PrinceWatercress plays Die Hard (PC Engine) - Stage 10 of 10

It's time to take down the bad guys once and for all!

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Stage 10: RF

There's only one direction to go: north. Keep going in that direction, and be ready to shoot down enemies. If any enemies are standing still, you'll need to jump up to shoot them, as they will be on balconies and you will not be able to shoot them from ground level. Despite the fact that the area is dark and you won't be able to see a lot, this area isn't difficult to get through as long as you keep an eye on the enemy health gauge; if you can do that, you'll be ready to shoot down any enemies that are in the way.

Near the end of the first section is a guy with a first aid kit. Shoot him down to get it, then go right from where you got the first aid kit to fight the final boss: an attack helicopter.

You'll want to shoot at the helicopter while avoiding the bullets, which is easier to do if you stick to the ground. When the homing missiles start firing out of the helicopter, you'll want to keep on jumping in order to minimize the amount of damage you take. As you shoot at the helicopter, you'll keep getting guns and health, and unlike all the other pick-ups that you've received from enemies throughout the game, they stay on the screen until you need them instead of blinking and disappearing after a few seconds. When the helicopter is nearly dead, you'll get a first aid kit. Grab it as soon as possible to ensure victory, because you're gonna need it! You'll also get a flamethrower so you can destroy the final boss in style!

After the final boss, you'll see footage of John McClane leaping off the roof before sharing a romantic kiss with his estranged wife Holly. You just beat Die Hard for PC Engine!

PrinceWatercress plays Die Hard (PC Engine) - Stage 9 of 10

The game messes with you again, but at least this stage is easier.

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Stage 9: 36F

You have another maze, and if you can't figure out where to go, you're not meeting the final boss.

You want to go as low as you can whenever possible and stay low. You'll only want to go north whenever the level forces you to. With that in mind, you'll want to keep a look for enemies, as it is easy to get swarmed. The exit will be blocked two security guards who are dressed in all red standing next to each other. Take them out and go north to beat the stage.

PrinceWatercress plays Die Hard (PC Engine) - Stage 8 of 10

This is where the game really messes with you.

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Stage 8: 34F

This one is straightforward - you just keep moving north, shooting down all the bad guys in your way, and jumping over all the gaps so you don't fall into the water - but it's not easy. You only have two minutes to get through this level, and if you don't get to the goal in time, it's game over.

Watch the enemy health gauge closely, try not to take a lot of damage, and run away from any enemies that end up behind you. There is a flamethrower that you can get, but you're better off sticking to the machine gun, as you'll need to be able to move around quickly as you're jumping. Also, keep your health high. This is tough, but it's not impossible.

PrinceWatercress plays Die Hard (PC Engine) - Stage 7 of 10

This is where the game starts to get difficult. There's a trick to beating the boss here...if you can figure it out.

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Stage 7: 35F

This time, you're in the air ducts. Keep a look out for enemies and be ready to shoot them down when you see them, but watch your surroundings too, as pieces of the ducts will fall down as you move. If the floor changes as you move, jump forward.

If enemies fire at you when you approach them, they are about to come down from the top of the screen. Let them come down before firing.

There are some machine guns and a first-aid kit near the end of the level; be sure to get them.

You'll then face your second boss. Avoid his projectiles as the boss moves up and down, and when the boss moves back to fire a rocket, be ready to move to the bottom and jump away when the rocket comes down. As this battle rages on, you'll have less and less floor to work with, which can be rather nasty. The boss will alternate between a three-way shot and homing rockets, and while the former will be able to avoid at first, it will get hectic when you have less space to move around in. As for the homing rockets, you can always shoot those down.

If you and the boss die at the same time, you win. Thankfully, your health will be refilled on the next stage.

Interestingly, if you jump straight up at the very top, you can grab one of two machine guns in case you're low on ammo.

After beating this boss, you'll see a cutscene of John McClane going down an elevator shaft with a rope and a lighter.

PrinceWatercress plays Die Hard (PC Engine) - Stage 6 of 10

At this point, the game starts getting a little harder.

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Stage 6: 32F

Once again, you're in another maze, but at least this one is easier to get out of. You'll want to head your way northward in the first section. The exit will be blocked by a security guard wearing all red, so be careful for that, the rest of the enemies who may get some lucky shots on you due to their positions, as well as the many pits that you'll have to jump over. As you can see, this game is starting to get harder.

Thankfully, the second section is strictly horizontal. Once again, be careful where you are going so you don't grab a gun that you don't need, and advance slowly so you can take out the enemies with little trouble. If you need health, go into the lone door that you see on the way to the end. You'll find a first aid kit as well as two grenade launchers and two machine guns.

PrinceWatercress plays Die Hard (PC Engine) - Stage 5 of 10

Now that we've beaten our first boss, it's time to go through some more familiar territory

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Stage 5: 30F

You're now in the office space of Nakatomi Plaza, but the people here are anything but friendly. At least there are a few open doors where you can get some power-ups, including a first aid kit.

Don't walk on the broken glass; you'll take damage if you step into it.

There are some devices on the walls that will shoot out a red laser. Shoot the device down to get rid of that damaging laser.

The guard in all red has a five-way shot. Shoot him before he shoots you!

The second section has you going straight to the right. Move past the  doors that endlessly spawn bad guys, and if you see an open door, go into it for much needed beer for health. You'll eventually reach the door at the end, which takes you up two more floors.

PrinceWatercress plays Die Hard (PC Engine) - Stage 4 of 10

In this entry, we go down a dark passage and face our first boss. He won't be our last, either.

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Be very careful of where you go as you travel through this dark passage, as enemies will come from anywhere. You'll want to take as little damage as possible as you go through this area. Also, you'll want to get the grenade launcher here and preserve your ammo while getting as much ammo as you can.

Just when you think you're done, you'll be facing your first boss: a guy with a baton who will walk across a ceiling and try to smack you with his extending baton while also throwing a five-way knife shot. Jump when you shoot as he strikes with the baton from the sides and center, as this is the only time when he is vulnerable - and stay on the ground when he throws the knife, jumping only when necessary so you can more easily avoid them. The grenade launcher is the easiest weapon to use against this boss, as the explosion will hurt him if the grenade itself does not quite reach him.

When you beat this guy, you'll see a cutscene of John McClane riding on the top of an elevator on his way further up the tower.

PrinceWatercress plays Die Hard (PC Engine) - Stage 3 of 10

We've finally entered the building, but now we have to get through a maze!

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Stage 3: B2F

You're now in Nakatomi Plaza, but now you'll have to go through a maze to get further in while dodging enemy bullets.

At the first branching path, you'll want to take the left door. The pits are instant death if you fall into them, so make sure you don't walk into them. Also, if you jump and shoot, you can also violate the laws of perspective with your gunfire. At the end, enter the left door.

At the second branching path, take the right door. There is a door halfway through where you can find another flamethrower off the enemies. At the end, take the left door.

The third vertical section has three branching paths. The first two loop in on each other, but the third one has the two doors as usual. You'll want to take the right door. Near the end, you can find a first aid kit in case you don't have any body armor. Past that door, don't enter the first door you see; instead, go all the way to the end and enter the door there.

John McClane will tell you if you ended up back at the beginning if you took a wrong turn, so you'll want to avoid that. If you end up in any yellow hallways as opposed to the green ones, you've taken a wrong turn somewhere, and you're going to end up back at the beginning no matter what. You'll also want to keep in mind that the game only scrolls one way, and if you go too far in one direction, you won't be able to backtrack like you'll want to. Thankfully, the path is doable through trial and error, and the paths stay the same every time you play.

PrinceWatercress plays Die Hard (PC Engine) - Stage 2 of 10

Well, this stage was pretty quick. Didn't expect to find that body armor.

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Stage 2: 01F

The second stage is a waterlogged maze leading to a lower entrance into Nakatomi Plaza. There are multiple routes through the maze, and as long as you don't run into every single dead end around here, you'll have plenty of time to get into the building.

The guys with the long blond hair will shoot at you with grenade launchers. Even though the explosions from their shots are not as big as when you shoot one. 

One of the dead ends has body armor, and you'll need to shoot down a gray-shirt guard to get it. Make sure you get it.

The exit is guarded by three enemies at once. Once you take them all out, you're done here.

PrinceWatercress plays Die Hard (PC Engine) - Stage 1 of 10

At least this isn't as frustrating as the NES game...

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This game is a top-down action-style game, much like the NES game. Unlike the NES game, however, the action focuses a lot more on shooting down bad guys and trying not to die than sneaking through the multiple floors of Nakatomi Palaza and taking care of yourself.

Stage 1: 01F

The game starts in the garden outside of Nakatomi Plaza, and just like in the NES game, you'll be playing as John McClane. The D-Pad lets you move around, Button II lets you shoot and Button I lets you jump. You start out with your fists, but you'll find a variety of guns. There will be single-shot rifles, but you'll also find machine guns with rapid fire, grenade launchers that produce huge explosions and even flamethrowers.

You have a health bar, as does the enemy. As you take damage, your shirt will look a little more drab If you lose all your health, you'll have to use one of your limited continues. You also have a limited amount of time to get through a stage, and if you run out

To the right of where you start, take out the enemies and enter the building you see for an easy machine gun. This will make it easier to plow through the enemies up ahead. The black-shirted guards shoot one bullet at a time, while the white (gray?)-shirted guards shoot three.

When fighting enemies, keep tabs on your health constantly. When you take damage, the game makes no effort whatsoever to tell you that you've taken damage; John McClane just stands there and takes it. Your best bet for going through the levels is advancing slowly, watching for the enemy health bar to turn green, then shooting them down while avoiding them and their bullets.

If any enemies are on rooftops, you can jump up to shoot them.

The pits are instant death if you walk into them.

In the second section of the stage, keep on moving forward while taking out the enemies. Pits will form out of nowhere, and if you see that happen, immediately get away from the pit that is forming so you don't fall in. 

Some enemies can drop bottles of beer that replenish two whole units of health, but even fewer enemies will drop a blue vest. This is body armor, and it turns your health bar gold. This acts as a second health bar that goes over your first one, but you'll definitely want to preserve it as long as possible, as there are only a few of these in the game. At least when you get shot with body armor on, you don't lose your main health.

The first aid kit replenishes all of your health as opposed to just two units.

When you see five enemies at once, you're at the exit. Go back down as far as possible and take them out from a distance so you don't get shot a whole lot.

PrinceWatercress plays Freddy and the Spiders from Mars - The Longplay

...and now, the game minus commentary! Enjoy!

Let's Play

Freddy and the Spiders from Mars is a type-in game for the BBC Micro from 1985, from Issue 38 of Input Magazine.

Freddy is a window cleaner with an intense dread of spiders. He's been to his doctor and innumerable specialists who cannot cure his condition. Things are so bad he now has a recurring nightmare, concerning a Martian spider, a collection of balloons, and his favourite hobby, archery.

Frequently he wakes up bathed in sweat after dreaming of beings stranded on his ladder equipped with a supply of arrows. He has been trying desperately to burst balloons, which if allowed to reach the spider's cage above hie head, unlock the doors which imprison the beast.

Help Freddy burst the balloons, or he'll end up as the spider's breakfast! Points are awarded for each balloon Freddy bursts. If he lets through three balloons, the Martian spider is released.

A and Z move up and down, while Space fires an arrow. At the top of the screen, you'll see your current level, how many balloons you have left before moving on to the next level, your current score and the high score for the current session.

As you can probably guess, you'll be climbing up and down a ladder while firing an arrow, hoping to hit a balloon. You can only have one arrow on the screen at a time, so you'll really need to be good with your shots, especially when the balloons, which always show up one by one, show up at different points from the ground. If you can time things right, you can stand in a certain spot on the ladder, fire at a certain point depending on how close the balloon is to you, and hit the target every time.

As mentioned in the instructions, you can only miss three balloons before the Martian spider is freed and Freddy gets eaten in his absolutely nonsensical dream. Thankfully, whenever you reach a new level, all of the walls blocking the Martian spider from being unleashed will be restored, and you'll be back to the three misses. But beware, as the balloons move faster which each new level, and they get pretty fast pretty quickly. I usually never make it past level 3. As a result, sessions of this game do not last very long.

The game is great for what it is, especially when you consider that it is a free type-in game. The graphics are easily identifiable, the only sound you get is the balloons popping, and the controls work like they should. However, like most of the other games that I've played for the BBC Micro, you'll get enjoyment out of the game for a few minutes max before moving on to something else. Is the game still worth looking at? Well, yes. I still have an itch to shoot down some balloons, even if poor Freddy is going to be devoured before Level 3 is over every single time.

PrinceWatercress plays Freddy and the Spiders from Mars

The game may be simple, but at least the dream is as nonsensical as those I've had in real life.

Longplay

Freddy and the Spiders from Mars is a type-in game for the BBC Micro from 1985, from Issue 38 of Input Magazine.

Freddy is a window cleaner with an intense dread of spiders. He's been to his doctor and innumerable specialists who cannot cure his condition. Things are so bad he now has a recurring nightmare, concerning a Martian spider, a collection of balloons, and his favourite hobby, archery.

Frequently he wakes up bathed in sweat after dreaming of beings stranded on his ladder equipped with a supply of arrows. He has been trying desperately to burst balloons, which if allowed to reach the spider's cage above hie head, unlock the doors which imprison the beast.

Help Freddy burst the balloons, or he'll end up as the spider's breakfast! Points are awarded for each balloon Freddy bursts. If he lets through three balloons, the Martian spider is released.

A and Z move up and down, while Space fires an arrow. At the top of the screen, you'll see your current level, how many balloons you have left before moving on to the next level, your current score and the high score for the current session.

As you can probably guess, you'll be climbing up and down a ladder while firing an arrow, hoping to hit a balloon. You can only have one arrow on the screen at a time, so you'll really need to be good with your shots, especially when the balloons, which always show up one by one, show up at different points from the ground. If you can time things right, you can stand in a certain spot on the ladder, fire at a certain point depending on how close the balloon is to you, and hit the target every time.

As mentioned in the instructions, you can only miss three balloons before the Martian spider is freed and Freddy gets eaten in his absolutely nonsensical dream. Thankfully, whenever you reach a new level, all of the walls blocking the Martian spider from being unleashed will be restored, and you'll be back to the three misses. But beware, as the balloons move faster which each new level, and they get pretty fast pretty quickly. I usually never make it past level 3. As a result, sessions of this game do not last very long.

The game is great for what it is, especially when you consider that it is a free type-in game. The graphics are easily identifiable, the only sound you get is the balloons popping, and the controls work like they should. However, like most of the other games that I've played for the BBC Micro, you'll get enjoyment out of the game for a few minutes max before moving on to something else. Is the game still worth looking at? Well, yes. I still have an itch to shoot down some balloons, even if poor Freddy is going to be devoured before Level 3 is over every single time. 

PrinceWatercress plays Alice in Wonderland (GBC) - Part 6 of 6

In this entry, we finally meet the Queen of Hearts and find out that getting home is anything but easy.

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Now that we have all four of the card pip badges, we can enter the castle in the north end of Wonderland, meet the Queen of Hearts, play croquet with her and win the game. Before I do that however, I head back to the area before the tea party in the Mad Hatter's area and keep going in and out to get enough stars for the White Rabbit races.

For the third race, go right at the beginning, then go through the right path again. After the two stone bridges,  take the middle path as soon as you are able and keep running forward. You just beat the rabbit in record time. Talking to the Brush Dog leads to another bonus area. This time, you'll have to go to the top and use the platforms on the way. Head to the right, get to the mini-mushroom and drop all the way back to the start. You'll need to go up with the platforms, enter the narrow paths and run off the edge to get on the next platform when it comes your way. Jumping will not work. If you take this path, not only will you not need the key to open the door in this level, but you can also find the next teapot.

For the teapot, you'll need to stand on the dark blue rock platforms to drop down. After the first one, take the second one three times, then go all the way to the right and stand on the last one for the last set. Get big again, then head upwards for the teapot and the exit. 

For the fourth and final race, take the right path after the first bridge, the left or middle path after the double bridges, then the left or middle path again after the third and last bridge area. This leads to the final bonus area once you talk to the Brush Dog. It looks much like the first one, but it's definitely different. Watch out for the vulture umbrellas as you drop down from one area to the next. Near the end, you'll need to head to the right shrink down, then go down one more level to get the teapot here. From here, you'll have to use the platforms in the lower-left corner to get back to the start. Stay to the right as you drop down towards the bottom again to get the key. You'll be able to open the door and get out of here.

It's time to enter the castle and face the Queen. Once you enter the hedge maze, you'll need to paint the roses red. The eighth and final teapot will be to the right of where you start, but thankfully, it's really easy to get to once you see it. As for the rose bushes, stand on the X on the ground near them and press A to paint them. Once you paint all four trees, you'll meet the Queen.

From here, you're playing three rounds of croquet with three games each. You'll want to press A when the arrow is pointing straight up towards the top of the screen. In this game of croquet, you'll need to hit the ball so that it goes underneath the card guards who are arched back on the ground. Round 1 is fairly simple, but Round 2 is a little more complicated, as you'll have to time it right so that you can hit the ball when the guard is in position. Since the bird that acts as your croquet mallet beats its wings before you get into position, you'll have a little bit of a delay between when the next part starts and when you can actually press A to swing. Also, you'll always have it harder than the Queen.

If you miss at any point, you'll get a game over, and you'll have to play the current round that you are on again if you continue.

In Round 3, you'll have to shoot past two guards, and this time, the guards move back and forth in opposite directions from each other. 

After making it past all three shots of Round 3, the Queen of Hearts will want your head cut off, and you'll be in another maze area. Avoid the card guards as you run around the maze and make it to the exit. Thankfully, getting through this area is not incredibly hard, and there are two specific areas where you can refill a hit point.

You'll then have to fight the card guard himself. Stay in the center of the room and jump on the guards as they show up. If you hold A while jumping off a guard's head, you'll get a higher bounce off of them. As you defeat the guards, they will show up more and more quickly, but if you use the high bounce, you'll have an easier time getting through. When you defeat enough card guards, you'll beat the Queen and you'll beat the game. Alice will get past the gatekeeper, leave Wonderland, and end up back in the real world. You'll unlock some art in the art gallery (which we'll have all the art for at this point, so you can make pictures you can print with the Game Boy Printer with everything the game gives you) and the second stage for "Where in Wonderland?" You'll also have beaten Alice in Wonderland!

"Where in Wonderland" is a separate game mode where you play hide and seek with the White Rabbit. You'll have two places to choose between if you've beaten the game - the beach and the farm - and you'll need to run around as Alice with the same controls that you have in the top-down overworld sections. From here, stand in a certain section, and if you see a circle where you are standing, press A to see if you've found the rabbit. Cold means you're way off, Warm means you're getting closer, and Hot means you've found the White Rabbit. If you find the Rabbit within the time limit on the lower-right corner of the screen, you'll get a point; if you can't find the Rabbit within the time limit, the Rabbit will get the point. If you play two-player mode, you can just pass the Game Boy Color between yourself and a friend.

With that taken care of, that's the game!

PrinceWatercress plays Alice in Wonderland (GBC) - Part 5 of 6

It's time for the tea party...and it's really, really annoying.

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It's time to head back to the Mad Hatter. This time around, we have the fresh biscuits, and once we show up at the tea party with them, everything goes nuts. You'll need to get a key from the Doormouse to unlock a gate.

You'll need to do this three times. You'll need to use the arrow in the top center of the screen to figure out where the Doormouse is, reach the Dormouse, get the key, and then get to the gates and unlock the next gate. You'll also have to avoid both the Mad Hatter and the Marsh Hare once you have the key and you're able to run to the gates, and if you come into contact with either of them on the way there, you'll lose the key and you'll have to get it again. Thankfully, once a gate is unlocked, it stays unlocked. 

After unlocking all three gates, you'll face the Mad Hatter himself. Duck to avoid the hat, then jump on the Mad Hatter's head while it is still bare. After about five or six hits, the battle ends, and you'll get the Diamond Medal.

PrinceWatercress plays Alice in Wonderland (GBC) - Part 4 of 6

In this entry, we meet the Caterpillar and float around in a bubble to spell our name.

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Our next destination is the Caterpillar. Be sure to jump left and hit the Mini Mushroom to get the stars in the lower section at the start. Brambles hurt, so don't land on them.

From here, you'll be taking a ride of the bubbles. Bubbles will pop out of the plants in this area. Jump into a bubble to ride it, then move around with Left and Right. If you hit a ceiling, the bubble will pop. Interestingly, being small makes it a little easier to get enveloped by a bubble so you can ride one. If you need to get out of a bubble early, just jump.

There are two items to look for in the second section: a teapot and the Carpenter's hammer. The hammer will be more to the left, while the teapot will be more to the right.

You can stand on the ladybugs to move across the brambles safely if you see them.

In the third section, you'll meet the Caterpillar. You'll need to spell your name (Alice) on the way to the top, and the lower-right corner will show which letters you've picked up. If you find a Mini Mushroom, be sure to explore the nearby area, as you might be able to find a letter for Alice's name.

Watch out for the mosquitos, as they will pop your bubbles if you run into them as they fly in place. 

Once you fully spell your name, you'll get a Spade Medal, then you'll leave.

We have our second race with the rabbit, since I have enough stars to do this after the Caterpillar. For the maze, it's middle, left, middle, left, and after the winding path, it's right, left after the next winding path, and after the final winding path, keep to the right.

Giving the hammer to the carpenter nets you fresh biscuits for the Mad Hatter.

Speak to the Brush Dog for the next bonus area, you'll have a more linear that goes from left to right. As a result, it's a lot easier to get all of the stars here. You'll find a teapot in plain sight at the end.

PrinceWatercress plays Alice in Wonderland (GBC) - Part 3 of 6

In this entry, we head to the White Rabbit's house, and just like in the movie, Alice gets enormous.

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The path to the rabbit's house in the overworld has a pink stone wall. To get the stars on the way to the house, you'll have to leap on the enemies walking along the stone wall. You'll have only one shot to get those. You'll also have to jump on the duck with the horn head to get the higher ones, and you have infinite tries to get those.

Unless you have the key with the rabbit head, you're not entering the house. Once you have it, though, you'll have plenty of bookcases and plenty of platforms. You'll need to explore to find not only the key to the door, but also the Walrus' Cane.

Run past the lanterns to get past them and the flames that they leave, and be ready to jump over the moving flames. The lanterns re-spawn immediately after they drop and their flames disappear, so keep an eye out for them.

To get the hand enemy to lower, you'll need to hold the B button and run towards it. This will cause the enemy to lower and wag a finger at you, leaving it vulnerable to a jump attack. 

The green plants will hurt you if you approach them, so stay on the platforms above them.

The red seat cushions are trampolines, and you'll need them all the way to the right of where you start in the fourth room to get the key. There will be another key on the way, and you'll need both key to unlock the ultimate challenge for this area: the cookie that makes Alice big.

Alice eats the cookie and gets so big that she is trapped in the rabbit's house, causing the White Rabbit to believe that a monster is in his house (when it's really Alice).

From here, you'll play as Bill the chimneysweep. Left and Right on the D-Pad moves Bill left and right, A picks the ladder up as well as places it, and Down on the D-Pad ducks. Up on the D-Pad near an upright ladder allows Bill to climb. Since you cannot jump as Bill, you must fall to reach certain ledges. You'll need to duck to avoid the birds that fly, and you'll also want your ladder in your hand as you do this, as the birds will knock the ladder down. Thankfully, the game is very good at telling you exactly where you need to go, although you will have to go against the arrows to pick up the teapot that is in this area.

Once you make it to the top of the house, the Dodo will stuff Bill into the chimney, causing chimney dust to go everywhere and make Alice sneeze, which returns her to normal size, while Bill gets launched into the air. You'll then get the Club Medal for completing this area.

Returning the cane back to the walrus will give you a compass.

PrinceWatercress plays Alice in Wonderland (GBC) - Part 2 of 6

In this video, we start exploring Wonderland in an attempt to return home. After finding some lost items, we start making some headway.

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When you finally wash ashore in Wonderland, a good amount of the game will be in a Zelda-like overhead perspective. You can move in eight directions with the D-Pad, and holding B will allow you to run. You can still jump with the A button, even though it admittedly feels a tad different compared to the side-scrolling sections, of which there will still be a few.

The pencil birds are enemies and can be defeated with a jump attack, although I leave them alone simply because I can.

The Brush Dog will whisk you away to a bonus area if you talk to him while you have 100 stars in your possession, which is replaced with the sprite of the White Rabbit running. I'll mention the bonus areas when the time comes, although the Brush Dog does mention that you will have to race the White Rabbit.

By walking up to signs, you can read them. The arrow signs will take you to the four stages of Wonderland that you will have to enter and clear before you can enter the final one, and each sign will tell you which one you are approaching. Just keep going in the direction of the sign, and you'll eventually enter that stage.

You'll also see some NPC's that you can talk to just by approaching them like you did with the signs. If you talk to them, they will ask you if you have seen a specific item. You'll need to play through the first four stages and find the items within in order to help these people recover their lost items. Thankfully, the NPC's do mention where they last had their missing item.

The rose will mention that she left her conducting wand with the Tweedles.

The man near the Tweedles' stage is missing his hammer, and you will find it in the Caterpillar Woods.

The Dodo near the Rabbit's house has lost his handkerchief, and you will find it at the tea party.

The Walrus has lost his cane, and you will find it at the Rabbit's house.

Since I have nothing better to do, I head to the Tea Party first.

Tea Party

At the start, go left, and watch out for enemies. You'll meet a new enemy in the spider, which will drop down when you get close enough. Watch the top of the screen for spiders, and jump on them after they drop all the way down. This area is a great place to stock up on stars for all of the bonus areas, and I take advantage of that for the later videos in this Let's Play.

When you go all the way to the left, you'll end up at the tea party. The Mad Hatter will be close to where you enter from, and he will tell you that you'll need biscuits in order for the dormouse to come to the party; without the biscuits, you won't be able to do anything here. Nevertheless, I do look around for more stars, and I run into other characters from the movie such as the Marsh Hare.

Since you don't have any biscuits, you won't be able to do much here besides collect all of the stars in the area and then leave. The gates here will automatically be open, and on your way out, you'll find the Dodo's handkerchief.

Back at the overworld, hand the handkerchief over to the Dodo to get the Tweedles' hats. With these hats in your inventory, you'll be able to complete the Tweedles' stage.

The Tweedles

The entrance to the Tweedles' stage is south of where you met the Dodo.

When you see a group of stars at the start, there will be an enemy shortly after it. Also, the last foreground tree before the exit into the overhead section will also hide an enemy.

The overhead section is a maze. You need to make it all the way to the north, but you also need to avoid the Tweedles and their many clones along the way. Watch where the Tweedles are going, and be sure to avoid them.

The big hopping pairs of glasses are also enemies, and much like the pencil birds, you can also jump on them to defeat them.

Along the way, you'll find a dead end near the end that leads to the conducting wand. By handing this to the rose, you'll get the Rabbit Key, which you'll need to unlock the Rabbit's house.

At the end of the maze, go right before going up for the last star in the maze so you can get all your health back.

You'll then face the Tweedles in a boss fight. Wait for the Tweedles to land on the ground before jumping on them. The power-ups that you got in the battle against the clock on the way to Wonderland will also show up here, and you can use them against the Tweedles. When you jump on the Tweedles' heads enough times, you'll get the Heart Medal. You'll need the four medals to enter the final stage and return home to beat the game.

Bonus Level 1

After completing this level with 100 stars, we end up doing the bonus area as soon as we leave.

For the Rabbit Maze, go through the middle first. Cut left, then go all the way to the right and follow the path. At the fork in the road, take the left path and keep going. Stay to the left as you keep going north, and the path will soon be easier to follow. Take the center or right paths at the end to reach the finish line. The White Rabbit is fast, but he will continually follow the wall at times, which gives you a chance to get ahead of him as long as you keep moving and always hold the B button.

When you reach the finish line first, talk to the Broom Dog back in the overworld. The Broom Dog will take you to a secret area. The duck-like creatures with the horn-like faces will act as trampolines when you jump on them while you are big. You'll need to touch the mushrooms to change your size and get some of the stars, as some of them can only be collected when you're small.

Near the end, there is another teapot that you need to collect. Thankfully, it is very easy to get to, and even if you're small when you're at the end, you're not kept from getting it before you leave.

If you pause with the Start button, you'll see how many stars you have, what medals you have and what items you have.

PrinceWatercress plays Alice in Wonderland (GBC) - Part 1 of 6

This is probably one of the last things I would expect to be turned from an animated Disney movie into a full-fledged video game, but somehow Digital Eclipse made it work, and on the Game Boy Color, at that. The result is something that is surprisingly solid but is also relatively obscure due to everything else that was coming out on the Game Boy Color and other consoles at the same time. At least it reviewed alright.

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I barely remember the Game Boy Color "Get Into It" commercial for this game. I may have seen it; I may have not. Nevertheless, there was one. The game itself? After playing it, it's...strangely good?

You have up to three save files to work with in this game. If you need to delete one, press the Select button. When starting a new game, you must input your initials with the D-Pad and confirm with A.

The game begins with Alice sitting in the tree daydreaming as her teacher reads from a history book. All of a sudden, a white rabbit carrying a pocket watch runs into a burrow, looking extremely late for something. Press A to get through the text prompts, which come with the animation of falling cards revealing the text from left to right.)

From here, you'll take control of Alice. Left and Right on the D-Pad move left and right, Down ducks, and A jumps. You can run by holding the B button. This first part is simple; just head to the right and jump from rock to rock once you make it to the river. After going far enough, you'll catch up with the white rabbit - known as The White Rabbit - and from here, you'll go down the rabbit hole. At this point, you'll start getting hints on what to do from the Cheshire Cat.

While falling down the rabbit hole, you can move around with the D-Pad, and you can also use Up to slow your rate of descent. The A button lets you descend faster when held down, but you'll want to go down to the end while hitting as few random objects that aren't gold stars as possible. The gold stars allow you to enter bonus areas when you collect 100 of them, although that won't become much of a priority until you reach Wonderland.

You have five hit points, and you can collect papers with "1/5" on them to refill them. If you lose all of your hit points, you'll end up at the game over screen, but thankfully, you have infinite continues. The game is meant for a general audience, after all.

You'll eventually reach the bottom, and when you do, you'll enter the hallway leading towards Wonderland. You'll run into the Cheshire Cat, who will cryptically explain that the mushrooms will change you from big to small to big again, and when you change size, the pitch of the music gets higher and lower depending on your size (and it definitely gets higher when you're small to the point where it can be a bit grating). You'll also see a lot of platforms moving either vertically or horizontally; be ready to jump onto them and take a ride to wherever they go.

If you see any enemies such as the frogs, you can jump on them when they are on the ground to defeat them. You also must be big in order to defeat them; if you're small, you'll simply bounce off the top of them.

The cyan and white sections of the floors are trap doors that drop you down a level if you stand on them for a second. 

The paintings of the soldiers will carry spears that move up and down. If the tips of the spears touch you in any way, you will lose a hit point. Halfway across the spears section, the Cheshire Cat will tell you that you can perform running jumps to jump further by jumping as you run.

The key allows you to open the brown wooden door with the doorknob at the end of the current section. If you reach a wooden door without a key, you'll have to backtrack and find the key.

Further down the hallway section, you'll see tea cups and tea kettles spinning around as they fly in a certain direction. You can jump on the tea kettles to defeat them, and while you can also destroy the tea cups in the same fashion, they are a little harder to hit due to their size. 

The running pocket watch enemy can be jumped on, but this enemy is rather fast, so be ready to jump on it when it suddenly shows up.

If you collect all of the stars in an area, the Cheshire Cat will tell you when you collect the last one. You'll also get a full heal and have five hit points again, which is pretty nice.

The hallway has multiple sections, and while you won't see much new in the second section, you will see plenty of mushrooms and plenty of running pocket watches. There are also multiple keys, and you'll need to collect them all to get through each section one at a time.

The macaron enemies act much like the frog enemies from earlier; jump on them when they are on the ground to defeat them.

The third hallway section starts with the Cheshire Cat warning you about the tricky floors, even though you've probably found out about them the hard way two sections ago. You'll also be jumping from platform to platform a lot at the beginning, too.

The spinning yellow thing near where the tea cups and tea kettles are actually spinning pocket watches, although I had no idea what they were while playing this game.

There is a wall that you can get through while you are small when you reach the area above the start. If you go into that area, you'll find a teapot. The teapot allows you to unlock things for the photo album mode that can be used with the Game Boy Printer, and there are eight teapots in in all. Don't forget to grab it!

After you get through the third section, you'll face an angry, running pocket watch that is larger than the ones you've previously faced. While you can jump on him to damage him, there are birds that will fly out from the side and give you one of two icons: an "I" icon that gives you temporary invincibility and an icon with a down arrow on it that does damage to the boss. I ended up grabbing a ton of these and destroying the boss in about a minute.

From here, Alice starts crying because she cannot catch the White Rabbit, and this leads to her flooding the room and travelling across the river she has just made in a bottle. Your only controls are Left and Right on the D-Pad to steer left and right, respectively. If you run into an octopus tentacle, or if you run into a rock formation at a fast enough speed, you'll get a game over screen and you'll be forced to play this section again from the beginning. Any of the white glowing areas are currents that will push your upwards faster. You'll get a "!" symbol at the top center of the screen if you are approaching a hazard, and this is your only cue to move around to avoid being nabbed. For some reason, staying to the far left for most of this section will make it easier to get to the end. I wish I knew why.

When you finally complete the bottle section, you'll wash ashore in Wonderland and pop out of the bottle. From here, you've reached the meat of the game...

PrinceWatercress plays Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Part 6 of 6

...and with this, we complete our adventure. 

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Stage 6

Map (by StarFighters76)

Believe it or not, the inside of the Technodrome isn't really that big. It shouldn't take you too long to find Shredder at all.

The jetpack guys aren't that hard at all. Just don't stand anywhere near them. When you see them in the narrow part of the yellow section, duck down so their lasers fly over your head, and attack any other enemy that comes your way. 

If Leonardo is at his last quarter of his health, his sword does double damage. I take advantage of this on purpose in order to heal Donatello on the way to Shredder.

The turrets stay destroyed even after you off-screen them.

In the blue section, I make my way down a little bit, then head left when I am able. Past the wall turret is a ladder leading down to full health.

Shredder is amazingly easy. Fight him off and make your way to the uppermost platform. If Shredder is at the bottom when you do this, you're golden. Hit him when he jumps towards you. Every time you hit him, you knock him back. He'll keep jumping towards you, but since you keep hitting him, he won't be able to do anything. 

Another thing you can do is hit Shredder from below with Don, then use any other turtle who has the scroll weapon equipped. Use the scroll weapon against Shredder and keep hitting him with it. He'll go down easily.

Shredder's only attack is his gun, which instantly kills your turtle if the projectile connects. Since he's strangely easy, the attack is never seen.

Congrats. You just completed one of the hardest NES games in existence.

PrinceWatercress plays Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Part 5 of 6

Well, I sure lucked out.

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Stage 5

Map (by StarFighters76)

Avoid the search lights of the planes in the overworld. If they spot you, you'll have to deal with some Foot Clan ninjas.

The crab-like robots that crawl on the walls are the worst. The boomerang sub-weapon as well as Donatello's bo will destroy them in one hit instead of two, which is a welcome sigh of relief because these things can be unmeasurably irritating.

The jellyfish split into four bubbles if you get too close to them, but (interestingly enough) you can hit the bubbles and actually destroy them.

The porcupines are really annoying, since they face away from you to attack and shoot needles at you when they do. After attacking twice, they'll run away.

Here's a problem that the Angry Video Game Nerd doesn't mention: you can only stand on the ladders on the walls when you climb all the way up on them. 

The underground parts are even worse, since you have cannons shooting at you from the ceiling and craning themselves up and down at the same time. You also have aliens that curl into balls and roll around like pillbugs on crack if they're not shooting sperm out of their mouths (I'm serious, that's actually what it looks like).

Anyway, the doors at the bottom of the underground areas are the possible places where you'll find the boss. You'll know that the boss isn't there if you enter the door and end up at a dead end room with absolutely nothing in it. Unfortunately, the building that houses the Technodrome is random each time you play. There is a chance that the empty room may contain a turtle that you may have lost.

When you finally meet up with the Technodrome, here's what you do: take out the Foot Clan ninjas as you wait for the electricity at the front of the Technodrome to stop sparking out, then head to the tank tread at the side and take out the turrets. Now that those are out of the way, attack the eye at the top of the Technodrome when it opens. You did it! Just one more stage to go!

PrinceWatercress plays Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Part 4 of 6

...and the game gets harder again. This one took a few tries before I could finally get through it without losing a turtle.

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Stage 4

Map (by StarFighters76)

Enter the building and prepare to take on the maze.

The fastest path is 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 18. You can also substitute 5 and 7 with 3 and 6 respectively, then take 8, and head to 9 from there.

If you need to save one of your friends, enter 13, then get your friend and head back from where you came in. You can also exit 13 through the other side, go backwards into 12 and fully refill health for all your turtles. 

The first building you enter has a full health refill right off the bat. You'll also find some tightropes not long afterwards, and you'll need to use them very soon after. Just walk to the post where the rope is used and your Turtle will automatically tether up.

The robots that shoot lasers only attack when you do. 

Section 2 is really easy, just watch out for the lasers.

If you see any purple planes on the map, keep your distance. Those things are Shredder's bombers, and they can nuke you off of the map if you're not careful. It's best to stay away from them.

For Section 3, take short hops to get across the conveyor belts. At least the conveyor belts tell you off the bat where they're going to push you.

Section 4 introduces a new enemy: a humanoid that splits into two. (This assumes you haven't seen it earlier in Stage 3 like I did.) When you hit its smaller counterparts again, you'll get them to split even further. Those miniature clones take multiple hits before they die, which can make them frustratingly annoying.

Section 5 introduces the magnets. When you're in the air, they'll instantly attract your Turtle, which carries the risk of pulling you into the spikes while you're fine-tuning your jump placement. Thankfully, touching the spikes does not cause instant death, but it's still something you should avoid.

The road to the end is really nasty. You'll be dropping down for a few screens, and while they all have the same pattern as the first room, the second one introduces spiked walls of instant death, so you'll have to be fast on the way down. The third room is just like the second, but it has a full pizza that you definitely won't be able to get at all. Thanks, game.

The fire pits are instant death, so you'll want to avoid those. This is especially true near the end of 15, where enemies can push you into the fire pit if you're not careful.

The room at the end is the boss - a giant Mouser. Wait for it to blink its eyes twice before jumping to avoid the laser. After that, it will open its mouth and expose hit its "tongue." Once the mouth opens, you can easily strike the weak point with Donatello. There is a glitch where you can pause and then unpause when the mouth is open so that you can always hit the weak point no matter what, but you can easily beat this boss without it.

PrinceWatercress plays Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Part 3 of 6

Thankfully, the third stage is mercifully easier than the second.

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Stage 3

Map (by StarFighters76)

The Turtle Van has two weapons: the normal gun with infinite ammo that fires straight in front of the van (fired with the A button) and the super missiles that do more damage but come in finite amounts and have to be found (fired with the B button). Walk into it to enter it; press Select to get out. Fun fact: if you see any of the Foot Clan's bulldozer vehicles and you leave the van, the enemy vehicles de-spawn. (thanks newfiebangaa)

The super missiles missiles can also destroy the barricades that block your path. From this point on, I'll actually be referring to the map, so you might want to have it open in a separate tab in case you actually want to know what I'm even talking about.

It should be noted that the Turtle Van's energy matches that of your current turtle. Yeah, that's right. It doesn't come with its own, separate energy bar. That's pretty lame.

First, enter the building immediately to the left of the starting point that you can enter (referred to as 1A on the map). As you make your way to the top, you can find a half pizza as well as a whole pizza that you can use to refresh your Turtles, and at the end you'll find Missiles. Walk over the pit to get over it and grab the Missiles. (Angry Video Game Nerd, anyone?)

Aside from the fleamen (who really do look like tiny astronauts) and the Foot Clan balloons that drop missiles when they're directly above, you also have robots that look like knights. These robots send their heads flying around the screen when you destroy them. Thankfully, the heads take only one hit to kill.

If you need more missiles, just exit and re-enter the building. Not only will the missiles be back, but so will the health power-ups. Bonus!

Now that you have some missiles, get back in the van and go to 4A and 4B from there. Stand near the center of the barricades in order to take out both halves in one shot with the missiles. Enter 4A, and pick up the icon at the upper-left corner that looks like some guy walking on a tightrope. This is the Rope, and you'll need it for later in the stage. Now enter 4B. If you have a Turtle down, this is where you'll be able to rescue him. Congrats, you've successfully regrouped. Now make your way to 6A.

If you need to refill health for any reason before heading to that area, or if you don't have a turtle to save, head to 3A. You're not only going to find health there, but you'll also find the Ninja Scroll as well as some tightropes. If you fall into the water in the sewer area, you'll end up on the other side of that area, but it'll just make it easier to get to the full heal pizza at the end.

When you're in the 6A area, don't fall into the water, because the Turtles can't swim. (Another first world problem brought to you by the Angry Video Game Nerd.) If you hit the drink, you'll have to start this whole area over. (Why they can't swim here when there was already a swimming level in the game before this is just inexplicable.) Let the robots with the detachable heads fall in the water, so you won't have to deal with them. Also, take short hops. That means "Don't do the somersault." 

From here, enter 7A. Make your way to the top, and you'll deal with the Mecha Turtle. (If you fall into the water before the end, you'll end up back at the 6A door, which means you'll have to do more backtracking just to get back to the end.) The first form just acts exactly like Leonardo, meaning that he acts exactly like you do. The second one is a robot Turtle with a jetpack and rockets that fire out of its mouth. If you're close to dying, switch to another Turtle. The first form isn't too hard, but avoid the rocket attacks of the second form. If you have the Ninja Scroll projectiles, use them. You'll take out both forms very quickly. When you save Splinter, you'll see Shredder's helicopter fly away.

PrinceWatercress plays Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Part 2 of 6

This is where a lot of people have trouble with the game...a lot.

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Stage 2

Map

Well, there's nothing else here to do on the overworld map at this point except to enter the building in front of you...so why not?

As your make your way up to the roof of the building, you'll be fighting mini-bosses each time you reach a ladder. Thankfully, they're enemies you've beaten before. You'll need to be right at the edge to make the final jump to the door leading to the top of the dam itself.

When you're at the top, move to the right and move off the broken end of the building. This is the Hudson River bomb level, and it's pretty nasty.

First things first: if your current Turtle is in danger of dying, switch to another character immediately. If the timer (two minutes and 20 seconds) goes to zero, it's an instant game over. However, if you die, the timer resets but the bombs don't! Epic win!

You have 2 minutes and 20 seconds to defuse eight bombs. Thankfully, there's a map for this that really helps out. When you get near a bomb, press B repeatedly to defuse it. Special music will play if you have only 20 seconds left.

With the rotating spikes, stay near the center to make it easier to not get hit. 

Wait for the electric barriers to stop running before moving past them, as they can do a lot of damage.

The currents can really drag you down at times, and sometimes they won't work due to a glitch in the programming. Sometimes they'll drag you down into the coral below, which act as spikes or electric barriers and cause damage as a result. As for the very stringy looking things at the bottom of some areas, don't get near it; you'll be dragged in and you'll immediately lose a turtle if you get close enough.

When you defuse all eight bombs, don't even worry about getting back to the beginning. You'll automatically return to the Turtles' home only to find the place trashed. Shredder will show up on the screen wearing a red wifebeater instead of his usual purple gear and has the ability to point his hand through the TV screen. You'll find out that Splinter has been kidnapped, and that the Stage 3 map is freakin' huge compared to the first two.

PrinceWatercress plays Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Part 1 of 6

Here's another game that I never thought I would beat until I tried it for the Internet. Long live the YouTube channel!

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The game is known as Gekikame Ninja Den in Japan, and Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in Europe.

Stage 1

Map

The game starts in an overworld map. If you pause, you can select between the four Ninja Turtles, which have a different weapon (that of course, works differently). You'll have four turtles: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello. Each Turtle has a different weapon (katana, nunchaku, sai and bo staff, respectively), each with a different range. They all have their own individual health bars, and you can switch between them on the pause screen in case you're in trouble.

From what I understand, the first level is supposed to be Fifth Avenue and Greenwich Village.

The map shows red and white squares. The red squares are all the places you can access, while the white squares are an entrance to an area. The flashing dot signifies where you are. You'll be able to get hints from Splinter and/or April O'Neil (when you rescue her) in the message box below.

You'll start near a manhole. Go into it. Moving south past this area leads to a purple tank that will instantly try to kill you if you run into it, so don't do that.

You'll take on what look like Mousers and Foot Clan Ninjas. As you progress, some of them will have mini-boss status. Take them down to empty their life bars and continue on with the game. 

Whenever you finish off a mini-boss, move left past the center of the screen and continue. That way, you'll be able to see what's ahead and deal with it more easily.

You'll find a pizza at the end. The more slices there are on the icon, the more health you'll refill. One slice refills two squares on the life bar, and you'll see anywhere from one to four slices on a pizza icon.

From here, enter the manhole to the right of where you've come out. Go to the right and you'll face Bebop. Stay away from him and hit him from medium range. If you're using Donatello and his Bo, this is a lot easier. If you touch Rocksteady, you also take damage (I found this out by screwing around, don't ask).

When you beat Bebop, Rocksteady runs off with April through the nearby door. Enter it, and you'll come out across from where you entered. If you need health, go into the nearby house and beat up all the bats and stone guys. The stone guys can only be damaged if they're moving. You'll find a slice of pizza midway, followed by a whole pie at the end, and if one of your Turtles somehow need energy at this point, switch to that Turtle, get the Pizza, then switch back. That way, that whole pizza pie won't be wasted. Also, the chainsaw guy (should he show up) is totally violent for a NES game from 1987. Just saying.

Leave the house the same way you came in, then go to the manholes northwest of that house. Watch out for the steamrollers, as they're instant death if you touch them. There are also Foot Clan ninjas you can attack with the B button, just like in the side scrolling sections, should they get near you.

Before entering the one that blocks your path, enter the one south of it. You might find some throwing stars, which you can select with the Select button if you want to go back to your default weapon. There are several projectile weapons that you can find in the game, and if you don't want to grab a projectile weapon without losing the one you have, you can switch to another turtle and have that turtle pick it up. Weapons include throwing stars (a single shot and a three-way shot variety), boomerangs that can be thrown and grabbed again, and scrolls that can shoot an energy wave, among others. You'll find these weapons at random, so look sharp and be ready to press Select to switch back to your melee weapon as well as manage who carries what, as that can be pretty important.

In the manhole that I don't enter, the Turtle logo is invincibility. With this, your current Ninja Turtle spins around and hits everything that he touches for a few seconds. This will take down the frog mini-boss at the end without taking damage. Since this is a dead end, go back and climb up the ladder at the start.

Now you can go into the manhole that blocks your path. There's a pizza at the beginning in case somebody needs some health rations. Continue to the left, take care of the frog mini-boss, then climb up the ladder at the end and you'll come across this isolated blue building.

There are three sets of enemies in a stage, and if you don't like the one that's in the current area, you can leave where you came in from and immediately re-enter to spawn a different set. Nice.

You'll face Rocksteady at the building at the end, and if you jump up to the top of the boxes at the right-hand side and keep striking downwards, you'll be able to beat him without taking damage. This works especially well if you're using Donatello, as it's pretty hard to miss while doing this with him. Just wait for him to jump (horribly) and then hit him. Whenever Rocksteady jumps near the boxes, his hitbox extends a little bit, and you can hit him more easily. You just saved April O'Neil! Congrats!

Controls

Control Pad: Move (Up enters doors)

A button: Jump (side-scrolling only)

B button: Attack (use Up and Down to strike upward and downward, respectively)

Start: Pause (lets you see the map and switch Turtles)

Select: Switch weapons (side-scrolling), leave the Turtle Van (overworld)

PrinceWatercress plays Super Mario Odyssey - Part 92 of 92

In the final entry for Super Mario Odyssey, we show off what's left to show off as part of a proper send-off for the game.

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In this video, I take care of all the loose ends that are left.

The easiest way to buy everything that's left in the Crazy Cap shop is to head to Bowser's Kingdom and warp to the Beneath the Kingdom checkpoint. Head back to the area where you need to plant a seed and make a vine with the seed in the nearby planter. Climb up the vine, then keep going straight and grabbing the Rocket Flowers with your cap. If you do everything correctly, you can get 190 coins per pass, and you can get to 9999 coins in less than an hour. As a result of this, buying all the outfits is a lot easier.

It is noted that if you get all 880 collectible Power Moons, all of the enemies in the Capture List, all of the music in the Music List, all Regional Coins and Regional Coin items and all hats and outfits not labeled "Special" in the shop (the ones labelled "Special" are from post-release game updates, but I get them all anyway because I can). If you get all of the last category, you'll get two stars for your hat and outfit collections when you go into the closet to change your outfit.

If you buy your way to 999 Power Moons, you'll be able to head to the rooftop of Peach's Castle in the Mushroom Kingdom. Throw your hat at the scarecrow that brings up the stairs to the roof. There will be another scarecrow you can throw your hat at to produce a flag. Climb up the flag to reach a giant black top hat at the top of the castle. Get to the top of the top hat and throw your hat at the tiny spire for a small fireworks show. This is your reward for 999 Power Moons.

If you have more than 150 Power Moons in your possession in a kingdom, you'll see an ellipsis in place of Power Moon #150 on the left side of the screen.

When you enter the Wedding Hall again, there are two paintings. The one to the left from where you enter leads to the original final battle with Bowser, while the one on the right leads to a harder Bowser battle. The battle is pretty different. On the first phase, you'll need to jump over Bowser's tail three times before you can pummel him. On the second phase, he does one tail whip, then you pummel him, then he does two tail whips, then you pummel him again, then he does three tail whips before you send him into the background wall. For the third phase, Bowser will move his fire breath back and forth five times instead of three, and he will do one tail whip before you pummel him, and before you can finish him off, he swings his tail three times before allowing you to pummel him some more, then swings his tail two more times, and after a little bit more pummeling, Bowser swings his tail three more times before you can land the finishing blow. The rest of the end game sequence is the same as the first time around.

And that's it for Super Mario Odyssey!

PrinceWatercress plays Super Mario Odyssey - Part 91 of 92

In this entry, we finally head to the Darker Side and get the final Power Moon, which is the absolute most difficult one to collect in the game.

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There's only one more thing to do in this game: head to Darker Side.

When you land, you'll see people from all the kingdoms in the game as well as Mayor Pauline and her band. Capture the frog to get up the mountain and enter the pipe at the top.

The following area is one big obstacle course that you'll have to go through in one shot, and if you die at any point, you're going all the way back to the beginning, as there are no checkpoints.

At the beginning, there is a Yoofoe that can destroy as well as a bunch of Goombas. Defeating the Yoofoe will award you with a Life-Up. You will need this for the beginning. At the start, you'll be wall jumping off poles that will sink in the lava when you grab onto them. After that, you'll be swinging and jumping off rods, some of which will move in and out of the lava. After that, you'll see metal crest-like slopes moving across the lava, and you'll need to long jump your way to the platform on the other side.

At the platform, take control of a Podaboo (I know they're called Lava Bubbles, but I'm too far into this blog series now). Jump into the lava pits without making contact with the rotating rock columns on the way to the other side, where you'll find a cannon to shoot out of.

Take control of the Uproot on the other side of your cannon travel and use the ability to raise your legs to get up the platforms. There are some platforms that you'll need to use your ability to push them up from above, as well as to push one down from below, while avoiding enemies on the way up.

Use the frozen water in the next section to get past all the Black Fuzzies in the next part, and try not to get frozen on the way. You'll then be able to take control of Yoshi. Stick your tongue onto the walls leading upwards to stick to the conveyor belt walls, and jump to avoid Black Fuzzies while also grabbing coins.

At the top, you'll find a P Switch. Step on it and follow the flower bridge as it moves forward. You could attack the machines on the way to break the blocks, but it's not worth it due to all the energy rings they will produce, which you will have to avoid. Along the way, you'll see a platform off to the side where the Sphynx is. Talk to the Sphynx. You'll be asked "What is the only kingdom that I, the great Sphynx, have not visited?" The answer is "The Mushroom Kingdom." Your reward is another Life Up Heart. Thankfully, if you die, you won't have to talk to the Sphynx again to get it; it will be readily available next time. From here, you can hit the P Switch here for another flower bridge so you can keep on going.

The Sphynx has other questions to answer if you keep taking to him.

Which of these unique attributes do I not possess? Gardening skill

What will you remember most about your adventures through all the kingdoms? Talking to a Sphynx

Why do I ask people questions? It's a chance to talk

What final words am I saving for you? Thank you!

For answering these last four questions, you'll get a few hundred coins for your efforts.

You'll soon have to throw your hat on an upside-down scarecrow on the bottom of a platform to get ahead. The platform will fly upwards, and you'll be forced to wall jump your way upwards with metal partitions of the nearby wall popping out to help you. You'll need to be quick so you're not forced out of the path upwards into the lava below.

You'll then meet Glydon. Take control of Glydon and use the air currents to stay high in the air as you head to the platform on the other side. Just watch out for the flies flying around in mid-air, and you should be fine. Once you land, you'll be launching yourself over the lava by throwing your hat at Volbonans stuck in blocks above the lava and launching yourself forward. A few of them move, so you'll need to time it right so you can launch forward, throw your hat and catch the next Volbonan flawlessly. Enter the pipe at the end.

Ride the platform, and try not to hit any of the machines, either at the sides or at the center of the platform, so you don't have to avoid a bunch of energy rings as you deal with the enemies that leap onto the platform as you go.

At the end, you'll be using a Pokio to stick onto the swinging walls. You'll need to launch yourself upwards and stick to each swinging wall to get to the top...except. Except if you get to the third one, stick yourself to it, and launch yourself upwards when the wall is all the way to the right, you can stick to the wall leading to the 8-bit area earlier. If you do that, get ready to quickly launch yourself upwards until you reach the 8-bit area.

In the 8-bit area, avoid the barrels rolling around as you get to Donkey Kong. Hit the four ? Blocks below Donkey Kong to get rid of him, then enter the pipe in the area that opens up below Donkey Kong. You'll then have to play a Bowser possession. Thankfully, when you enter this section, you'll start it with six hit points no matter what.

Avoid the rocks, and only slash at them to get rid of them when absolutely necessary. This is true near the end of this super-short section, where rocks will come at you from behind as you slash through the walls. You'll be alternating between slashing right and slashing left with Bowser's claws every so often just to survive, but hey...at least you have six hit points. The worst of this stuff is finally over.

When you reach the coin rings leading downwards, drop down to enter one last area full of pylons. Thankfully, it's really easy not to die here. By taking control of the pylons and travelling to the right, you'll spell out a message on the pylon paths saying "Thank you." If you throw your hat at the scarecrow on the other side, you'll be able to see the message in full.

Go down the pipe. Take control of a frog and shake the controller to use the high jump and get up the tower as Cappy reminds you of your journey. You'll eventually have to leave the frog and climb up the tower at the end. At the very top is the final Multi-Moon. You just grabbed the hardest Power Moon to get, and you'll get the Invisibility hat, which will make Mario invisible regardless of which outfit Mario wears it.

When you get all 880 collectible moons, you'll get a gold sail for the Odyssey, and you'll get a new Bowser battle in the Wedding Hall in the Dark Side.

1. Long Journey's End - Get to the top of the tower at the end of Culmina Crater.