more hostages you have when you leave a floor, the more bonus points (twenty-five points for each hostage) you'll get before heading to the next one. You'll get a repetitive beep when you're on the last hostage, but good luck getting to the bottom and getting far enough to the right to leave the floor in time if that happens. If you lose all the hostages, the game is over no matter how many firemen you have in reserve. Speaking of which, you also have four firemen that are replenished when you clear a floor, and if you lose them all, the game is over. Oh, and if you rescue the hostages and get hit by a flame in any way, you have to rescue the hostages again.

When you get past the ninth floor of a building, you'll fly off to a new building of a different color where the whole game starts over again at a slightly higher difficulty.

And that's just Game Mode 1! Tune in next time for the rest of the game modes!

PrinceWatercress plays Legend of the Mystical Ninja - Part 10 of 10

In this entry, we bust out of jail and bring the fight to the Hannya Army to save Princess Yuki once and for all!

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Warlock Zone IX: Final Story

Final Story Map (by Vorpal86)

At the start of the level, Yae will show up and tell you that the counterfeiters she has been looking for are working from inside of the castle. She then frees you from your prison cell and tells you that the real king is being held in another cell somewhere.

The guards will shoot at you with guns, and they have three-way shots that can spread out pretty well. You'll want to take them out quickly or take them out from the side. By talking to the people, you'll find out that the prisoners are innocent people who are forced to make counterfeit money.

There are two jutsu schools where you can learn any technique you need for just in case. There are also shops all the way to the south. where you can buy things just like in any of the other village.

By staying in the prison cell area to the north of the shops, you'll be able to find the king. He will tell you that the castle was taken over by the Hannya Army, and that it will be the end of everyone if they are not stopped. He will also tell you of a hidden passage in the walls, and that hidden passage will be near your cell. Just go back to your cell and strike the north wall.

Floating Castle Map (by Vorpal86)

Strike the red ball walls to get rid of them.

Once you make it to the buildings, watch out for the guys carrying the cups, as they will jump from ground level to roof level and change directions. There will also be guys firing guns, but they stay in place and fire the whole time.

You'll soon catch up with Yae, who will tell you that the Hannya Army is using the counterfeit money to turn Ryukyu Castle into a flying castle. Also, Princess Yuki is in the castle, and we'll have to rescue her.

The stationary clouds will disappear when you jump on them, but the ones that move around are completely solid. You'll have to jump quickly on the stationary clouds. Also, the soldiers will be moving back and forth here.

Once you enter the flying castle, you'll be able to get an elephant statue before entering a boss rush. You'll face the Lantern Man from the second level and the Otafu Army mask from the fourth level before facing the Hannya Army Shogun. If you lose a life at any point, you'll be going back to the Lantern Man and the start of the boss rush. Same strategies for the Lantern Man and the Otafu Army Mask apply, but for the Otafu Army Mask, the sumo fighters don't show up this time around.

The Hannya Shogun will ride on a dog and shoot giant arrows into the air. You'll need to strike the arrows to send them back at dog's head, as shooting any lower will cause the dog to swipe the arrows away. If the Shogun gets too close to the left side, stay near the front of the dog.

Once you defeat the dog, the dog will transform back into a fox and run away. The Shogun will then roll around. Stay at the ends of the screen to avoid him, and hit him when he uncurls himself. When he moves back and forth and bounce around, hit him with your money or other projectiles.

When the Hannya Shogun refuses to give up after the battle and threatens to kill Princess Yuki, the fox disappears after the Shogun breaks the deal between them by refusing to set Princess Yuki free. The Shogun, now powerless without the fox, threatens to kill Princess Yuki, but Goemon is able to knock the mask off of the shogun to reveal he is a helpless old man and save the day. You've won!

PrinceWatercress plays Legend of the Mystical Ninja - Part 9 of 10

In this entry, we finally save the princess only to fall directly into the enemy's trap.

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Warlock Zone VIII: Save Princess

Ryukyu Map (by Vorpal86)

The men in the blue jackets and demon masks throw hammers, and the hammers bounce around a few times before disappearing. They can do a lot of damage if you're not careful.

You'll need to get a major item in order to enter the Action Stage, and that item is the Text. There are villagers in purple suits who speaks weird symbols, and even the king of Ryukyu speaks this language, as Ryukyu has its own language. There is a textbook called Text you can buy which can help you understand them, but it costs $980. You'll need the Text to talk to the king, making it a required item.

There are three hidden areas behind some of the statues, and you can smack the statues with your weapon to find them. In this hidden areas, you can get a lot of money. The suitcases give you $100 when collected.

The King will be in the throne room in the castle. When you talk to King Ryukyu with the Text in your inventory, he will tell you that the castle has been overrun by thieves planning a wicked scheme. He tells you that one of the statues leads to an escape tunnel, and until you talk to King Ryukyu with the Text to learn about it, it won't open up for you. He then tells you to stop the thieves' awful plot.

The statue in question is south and then east from the throne room. Attack the middle statue to enter the Action Stage.

Escape Tunnel Map (by Vorpal86)

Enemies and obstacles here include rolling heads, lava that acts as a bottomless pits, fireballs that jump in and out from below the bridges and can't be killed, fireball spitting statues, and platforms that lean forward when you land on them. The fireball spitting statues can be destroyed and need to be in order for you to move on.

The red blobs that you'll see on the wooden lift platform will drop small heads and will eventually pop from their bubbles and drop down after they flash.

The guys climbing the platforms will stand on the platforms if they reach the tops. You can always throw money at them in case they reach the top before you can get there.

The boss here is a head with multi-colored body segments. Jump up the body segments as they go from one side to the other, then keep striking the body at the top. This will get faster and faster the further you get in this boss battle. Once you beat him, you'll drop down onto a roller coaster platform straight out of [i]Kid Dracula[/i]. Be ready to jump and duck under low overhead.

The platforms on the circular tracks rotate when you stand on them; jump to make them stop.

You'll eventually reach Princess Yuki. Get on the platform she is on when the boss shows up, and keep striking at the head in order to knock the boss off the pole. If you knock the boss back enough in one direction, you'll take it down very quickly.

You'll save Princess Yuki, then find out it was all a trap as the Lord of Edo has been compromised. The Great Hannya Shogun and his henchmen reveal themselves and throw Goemon and Ebisumaru into the dungeon...

PrinceWatercress plays Legend of the Mystical Ninja - Part 8 of 10

Well, we're out of Somewhere Village...the next question is...why is my life being ruined by birds?!?

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Tengu Mountain Map (by Vorpal86)

Enemies you'll see at the start include monkeys that leap at you and purple birds that dive at you with swords.

At the bridge, you'll see the Tengu Brothers. Avoid their sword strikes and jump over the projectiles they throw when they stop bouncing around. They'll also jump from one side of the screen to the other afterwards.

At the waterfall, there will be some platforms that will move in and out of the water. If you're on one when when it moves into the background, you'll be behind the waterfalls, where you can platform with the platforms inside the waterfall on your way to the top. Also, watch out for fish.

The boss here is a shogun with a box. Watch out for the rose petals and strike them as they come down, and hit the shogun in the head as he stands still and shoots the petals out of the box. When the box is destroyed, he will jump around and either throw his hair at you or blow air at you. Jump over the wig attack as well as the blown air pellets, and stay close to the boss to do damage to the boss' face.

At the end of the stage, you'll reach Dragon Pond.

Warlock Zone VII: White Mirror

White Mirror Map (by Vorpal86)

By talking to the people in the village, you will find out that there is a white mirror on a small island in Dragon Pond.

The gateway to Dragon Pond is to the left of the start, and the village is one straight line to the right. It does, however, loop on itself. So if you keep going right, you'll eventually end up at Dragon Pond.

Dragon Pond Map (by Vorpal86)

You'll be riding on a boat striking at birds that drop blue balls where you're at as you go. The blue ball as well as the fish on the piers can also be struck. The hermit crabs just move back and forth.

The platforms in the water have buoyancy, and will sink you stand on them and rise up when you jump off. You can keep leaping to take advantage of this platform buoyancy to get to other places. The red balls also have that buoyancy, so be careful when jumping from one to another.

You can jump in and out of the water, but if you're in it for too long, it will eat at your health.

The big wheel that moves around moves you back, so stay on the move in order to keep yourself more or less in one spot.

The boss here is Hakuryu, the white dragon. His head is his weak point, and he will spit three-way fireball shots. Keep your distance, and if his head is too high up, throw money at it. When you beat Hakuryu, he will tell you that Princess Yuki is in the kingdom of South Ryukyu waiting to be rescued. From there, Goemon and Ebisumaru take a ship to South Ryukyu.

PrinceWatercress plays Legend of the Mystical Ninja - Part 7 of 10

We end up in a strange city after taking some unconventional cannon travel. At this point, dealing with the enemies gets harder.

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Warlock Zone VI: Tengu Mountain

Somewhere City Map (by Vorpal86)

Unfortunately for Goemon and Ebisumaru, the cannon doesn't work as well as it does in Secret of Mana, and you'll end up in Somewhere City on Tengu Mountain.

Enemies include guys with staffs and men in blue suits that throw cans at you who make their return from the first level. All of the enemies that you see here have appeared in past levels.

To enter the Action Stage, you'll need a Mountain Pass, which costs $980 in one of the stores near the starting point. Be ready to grind - and maybe lose a life - if you don't have the money.

There is a door leading to a secret passage to the right of one of the store entrances.

Goemon's version of Jutsu No. 1 allows Goemon to ride a tiger. Much like Ebisumaru's cow, the red bars below where the money is signifies the HP, and the tiger takes damage for Goemon.

PrinceWatercress plays Legend of the Mystical Ninja - Part 6 of 10

In this entry, we look for an old man who will help us get to Dragon Pond. To get to him, however, we have to get past a whole bunch of ninjas.

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Warlock Zone V: Ninja Castle

Village of Iga Map (by Vorpal86)

Compared to the first four levels, this one is a simpler area.

The women with the baby carriages shoot at you! Get them to move diagonally before hitting them, or hit them from the side. Other enemies include mountaineers with axes and shifty-looking dudes with capes. 

By talking to the NPC's, you'll find out that there is an old man in the ninja hideout in the outskirts of town who has set up tricks and traps to keep people from getting to him.

Striking the sign near the mountain wall reveals a Twinbee icon you can pick up for $100.

The caves are all stores, believe it or not. If you see eyes pop out, wait for the pigs to run out - and also for your chance to hit them - before going in. The pigs go fast and can also run to the side.

There are ninjas in the trees that throw bombs, but you can hit them if you're near them.

Jutsu No. 3 allows you to don a cape and fly around for a short time, making certain platforming sections easier. Watch the red bar below where your money is; when it runs out, you'll falling back down to earth. I end up using this jutsu to find some hidden pick-ups and make the Ninja Hideout part of the level easier.

Ninja Hideout Map (by Vorpal86)

Aside from the blue and the purple ninjas that run and jump around (respectively), you'll also need to watch out for the spiked ceilings that move up and down. There are light brown platforms that sink in and out of other platforms, and the gold pendulum clack into each other as they also act as platforms you can ride on.

If you go underneath the house at the start and crawl, you can find an alternate route with platforms that circle around and balls that drop down from gaps in the ceiling.

Ebisumaru's version of Jutsu No. 1 has him ride a pink cow, and it can take damage for him

The pink ninjas have a downward stab, and they can get stuck in the floor. Hit them then. Also, watch out for the orange ninjas that peek out of the background wall panels to drop things at you. Thankfully, they're easy to beat, too.

The women with the tea will drop their tea as a projectile attack if you get close. Thankfully, they turn around at a pit, and you can sneak up on them from behind.

The boss is a bunch of green ninjas on a kite. They're much like the pink ninjas with the downward stab. Just destroy them all, then you'll face Sasuke.

Sasuke will constantly jump up and down and charge at you. He also has an eight-way kunai throw that he can perform while jumping. Throw money at him from a distance and hit him with your melee weapon when he comes to you, and keep moving between the low, middle and high platforms of the kite as often as you can to keep your distance from Sasuke and hit him accordingly.

After beating Sasuke, you'll meet the old man. He will appreciate you've made it this far, and will tell you to Dragon Pond in the land of Izumo, and that the white mirror will show him the way. With his "Miracle Transport Machine" - which is really a cannon - he'll take you there.

PrinceWatercress plays Legend of the Mystical Ninja - Part 5 of 10

After our trip to the amusement park, we head further to where the Otafu Army is.

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The end of the amusement park area is a long bridge. Enemies here include men with buckets and octopi that try to block your path. The large octopus takes multiple hits with your weapon to destroy, but if you can get behind it, you can make it easier. From here, you can hit the old men from behind on your way out. Once you reach the end of the bridge, you'll exit the level and head towards the Otafu Army's hideout.

Also, I farmed up to $10,000 for the purchases up ahead, but for future reference, I recommend at least $15,000.

Warlock Zone IV: Defeat Otafu

Yamato Town Map (by Vorpal86)

The old woman in the house will tell you that ever since the Otafu Army showed up, life in the town has become more difficult. Another man in a nearby house will tell you that the Konami Code does nothing. Yet another will tell you that a lot of deer are running around in the area.

The men with the pitchforks just run forward just like most of the enemies here. There are also robbers wit the green and white bags moving around, too, and they zig zag as they move forward.

The Kotemaru robot - the robot with the umbrella on its head that jumps around - will steal the pizza or hamburger in your inventory if they touch you.

The portrait of Goemon is an extra life for Player 1. Likewise, the portrait of Ebisumaru is the extra life for Player 2.

You can smack the door off one of the houses, and if you do that, you'll find some extra money as well as the golden lucky cat.

You'll eventually see the deer that move forward as they hop about. If you hit them, however, you'll lose $10.

The store carries some chain armor, which is a step up from the armor you've usually seen so far.

One of the villagers will tell you that there is a rumor going around that there is someone controlling the movements of the Otafu Army. Another one tells you that there is a switch in a dead end in the Otafu Army base.

Just about every stage has a judo dojo that you can go to, and if your health is high enough, you can train and learn a move that you can only use for the current Warlock Zone. No. 2 lets you shock everything around you with electricity. The more "POW" you have from collecting red scrolls, the more you can perform that move.

The temple in the town leads to the action stage.

Otafu Base Map (by Vorpal86)

Get ready for the stages to get harder from here on.

Enemies here include men in masks who walk on their hands and drop bombs from the ceiling. Some of them even roll! If a hole in the floor blocks your path, see if you can walk upwards into the background.

The gray switches on the red blocks rotate the room 90 degrees when you step on them.

The hopping enemies are naked. Why? Who knows. Also, watch out for the spikes. Some of them are on the floor, but others spin around on the spinning columns.

The spinning platforms not only look great, but you can stand on them even as they move into the background behind the spinning columns.

Some of the spring loaded platforms activate slot machines. Three coins cause a bunch of money to drop down from the ceiling; three bombs is the same as the coins except its bombs; three X's drop nothing but rolling enemies.

The boss here is two sumos - one blue, one red - throwing a fireball back and forth. Avoid the fireball as you attack them. When one goes down, the other goes after you. Keep striking the other sumo and avoid the fireball as it bounces around.

Once you beat the sumos, you'll then fight a giant sumo head. Strike the head as it flies around. Its facial features will fall as the head moves into the background; avoid them and wait for the head to return.

Once the boss is at half-health, the head will start bouncing around, then gradually get bigger and bigger until it covers the whole screen. You'll have to get close to the center of the head or stay far to the left or right (while ducking) when it gets that big to get the final shot in, and that can be a bit difficult.

Once you beat the boss, you'll rescue a female ninja named Yae (who strangely has blue hair here as opposed to the green hair she has later on) from the Otafu Army's grasp. She will tell you that she was catpured by the Otafu Army while looking for counterfeiters, then tells you to seek the wise man in the village of Iga.

Afterwards, Goemon and Ebisumaru watch some fireworks.

PrinceWatercress plays Legend of the Mystical Ninja - Part 4 of 10

In this episode, we head to an amusement park and partake in the fun and games. You can keep buying clocks here to keep farming money, which I do for an hour.

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Warlock Zone III: Amusement Park

Awaji Island Map (by Vorpal86)

There will be a lot of enemies that you can smack on the bridge. There are also guys that hang off the side of the bridge, and while they look up at you, they can't attack and you can smack them off the bridge and into the water below. There are also enemies that will throw cards at you. Stay at the middle of the bridge, then smack them without getting close to their projectiles.

Unlike other Warlock Zones, there is no side-scrolling area.

If you smack the windows near the amusement park entrance, you can find lollipops worth $100 each.

Once you're in the amusement park, there are a bunch of clowns you can beat up. The female geishas go down in one hit, but the actual clowns lose their mask on the first hit and the mask will bounce around and potentially hit you if you're not careful.

Now that you're in the amusement park, you can play a bunch of games.

Besides the lottery and the usual shops, there is the restaurant. The restaurant allows you to buy teriyaki, burgers and take-out. The more expensive the item, the more health you'll recover. Also, the hourglass in the shop will extend the time limit so you can play more games.

The Gradius mini-game allows you to play a short Gradius mini-game, which plays much like the first level from the first Gradius game right down to the volcano. By grabbing red power-up icons, you can keep scrolling to the one you want and then pressing X to get it. The blue one is a screen-clearing smart bomb.

The quiz game asks questions about the game. If you can answer three right before anyone else, you can get a bunch of money. If you or the computer-controlled opponents get any answers wrong, the game reveals the correct answer. Be ready to recognize the questions quickly so you can buzz in before the computer does (and the computer buzzes in quickly). Three correct answers and you'll win money. If you'are at the bottom and you get an answer wrong, you'll be out for one question.

The concentration game is a card-matching game. If you match two cards, you'll get a point. You only get three chances at a correct match, and the more matches you get, the more money you win in the end. Keep in mind that the AI in this game will reveal a pair of both cards for it are revealed at any point.

The horse racing mini-game lets you bet on horses to make money. You have to pick specifically which two horses will win, and if they both win, you get a pay-off. Each bet is worth $10. Before starting the game, pay attention to the multiplier near each option. If that specific pair of horses wins, your bet is multiplied by whatever the multiplier is. For example, let's say the multiplier on 1-5 is X15. If horses 1 and 5 win, you win 15 times the amount of money you bet.

There are geisha and sumo wrestler standees that you can stand behind, like for some sort of photo opportunity. They're just there for show.

PrinceWatercress plays Legend of the Mystical Ninja - Part 3 of 10

In this entry, we head to Shikoku Island, but the festivalgoers are acting a bit peculiar. Could Kobun's disappearance have something to do with it?

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Warlock Zone II: Statue of Cat

Shikoku Island Map (by Vorpal86)

The men in the pink masks just dance around. They take one hit to defeat. These are the Hyotoko people, and right now in Shikoku Island, there is a festival happening. The Hyotoko people head to it every year, making it a lively place right now, if talking to the woman at the travel agency at the beginning is any indication. However, as you talk to the people here, you'll find out that they are acting more strangely than usual as they dance in the square on the south side of town, and that the lantern man has also shown up.

The Straw Coat and Straw Hat allows you to take a few hits without losing health. You will still lose sandals and weapon power levels, however. 

Enemies here also include angry samurai in red who charge at you, men in orange shirts who run forward, jump up and throw money at you and guys who throw lanterns at you (which I keep calling vases and cans).

The judo teacher will teach you Jutsu Strike if you come into his dojo with full health and you have the money. Until you pay enough money for a Jutsu Strike and automatically train your way into getting one, you can't perform a Jutsu Strike at all. The Jutsu Strikes will allow you to attack all on-screen enemies, ride a tiger (a cow if you're Ebisumaru), fly around and make your melee weapon ultra-powerful. Be sure to learn them all!

The game center allows you play a mini-game for $100. There is no benefit to playing these, but it can be fun. Why there is a huge television with huge spears is anybody's guess. "Break Down The Wall" is a game of Breakout. You can pick a power-up at the beginning of the game, such as slowing down the ball, starting with a limited number of laser shots, decreasing the size of the wall or start without any advantages at all. If you pick the lasers, save the lasers for the grey blocks in the back that take multiple hits to destroy. The hockey game is an air hockey game, but you need two players in order to play it, so I cannot show it off.

If you destroy the tree to the far right of the area where the sauna is, you'll find a Twinbee Icon you can pick up for $100. The man in the house in this area tells you that the lantern man has a weak point: destroying his lanterns makes him weak. As for the sauna itself, you can spend $100 to refill your health completely. There is also a door to the left of the sauna that you can destroy to find a hidden area. Here, you can find a Golden Lucky Cat for the Warlock Zone.

There is a place where you can fill out a diary, and if you fill in the diary, you can get a password. Keep the password handy for later so you don't have to play again from the very beginning.

Back at the non-electronic game center (also known as the employment center), we see the Paint mini-game. This is like the lightcycle game from Tron; you have to move the paint roller with the D-Pad and paint the whole white area while not running into anything. If you move into the same place twice or run into the borders or a solid block, you lose. All you can do is move the paint roller with the D-Pad, and it get faster the longer you go. If you can paint enough of the white area on the screen, you can make your money back and then some. In case of a two-player game, the person who survives gets double the money compared to the one who doesn't.

The Goblin game has you throwing a marble into a small vase. You want to hold B just long enough when the triangle is above the vase so that you throw the marble just hard enough that it lands in the vase. If you're good at this, you can get a good amount of money.

The lottery game allows you to win money if you can luck out. You pick your animal, then you pick from one of four sets of numbers. If you get the number right, that's the third place prize of $50. If you match the letter and the number, you get the second place prize of $200. If you match the animal, letter and number, you get the first place prize of $1,000.

At the town square where everyone is dancing around, attack all of the dancers top open up the boss room. Go inside, and you'll fight the lantern man.

When you meet the lantern man, hang back and wait for the lanterns to drop down. You'll need to attack the white lanterns first; if you have to, throw coins/stars at them and avoid or attack the projectiles that they shoot that come at your current position. Watch out for the lantern man as he jumps around.

Hearts replenish your health, should you find them.

After destroying the white lanterns, you'll have to destroy the red ones. The red lanterns will shoot flames that slowly fly to your current position. Thankfully, you can destroy multiple red lanterns with your melee weapon, provided you have it at max power and you don't get hit.

Once the lanterns are gone, it's just the lantern man. Hit him in the face and watch out when he jumps around so you don't get hurt. After you beat him, you'll free Koban. He will tell you that he is a boss of a band of ninja cats that protect Edo, and that Princess Yuki, the only daughter of the ruler of Edo, has been kidnapped, and that she has been taken by a mysterious group of masked men with special weapon who have crippled their transformation spell. He also mentions that the Otafu Clan of Awaji Island have taken Princess Yuki, and asks you to save Yuki.

After this, you'll see fireworks, then it's on to Warlock Zone III.

PrinceWatercress plays Legend of the Mystical Ninja - Part 2 of 10

In this entry, we give the ghost a good thrashing, then re-explore the village now that everything has opened back up.

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Horo Temple Map (by Vorpal86)

When you enter the Horo Temple, you'll enter the second part of the Warlock Zone, which is a side-scrolling area. The tanuki statue will tell you that you are entering dangerous territory before disappearing You can still attack in four directions like in the RPG part, but you can crawl with Down-Left and Down-Right on the Control Pad to duck and move under some attacks and you can drop down ledges by holding Down and pressing B.

The samurai zombies are easy to take out, but the lantern fires fly around. Be ready to hit them as soon as they show up so you don't have to worry about them flying around.

When you approach the temple bell, a ring of fireballs will fly around you, but if you strike the bell, you'll destroy all of the flames at once. Grab as much money as you can here.

Underneath the bell is a hidden area. The Golden Lucky Cat will increase your maximum health by two units, but only for the current Warlock Zone. You'll only find them in hidden areas, and never out in the open.

If you see jars, smash them for items. The golden elephant acts as a checkpoint that allows you to start from where you found it as opposed to the beginning of the level should you lose a life. The zombies that move around underground will pop up just next to you, so let them come to you.

The boss here is the temple ghost. The ghost will spin plates and send them at you, and you'll need to hit the plates back and send them into her head to damage her. If you need to, jump over them to avoid them.

When you beat the boss, you'll free the ninja cat Kurobei. He gives you $100, then tells you to go to Shikoku Island and meet with the boss ninja cat, Koban. From here, you'll head back to town, where all the enemies will be human again. You can also go into shops.

The secret maze is a place where you can look for hidden power-ups, provided you have $100 to play it. You'll be in a first-person view, and the picture of your character will show what direction you are facing. The map will fill up the map for the maze should you find it, although you can see where you've been without it. The red question mark box is an extra life, so grab it if you find it. The red door is the entrance, while the blue door is the exit. If you find the exit, you can keep whatever you've found. If you go back through the red door, you'll get nothing. If you want, you can enter the maze over and over again to give yourself an edge in the later Warlock Zones.

The house with the question mark is the fortune teller. If you spend money to get your fortune told, you'll get some funny dialogue sometimes, but other times, you can get kimono women to show up all over for a bunch of money or a bunch of enemies to show up at once for a nice fight and a good opportunity to get some money.

There is a game zone you can play with three games: a whack-a-mole game where you hit moles for power-ups and money, a ball-throwing game where you have to throw a ball at the top of a statue's head when an arrow is directly above it, and a painting game where you have to press the Control Pad to keep from running into areas where you've already painted as the game gets faster and faster until you paint as much of the white space on the screen as you can. If you can play any of these games well, you can get back the money you paid to play them and then some.

The mole bashing mini game uses the buttons on the Control Pad and the face buttons. The left set of holes are hit with the individual directions on the Control Pad, while the holes on the right are hit with A, B, X and Y. Thankfully, both sets of holes are in a cross pattern, so it's easy to figure out and see which D-Pad direction and which face buttons hit which holes. Everything you hit gets you money, with yellow moles giving $1, red moles giving $2 and Ebisumaru giving $5. If you can hit every mole that you see before time is up, you'll get a $300 perfect bonus.

The gambling house lets you gamble money. If your dice roll is less than 10, it is low. If it is greater than 11, it is high. Pick between low and high and choose how much you wager, and if you make the right choice, you'll double your money; otherwise, you'll get nothing.

The travel agency allows you to go to the next level. The more you spend, the better the ride will be and the more health you restore between levels.

PrinceWatercress plays Legend of the Mystical Ninja - Part 1 of 10

After checking this game out in full, I had to try out and play through this game myself. It's fun, but it can be pretty difficult.

Next | End

In Japan, this game is known as Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyushutsu Emaki, and is the first in a series of four Super Famicom games that share the name. Sadly, this was the only game of the four that we got, and we didn't get another Goemon game until Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon came out for the Nintendo 64.

The story starts with Dr. Yang (Ebisumaru) telling Kid Ying (Goemon) that something has happened to the ghost woman of the temple, and that she is acting strangely and hurting people. Kid Ying and Dr. Yang go out to investigate, but little do they know that they are going on a bigger adventure than they suspect.

Warlock Zone I: Mystical Ghost

O-Edo Village Map (by Vorpal86)

The first part of every level, or Warlock Zone, is an RPG-style village area where you can move in eight directions and attack in four.

The Control Pad moves you around, Y and A attack, B jumps and X performs a Jutsu Strike. R is used to switch between your melee weapon and any weapons you have that you can throw, such as coins (stars if you're Ebisumaru) or bombs. Throwing coins will cause you to lose money, so be careful.

Player 1 always plays as Kid Ying (Goemon), while Player 2 always plays as Dr. Yang (Ebisumaru). Kid Ying's life, lives, Jutsu Strike count, money, weapons and items will always be on the left, while Dr. Yang's will always be on the right.

There is also a timer at the top center of the screen. Do not let it get to zero.

You start out in the center of the town. The temple will be to the north, while more of the village is to the south.

Enemies include monks, samurai, men with spears and men with fish. The men with the fish will drop the fish when defeated, and you'll need to defeat the fish, too. The south part of the village has a running man with a weird expression on his face who will take $50 from you if you come into contact with him, and defeating him will not get it back. The men in blue carrying the cups will throw cups at you, so you'd better be ready to sidestep cups that fly towards what your current position was when they were thrown...or to hit them as soon as you see them.

When enemies are defeated, they will usually drop money, which you'll need to buy things, but they can also drop things such as red scrolls and lucky cats. The red scrolls let you perform Jutsu Shot if you can collect ten of them, and you can see how much you have by pausing the game. The lucky cats will increase the range of your melee weapon, and you can do this twice. If you take damage from an enemy by either running into them or being attacked, however, your weapon's power will go down one level. Take time at the start of the level running around and defeating enemies for money, red scrolls and lucky cats. You'll need them when you go north of the start.

By going into doors, you can enter establishments throughout the town. Some of the places are homes where the residents will tell you what is going on, but some places are shops. You can make your choices with the Control Pad and the B button, and pressing X or Down on the Control Pad will let you leave the building. The people here will tell you  The sandals make your character faster and jump further, and you can have up to three of them. If you take damage from an enemy, though, you'll lose a pair and you'll get a bit slower. The pizza will restore some of your health in case you lose all of it, more or less acting as a resurrection item. The bombs can be switched to with the R button and can be thrown at enemies to hit them from a distance, but keep in mind that you have a limited amount of them.

If you see a woman in a kimono, run into her to gain $50. If you hit them, however, you'll lose $100.

Some of the shops won't be running properly until later in the level, such as the travel agency or the fortune teller.

When you go to the temple area to the north, you'll find out that a fog is coming into the area. Suddenly, the area gets darker and you will have to fight ghosts instead of human enemies. Some of them bounce around at 45-degree angles, some just fly around and others roll forward. Thankfully, they're not that hard to hit. If you explore the town and enter the people's homes while the ghosts are around, you'll find out that ghosts have entered Horo Temple to the north, and that people have been changed into animals by the temple ghost. 

If you enter the south side after the ghosts show up, you'll fight these trios of brown, furry enemies. They will leap at you if you approach them, but that's all they do.

You can refill your health with the food at the restaurant, provided you have enough money. The more expensive something is, the more health it will refill. If you lose all your health, you'll lose a life.

If you hit the wall to the right of the Horo Temple entrance, you'll uncover a Kid Dracula head. Grabbing it nets you $100.