GAME CENTER CX: ARINO NO CHOUSENJOU [Arino's Challenge]

FAQ/Walkthrough by Molokidan ([email protected])

=CONTENTS=
1. Update History [U]
2. Introduction [I]
3. Menu [M]
4. Games [G]
5. Cosmic Gate [C]
6. Karakuri Ninja Haguruman [K1]
7. Rally King [R1]
8. Star Prince [S]
9. Rally King SP [R2]
10. Karakuri Ninja Haguruman 2 [K2]
11. Guadia Quest [Q]
 -Spell List [L]
12. Karakuri Ninja Haguruman 3 [K3]
 -Gear List [GR]
13. Ending [E] 
14. Special Thanks [T]

=Update History= [U]

v1.1: 2/11/8 - I've added detailed info. on how to clear each game, rewritten
some inconsistent info, and added the section detailing the ending. All I 
really have left now is to add other secrets when I find them and optional
stuff for each game. 

v1.0: 2/8/8 - This first version contains info on all the games and their
respective challenges, and how to clear the entire game itself. It's just
missing detailed information on fully clearing each game, which I hope to
add eventually. 

=Introduction= [I]

GCCX:ANC is an awesome DS game designed for anyone, but it should really 
strike home to fans of retro gaming, as it contains tons of tongue-in-cheek 
humor about the industry and lots of throwback to titles and trends from the 
80s, mainly from 8-bit NES games. The concept of the game itself comes from a 
popular Japanese game show called Game Center CX, in which people are 
subjected to different 'challenges' based around extremely hard classic games,
such as Ghouls'n'Ghosts, Super Mario Bros. 2 (The Lost Levels), The Quest of 
Ki, etc. Basically hard games. The results are usually hilarious, so I really 
recommend the show to any fan of Japanese/gaming humor.

Enough about that. This game starts with Arino, the host of Game Center CX, 
coming to you as a rather strange disembodied virtual head. This time, for 
the next in his long string of sadistic 'challenges,' he's decided to turn 
you, the player, into a child, and send you back to the 80s in order to play 
a bunch of games and complete challenges. It's pretty hokey, but that's the 
point. The game starts, and on the bottom screen, you'll be faced with the 
area your character will stay in for the rest of the entire game...(young) 
Arino's room. The games you play on his TV, however, will take you on a quest 
of classic gaming spanning 8 different titles.

This game is a lot of fun, and I love it, although personally, I thought the 
difficulty of the challenges was pretty easy, and any seasoned gamer will have 
no trouble in unlocking all the games within a single day. Clearing the games 
themselves is a different story, but I do think it would have been funner if 
the challenges had been harder, really requiring you to develop strategies 
while you try over and over again to achieve something...much like classic NES 
games and the insanely difficult games featured on the actual TV show.

=MENU= [M]

Main Menu - 

The main menu of the game is set on a black space backdrop, with four options,
two of which have to be unlocked. The first is a new game, and the second is
continue. The 'game' itself is playing the different games, so it can get a 
bit confusing since you end up playing a game within a game. Your best bet is
just to start one game and keep going, there's no need to restart your entire
data unless you want to do the challenges over again. The third option, which
you get from completing all of the main challenges, is Free Play, where you 
can set high scores. One thing to remember here, however, is that the codes 
you can use when completing the challenges won't work in this mode. The last
option is the Sound menu, which you receive after clearing each game once. 

Arino's Room Menu - 

When you press A in Arino's room, you'll open up a menu from which you can do 
different things. 

First Option: Choose a game. This'll take you to the game shelf in Arino's 
room, where you can select which title you want to play. When you have one 
title on the screen, you can also look through the instruction booklet before 
you play the actual game. This is usually a good idea, as it'll tell you about 
all the features each game has, most of which are not obvious after playing 
for the first time. All you have to do is press A again to start the actual 
game.

Second Option: Read Game Fan magazines. As you progress, Arino will buy more 
copies of Game Fan, a magazine that will feature news on upcoming games as 
well as give you codes to use on the games you have. Other than that it'll 
have mini-walkthroughs to help you complete challenges, talk about game 
secrets, and other funny stuff. (Translations of these coming soon?)

Third Option: Memo Pad. This is an option that will allow you to write 
things down using the DS Pen on sheets of note paper. If you're at home,
this is kind of useless because you can use real paper, but I can see how
it'd come in handy if you're playing on the go.

Fourth Option: Converse with Arino. You can talk to him and he'll give 
you general information about the challenge you're on, although most of 
the time he just refers you to the Game Fan magazines.

Fifth Option: Quit. This'll quit the game, but before Arino will allow you to 
save your progress and even continue playing if you want. But you don't have 
to worry about losing all your progress if you choose quit.

=GAMES= [G]

There are eight different games that you'll be able to unlock throughout the 
course of the game. If you want details on how to play the games, beat the 
challenges, etc, go to the individual game section in this guide and 
everything will (eventually) be detailed out. Here's the list of the games, 
and my rating out of five stars. The next game will be unlocked by completing 
the four challenges on the previous game. 

When you're playing games, you can reset them by holding R+B. (This comes in 
handy when trying to complete tricky challenges.)

If you press L+X while playing the games, it will return your control to
the room on the lower screen. During this, if you press R+B you will shut
off the entire game console, so be careful. But this way you can access
the room menu while in the middle of a game. 

1. Cosmic Gate (Space Invaders/Galaga-type shooter) ***
2. Karakuri Ninja Haguruman (Mario/Bubble Bobble-type platformer) ****
3. Rally King (Racing) ***
4. Star Prince (1942-type shooter) *****
5. Rally King SP **
6. Karakuri Ninja Haguruman 2 ****
7. Guadia Quest (RPG) *****
8. Karakuri Ninja Haguruman 3 *****

After you complete all the challenges for the games, you'll be able to do the 
'final challenge,' which is basically to clear all eight games, all the way 
through to the end. Once you beat that, you'll get a surprise.

=COSMIC GATE= [C]

Alright, the first game: Cosmic Gate. The rules should be pretty 
self-explanatory, as you just move left and right and shoot the aliens. 
Every three or so levels you will go through an asteroid field, where you can 
rack up points (or get hit by an asteroid and die). This is a great game to 
start with, as it is the most 'basic' out of the eight games included, and 
really harkens back to the days of Atari and simple gaming. Especially 
hilarious is the congratulations you get from beating the asteroid levels: 
"YOU SHOOTED ## ASTEROIDS." 

SPECIAL CONTROLS:

On the game over screen, press LEFT + START to continue. 

On the title screen, press DOWN, DOWN, B, B, A, A to access "Hard Mode."

TIP #1: Once and a while, one of the enemies will drop a power-up, so try to 
grab it. Although, the power-ups aren't that amazing, so don't go suicidal or 
anything trying to get it. 

TIP #2: One-ups will also drop, but they look like tomatoes (since this game's 
developer is 'TOMATO'). Definitely grab these!! 

TIP #3: During the asteroid level, once and a while huge asteroids will float 
by, so try to shoot these and destroy them, as you get a ton of points. 
If you can't get under them immediately, however, just don't even bother 
trying, you'll just get squashed. You have to be on the lookout for them and 
get in range quickly in order to shoot them up before they contact you. 

TIP #4: There are also warps. These are a must for trying to clear the entire 
game, as they can cut down the number of stages you need to clear by a lot, 
and make it much easier. Basically, when a new wave of enemies fly in, there 
will be one enemy blinking white. If you're aiming for the warp, then don't 
shoot ANY OTHER enemies, or that special enemy will stop blinking, and you 
won't be able to get that warp anymore. Instead, either shoot the enemy when 
it first comes in, or wait until you have an opportune moment to shoot it once 
it lines up. Once you shoot the blinking enemy, a warp hole will appear in a 
corner of the screen. Now, while dodging enemy fire, you have to shoot the 
warp zone repeatedly until it grows big enough and sucks you in. 

CHALLENGE #1: Clear Stage 5.

This challenge is easy, and rightly so, as it's the first challenge in the 
entire game. Basically, you just need to survive through stage 5, it doesn't 
matter if you die or anything. Just get past it somehow. You can use warps, 
although it isn't necessary. 

CHALLENGE #2: Warp Twice. 

This is a bit more tricky, as it requires you to use active not just one, but
two warp gates in a single run. Well, the warp zones get harder to activate as
the levels go up, so your best bet in this case is to simply activate the 
first two warp zones that you possibly can. Check out Tip #4 out there to 
learn the finer arts of activating warp zones. The first warp will take you 
to level 3, which is an asteroid field, so just survive through that and them 
get to Level 4, where you can activate your second warp. Once you do that, the
challenge will be complete. If you somehow just mess up, it's easier just to 
reset then keep trying, as level 1 has the easiest warp to access.

CHALLENGE #3: Destroy a giant asteroid.

In my opinion, this is easier than challenge two, since you really only have
to do one thing, which isn't too difficult. There are two main ways to go 
about this: use the warp in level 1 to go straight to the asteroid field, and
then find the big asteroid and destroy it, if you can...or, you can skip the 
warp, go to level 2, and pick up the power-up. There's a fairly high chance in
level 2 that an enemy will drop one, and this will make your asteroid-hunting
a bit easier since you'll have more power in your shots. Whichever way you 
want to do it is up to you, just make sure that when you're in the asteroid 
field your eyes are toward the upper part of the screen and watching for a 
big hunk of rock. Keep in mind that there are three sizes of asteroids: the
tiny pebble ones, the normal-sized ones, and then the big ones that only come
about 1 or 2 per level. It's the big one that you need to blow up.

CHALLENGE #4: Score 200,000 points.

This is the only relatively 'challenging' challenge in Cosmic Gate, really,
and it's only because it requires you to survive for a longer period of time
than what you're used to. You may find yourself having to get to Level 10-15
(this is without using warps of course) in order to achieve such a high score,
but it isn't impossible or even relatively difficult, as long as you get a
rhythm in your shots. Getting power-ups here is pretty important as although
your normal shots don't get stronger, what happens is that once every few shots
you'll shoot what looks like a big rocket, and this has the ability to slice
through entire lines of enemies, racking up combos that multiply the scores
you get from enemies. This is the key in getting high scores. Also, this goes
without saying, but shooting the big asteroids will net you lots of points as
well. Once you get past the initial swarm of enemies in each level and they
start to move around one-by-one, just dodge them -- don't try to go for them
when they loop around towards the bottom of the screen, it isn't worth it and
usually ends up in death. There really isn't much more to say about this, just
keep on firing and try not to die. 

FINAL CHALLENGE: Clear the game.

There are 64 stages in total, and of course you can get through the game level
by level, but that can get old fast. Using warps is fine, although most warps
only shoot you three levels ahead. Here's the fastest way, which I found on
the Japanese GGCX wiki:

2 -> 5 -> 13 -> 17 -> 29 -> 37 -> 41 -> 53 -> 61. 

That way you don't have go through all 64 stages at once. 


=KARAKURI NINJA HAGURUMAN= [K1]

Alright, time for the second game. Haguruman is kind of like the ultimate mix
between Mario, Megaman, and Bubble Bobble -- you can stomp on your enemies to
kill them, you can shoot things at them, but you are also confined within
rooms and have to fight bosses once you kill all the enemies. It's also a bit
like Ghouls'n'Ghosts in that you can take a single hit, but another hit will
kill you for good. There are a few annoying things about the game, but overall
it's pretty fun, and a good break between Cosmic Gate and Rally King. By the
way, about the name, Karakuri is a word that commonly refers to wind-up toys
or clockwork things, and then Haguruma means cog-wheel, so it's a funny play
on words. A decent translation would be "Wind-Up Ninja Cogman."

Special Controls:
A: Jump
B: Throw Shuriken
UP: Open Door
DOWN+A: Go through a floor panel

On the game over screen, press LEFT + START to continue. 

During the game, pause and press DOWN, RIGHT, UP, LEFT, B four times, A four 
times, and you'll automatically gain three scrolls. 

TIP #1: You can only use shuriken to stun enemies, but you need to jump on
them to actually kill them. You never run out of shuriken, though, so it's
safe to just keep firing them all the time since enemies can sometimes have
unpredictable jump/moving patterns.

TIP #2: You'll see weird multi-colored doors around the levels with Japanese
kana on them. If you press up in front of these walls, you'll go inside them.
You can use this to hide from enemies. If you come back out of the doors,
sometimes a scroll will spawn. Try to collect the scroll if you can, since
collecting three will summon a helper who stuns all the enemies on the screen
for you.

TIP #3: Notice that when you go through a door, all the same-colored doors
will open and close simultaneously. You can actually use this to stun enemies
far away from you if they are in front of these same-colored doors. 

TIP #4: Once in a while opening/closing a door will spawn this golden 
shuriken that will fly toward you. You CANNOT defeat this by throwing 
shurikens at it or jumping on it, so all you can really do to dodge it is 
jump out of the way or go back into the door. Watch out, because this can
really mess you up if enemies are swarming you when it happens.

TIP #5: Don't confuse the evil flying orange disc with the normal powerups
enemies drop -- you can grab those no problem, and it's usually in your best
interest to do so.

CHALLENGE #1: Get a double kill combo.

Alright, so getting a double kill combo here just means you have to jump on
two enemies in a row without touching the ground. This can actually be harder
on later levels, where enemies take more than one hit to kill, so I strongly
recommend staying on the first level to get this done, unless you're some kind
of masochist. The little green guys you run into on the first level only take
one jump to kill and can be stunned easily with the shuriken, so they're your
best bet. Try to find two together, wham 'em both with the shuriken, and then
hop to victory.

CHALLENGE #2: Clear Floor 3 without throwing a shuriken.

This can be pretty annoying, since you have to rely simply on your jumping
skills alone to get you through the levels. Don't worry about grabbing
power-ups or getting scrolls, just jump, jump, jump. The bosses don't have
much strategy to them, although it's notable than the red-armored samurai you
run into on the third level can't be stunned by shuriken anyway, so you aren't
handicapped that much. Just use the doors if you get in trouble, (look at the
tips above for door strategy) and time your jumps well. After you a few tries
you should able to make it through.

CHALLENGE #3: Clear Floor 4 without dying.

Alright...this is where things get tricky. You have to make it through the
first four levels without dying a single time, although the good part is that
you can use your shurikens again. Integrate door hopping into your natural
strategy, just go in and out of them while throwing a bunch of shuriken to
keep yourself safe. I really recommend gathering the scrolls in every level,
because it will stun a bunch of enemies and really make things safer for you.
Things can get pretty problematic in stage 3, where the red-armor guys who
can't be stunned start running around, but your jumping skills should be
honed from challenge 2, so you can do it (and you can still stun them with
the scrolls). Throw the shurikens really fast for the boss on Floor 4 since
he un-stuns himself rather quickly.

CHALLENGE #4: Clear Floor 8.

Arino's expectations for you are now doubled, but you're allowed to die, so
this is actually easily than the previous challenge. If you get a game over,
remember to press LEFT+START on the game over screen to retry from the same
level. The dark blue/purplish alligators can be real pains because they jump
rather unexpectedly from levels below you, and even if you try to counter-
jump, touching them diagonally can hurt you. Again, get power-ups, use 
scrolls, etc...and enjoy the 'interesting' ending. Remind you of anything?

FINAL CHALLENGE: Clear the game.

After you clear the first 8 floors, you'll face the 'last' boss and then have
to do it all over again, but with completely different enemies. This time 
the ninjas throw shurikens, the skeleton heads breath fire, and the samurai
just act like jerks. Surprisingly, though, the boss is just as easy as last 
time, and the 16th stage is the last one. Pretty easy. 


=RALLY KING= [R1]

Rally King......what can I say. It's a crappy NES racing game, they did an
excellent job at emulating all the awkward controls and annoyances from games
like Outrun, F-1, etc. It can be fun once you get the controls down, but the
first few times you play you will most likely get a little frustrated at the
interface.

Special Controls:

On the game over screen, press LEFT + START to continue. 

Press A right before the number "2" comes up when the race starts, and you'll
get a start-up boost.

During the game, let go of A for a second, and then alternate left and right
to drift, which result in a speed boost.

On the title screen, hold UP-LEFT and then press select, and your car will
become invicible. Note: This REALLY takes the challenge out of the game,
so only use it if you're really fed up. 

On the title screen, hold DOWN-LEFT and press select, and all the rival 
cars in the races to come will disappear. With this code and the invici-
bility code, there's really no challenge left in the game. 

On the title screen, press A, B, A, B. This will enable the stage select
code. If you press UP+SELECT after that, you'll go to Stage 2, LEFT+SELECT
will take you to Stage 3, and DOWN+SELECT will take you to Stage 4.

TIP #1: Drift. It's not really a requirement, as I've gotten 1st place in
races only drifting once or twice, but it can come and handy and is required
to complete the first  challenge. It will take some getting used to, but if
you've played any version of Mario Kart then it will most likely come easy to
you. Just take your finger off A for a second then put it back on, and move
left and right on the control pad to spin your car a little bit. If it's
working, you should see more and more white smoke come out. Keep in mind that
if you drift too far in one direction, you'll ruin your momentum and won't get
the power boost. This is why it's only good to drift on curves when your car
is already swerving, or on long straightaways.

TIP #2: Be really careful in this game, as there is no map to tell you when a
curve is coming -- all you have is a tiny little blinking icon at the top
which will give you a vague indication is to what the next curve will be like.
Often times there are hidden paths that you'll want to take instead, so
knowing the ins and outs of each course is imperative to doing well on them.

TIP #3: Just stay away from other cars, as even nudging them will do damage to
you. Most of them are pretty slow, so just ignore them.

TIP #4: There are two power-ups, and both of them look like ghost cars. The
first power-up has a little Pt icon, and will give you bonus points. Useless
unless you're trying to complete the point challenge, so don't waste time
going for it otherwise. THe other power-up, which is much rarer, has a heart
icon, and will refill your life to FULL! If you accidentally pass it up, it
may be a good idea to slow down and let it catch up to you so you can nab it,
because death occurs quite often in Rally King. 

TIP #5: There are weird wavy circles that you'll encounter on each map, and
these are by far the most annoying obstacle, because if you run over them
they'll cause you to spin out. There are the black dots as well, but you can
go over them fine with minimal slow down, and you won't even take damage. Just
watch out for banging into walls and the spin-outs, which often results in you
crashing into other cars and taking more damage.

CHALLENGE #1: Drift twice.

Just start out the game, don't worry about winning or anything, you don't even
need to win the first race to complete this. It's all about getting used to
drifting, so look at my drifting tip up above and do your best to drift and
get two speed boosts, and you're done.

CHALLENGE #2: Clear Course 1. 

Keep in mind you just have to clear it, it doesn't matter what place you get.
So just take your time and try not to die, watch the top icon closely so that
you know what kind of curve is coming up. Your time doesn't matter either, so
it's better not to gun it and be careful not to crash into walls. You have to
go around the entire course twice to clear it.

CHALLENGE #3: Get 5th Place or higher in Course 2.

A very annoying challenge, as it first requires you to not only clear Course 
1, but get 5th or higher in Course 1 just so that you can go to Course 2. On
Course 1, I usually pass up the first 10 cars on average on the first lap, so
that will leave you with a lot of wiggle room on the second lap to allow you
to place and move on. Be careful, but by now you should be accustomed to the
course enough to know where the dangerous spots are. Course 2 is an entirely
different story, though, as it's a desert full of traps, annoying curves, and
just generally frustrating aspects. On your first try, just try to take note
of particularly hazardous spots so that you know how to get around them as
fast as possible. There are a lot of shortcuts in this level, and towards the
end it will open up and there will be three different paths for you to follow.
The easiest thing to do is stay to the left or the center path if you can. If
you place lower than five, it will allow you to try again. But if you get a
game over...you have to start back from Course 1.

CHALLENGE #4: Score 15,000 points.

Way easier than the last challenge, you probably won't even need to go to
Course 2 to complete this. The key to this challenge is to take the straight-
away shortcut in Course 1. It's around the middle area of the track where
there is a sharp right curve. Instead of curving right, just head forward,
and you'll see a panda face appear that will reward you with 10,000 points.
The rest of the points can be gained from the floating cars in the level. If
you need help finding the panda face, check the Game Fan magazines, as one
issue has a screenshot.

FINAL CHALLENGE: Clear the game.

Thankfully, there are only 4 courses in the game. The first two are pretty
much covered in the above challenges -- course 3 is the toughest one by far,
with tons of stuff for you to smack into, you'll be dying for life by the
time the second lap comes around. Just be careful, and remember that once
you pass a car as long as you're moving at a decent speed (you don't have to
be going super fast or even drifting) they won't pass you up. Course 3 is a
bit different from course 4, which only has a few surprises that should only
trick you once and is much easier to navigate. There really isn't much to this
game, it's pretty easy to finish in one playthrough. 

=STAR PRINCE= [S]

This is the first of the super awesome games featured in GCCX that I would
have love to have owned when I was a kid. It's a shooter, but now you can move
around, get different power-ups, kill tons of crazy mechanical enemies, and
just have a great time. Get your trigger finger ready and dive in!

Special Controls:
WITHOUT THE TURBO CONTROLLER-
A: Fire.
Hold B: Shield.
WITH THE TURBO CONTROLLER-
A/B: Shield. (Hold either one)
Hold Y: Rapidfire.

On the game over screen, press LEFT + START to continue. 

On the title screen, hold UP and then press A three times, then hold DOWN
and press B three times to become invincible for the entire game. 

Powerups:
B: Gives you two additional lasers behind you.
P: Gives you two additional diagonal lasers.
M: Gives you missiles that explode in the air occasionally. 
S: Best powerup IMO, it gives you two huge lasers that demolish anything in
front of you.

TIP #1: They added another depth of difficulty in this game in that the space
you can move is wider than the DS screen itself. This means that you'll have
to move horizontally every once in a while in order to find special power-ups
and the PRINCE letters in order to get the bonus points. 

TIP #2: Don't be afraid to use the shield, especially in higher levels where
the sheer amount of bullets on the screen reaches Ikaruga-ish levels of
insanity.

TIP #3: Always go for the S powerup, it's the best one, and try to avoid the
others as they'll downgrade your weapon. You can shoot them instead and they
will act as bombs and give you points. 

TIP #4: Sometimes it can be hard to figure out exactly what you're supposed to
shoot at on bosses and the like...so the best strategy is just to go nuts and
move left/right a lot.

TIP #5: You get special point bonuses for destroying whole sections of
machinery, so use that to your advantage when going for high scores.

CHALLENGE #1: Defeat the miniboss in Area 1.

This is very easy, as it doesn't even require you to make it through the
whole stage. The boss of Area 1 is a huge multi-armed flying robot, so just go
to town on it and rip it to pieces. The red brain in the center is how you
kill it, but just take out the laser cannons around it beforehand, because it
has quite a bit of health.

CHALLENGE #2: Find the 1up in Area 1.

This is more the game forcing you to look in the magazine than anything else.
You can either go through the level blasting up everything you see until you
find it, or just look in the Game Fan magazine you get right before this to
find a screenshot of the area in which the 1up is hidden. Whichever way you do
it, this is still pretty simple. After you complete this challenge, Arino will
present you with the turbo controller, and that's when things really heat up.

CHALLENGE #3: Beat the boss in Area 2.

With the turbo controller, you can hold Y for rapidfire, so things are much
easier to handle now. At the end of Area 1 there is a golden sort of
contraption, when you see it, get OUT of the center of the screen, as it will
summon one of its parts from below the screen, and this thing will smash into
you instantly and kill you. For the boss of Area 1, watch it for when it 
charges up and releases its laser cannon. Area 2, much like the second course 
in Rally King, is kind of desert-themed, but there aren't really any surprises
here, and the boss has no tricks to him.

CHALLENGE #4: Score 250000 points. 

If you're good at blowing things up (which you should be by now) you probably
won't even have to go past Area 2 to get this one. Just destroy entire
sections of machinery to get point bonuses. One great place to do this is on
Area 1, where there are lines of those green orbs on the left and right sides
of the screen. Just alternate between sides with your gun and blow them to
bits, while dodging enemy fire when necessary. It shouldn't be too hard to
get your points up.

FINAL CHALLENGE: Clear the game.

Okay, time for you to go all out. 

Area 1 - 

If you're trying to beat the game without using codes (which is entirely
possible) then of course you're going to want to conserve lives on this easy
level. Use this one to practice your shield utilization techniques, because
you will need it later. If a ship hits your shield it will block the ship, but
you will also become vulnerable for a half-second, which is all the time a 
laser needs to slide in and hit you, so take note of that. I recommend getting
the S power-up in this level, as it is easily accessible, and then just 
shooting the rest of the power-ups to knock out enemies and get points.

Area 2 - 

This one isn't hard at all, just watch out at the end when you're in space
and a bunch of enemies come and shoot lasers non-stop. This is the time to
hold your shield up. Your ship will absorb the lasers Ikaruga-style and 
automatically launch a massive attack back at them. The boss is basically
the same as it was in Area 1.

Area 3 -

TONS of stuff to destroy in this level, so hopefully you have the best
power-up. There is another gold robot immediately at the beginning, so just
keep your shield up because it will try and surprise you with its parts. The 
boss at the end is a slightly speedier version of the previous two, watch
out as its laser cannon comes up suddenly sometimes. 

Area 4 - 

The mini-boss in this level shoots a lot of lasers, so you'll want to 
utilize your shield. Watch out, though, because it throws in those blinking
green orbs which will knock out your shield. The end part of this level is a 
big problem because you have tons of lasers and ships coming at you at the 
same time, so keep your shield up so you can take them out fast. The boss at
the end of this stage is pretty tough...the problem here are the huge
yellow lasers it shoots, as they have the ability to hiccup your shield. The
tiny ones also make blocking the twin laser cannons much harder than it should
be. Take out the small ones first so you don't have to worry about any little
lasers. The big laser cannons can take a while to shave down, so just keep
your eyes on the circle around their cores, as it will show you when it's 
about to let loose the laser cannon. If you die, pick up the S powerup at
the spawn point rather than the B, it's much more helpful against this boss. 
When you beat the outer six turrents the center will open up and start shooting
a super fast laser -- this is where the S powerup comes in handy. You can just
sit to the side and shoot it diagonally. Otherwise, you're going to have to
weave in and out pretty fast, but the P's strength makes up for that. 

After you defeat the boss, much to your surprise, the game gives you a puzzling
message and starts you over again. Now you have to go through a harder version
of all four stages, although the difficulty hasn't increased that much. It 
doesn't really become a problem under Area 3 and 4, where stuff starts 
swarming you from all sides. If you can get through these four stages without
a continue, you are a true 'Star Prince.' 


=RALLY KING SP= [R2]

Just when you thought it was over...! Yes, that's right. An entire "new" 
edition of Rally King, and look how great it is! Indeed, this game shows how
hard the developers have been working on the original Rally King, with tons of
new improvements and content...wait, what am I talking about? They just
colored the desert blue! And the first level is exactly the same!!! Yes, this
is more of a joke parodying "Special" versions of games, especially since it
features its own cup ramen sponsor, that annoys you in between races with its
advertisements. There's nothing new at all about this, so get ready to rev up
your engines again. Refer to the tips/controls for the original Rally King if
you need to, as everything is EXACTLY THE SAME.

CHALLENGE #1: Finish Course 1 without drifting.

Super easy, since it doesn't matter what place you get in. Just go through it
normally and you should be clear in no time.

CHALLENGE #2: Finish Course 2 within 2:28.

This is pretty tough. The blue graphics are off-putting, and the overall
course itself is just frustrating. You're going to want to go super fast so
that you can make it in time, but that can sometimes result in your crashing
into walls or other cars due to your high speed. I've done a few runs for
this, and even spinning out and crashing once or twice, I've finished the race
at around 2:15~2:25. Be careful, because if you somehow get into places 1-5
but are over 2:28, it will send you ahead to Course 3 and you won't be able to
retry the challenge, so at that point it'd be better just to commit suicide so
at least you won't have to do Course 1 all over again. This is a really
annoying challenge, and sucks the rest of the fun out of what isn't exactly
the best game ever to begin with.

CHALLENGE #3: Get a start boost.

This is almost like a reward for passing the difficult second challenge, as
it's something you can most likely do easily by now (and probably something
you utilized to clear the second challenge.)  Just press A right before the
number '2' appears when you begin.

CHALLENGE #3: Beat Course 3. 

You can take your time and go through safely, or just ram through and get to
Course 3 with little trouble if you have the right codes.

FINAL CHALLENGE: Clear the game.

This game is exactly the same as the original Rally King...no increase in
difficulty, no extra tracks...nothing. It's probably the easiest game to 
clear. 


=KARAKURI NINJA HAGURUMAN 2= [K2]

Haguruman gets a nice upgrade -- now the levels are much wider, 
you can choose when to use the special you get from the scrolls, and much 
more enemies inhabit the levels. The challenges aren't that more difficult,
but the game will take a few tries to truly get the hang of it again.

SPECIAL CONTROLS:

Once you've collected three scrolls, hold UP + B to use the special.

On the game over screen, press LEFT + START to continue. 

During the game, press pause and then press UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, B, B, A, A 
to power your strength up.

During the game, pause and press DOWN, UP, DOWN, UP, A, A, B, B to get
three scrolls automatically. 

During the intro screen to each stage, if you hold UP-LEFT and press 
A and B at the same time, you can get rid of the timer.

On the title screen, while holding A, press UP, UP, LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, 
DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, LEFT, LEFT and a floor select will appear up in
the top right corner.  

TIP #1: Again, using the doors is imperative. There may be times now when you
find yourself swarmed by 5-7 enemies at once, and hiding is your only 
choice. 

TIP #2: This time bosses don't automatically appear, and you have to find
them yourself. Each boss hides behind a door, and what you need to do is 
hide behind the door until you see the boss' figure appear behind one of
the other doors. Kill all the enemies in the room, then, keep yourself 
behind the door until a cursor appears over the boss. Now, it'll finally
start moving and you can beat it. Just like last time, once you beat the
boss you can go to the next level.

TIP #3: The golden shuriken is still present in this game, and more 
annoying than ever. Watch out for it and be prepared to dive back into
the door to avoid it. 

TIP #4: You can hold down to drop through floors, as you might have 
figured out. This is especially helpful in this game since most bosses
can only be killed by jumping, and they tend to have weird movement
patterns.

CHALLENGE #1: Kill two enemies using the doors.

You've probably already done this in the last Haguruman game. Honestly, the
levels are so wide and there are so many enemies that you can just keep
going in and out of the same door and end up killing two enemies just by
accident. It's really a simple challenge.

CHALLENGE #2: Collect three scrolls and use the special.

Again, something easy that you most likely know how to do by now. The 
one curveball is that this time the special isn't automatic -- you have
to press UP + B in order to use it. This comes in handy during the later
levels. Just keep trying to get the scrolls, if you miss one don't worry,
as it will eventually respawn. 

CHALLENGE #3: Find the first boss and kill it. 

Look up at Tip #2 to learn how to pull out the boss. It will take a few
hits to kill, so it's recommended that you keep your health in tact
before hand. 

CHALLENGE #4: Clear through Floor 4.

Surprisingly, this is a challenge. The enemy counts on floors 3 and 4
greatly increase from before, and basically every step you make, be 
expected to be swarmed by strong, fast enemies. All you can do is rely
on your shuriken and jumping skills. Scroll-grabbing may become a 
problem as sometimes you'll just be too busy killing enemies to worry
about getting the scrolls. The boss of floor 4 is a real jerk, 
because he not only blocks your shuriken, but also blocks your first
jump, requiring you to jump on him twice to deal real damage. And as
if that wasn't enough, he can also throw shuriken at you. The range
is very short, though, so don't worry.Remember that you can continue 
after a game over by pressing LEFT + START at the game over screen.

FINAL CHALLENGE: Clear the game.

As you've no doubt noticed by now, KNH2 is basically a much harder version
of the original. This game requires serious door-swinging enemy-killing skills
in order to be cleared. It's also a good idea in the level to find a place 
where there's a hard floor beneath you, and preferably in a corner, because
enemies love to jump up at you from beneath and kill you. It's always better
to be below them than above because they can't go down through floors like 
you can. Levels 6, 7, 8 are the big problems here as there are an OBSCENE
number of enemies, and the level setup makes it very hard to go around killing
them in a reasonable manner. It's best to start these levels out by doing your
fair share of door-flipping and the moving to hunt out the faraway enemies.
The skull ninjas require two hits to kill, but you can usually stun them with 
a door hit and them open the door again (if it's the same color) to kill them 
in one go. In the earlier levels, it's possible to stand in the same spot the
entire time and just keep flipping doors until the boss comes out.

Bosses will either come out when you kill every enemy or if you find them
behind a door. Sometimes if time is an issue it's better just to drag them
out yourself, since the levels are large enough to seclude you and the boss
from the other enemies. 

Be especially careful with the last boss, as he isn't the flailing wimp you
remember from KNH1. This time he can use weird shoulder attacks, moves much
faster, jumps crazily, and shoots stuff. The good part is that he can be 
stunned with shurikens and only needs to be hit twice, so use that to your 
advantage. Of course, after you beat the first eight stages, you'll have to
do eight harder ones. 

After you beat the 16th stage, you'll head to the "FINAL STAGE," where you 
have to fight the last boss in a robot in a very Dr. Wily-esque fashion. He
shoots two types of bullets, either three homing missiles or four spread
cannonballs that go downwards. As soon as he raises his arm up to shoot the 
homing missiles he is invincible, so don't even try jumping on him and hide
as quickly as possible. The only interval where you can jump on him is when
he's finished shooting the cannonballs. Once you jump on him, he'll fly down
to a lower platform so immediately after hitting him, you have to down+a there
to get him. He gets faster as you hit him so it can get pretty crazy. Three
strikes and he's out.


=GUADIA QUEST= [G]

Well, here it is. This game is such a throwback to Dragon Quest, 
complete with the annoying menus and everything. Items, equipment,
experience points, monsters...it's really a fun experience, 
especially for RPG enthusiasts. It may be a little difficult to
navigate, especially if you're playing this with no Japanese
knowledge. Instead of putting tips, I'm just going to go 
through the game challenge by challenge, and then the rest of it,
since you can save your progress and don't have to start over
again from the beginning.

CHALLENGE #1: Reach the far town. 

Well, before you can even go looking for towns or anything, you have to figure 
out what's going on. The King starts telling you about typical RPG fare, save 
the world, evil demon cave, blah blah blah. The rest of the NPCs say similar 
stuff. If you press A, you'll get a menu that looks exactly like any Dragon 
Quest game, or Earthbound, if you've played that too. The first option on the 
top left is Talk, then Status, then Items, then Magic (you have no so far), 
then Contract. Contract is an option that allows you recruit humanoid monsters
to join your party. You can only recruit monsters that can understand your 
words, though, so you have to really pick and choose who you focus on. And you
can only recruit one at a time. Most of the time during battles they just sit 
there, and rarely help, so it's not that useful of a thing to begin with. 
Finally, the last menu option is Check. The King will have given you 500 
"Mane" (The game's currency) so first things first is to buy some equipment. 
When the talking is over, head down to the lower right of the castle and pick 
up the three chests. You'll get a Wyvern Wing, which will take you back to the
castle if you use it, a Witch's Medicine, which will heal your MP, and Healing
Meat, which will heal your HP.

As for what your characters have so far...well, they've got crap. All of their
equipment basically is crap. And if you want to check your characters' stats,
the stat menu is set up like this:

Level
Strength
Speed
Stamina
HP
MP
Attack
Defense
EXP
Next

Yep, there's no magic stat. It's weird. The first character has the best 
stats by far, although he is a bit slow. The second character is decent all
around, and the third character...well, she sucks. But she's super fast. Sort
of like an unarmed ninja.

Head outside, take note of the shop with the cane on the sign, as the old guy
there will heal your unconscious allies for free, which is nice. The sack
place is the items shop, where you can buy healing items and also items that
will raise your stats during battle. The last item will keep enemies from
encountering you for a short time. The bottom left place is the inn, you can
stay there for 10 Mane, and you'll be using it in a bit.

The far right shop is the weapons shop. Here, you can buy...well, not much,
really. The first three items that are 150 gold each are better weapons for
your characters, in that order, so buy those three. Equip them through the
items menu (new items will appear at the bottom) and then sell back your junk.
That's really all you can do at this point. 

If you talk to the purple-haired girl in the south area of the village, she
will tell you that the far town is south of here. By the way, you can save
the game at any time by going into your items and selecting the first one,
"Bouken no Kiroku," and just clicking through the menu. This will come in 
handy. 

Now it's world map time. You could head to the town right now, but you might
die in the process. You will find that during battles, your second and third 
characters might miss a lot...that's just the way it is for now. The little
counters over the enemies have different symbols, and the % that a symbol
will appear is based on what weapon is equipped. You could go around nit-
picking but it really doesn't have that big of an effect on the game. Just
pick the strongest weapons. Stick close to the town and level up -- when your
HP gets low, just go back to the old man to heal. Refer to the spell list
below [L] for info. on what level you learn the spells and then what each 
spell does. 

Once your characters are at level 4, you should be able to survive the
journey to the other town. Character 1 should be able to take out most
monsters by himself, so just have 2 and 3 team up on the other one and you
will be able to take out most monsters. 

Watch out for a grey wolf looking thing -- the "Wandering Orc." It can do
around 25 damage to your characters if they still have the base equipment,
so keep a healer on standby. It's not too hard to kill, especially with
Megaru.

To get to the next town, head southeast, then cross the bridge and head south.
When you see the grey mountains, go a bit southeast, and you should see a
town icon. Now, all you need to do is save inside the town, and you'll have
completed the first challenge.

CHALLENGE #2: Get your characters to Level 7.

This is pretty easy, considering you're not far from that level as it is. The
town only has an item shop, which sells normal items (that you don't need)
and special ones that are far too expensive and you don't need anyway. Do note,
however, that the inn is half the price of the one at the castle. Leave the 
town and level up as you head back up towards the castle, but then head east
and go into a temple. Inside here, move up and check the pedestal. It will
warp you underground where you can pick up a Bronze Protector from a chest.
Bronze Protectors help you make contracts with monsters...not really useful.
That's all there is to do here right now, so head back onto the field. From 
here, if you still aren't at Level 7, head over to the area west of the 
small town, and you can fight powerful Golems. If you use strong magic and 
keep your HP up, you can defeat them easily with no problem, and they give
good EXP. Save when all three characters are at L7.

CHALLENGE #3: Get 1000 Mane.

Another easy challenge. You shouldn't have bought anything with your money
so far, as you don't need it and can find better equipment soon, so hopefully
you have around 3-400 Mane already saved up. In this eastern area, you'll see
a weird rock/forest-maze type thing, just ignore it for now. Instead, head
north up a peninsula until you see a big cave. This is the Demon Dungeon, the
place where you will be spending the bulk of your time for the rest of this 
challenge. Head inside. On this first floor you will encounter gargoyles, 
which are rather tame, and old men, who can cast strong magic if you give
them the chance, so always take them out first. If you get into battles with
2-3 enemies, you can get around 100 Mane per battle. Refer to the guide below
that explains how to get all the treasure, and as soon as you get 1000 Mane,
save so you can move on to the next challenge.

CHALLENGE #4: Defeat the boss on 4F.

Now this is a challenge! There is an entire dungeon ready for you to explore.

First things first, head down the right passageway on the first floor. If 
you search the middle of this pedestal, it will completely heal your party
for free...comes in handy. The best way to tackle beating this boss is simply
to move methodically through the dungeon, as it will level up your characters
and also grant you access to a bunch of awesome equipment, much better than 
what you could buy in the store. The only exception is that you never get a 
better weapon for #3, so feel free to buy that 1600 mane weapon from the
castle and equip it on her. Also, you can buy sets of Rune Shields, Armor, and
Helmets for your #1 and #2 characters (for non-japanese speakers, the titles
of these armors all have a - in the second spot, and they cost around 7-900 
each). But honestly, the defense they give is really marginal compared to 
the stuff you can find in the dungeon, so I would not go out of my way to 
get it.

Now it's time to find the treasure. On F1, head straight left from the healing
spot and pick up a Healing Meat and a Wyvern Wing from the two chests. Then, 
go down and around and pick up a Wind User's Helmet, which is a great piece of
equipment for #3. Then head down to the left and pick up another Healing Meat.
Even farther left from that, there is a Magic Apple in a chest. I would use
this on #3, as she is your main spellcaster. It will raise her magic powre. 
Down from there is an Explosion Flower Seed, which is a rather crappy battle
item. Now head straight north from here, past all the chests you opened, and
you should find three more, which will give you a Defense Apple, Life Apple,
and 100 mane in that order. Use the apples on who you wish, although I think
#3 could use it the most, with her terrible stats. Now head towards the yellow
colored tiles, and pick up 300 mane and another Healing Meat from the chests.
Then, in the enclosed room, you can get a Witch's Medicine from the chest
there. Finally, there is one more chest on this floor to the east, which will
reward you with 500 mane. Now would be a good time to warp back to the castle
and buy the 1600 mane weapon for #3 if you want. Whatever you do, head down
the upper stairs next to that last chest to continue to 2F.

On the second floor, you will encounter some new monsters -- a minotaur, which
hits hard but can be taken out easily with physical attacks. There are also
blue things, Will-O-Wisps, who can actually cast sleep on your entire party
with a single attack, so they are very dangerous. Take them out first. 
Eventually #1 and #2 should be able to take them out each with one hit. 

Once you get down there, go left and then back up a new set of stairs to 1F,
and pick up the Titan Stone from the chest. You can sell these for 1000 mane
at shops. Now, head back downstairs, backtracking a bit, and then go west
to the yellow tiles, where you can pick up a Ninja Headband. Equip it on #2.
Now go downwards, head far to the left and down for a long way, and then go
to the right, where there are two chests. Inside are a Hiepittan (panacea)
and another Explosion Seed. Go down the steps here, and follow a series of
more steps to eventually get the Wind User's Mantle and the Darkness Robe.
The Wind User's Mantle sucks, but equip the Darkness Robe. Head back to
where you originally were on 2F, then go down and far to the left to a new
set of stairs that go up. They lead to two chests, containing a Terror Axe, a
good weapon for #1, and another battle item that does damage (it's crap). Go
back downstairs and head alllll the way to the right, then go straight up,
note the cracked wall but don't go through it, keep going up, ignore the 
stairs as they just lead back up to 1F, and then pick up the Death God Coin
on the yellow tiles. The Death God Coin basically casts Sokudeesu for 0 MP.
Now head back down and go through the cracked wall, pick up another Wyvern Wing
in the chest. If you go north from here, you'll eventually come upon a chest 
to the east that will give you a Demon's Spear, a good weapon for #2. Now head
back down past the chest where the Wyvern Wing was and go around the corner 
and down the stairs to 3F.

Third floor. Not much new here. There are more minotaurs, recolors of the 
old geezers who can now cast group attacks that do ~25 damage with good armor 
(so as usual, take them out first) and red will-o-wisps, just kill them fast 
with physical attacks. First, go up and down the stairs to find a Cyclops Pole
in a chest. This is the best weapon in terms of attack for #1 right now, but
I should warn you that it misses quite often. It's up to you what you want to
use. I don't really recommend it. Stick with the Claymore. Then go back, and 
go up the leftmost passage, curve around until you're below and heading left 
again, then go up and get the treasure, which is a Minotaur Shield (as if you 
didn't have one by now). Keep going left until you get the other treasure, a 
Speed Ring. I'd use it on 1. You should have seen another set of stairs by now
that lead downwards, go down them, get the Witch's Medicine and then come back
up. Now backtrack until you're in the bottommost right corner, and head up 
the far right passage. When you get to a fork, take the right and then go up
and left to get a Shinkuuha no Bin. Head back and up some more, ignore the 
stairs, then go and grab the Susanoo Armor. This is really good armor for 1.
Now head down the stairs and grab the Bronze Protector. Head left and go back
up to 3F.  Head left and out of the maze, and you'll be in a different sort 
of area with pits and stuff. There are also more stairs down, take them. 
You'll find Power, Speed, and Magic Seeds in 3 chests below. Now you can 
begin to traverse the pit part. You'll periodically fall into holes, there's 
nothing I can really tell you except to try and remember where they are...

Try to stay to the bottom, hug the lower wall, and go around until you reach
a long passageway going downwards. There are four chests down here, containg,
in a clockwise order from the right: A Witch's Medicine, Thor's Lightning, 
(crappy battle item) a Bronze Protector, and a Claymore, which is a better
sword for #1. Now head straight up from here, hugging the right side this 
time, go northeast, and you will get a Defense Apple inside a chest. Now the
only thing left to do on this floor is to go as far to the left as you can,
until you finally come across a set of stairs leading down to 4F.

We're almost to the end of this forsaken place. On this floor, you might run
into a pack of 3 green gargoyles, which aren't too hard. The worst encounter
in my opinion is a samurai and an old man, who can really screw you up if you
don't kill them off fast. Keep saving frequently. 

Head as far to the right as you can and pick up a Gold Protector from the 
chest. Then go back to the first room and head all the way down, then all the
way right through the cracked wall and keep heading all the way right until
you get a treasure, Dragon's Blood. (This will revive an unconscious character
so keep it in mind). Head back one room and then go down, and through the 
cracked wall and up the long flight of stairs to eventually get a Darkness
Sword and another Dragon's Blood. I would equip the Darkness Sword on #2, 
since she can't use the Claymore, and this will give you two strong attackers.

Finally, once you're back down on 4F, just head all the way left from the 
stairs and you will see a skeleton character. You can talk to it to engage
the boss...but of course, save your game first. As long as you're around
Level 15 and #3 has access to Yowaare and Gachigaachi, you'll be fine.

So when you're ready, talk to the monster to start the battle with "Deep
Dark Mephis." He's actually a pushover if you use Gachigaachi and then 
Yowaare him four times. He starts off strong so keep an eye on your HP,
but once you've weakened him enough, his attacks will be doing 4-5 damage.
With your two attackers, you should have him dead in no time, and you'll 
get a whopping 800 EXP as a reward. After you're done, save your game, 
and you've completed the fourth challenge.

FINAL CHALLENGE: Clear the game.

After killing Mephis, you received the Heaven's Key. Warp back to town, heal
up and sell stuff if you want, then head to the castle. You can use the 
Heaven's Key to open up the door to the right in the castle. Up top, you 
get a Spirit Ring and an Angel Robe from the chests. The Spirit Ring goes
best on #3, but the Robe can go on either #2 or #3. Annoying as it may seem,
you still have to use the Heaven's Key to open the door to get out. That's all
you can do in the castle for now, so head northeast and keep going around. Far
to the east you may see a suspicious-looking tree...just ignore it. If you 
can't help it, at least save before you check it, because it contains the 
most powerful enemy in the game, the "Game Master." There's also another one
down in the stone maze by the other dungeon, and they're incredibly hard to 
defeat. Just wait until later. Keep heading north until you find Heaven's 
Tower. 

Inside, you'll see a bunch of different monsters, but there's none you really
need to worry about. The blue mask things cast sleep with ridiculous frequency
and also use powerful spells, so always take them out first. The treasures on
the first floor are nothing to shout about, there is another Titan Stone in 
the top left corner, so you can walk around and get them, but they're mostly
just useless battle items. If you head left from the stairs that lead up to
2F and go outside and all the way around, you can get two great chests -- a
Holy Sword, and a Section Chief Name Card (save this item for later). 
There is also an Angel Mask in a chest on the east side of the outer path, 
which all three characters can equip. On this floor you might want to enlist 
the help of the water creature with Contract, as she, unlike many of the other
useless monsters you ran into so far, will heal your entire party once in a 
while, as well as use group spells on enemies. It happens randomly, though.

Now that 1F is completely devoid of treasure, head up the stairs. Go through
the broken wall to the right and get the chest, which contains an Angel Staff,
a good weapon for #3. Here on the second floor, you will start to encounter 
these jellyfish-looking things that will sometimes cast instant death spells
on your party members. It's really helpful if your second character is at 
least at level 20, that way you can cast the revive spell and not have to 
warp out of the dungeon every time something like that happens. Although, 
Ikiiro does cost over 20 MP, so it's not exactly good to be using it over and
over again. Be careful. The jellyfish things also randomly drop AB Suits, 
which are good armor for #2. North from the Staff chest is another Wyvern Wing.
Go down, and you'll run into paths that lead to steps to get all the other
items on the 1F: Witch's Medicine, Holy Armor on the bottom two steps. There
is also a set of steps up north that leads to a Magic Apple. Lastly, there 
is a lone chest sitting close to the entrance steps that has a Life Apple.
When you're done collecting chests, head back to where the Wyvern Wing was,
go down, then Check that diamond thing to get warped to another area. Head 
right, then up and grab the Super Healing Meat from the chest. There are 
steps at the end of the hall that will take you to 3F.

On 3F, head forward until you see the fork, then go left and up to get a 
Unicorn's Tear. It restores ~50 HP for all. Then head to the right and get
a Spirit Hat. The steps to 4F are on the bottom left.

On this floor you have a stronger version of the masks, again kill them off
first, and then dragons with high HP that also hit pretty hard. Go north
and save, then open the chest to fight a Wandering Giant. This thing is very
strong, but if you put your guard up you shouldn't have to waste time using
Yowaare on it, as it is weak toward magic. Use Metamega and whatever else to
kill it and get 800 EXP and a Murasame Blade, a great weapon for #1. After
that head to the lower right and down some steps to a chest that will yield
a Light Dress for #3. Back on 4F, in the top right there is a pedestal that
graciously heals your entire party (you must have been getting low on HP/MP
by now) and then steps to 5F.

On the fifth floor, you will encounter an even stronger dragon...it's tough.
And it sometimes comes with the big giant guy in a single battle, but always
take the dragon out first, as the giant is actually the weaker of the two. 
You can opt to contract him into your party if you want, as he sometimes does
powerful physical attacks. Head up to get a Phantom Helm from the chest, then
take the warp on the lower left. You'll now be in a warp maze of sorts. Take
the leftmost warp and grab the Defense Apple from the chest, then head up the
stairs to 6F. Here, go up to the right and grab Mail of Knight from the chest
and then go through the cracked wall and grab the Murasame Armor. It's weaker
than the Mail of Knight and no one else can equip it, so it must have some
secret effect...unfortunately the game doesn't tell you anything about it. 
Head down to the lower right, and you'll see steps that lead to a pit down-
stairs. The treasures down there are a Sword of Knight (the Murasame Blade is
much better), a Skull Wand for #3, and a Murasame Glove.

These pathways over the pit have lots of holes, and I've generally found it
easier to take the bottom path. Both paths lead to the same place, but the
top one seems to have much more holes. Of course, this is also a good place
to level up, since the monsters give tons of EXP. If you get low on MP, feel
free to go down to the healing altar again. The only problem is that it 
doesn't revive people, so if #2 and #3 both die, and you're out of Dragon
Blood, then you have to warp out. If you get really frustrated, just save 
every few steps and then reset if you fall. On the last straightaway, just hug
the left wall and you'll be home free.

After that, head down to the lower right and get the Silver Buckler for #2,
then head down the stairs to find yourself at two more warps. Take the right
warp, then the right warp again, then the one in front of you to get to a
treasure chest with a Power Apple. Up the stairs you'll find another chest
with a Super Healing Meat. Go down and around, and you'll finally be face to
face with the boss of this place. 

If you're Level 23-25, this guy should be a cinch. As usual, buff up your
characters with Ganbaare and Gachigaachi, then just have #3 keep using Yowaare
while #1 and #2 pound away at him. He has a group attack that can do some 
major damage if you aren't buffed, but spells should take care of that. As a 
reward you get 2000 EXP and 1000 mane.

After you beat him, you'll get the Demon's Key. Warp out, and then make sure 
to head back to town, because the weapons shop has gotten a mini-upgrade. Sell
back all the crappy equipment you have, and then buy the Demon Slayer, which 
is about 7000 mane, for #1. You should have a TON of mane from all the fighting
you've done so far, so buying these weapons should be no problem. Then, the
next weapon, the Earth Wand, is around 11000 mane. It's a better weapon than
what you have for both #2 and #3, but you will find better weapons in the next
dungeon, so it's up to you if you want to buy it for now or not. Then, buy 
two Holy Robes and two Magic Shields (the 2 next items) and equip them. Sell 
back everything else, because if you don't your inventory will most likely 
get full in the next dungeon. Also, while you're here, don't forget to open
the left door in the castle with the Demon's Key, to get a set of Phantom
Mail. 

Warp back to the Demon's Dungeon, and then head up on the 1F to that locked
door by the healing altar. Use the Demon's Key and head down the long flights
of stairs. Down here the monsters are pretty easy, or should be, except for
one huge annoyance -- the blue ones. You can only use magic on them, which 
means that fighting them will take a significant toll on your MP. However, 
for beating them, you get 2000 EXP, so it's kind of worth it. Just be careful
about your MP and go back to the altar if necessary. If you run into them and
don't want to fight them, wait a few turns and usually they will run away.
The 5F is pretty huge, but it's not too hard to get lost, and the steps to 
6F are in the lower left corner. There aren't any spectacular items on this 
level, except for a Power Apple. Head down when you're done treasure-hunting.

6F is pretty straightforward, it's just a big square with intersecting path-
ways. There are good items on this floor, namely the Samurai Helm the Prayer
Tiara, the Death God Kama, and the Asklepios. These items are located in
little rooms, one on the top and one on the mid-lower right, in which there're
four chests each. Be careful with these chests, because many of them are 
trapped with monster battles, so heal up/save before you open them. In the 
center of the room is a set of stairs that will take you to a secluded area
on 7F, where you can pick up a Super Healing Meat, Anubis Armor, Dragon's 
Blood, Magic Warrior Medicine, and a Lucifer Shield. 

The stairs on the upper right of 6F will take you down to 7F, which consists
of purple stone walkways embedded with skeleton faces surrounded by a sea of
blood...pretty cool. There is a Phantom Blade (better weapon for #1)
on the left side, and if you go straight down from the entrance you will find
a Wyvern Wing. After a while of walking you might run into a Lightless Mephis,
which is the same sprite as the first boss you fought in here. He heals 
himself and attacks twice, but if you hit him hard for a few times he goes 
down easily. On the bottom right side is a Musashi's Wakizashi, a weapon for
#2. The Death God Kama is better, though. Far left from the Wakizashi you'll
find the steps down to 8F.

9F contains the same kind of enemies you saw in 8F, although they come in 
droves now, usually 3 per battle. If you're still on your first run through
the dungeon, you may want to warp out now and heal your MP, because you'll 
be doing a lot of healing down here, and there is a really long path to some
treasure coming up. Head right from the stairs to find a Profound Robe, and 
then after following a long snaky path, a Petal of Wisdom in a chest (heals 
~100 HP to all). From there follow another long snaky path upwards to finally
reach the Lucifer Sword, an awesome sword that's well worth the work it took
to find. When you get back to the stairs you came down, head to the left this
time and pick up the Lucifer armor, and then go up and to the right and grab
the Super Healing Meat. Above that chest is a bridge of bones that leads to 
the stairs to 9F.

On this floor you'll see a few little skeletons walking around. Just walk 
straight up, and you'll see the final boss of this dungeon on his throne.
You know the drill. When you're ready, talk to him and engage the battle 
with King of the Underworld Rudorafu. After using Yowaare only twice, he 
should be rendered useless. Use Gachigaachi once if you really want, but
otherwise you should be able to pound him into the dirt in no time, 
especially if you're Level 30+. You get 6000 EXP as a reward. 

When Rudorafu dies he'll give you the Dark King's Soul. Warp back to the 
castle and take care of any healing and shopping you need. This is totally
optional, but if you want, head south of Heaven's Tower until you see a 
lone tree. If you click on the tree, you'll get into a battle with a super-
powerful "Game Master," and he'll most likely kill you. But if you go up
one panel north and then two panels to the west, and Check that spot, you'll
fight a blue Game Master which is only Level 40, a weaker version of the red
ones. You can contract this one and I suggest you do, as he is pretty strong,
constantly heals your party, and even sometimes cast a stronger version of
Yowaare that targets ALL enemies and lowers their stats by 30! Very useful. 
Just use a Bronze/Silver Protector to weaken his stats at the start of the 
battle and then use Ganbaare and Yowaare a few times and you'll be set. As a 
reward you get the Section Chief Jumpsuit, one of the best pieces of armor 
in the game. 

Now head to Heaven's Tower again, and then walk straight up and talk to the 
blue demon that's been guarding your path. He'll see that you have the Dark 
King's Soul and get out of the way. The warp behind him will take you to 7F.

On this floor you will encounter weird statue things, they seem like they are
weak towards magic, but with the weapon #1 has equipped, you can deal around
50 damage, so there's no real need to waste your magic. They give 5000 exp
per pop. You can also run into blue guys called Sky Protectors, they can
use auto-death spells, so be careful. You can also recruit them, though they
are weaker than Game Masters. The path is pretty straightforward. The chest 
contains a Silver Stone which you can sell for a lot of Mane...although, you 
really should have no use for it at this point. Head through the cracked wall 
and grab the two chests, which have a Susanoo Helm and Holy Mail. From here,
just go around the room in a circle and pick up the treasures: Siren Ring,
Sagittarius Bow, and Holy Armor. The steps to 8F are in the lower right. 

On 8F, you'll be faced with five warps. Take the middle one, and then in the
next screen, take the second warp from the left (it's in the bottom corridor).
Now, head left around in a wide arc until you find some stairs leading downward
to a Pegasus Sword. Then head back up and to the southeast to grab a Super
Healing Meat. Keep going down and evnetually you'll reach stairs to 9F.

9F is just a straightaway up until you get to a mirror. Check it, and it will
warp you into another corridor. Walk up a little bit and you should see a 
monster. It actually isn't the boss, but just a NPC that gives you clues:
23415, and ADBCE. Head down and grab the Holy Lance, which is actually weaker
than the Lucifer Sword, and then use the mirror to warp. Now you'll be in
front of a bunch of mirrors. Check the "II" mirror, but before you go any
further, head to the right in the "B" room and go down to get the Seraphim
Armor. Now head down and around and you'll be in the "D" room. Select the 
"III" warp and you'll find yourself back in the "B" room. Now select the "IV"
warp. Select the "I" warp in the "C" room. Then, in the "E" room, select the
"V" warp. You'll now be in a small room with a warp and stairs heading up. 
Check the warp and you'll be taken to a room that looks almost identical.
Go up the stairs through 11F and then grab the Amaterasu Helm from the chest
and go back down. Check the warp and it will take you back to the corridor
with the monster in it. Unfortunately you have to do the warp sequence again,
but that is a really good helmet, so it's worth it. When you get back to
the first small room, head up the stairs to 10F.

On this floor, head left through the long cracked wall to see three
treasure chests. The bottom one has a monster only and no treasure, the
top right one has a giant (easy) and a Super Healing Meat, and the top
left one contains an Amaterasu Sword. You have the option of equipping this
on #1 or #3, I would go for #3 because #1 already has a really great weapon,
and it will raise #3's attack power by 20. Now head back out and up until
you reach a four-way intersection. Go left, and there'll be EIGHT more chests
for you to explore. The left north one contains a Super Healing Meat, and the
right north one has monsters, and contains an Earth Robe, a rather crappy
piece of equipment. The east ones contain 500 Mane and a Life Apple. The 
right south one has monsters and 3000 Mane. Left south contains Dragon's 
Blood. The bottom west one contains monsters and no treasure, and the top
west one contains a Petal of Wisdom. Now head to the right and we get to do
this all over again. The left north one contains a Magic Apple, and the right
north one contains a Murasame Helmet. The top east one contains a Gold
Protector, and the bottom east one contains a Magic Warrior's Medicine. The 
right south one contains Thor's Lightning and the left south one contains 
Speed Perfume (raises speed during battle). The bottom west one contains a
Gold Stone (sell for 10000 Mane) and the top west one contains a monster 
and another Silver Protector. Now head up from the intersection to find a 
healing altar, and then the stars to 11F.

On this floor you might run into the enemies that look like blue horses
(Kirin) that you may have seen earlier in chests below. They often attack
twice and with group spells, so if you run into one make sure your HP is up.
At this point in the dungeon you may find your inventory is getting full, so
throw out your Hiepittans, as they just cure sleep, or any battle items
that do damage, as they are useless by now. Head up and right to get a 
Phantom Shield, Try to keep one slot open in case you get items from battle,
or else the game will automatically throw them away. Sometimes the knights
you run into drop Beelzebub Armor, which is a better armor for #1, so you
wouldn't want to miss that. Then head down and to the left, and down a long
corridor. Take the first corridor to the right you see to find an Amaterasu
Glove and a Magic Warrior's Medicine. Go back to the long passageway, and then
enter the second right corridor to find chests containing a Seed of Wisdom 
and a Gold Protector. Skip the third right passage for now and head to the
bottom of the long hallway to get two treasures: a Susanoo Sword and
a Winged Helmet, which both suck compared to what you already have. Head
up to the third right corridor and grab the two chests, containing a Speed
Apple and a Life Apple, and then go around to the bottom right corner and 
hang a left to find the stairs to 12F.

Will this dungeon ever end? You start off in a room with 16 total warps 
in 4 rows. The bottom left will take you to a Lilith Rod, and the bottom
right will take you to Kojirou's Katana. The topmost leftmost one will
take you to a room where you can get another Section Chief's Name Card. The
topmost rightmost one will take you to a room containing Dragon's Blood. 
That's all the treasures you can get from the warps. 

The warp in the third row, second from the right will take you to the next
room--although, check it again and it will warp you to a secret room with
a chest containing Amaterasu Armor. Warp back to the main room and select
the one in the third row again, and you'll be in a room with steps that
lead to 13F.

Finally...the boss of Heaven's Tower, and the penultimate boss of this game.
He's not messing around, so make sure you buff up IMMEDIATELY. Even being
around Level 35-40 won't save you from his ~40-50 damage group attacks. The
good thing is that he has pretty low HP, so if you hit him fast and hard 
it'll be easy. Having a Game Master along helps. After he dies he'll give
you the Sky King's Soul and you'll be done.

Warp back to the castle and sell off your remaining equipment. We're almost
done here. Go talk to the King, he'll mention something weird and give a 
strange laugh...okay...suspicious! Now go back to the Royal Tomb, (it's the
3rd option in your warp menu) and check the pedestal with the red jewel in
the center to receive the Royal Key. Now head back to the castle town. First
go behind the castle and down the stairs. Down here you can finally open
the door. You can also open the other door with the Heaven's Key and talk to 
a weirdo who says that darkness will envelop the palace. Head through the
bottom door and you'll meet the Princess, who says she was actually locked
in here by the King after she realized his evil plot! Oh noes! Save your
game, and then go up and talk to the King. He'll reveal his evil machinations
and you'll be forced to fight the true darkness within him. The sprite for
this enemy is awesome, but unfortunately this battle is all too easy if you're
Level 35-40. Just buff up and smack him around, and he'll be finished. After
the fight is over, you can talk to the Princess to end the game. You can't
save after you beat the King. Congratulations on finishing the longest game
in GCCX! 

Now, there is one optional part of Guadia Quest. It's a fun side-quest if you
like the game and are looking for a very challenging boss fight. There are
two ducks in the small town in the south who will give you weird location-
based clues. If you check these locations on the map, you will get into 
a boss fight with "Game Masters," who look like Arino. There are four different
types of Game Masters -- purple, blue, green, and one red one, in order from
weakest to strongest. By beating them you can get the best items in the game, 
but they really don't make that much of a difference. You can also recruit
them with Contract, although again, this is just for fun and not necessary
to defeat anything else. There are three white ones, two blue ones, four green
ones, and one red one, who is super hard. If you're not familiar with Japanese
or just don't want to figure out the puzzles, look below for the locations:

To get to the actual locations, there are some times when you can't go in a
straight line to get there, because there is water or mountains blocking your
way, so you just have to remember your relative position in respect to the 
town and get to the right spot. 

Purple:
From the Royal Tomb - Down 1, left 1. Reward: Section Chief's Shield
From the Southern Town - Down 2, Right 21. Reward: Section Chief's Hat
Lone tree in the rock maze below the Demon's Dungeon - Needle

Blue:
From the Southern Town - Down 6, Left 3. Reward: Section Chief's Sword.
From the lone tree south of Heaven's Tower - Up 1, Left 2. Reward: Section
Chief's Jumpsuit

Green:
The green Game Masters are when things start getting a little challenging, 
especially if you want to recruit one to your party (which you do). They're
Level 45 and very strong. First, use Contract, and then the GM will get even
more powerful. If you only have one Section Chief Name Card, then save it, 
but if you have two, then use 1. This will drop its stats by 50 and make it
easier to manage. Then have #1 use Ganbaare, have #2 attack/heal when 
necessary, and have #3 use Gachigaachi a few times. When his attacks start
doing little to no damage, just take him out. He casts sleep periodically
which can be a real pain.

From the lone tree by Demon's Dungeon - Up 6, Right 3. Reward: Oboro Sword.
From Heaven's Tower: Down 1, Right 2. Reward: Oboro Shield. 
From the Royal Tomb: Up 1, Right 1. Reward: Oboro Helm. 
From the Southern Town: Down 2, Left 21. Reward: Oboro Armor. 

Red:

He's what you get when you Check the lone tree by Heaven's Tower. 

Alright...I am going to tell you right now, this guy is a SOB. If you really 
want, you can level up to try and beat him, but really, what's the point?
If you're already 40 or higher, you should be able to beat him with a little
work. You can just save before you engage him and reset if things go bad.
Now, you can try to beat him normally or try to Contract him, but...the latter
option makes him nearly impossible to defeat at a reasonable level. Besides,
this is the last boss in the entire game, so there's really no need to do it,
but for those completists, you're probably going to want to go back into 
Heaven's Tower and level up some more before trying to Contract him onto your
team. Whether you want to Contract him or not, though, the strategy to 
fighting him is generally the same.

First things first, you want to have a green Game Master with you. You should
have been able to contract one from the previous four you fought. Secondly,
make sure you have all the best equipment, as this will help with the massive
damage this guy is able to deal. Some equipment can be mixed and matched 
between characters, so try to spread out the Section Chief armor so that
everyone at least has over 200 defense. #1 should be using the Oboro Sword. 

Now, as for the GM's attacks...he uses physical attacks once in a while, which
suck and will do little damage. He is also capable of using magic attacks, 
however, and unless you weaken him significantly, they will do ~100 damage
to your entire group per turn. Seeing as how you probably barely have 200 HP
at this point, that is really dangerous. His last attack, and easily the 
most problematic, is when he 'summons up darkness' and attacks your entire
party. This does OVER 100 HP, which, alone, wouldn't be that bad, but the 
problem is this guy always attacks twice per turn, so there is a chance that
he will use this twice in a row. Even with his stats weakened and yours 
maximized, the damage this attack does will not change for some reason. So,
unfortunately, if he uses this twice in a row, you're pretty much screwed.
Luckilly, he doesn't have that much HP. I'd estimate it to be somewhere around
2000-3000 HP. So if you can survive that long, he's beatable.

If you're contracting him, you're going to want to use your Section Chief Name
Card and then a Gold Protector, if you have one. It's possible to weaken his
stats by 90-100, and the Name Card does 50 of that amount, so you're going
to want to use other items to do the rest. If you want to Contract him but 
don't have any items...well...good luck is all I have to say.

If you aren't contracting him, you're going to have to weaken him by using
Yowaare. This can take a while, however since you have a GM on your team, 
chances are he will use his stronger Yowaare eventually and make things go
much quicker. While #3 is weakening him, have #2 alternate Mamoore between
your three party members, and have #1 use Ganbaare. Heal when necessary
by any means you can, whether this means Unicorn Tears, Seeds of Wisdom, 
or magic, but just buff yourself at least five times over with each spell. 
Then you can start whittling him down. That's all the strategy I really 
have for you on this one. He is a pain in the rear, but with strategy and
a little luck you can beat him.

After that, you'll get the Ashura Sword as a reward, the strongest sword in
the game. Don't know what you'll be using it for, since you just defeated
the strongest enemy in the game. But congratulations, that was no easy task.
I'm really glad they decided to put some sort of challenging secret boss in
this game, as it was really satisfying to find. With that, you're done! I 
don't think there are any more spells to learn past Level 28, but who knows,
they could have hidden some stuff, but I don't think I'll be taking the time
to level my characters that high. On to the next game!

[L] SPELLS
1st Character:
Level 3: Tondeeke (Warp) [1]
Level 10: Tekikunna (Reduce Encounter Rate) [3]
Level 11: Zettamega (Low-Damage) [3]
Level 15: Kobaashiri (Increase Field Movement Speed) [2]
Level 20: Ganbaare (+5 STR & SPD) [6]
Level 28: Hiraris (Heals ~70 HP for all) [16]

2nd Character:
Level 2: Hiira (Heals ~40 HP) [2]
Level 3: Mamoore (+10 DEF) [4]
Level 4: Megaru (Low-Damage) [3]
Level 9: Hiiramu (Heals ~60 HP) [9]
Level 10: Okiiro (Cures Sleep) [2]
Level 12: Omega (Mid-Damage) [4]
Level 13: Hiiradon (Full HP) [8]
Level 15: Potoori (Steal) [5]
Level 17: Sokudeesu (Instant Death Spell) [6]
Level 20: Ikiiro (Revive) [24]
Level 24: Hiraris (Heals ~70 HP for all) [16]

3rd Character: 
Level 2: Megaru (Low-Damage) [3]
Level 3: Guusuka (Sleep) [2]
Level 4: Hiira (Heals ~30 HP) [2]
Level 7: Isooge (+10 SPD) [4]
Level 8: Kajibamega (Mid-Damage to All) [5]
Level 10: Hiiramu (Heals ~60 HP) [5]
Level 11: Omega (Mid-Damage) [4]
Level 12: Yowaare (Lower Enemy Stats) [8]
Level 13: Naguure (+10 STR) [4]
Level 14: Hiiradon (Full HP) [8]
Level 16: Gachigaachi (+10 DEF to all) [6]
Level 17: Megarisu (Heavy Damage to All) [7]
Level 21: Metamega (Massive Damage) [6]
Level 25: Ikiiro (Revive) [24]


=KARAKURI NINJA HAGURUMAN 3= [K3]

Welcome to Haguruman 3...the series has undergone a massive facelift, and it
barely looks like the same game! This ain't yo daddy's Haguruman. The game is
very reminiscent of the Shinobi platformers on the Genesis, which is a good
thing. The levels are more epic with Metroid-like exploration, and overall it
is a whole lotta fun.

Special Controls:

On the game over screen, press LEFT + START to continue. 

UP+B: Super attack.
SELECT: Accesses the menu in-game. 
When paused, press down to look below you.

Pause, then press A, B, A, B to get 99 lives.

Pause, then press B, A, B, A to get 9999 cogs.

Pause, then press B, B, A, A to warp straight to the level's boss.

TIP #1: Enemies respawn in this game, so the only advantage to killing them
repeatedly now is to buy items from the shop, which you will need to do. 
The levels are pretty long in this game, so you shouldn't let it drag you
down. This is also a game in which you can continue your progress, which is
pretty cool.

TIP #2: Sometimes when you destroy the floating boxes you will get what looks
like a grey square. This allows you to perform your special super attack,
which attacks all the enemies on the screen. Use it wisely, and be careful
if you're jumping and attacking that you don't waste it by accident.

TIP #3: You only need one scroll to active a special now, and they happen
automatically and randomly. The kinds of specials you can get are 1) the 
girl who heals your life,

TIP #4: You'll notice Haguruman has two attacks with the B button, shurikens
from long-range and a katana strike in close range. Obviously the katana 
strike is stronger, and is necessary to kill some enemies, but most of the
time the best way is to just throw shurikens.

CHALLENGE #1: Buy the Three Shot Gear, and equip it.

After the last challenge in Guadia Quest, this is a refreshingly easy one. The
only real problem here is finding where the shop is in this massive first
level. Just go along killing enemies until you get down an up-down fork, and
take the up path so that you can climb the ladder and get to a tree area. Here
you'll need to get to the highest point and then head left over the stone 
platforms that fall if you stand on them too long. You may see a white door,
this just leads to a guy who gives you tips so don't worry about it. Fall down
the gap and head to a new area. Here there is a shop, which sells the T (Three
Shot Gear) for 400 cogs. If you don't have enough, you can always go back
and get more, but it shouldn't be too hard to amass that much, especially if
you've picked up some of the golden cogs. Simply jump to purchase it, and 
then access the menu. In the menu, you can use up-down to choose one of three
spots available to equip gears, and once you've chosen them you can use left-
right to choose which gear to equip. The Three Shot goes in the middle spot,
so just leave it there and press left and then A to equip it. 

CHALLENGE #2: Destroy the regenerating tree.

This challenge is just a little annoying because it requires to play back 
through what you've done so far, as you need the Three Shot Gear to destroy
the regenerating tree. So get back to the shop and buy and equip the gear,
and then if you want you can jump behind the shot (be careful not to fall in
the pit) and then destroy the wood paneling to get some extra bolts. From here
you can head back down to the first screen and go below to destroy the 
regenerating tree. You have to use your shurikens, since the "three-shot" will
allow you to destroy it before it regenerates in time.

CHALLENGE #3: Clear Episode 1.

This level looks big, but it's actually pretty straightforward. Follow the path
and get your Three Shot Gear once more, and then head right from that area
through the tree area. Jump down the long passageway in the next area, get the
treasures if you want, and then when you reach the bottom step onto the upper
passageway, which will lead you around and keep you heading right. Your goal
now is just to move as far right as you can along the screens (it's pretty
self-explanatory) until you reach a part where there are three regenerating
trees in a row. This is pretty annoying, because if you mess up and the tree
behind you (or the one you're standing on) starts to regenerate, it will slap
you against the other one like a ping-pong ball and kill you within a matter
of seconds. If you get too close, Haguruman will start using his katana, which
is too slow and usually the source of slowdown. Kill the first tree, and then
stand on the left edge of it -- this will give you enough distance. Without
wasting any time immediately begin shooting the second tree, then continue
for the third and move on fast. There is another series of these immediately
after, further complicated by the fact that there is a flying monster lurking
around, but it should fly into the line of your shurikens sooner or later so
you shouldn't worry about it. After that, you can head to the boss.

The key to beating this boss is speed. It's constantly moving towards you, so
if you waste time dodging or moving around it will cost you later. Immediately 
take out the bottommost head -- since it's the start of the battle nothing
should be heading for you yet, and you can take it out with the shurikens in
a matter of seconds. Next aim for the middle head. Be careful here because the
stone will not block those floating swords from hitting you. It's okay if they
hit you once or twice since you have so much health, just don't let up on
the shurikens. Finally, it's time for the third head, just guard your stance
on that top platform and keep throwing the shurikens, it should be in just the
right range to hit it. If it gets too close, your katana should be able to
finish it off. It's a good idea to come into this battle with full health, so
you may want to run around and gather up hearts from chests if you're kinda
low from the level. 

CHALLENGE #4: Kill 100 enemies in Episode 2.

This is hardly fitting for the final normal challenge in the game, as it 
really isn't difficult as it is time-consuming. This level is huge, and there
are a lot of screens that have pits on the bottoms, so stay away from them. 
Racking up 70-80 kills then accidentally falling into a pit is extremely
frustrating...believe me. Your best bet is to stay in the first screen, or
if you want you can try and journey ahead, but make sure you're familiar with
the area ahead of time. You may want to just do a quick run through the level
and find a spot you like, since all the enemies respawn. There's no real 
strategy here, just keep killing them. 

FINAL CHALLENGE: Clear the game.

Since this game saves your data, you really only have two levels left to clear.
However, if you think getting through them will be a cinch, you'd better think
again -- these next two levels are HUGE, and there's a list of things to do
in each of them.

The levels are far too maze-like and convoluted to give a step-by-step guide
here, and besides, it's better if you become accustomed to it yourself since
it will involve a lot of backtracking, so I'm just going to give you a brief
list that should give you an idea of what basically needs to be done in each
level. If you are a a completist and want to get everything, just refer to
the Gear List, because most of them can be done any time before you finish
the level. Although, I should note that none of them besides the ones i
mention in this guide are necessary in order to finish the game, and it's
simple enough to clear without them.

Stage 2-

1. Get the High Jump Gear. This is achieved by going, from the start point, 
basically as far right as you can. Eventually you'll find a shop and you can
buy the gear within. 

2. Get to the halfway point in the level. As long as you make it to this part,
whenever you die you'll get sent back here instead of all the way back to 
start. In the third screen from the start jump up to the highest platform and 
climb the ladder to get to a new area. Then just keep heading right until you
find a long vertical passageway with a bunch of ladders. You need to keep 
hopping up these ladders until you get to the highest one, which you can climb
to get to the halfway point.

3. Get the Hover and Wide Slash Gears. From the start point, climb all the 
way up and then head to the right, then two screens over you should see a 
door. In hear you can buy two new gears. The H one will allow you to hover,
VERY handy in the upcoming levels, and the W Gear increases the range of your
katana, which is cool. It's important to note here that you do have a max
for the "POWER" of your Gears, and different gears have certain numbers next
to them which tell you how much power they use. In order to increase your
maximum power, you have to buy these "MAX" circles which increase them by 10.
It isn't necessary in order to clear the game to do this, but if you have
extra cash, or even if you don't, just go and kill some enemies and then buy
a lot of these, because it will help you out later.

4. Get to the boss. From the shop with the three gears, just jump off the left
side and then go right to the next screen, which should be a big drop. Stick
to th eleft as you fall and then make it to the next screen. At this point,
you need to stay on the lowermost path and continue to the left. From here,
fall to the bottom while dodging the spikes and hugging the right wall, then
go to the next screen. After the next big screen, you'll be in another room
with a doctor. He's telling you that if you continue to the right you won't
be able to return, so if there is still a gear or two remaining that you want
to get, use the above white door to warp back to the beginning. Otherwise
continue forward to the boss. He's practically the same as the boss from Stage
1, except he has annoying mirrors. With the rapid shot and 4-shot gears it
should be easy to take him out. 

Stage 3- 

This stage is hard, and duly so. You can really tell after playing through 
this that the developers did their best to make two awesomely hard platformer
levels.

1. Get the Blue Stone Gear. When you get to the three black doors, take the 
farthest one. When you get to four more, take the top left one and head 
through the ice stage to get to a shop. Here you'll get the BC Gear, which 
will let you destroy those annoying blue blocks. 

3. Now it's time to reach the checkpoint. Head back past the four doors to 
the room with the blue blocks and go up the ladder and onwards. To get past 
the really hard jumping part with the two ladders hanging down, equip the 
high jump and jump to the second ladder, then wait until the timing is ride 
to slide along on the platform past the fire. Enter the exit to the right 
above it. 

4. Get the Red Stone Gear. Use the top exit in the next room and try to 
survive through the sadistic ice part until you reach a room with two 
cannons at the top. You need to go up, up, as far as you go (ignore any doors
you see as they just lead to trap rooms filled with enemies) until you reach 
the very very top, and then enter that door to get the Red Stone Gear.

5. There are more gears you can get, but they aren't necessary to finish the
game, and the boss is easy enough without them, so don't worry about it. 
The exit behind the red blocks in the ice column will take you on a path
that will eventually lead you back to where you started in the green room. 
Head up to the highest point and destroy the red blocks (ignore the black 
door) and go through to another screen, where you will eventually need to
make a leap of faith off the tip of a platform to reach the other side. 
You'll be in a huge room full of colored blocks now. You basically need to
cut your way through until you reach the ladder on the top left. Just ignore
all the other doors. Head up and to the right and then take the upper right
exit into a room with three spiked balls. Take the lower right exit, then the
lower right exit again in the fire room, and then the upper right exit in the
third room. Now just keep heading right ignoring the doors until you reach
the boss room.

Final Boss:

The first stage of the final boss is normal as usual, just go suicidal with 
your katana and slice it to bits. The second time, however, after you kill the
three main masks a fourth one will come out of the center, so try to be careful
in the beginning. The swords and orbs can be destroyed, so do it if they get
in your way. The biggest problem here is the mirror, try ducking and throwing
shuriken. The fourth head can actually be taken out with five sword swipes if
you have the damage addition Gear equipped.

After defeating that boss, there will be another scene, and then the final 
boss, Haguruman Lady, will appear. She's a bit tough, but she has a definite
pattern. The best strategy I've found is to stand on the middle pedestal and
jump tossing shurikens at her. When she lets down her barrier you have enough
time for 2 katana swipes, then run to the opposite side of the screen and that
should give you enough room to dodge her attacks. She'll either charge at you
which you can run away from, or, she'll shoot missiles which you can jump 
over. After about 10-15 hits she should go under. Just watch out, because if
you don't have a lot of damage reduction gears getting hit will take off 
4-5 bars of your life. 

After Haguruman Lady, the game is complete.

[GR] Gear List

Stage 1-
[T] Three Shot Gear - In the first shop in the game, easily accessible.
[B] Blast Up Gear - In the really long horizontal screen that starts with
a regenerating tree and has a huge gap in the center, take the long ladder
at the end and then keep going right to find the store that sells this. 
[NH] Nut Down Gear - Two screens before the one that has three rejuvenating
trees, in the long vertical shaft, there is a fake wall on the right side that
you can break and go through to access the screen with a door to a hidden 
shop. 
[L] Long Shot Gear - Same as above.
[x2] 2x Spell Gear - Same as above.

Stage 2-

[DS] Discount Gear - There's a high door in the second screen from the very
start, but you can't access it until you get High Jump.
[Hi] High Jump Gear - Go as far right as you can from the start.
[H] Hovering Gear - After the first checkpoint there is a door.
[W] Wide Slash Gear - Same as above. 
[F] Four Shot Gear - This is located in the shop that is behind a regenerating
tree. To get there you have to go all the way up and right until you reach a
room with a doctor in it, and then jump to the high platform in that room and
go back across the higher route to reach it. 
[S] Slash Up Gear - Same as above.
[R] Rapid Attack Gear - Same as above.

Stage 3-
[Bc] Blue Stone Gear - The top left door out of the 4 will take you to the shop
where this gear is. 
[Nd] Neo Defense Gear - Take the top right door out of the 4, and in this 
screen you will find a chest that has this gear. 
[Rc] Red Stone Gear - Head all the way through the ice place until you see a
screen with two cannons at the top, then climb as far up as you can and enter
the shop.
[Nb] Neo Blast Gear - In the long verticle passage after the first checkpoint
destroy a red block high towards the top to find this in a chest beyond it. 
[Q] Quick Attack Gear - High above the vertical passage after the first 
checkpoint, there is a room leading to a lone doctor. You have to destroy the
wall behind him to access a secret shop.
[x3] 3x Spell Gear - Same as above. 
[Ns] Neo Slash Gear - Take the top right path in the room filled with red and
blue blocks.


=ENDING= [E]

After completing all games, you'll get a final award, and the fourth option on
the main menu, Sound will be unlocked. During the credits there will be a mini-
shooting game in which you can shoot Arino's head by pressing A & B. If you
beat him he'll say something, but doing so takes a LOT of shots. His head will
change colors as he takes damage.

Finally, the screen will say "END," but if you wait Arino will say things for
up to 30 minutes. Here's a list of when and what he says:

10 Seconds: Even if you wait, there won't be anything.
30 Seconds: I said, even if you want, there won't be anything!
1 Minute: Don't wait for a minute!
2 Minutes: I'm telling you, there's nothing.
5 Minutes: Still waiting?
10 Minutes: You really have time to kill.
15 Minutes: Bye-bye.
30 Minutes: See ya. 

After this, you can play games during free play and it will log your records, 
so enjoy! I might make a records section in this guide in the future if this
game ever gets semi-popular. 

=SPECIAL THANKS= [T]

Much thanks to the excellent Japanese GCCX wiki, which served as a great 
reference when compiling this FAQ: http://www29.atwiki.jp/ds_gamecenter_cx/