Now it's time to play the whole game in one sitting, minus commentary! Enjoy!
The Magic Gem...It is said that those who possess it will obtain immense magical power...
Because of its incredible power, and to prevent its misuse, it was sealed in To'ahl Castle, in To'ahl Kingdom...
Hundred of years passed, and then there appeared those wishing to awaken that power...
Behold To'ahl, a land where magic flourished...Where people knew nothing but peace...
In the castle dwelt a very energetic princess (voiced by former AV idol and later television presenter Ai Iijima). The princess is being chased by the resident wizard, who wants to teach her magic. The peaceful days left her feeling rather bored.
Eventually, magic class starts, but the princess dozes off. Suddenly, the crystal ball in the middle of the table flashes, and the resident wizard takes this as a bad omen. This doesn't bother the princess, though.
That night, the Demon King and his evil forces look out upon the town from the mountains in an attempt to take the Magic Gem.
Stage 1
At the start of the game, the Demon King's hordes have come down upon the village and the castle. The princess shows up to save the day by firing a giant laser at a wizard before chasing it outside. From here, you have control of the princess.
Left and Right let you move around, Down ducks, and Down-Left and Down-Right let you crawl. B jumps, Y attacks with the sword and A casts magic. Pressing Select will perform a special attack with the currently selected spell. Using magic costs stars, and using the special magic attack costs even more stars, so you'll want to be careful when using the special magic attacks.
With the sword, you can also hold Up and press Y to attack upwards either on the ground or in the air. When in mid-air, you can hold Down and press Y to perform a downward stab. Pressing Y repeatedly while standing still allows you to perform a three-hit combo. Holding Down and pressing B allows you to slide.
The only spell that you have is a laser, which costs two stars. Pressing Select allows you to fire a super laser that uses more stars.
At the top of the screen, you have your current amount of health and lives on the left, your current spells in the center, and the current amount of stars that you have on the right.
The penguins with the swords can defend themselves, but they are no match for a downward stab.
You'll eventually have to jump into the chimney to continue on, then make your down to get out of the building. The bats fly back and forth and can be easily hit.
The tiny blue slimes will move and leap towards you, but you can duck down and hit them.
Sometimes enemies will drop candies and cakes. The candies replenish half a heart, while a cake will refill a whole heart.
Press up in front of a doorway to enter it.
The springs will take you very high, and you don't need to press the jump button at a specific time to make that happen. Just walk onto the spring or jump onto it, and the spring will take care of the rest.
The guys with the spears can be easily defeated with a downward stab.
The dragons in the manholes only come out when you're a specific distance away, and they breathe either a single fireball or a stream of flames. The downward stab works best on them. You'll soon see them outside of their manholes later in the stage.
While there are multiple paths, it is easy to find your way around.
To open doors, walk into them.
The beds act like the springs, but you can hold B to get a higher bounce.
To open chests, attack them with the sword. The heart will fully heal you and add one heart to your maximum health. The golden statue head will give you an extra life if you grab three of them, and the game keeps track of how many you have in the upper-left corner of the screen. You'll usually find at least three in every level, although you can find more than that in one level if you know what you are doing.
The guys that throw stuff can be taken care of from a distance, unless you can run under the stuff they throw and hit them with the sword.
If you need to, you can drop down certain platforms by holding Down and pressing B.
To beat the purple wizard, you'll need to strike them while they are solid and not flashing, and you'll need to move out of the way to avoid being hit by the furniture that the purple wizard telepathically throws at you. Mini-bosses and bosses have their own health bars in the upper-right corner of the screen. When they lose all of their health, they go down.
The guys with the hoods will repeatedly hop away as you approach them; hit them with the laser to get rid of them. If you can leap to the right off the edge near where the penguin soldier with the cannon (and his friend as ammunition) is, you can land on the balcony and get a chest with a birthday cake. The birthday cake will refill all of your health. Thankfully, you can still make your way up to the balcony from the bottom if you can make a wrap-around jump on the left side.
You'll eventually see blocks with what looks like lollipops. You'll have to make your way down and avoid the green plasma balls that bounce around before finding the grenade spell - your first new spell of the game. Press R to switch between spells.
The big blue slimes will split into three smaller ones when struck.
The grenade acts as an explosive you can throw at enemies from distance and costs four stars to throw. Pressing Select with the grenade equipped performs a screen-clearing explosion that defeats all on-screen enemies. With this spell equipped, you can blow up the blocks with the grenade icon on them.
The stars will refill your magic. The big stars will give you twenty stars if you find them and pick them up.
The leap off the crates with the path of stars leading down in the sewer area leads to where you need to go.
To defeat the tanks, destroy the guy on the top of it first, then duck down and keep hitting the front of it to avoid getting shot.
The building to the left near the end is a good place to beat up enemies to farm for health and stars. Sometimes, enemies will also drop stars.
The boss here is some sort of flying demon. Jump up and hit him with the sword when he is not flashing. Pay attention to the flying demon, as he has several attacks. He can divebomb at you - which makes him vulnerable to a downward stab - but he can also drop down and rush across the screen with a spinning drill attack. He can also fire projectiles from above that you'll need to avoid.
Once you beat the boss, you'll be able to leave and complete the stage. You'll get a bunch of stars and all of your health back.
Stage 2
The first section introduces a few new enemies: bunnies that will leap at you, flowers that spit seeds upwards every so often, fish that will leap out of the water and bird enemies who hide in bushes. With the bush enemies, wait for the enemies to pop out before hitting them. Thankfully, the water here does not hurt you.
You'll have to enter a cave in the second section in order to explore an underground cavern. There will be jellyfish-like enemies that will float around as well as mole-like enemies who are vulnerable when they dig around. To take out the bugs that move back and forth, strike them in the front, and stay away from them when they roll around.
Watch out for the plant that try to eat you; wait for them to move out of the way before proceeding.
To beat the plant mini-boss, you'll need to strike down the arms with the sword or the grenades. Once they are down, you'll need to strike the part in the center as the boss spits seeds that you'll need to avoid everywhere. Once you beat the mini-boss, go left for another heart for your health as well as a big star. Then, enter the doorway to get the grappling hook spell.
The grappling hook lets you grab onto the circles that are suspended in mid-air throughout the game. Thankfully, it does not cost any stars to use it. Equip it, then press A to shoot the hook at a 45-degree angle, and when you latch on to a hook, you'll swing back and forth. Wait for the princess' feet to kick up before holding forward and pressing either A or B to jump off so you can get where you need to go. Getting the timing down for both grappling onto the hooks as well as when you jump off so that you move forward every time will take some practice, but you'll get some in in the next room, anyway.
If you press Select with the grappling hook equipped, you'll perform an eight-way spear attack that costs several stars to cast. It does not have a long range, but it doesn't have a super-short range, either.
The pointy tree branches act as trampolines.
Eventually, you'll come across a bridge, and a big green ogre will destroy the bridge and knock you down below. From here, you'll need to jump from one tree branch to another while also using the grappling hook to get from tree to tree. If you look high and low, you'll find plenty of power-ups, including statue heads, birthday cakes and big stars.
Some chests will have orange bombs in them. If you find one, get away before you get hurt by the explosion.
The brambles are spikes; don't land on them. If enemies land on them, they will be damaged and killed by them.
While you're in the dark forest, you'll have to deal with archers who will shoot arrows at you as well as brown stag beetles who will dive at you.
At the end of the long grappling hook section across the water, there is a wall you can strike with the sword. Doing so will reveal a hidden cave where you can find a statue head.
You'll eventually face the big green guy; hit him with the sword three times to take him down. He can jump around and also hit you with his bone, so hit him quickly.
The boss is a spikey orange guy with green leaves for a propeller. He can shoot out seeds that produce spiky columns that grow out of the ground before disappearing, fly up into the air and then fall on your current position, and throw his propeller like a boomerang.
Hit the guy with the sword or with the laser whenever he is on the ground. You can use platforms on either side of the temple entrance to hit the guy while he is flying around in the air, but sticking to the ground is safer.
Stage 3
The red slimes shoot spikes out of their bodies, and they are invulnerable when the spikes are out. The spikes will eventually disappear, and you can hit them.
Be ready to jump on platforms that fall down after you land on then. If you see a series of platforms, be ready to jump from one platform to another quickly or else you're going back and doing that platforming again.
The blue orbs move around the platforms, and are dangerous to the touch.
The first mini-boss you'll meet here is a giant skull surrounded by a floating ring of smaller skulls. While you can hit the big skull with your sword, you can also use the grenade it make it easier to hit. The mini-boss can turn into a big skull and try to crush you, and it can also send the ring of skulls at you whenever it stops. Thankfully, the ring of skulls turn red before they come at you. There are platforms in the room where you fight this mini-boss, but if you know what you're doing, you won't be using them very much.
Once you beat the skull mini-boss, there are plenty of routes you can take. The door up and to the right takes you to a statue head, but the door to the far left takes you to another mini-boss: a rock with a big eye. Attack the corners so that the boss can't shoot projectiles at you, then stay away from the boss and strike it in the eye whenever possible while avoiding the big teardrops that come out of the eye.
After you beat this mini-boss, go to the left and enter the first door you see. The mummies have a long range shove attack, but if you duck, they can't hit you. Thankfully, you can duck, crawl and attack while ducking and crawling to beat them. They can double back if you get behind them, though. You'll also find the Freeze magic, which allows you to freeze fire with a three-way snowflake projectile and destroy it with the sword. Pressing Select also casts a full-screen freeze attack that freezes all enemies, but it costs a lot of stars.
The brown guys with the bones can breathe fire. Duck down to hit them, or hit them from below.
The statues that shoot projectiles can be hit three times, but you will push them back every time you hit them.
Before you leave the mountainous area that leads to the second mini-boss and the freeze magic, you'll want to open the chest that contains the heart. You're going to need all the health you can get in this game.
Eventually, you'll have to go through the temple area with the fire that gets in your way as soon as you arrive. You'll soon start seeing all the hazards you've seen in the stage so far, including the spiked ball and chain that swings back and forth. There is also a new hazard: a face statue on the wall that spits projectiles. While you can jump over the projectiles, you can also throw the freeze projectile that you have at it, and you can also destroy projectiles from wall faces with your sword. Keep this in mind for later levels.
The freeze magic can be used to freeze columns of fire that come out of the lava, which thankfully doesn't kill you instantly. You can use the newly-created ice columns to gather stars if you need to.
If you go left before going towards the boss, you'll find a room with three chests where you can refill on stars and health.
The boss here is a giant statue with a head that removes itself from the statue to attack you. Each face on the head has its own attack, but as you destroy the faces, you'll whittle down the head's offense. You can use the sword, but the laser and the grenades can also help if you want to fight from a distance. Believe it or not, you can hit enemies with the grappling hooks, and it also works well against some bosses, especially this one. The statue can shoot down lasers, spits fireballs at you, and even drop bombs. The face will also move around and bounce off the sides of the screen, but you can crawl underneath it on the ground as you keep away from it. If you have trouble getting to the statue, you can stand on the other parts of the statue such as the shoulders, hands and arms. Eventually, you'll destroy all the faces and go on to Stage 4.
Stage 4
The demons with the pterodactyl wings that come to life from their statue forms can be hit from below. Get under a statue and start swinging upwards by holding Up and pressing Y. You'll get a hit in early. You can then jump up for the second upward slash.
The blocks with the laser cannons will shoot at you, but you can push them around and even stand on them to jump to higher platforms. You can crawl into them to push them without getting hurt by the laser.
The water acts as a conveyor belt that pushes you back. Also, the Stage 1 boss returns as a mini-boss and the same strategies apply, although there is a new one that you can do. Believe it or not, you can strike it with the grappling hook and do damage. Also, if the demon is at the extreme sides of the room, you can get under it, jump up and slash upwards.
The blue dragons are like the red ones from Stage 1, but they spit ice at you. The penguins move back and forth, and when they stop to look around, they will slide at you soon afterwards.
Watch out for blocks with spikes that are moving around. Thankfully, you can use them as platforms.
Use the laser in the part with the low spiked ceiling to take out the penguin. You can shoot through the wall to defeat it, believe it or not. From there, lightly tap the jump button so you don't hurt yourself on the spikes.
The blue mummy still has the extendo-arms attack, but he can also throw rocks at you.
The bouncing blue balls are indestructible. Just run under them.
The statue face on the wall shoots a five-way shot from far away. Thankfully, you can hit the projectiles with your sword. Be ready to do that so you don't get knocked backwards on the last platform when you see one for the first time. After that, go down and to the left through the fake wall for a health extension. You'll probably be needing health at this point, especially with the two wall faces shooting five-way shots on both sides of the room.
This is the first stage in which you will see floor switches. Sometimes they will drop down enemies that you will have to defeat before moving on, and others will open doors. Some switches will only stay pressed for some time, however. There are others still that require pushing the blocks with the laser cannons on them. Once again, remember to crawl when you push them to ensure you don't get blasted.
You will pass by four torches at one point, with one of the torches being unlit. Remember this for later. In the next room, you will be in a large room where platforms move in a circle. Make your way to the top, and watch for the wall face lasers. The door on the left leads to another chamber where a laser block has to be pushed onto a button. After another room where the floor switch gives you another , you'll need to beat up a bunch of big blue guys with bones. Thankfully, they are easy to defeat as long as you are quick with your sword. From there, hold Down and press B to drop down and enter another magic spell chamber where you can get the Flame spell.
With the Flame spell, you can shoot a little magic flamethrower that can be used to melt ice blocks that are in your way. It uses three stars when you use it, and the longer you hold the A button down, the more stars you will use overtime. You're better off holding the A button to melt the ice blocks, as it is a lot faster than just pressing it repeatedly. Also, the Select button allows for a full-screen fire attack that burns all enemies, but it also uses a ton of stars to cast. Thankfully, the room where you find the spell has a chest with a big star in it.
Go back to the torch room and use the Flame spell to light the torch to unlock a hidden door. Inside is four statue heads. From there, you can go back to the lower-right corner of the platform room and melt the ice to continue on.
The blue dragons in the icy castle corridor will roll up big snowballs and create a big snowman king. This is the next mini-boss. Hit the mini-boss in the head with either your sword, the laser or the grenade. Stay on the sides to avoid the attack where he sends his body at you. It won't be long before he goes down.
In the next area, hit the plants with your sword and watch the ceiling for icicles that will fall down when you get close enough to them. Wait for the platforms to re-appear before jumping on them to get to the next door. From here, you'll have to stay on the streams of water while jumping over the snowballs that move towards you pretty quickly to get to the end. In the next room, you'll have to jump on the moving platforms with the spikes at the side to get to the door above.
For the next room, you'll need to hit the switch to the right, then go down, avoid the spiked blocks and the penguins, and get to the door above before the platforms disappear. This may take a few tries. You'll then have to stand between the bouncing blue balls and avoid the wall face projectiles as you hit the switch and get to the door before it closes.
After a room with some penguins and some icicles (the later of which can be struck with the sword), your grappling hook skills will be put to the test. You'll have to hit the switch on the far right, then quickly get to the door that is being blocked by the mummy. There are two destinations at the top. The chest on the left contains a statue head, while there is a mummy on the right. If you need to, take out the mummy first before going for the chest and the door.
After one more room where you can get health and stars, you'll fight some more pterodactyl demons and get another stretch to refill health and stars. You'll then face a giant water snake. This is the boss. For the first part of the battle, stay near the snake and duck down so you don't get lunged at, and hit the water snake in the face with your sword when it is low enough.
Eventually, it will turn red and go in and out of the water. There are only two areas where it can surface, but it can still take you off guard. Equip the Flame spell, and when the water snake sinks into the water before surfacing again, use the Flame spell to hit the water snake on its way back up. From there, you'll need to get away from the water projectiles that it kicks up. It will take a while, but you will eventually beat this boss and continue to Stage 5.
Stage 5
The enemies that fly at you at the beginning dive down, shoot projectiles, then fly off. If you go slowly, you can encounter them one at a time and slash the projectiles.
The bird enemies with the black helmets shoot rockets at you, but you can easily take care of them with a downward stab in the air.
The columns with the thick yellow lines are solid walls and cannot be passed through.
Watch out with the skull platforms; they can carry you into the ceiling spikes and do damage. If you drop down and to the left after those platforms, you'll find a door that leads to a birthday cake and some pick-ups. You only have one chance to go here, and if you drop all the way down, you can't go back.
You can use Up and Down on the D-Pad to go up and down the elevator tubes.
Not only do the guys with the spears return, but so do the tanks. If you go down and all the way to the left, you'll find some fire to freeze and a path leading to a ton of pick-ups and the Roll spell, which is the final spell in the game. By equipping it and holding A, you can roll up certain walls that have what look like "up arrows" on them. It costs two stars to use and you'll roll quickly up certain walls at a pretty fast speed. Pressing Select allows for another full-screen attack that costs a lot of stars to cast.
Now that you have this spell, go back outside and go all the way to the right on the lowest floor. You'll find a wall with the "up arrows" on it that you can roll up. Go up, then push the block with the laser cannon to the left off the edge to open the door.
The heads on the outside shoot projectiles, but they and the projectiles can easily be destroyed.
The mini-boss - a knight with a hammer - is above you in the next room. You'll need to use the Roll spell to get up to his level. Wait for the mini-boss to stop and strike with the hammer, then hit him in the head with a downward stab as it swings its hammer. If you get knocked off, you can keep moving back and forth and hitting the enemies for stars and health. Make sure the enemies are away from the walls so the items don't spawn inside the walls. The mini-boss not only has a shockwave attack with the hammer and a fireball attack, but he also has a five-way shot that he can send at you. Once you defeat him, you can go through the door that he was guarding.
In the second section of the area, watch out for the flames below. You can get more stars and health in the door ahead. In the next door, there is another statue head in a chest on the way up. In the next door, there is an elevator tube that you can't use yet. To the right is a corridor leading to a door you can't open yet.
Below the floating platforms is another room with some skull platforms and spiked balls and chains. Don't go there yet. Instead, go all the way to the left for another health extension, then get in there and go outside. You'll be at the bottom of the elevator tube from earlier. You'll face a knight with a mace in the next room. Crawl towards the knight to avoid the mace as you strike him. When he revs up his rocket booster, be ready to jump over him, then hit him when he stops.
After this, you'll need to use the Roll spell to make your way up. Hit the switch in the next room to open the door on the other side, then go up the elevator tube and enter the door to the right to continue on.
Use the Roll spell to get past the spikes that pop up in the narrow corridor ahead. The door on the way up after that leads to more stars and health. On the way up, you'll see more platforms as well as some slowdown (which is alleviated somewhat by defeating enemies). The circles in the center of these spinning platforms are turrets that alternate between shooting vertically and horizontally. Watch out for the projectiles, as the turrets shoot in two directions simultaneously. At the top, there will be stars and health to the right, and the path to the boss on the left, where you'll get one last chance to refill on the essentials.
The boss here is a robot bird. Hit the bird in the head, then attack the light on the bottom of its body. When you hit the head, the light on the bottom will turn from green to red, allowing it to be attacked. Attacking the body is what hurts it, but attacking the head is what opens up the weak point. The robot bird has several attacks, such as raining down missiles, shooting lasers that criss-cross on each other and charging directly at you. Stay on the move to avoid the bombs, and stay low to above the lasers. Jump over the boss to avoid the charge attack. Once you have this boss figured out, you'll be able to continue to the sixth and final stage of the game.
Stage 6
First things first: there are multiple paths here. At the start, the upper path leads to the easier path, while the lower path leads to the harder path. I take the easier path, and as a result, I don't mention all of the enemies here (although the Frankenstein monsters that move slowly and take a few hits to kill are pretty endearing). Also, this place is a bit of a maze, and there are multiple paths that you can take to get to the end. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to make your way around. If you see an elevator, always go up or stay upwards if you want to take the easier path. Going down takes you towards or back to the harder one. Nevertheless, if something is worth mentioning, I will mention it here.
There are plenty of chests full of stars and health, so make your way around.
The black and gold guys with the bones throw fire that travels a limited range.
There are mini-bosses here, but it is possible to avoid them entirely. One of them is a gold and green version of the armored mini-boss with a hammer from Stage 5. The same strategies apply, but you have a lot more room to maneuver with this time around. When you go to the right from this boss, keep going down the elevator tubes. From there, stay to the right and take the door on the upper-right corner of the room. Watch out for the statues that float up and down and shoot projectiles on the way there. You'll face another mini-boss.
This mini-boss is a vampire in a blue cape. There will be four sets of yellow eyes above you, and one of them will turn into the vampire while the other three disappear. When the vampire appears, strike it immediately. If he drops down, shoot him with a laser, then run up to him and hit him. This mini-boss can be skipped if you know where you're going.
The black water hurts you; don't jump into it.
The red wizard that floats around will constantly get away from you as you approach it. If you keep him on-screen and stand still, he will move elsewhere and start throwing down fireballs that turn into columns of fire. When it moves, that is when you move and attack it. The red wizard will block your magic, and if you take too long to hit the wizard, he will block your attacks as well. When you know what to do, this guy is easy to take down.
The blue bouncing electricity balls are rather annoying, as they can go all over the place and be somewhere that you don't want them to be as you hit the switch and get to the door while also dealing with the blocks on the top and bottom.
The blue wizard fights mostly the same way as the red wizard, but he can also dive down at you and try to hit you with a laser. If he does drop down, you can still hit him.
The small yellow platforms act as trampolines. About halfway up the area past the blue wizard, you'll want to take the left path. Use the grappling hook, then roll up the wall to find a door. The next area will be full of platforms and wall faces and will be riddled with slowdown. The room in the upper-left leads to two black and gold guys with bones as well as stars and health; the room in the upper-right (duck under the spikes and crawl on the way!) leads to power-ups and the way forward...with the way forward being all the way up. Don't forget to roll up the wall!
This leads to some platforming and a path outside. By holding Down and pressing B in the next room, you'll be able to continue to another section. Left leads to health and stars, while right continues on. You'll face another knight with a mace (same strategies apply; stand on the windowsills!), followed by spikes hounding you. The upper-left corner of the spikes room has health and stars, as does the next room.
You'll soon fight the Demon King. You'll fight him much like the wizards. Wait for him to attack, then run up and attack him. He will shoot blue projectiles at you, but he can also throw a red fireball down at you. Thankfully, you can hear the red fireball charge up before he tosses it forwards.
When you defeat the Demon King, he will use the Magic Jewel's magic to turn into an even deadlier demon, starting the second phase of the final boss battle. Wait for the orb in its center of its body to appear, then strike it. The orb will be either red or purple, but it will be there. The boss can shoot five-way lasers and beams of lightning downwards, but its deadliest attack is the red fireballs that slowly home in on your current position. The fireballs do disappear, but it takes a while for that to happen. For best results, never stand directly underneath the boss, and move to one side after you hit the orb in its body when it appears. The Demon King's second form has more health than any of the bosses or mini-bosses (six skulls instead of four), but if you're patient and you're paying attention to everything, he can still be easy to beat.
After you beat the Demon King, you'll get the Magic Jewel back and the Demon King will be no more. The Magic Jewel will be returned back to town, and the town - and the world - will be safe once again. You just beat Magical Pop'n!
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