PrinceWatercress plays Alisia Dragoon - Part 1 of 8

After seeing a few people play this game, it was only a matter of time until I played this myself.

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From the manual...

As Baldour, the prince of all things evil, near the end of his dormancy, the cocoon in which he rests is transported to Earth by his aide, Ornah. The world is still reocering from the devastating effects of Baldour's last visit.

Alisa Dragoon is the daughter of the magician who attempted to stop Baldour. When she was a child, Alisia's father was tortured to death before her very eyes. His final cries of agony ring in her ears even now. Inexplicably, Alisia's life was spared. She is now a woman with magical ability rivaling that of her father. "Baldour is going to wish he had killed me as well," she vows.

Alisia must find Oranh and the cocoon before Baldour awakens. Use her Thunder Magic to demolish enemies, and summon any one of the four friendly monsters to help you. If Baldour awakens before you can destroy the cocoon, there may be no more tomorrow...

Stage 1

Once again, the silver star fell from the sky, unleashing evil and destruction for the second time. The one person who can save the world must seek out this object. 

Whenever you see the word "Demo" in the lower-right corner, control of Alisia is out of your hands until it disappears.

At the top of the screen is your HUD. At the top-left is Alisia's health and attack power meter. As you hold down the attack button, you will strike the nearest enemies with bolts of thunder magic as the meter slowly drains. You'll need to stop attacking briefly in order for the meter to slowly refill. When the meter is full, it will flash, and if you attack then, you'll perform a thunder magic strike that circles across the screen. At the top right is the health and attack power of your monster companion, should you currently have one on-screen. When the companion's attack meter is full, the enemy will attack if there is an enemy on-screen.

Left and Right on the D-Pad let you move left and right. Down lets you duck, and you can turn around while ducking with Down-Left and Down-Right. The A button lets you switch between the four monsters with Up and Down on the D-Pad, and pressing A again confirms your monster selection. You can even choose to not have a monster companion on the screen at all, if you wish. B attacks with thunder magic, and C jumps. Start pauses the game.

You have four different animal companions. Dragon Frye is a dragon that can shoot fireballs in the direction you are facing. It is strong and has a high attack recharge rate, but it is the biggest target of the four companions. Ball O' Fire is a will-o'-the-wisp that has to run into enemies to attack and defeat them, and it is not very strong at first until you power it up. It can, however, take a lot of damage. Thunder Raven is a neon-colored raven that has an attack that affects the entire screen and hurts all on-screen enemies, but you will have to wait a while for the raven to attack again and it is another large target like the dragon. Boomerang Lizard is a flying lizard that fires boomerangs at enemies, and while it has a powerful attack that has some spread and some good recovery time, the boomerangs may not always hit their target.

When you start the stage, you will have insects flying at you. You'll want to duck down and shoot whenever you see them, and inch your way forward and take your time so the insects don't eat at your health.

Once you're down the slope, you'll see what look like yellow insects flying out from the left side of the screen as well as things that look like brains that shoout out spores that turn into mushrooms. The flying insects are bad enough, but the brain things need a bit of thunder magic to destroy. You'll want to avoid their spores as they fly out, and you'll also want to avoid the mushrooms that form when the spores hit the ground, as both things can damage you.

The flying winged globes with gold stars in them are power-ups. You'll need to shoot them to get the power-ups inside. Some of them will be in sight, while others have to be revealed by moving into specific spots, especially if you find a hidden passage. Shoot them with your thunder magic to open them. The blue potions will refill one rectangle of health for Alisia, while the meat will refill one rectangle of health for your current magical companion. If you need to heal a companion, switch to that companion before grabbing the meat. You'll want to keep your companions alive, as items that revive them are few and far between.

You'll need to duck down and attack to take out the black caterpillars as well as the bats that fly out from the top of the screen. The bats will swoop down if given the chance, and the black caterpillars can come at you from behind and even try to roll into you.

You'll soon enter a temple. Take your time, let your thunder magic recharge before forging ahead to take out any wizards that suddenly teleport into view, and explore carefully so you don't miss power-ups and hidden passages. You may have to leap into a wall or two to find some. You'll be able to find blue stars that will level up your current companion. Companions can be leveled up to Level 3, and by doing this, you can not only make their attacks stronger, but you can also change their appearance slightly.

The slimes will burst into flame when you hit them, so make sure you hit them from a distance.

The Alisia Dragoon doll acts as an extra life. In case Alisia loses all of your health, you'll have a continue to work with. Yes, the game does the "lives as continues" thing, but it takes a little while for Alisia to lose all her health if you take your time and don't rush through the game.

At the end of the temple, you'll run into Baldour, but you'll also run into Ornah, who will commend you for getting this far before fleeing with Baldour and daring Alisia to come to their palace. From here, you'll continue into what looks like a cave. Take your time and inch your way forward to hit the flying insects and the teleporting wizards. If you need to recharge your thunder magic, be sure to duck so you don't get hit by any flying enemies.

The square with the circle adds one rectangle to Alisia's maximum health. You can have up to six rectangles, and you're going to need all the health you can get. The orbs with the thunder bolts surrounding it will increase the level of your attack by one. You'll start out at Level 1, but by collecting these orbs, you can make your attack more powerful so it doesn't take forever to defeat enemies as you progress through the game.

The soldiers with the tridents will only be vulnerable after they stop flickering from teleporting on-screen. If given the chance, their tridents will extend forward slightly to hit you. Ditto with the wraiths who show up to drop bricks from above. Be ready to hit them or stay out of the way when they teleport in and stop flickering, as the bricks they drop can do quite a bit of damage.

The boss is a pair of assassins. Bust out the Dragon Frye and have the Dragon Frye attack the boss while you duck down and strike with full power thunder magic. You'll want to watch out for their daggers, as some of them will spin and fly around in an attempt to hit you, so you'll want to stay on the move when necessary. As for the ones that fly straight ahead, you can duck under them and they will just whizz past.

When you complete a stage, both Alisia's health and those of her companions will be fully replenished.