PrinceWatercress plays Power Blade II - Part 3 of 6

Stage 3 has one of the toughest bosses in the game.

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Stage 3

In Area 1, the purple cyborgs keep moving as long as you keep attacking. Keep that in mind if you're going to pelt them with boomerangs as you ride the platform up to the top.

Area 2 is a vertical section where you're dropping down, but at least you can take your time here since you don't have the ceiling coming down on you. 

In Area 3, be ready to slide down narrow passages with Down and A. The double doors appear again, and the dragon fight is the same as Stage 2; the only difference is that the room isn't full of water and you have two conveyor belts that move you towards the center of the screen making up the floor. Beating this dragon will net you the Rocket Suit, which allows you to fly around. You're going to need this very soon.

In Area 4, you'll need to use the Rocket Suit. When you equip it by moving the portrait to the "R" picture while the game is paused, you'll be able to fly around in eight directions. Press and hold A to start flying, then use the D-Pad to move around in mid-air. Releasing A lets you slowly float downwards. You can fly in eight directions. While in this area, keep away from the giant fans, as it is instant death if you run into them.

Area 5 has you using the Rocket suit again, but it is a lot more straightforward.

In Area 6, strike with powerful attacks to take out the jetpack robot and its homing missiles..

For the boss battle, equip the Newt Suit and fire powerful attacks at him. You'll want to give yourself some distance and you'll also want to keep him on one side of the room as much as possible by getting him to move around in such a way that he keep running at you after you jump over him so he wall jumps and runs back at you. At the same time, you'll want to get away if he gets too close. This guy can run and jump around, climb across the ceiling and drop down at you, and also throw shurikens. You may have to use an energy tank against this guy. There will also be two sparks running along the length of the room, and you'll want to jump over those when they come your way. 

PrinceWatercress plays Power Blade II - Part 2 of 6

Our adventure continues in Stage 2, where things get a little more dicey.

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Stage 2

In Area 1, you'll want to duck down under the few gaps in the floor so you don't get killed by the spikes that move up and down. Duck down at the conveyor belts if you need to, but make sure you use your slide to get some room to stay on the conveyor belts as the ceiling rises back up.

In Area 2, you're dealing with a ceiling that continuously moves down and has more spikes. Hold forward while sliding so you can get past the balls, and remember that you can throw diagonally downwards while crouching to get rid of the enemy near the end. Make sure not to go too far down, as it is possible to fall past the bottom and lose a life.

In Area 3, you'll encounter water for the first time. You'll move very slowly in it, but you'll also jump higher in it, too. Watch out for the sparks as you grab the spare battery.

In Area 4, you'll be completely in water. Behind the double doors, the brown dragon boss bounces when it rolls into a ball; slide under it as it bounces to avoid it. Beating this battle will net you the Wet Suit. Pause and use the D-Pad to switch to the "W" portrait, then unpause to use the Wet Suit. The Wet Suit lets you swim properly and in eight directions using just the Control Pad, and you can also attack left or right as you swim.

In Area 5, you can use the Wet Suit to get an energy tank.

In Area 6, leap off the platform on the track and get to safter ground as the fire rises, then ride the platform again when the fire descends.

Area 7 is much like Area 2. Hit the bouncing orb enemies when they stop bouncing to fire at you, and ready to break blocks on the ground to make your way further down. Again, make sure not to fall too far down so you don't lose a life.

In Area 8, the gunk at the bottom will act like quicksand. If you get caught in it, keep jumping forward to keep from sinking in. You'll eventually reach dry land and the boss. There will be tiny robots falling out of pipes in the ceiling; you'll have to deal with them if you call into the drink. 

You'll need the Wet Suit to beat this boss. Equip it immediately, and stay in the water and attack upwards to hit the boss. You'll want to be aggressive with the boss here when necessary. Shoot down any missiles that the boss sends your way, and take out the fish that show up as the water in the room rises. Take care not to move into the gap in the center of the floor. If you can stay on the surface of the water, keep the water clear of threats, and continue to pummel the boss, you'll clear this stage in no time.

PrinceWatercress plays Power Blade II - Part 1 of 6

It's been a good while since I played Power Blade, so let's play the second game...which isn't as well-remembered, unfortunately.

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It is December 24, 2200. The Delta Foundation has just finished development of a cyborg unit that represents the next generation of fighting robots. They would like to sell it to the Department of Defense, and mention that the cyborg would be a threat to the security of the nation if sold to a foreign country before giving the government a week to respond.

The government considered this matter very seriously and assigned a top secret mission to SP Headquarters. Nova, who saved the New Earth colony by restoring the Master Computer in 2191, is secretly called upon by the Department of Defense to destroy the Delta Foundation. Should something happen to Nova, his superiors cannot get involved.

When you start the game, you'll be able to play the first four stages in any order. Beating all four of these stages will unlock the fifth one. Left and Right on the D-Pad allows you to pick between the stages, while Start makes your selection.

Stage 1

Unlike the stages in the first game, the stages here are a lot more linear, a lot more Mega Man-like and much less open. Go through one stage, and you'll figure out why this game isn't as well remembered as the game that precedes it: the level design is by-the-numbers compared to the first game. While it's not completely a bad thing, it does leave a bit to be desired.

At the bottom of the screen, you'll have your HUD. The power of your weapon is at the very top, and picking up stars will increase the power of your attacks. Below all that is the amount of time you have left to play through the level before you lose a life from running out time. Below that is your current amount of health ("Player"), the current amount of energy for your suits ("Energy," which will be explained in due time), the current stage you are in, and the current area of the stage you are in. The last area of a stage will always be the last one before a boss. To the right of all that is a portrait of Nova (which will be useful later), the amount of life canisters that you have, the amount of energy batteries that you have, and the amount of lives that you have.

Left and Right on the D-Pad allows you to move left and right. Down allows you to crouch, as well as attack downwards in mid-air. A jumps, while B throws boomerangs, just like in the first game. You can throw diagonally downwards while on the ground, but you can only throw straight downwards in mid-air, where you can attack in eight directions. You can use Up on the D-Pad in conjunction with B to throw your boomerangs upwards, and you can also attack diagonally upwards, regardless of whether you are in the air or on the ground. Down and A allows you to slide much like in the Mega Man games.

A good amount of the enemies that you'll fight through the game make return appearances from the first game, and if you've played the first game for a decent amount of time, you'll be able to recognize them as well as their attack patterns.

Stars will increase the power of your attacks. Once you get your power to full strength, it won't take as many strikes to defeat enemies. The double boomerang gives you another boomerang to throw, up to a maximum of three. The single red boomerang powers up the base power of your attack.

The hamburger will replenish a few units of your health. The white and pink battery will add energy to your energy meter. The light blue cylinder acts like a Mega Man-style energy can that refills all your health whenever you press Select, assuming you have one in your inventory.

The spinning drills, whether they are on the walls, ceilings or floor, will instantly kill you if you jump into them. Also, you'll be seeing conveyor belts on the floors along with these drills as early as Area 3. Thankfully, it is easy to tell where they will take you by looking at them. Just watch out for the ceiling turrets. When you get to what looks like a maroon-colored Lego, hold Left while on the platform to grab this. This battery replenishes your energy when it empties out, but again, this will be explained when the time comes.

Enemy generating doors can be destroyed by throwing boomerangs at them until they explode, believe it or not.

The grey doors that spit out the small bugs that jump around in Area 4 can be destroyed by your boomerangs. Also, there are blocks that you'll need to break to make progress.

In Area 5, the platforms on the tracks will only move when you're on them. They will stop when you leap off. If you need to, duck under stationary platforms to keep the platform going.

In the middle of Area 5 is a set of double doors. To enter them, stand in front of them and press Up on the D-Pad to open the door and enter the room. Here, you'll fight a mechanical dragon. You'll need to throw boomerangs at it and keep your power high as you do so, jump over the fireballs it spits out, and jump over the dragon itself when it rolls it into a ball to avoid getting rolled into. When you defeat this dragon, you'll get the Newt Suit. The Newt Suit is the power suit from the first game; it allows you to throw energy blasts that travel all the way to the end of the screen that are more powerful than your standard boomerang. 

To switch between your standard form and the Newt Suit, press Up and Down on the D-Pad while paused. This will change the portrait of Nova on the HUD. The Newt Suit is dictated by the portrait of Nova in armor with the "N" in the upper-right corner. While using this or any other suit, the energy on your Energy meter will go down. While you can pick up small batteries to replenish your energy on the spot, more often than not, the maroon-colored batteries will refill your energy automatically, assuming you have at least one in your inventory. If you run out of energy without a replacement battery, you'll go back to your standard suitless form.

In Area 6, watch out for the electric sparks that travel across the wires in the background. At the top where the spikes are; jump to the left so you're on the left wall, then slide to the right to get over the gap and avoid the ceiling spikes. Take care not to get crushed between the moving floor and the ceiling, as that is an automatic loss of a life. Watch out for blocks to break to find a way to the top.

If you lose a life, you will lose a little bit of your power as well as one of your boomerangs and your red boomerang power-up, but it is easy to get back to maximum.

To destroy the purple disc-throwing cyborg in Area 7, you'll need to duck down and throw some maximum strength shots at it. This will allow you to attack while avoiding the discs being thrown at you.

To beat the boss here, switch to the Newt Suit and stay close to the boss while attacking it repeatedly, but not too close. Duck when you are close to the boss while on the ground to avoid the projectiles and the jump over the center, and watch where the projectiles go when the boss is on the platforms in the corners, as that is when the projectiles will create flame pillars that stick around for a few seconds after they hit the floor. 

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 Dragon Fighter - Part 6 of 6

...and now, the epic conclusion!

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Stage 6

Regardless of which power-up you have, you'll be gray in the end, and you'll be in dragon form the whole time. For this stage, you're in horizontal shmup mode, and you'll be firing projectile straight forward to the right side of the screen.

The bat enemies are simple enough, but the cyan-colored spheres turn into caped men who will fire four diagonal shots. You won't have to wait for them to unroll themselves to attack them; you can still shoot them even when they are in ball form.

You want to keep as few enemies on-screen as possible at all times. The more enemies you have on-screen, the more you're going to have to dodge and the more you're going to be overwhelmed. Also, you'll want to keep an eye on your health at all times and ensure that you take as little damage as possible, as you won't be able to recover health and you'll need as much as you can get for the boss battle at the end.

The brown enemies carried by the hawks will fire lasers at you. They're pretty thin and pretty fast, so position yourself just a bit lower so you can avoid the lasers and still hit them. If they get too close, go around them, as they can't turn around to fly at you or fire at you.

The brown flying enemies will track you vertically, but that is all they can do. If they get too close, just get away from them and let them over/under you.

The bats show up in greater numbers near the end. Take out as many as you can, then stay on the move to avoid the rest.

The boss is Zabbaong himself, and he will have multiple phases. The first weak spot to shoot down is the hand. Watch out for the ring projectiles that come out of Zabbaong, and stay far back enough so you don't get hit by the hand's own projectiles.

When the hand is destroyed, you'll need to shoot down the face when the small green hand is not blocking it. You'll need to avoid the small lasers that fire out of the face as you fire at it in addition to the rings that will keep flying at you, so you'll need to keep moving up and down to avoid the lasers and the rings before firing at the face again.

When the face is destroyed, you'll expose the skull. At this point, the boss will no longer move up and down; instead, it will slowly move towards you while firing multiple small lasers at once, but at least the rings will be gone. You'll need to fly around the boss while avoiding the lasers, and getting the boss to move in such a way that you can't accidentally run into it as you fly around in a circle (square?) around the screen. You'll have to deal with five lasers at once, but if you take too long, it becomes a ten-way shot that becomes harded to avoid.

Once you do enough damage to the skull, Zabbaong will be defeated. You just beat Dragon Fighter!

PrinceWatercress plays Dragon Fighter - Part 5 of 6

I spend more time in this stage than any other, but it's worth it.

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Stage 5

The skeletons popping out of the ground will be your biggest nuisance in this stage, and you'll want to make sure they don't pop up from under you. While they are easy to destroy, they can get annoying.

That is left to the skeletal hands, feet and other parts that you'll see throughout the stage. You'll want to take them out from a distance, especially when you can jump over or run under the stomping feet as they bounce around and the hands will stay back and fire towards you in one of eight directions. Some of the early ones will be more open hands that shoot fireballs every so often, but the later ones will stay in the air and fire in one of eight directions, and you'll have to attack them in some sort of off-center way to get rid of them.

Because of the skeleton part enemies that are scattered across the stage, you'll want to carefully inch forward as you play through this stage. If you see a part of a skeleton, stop what you're doing and fight it before moving forward, as you don't want to get surrounded here.

The flying skulls will fly back and forth along the top of the stage and drop down to spit a fireball at you. Charge attacks will work wonders on these flying monstrosities. Stay on the move to avoid the fireballs, which will stop following you completely after a full loop-around in the air.

If you see a pair of skeleton feet, take out the one on the right first. The one on the right will bounce high while the left one will bounce low, and you can easily jump over the left one.

The boss is a culimination of the skeleton parts that you've been facing with a heart in the center. The boss' heart is the weak point, and it can be really easy to decimate with the dragon if you have the homing shot and know where yo position yourself. The feet will move the boss around while the feet will launch themselves at you. If you go back to human form, be ready to throw charge attacks at the heart while avoiding the feet and the hands. 

There is one more wizard's staff to collect after this, but it will only heal you and will not give you more health. The next stage is the final one...

PrinceWatercress plays Dragon Fighter - Part 4 of 6

Things get a little more interesting - and a little more difficult - as we enter a more mechanical world halfway through the game.

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Stage 4

The tiny robots with the steam coming out of them jump up and down while moving back and forth, and spit out the occasional projectile. Attack it from a distance with charge shots.

You may not get enough energy to fill up the Dragon Meter on this stage, but on the other hand, you might. It depends on how much you luck out and get a dragon head, which will give you extra energy on that meter. I usually don't.

The flying green enemies will spit out spinning projectiles that travel across the ground towards you. Be ready to jump over those things, and hit the flying enemies with charge shots.

The guys riding the spike columns back and forth are vulnerable from behind. Hit them with charge attacks, especially the homing fireball, as it will be your best bet. You'll have to run away from one of them shortly after the start of the stage.

Watch for the blade on the chains that move up and down from the ceiling. You'll need to move past them while they are up to avoid getting him by them.

The platforms above the light blue fires will do one of two things. Sometimes they are stationary and will slowly sink downwards under your weight, causing you to jump on them constantly. Other times, they will move around. Whatever happens, avoid falling into the fire below, and take out enemies with charge attacks.

The "pots" move between the ceiling and the floor and will shoot out five-way shots in-between.

The boss is a mechanical robot of sorts that sends four eyelets after you. The eyelets fly around in 45-degree curves, and you'll need to hit them with charge attacks and sword strikes until they fall to the floor while avoiding any contact damage. They can still damage you even they are down, so you shouldn't touch them after they go down. When you destroy all four, the robot in the center will attract all the eyes to the center, and you'll need to avoid those before attacking the robot while its green eyes is open. When it raises back up with the eyes, the eyes will come back along with the boss, and you'll have to repeat everything you just did to damage the boss again.

If you have enough Dragon Meter energy, you can do damage to the eyes and even do a lot of damage to the robot itself just by getting close enough to the latter. It may not be much, but at least that's one cycle where you won't be taking a lot of damage. Otherwise, be ready to shoot charge attacks and move around a lot.

When you beat the boss, you'll get another wizard's staff and more health, then it's on to Stage 5.

PrinceWatercress plays Dragon Fighter - Part 3 of 6

This is where the game gets just a little bit tougher.

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Stage 3

The pink flying enemies will show up from the sides every so often and will always try to fly into you.

The pink fish will move back and forth, and they will jump up and spit projectiles when you get close enough to them.

There are plenty of floors with waterfalls above them, and these waterfalls will act as conveyor belts that will push you in the direction of the water. Keep that in mind as you move forward through the level.

The pink bouncy enemies will bounce less and less the more you hit them. They go super high at first, but they will soon stay very low to the ground just before death.

At this rate, you'll start seeing the big health pots. The small ones recover two units of health, but the big ones give back eight, so grab one if you see it.

The bubbles that rise up from the bottom of the screen are part of the background; they won't actually hurt you.

The yellow orb enemies will open up and shoot rings around itself when you get close enough. Get rid of the enemy, and you'll get rid of the rings.

The merman soldiers will poke at you with a trident if they get close enough to do it. If they get stuck behind a wall, they will push themselves back with their tridents, then jump forward to clear the wall.

Sometimes enemies will drop a magic ring. The magic ring instantly destroys all on-screen enemies.

The yellow bouncy enemies will turn into a different enemy altogether that sticks to the ceiling and fire at you if you get close enough to them. Hit them from a distance with the charge attack to avoid that. When you start seeing them, watch the top and bottom of the screen for the yellow orb enemies.

The boss is a serpent enemy. Switch to dragon form, and get close to the left side of the center head and fire at it when it stops moving. The ring projectiles from the other snake heads are easy enough to avoid, but the multiple three-way shots after the center head moves back up can be a bit tricky, as the shots home in your current position when fired. Thankfully, it is a lot easier to defeat this boss in dragon form.

PrinceWatercress plays Dragon Fighter - Part 2 of 6

The second stage introduces us to the three projectile power-ups as we take on a whole new set of enemies.

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Stage 2

The green bugs will constantly spawn in from underground, but at least they will increase your Dragon Meter. You'll also have blue flying bugs that will fly in towards you. They can fly through the floor and they will definitely come at your current position when they show up.

The sky blue millipedes lower down when you strike at them, and you'll want to him them enough times so that you can jump over them and move on.

The spiders move up and down and fire off a three-way shot, but you can destroy it if you know where it's going to go.

The green enemies that crawl back and forth can shoot upwards, and you'll need to crouch in order to hit them.

There are blue pick-ups that will have either a G, and B, or an R on it. The G will give you the green attack with the basic projectile that you start the game with. The R, on the other hand, turns you red and will give you a couple of fireballs that bounce on the ground near you but can do intense damage to any enemies if it connects. B is the best, as it turns you blue but gives you a homing projectile. Not surprisingly, I get the B power-up and stick with it for the rest of the game. Also, these power-ups also effect your attacks as a dragon, and the homing projectiles from the blue power-up was useful for bosses.

The light blue ball enemies stop at walls, floors and ceilings and will always travel clockwise in the cardinal directions as they do. The blue spiked enemies leap up and shoot a three-way shot downwards. 

The boss here is a centipede. The centipede will fly around and occasionally go in and out of the ground, and you'll want to hit it in the head in dragon form as much as possible before you have to rely on your human form's charge attacks. Hitting the centipede with the blue attack as a dragon is a little difficult due to how the projectiles fly around, but if you can position yourself in such a way that the projectiles travel towards the head more easily, you'll be able to get more shots in.

PrinceWatercress plays Dragon Fighter - Part 1 of 6

I've seen this game a couple of times, and now I've gotten the chance to play through it myself. Looks like a game that would feature on Nick Arcade, although it actually didn't.

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Eons before, when the elders were still children, the fabled land of Baljing was home to a cheerful and trusting race. The Baljing people were generous and looked after each other throughout their lives. Everyone prospered, and hunger and homelessness were unknown. The great Dragon Spirit that protected and nurtured this land was so pleased with this enlightened attitude that it presented them with a splendid dragon statue for their town square. The word of the wondrous statue, and rumors of its magical properties, spread to other kingdoms, and its fame soon established it as the very symbol of Baljing.

Now to the north of Baljing, high atop Mount Gia, there lived an envious and malicious warlock named Zabbaong. And it came to pass that Zabbaong was jealous of the thriving community, since he governed only the monsters and worthless wretches who inhabited Mount Gia and its surrounding area. Nothing but evil reigned in Zabbaong's domain.

Spurred on by his jealous hatred and malevolent passion, Zabbaong and his monstrous armies attacked Baljing and set the city ablaze. Many lives were lost and the land was left in ruin. All hope was gone, and despair settled upon the inhabitants of Baljing. Enraged by Zabbaong's attack, the Dragon Spirit filled the skies with dark and foreboding storm clouds.

Through the thick, black clouds, the Dragon Spirit sent a gigantic lightning bolt to strike the legendary statue in the town square. Wondrously, the statue was transformed into a great warrior who began to strike back at Zabbaong's murderous hordes. In response, the warlock's armies retreated fearfully back to Mt. Gia with the warrior in hot pursuit, determined to vanquish all its evil forces. YOU are that valiant warrior, and your mission is to defeat Zabbaong's sinister crew, stop his reign of terror, and return Baljing to the protection of the great Dragon Spirit.

Stage 1

Left and Right moves left and right, Down ducks, A jumps and B attacks. If you hold B, you'll be able to charge up a fireball that you can then toss at enemies, but you'll have to hold the button down for a few seconds before you can let the fireball loose.

There are two gauges in the upper-left corner. The top one is your health, and it's pretty small (for now). The bottom one is your Dragon Energy. You'll need to find blue jars to fill up your health whenever you get hit. As for the Dragon Energy, you'll fill it up as you defeat enemies. 

There are two enemies prevalent in this stage. There are the green beasts that will run around, jump around and throw the occasional snowball at you. Sometimes they will take one hit, while other times, they will take two. There are also the snowballs that come down from the top of the screen and slowly home in on you in a stop-start fashion. While the green beasts will fill up the Dragon Energy meter, the snowflakes do not.

Your best bet to go through this stage without dying is to rely more on your sword and only attack with the fireball from far-range. You only have three continues to beat the game with, and when you lose them all, it's back to the beginning for you.

The boss is a white creature similiar to the green ones that you've faced the entire stage. He will spawn green enemies, jump high in the air and roll into a snowball while creating projectiles that get knocked upwards into the air that you'll also want to avoid. If you press Select when your Dragon Energy gauge is flashing, you'll turn into a dragon, and your Dragon Energy will slowly decrease. While in dragon form, you can fly in any direction with the D-Pad while shooting out projectiles with B, and you'll want to hammer the boss with a ton of projectiles to take him and his minions down. Charging up your attack also gives you a more powerful attack, and in this face, you'll shoot out a three-way shot.

Usually, while in dragon form, the game turns from a platformer into a shooter, and you'll move to the right automatically, but if you're fighting the boss, the screen doesn't move at all, as you've reached the end of the area. As a result, I usually save the Dragon Energy for the end.

When you beat a boss, they will drop a sorcerer's staff. Picking it up will increase your health, making it easier to survive...if you can fight the enemy!

PrinceWatercress plays Silent Assault - The Longplay

...and now, the only game in one sitting, minus commentary! Enjoy!

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It's been a while since I played an unlicensed NES game...and hoo boy, is this game a quaint one. It's a clone of [i]Contra[/i], albeit not a very good one. A jumps, B shoots, D-Pad moves left and right and ducks and aims and whatnot.

You start with six hits, but the game only lets you have to five of them while refilling health after you get hit. You also have three lives, and there's no way of knowing how to get extra lives. I just know that you can if you can destroy enough enemies.

Stage 1

Aside from the soldiers and their bullets, you'll also have to shoot things that fly around in triangular patterns. You'll need to shoot them down for the weapons that they drop, and they'll constantly bother you throughout the game. You start with a rocket launcher (which looks like a knife, which is why I call it the knife at first), but you can also get a three-way shot as well as a shotgun that does more damage with its single shot. Sadly, it's hard to tell the last two apart, so I just grab a gun and hope I get the three-way shot. If you get shot enough times, however, you'll go back to the rocket.

The circle with the smaller circles around it gives you temporarily invincibility. This is good in case you don't want to jump over the lumps of pizza dough that are actually landmines, which instantly kill you if you run into one. Hearts will refill one hit point if you pick one up. Power-ups disappear almost as quickly as they show up, so you'd better be ready to nab them!

Also, enemies turn into demons shortly before they're wiped off the screen from being shot. I'm not sure why.

There is a boss at the end of every stage. To beat the first boss, avoid the firepower from both the cannon above and the turret below as you shoot at the turret in the wall. The turret fires slow-moving arrows regularly, while the cannon shoots down an orb that travels across the floor when it lands, so you'll need to be ready to jump over both at the same time. Once the turret is down, you can take out the cannon.

Stage 2

For this stage, you'll need to the upper path for most of the stage, but you'll eventually need to make your way back down. The worst thing you'll have to deal with on the upper path is the soldiers that throw wrenches flashing funky colors at you (which reminds me of Final Fantasy 6), but once you're forced down there, you'll have to deal with all of the spiked crushers that you avoided previously, and sometimes moving past those can be hit or miss.

If you get stuck on the upper path from not going down, you'll die if you jump over the wall. The game takes it as you looping from the top of the screen to the bottom and instantly offs you, as if the game is saying "Next time, drop down, dumbass!"

As you make your way towards the end, gently tap the A button to jump low and get up the stairs without getting hit by any obstacles. You'll also have to be super close to the flames in order to jump over them without taking damage once, and that can also be touch and go.

The boss is a set of gears that fires smaller gears at you that travel across the floor when they land. Jump over the gears and shoot at the brown cores of the two gears in front of you. When you take one down, that's fewer gears you'll have to jump over. Once the other one goes down, it's on to Level 3.

Stage 3

This is where the game starts getting a little harder.

You'll have to deal with a lot of tanks and turrets. You'll need to duck to shoot down the tanks and avoid their bullets, but you'll need to alternate between jumping and dodging when you barely have enough room between the bullets to begin with. 

The flames have really suspect hitboxes that extend further to the sides than you would think, just like in Stage 2. Be careful when jumping over them.

You'll want the three-way shot throughout this stage. The spires with the diamonds at the top shoot downwards in random directions, but if you have the three-way shot, you can take them down from a distance.

The boss is a missile launcher. Avoid the missiles by standing under the high ones and ducking under the low ones, and hit the turret at the top. This is dead easy if you still have the three-way shot at this point. Hold Right on the D-Pad after the boss is defeated to move on to Stage 4.

Stage 4

There will be a lot of rolling balls, scorpions, humanoid enemies and pterodactyls coming at you from the right. The balls and the pterodactyls will dive in from the right, while the humanoids and scorpions just move towards you. Keep heading right and keep shooting. There will be plenty of opportunities to get invincibility and health here compared to the last stage.

To beat the skull boss, jump over the blue skulls that it spits out and shoot it in the eye.

For some reason, if you move to the left while jumping in this boss battle, you will suddenly drop straight down.

Stage 5

Watch out for the jetpack guys, as they will fly up and down as they approach you. As for the red enemies that crawl on the ground, you'll need to duck down to get rid of them.

Get the machine gun for this stage; you'll have a much longer range to work with.

As for power-ups, you'll be getting plenty of invincibility and health pick-ups. Pick up as many of both as you can, because you're going to need them to get through this stage.

To defeat the computer boss, shoot at the mouth that is blasting out the sound waves. The sound waves alternate between traveling straight to the left and traveling downwards to the left. You'll get just the latter after you do enough damage.

Stage 6

Hey, an amusement park!

Jump over the rocks as well as the guys in the background wearing pink and black. The latter enemies cannot be destroyed, and they will throw projectiles everywhere, and the rocks are easily dispatched only if you have the three-way shot.

To defeat the boss, you'll need to avoid the sound waves that move up and down as you shoot the face in the mouth. I made this battle a lot easier than it actually was.

Stage 7

The plants on the ground that stay one in place can be destroyed, but the bubbles coming out of the ground cannot. Also, the flying enemies are little pink circles with smiley faces, which is rather odd compared to what we've fought throughout the rest of the game.

You can ride the platforms across the water, but if you hold Up to aim up, you will not move with the platform and you will die. Refrain from fighting flying enemies until you reach the other side.

Keep jumping and shooting forward on the bridge so that enemies do not catch you off guard.

Human enemies show up near the end, but they're easy to deal with.

The boss here is a tree that shoots fireballs. Once again, you'll need to keep jumping and shooting it in the mouth to get through yet another boss battle.

Stage 8

You just have a boss battle here, and that's it.

Head right and get close to the left side of the column immediately, and keep jumping and shooting at the Sphinx's mouth while avoiding the blue balls that are going all over the place. You want to make it so that the Sphinx on the right also does not spit projectiles at you. The more distance you have, the less you'll have to jump over to avoid.

Once that left Sphinx is defeated, head to the right so the mouth on the other Sphinx starts moving, then head all the way to the left. Again, the more distance, the better. If you have any gun power-ups, you'll have more distance to work with. The three-way gun is the best, since you don't have to worry about aiming as much.

After you beat both Sphinxes, you'll get the ending: a picture of a weird looking medal with three portraits above it while a butchered version of March Militaire No. 1 by Franz Schubert plays briefly. You'll then go back to the title screen. You just beat Silent Assault, but whether you're proud of it or not is another matter.

PrinceWatercress plays Silent Assault - Part 4 of 4

...and now for the final levels!

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Stage 7

The plants on the ground that stay one in place can be destroyed, but the bubbles coming out of the ground cannot. Also, the flying enemies are little pink circles with smiley faces, which is rather odd compared to what we've fought throughout the rest of the game.

You can ride the platforms across the water, but if you hold Up to aim up, you will not move with the platform and you will die. Refrain from fighting flying enemies until you reach the other side.

Keep jumping and shooting forward on the bridge so that enemies do not catch you off guard.

Human enemies show up near the end, but they're easy to deal with.

The boss here is a tree that shoots fireballs. Once again, you'll need to keep jumping and shooting it in the mouth to get through yet another boss battle.

Stage 8

You just have a boss battle here, and that's it.

Head right and get close to the left side of the column immediately, and keep jumping and shooting at the Sphinx's mouth while avoiding the blue balls that are going all over the place. You want to make it so that the Sphinx on the right also does not spit projectiles at you. The more distance you have, the less you'll have to jump over to avoid.

Once that left Sphinx is defeated, head to the right so the mouth on the other Sphinx starts moving, then head all the way to the left. Again, the more distance, the better. If you have any gun power-ups, you'll have more distance to work with. The three-way gun is the best, since you don't have to worry about aiming as much.

After you beat both Sphinxes, you'll get the ending: a picture of a weird looking medal with three portraits above it while a butchered version of March Militaire No. 1 by Franz Schubert plays briefly. You'll then go back to the title screen. You just beat Silent Assault, but whether you're proud of it or not is another matter.

PrinceWatercress plays Silent Assault - Part 3 of 4

Stage 5 is easily powered through if you get a gun that goes the length of the screen and then power your way through the rest of the stage while avoiding the flying enemies and their downward shots. Once you do that, you won't be stuck in one place for more than a few seconds.

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Stage 5

Watch out for the jetpack guys, as they will fly up and down as they approach you. As for the red enemies that crawl on the ground, you'll need to duck down to get rid of them.

Get the machine gun for this stage; you'll have a much longer range to work with.

As for power-ups, you'll be getting plenty of invincibility and health pick-ups. Pick up as many of both as you can, because you're going to need them to get through this stage.

To defeat the computer boss, shoot at the mouth that is blasting out the sound waves. The sound waves alternate between traveling straight to the left and traveling downwards to the left. You'll get just the latter after you do enough damage.

Stage 6

Hey, an amusement park!

Jump over the rocks as well as the guys in the background wearing pink and black. The latter enemies cannot be destroyed, and they will throw projectiles everywhere, and the rocks are easily dispatched only if you have the three-way shot.

To defeat the boss, you'll need to avoid the sound waves that move up and down as you shoot the face in the mouth. I made this battle a lot easier than it actually was.

PrinceWatercress plays Silent Assault - Part 2 of 4

Things get a little more difficult in Stage 3, but it can be overcome.

First | Next | End

Stage 3

This is where the game starts getting a little harder.

You'll have to deal with a lot of tanks and turrets. You'll need to duck to shoot down the tanks and avoid their bullets, but you'll need to alternate between jumping and dodging when you barely have enough room between the bullets to begin with. 

The flames have really suspect hitboxes that extend further to the sides than you would think, just like in Stage 2. Be careful when jumping over them.

You'll want the three-way shot throughout this stage. The spires with the diamonds at the top shoot downwards in random directions, but if you have the three-way shot, you can take them down from a distance.

The boss is a missile launcher. Avoid the missiles by standing under the high ones and ducking under the low ones, and hit the turret at the top. This is dead easy if you still have the three-way shot at this point. Hold Right on the D-Pad after the boss is defeated to move on to Stage 4.

Stage 4

There will be a lot of rolling balls, scorpions, humanoid enemies and pterodactyls coming at you from the right. The balls and the pterodactyls will dive in from the right, while the humanoids and scorpions just move towards you. Keep heading right and keep shooting. There will be plenty of opportunities to get invincibility and health here compared to the last stage.

To beat the skull boss, jump over the blue skulls that it spits out and shoot it in the eye.

For some reason, if you move to the left while jumping in this boss battle, you will suddenly drop straight down.

PrinceWatercress plays Silent Assault - Part 1 of 4

I'm surprised I never played this one earlier, to tell you the truth.

Next | End

It's been a while since I played an unlicensed NES game...and hoo boy, is this game a quaint one. It's a clone of Contra, albeit not a very good one. A jumps, B shoots, D-Pad moves left and right and ducks and aims and whatnot.

You start with six hits, but the game only lets you have to five of them while refilling health after you get hit. You also have three lives, and there's no way of knowing how to get extra lives. I just know that you can if you can destroy enough enemies.

Stage 1

Aside from the soldiers and their bullets, you'll also have to shoot things that fly around in triangular patterns. You'll need to shoot them down for the weapons that they drop, and they'll constantly bother you throughout the game. You start with a rocket launcher (which looks like a knife, which is why I call it the knife at first), but you can also get a three-way shot as well as a shotgun that does more damage with its single shot. Sadly, it's hard to tell the last two apart, so I just grab a gun and hope I get the three-way shot. If you get shot enough times, however, you'll go back to the rocket.

The circle with the smaller circles around it gives you temporarily invincibility. This is good in case you don't want to jump over the lumps of pizza dough that are actually landmines, which instantly kill you if you run into one. Hearts will refill one hit point if you pick one up. Power-ups disappear almost as quickly as they show up, so you'd better be ready to nab them!

Also, enemies turn into demons shortly before they're wiped off the screen from being shot. I'm not sure why.

There is a boss at the end of every stage. To beat the first boss, avoid the firepower from both the cannon above and the turret below as you shoot at the turret in the wall. The turret fires slow-moving arrows regularly, while the cannon shoots down an orb that travels across the floor when it lands, so you'll need to be ready to jump over both at the same time. Once the turret is down, you can take out the cannon.

Stage 2

For this stage, you'll need to the upper path for most of the stage, but you'll eventually need to make your way back down. The worst thing you'll have to deal with on the upper path is the soldiers that throw wrenches flashing funky colors at you (which reminds me of Final Fantasy 6), but once you're forced down there, you'll have to deal with all of the spiked crushers that you avoided previously, and sometimes moving past those can be hit or miss.

If you get stuck on the upper path from not going down, you'll die if you jump over the wall. The game takes it as you looping from the top of the screen to the bottom and instantly offs you, as if the game is saying "Next time, drop down, dumbass!"

As you make your way towards the end, gently tap the A button to jump low and get up the stairs without getting hit by any obstacles. You'll also have to be super close to the flames in order to jump over them without taking damage once, and that can also be touch and go.

The boss is a set of gears that fires smaller gears at you that travel across the floor when they land. Jump over the gears and shoot at the brown cores of the two gears in front of you. When you take one down, that's fewer gears you'll have to jump over. Once the other one goes down, it's on to Level 3.