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.

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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.

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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 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.

PrinceWatercress plays Hydlide - Part 5 of 5

Enjoy your ending! You just beat Hydlide for NES!

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PrinceWatercress plays Hydlide - Part 4 of 5

The end is near. Tune in next time for the ending.

First | Previous | End

Overworld Map (by Starfighters76)

Underground Maps (by Starfighters76)

At the start of the video, I'm almost at maximum level. I have 90 HP, and my strength is at 100. My magic is also at 90.

I forgot to mention the other spells in the game that I can use in the game, so I might as well mention them now.

Ice throws ice balls, much like how Fire throws fireballs. Unlike the fireballs, the ice balls can go through walls. You need 40 Magic points in order to use Ice.

Wave sends shock waves to the sides, and will do a lot of damage to any monsters that it hits. You must have 50 MP to use Wave.

Flash is the most powerful magic, and it damages all on-screen enemies. You must have 70 MP to use Flash.

Believe it or not, the ring does more than just heal you. It also serves as one of the three jewels you need to summon Boralis, with the other two being the Jewel and something else that we have yet to find.

The light blue Ropers are known as Hypers. Once you get powerful enough and attack a Slime, the Hypers will replace them. They can pack a punch if you're not careful, but they will give you experience when the zombies in the graveyard eventually won't.

Head back through the Shield/Ring maze and go south. Enter the hole near the castle to end up in the water. Watch out for all of the Eels that are waiting to attack you. You'll want to avoid them as you head northwest and into an opening in the wall. You'll face some dark blue enemies that look like magicians in cloaks. You'll need to use Wave to defeat them both at the same time, which means you need to line them up horizontally and then let loose with Wave. Doing this will net you Fairy 3.

The Goblins show up and replace the Kobolds when you get powerful enough.

When you get all three Fairies, you'll be carried off to where the dragon guarding the castle is. You've seen him just earlier; now you'll actually have to fight him. Save and password, then heal up. Go up to the tree in front of the castle and set it on fire with Fire to open up a hole, then go in the hole. Make your way through the maze and avoid the Blackams and the Skeletons, and attack the lone gravestone from the south side. By breaking the gravestone, you'll drain the water surrounding the island. From here, get back to the dragon. If you're hopefully trapped by the Blackams, use Flash to get rid of them.

Now it's time to fight the dragon. However, there's a way to defeat it. You have to run into it...in defense mode. If you hold A, you will get destroyed. Get your shots in, and watch your health. If it gets low, pull back and heal up. When you defeat the dragon, you'll get the Medicine, which is a one-time auto revive in case you lose all your health. You'll want to save this for Boralis, and not a moment sooner.

Leave the island and head east. You'll find a chest containing the Ruby. You'll need it along with the Jewel and the Ring to summon Boralis. Heal up in the formerly flooded area, then get in the castle. Use Flash to get past the Darkams if you need to, then enter the area where the gravestone originally was to find Boralis (named Varalys in-game). Don't fight him yet; instead, go back to where you entered from and stay there. Not only will you will be able to heal up, but you'll also make it so that all the Darkams come out from only one side and are unable to get to you. Be ready to save and password where you're standing once you're healed up, and get Flash ready.

Use Flash to take out the other enemies, then move into Boralis from a corner while in Defense mode. You'll both trade blows, and it's going to hurt. The trick is to get away from him when your health gets low enough and get back to the maze and heal up in the northeast exit. You can heal up, but Boralis cannot. You'll have to keep going back and forth between the maze and the battlefield to destroy everyone else with Flash and beat down Boralis bit by bit. When he's close to death, that is when you want to use the medicine for one last all-out assault. Once you're there, you'll be able to beat Boralis.

Unfortunately, I can't do it...so we'll have to wait until the next video!

THQPHKRNJ8QNH3D3 - powered up

MNHTDLBJM9RD8GB0 - dragon

LMQMLMPMX74JGB93 - water drained

PHTPPBNGPQR1P8K4 - Boralis

PrinceWatercress plays Hydlide - Part 3 of 5

As you can see, getting prepared for Boralis is not easy.

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Overworld Map (by Starfighters76)

Underground Maps (by Starfighters76)

At the start of this video, I'm at Level 5. I'm as strong as I can get from the Ropers in the maze.

Once in the maze, head north, then east. This lets you get to the chest that contains the Pot, which lets you see holes in the floor that you could not see before. This reveals a hole in the southeast corner of the maze, which you'll now need to head to.

Once you go down the hole, you'll need to open every chest until you find the Key. The Key is in a random chest every time you play. Along the way, you'll need to watch out for the gold soldiers known as the Goldams as you do this. Once you do that, you'll want to leave the maze where you came in from in order to heal up. You can heal anywhere if you stand still long enough, but it is best to do it in the light green grass, as healing speeds up on those titles as opposed to in forests or in castle-like areas.

The little brown guys running around in the forests are the Kobolds. They're weak for this point in the game.

From the maze, I head to the graveyard to the south and open the chest there now that we have the key. This lets us get the Jewel, which we will need later.

From there, go back into the maze and go through the hole on the other side. When you're back above ground, go north of where you came out from, and save and password. When you go north again, you'll see four trees moving around. One tree does not attack you when you run into it in attack mode, and if you run into that tree long enough, you'll get Fairy 2. Once again, save and password near the trees, and be prepared to load a lot.

From the trees, run west through the desert and avoid the sandworms. There will be a hole that you need to enter. Get in the hole, then save and password. While the Goldams are still powerful, the Ladyams - the pink soldiers - are a little easier to defeat. You'll need to fight them until you get the Shield, which increases your defense. From here, you'll need to heal up while still in the maze, then beat up some Goldrms until a chest appears in the southeast corner of the maze. You may have to load several times just to get enough of them to show up away from the hole on the east end of the maze. When the chest appears, open it up to get the Ring. The Ring allows you to heal twice as fast, which will work wonders with making progress in this game. Too bad the faster healing time only applies to the light green grass tiles.

Go through the hole at the east end of the maze to get back to close to where you started the game. From here, I head to the graveyard and farm experience from the zombies running around in the dirt. For best results, stay on the green grass, and attack from any direction other than in front of the zombies when they get close enough.

PBT8GJHDB3V9B2L3 - beginning of maze

Y21LLK1N78RKKMK7 - near the trees

M1XMQB2QHBL6B5DJ - Fairy 2 collected

M9NB9PNJH4Q89PL1 - Shield collected

RHMKDTRTV8WKH774 - Ring collected

PrinceWatercress plays Hydlide - Part 2 of 5

Now that we're leveled up a bit from the slimes, it's time to complete some tasks in order to get further along in our quest and get ready to level up again!

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Overworld Map (by Starfighters76)

Underground Maps (by Starfighters76)

Head west of where you start and open the chest you see to find the Cross. The Cross is needed for what we're about to do. From here, head east of where you start, then get a password and save your game. Go to the hole near the castle and press A to go into it. Avoid the bats as you go through the maze. To the south of where you came in is a vampire. You'll need to attack him from behind or the side, or else he will annihilate you as soon as you run into the front of him. This takes some doing, but it's not impossible. When you defeat him, you'll get the lamp, which lights up the rest of the underground areas in the game. Now save and get another password, then get out of there and make the save and password again.

Once you get out of the castle, recharge your health, then enter the hole to the north of the castle. Save and password (I'll call it this from now on) before you go in. Watch out for the fireballs as you travel through the maze to get the sword, which increases your strength by one level. You'll need to get even stronger and fight tougher enemies earlier. Save and password, then get out, save and password again, and recharge your health again.

Head south of where you started. There are ten big trees on the screen. Save and password, then run into them from the south end while holding A. All of them contain wasps that hurt you and fly away when they go off-screen, but only one of them contains a Fairy. The tree that contains the fairy is random each time you play. Keep your health high, and remember which trees you ran into. It makes getting this fairy a lot easier. Eventually, you'll get Fairy 1. Once you get Fairy 1, get out of there, save, password and heal up.

Head to the maze north of where you found the cross. You'll need to go around the perimeter to find the entrance. From there, stay in the open field, and attack the Ropers - the blue octopus enemies - that move around from the side of behind. You'll need to do this until you level up two more times. Stay in the open field to heal up in case your health is low, then get back in there to farm for experience again when your health is good. Remember save and password as soon as you level up.

HH9PP5MBL3ZJVTJ7 - before the vampire

76XBBBKLLGJ90887 - vampire dead

57WH95MGHGD9GH54 - at north hole

G6HKK6LJG9TN7640 - sword get

BKK9G6N5JB7DDG42 - fairy trees

N6KPG5J9N5K7GH66 - octopus maze

PrinceWatercress plays Hydlide - Part 1 of 5

I can't believe I played through and beat this game.

Next | End

Believe it or not, this game has a bit of a story to it as well as names for the characters. You are a knight named Jim. Someone has stolen a jewel and unsealed Boralis (named Varalys in-game), and Boralis has turned the princess into three fairies with a magic spell before unleashing monsters all over the land. It's up to you to find the three fairies and defeat Boralis to break the spell.

Compared to other games, this one is pretty simple and basic. Believe it or not, this game came out before all of the big RPG's of the 1980s in Japan on the MSX as far back as 1984, and was ported later on to other systems with even the Famicom version - known in Japan as Hydlide Special - coming out in 1986, a month after Zelda and not before like I stated in the video. Interesting. By the time the game came to the States, it was the summer of 1989, all the big RPG's for the system except for Final Fantasy had landed on the NES, and the game ended up feeling basic in comparison to everything else up to that point.

Overworld Map (by Starfighters76)

At the start of the game, the D-Pad lets you move around. Holding A lets you attack as you move around, as opposed to staying in defense mode when you don't have A held down. You can tell which mode you're in by looking at the lower-right corner of the screen. B lets you cast spells, although that will be explained in time as we don't have any magic yet, since none of the spell names at the bottom are lit up at the start of the game. Select brings up an in-game menu, while Start pauses the game.

The in-game menu lets you look at your inventory, switch between normal and fast for the game speed, save and load your game, and use passwords. The save and load commands save a game into memory and load it up, respectively, but that in-game save will disappear the moment you power off or reset. This is where the password comes in. At any time, you can pull up a password. Be sure to write it down carefully and keep it where you can find so you do not lose progress.

To the right of the gameplay screen is your health, your strength, your experience and your magic points. You'll also be able to see what monster you're fighting and how much health that monster has left. Each white notch on the gauges indicates a unit of 10, so you have 100 points for each of these four stats. In the case of life, strength and magic, the long white line indicate your maximum values for those stats, which will increase over time.

You'll want to start the game by going to the east of where you start and holding A while rushing at the slime enemies. You'll need to do this to gain experience and strength. As you do this, watch your health. If you start running low, stop fighting enemies and stay in the light green grass to slowly recover your health. If you flash red, you've taken damage; if the monster flashes red, the monster has taken damage. If any enemies approach you, get away from them until your health is back up. It is possible for your health to dip slightly if you run around a lot so be careful. You can heal in other areas, although healing will be slower. Once you're healed up, go back to grinding for experience. You don't want to game over, as losing the game and re-loading or using a recent password cleans the slate for the experience gauge, meaning that you'll start at zero experience for the current level again.

When you fill up the experience gauge, save your game and get yourself a password. You don't want to do all that progress again. At Level 2 comes more life, more strength and more magic points. You'll be able to take out those slimes more easily, but you should still be careful. You'll also get the Turn magic. To use Magic, select it with B so the name of the spell is white, hold A, then face the direction you want to cast it in and press B. Turn just turns an enemy around and away from you. You'll need to get even stronger to get the good magic, such as Fire at Level 3. Fire lets you shoot a fireball in the direction you are facing.

When you reach Level 3, you won't be able to get experience from the slimes any more...so you'll need to fight more powerful monsters to get stronger at this point. We'll be doing that next time.

PrinceWatercress plays Superman (NES) - Part 8 of 8

In this entry, we finally beat the Zod Gang, who caused all the ghosts to wreak havoc on the city and send them packing for good. Metropolis is safe again...for now...

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Freedom Island is all the way to the west. Head to the building west of Metropolis Park to farm up on pick-ups and health, because you're going to need them. Since there is a phone booth near the building, you can easily do both here. Of course, this assumes that you didn't use the "dying and continuing" trick like I did. Since this refills all your abilities, you can just fly to Senneville and then fly to Freedom Island from there. It's not like you're going to need that ability once you're at Freedom Island, anyway.

When you land, enter the door. You'll face robots that move towards you pretty quickly as you make your way up the stairs. At each floor above the entry floor, you'll need to go left and use your powers to defeat the members of the Zod Gang, who have the same powers that you do. You'll have to punch them multiple times, as your powers will have no effect against any of them. There are three enemies at all, and once you beat the third one at the top floor, you'll beat the game.

The first is Ursa. Get away from her when she jumps and avoid her Heat Vision blasts, then start punching away as she approaches.

The second is Non, who has the Super Breath. Just stand there and keep punching when you see him, and he will go down super easily.

You'll then finally face Zod, who has both the Super Breath and the Heat Vision attacks. He also has a sword. Avoid him as he jumps, and punch him when he lands on the ground or when he approaches you. He'll go down just as easily as his subordinates, and when you beat him, you'll see a cutscene where Ursa, Non and Zod are thrown into a portal into space. 

You'll then meet The Statue of Liberty, who tells you that the Zod Gang will be cast into space and that the Earth will remain at peace. Superman will then be told that he must protect freedom and justice forever, then the game goes back to the title screen. You just beat Superman for NES!

PrinceWatercress plays Superman (NES) - Part 7 of 8

In this entry, we finally beat Lex Luthor, but now ghosts are running amok in Metropolis. It's not going to be long before we reach the end of the game!

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From the Metro Police Station, you'll need to the CBD area. Thankfully, we can fly there from Teaboro. From there, head to the left of the building you land near and use Super Spin to go down the funny look tiles. 

Once you're underground, head all the way to the right and go down the ladder. From here, head right and go down another ladder. At this point, you'll have no choice but to head left and go down the ladder. Then, you'll need to head right and go up until you reach the end, where you'll find Lex Luthor. Hit him with the Heat Vision and stay away from him and his club while also taking out the gangster. When you beat Lex Luthor, he will be arrested, but a gang of monsters will soon be on the loose.

Interestingly, enemies do not move until you're completely off the ladder onto the ground. Weird.

When you beat Lex Luthor, monster gangs will be on the loose. Welcome to the last chapter, where your attack, defense and health will be as high as they can go.

Level 5

Back at the Daily Planet, Lois Lane will you that The B.G. Bros are waiting for you at Battery Park in Senneville. The B.G. Bros (B.G. being short for bubble gum) are actually the F.B.I. agents that you've been seeing throughout the second half of the game. 

When you leave the Daily Planet, turn to Superman and use your X-Ray screen on every screen you enter so you don't get your butt handed to you by ghosts. The ghosts will be every single place you go from this point on.

Take the subway near the Daily Planet, then head east towards Senneville. Move to the left past the Metropolis Bank area, and you'll find the park and The B.G. Bros. They will tell you that the monsters' boss may be hiding beneath Metropolis Park. You'll also find out that this is the last time you will see them, as their work here is done.

Once you reach the park, keep heading right until you find the blocks you can go through with Super Spin.

When you go down the dig point at Metropolis Park with Super Spin, use your X-Ray Vision to see the enemies before going down the first ladder you see. Keep using X-Ray Vision at every screen. Go left and go down the ladder, then head right and head down the first ladder you see. Go left, then go down the next ladder. Head right, then go up the next ladder you see. From here, head left (right is a dead end), jump over the water, then go up the ladder. Head right from the ladder and go up the next ladder you see, then head right again and go up the next ladder. When you beat up the purple ghost in this room, it will tell you that their boss is waiting for them at Freedom Island.

Go back down the ladder, then head left and go down the next ladder. Head all the way to the left and go up the ladder, then go right and go up the ladder. Finally, head left and jump up the opening to end up back in the park.

Of course, that's if you want to do things that way. I take the quick and dirty route, and that's taking damage on the ladder from an invisible ghost and continuing to end up back at the Daily Planet.

If you die while climbing a ladder and return to the Daily Planet, you'll be in the ladder climbing animation when you come back. If you punch, you'll be standing in mid-air. You can also press and hold Down to get back on the ground.

PrinceWatercress plays Superman (NES) - Part 6 of 8

We'll need to take down a few fire beasts that Lex Luthor has unwittingly unleashed before we can Luthor himself.

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Level 4

Head down to the Art Museum in McKeesport. On the way there, you'll see the red zombies, which are the weakest of the three types of zombies that you'll face. When you enter, you'll meet the two guys from the F.B.I. They will tell you that Lex Luthor has failed in making a monster, which has turned into fire beasts that you'll need to defeat. You'll need to defeat these monsters, then return to the Metro Police Station in Teaboro.

The first fire beast is in University Plaza near Staunton, which is going to be quite the trek. You'll want to head right from the Art Museum until you see a subway station, then take it to Staunton. University Plaza will be right there, so go in and make your way all the way downstairs. Watch the blue as it jumps around and punch it when it lands. Beating it nets you the final Super Breath II extension of the game. Watch out for enemies, and use X-Ray Vision to see the enemies at the top half of the building.

The second fire beast is at the Palace Disco in Andersonville near the subway station that leads to Centennial Park. Thankfully, you just have the one room, and the fire beast here fights just like the one in University Plaza. Beating will net you the final Heat Vision extension.

The third fire beast is in front of the Civic Center. To get there, you'll need to take the subway to Teaboro, then keep going to the right until you no longer can. The fire beast will be right outside, and beating it will net you the final X-Ray Vision extension, which is the final power-up extension in the game.

Make your way back to the Metro Police Station and go inside. The F.B.I. will tell you that Lex Luthor is hiding under Central Station.

PrinceWatercress plays Superman (NES) - Part 5 of 8

In this entry, we reprogram the computer - by force - and beat down Jay Falk to stop Ross Webster's plans before getting ready for the fourth chapter of the game.

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If you have no idea that there is a computer center, you'll be looking all over for it. Thankfully, it's easy to find, as we have passed it before: it's at the "E" in Metropolis Park on the map. When you reach it, go inside and fight the enemies as you make your way to the lowest level.

Beating all the enemies on the entry floor will net you a Super Spin extension, while clearing the first floor below that will give you a Super Flight extension. Two floors down, you'll find the computer. When you see it, avoid the lasers as you jump into the computer and punch at the core. This will reprogram the computer to act as it normally did. Make sure you defeat all the gangsters on this floor so you can get a Heat Vision extension, too. After that, make your way back up and get out of here, and watch out for the zombies and ghost cats that have taken over the building on your way out.

From here, you'll want to head to the Metro Tower, which is to the east of the Computer Center. If you need to, use the nearby phone booth to turn back into Clark Kent and get your health refilled, then turn back into Superman and enter the Metro Tower.

Once inside, take out the gangsters and enter the elevator to go down. There are no pickups on the first two floors, but there will be a Super Breath II extension on the third, an X-Ray Vision extension on the third, a Super Spin extension on the fourth, a Super Flight extension on the fifth, and a Super Breath I extension on the sixth.

Always wait on the top of a stairs and keep punching if an enemy is below you; they'll eventually jump your way and into your attacks.

When you reach the bottom-most floor, equip Heat Vision. You'll eventually face Jay Falk himself. If he jumps, run under him and hit him with Heat Vision from floor level as he makes his way down, and punch him when he gets close in case you run out. You'll eventually beat Jay Falk, and you'll complete the third chapter before being sent to the fourth, where the museum is robbed courtesy of Lex Luther, who has posed a challenge for Superman.

At the Daily Planet, Lois Lane will tell you to go to the Art Museum in McKeesport to start the chapter off.