ActRaiser 2 - The OST

Here's all the music from ActRaiser 2!

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 15 of 15

Hey, we have some passwords that we can use for some miscellaneous fun times!

For the first password, you must set the difficulty to Hard in the Options menu, or else it will not work. From there, go to Password and enter "BJQX YRKC DLSZ." From there, you'll go to the intro...but this time you can control the Master! You'll face the Pegasus mini-boss again, then you'll face Tanzra as seen in the opening cutscene.

Tanzra is pretty easy. Downstab to avoid the red projectiles in the double helix pattern, use your shield to block the fire from the heart, then stab the heart as much as you can while it's exposed. He will eventually go down, then you'll start a normal game...on Hard mode.

You'll have to set the difficulty back to Normal for the next two passwords.

The second password is "Xxxx Yyyy Zzzz." Use the "Page" button to switch between upper-case and lower-case letters. This will give you the final battle from the first ActRaiser game, except you're playing as the Master from the second game. Here's the strategies, ripped straight from my notes for the first game.

Same strategies from the first game apply to some extent, except you move more slowly and have a slightly more advanced moveset with the ability to do a jumping downstab and the ability to stab upwards, which really helps with the second form projectiles.

First Form

Tanzra's first form isn't that bad.

He'll attack with his own version of Magical Stardust, except the projectiles are blue and slightly bigger. Go all the way to the right and duck, so it won't hit you.

If you're too close to the right side of the screen, go all the way to the left and jump when the Magical Stardust comes at you.

After this, Tanzra will drop down and shoot projectiles at you. If you stand at the right distance, face him and duck, you'll be able to attack him with the waves of light while the projectiles will fly around you in a sine wave pattern, missing you completely.

Yes...you have that power-up again for this battle. Give 'im hell!

Second Form

Biggest. Life Bar. Ever.

He'll shoot three fireballs at you and they'll attack from above and below, closing in on the same spot you are. Stay on the move and they won't hurt you.

The chest cavity that protects the blue orb in his body opens up. As he draws energy from it to shoot a lightning bolt, wail away at it with the waves of light. When he fires it, stop attacking and duck!

He'll then shoot two crackling balls of energy - one blue and one red - from his mouth twice. The blue one is always in the air, while the red one is underneath the "floor." Destroy the blue ones, you'll more than likely take out the red ones while attack him after he shoots the fireballs again, making it a priority to take as little damage as possible against Tanzra's first form.

His attack pattern will repeat itself, but if you can stay alive, you can take him down in no time!

Once you beat him, enjoy your kick back to the title screen. Yeah, no credits this time.

The third is "MTkM SkTk HNSH." It gives you a special dev team picture.

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 14 of 15

There's a mini-boss rush AND a boss rush? Oh, come on...

Death Heim

When you try to enter Death Heim, you'll learn that the wall surrounding the castle is too thick. The only way to break it is to crash the sky castle into it.

When you finally get inside, however, you'll see a slew of dead angels. You'll talk to one of your men only for him to be killed from a distance. You'll find out that seven demons have been revived. There will be another guy you'll talk to not long after, and before he dies, he lends you his power. You lose all your magic scrolls, but in return, you'll be able to shoot projectiles out of your sword, just like in the first game. Joy!

You'll then take on all seven Sins in the following order: Sloth, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, Greed, Lust, and Pride. Same strategies apply...kinda. The Sins are far easier to take down the second time around.

Be sure to stick to the right at the beginning of the battle against Wrath, so you can get an extra life.

When you beat Wrath, you'll face Greed immediately afterwards. Fighting Greed is nasty because he can stay at the top of the screen where you can't hit him.

After beating Pride, you'll talk to one more angel, who gets destroyed when you talk to him. He gives you the password that takes you back to Death Heim (in case you need it) before he dies. Also, when the angel characters you talk to die, they lose their halo upon death. That's a nice touch.

After he dies, keep walking to the right. When the screen fades to black, stop. Otherwise, you'll bump into Tanzra.

To beat Tanzra, simply stand underneath his chin, face left, shoot at the projectiles he spits out, do a downward stab if you need to, then hit the blue heart with your sword when the chest cavity opens up and block the huge fireballs that it shoots out. That's it.

If you die to Tanzra, you won't have to worry about the boss rush again.

Once you whack at the heart enough, Tanzra's done. You don't even get a second form. That's it. You've beaten ActRaiser 2! Watch as the people remember your name forever and the statue you used to take some sort of form down on Earth gets weathered away by the elements. Oh, and put your name in for the high score, too.

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 13 of 15

Sister, don't you jog it all away. Sister, don't you run it all off. I don't know why you do, what has come over you? What an idea of fun to get it on the run.

Remember Humbleton? Head back there.

Humbleton

If you thought it was a bit quiet in Humbleton, you were right. Turns out the people of Humbleton are trying to ascend to godhood and become Masters themselves and ascend to godhood by constructing a tower to the Sky Temple.

Tower of Souls

Inside this tower, there are many man-made machines as well as the Master they created to worship.

This tower will be a vertical climb of epic proportions. There are robots with humanoid forms that can shoot lasers than can bounce off walls, floors and clings. Some are on wheels and either shoot at you or charge at you with drills in front.

The machines will be proving a very treacherous way of moving forward. Stand on the gears to make your way forward, and watch out for rogue electricity. Thankfully, the gears don't move you around like in, say, Super Mario Land 2.

There are also cars on tightropes that act as platform. Thankfully they have a little bit of wiggle room for when you're able to stand on them. When you're done wit all of them, watch out for the flower creature with the spiked ball tail. He can catch you by surprise if you're not ready.

Next up is a mini-boss gauntlet. You'll face the plant boss from Industen, the snake boss, the vulture mini-boss from Modero, the Pegasus Knight from Death Field, the Dream World mini-boss and the goat-man. The main difference is that they're all in empty rooms like in the Mega Man series, except there are platforms to the side. Some of these battle may be easier. Some won't. Either way, they still have the same attack patterns.

When facing the Pegasus Knight, remember that the platforms are to the sides. Stand on those and wait for him to charge. Also, it's possible to trap the goat-man in the corner if you can keep him from hitting you there.

After the mini-boss gauntlet, you'll finally meet Pride, who is in the form of a giant mechanical Wheel of Misfortune (patent pending). The lance at the bottom is what the "wheel" will land on. The clock will stop you for eight seconds. The globe shoots out lightning orbs that you'll have to destroy with your sword. The engine shoots out fireballs in eight directions, and it's possible to stand in between two of the lines of fire. The crossbow shoots out three homing shots that you'll want to both avoid and destroy with your sword. The bomb shoots a bunch of bombs nearby that you'll want to get away from immediately. To hit Pride, you'll have to hit the statue-like center.You can do it with your sword, but you can also use the energy orbs to speed this battle up. Just watch out for the time stop attack that shows up often in an otherwise easy battle.

After this rough battle (and beating all Seven Deadly Sins), Death Heim opens up in the center of the map. It's time to take on Tanzra!

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 12 of 15

Now that we know where the king is, let's give him a piece of our mind.

Stormrook

The castle is full of gold...and demons. That's not surprising.

The first enemy you'll see originally appeared in Gratis, but they show up at the start of the level in full force. The floating blue magicians will fly around in a sine wave pattern and shoot lightning bolts at you when you're both lined up. They appear a lot in the first section along with the horned demons that throw the boulders.

You'll soon meet the snake mini-boss from Benefic. He's above a bottomless pit, forcing you to make your sword slashes count, but he fights the same way.

The second section is inside the golden castle. You'll meet soldiers in gold armor that throw axes at you, and you'll see arrow-shooting traps in the wall as you make your way up. The soldiers can only be attacked when they move their shield to throw axes, making them vulnerable. If they're really becoming a nuisance, use your flamethrower spell to roast them.

The crab platforms that try to attack you also make a return appearance in the second section, too. Just before the second one, you can go up to get an extra life.

The goat-man makes his third appearance. Apparently he didn't learn after Gratis. Same strategies apply.

The third section is more linear, but also more of the same...almost. Near the end, you'll have to beat a rising floor full of spikes to the top of the tower.

The fourth section takes you back outside. This time around, you'll be using platforms that help you get further to the other side of the castle. The sandworms from the ice palace are back here.

At the end, you'll fight Greed. Greed takes the form of a gold and black dragon. Stay at the bottom when he blows you back, and use your magical orbs at him whenever he gets close. He does breathe fire in close, but the orbs will make quick work of him that it's barely an issue.

When you beat Greed, you'll find out King Kolunikus made a deal with the demon Doom to get a lot of money. Doom then poisoned his mind and turned him into a dragon, making his people unhappy as he became the living personification of greed.

When you head back to Leon, life will return to normal there. They're struggling for money, which caused all the trouble here in the first place.

You'll also find there is some unclean air to the east.

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 11 of 15

What is with all the corrupted royalty in this game?

At the south end of the map is Humbleton.

Humbleton

Due to the lack of faith within the people of Humbleton, you won't be able to figure out what they're up to. To the northwest is Leon.

Leon

Leon was not a rich country, but at least the people are good. Unfortunately, the new king raised the taxes in Leon and forced people to pay. Those who couldn't were taken to Gratis, the ironically-named underground prison. The people must be released.

Gratis

To the south of Leon is Gratis, as signified by the hole in the ground. Guess what? It's a maze!

When you enter, you'll find a sign reading "Welcome Master To Your Doom!!" Wow, the ones running the prison must really hate us.

Go through the door to the right, then drop down until you see the spike pit. Go right, then drop down the next chasm until you see the huge spider enemy. Kill the spider, then continue to drop down to the spike pit, then go right, using the cages to get over the spike pit. Enter the doorway to the right.

From here, jump over the chasm to the right, then drop all the way down the next one. Take the platform to the right and use the platforms to keep going right. (Make sure to glide!) Take the platform up, then enter the door to the right before you hit the ceiling spikes.

From here, the maze is over. Make your way up and you'll fight the goat-man mini-boss from the Lovaous. Same strategies apply. Once you beat him, you can drop down, replenish 5 HP and head through the door to the left.

Go to the right, and you'll soon see the spike-laden ceiling and floor section. Move when the spikes are not in your way. Thankfully, this isn't so hard.

The boss here is the Goblin King. He'll float around and has a few attacks. He'll dive down and try to charge at you, and he also uses an orb shield that you'll have to break with multiple hits if you want to damage him. He can also shoot a giant beam either forwards or downwards, and he'll stop before he fires it out. Smack him with your sword when he gets close enough, don't be afraid to go forward, jump up and hit him while he flies away from you, and preserve your magic if your health is low. He'll eventually go down in no time.

You'll find out that the jail was full of demons, and the king may have known about it and made a deal with them.

Head back to Leon. People are freed, but are still paying taxes. The king of the town, King Kolunikus, lives to the west in Stormrook, and people say that the sound of a dragon can be heard from there.

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 10 of 15

This is where the game gets really, really interesting. Hope you know how to glide and double jump.

Almetha

If you don't defeat Fury, you'll have another king and war just like in Justania. So get down there!

Aside from the gargoyles that you'll have to bait out one at a time, you'll have enemies that pop out of the walls that you can attack if you know where they're going to be ahead of time. You'll also have boulder-tossing one-eyed cyclops and flying skulls that move up and down as they float across the screen. There are also boulders that will drop down from the top of the screen and lava waterfalls to jump over. Use the bridges that pop up every now and then to get past the longer stretches of lava.

When you enter the second section, you'll enter a vertical section where you'll jump from one platform to another to get to the top. This is where your double jumping and gliding skills will be put to the ultimate test. Again, some platforms will pop up, just like with the longer stretches of lava in the first section. 

When you reach the top of the second section, you'll be able to go to the third section, where you'll jump from one falling rock to another.  The smaller ones will break if you stand on them long enough, and to make matters worse there will be a ton of them. Watch out for the lightning bolts that will rain down from the sky at a moment's notice.

After that harrowing platforming section, you'll finally meet Fury/Wrath. Use your diving magic to get rid of the fire shields protecting him instantly instantly, then attack him until he recreates his fire shield again. Keep attacking him when necessary to get rid of him in no time. When he holds a fireball in front of him, you'll want to double jump just before he launches it at you.

After this, go back to Justania and Favorian. Both cities will be peaceful again.

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 9 of 15

There are two towns left, and the next stop is the Death Field between Justania and Favorian.

To the west of Tortoise Isle and Devote is the desert town of Justania. It has a well-known armor, but the king has been controlled by a demon who has commanded him to attack Favorian, further to the west. Between them is the Death Field, and the king will be there. You'll have to put him in a deep sleep before he can cause more chaos.

Death Field

When you drop down, you'll see fire and ruins everywhere. You'll see men that rush at you with spears that require a downward stab, spearmen mounted on dinosaurs, fireballs that shoot flames at you, fire pits, and gargoyles that travel on both land and air and have a multitude of weapons such as spears, bows and daggers.

The really big orange spark recovers ten hit points if you need it. You probably will, since the enemies can hit you from farther distances than you can hit them, even if you don't want them to.

At the end of the first section is a series of platforms above a long fire pit. These platforms will crumble when you land on them, and you'll have to use your dive to get from one platform to another and reach the winged platform at the end that takes you to the second section.

The second section takes places on a series of airships. Take down all the enemies as you jump from ship to ship so you don't get hit as you move around. The winged platforms here will tkae you from one ship to another, but they fall after a certain point and if you're on them when that happens, bad things will happen.

You'll eventually meet the mini-boss: a Pegasus knight with a spear. Get close and wait for him to drag his front foot and charge at you, then jump up and hit him with a downward stab as it passes. Keep this going until he dies. When he's gone, dive off the last ship to enter the third section.

Here, you'll be going down a castle. Gong down the left end will really help you get somewhere. If you charge your magic and then release the button while standing still, you can shoot out a flame and hit stuff from afar in case monsters are keeping you from jumping from one platform to another. It's a bit of a maze, but when you reach the stone platforms, you'are at the end.

The boss here is the king. Use your Phoenix dive as well as your energy orbs whenever necessary, and stay away from him and his energy orbs that can bounce off the walls.

When you beat the King, the king is asleep (or dead, if that's what you want to believe) and the war between the two towns has ended. Head to Favorian, and you'll find out Almetha Volcano to the east has suddenly become active. You'll be heading there next.

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 8 of 15

In this episode, we take on the demon Envy.

Altheria

The queen that lived in this castle was conquered by the demon Jealousy (also known as Envy). Destroying the flame of her jealousy is the only way to defeat the demon.

Once again, you're underwater. As you head right, you'll see a head floating around in the background. It does nothing, thankfully.

All of the enemies from Tortoise Island show up here, and there aren't any new ones to speak of. Make it a priority to save your magic, since you'll need it when facing Envy.

To clear the long spike pit at the beginning of the third section, be sure to hit your head on the ceiling as you glide to the other side.

You'll eventually fight the huge head you saw at the beginning of the level. This is Envy. Just keep whacking the head back whenever it gets near, and you'll eventually take on the real boss fight.

Instead of Envy's head, you have to attack the flame of jealousy in the middle of the huge statue in the room. Hit the ghost heads that surround Envy with the downward stab, then use the Energy Orb magic to attack the flame. The flame will go down after a few successful casts.

When you beat Envy/Jealousy, the land around the temple returns...and so does the nearby town of Devote! Turns out the queen grew suspicious of her lover, and felt the land she ruled upon was too small. Her jealousy soon consumed everything, including herself.

There are now two places left to go...

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 7 of 15

Envy is next on FreezingInferno's hit list, and the first half of this is an easy yet interesting level.

To the west of Industen is a diamond shaped island surrounded by water. This is Tortoise Isle. Head down here if you want to take on Envy.

Tortoise Isle

The town of Devote was here, but it's underwater as the turtle-shaped island has submerged. You'll have to head down there and see what's going on.

When you go down there, you'll find out the whole town is submerged and all the people have been turned to stone as they screamed in agony. Strangely, the underwater setting does not affect your mobility in any way.

The fish men will run away when you strike them and chase after you when you turn your back. Use this to your advantage to hit them again and get rid of them for good. The big fish take multiple hits and do nothing but charge at you. The blue ones just move forward while the pink ones stop and shoot out three fireballs before moving again. The sharks will dive at you when they're close enough, but when they do that is a bit random. The pink shell enemies, on the other hand, are the worst. They take one hit, but they explode and create an eight-way projectile attack immediately upon being destroyed. Be prepared to block it with your shield. Then there are the seahorses, which shoot projectiles as they stop to change direction as they move up and down.

You'll eventually walk on a long, fish-like backbone. When you see the large discs with the orange jewel in them, stop and duck down, then attack the orange jewel so the spikes in them will stop popping in and out. There is a lower path where you can find some useful power-ups, especially some health replenishments.

When the spinal column turns flesh pink, the think you've been walking on all this time awakens. Go all the way to the right and attack the orb in this thing's body with downward thrusts and the Phoenix magic. To use the Phoenix magic, hold the Y button to charge your magic, then perform a diving attack and release Y in the middle of the attack. You'll dive down like a fiery comet, doing more damage than usual. You'll want to finish this thing off as quickly as possible while avoiding the tentacle-like appendage that protects that orb, as the orb itself will fire shots that will home in on you and turn you into stone for a brief amount of time - enough time to deal some damage. Thankfully, this is one of the easier bosses.

Oh, and don't touch the spiked part of its body past the orb. It's instant death.

When you beat the boss here, you'll raise the island back from the see and save all the people. To the east of this area is Altheria, a temple in the middle of the water. Something is happening there...

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 6 of 15

It's time to fight Gluttony and bring nourishment back to the people of Temponia.

Demon's Cave

To the east of Temponia there is a cave where you'll take on Gluttony himself.

It's not just a cave, it's a giant ant colony full of giant ants. You'll have to use low strikes and downward stabs to attack both the ants that move back and forth on the floors as well as and the some of the larvae. You'll have to jump to hit the ants moving back and forth on the ceilings. Some of the larvae will fly...and so will the winged ants, which are pretty quick.

The eggs take two hits to destroy and give you a slight point bonus.

Use either the range of your sword or your magic to get past the spiders.

The downward stabs will damage all the ants in one hints.

The caterpillars can only be attacked when they uncurl and lunge at you. They also shoot fireballs at you, too.

At the end is Gluttony, who was taken the form of a queen ant. If you hold Down on the Control Pad and release the button after your magic attack is charged, you'll use a force field spell that will do damage to Gluttony whenever he is nearby. This will do a ton of damage and will take him out in no time, larva army and all.

When you take down Gluttony, Temponia will be free and life will be normal there again, even though the people of the town are a little wiser for the wear. But there's something going down northwest of here...

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 5 of 15

In this short video, FreezingInferno heads south and east to take on Gluttony's forces.

South of Diligience is the town of Temponia.

Temponia

Temponia was once known for its abundance of food, but now the demon Gluttony has devoured everything. People are now starving and fighting one another for anything that's left.

Meanwhile, in the nearby desert of Modero, Cules has been attacking travelers.

Modero

Modero is to the east, and the people there have been turned into demons that are now part of Cules. There are also a lot of cliffs here.

When you start this area, you'll find out it's a literal graveyard. The eye monsters take one hit to weaken, but it's where you hit them that counts. Hitting them in the face will cause their legs to come at you. The legs will explode if they either follow you for long enough or if you strike them. If you strike the legs with a low attack, their upper bodies will leap at you with the use of their arms.

The spike pits are actually hungry demons that chomp their teeth repeatedly.

The giant birds will block your path. There is also a vulture that acts as a mid-boss, but you can easily defeat it with the orbs as long as you duck down when it dives.

The pit afterwards leads to the second section. You'll take an elevator ride where you can stab the mouths that spit fireballs at you. Watch out for the spikes that block your path as well as any other enemies that pop up such as the flying skulls.

The boss is a giant eye monster. Use the platforms to get close to this guy and attack him. Take out the eye monsters he summons, as well as the eyes that he creates. Use the energy orb magic to hit this guy from a distance and do a lot of damage, making this battle a lot easier.

When you clear Modero, the dead can now rest in piece and Temponia begins to flourish again. Your work here is not yet done, though. There is now an army of large ants taking all of the food and attacking the city now, and people are rioting. You'll have to stop the ants to save the town.

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 4 of 15

Time to take down Lust once and for all!

Palace

You'll have to go into the Palace and into the king's mind in order to fight Lust/Deception.

Enemies here include ghosts that leap forward at you and follow you, balls of light that try to track where you are, floating skulls that fly around in wide sine wave patterns, giant ghosts that punch at you and take multiple hits to kill.

The first section is straightforward and has a lot of enemies, but the second one has a whole bunch of platforms and spans infinitely in all directions. You have to look for a doorway, indicated by a tall rectangle with a black and blue-ish hue.

You'll face a mini-boss which happens to be a purple version of the big ghosts from the first section. He just tries to punch you and send out purple versions of the tiny ghosts that leap forward and follow you. He takes even more hits, but if you use the energy orbs at the beginning, he goes down in no time.

You'll then be able to enter the third section, where you ride on a platform of clouds and use the Control Pad to move through this strange cavern. The picture throbs back and forth and the whole area rotates constantly, rotating your controls around with it, making this harder than you would expect. The door to the boss is a long rectangle with a reddish-black hue.

You'll face Deception/Lust in the next area. Lust will teleport himself - and you - around. Avoid the spikes as you look for him, and use your energy orbs to do the most damage on him. Your dive attack also works. When you finally defeat Deception, you'll save the king.

Beating Lust will free the king's mind from a very dark force, and when you visit Lovaous, the people will learn the truth about Deception/Lust. There is another town to the southeast that you can save.

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 3 of 15

From here on out, you can play the levels in any order you want.

Of course, FreezingInferno's fan vote decrees he plays the ice level immediately. Well, we might as well get it out of the way...

On the west coast, there is an icy area. There is a town called Lovaous. Head over there.

Lovaous

It turns out that the land was turned to ice after a demon defeated the king here, and since then, the king has lied sleeping until he can be woken up somehow.

Just northwest of Lovaous is the Palace. Head down there to fight off some demons.

Palace

You'll find out that the place is frozen. This is definitely going to be an ice level, so you'll have to be careful here.

Even though this place is pretty, there is quite a bit of danger, such as the ice worms that will pop up from the bottom of the screen. Hit then with ducking slashes to hit them. As for the flying green demon faces, stay away from the mace and strike it until it goes away, then go for the demon itself.

The demons that bounce back and forth are golems, who will stop to uncurl themselves. Use this as an opportunity to attack them. Check out the spaces to the sides to find HP and MP if you need them. The ghosts will move towards you in a sine wave pattern.

The crabs on the spikes act as platforms, but they'll stop and attack you with their claws every so often. Attack them with your downward stab to de-claw them.

Every now and then, there are ice platforms that appear and disappear. You have only a short amount of time to use them to get to where you need to go before they disappear.

There are a lot of power-ups in the second section. Most of them will be of the HP and MP-restoring variety.

The mid-boss here is a goat-man with wings who attacks you with a sword and shield. He flies around and tries to drop onto you, and he can even shoot fireballs at you. It is possible to trap him in a corner and wail on him until he dies.

The third section is short, but there are a lot of ice platforms and ice worms. Patience will win the day here, as well as skillful use of gliding and diving.

The boss here is an ice queen. Attack her when she gets close, then stay away from her as she turns into an ice crystal and separates into pieces that fly around and try to fly into you. The best attacks to use are the Phoenix magic as well as the energy balls that you used against Fatigue in Industen. To use the Phoenix magic, charge up your magic, then perform a dive and release Y when you see the Phoenix in the box in the top center. As for the energy balls, lure her over to the lower-right corner of the room and shoot them at her when she gets close. You may have to do some ice crystal dodging, but not as much as you would have if you used your regular attack alone.

When you conquer the Palace, you'll melt the ice...but the king is still sleeping. It turns out the demon Lust has entered the mind of the king, causing him to enter an eternal sleep. Strangely, Lust is known as Deception in the Western version of the game. Thanks for the unnecessary censorship, Nintendo.

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 2 of 15

There's still trouble in the town of Diligence. One of the Seven Deadly Sins must be stopped!

Benefic

When you head to Benefic, you'll find out that you need to defeat the demons there in order to cleanse the water there.

New enemies include worm-like creatures with spikes on their heads that spit fireballs, bats that home in on your position and fish monsters that will leap at you when you're close enough.

Be very careful treading the waterfalls, as they will push you backwards and into nearby spikes if you don't force your way forwards.

The blue spiked creature that moves back and forth will spit projectiles upwards. Hold Up on the Control Pad to block these projectiles with your shield.

The gargoyles will ascend a little bit before they quickly divebomb you. Be ready to strike them with an upward slash.

The mini-boss here is a snake. Jump over the fireballs and hit them with the diving attack to do more damage in less time.

The short second section has a bunch of fish monsters sliding down the waterfall. If you jump to the platforms halfway through and float to the left, you'll be able to refill health if you take to much death.

The boss here is a giant snail, based on the deadly sin of sloth. All of the major bosses are based on the Seven Deadly Sins, due to the influences of Paradise Lost and The Divine Comedy. Hold up to block the boulders that drop from the ceiling, then get up close to Sloth and hit it with the orb attack that you used against Fatigue. Sloth will go down in three hits.

When you beat Sloth in Benefic, Diligence will return to its former glory, but you'll hear a sad voice calling from the West Sea. This is your clue for where you want to go next, though at this point in the game you can take on any of the areas in any order that you want.

FreezingInferno plays ActRaiser 2 - Part 1 of 15

Ah, the sequel. The black sheep of the two ActRaiser games. Prepare for a bumpy ride.

The game begins with The Master, now with wings and a shield, watching over everyone from the heavens. Suddenly, Tanzra, the final boss from the previous game, shows up and attacks. The Master has a shield and a pair of wings now, and he has a couple of new moves to ward off Tanzra's offense, taking him down. But this is the icing on the cake: Tanzra's forces have struck again, forming a legion and ressurecting him. Now the legion of 13 deadly demons have been sent by Tanzra to terrorize the world.

"Again" may be a bit of a stretch, according to Wikipedia:

The storyline relation of ActRaiser 2 is not explicitly revealed; however, many plot details suggest that ActRaiser 2 may actually be a prequel to the original ActRaiser, or take place in another universe entirely. Otherwise, the given story draws concepts from the famous religious epics Paradise Lost and the Divine Comedy.

Unlike the original game, which alternately combined platform game sequences and god game sequences, ActRaiser 2 is only a platform game. It is believed that this game was made by request from Enix of America to Quintet, and that they also requested that the simulation segments be removed because players would not "get" them.

Yeah, the Sim Mode from the first game was totally as complex as Advanced Calculus. Thanks, Enix. Assholes.

The World

Once you start the game, you'll be introduced to the story. Tanzra's been resurrected by his minions, and now these minions are unleashed upon the world.

Just like last time, you have an angel that acts as an assistant, who will tell you what's going on in whatever location you're in.

You'll start out above the town of Diligence. Select it and you'll see what's going on over there.

Diligence

The town of Diligence was once a source of pride. The forest was beautiful, the air pure. But one day the people not only lost the desire to work but also to live. To find out why, you'll have to head to the town of Industen.

Industen is in the circle in the middle of the huge forest to the west. Go up to it, then select it when you see the name Industen. When you head there, you'll see that a strange cloud appears, drops rain, then disappears. But why? We'll have to head down there to find out.

Industen

You'll be in a huge forest complete with larger-than-life-size mushrooms when you enter this place.

You can now strike upwards by holding Up on the Control Pad and pressing Y to swing the sword. Sadly, crouching and swinging does not seem to give you a slightly longer range like in the last game.

You can also do some stuff in the air, too. You can double jump. To do that, press B twice.

When you double jump, you can also slow your descent on the second jump to make platforms a bit easier. Just hold Up and press B when you perform the second jump, then hold B down and move left or right. While you're gliding, you can dive downwards, slashing through enemies on the way down. To do that, Hold Down while gliding and you'll perform the dive. Press Y as you're diving and you'll be able to attack enemies on the way down. You can stop, of course, but you'll skid a little bit when you land, so be careful.

If you hold Down on the Control Pad and press Y while in mid-air, you can perform a downward stab like in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

You have a shield this time around, and assuming you're facing the projectiles and said projectiles hit the shield, you'll be protected from them. To do that, just stand still. You can block low just by crouching. Holding Up on the Control Pad will allow to block things dropping from above.

The enemies here are pretty easy: there are worms that come out of holes in the ground that can be stabbed with a crouching strike. Wasps will fly towards you, and flea-like men will walk back and forth, providing the perfect sword fodder.

The small columns that look like a home stereo speaker work like the statues that gave you power-ups in the first game. The first one that you'll come across contains a small orange sphere that flies around in a circle. If you pick it up, you'll get two hit points back. There are other sparkles, such as a small blue one that gives you one HP and a big orange one that gives you five.

You start out with twenty hit points and three magic points in this game, assuming your playing on Normal. (Easy starts you with five MP and five lives, and Hard starts you with two of each and gives you less time to beat the stages.) You also start with three lives. Just like the last game, you don't have all the time in the world, either. The timer at the top center of the screen shows how much time you have left.

Not long after that HP pick-up, you'll face the first boss: some sort of Venus Flytrap-like monster. Jump over it when it charges, and when it shoots a three-way shot, duck down to block the low projectile and duck the other two.

To attack it, you can either perform the diving attack after double jumping over it when it charges, or you can jump over it and stab it as it shoots fireballs. It quickly rears back before spitting fireballs, so you can easily block the shots with your shield by pressing Up on the Control Pad.

The boss is easy, but the stage isn't: even if you beat the mid-boss here, you will be sent back to the beginning of the level if and when you die. This is where the game becomes discouraging: the game does not give you checkpoints, it removes the Sim mode that helped make the first game so awesome in the first place, and it's much harder than the first ActRaiser overall.

After the mini-boss, you'll be jumping on mushroom platforms that move back and forth to cross the muddy water here, which is crawling with frogs that will leap out and try to headbutt you. If you get sent into the water here, it will hurt you quite a bit.

To get to the entrance leading into the tree, you'll have to dive down towards it. Once you land on it, any frogs that may be following you (and there will be) will be destroyed. From there, you'll have to jump your way up the tree, fighting off archers. Block their arrows with your shield and strike them three times. The first statue you see here will give you an extra magic point, but more than likely, you'll be getting more practice with your upward stab and seeing how it works. Even the tip of the sword can do damage, so utilize that range on your way.

When you reach the top, you'll face the boss: some skeletons with scythes on a cloud. This is the demon Fatigue. Fatigue will throw scythes at you, and will also command his cloud to expand and blow wind at you. You definitely don't want to touch either of them or the scythes that Fatigue throws at you.

To block the wind currents that the cloud shoots out, face away from the boss and duck down. You'll block the low shots and duck the rest.

The best way to beat the boss is with your magic: hold Y to charge up your magic. The Master will glow red, and the timer will be replaced with a symbol. That symbol will be different depending on what you're doing. Your best weapon for fighting Fatigue is with the orb, which you can use while holding Up on the Control Pad and the Y button simultaneously. Just hold Up to look up, charge it up with Y, then keep holding Up and release Y to chuck three orbs upwards and forwards. You will use one magic point for every time you use the orbs, so be careful and time your orb throws carefully so that they hit them when Fatigue is right in front of you. Fatigue's energy, which is underneath the high score, will quickly be drained and he will go down in no time.

When you beat Fatigue, you'll find out that the rainfall, which was released by the cloud that Fatigue rode on, brought on the corruption of Diligence and drained the nature of the people. Diligence is back to normal, and if you go back to Diligence, you'll find that the people there are hard at work. However, your assistant is concerned about the upper part of the river that runs near town. Your work in Diligence isn't quite over yet, for at the very north end of the river is another area, Benefic, which seems to be just as ironic as the name "Industen."

If you select any place on the map that isn't a town, you'll get another assistant that will give you a password. Get one as soon as you beat a stage and copy the password down so that you can assure your progress is saved.