Dip this thread in water to reveal - Let's Play StarTropics!

♪New Chapter♪


♪The Sub-C♪
Free of the neverending eternity of Chapter 3, we sail east and come upon a suspiciously fish-shaped Island.



♪Town♪



Well, I guess this is a fishing town.



You know how fishing stories go.



Must be Baboo! There's nothing else in this town, so let's go find him.


♪The Sub-C♪
We don't have to go too far east before...

Chomp!


♪Inside the Whale♪
Ah, swallowed by a whale. One of the oldest tricks in the book. There are a few options here: the Pinnochio, the Jonah, or the more recent Flapjack. Let's take a look around and see what we can do.



There's Baboo!



Looks like the Pinnochio for us.
Rats! I was looking forward to sleeping on a whale's tongue.


I like how he says "Let's" and means "You."



The whale's guts are a maze. You can get out of the Sub-C and walk on foot at some spots, and in others you can dive. Because you can only see a little bit at a time, it can get confusing, but I've done this so many times, I don't think I could get lost if I wanted to.



Dive here.



And here.

You can pass through the wall here, but the sparkles that reveal it are only visible if you reached this place on foot.



From here, it's a direct route to the Lighter.



Dive here for a one-way shortcut back to Baboo.



It's getting smokier!



♪Overworld♪




I don't have a letter with me... you mean that one I found in the bottle? That's gone.



♪Inside the Sub-C♪


Oh, right, THAT letter.


If you're having trouble reading it, try adjusting your monitor's contrast.
Or, use this handy dandy transcription:





This is StarTropics's most (in)famous moment.



To anyone who had the letter, this was the coolest thing ever. This combines "Get her frequency off of the back of the CD case," with The Hobbit's moon runes. I mean, feelies have had almost always had hints, but how many of them were SECRET like this? In fact, I don't think I've since seen another paper in my life that had secret wet letters.

To anyone who didn't have the letter, this is where you started to cry (except Brick, who started crying a lot earlier ).
Anyone who rented or bought it used was out of luck, forced to enter codes one at a time or call up the ol' Game Counselor. Or quit.

Having long since lost my original, I bought another boxed copy at the Rogers, Ohio flea market just for a new letter. He even threw in a boxed copy of the sequel and I got them for $5 each!

Completely worth it.

Of course, he's a member in good standing of Local 255. You know, the 8-Bit Adventure Game NPC Trade Union? Wouldn't want him to lose his job for violating code, would you?

For all the griping it gets (mainly from me), I still like Chapter 3 more then Chapter 4.

Chapter 4 doesn't even have a proper dungeon.

Same here. Though all I did was complain about the length, it's probably the best chapter. Behind this next one, I mean.




♪New Chapter♪


♪The Sub-C♪
From where we start, we can see a dock, a town, and a galleon blocking our way.



If we move around a bit, we can see to the east a few caves and a grand-looking building, and a dive spot to the southeast.

First things first.

♪Town♪






Take note of this.






Another village, another fat, mustachioed chief.



Um... partial credit.

♪Southern Cross♪


Sometimes I wonder why silly things like this exist. Answering "no" has no long term effects at all. Well, until you say no to King Arthur in StarTropics II and he refuses let you take it back, you coward.



I first thought this scenario odd, that there were pirates and British in the South Pacific in 1680. But it's feasible: Sir Francis Drake had already circumnavigated the globe 100 years earlier, and pirates were pretty much everywhere. Sure, the ones in the Atlantic and Carribean are what immediately come to mind, but there was still plenty of piracy along the Indian and Western American coasts, too, and of course there were the Chinese and other pirates of the Orient. Wherever a ship could go (i.e., water) a pirate was there to chase it. Of course, if anyone wants to add to this, I'll gladly hear it.


*Ahem*
So, let's see Peter.



Not far this way, a Giant Parrot has appeared.

♪Peter the Parrot♪


A gift? What do you get for the Parrot who has everything?


♪Inside Sub-C♪
When we board the Sub-C, Nav-com informs us that he's still tracking the 747Mhz signal we gave him last chapter. Good to see he's a nice, dependable robot, working hard even when the boss isn't around.

Entering the dive spot we spotted earlier, we reach the far side of the eastern Isle.

♪Town♪


Oh, that Nester!



Birds like worms, right?

♪Peter the Parrot♪


That doesn't mean anything!
That doesn't make any sense!

Lousy bird.

♪Overworld♪


Nothing else to do but reach that ornate building over there.



That's not right...



Sneaky!

♪Captain Bell's Legacy♪


It's nice to know that parrots are capable of oral tradition.

Let's see: 1990-1680=310
310 divided by 4 generations = 77.5 years.
I've heard that parrots can live to be 100, but do they normally have children so late in life?


A grand pipe organ rests here.


Do? Like, Do Re Mi, huh?

Wait, didn't that silly bird say something about Do-ing?


Mi... So... Fa.. Do.. Mi!

♪Piano♪


Thank you, Peter! I love you!

♪Town♪

There's a side path in this tunnel, but it's empty.

Unless...

PSI Rockin'!



The tunnel lets us out at the shore and leads us to the dungeon proper.

A very tricky one, I might add.

Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion!

I'd point out why this entire chapter is ridiculous but Loki already did.

Yes, exactly. It's best not to think about it.

♪Dungeon♪


This dungeon starts out like all the rest.



Except for that monster. What's he doing there? Maybe there's more to this room than usual.



Ah! Some hearts to get us up to Shooting Star level. Since the Heart Container just filled us up, they're not necessary now. But when one games over and end up back here, they're certainly handy.



The red Noctos are faster. They're also the only ones you need to kill to open the door. They might have more hit points, too, but it's moot with the Shooting Star.


♪Danger Zone♪
The tension picks up quickly in this dungeon!
The tiles directly above and below the entrance make more more double hearts appear near the one already present.



Halfway through, the tiles start collapsing behind us(!!!), so we have to find the switch quickly and get out.

Theres just enough time to reveal the switch, hit the switch, and get 2 heart pickups, and get out.



As you head to the left, arrow-spears fly out of the walls at you. You can outrun them, unless two fire at once, in which case, JUMP!



The steel orb stays put and deals big damage if you touch it.



When you hit it with your weapon, it flies back and forth. Jump as it approaches and don't dawdle.


♪Dungeon♪
Things seem to ease up a bit in this quiet room. There are 3 exits.



There are some hearts to the west, yes, but arrows start firing right away and continue throughout. Stay alert or you'll lose much more life than you gain. The other exits are unreachable.



To the south is a Try-your-luck sign, along with Green Ropers. They move, unlike their red cousins, but only charge if you're in front of them.



No goodies in this room, but there's got to be something to it. Maybe if I try walking through the walls-



I'm falling!


♪Boss♪
As soon as you land, these giant punjis start stabbing at you. The boss music even plays to add extra danger. It's not too hard to avoid them, but try not to get trapped.

♪Dungeon♪

Each staircase takes you to a different corner, but only one is right. The rest lead you into more hidden holes. The rats will only walk on solid ground, so you can watch them.

To progress, use the SE stairs, then walk through the false walls.




Moving along.


♪Danger Zone♪
More trouble.



Lots more trouble! The tiles collapse much faster than the other room. Panic sets in when you realize the door's locked, and you have all these tiles to check!



Luckily, a little logic states that since you get herded to this side of the room rather quickly, and these tiles are the last to collapse, the switch should be over here.




♪Boss♪
This evil Blue Bowling Ball will flat out KILL you if you touch it, so don't. It rolls back and forth from one end of the room to the other, but there are lots of spaces to hide in as it passes. It also make an inexplicable airbrake sound and stops when it reaches the end of the room, so you always have an idea of what it's doing. In a pinch, hit it with your weapon to freeze it temporarily. As long as you're hitting it, it won't move, so there's little danger if you calm down.



You remember what the mirror does, right?


♪Dungeon♪
These pirates are just like the wizards from the Ghost Village. But, you only need to kill the Looper to continue, so you don't need to bother with the mirror at all!



I didn't know that at the time, though, and slipped up while trying to fight them. Oops.



You restart in this room, and you'll be flattened quickly if you're not on the ball. So to speak.



You're almost forced to move in right angles in this room, since it's very difficult to deal with two orbs moving on the same path at once. That's a Rod of Sight in the center.



To the north is a very evil room with a few hidden hearts. Yes, that's a sinking tile that you start on, so move right away or drown.


♪Sanctuary♪
In to the west is an empty sanctuary with only a worthless Bat. There's a door, but no switch to open it.


Remember the Rod?

Ah, medicine. Note the barriers.



Head south to get things back on track.

♪Boss♪

This Green Bowling Ball, is just like the blue one, but with 50 % less room to maneuver in. You'll probably have to hit it to get through.

The door north takes us to where the medicine was, but it's unreachable from this way.

♪Dungeon♪


Lots of bats, but no tricks here.



Two Big Bullies, but killing them does nothing. (pardon the flickering)



The switch opens a way east, but that takes us back to the sanctuary.



Check your pockets.



Here, you're forced to deal with two of these steel orbs. If you don't time it right, you won't be able to dodge both of them and take a few hits.



More punjis. They can poke through tiles, so don't think you're safe there. One of the tiles give hearts.



Keep moving left and jumping at the first opportunity. You'll make it fine. Otherwise, you're dealing with arrows, punjis, and submerging tiles in a deadly combo.

♪Boss♪


The final, most evil Bowling Ball: Red.
It's the same room layout as Blue, but Red doesn't go down the hall, no. It only goes as far as the edge of the screen. Oh, and it doesn't stop all the time when it gets there, rolling back and forth continuously.

Here, you have to hit it to move on.


♪Whoops!♪

♪Game over♪


When all your lives are gone, the Coralcola shaman appears and revives you, I guess.
Back to the beginning of the cave!



There are Ghost Pirates in this room, and unlike last time you need to beat them to proceed. I hope you got the mirrors in the last room...



A strange device resides at the end of the dungeon. The switch is on the other side of the wall though.

But if you've made it this far, you shouldn't have trouble figuring out how to reach it.

♪God Save the Queen♪





With the ship gone, we automatically sail through.

The worst part about this puzzle is that even if you know the correct order to do them in ahead of time you still have to do the quest to feed the worm to the parrot before it'll take.

Ah yes, the dungeon where you show your commitment to your uncle's principles of archaeology by sinking and destroying an important historical artifact.

♪New Chapter♪


♪Sub-C♪


Like most of the other chapters, this one starts in the middle of the ocean.



And, like most of the other chapters, there's a landmass to the east.



Through the passage, a small town.

♪Town♪






To this day, I still don't understand what's going on here. A definite source of frustration when I was younger, I was certain that there was some secret to this guy. I now resign myself to the fact that in this day of GameFAQs and ROM hacking, something would have been found were there something to find.

Still, I wonder.





Bananas! In your ears!



That's all this tiny town has to offer.


When we return to the Sub-C:
♪Inside the Sub-C♪


We're close!!

♪Sub-C♪


Following Nav-Com's directions, we head north.



Of course, it's not going to be as easy as sailing north 49 squares and east 28 squares. There's a lot of navigating to do still. This is the first chapter you get to really use the Sub-C and do some actual exploration.



To start, dive here.



From this small pool, you can dive in each of the cardinal directions. We came from the west, and the north is a dead end.

To the south is a small Island with a Big... Apple?





Everytime you board the Sub-C, Nav-Com fills you in.



To the east is another small island with a Big Heart.

Past it is the path onward.

♪Town♪


Not far beyond is a mysterious hut...



One of the other great mysteries from Chapter 6 that bewildered me at the age of 12... until I learned who Robinson Crusoe was.
Still, the skeleton's lying in a pool of blood...

♪Sub-C♪


There is only a tree here, but you can see the passage from here.



In this arrow-shaped chain of tiny islands, there are five dive spots.



Only this one goes anywhere. The rest connect to each other.



There are a few more atolls here with more dive spots strewn about. It's easy enough to find your way through; dive at these two spots.



Out of your way in this maze is an island with nothing. Really, no secrets or anything.



As we head north on the right path, Nav-Com alerts us!





So close!



We've reached the source of the signal! Along with an extremely ominous-looking crater. Nowhere left to go but

♪Sub-C♪


Down. To a small undersea area, with a cave nearby. Not only does this place have a unique tileset, it's also the only time we can see the whole of the Sub-C. (Did you ever notice the eyes?)

Say goodbye to the Sub-C, this is the last we'll see of her.



The tunnel gets progressively darker as we enter.

♪Ruins♪


On the other side of the tunnel are these eerie ruins. Dr J. has to be somewhere inside!

♪Dungeon♪


You'll notice right away that this dungeon has a more unique, perhaps more epic look.



The purple Loopers move like the green ones, but will charge when you line up with them, regardless of their facing.

♪Sanctuary♪


This is a new item: the Anklet.



It lets you jump twice as far, and gives you a nice orange shirt to show it's working.

♪Dungeon♪


It only lasts for one room, though.



The goal here is to kill all of the Octots. There are two different trails of tiles in this room, and you might have to take both of them to hit all the targets. If you still have at least 6 hearts, you can use the range of the Shooting Star and attack sideways while jumping to get them all on the same trail that takes you to the door.



These 6 pink Muumus walk continuously counter-clockwise around the ring.
Jump into the gap and attack, retreating as needed. Once you hit the switch, you can attack safely from where the chest is.



Before we leave, some hidden treasure.



This tiny, slow Nautilus looks non-threatening, but absorbs more damage than one might suspect.

♪Boss♪


This is first actual boss fight since Maxie in the Ghost Village.

Turboss here fights exactly like Octo the Huge, but without the benefit of the Magic Snowman.

♪Victory♪


But we do have the Shooting Star, so he's not very hard, regardless.



Short dungeon.

♪Dungeon♪


"Psyche!" As the kids say.



Only one way to go.



We know there's a tile right in front of us, so:



There's not much we can do from here. But we can see there's a hidden path from the last room to the Anklet, which will let us hit the light switch and manuvre around the room. But that last strip at the bottom is 3 tiles away, unreachable even whilst orange.



There's a hidden path down there, too, and the switch present blows a hole in the wall. That will stay open, so we don't have to worry about it when we leave the room to get the Anklet.



These "Wonder Horsehides" aren't worth using over the Shooting Star. Especially since they actually don't damage anything.



Remember when I said that the Magic Snowman was the second greatest item in the game? Meet the first.



The purpose of the Spiked Shoes is to flip out and kill everybody!

This is the only room these enemies exist in; their sole purpose to demonstrate the awesomosity of the boots.



Between the cannons and restricted movement space, it's somewhat hard to come out of this room without damage. There are a few hearts in here, though.



Since the enemies here can move freely and you can't, it's dangerous to fight normally. So leave your footprints in their faces, as Chie would say.



None of these tiles do anything. I checked all 96 of them, one at a time, just for you.



May as well use the shoes on these nobodies, because:

♪Boss♪

After he emerges from the wall, Broken Joe (what?) will slowly worm back and forth towards you, like a Space Invader. He pauses to shoot snakes out of his mouth (?). At this point, jump the snake and pitch some fastballs down his gullet. That's the only weapon he's vulnerable to, so don't run out!



His eyes bulge out when he goes kaput.

♪Ruins♪


That dungeon was just the front door. More ruins abound.

It's a lot more open on this end, and requiring the navigation of a short maze.



Since there's no danger outside of a dungeon, it's just a test of patience. Like Chapter 4, but far less complex. Be sure to get this Big Heart.



!!!!



This! This is it! This is what Uncle Steve was dealing with, and why he's in trouble! And it's what caused that nasty hole up above.

♪Dungeon♪

Directly behind the meteor is the next dungeon. There's a little trick in this part of the game: leave the dungeon and the Heart Container comes back! You can waltz back and forth and fill up your meter if so inclined. Just know that
1. That's nine trips, and
2. Your health at the beginning of each new chapter is predetermined, irrespective of how many or how few Heart containers you get.




Hmm, a complete dead end.



Whoops! I accidentally walked through this wall! But I can't do anything from here.



Here's the real path, back at the entrance.



Here we are on the right side of the wall.



Blades here. They're just the same as the punji logs a chapter back.



Ah, finally: a sub-weapon worth using.



Push B after firing to split the Asterisk into two separate stars that move out perpendicular. The power of the Right-Angle attack, dreaded in space shooters, is yours!



The spiked ball in the middle is just like the floating steel orbs of Chapter 5.
You shouldn't try to hit the snakes with your normal weapon, since they charge when you get next to them, so use the Asterisk instead.



To the left is a Sanctuary with 4 hearts. This dungeon's real generous with free hearts.

To the left is a Sanctuary with 4 hearts. This dungeon's real generous with free hearts.



Those fuzzy bubble-like things move around the room in an erratic, mostly diagonal pattern. They do no damage when they hit you, but you can't attack for a short time afterwards. Why does that seem so familiar?

♪Sanctuary♪


It requires a manual jump north to continue, like that room in Chapter 3.



There's nowhere to jump from here, but you can pass through this wall.



So why is that last bit of land up there?



Well, well, well. How many of you knew that this was here?

♪Boss♪

This guy can wreck your day. If he touches you, you take a whopping eleven hearts of damage. That's a whole bar. Also, when you line up with him, he'll fire a 4-way bullet and start moving towards you. You could try to attack him head-on, jumping the bullets while wailing away with the Shooting Star. This has risks, as not only do the bullets inflict 3 hearts of damage, the stun could let him catch you. The slower, safer method is to use the 90-degreeitude of the Asterisks to keep yourself out of harm's way.

For some reason, I took a real shining to this guy as a kid. He looked so cool and distinct! Imagine my surprise years later when I first saw this guy and learned that there was an origin to the design. And it goes to follow that Arahabaki is one of my favorite Persona/demons.
On that note, it's probably the most Japanese thing in the game. Maybe the only thing?

♪Victory♪

It's defeat makes a tile appear, and the tile generates a Try-your-luck sign.

Why would we need extra lives if we just beat the boss?









♪Dungeon♪


Yes, that's why.



Like I said, plenty of easy hearts.



This is very similar to an earlier room.



This strange enemy sorta teleport-walks in a straight line. When he hits the wall, he solidifies, but fires out in 3 directions. Like everything else here, Asterisks are the best solution.



What's red and friendly?



More teleporting rock-monsters here; there are five total but appear two at a time.



Do you like hearts?

There's a pink walking rock-monster here, but more importantly:





Powerful monsters + disarming bubbles = be careful.



Of course, you get nothing for fighting. The real exit is through the left wall.

♪Sanctuary♪


You know, we got a lot of goods here: tons of Asterisks, 2 meds, most of my health.
Say, what was in the room right after the last Sanctuary? That doll, right?



♪Boss♪


Two of them are more than twice as dangerous as one. You're going to want to use the throwing stars to stay safe unless you're real confident in your ability to control Mike.

♪Victory♪


Are we done for real this time, or is this another psyche-out like the last two times?

♪Boss♪
I hope you didn't believe that victory music again.

There's no visual indication (obviously), but you can pass through the wall to the left for a few more goods before the real boss.



Continue up the dark path to fight these twin statues. Even the boss room has some hidden hearts and stars (no horseshoes or clovers, though)

If you know what to do here, you've been paying attention. Give yourself a gold Star.

♪Victory (for real this time!)♪


♪Ruins♪


Not far from the exit, you can see the crater again.



Dr. Marvin Monroe?

♪Southern Cross♪


♪Dr. Jones♪




If you go talk to him again:





Can a lone teenager defeat evil aliens? Even if he's not Japanese? Find out next!

I was so happy to learn that back when I first played the game.

The dungeon may be LOUSY with Hearts, but everything in it takes them all out with one shot.

♪New Chapter♪


It's not a far walk to the ship.

♪Inside the Spaceship♪


The first thing you notice is the new spacey tileset. Then, the spacey dungeon remix.



This dungeon is also a marked departure in structure:
Instead of a linear excursion with occasional branching rooms, it's completely open, with little direction and dangerous enemies. Other than that tiny tunnel in Chapter 3, this is the smallest dungeon, but because it's so difficult, you're probably going to be spending a lot of time with it.



This guy combines the worst qualities of every enemy: He's fast, can jump, does high contact damage, and to top it all off, he can shoot, too! Luckily, his bullets' range is shorter than the Shooting Star, so we can take him out fairly easily.

That X-tile to the left is a teleporter. That's our destination, the goal of this dungeon is to find it's partner tile.



One more room to the north are two cannons and a pill. Unlike the other cannons encountered in the game, these can be killed, but only when they open up to fire.



The pill, on the other hand, is Vitamin X, and fills our hearts to the Maximum maximum, giving our skin a healthy red hue in the process. Every five seconds or so, you'll lose half a heart until you're back down to your actual max life.



Also here is a secret room that can be opened by attacking the wall a few times. There's really no indication or hint that this is possible; there're plenty of these rooms later on but they have cracks. In fact, in all the times I've played this game, this time was the first I've found this room and the precious Spiked Shoes within. I was previously under the impression that there was only one in the game.



The teleporter present takes us to another room. See that pink biking alien? They're the Medusa heads of StarTropics. With all that that implies.



I decided that wasn't where I wanted to be, so I teleported back and went right.



Then south.



Take the north teleport to get the medicine seen earlier.



These green aliens are much more deadly than they're yellow friends. Not only do they do more damage, their shots have far more range! It would be very stupid to fight it here.

...but since that wall has the same appearance as the one I broke down earlier, on a hunch I try to attack it, too.



Wow! I guess you're always learning, huh?



Instead of fighting, I head back to the teleporter and use the eastern one.

It takes us past the green guy but on the same path, and I head south to this room.



This is where the dungeon's real danger is. There are about 5 of the deadly, deadly greenies here. My strategy used to be grabbing a Vitamin X and making a mad dash through, but now with the spiked shoes, they're easily dispatched from a distance! Excelsior!



The bikers only take one hit with the star, so if you're careful and methodical, you can make it through. But they're fast and you're jumping, so sometimes they can still take you by surprise.



This teleporter it the one we want. I also grabbed a Laser gun. It does the same damage as the Shooting Star, but with more range and speed, along with a cool sound. Probably the best weapon in the game. Plenty of ammo, too!



Here we are!

♪Boss♪


These two Jet Packers fly around the room firing at you. Start off with your remaining boots, then switch to the gun. They're not too hard if you remember that you can attack perpendicular to your movement while in the air.

♪Victory!♪


Man, I used to dread this dungeon, but with the discovery of the Spiked boots, it's a snap!

♪In search of the Cubes♪


Ok, let's find those cubes. Which of these stairs is correct? I'mma go wit' da one on da right.



Cool!



The Super Nova requires 11 hearts to use. The damage isn't much higher than the star (2.5 damage compared to 2), but it's range is the whole of the screen. Plus, it also makes the same cool sound as the laser gun!

♪Inside the Spaceship♪


Next dungeon:



There's enough hearts to take us to 11, even from the 3 you'd have when you start a new life.



The range of the Nova makes beating these guys trivial.



This wall is clearly cracked and clearly breakable. There's medicine inside.



Those green things are mobile turrets, only harmable when they attack.

When you're on the same line as that hole, it will generate these fast-moving spike balls and launch them at you. They can be easily dispatched, however. The real nuisance of the room is the alien, since he has sufficient range to reach you.



No need to stick around here.



Bash the turrets to escape. Switch to the laser if you lose the range of the Nova.



These satellite enemies are weak and move predictably.



Past the cracked wall is the Electricity Gun. In terms of pure damage, this is the strongest weapon in the game. It also has a very wide shot. Since its ammo, range, and speed are inferior to the other gun, in most cases isn't the ideal weapon, but its wide shot is extremely helpful for fighting Greenies in close quarters.



More pills, guns, and spikes. You also start uncomfortably close to this alien, so try to beat him before you get the Vitamin X.



It's impossible to screen shot the whole thing, but an electric wall will appear intermittently in this room. It's easy enough to not jump through it, but it also blocks your attacks.



The barrier's in this room, too. I should mention that it only blocks your shots, not the enemies'. The Orange gun is very useful here.



The red satellites move like the greys but fire at you.

♪Boss♪


This lone brown Jetpacker functions much like a slower Octo the Huge or Turboss, but actually comes down far enough to touch you, and it never stops shooting, making it an actual threat. Keep moving, sneaking in shots when you can.

♪Victory♪


The north wall's cracked, but there's nothing inside.

♪Spaceship♪


Here's the checkpoint. It's easy enough when well-armed, but when you've just revived and only have the Shooting Star and no guns, it's quite dangerous. Never underestimate the green aliens. The cracked wall has another 20 shots of orange.



This room is more annoying than it should be. It's full of the red, firing satellites, and for some reason they always hit me a few times, reducing my range, thus making them even more annoying.



Last room before the end. The glowing tiles deal a crippling 7 damage, and move slowly your way. There's a safe pattern, but I usually bungle it.

♪Boss♪


As you hit the Osteroid, it will stagger back, revealing a switch. Hitting this switch makes another switch appear, and hitting that one will remove a portion of the floor.

♪Victory♪


From there, knock him into the whole.

I swear, swear, swear that I killed him once as a child through straight-up damage, and one website backs up my claim, but I was unable to duplicate it, i.e. impatient. It must be a lot of damage.



♪Search♪

Upon exit, there's a real maze waiting. Lot's of dead ends!



We're going to need them all.



♪Liftoff♪

♪Movement♪
Next is the final chapter, folks!

God, I remember getting stuck in the spaceship area because it was so hard. The aliens are brutal.

♪New Chapter♪


♪Spaceship beeping♪


♪Spaceship♪

The last chapter is very short, but very intense. It's only a few steps to the final dungeon.


But before make it that far...
♪Boss♪


Let this be a lesson to always keep a pair of bananas on hand to ward off Physchic intrusion.

♪Alien Dungeon♪


Even though we have a 22-heart life meter, you still start every life with just 3. This comes into play immediately:

♪Boss Battle♪


First room in, and Zoda attacks! He slinks back into the darkness and reappears as a cruel alien visage.



There's a Lazer gun in the room, fortunately, so use it to plug him as fast as you can. After a few seconds, he becomes immune to damage and fires three pairs of eyballs at you. You can only afford to be hit once.



After he shoots some oculars at you, he'll fade out and begin a new attack. Sometimes, a hand will appear and sweep across the arena. It always kills, so stay in the middle inbetween Zoda's attack phases to give yourself the best chance of outrunning it.

♪Victory♪


After 20 or so solid hits from the gun, the face is defeated and reforms into Zoda...



Which reforms again into this pink, Parasaurolophus-like monster, and retreats into the darkness.

♪Aliens♪


This dungeon has a unique design that makes it look like a side-scroller, but the controls funtion the same. They are also kind enough to give away a Vitamin X to refill our health.



These new, gold-colored aliens are actually a bit less threatening than the greens, doing less damage and having less range.



There are a few windows with red aliens shooting out at you, but it's not worth the time or effort to kill them. Just run by and you won't get hit by them.



The tile here will open up every so often and either a gold or green alien will hop out to either side. Unlike the similar opening tiles in the last chapter, falling into this hole will actually take you into a new room, not kill you outright.



The bad news is that this room is full of dangerous aliens.

The good news is that once you kill them all, not only do you get all your health and ammo back, but a room opens up that gives you an orange gun and 3 medicines.



The strange thing about this room is that the enemies will stay dead when you come back out. They'll be back if you fall in again, though. The pill and Lazer gun will also return, but not the Meds and Elec gun.



You end up back here when you're done, but at least you don't have to fight Zoda again.

Unless you die.



Past that tile, and it's a very short jaunt to:



The ship's reactor. This can be a very short, easy fight, or a long, frustrating one. The four tiles in this room open up periodically. The bottom two release golden spiked balls. They can be defeated, but take two hits unlike their red cousins. A gold alien will hop out of one of the two top tiles. Should you be standing on a tile when it opens, or accidentally walk into a hole, you'll be taken back to the basement.



The reactor can only be harmed when the core opens. You know this, you've played video games before. But, when the reactor will heal when it closes. This is where the frustration comes in. You're scrambling to damage it before your work gets erased, but the only clear shot is either in the line of fire of the spikes, or on top of a tile that could open at any moment.

The best strategy is probably to stand all the way back, firing with the laser when possible and killing the fired spikes as they approach. They can't be jumped over. Deal with the alien only if he comes near.

♪Spaceship♪


With the reactor destroyed, everything takes on a broken-down appearance.



Over the course of the next few rooms, these evil Koosh balls continually trickle down from the north to attack. At the end, with only one tile left to spawn on, they can be killed repeatedly for easy hearts and stars.

♪Boss♪


Zoda's back, in the final battle! He's capable of hopping around on the tiles as well as freely walking about on the floor. When you line up with him, he fires some bullets from his navel, and when you're not he coughs up more creatures to attack. And you die instantly if he touches you.



The difficulty in this battle comes from the fact that your weapons only go as far as the screen's edge, and if he's not visible he can't be harmed, even if you're lined up with him. Take shots when they're available, and don't let him get too close. The creatures can still drop life, but it's unreasonable to try grinding health back from them.

♪Victory♪


I managed to royally bungle this fight, but miraculously somehow still beat him with one heart and the Yoyo! When defeated, he foams and drools something fierce before disappearing for good.

♪Spaceship♪

For some reason, the music changes back here...



But it doesn't mean anything. Let's get that cube!



Gotta hurry!



Uh-oh!