The Tornado's Gonna be Totally Awesome This Time! Let's Play Gargoyle's Quest II!

Hello and welcome! It's that time again: Time for everyone's favorite Arremer to heroically burn everything he sees to the ground!



Red Arremer 2

Yes, "The Demon Darkness." AKA, "The Dreary Devilish Deadly Dirge of Doom."



A Long Time Ago...

A long, long time ago, before human being appeared...There lived a monster named Firebrand in a town of the Ghoul Realm, Etruria. To become a true warrior, Firebrand trained himself in the Warriors' Training Center every day. But one day...

I love the image of Firebrand as some muscleheaded demon who's constantly lifting at the gym. His pecs ARE ridiculous.

Royal Chambers



Welcome, Firebrand! Here is the Spectre's Fingernail. You will have the honor of receiving this when recognized as a true warrior. It's time for you to go to the Warriors' Training Center.

So the ruler of this village called Firebrand here to tempt him with a fingernail and tell him to do what we just learned Firebrand does obsessively on his own every day. Good meeting.

I think it's fair to say that GQ2 is the least remembered of the GQ/DC trio. Gargoyle's Quest was one of the shining stars of the Game Boy's early days. Demon's Crest had famously terrible sales, but has great aesthetics and a unique blend of GQ and Mega Man X gameplay. GQ2 certainly does hit a lot of the same beats as the original, but it does benefit from both the example the first game set and the NES hardware. The NES was beyond ancient at this point, but developers had an intimate knowledge of its capabilities, few moreso than Capcom. The result is one of the best-looking and sounding games on the system, with tried-and-true gameplay.

Unlike Demon's Crest, there isn't a lot of player choice in terms of progressing (if you're familiar with Gargoyle's Quest, you'll know how things are structured here). You can explore a lot more than you'd expect at any given time (or more than I'd expect, anyway), but in practice it usually ends up being one correct path and several elaborate dead ends. Still, if anyone thinks of anything they want to see over the course of the LP, don't hesitate to speak up!

Next time: Firebrand goes to the gym!

I am very excited about this. I never made it particularly far into this installment in the series.

I, too, am excite.

Since I never owned an NES, my experience with the games for the system is extremely limited. And GQ2 is the only game in the series I never played, so I am definitely looking forward to it.

I didn't even know this exisited. My interest, she is piqued!

Alright! Before we go train, let's see what our fellow Etrurians have to say!

Ghoul Town

Ghoul Dwelling (For a minor tune, I like this one. It captures a similar "melancholy, but still safe" feeling that the Simon's Quest town theme does).



Ghoul 1: Strangers have been wandering around here recently. You need to become a true warrior as soon as possible, Firebrand.

Ghoul 2: Firebrand, make sure to complete your mission. Do not disappoint King Morock.

Okay, so Etruria is in desperate need of some muscle.




So many brave warriors have come out from this town. Be the next one, Firebrand.

Once people leave this town, they never come back. I wonder what happens to them.

They probably relocate to one of the coasts and try to cast off their middle-Ghoul Realm roots.

Firebrand, won't you give up becoming a warrior? Don't waste your time. Give up.

Ah, so not everyone's riding the "we need a warrior" bandwagon. Unless...this guy is one of those dreaded "strangers" we were warned about!

This is Etruria. Where King Morock rules.

There is a Warriors' Training Center in this town.

Whoa, really?! Sign me up!

So yeah, aside from the strange dissenter, most of the townspeople outside continue telling us what we already know.



Firebrand, you are just a trainee. You are not allowed to leave this town unless you become a true warrior.

Maybe that's why all the warriors leave: They're forced to stay unless they become warriors.



I will exchange 5 vials for the Power of the Maelstrom.

If you missed GQ1, Power of the Maelstrom means "1-up" and vials are basic currency. The price will very swiftly inflate as we advance through the game.



Finally, we reach the building the training center is housed in.

Though I really want to be a true warrior, the training here is too hard for me.

Seems this is where the demons who can't quite make the cut are sleeping it off.



They say the Argob's Pot can be exchanged for the Spectre's Fingernail.

Even when nursing wounds, this guy is still inclined to help us out. This is also about the point when I realized that everything in this game has a ridiculously awesome name, no matter how mundane its function.



Hi, Firebrand! You can go to the training center through the room on your right.

Why thanks! I think I'll do just that.

While the townspeople dialogue isn't the most elegant of prose, it does manage to set the mood in our hometown. People who leave never return, suspicious characters come and go, and everyone wishes they were a bit more capable of defending themselves. It's not a town under siege, but it's definitely one on edge.



You can go to the training center through the center of this room. Bring back the pot from there.




Hostile Wilderness

Finally, our first action sequence! Firebrand begins the game capable of taking three hits. He can also stroll, jump, and hover. He can't gain height while hovering, except in particular areas that have updrafts. He can move laterally as much as you would like as long as the Wing meter holds out. At level one, it will deplete very rapidly. Jump or hover into a wall and he'll cling to it. This or simply touching ground will replenish the Wing meter. You can also get more distance out of it by repeatedly dropping slightly then immediately hovering again while advancing.

Firebrand's only means of offense is his breath weapon. At this point, he has only the standard fireball, which flies straight ahead all the way across the screen (unless it connects with an enemy or obstacle). Only one can be onscreen at a time.

The Ghoul Realm really benefits from some color. I love the shadowy houses in the background.




This really is just training to get accustomed to Firebrand's controls. There are no enemies, only a bed of spikes on the far side of the tree. We can glimpse the pot hovering in midair once we clear the tree, but we can't reach it quite yet.

We have to maneuver our way through the assorted blocks until we get to one that we can leap from to reach the pot. It will take the entire meter to reach it. Once we do, we're immediately transported out of the training center.



I'm glad to see you are safe, Firebrand! The black light appeared suddenly and...hurry to the king! Hurry!

Immediately after saying this, the zombie fades from existence. The black light does that.



The rest of the building is ominously abandoned, and when we try to step outside, we immediately go into action mode again.

Assaulted Etruria



Ah, the Goomba of the Firebrand games: Ghoul That Looks Way Too Much Like a Klansman. Actually, their GQ2 incarnation is the least uncomfortable of the three, with a yellowish hue and a different hood design. Regardless, one shot is enough to fry them, and they just shuffle slowly around. Their only real threat is that they pop up from the ground rather abruptly, which can couple with Firebrand's rather chunky hitbox and slow movements to lead to some unfortunate damage.



Soon, we have to scale one of Etruria's houses to continue. The item above is NOT another Pot of Argob, but simply a vial. We can hover to it from the roof ahead.



Oh hey, an eyeball bat! It's not as durable or persistent as the Demon's Crest incarnation. This one will simply zigzag off the edge of the screen once you approach it.



Dropping off the other edge of the house, we come across a truly bizarre enemy. It's a skeletal bird that hides in an egg. It generally seems content to throw its own, endlessly regenerating skull at you (?), but can abruptly leave the egg and rush you with blinding speed. These should generally be avoided, especially in our current, puny condition.



Another tree, another vial, and Firebrand getting wrecked by a hopping foe.




These wall-crawlers are really only a problem if you don't clean off the wall before using it like a responsible young demon.

I played this game through for the first time the weekend after I turned 30. My feelings on it were the following:

• It's sort of a reimagining of the Game Boy game rather than a true sequel.
• Beautiful, late-NES era graphics.
• Though the music is very similar to the Game Boy version, I like the Game Boy's better - it has a distinct quality lacking in the NES version.
• It felt hastily slapped together - it seems like they had grand ideas for the world design, but not time to implement them so there are a lot of very empty areas. The Game Boy game wasn't very long, but everything felt tight and cohesive while in this game, it feels like there's something missing. Heck, there's a section where it talks about a guy named Dagon in the desert and getting his claw (supposed to be 'Dragon', perhaps?). I looked for him, but never found him and went I went on to the next section, I couldn't even return to look for them again.
• The level design is generally quite good (though the game boy version made better use of the different projectiles you could get that affected the environment).
• The boss fights are not very good. They come off as tedious and frustrating because there is so little margin for error.
• Poor localization, but whatever. At least they kept Rushifell!

More ghouls on the roof, then it's down the other side, where we can grab a sneaky, different-looking vial. This is actually a life extension. Our bar increases to four hearts.




We get the trickiest platforming we've had to deal with in our brief playing time. The brown enemies will leap erratically from their positions when you get close enough, so it's best to pick them off while they're stationary or simply climb out of their reach. Flaming skulls have been seen in both the Ghosts 'n Goblins games and Demon's Crest, but this version simply sits still and soaks up a few hits, proving to be more of an obstacle than an enemy. That heart will restore one heart to our life bar, but since we can only have three at this point, that's pretty nice. It's almost like something's coming...




Boss Battle

We have our first boss battle! Nagus is predictable, but between the terrain, our low health, and our relative lack of mobility, this fight can prove tougher than you'd expect out of a first boss. He has two types of projectile, a spread of three shots that you need to either be very close to and go over/under all of them or retreat almost an entire screen's length to get the clearance you need to weave through them. Then there's the larger, flashing projectile that bounces across the screen. This is much easier to deal with, though along with the spikes it can really limit your options on where to go. Nagus himself will slowly bounce across the room. Really, it's best to just get close and rack up hits when you can. He's an easy target and it doesn't take much to bring him down.



Etruria is now empty, except for King Morock.

Uh...uh...uh...Firebrand? I'm gonna die...Take this Spectre's Fingernail with you. Go west, Firebrand. You will find a town called Gibea, where King Barr rules. Guoh...

With that, Morock passes on. The Fingernail increases our jump height, which we'll continue to improve throughout the game (along with the Wing meter, health bar, and types of shots).

Next time: We search for King Barr.

Off to a good start!


Not necessarily.

What's with G&G and monsters with faces in their torsos?

Well, where would you put a face? On the knee? Gets hit with too many arrows. On the shoulder? Hard to keep it pointed forward. On the butt? You'd asphyxiate if you ever sat down.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to more of this game.

Poor Chaos.

A more important question: How many faces does one monster need? How many faces is enough?

It's one thing for a monster to breathe plate-armor melting breath fire at you. It's another to be able to do the same from it's crotch, just to fuck with you.

Zero and twelve, respectively.

Sorry for the delay. Work, holidays, Mario, you know how it goes.

The Ghoul Realm (This is a great one to accompany us through all of our overworld jaunts).




There have been a few minor, but welcome adjustments from GQ's overworld navigation. Firebrand walks a lot faster now. There are no random encounters, with players being forced to engage visible enemies if they want to. Many encounters, like this one, are forced, but there are several enemies just chilling that you can hit up for some vials.




These battles can get pretty repetitive and are definitely not the game's strength.




Time to cross the bridge. We can just barely make the first few jumps, thanks to our boosted jump height.



There are no real enemies here, just spikes, lava, and gouts of flame.



There's a town just north of the bridge, but going rogue on the map screen is one of the few nonlinear indulgences the game will allow.

Ignoring that zombie we spotted to the north, we can comb through these woods to find...absolutely nothing. Like I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of side paths that the game will happily let you explore, but they're often just dead ends.



Heck yes we are!



You are very brave! Take this Dragon's Armor with you. It will help you.

Firebrand obtained the Dragon's Armor. The vitality increased.

Good luck!

Every mundane life-up or jump-up in this game has an awesome name.




We're gonna need that luck our zombie friend wished us. The game can really sucker punch you here. These floating skull platforms (oh hey, another enemy that returned in Demon's Crest. There are more than I thought) drift back and forth over a set horizontal area, spitting projectiles and providing our only means of passage over insta-kill lava. Firebrand can't cling to their faces, and they move just a hair slower than he can hover, so if you get caught chasing one, it can often outlast his meager Wing meter. Since each one's range is more than a screen length, it can be hard to predict where the next one's going to turn around. Should you slip below them, even getting intentionally hit by their projectiles for mercy invincibility isn't all that helpful, since Firebrand can't reach most of them by jumping from the lava.

In short, this is some nasty precision platforming that comes at you early (and the stuff I temporarily skipped doesn't help with this sequence at all).




Stop by the town welcome center or hit up fellow hellspawn for money? What would Firebrand do? The enemy encounter has changed up a bit, featuring fast-hopping foes that present small targets.



Sure, we've bypassed two towns and barely survived crossing a bridge, but I have a good feeling about this ominous cave.

Hecate's Cave




Okay, so it's not really ominous. There's just a lot of paying attention to what layer of floor you're walking on, especially if you want to bring in more vials. It's a kinda-sorta maze, though a little patience is all you need. Eventually, we stumble upon someone's house.



Stay away from me. I hate bright things. I know I need the Candle of Darkness, but I can not find its materials.

Well, don't keep me guessing here. Oh well, there's nothing more to be done in here.



A few more vials to pick up, then we're back outside.

It's impossible for you to fly over this valley with those flimsy wings.

Unlike the last zombie we encountered, this guy isn't eager to fix our "can't go high/far enough to continue" problem. After all of this, we're at an impasse. It's pretty weird just how far you can go before you're finally told to back up and do things properly.



Back through the cave, back across Bridge 2...



Oh hey, we didn't go west before! We can beat this guy up for some vials, but those red rocks are unbreakable in our current state. I guess it's finally time to socialize.



This town was once ruled by King Barr. But...the black light came over this town and...Though I was struck by the light, the Power of the Maelstrom brought me back, but...look at my ugly face!



The King's palace, capital of the Ghoul Realm, is to the west of this town. But you have to break the barrier of King Barr to get there.

Ah, that both explains King Barr's name and those rocks we spotted outside of town.



Their strength is beyond your imagination.

Also, I have no idea what that little pit is for.



We could not protect King Barr from the enemy...



You should have come a little earlier...

Thanks for the guilt trip, buddy.



There is a guy whose name is Samuel in the town Sidon, which lies northeast of this place. He may know how to release King Barr's magic again. But you will have to go through the river of flames in Arnon to get there.

Been there, done that (but you're right, it's not for the faint of heart). I'm guessing "Samuel" is supposed to be "Samael," the final boss from Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts? Is it a Lucifer/Rushifell-type scenario? On another note, I like how an extra heart is called Chimera Scales or whatever, but they'll refer to an important ghoul/demon character as some "guy."



Yep, the King has definitely seen better days. We can get a password and stock up on extra lives for 15 vials a pop before we head out. Back across the river with us!



They say a Venus of the night named Hecate fell from the sky long time ago. She was looking for some materials. The name of the materials was...let me see...

Materials? Hecate? Come on, man, don't keep us in suspense!

The Night Drop!

Alright, we have a lead!



Go north through the cave and you'll see the desert called Sittem.

This has to be beyond the Gaza Valley that stymied us.



To the east of this town is the forest called Hinom. They say there is the precious stone called the Night Drop in the forest.

This, on the other hand, is very relevant to our interests.



It is said that the magic buster can break rocks and the magic tornado enables you to fly anywhere.

Sounds pretty cool.



I am Samuel. What? King Barr's magic was sealed? The Gremlin Stick may be of help to you. Oh! Go to the Cave of Gaza north of this place and see Hecate. She must know something about it.

Rejoice, GQ fans, for the most wonderfully named item around makes a return! With this talk, our objectives finally come together. It's almost like I should have gone to town first like a sensible person!



Next time: Welcome back to the jungle.

I doubt I'll actually do it, but in case we'd like to play along, would you mind posting passwords?

I'm really impressed by the areas you can reach, even if you hit a lot of barriers you can't cross. This actually makes use of having a world map, where the GB game was so linear there really wasn't a point.

Sure! The password to Gibea is 4040031-6022000.

Dark Forest of Hidon



Ugh, more of these guys right off the bat. Fortunately, the massive thorns that make up the ground (and about 50 percent of this area) only mean pain, not instant death like the lava. We need to jump and hover with good timing off the last skull to reach the upper edge. The lower one seems like a nice safety net, but we can't reach the upper one from it, and making it back to the skull from there is extremely tough. It pretty much means taking a couple pokes on our way back to the start.



The forest is absolutely lush with color and detail, and puts Firebrand's abilities to the full test without being completely overwhelming. The flowers will spray projectiles in pairs, each taking a different arc. The bugs will move in bursts toward Firebrand. There's almost always one onscreen, with another spawning shortly after you kill one. They're usually kind enough to spawn a fair distance from you, but mixed with more passive threats and a very dangerous layout, they can be a hassle.



Just to the left of this skull is a 1-up. Getting to this point isn't all that demanding, even if you may take a beating on the way. If you can get here, you get all the attempts at this that you need.



The path forward is kind of sneaky. With vials and 1-ups above, plus thorns, bugs and projectiles keeping you hopping, you may not even notice a thorn-free gap in the floor.



This series of jumps can be pretty tough. We need as much height as possible to get from platform to platform, but the ceiling not only hurts, but can throw off our jump. The designers seem fully aware of this, as the enemies that have kept us constantly on the move so far are absent from this part.



A vial tempts us into the shaft and...hey, an updraft.



With no enemies and the ability to ascend and descend at will, these items are basically free. Enjoy the breather!



The stage immediately gets mean again. The spikes and their housings hurt Firebrand, and between his size and the angle of his hopping, sneaking past them can be tricky. Plus, the updraft gives out just as you reach the last one's level, so if you take it into account to get past the first couple, you'll be caught off-guard. The top of this shaft is the area's checkpoint though, so press on!



The game has deterred us from rushing into things already (the klansman ghouls will pop into existence right on you if you go too fast), and here's another sign to take things deliberately. These spikes will extend from the floors as you approach. To complicate things, we get bombed while trying to cross this area.

In a nice transition, we stumble upon some ruins in the forest. This section is a bit tougher than it looks. The enemies are invulnerable except when they're focused on spitting projectiles at Firebrand. The toughest is one that's on a ledge lower than Firebrand. We have to drop low enough to hit it, avoid its shot, and grab the ledge before our wings give out (which happens fast). As a reward, we get a heart that takes a bit of finesse to reach.



Weaving downward through these spikes isn't any easier than climbing upward, and the thorns on the ground make a spiteful punishment for anyone who has the nerve to try simply dropping down the shaft. After that, there's a short, spike-lined corridor (much easier if you take your time), then the boss!




BOSS: Death Balloon (yes, I'm totally serious).

Like the stage, D.B. will keep you on your toes, but it isn't ridiculously hard. It will start by inhaling, drawing you toward the spike pit in the center. You're free to start attacking, but it takes some D-pad dexterity to stay out of the pit while keeping the boss onscreen so it takes hits. Eventually, it will exhale three bubbles. It aims them at Firebrand, so once you get the timing down, you can bait it into shooting them where you want. It simultaneously exhales while doing this, so there will be a slight wind to fight. Finally, D.B. drifts across the stage. This is another decent chance to rack up hits, but the process repeats at this point, so get prepared to be pulled toward the boss again. You can use the central platform to draw D.B. to the upper half of the room if you'd prefer.

The key to this fight is that your shots will only count if you see them hit Death Balloon. With wind going back and forth, rather large projectiles coming your way, and the boss itself periodically crossing the screen, it can be risky to stay that close to it. While you could really layer shots onto the first boss, here I'd recommend taking your time and landing hits when you can. It's fairly easy to avoid damage if you give yourself room.

GQ2 really shines here. The stage is just gorgeous, and has a satisfying level of challenge most of the way through (those shafts with spikes are a bit annoying).



Well, we got what we came for. And as an added bonus: Something very powerful has built up in Firebrand's body. Firebrand obtained the Magic Buster.

Alright! As GQ/DC aficionados know, you get a lot of mileage out of this weapon. Heck, it's probably the most used weapon of Firebrand's arsenal across all three games. Even with Demon's Crest making a hobby out of obsoleting the GQ weaponry, the buster's a viable choice all the way up to the endgame.

Password: 40400031-7142000.

Next time: We deliver the Materials to Hecate and see what she can cook up.

We're on a roll now! Time to give Hecate the Night Drop.

Oh! You have the Night Drop in your hands. Now I can make the Candle of Darkness with it. Wait for a while.

Luckily, a "while" is a quick flash of the screen.

Use the Candle of Darkness at the center of this room.




Ready for some direct rehashing of Gargoyle's Quest? It's time for Hecate to exposit, complete with teleporting around the room just for kicks.




It was the black light that sealed King Barr's magic. It's the King of Destruction's army... Only the Gremlin Stick can dispel the King of Destruction's evil magic. Use the Gremlin Stick before King Barr and his magic will be released. The Gremlin Stick is in the ruins which lie deep within the Desert Sittem.

Alright! It's finally time to get past that zombie, cross Gaza Valley, and...



Oh. We STILL don't have the wing power to make it.



Firebrand obtained the wings of a fallen angel.

But...how good can they be if the last owner fell?

Anyway, NOW we're good to go. If you try to talk to Hecate immediately after her previous speech, she'll give you the wings right then and there, saving about ten seconds if you know that.



You have the wings of a fallen angel! With these wings, you may be able to fly over Gaza Valley. Go to Desert Sittem, Firebrand!

Hey, don't tell me what to do. On the other hand, I like the image of this zombie border guard sizing up your wings: "Hmm...yeah. Those should do the trick. Have a nice flight!"



Sure enough, there's a big gap right at the start, and our fallen angel wings can just barely clear it. Still, off to a good start!



And I immediately get crapped on as soon as I touch down. Hey, wait a second...are those supposed to be the nasty skele-birds that return in Demon's Crest? They don't really look bird-like, so maybe not, but it definitely inspired the later enemy.



The rest of the valley's pretty simple. None of the other jumps are as long as that first, and the only trick are falling platforms. We even get some free vials.



Well, certainly no ambiguity about where our destination is.



Yeah, the visuals are conveyed pretty clearly in this game.

But before I go inside, I also want to see what else the desert holds, and the answer is some free vials!



Alright, on with the quest.

Desert Sittem



Again, we get some '90s NES splendor. I love the colors and the illusion of background depth.



So, we have...spectral birds...emerging from pods or something. Weird. I think each pod has a cap of how many birds it can launch, and they're not all that fast, but it can still get overwhelming if you don't practice crowd control. The pods themselves can be destroyed, but they're not always vulnerable, and I can't tell what exactly causes that.

Oh yeah, we have the buster now! Compared to our default shot, it's faster, has a larger hitbox, and we can have two onscreen, so missing is less likely and less painful when it happens. Plus, unlike Demon's Crest, bosses in this game don't get mercy invincibility, so you can pile on shots. It also might be stronger than the default shot; it can be hard to tell because most enemies are one-hit kills and it's not always clear what shots bosses take damage from. But the important thing is that there's no reason to use the default weapon for the rest of the game.



And here's the buster's final use: breaking certain types of blocks.



A school of sand fish was waiting at the top of this sand-fall, and they utterly destroyed me. With one heart and only one extra life remaining, things look grim for Firebrand.



After spilling into a pit of quick sand, a shiny new vial draws our hero's eye. But it's a trap! A malevolent but very small-thinking genie forms from a wisp of smoke (it looks pretty cool and is tough to capture with screenshots) and bum-rushes Firebrand. He takes several shots to put down.



Things get really hectic, but somehow I survive. Also: check out that trickle of sand in the background. It looks like it's flowing in-game.



Another wall, another genie, and then our path is clear to the boss!

BOSS: Sand Frog

This guy is so much fun. It bounds around, dashes across the screen, and dances on the spot (at which point it's invulnerable). Firebrand, you're an Arremer! Don't let some frog out-dance you.



When dancing, it will sometimes produce these spores, which launch themselves across the screen at you. Sometimes S.F. opts to launch as well, complicating things.



Still, with our new toy and the spikes confined to the edges of the arena rather than the center, we can really blast this guy (except when the dancing stall tactic comes into play). I'd landed several hits and managed to go unscathed for quite a while before I screwed up and it jumped into me from below.



Reaching a boss serves as a checkpoint though, and with full health, it was a fairly routine takedown.

The desert is a blast. It eases off the spikes and environmental dangers, opting to instead mess with your mobility via flowing sand, then send enemies from all angles. But you usually get a good look at where they're coming from in advance, so this allows you to use Firebrand's skills to get into position to fend off oncoming swarms. I think having a more forgiving weapon also helps. Sand Frog follows a similar principle. The flowing sand impacts the fight, but it doesn't force you to the opposite side of the screen as your opponent. It's very mobile, but not faster than you, so you can really go nuts with Firebrand's own mobility. The atmosphere is great, too.



Firebrand obtained the Gremlin Stick at the bottom of the desert. Something very powerful has built up in Firebrand's body. Firebrand obtained the Magic Tornado.

Here it is, the debut of tornado breath. In Demon's Crest, this thing was basically worthless, with virtually no offense and rendered obsolete by another power very quickly (possibly before you even obtain it). Let's take a look as we make our return to King Barr (this is crossing Gaza Valley and the broken bridge with floating skull platforms).



So yeah, the tornado spits a small funnel a short distance, which Firebrand can stand on to restore his wing power and reach new heights. You can have two onscreen at once, so you can build a staircase to reach the top of the screen quite easily. It trivializes these segments (especially welcome with the skulls). It's notable that there are several enemies it can damage/destroy, unlike the one or two in DC. But I think the main difference maker is Firebrand's wing meter vs. his infinite hovering in DC. Being able to restore your meter without a surface is immensely valuable, and without that function, the weapon was basically doomed to be vestigial in the SNES game.



Okay, we're back to see King Barr. But first, I'm going to take advantage of the low price of 1-ups in this town and stock up. We'll chat up the king next time.

Password: 40504042-7222314

I'm surprised Kishi hasn't hooked us up by now, honestly.

Barr's still a mess, so let's fix him up.




My body works! Thank you, Firebrand. I'll give you my power! Kah... (whenever royalty grants someone power in this game, the screen flashes red).

This particular boost gives our jump some more height.

Let's break the barrier and go to the king's palace.

By which he means he'll break the barrier and Firebrand will go to the palace.



We're off to new territory! Feel free to rough up the enemy again if you want a few more vials.



Uh...uh...uh...the black light appeared and...it was heading toward the king's palace. I'll leave it to you, Firebrand.

The gatekeeper fades from existence with these parting words. Well, things certainly nosedived fast.



Just like the other bridges, we start with a huge gap. This time we have a sniper to deal with. Luckily, the tornado will take care of it.




Again, the initial jump is the hardest part of the bridge. Spikes line the walls, but there are still plenty of footholds. Even if you take a hit here or there, your life should never be endangered. There's also a good chance to stock up on vials (just don't rush).



There's one more enemy contesting our final leap, and with that, we've made it! Now we can find out what the black light did to the palace.



...But there's so much to see! These guys are nasty. As soon as you touch the ground, they'll curl up and bounce toward you, launching at whatever trajectory is best to hit you with. They take two hearts off of our meager life bar, and while curled up, they're invincible. There really isn't an efficient way to deal with these guys. I try to lure them into ball form when they're as far as possible, try to dodge as best I can, and spam shots where they're going to land. You fully heal between each action scene, but this one may not be worth the vials.




Whoa, we have a lot of options! To the northwest of the palace is the town of Topete. Immediately north of that is some jerk who flatly refuses to let us advance. To the south is a small desert.



Northeast of the palace is a series of caves. The one in the left image is inaccessible for now, but we can go into the other two.

Things open up quite a bit in the mid-game. There are five different locations we can fully explore right now and actually gain something. This includes the game's only optional side quest. We'll have to do everything except the optional task to advance to the latter portions of the game, but the order we do them is up to us. The only real impact it has on gameplay is that whatever we choose to do first will be harder (and skipping the optional stuff will make the rest of the game much harder). Now, there are a couple sequences that work against the game's narrative, thin as it is. I don't know if that's important to you guys, so I figure I'll leave it to you.

Right now, we can access: Palace, Topete Village, Desert, West Cave, and East Cave. Anyone interested can list the order they want these places visited. If you want me to follow the intended path, you can just say that. If you want a random order or have another suggestion, just say so.

I know that just seeing the entrances of these places really doesn't tell you a lot about them, and it's not a very big deal either way. I just know that I'm going to be busy with work for a few days, and I think it should be up to you guys whether I showcase the "right way," the least conventional way, or something else.

Password (puts you at the palace): 51615123-8303425

I vote for "the right way" (including doing the optional stuff) with any commentary you deem necessary about things that happen when you do things out of order.

I vote for the opposite way. As in, whatever way you're supposed to do it, reverse that order. Include the optional section in the point where it would make the most sense.