o 888 ooooooooo8 oo oooooo ooooooo 8 88 888oooooo8 888 888 888 888 8oooo88 888 888 888 888 o88o o888o 88oooo888 o888o 88ooo88 ___ | |_ _ | | |(/_ o oooo o8 888 ooooooo oo oooooo ooooooo 888ooooo ooooooo o888oo 8 88 888 888 888 888 888 888 888 888 ooooo888 888 8oooo88 888 888 888 888 888 888 888 888 888 o88o o888o 88ooo888 o888o 88ooo88 o888ooo88 88ooo88 8o 888o _______________________________________________________________________________ A FAQ/Walkthrough for Aero the Acro-Bat For the Nintendo SNES Written by Pseudonym Version 1.4 Email: shdwswrm(at)hotmail(dot)com _______________________________________________________________________________ *Use "CTRL+F" to search the text file for what you are looking for. Table of Contents ----------------- Revision History Terms of Use FAQ Introduction Game Basics *Controls *Spin Attack *Stars *Health *Extra Lives *Timer *Perfect Round Bonus *Enemies *Helpful Items *Helpful Objects *Cannon Gauge *Hazards/Obstacles Walkthrough *Circus Act 1/2/Bonus/3/4/5/Boss *Funpark Act 1/2/3/4/Bonus/5/Boss *Woods Act 1/2/3/4 *Museum Act 1/2/3/Bonus/4/5/Boss Cheats Closing =============================================================================== Revision History =============================================================================== 06/12/11-Version 1.4 -------------------- I apologize for taking so long with this update. I got myself one of those new- fangled next-gen consoles and I've been playing it for the last couple of months. Earlier sections are partially edited to fit the new format; also, I rewrote and corrected sections to make more sense. 06/15/10-Version 1.3 -------------------- The walkthrough is done up to Museum Act 4. Fixed things in the walkthrough and decided to break each act down into more manageable sections to make it easier to read. It requires minor rewriting, but it shouldn't take long to roll out the changes to the rest of the walkthrough once I start working on it again. 05/14/10-Version 1.2 -------------------- The walkthrough completed up to Museum Act 1. Almost done now! Filled out more of the other sections. 04/29/10-Version 1.1 -------------------- The walkthrough is completed up to Funpark Act 5. I didn't do the boss because I'm lazy. Made a few corrections here and there and I ended up rewriting a few acts because I didn't care for what I wrote. 04/22/10-Version 1.0 -------------------- The walkthrough is completed up to Funpark Act 1. Started filling out the other sections. I found the manual online so that should help with some stuff. =============================================================================== Terms of Use =============================================================================== This document is licensed for public use according to the GNU Free Documentation License. Read the license and you will see that it allows for inclusion within another work, provided that the other work in turn maintains the license. To summarize, you may use this document in part or whole, without any additional permission from myself, provided that the resulting document is similarly released under the GNU FDL. You can email me to discuss other options if you are opposed to using the license described here for your own work/wiki/website. The latest version of this guide can always be found at GameFAQs and NeoSeeker. It's the responsibility of other sites hosting this guide to get the latest version. Aero the Acrobat guide, written by Pseudonym / T.C. Public release 2010/2011. =============================================================================== FAQ =============================================================================== Nothing here yet! =============================================================================== Introduction =============================================================================== Aero the Acrobat is one of the numerous so-called mascot games that characterized 90s action or platforming games for better or worse. This game has interesting levels designed around a goal: collecting a quantity of items or performing certain feats in order to complete the level. It’s a fun and challenging game exactly in the Sunsoft mold of game play (ie: hard as fuck, but quite fun to play). The sequel, Aero the Acrobat 2, is good and quite a bit easier for those people who complained about the first game being impossible. This guide is written for the SNES and Genesis release of Aero The Acrobat. Since I’ve never played the GBA game, I can’t guarantee that it’s accurate. Please use the email address listed at the top of the text file with the heading of the game or something related to the game if you have any suggestions, comments, questions, or constructive criticism. Emails with a general heading like "help" might not be answered at all. All flames, threats, childish comments, etc. will be deleted and your email address filtered. Story ----- Step right up to the ACRO-BATiest (what an awful pun) show on earth. The madman industrialist Edgar Ektor has seized control of the World of Amusement. He and a deranged cast of fairground freaks threaten the circus. The only hope for survival is the high-flying, death-defying AERO THE ACRO-BAT! Spine-tingling terror unfolds as AERO tackles Ektor’s wicked henchmen. Bungee jump into a battle with evil! Sky dive in Mode 7 toward the danger below! Hang on for the ride of your life as you rise and plunge on a roaring roller coaster! Tiptoe across a terrifying tightrope! Then power drill and twist AERO through every sinister circus enemy imaginable. And all the while, the show must go on! It could become a carnival of carnage in the World of Amusement. Because the evil Ektor isn’t clowning around... and there’s nothing amusing about that. =============================================================================== Game Basics =============================================================================== Controls -------- X ............... *Hover in mid-air for a few seconds. *Slide down a ladder. Much faster than climbing down. *Hang under the tightrope and use the D-pad to move around. Press UP to back on top of the tightrope, and X to fall down if you want. *Hold with left or right on the d-pad to look ahead. Y ............... *Use your secondary attack (Stars). B ............... *Jump/spin attack. See below for more information. *Climb up a ladder quickly. Press UP & B at the same time. Although it's tricky to do the first time, it can be helpful when speed is important. A ............... *Not used. SELECT .......... *Not used. START ........... *Pause the game. LEFT/RIGHT ...... *Not used. DIRECTIONAL ..... *Move Aero around. Spin Attack ----------- Spin attacks are your principal method of attacking enemies and also used to reach areas inaccessible with a regular jump. To perform a spin attack, press B in mid air to do a 45-degree angle attack in the direction that you are facing. Keep in mind that a spin attack, by default (without pressing the d-pad), will travel upwards in the direction that you are facing, so you have to press down to do a downward spin attack. Simply jumping instead of using a spin attack can be more helpful in certain places like a narrow corridor, a little platform, or any other situation where you would need a light touch. Here are a couple of trickier situations you will encounter throughout the game diagrammed for your peruse-ment: /: drill attack .: jump <^: spikes ____________________ | Since the spike block is blocking the way forward, it's .. | necessary to get past it by other means. Start with a <> / . | jump right of it without being hit- don't jump too high ../ ==== | or you can get hit- and spin attack toward the platform . | Get used to it, or you will die trying... Yeah, I’m start . | trying to be clever (not really). ====== | ____________________ ____________________ .. | Take a running jump over the spikes while holding left . \ | or right in order to land on the platform safely. You ===> \ | won't be able to make it when the platform is higher . | than you can jump. Make sure that you have enough room . | to jump and then drill attack when you attempt this. . start | None of these jumps are necessary in the game though. ========= | ____________________ ____________________ ^^^ | There are often spikes overhead to ruin your day when /===== | the need for the cannon, see-saw, or trampoline arises. / | The trick is taking a quick, exploratory look to see . | what's overhead before making a serious attempt, or use . bounce | a weaker shot and a drill attack to reach the item or . | platform above. . start | ____________________ ____________________ ======== | The way to do this without being killed horribly won't ^^^.\ | be immediately obvious... or at least I don't think so. . \ | Spin attack toward the right-most spike on the ceiling .^^ . | without touching the top of it. Aim for ceiling nearby . == . | and use the momentum from the spin attack to get very . == . start| close to the spike. Hold left when you start to fall to ============= | pass safely over the spikes on the bottom. ____________________| Stars ----- Stars are a useful distance attack that can hit enemies without being close to danger yourself. You can just use them while you are standing still and certain enemies will block them or they won't have any effect. There are plenty of them throughout the game, so use them as you see fit. You can keep track of amount that you have in stock in the top left corner. Health ------ Your health is represented by the "A's" in the lower left corner. You start with three and can collect two more for a total of five maximum. You will lose one "A" each time you come into contact with enemies or a hazard. A number of things that will hurt and kill you when given the chance: *Everything will hurt you, except the things that will kill you. Nuts to that! *Spikes, Flame Hoops, Lava, Electric Beam are all instant death. *Falling in pits, water, or anything that will get in the way are death during auto-scroll areas. Extra Lives ----------- You gain an extra life every 20,000 points. The game is generous with extra lives, so maintaining a decent stock of lives throughout the game won’t be too difficult. Just don't die too much. Take the time to check every wall and out of the way corner for secret rooms while you play, but keep in mind that items there are often guarded by enemies or hazards. Trading a life, or even worse, points or health, in a secret area isn’t worth it. Timer ----- The timer is used for extra points when your total is calculated during the end of act tally. You won't die when the timer runs out, but the extra points mentioned before and the perfect round bonus will be lost. Perfect Round Bonus ------------------- Collecting all items in an act will earn you the "perfect round" bonus and an extra life during the end of act tally. Very nice of Sunsoft! The sole exception to the collect-a-thon seems to be the Parachute and the Wings. And contrary to what I thought when I played this game before, you don't need to defeat every enemy to receive this bonus either. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enemies ------- These are all taken from the manual. Don't blame me for the goofy names! Shorty .......... You know that enemy that shows up all throughout the game and are easy to defeat? Meet Shorty, your requisite stock enemy in this game. Later on, a few are able to jump over your drill attack. Watch out world! Seriously though, they are easily defeated with a single hit. Spinning Clown .. Fat-headed clowns who spin around in mid-air. I often call them "spinners" in the guide. You will find the occasional one that can bounce along the ground, for instance the ones you meet in the final act. One hit will end them. Buttons ......... Aggressive punk rawk clowns that will follow you until they are defeated. They will block your attacks while they run at you and certain ones will throw marbles along the ground that cause damage too. Don't bother fighting them. The effort it takes to hit them three times can be better spent elsewhere. I call the big meanies "bullies" on occasion in the guide. Marko Helmet .... The big-headed guy wearing what looks like an old-fashioned aviator helmet. Marko will fly horizontally along a platform and dive bomb you when you are close by. Depending on where you hit it, it can take one or two to defeat. I'm not sure what the difference is between the two. Bruno ........... Bruno is a high-flying trapeze artist. The ropes that you will see will often have one hanging from it, and some will throw knives at you when you get close. The easiest way to avoid the knives is taking it slow and jumping up when you see one. Bruno itself takes one hit to defeat. Bertha .......... A ballerina, apparently. Bertha comes in three varieties: the first one spins in place, the second one spins up and down, and the last spins back and forth along the ground. It will stop for a second afterwards and start spinning again. You need two hits to stop them permanently. Ferris Freddy ... Freddy is a small clown who hides inside the cars connected to the Ferris Wheel. One hit will take of it, but be careful because the Ferris Wheel is usually right above or close to a hazard. You don't want to miss the cart and land on spikes. Buz ............. The replacement for Marko Helmet with a few more tricks up their sleeves. Buz will also drop marbles along the ground that can damage you and fly out of the way to avoid your attack in addition to the abilities that Marko Helmet had. Provided that you can reach high enough when they dodge you, it takes a single hit to defeat them. Jester .......... A Jester with balloons that will float in two different patterns: around in a circle, or horizontally along a platform. Jesters that move horizontally will drop down onto you if you try to walk under it. Jokes on it though, because it only takes one hit to defeat! Franco .......... Franco is a clown that will breathe fire toward you. It's behavior can be passive, where it won't attack until you are very close, or aggressive, where it will attack when you are within range. Because they take four ridiculous hits to defeat, it's better to avoid them. Ghostly ......... I always figured it was a Shorty with a bed sheet over it's head, just like kids used to do on Halloween. Ghostly is quick and will jump upward to avoid your drill attack. It takes two hits to knock it out. Colin ........... Colin is a crazed clown (allegedly) you will meet in the later acts. At a distance Colin will throw stuff that bounces along the ground. At close range Colin will hide inside a huge hat that protects it against damage, while it's still able to move around. You want to close the distance quick to force him in the hat and drill down to get past. Mech Mike ....... Short for Mechanical Mike. It's a fast-moving little robot that will attempt to run you down and fire an occasional spark at you. Shoot a Star or two ahead while you follow closely behind to knock out any Mech Mike that appears along the way. It takes two hits to send one to the repair shop. Marvin .......... A badass magician named Marvin. Marvin will fire a magic attack when you leave them alone for too long, but you can stop them from attacking by running toward them. When you approach Marvin, they will stop and reappear further away. Hitting them directly doesn't seem possible- I haven't been able to hit them in any way, so there's no need to bother. Helpful Items ------------- A's ............. Collect these to increase your health. You start with three and can have a maximum of five. 1-up ............ Looks like Aero's head. You see plenty of these throughout the game but you might use them up just as quickly. Haha. Bonus ........... A circle with a "b" in the middle. Collect it to play the bonus stage when the current act is finished. Keep an eye out for it. Inv. Star ....... Makes you invincible from enemies for a short time. It will appear as sparkling stars. Stars ........... Collect these to hit enemies from a distance with your secondary weapon. Wings ........... Enables you to fly around in the air for a short time. Parachute ....... The parachute insures a gentle landing while you are falling. It comes in handy when there are hazards below. Clock ........... Adds an extra minute to the timer. Doesn't work when you have already run out of time. Lightning ....... A box with a lightning bolt in the middle. Lets you perform two drill attacks in a row without landing first. Food ............ Points. Each are worth a different amount. Hoops ........... Pass through the middle of each one for points. Sometimes they are needed to complete an act like Circus act 4. Helpful Objects --------------- Cannon .......... Hop inside the cannon to get send sky high. Use the gauge on the side to control the power of the shot or you are likely going to get flying straight into spikes just overhead. See below for more information. You can move it around. Bubble Machine .. The bubbles that comes out of the top of the machine can be used to carry you to exciting new places - well, new platforms and hidden items, anyway. It can be moved around. See-Saw ......... Stand on the empty end of the board and the counterweight on the opposite side will fling you into the air. The longer you stay on it, the higher in the air you will go. Rope ............ Ropes swing in two directions: 360 degrees in a circle, or 180 degrees back and forth. Aim for the end of the rope and not the pivot in the middle when you attempt to grab it. Your ability to hover in mid-air comes in handy here. Balloon ......... Carries you upward while you stand on them, but they will return to their original position when you jump off. Trampoline ...... Bounce on trampolines for fun and profit, which incidentally, can be used to reach out of the way items and platforms. Like the See-Saw, continue to jump on it to bounce higher in the air. Jump on the edge of the trampoline to walk across it. Diving Board .... It's a diving board! Not hard to figure out. Regularly enough there's a trail of items on the way down, although you don't want to stray too far and miss the water at the bottom unless you want to become a permanent part of the scenery. Unicycle ........ Often, where you find a unicycle, there’s a tightrope nearby. You are invincible while you are riding the unicycle, but you can still get thrown into a hazard by going too fast. Raft ............ The raft is more of a hindrance than helpful, but still, it will carry you across the lava. When you are too slow though, you will be left behind. Star Warp ....... Hidden away in obscure corners, they will take you to out of the way rooms often full of useful items and occasional extra lives. A good incentive to find them, I figure. Now and then they will disappear for a bit, but it will reappear again. Checkpoint ...... A striped (orange/red) barber pole where you can restart from when you die. The Cannon Gauge ---------------- A topic so important it needs its own section! The cannon becomes an important part of the first two "worlds" of the game, so it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with it to avoid needless deaths. The ring travelling along the gauge represents the power of the shot once you press "A". The lines below represent the arrows that mark the gauge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4/4 Power - Very top of the gauge. Rarely needed and often DEADLY. 3.5/4 Power - Top arrow. Near full-strength. 3/4 Power - 2nd arrow from the top. Needed for medium distance shots. 2/4 Power - 3rd arrow from the top. Needed for low distance shots. Anything lower - Not useful in the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember that using a drill attack can be helpful in reaching a platform, instead of using a high powered shot. Throughout the game, there is almost always a hazard overhead when you need to use the Cannon. Hazards/Obstacles ----------------- Spikes .......... Oh, spikes, I hate you so much. Spikes are found everywhere; along ceiling, floors, along the sides of platforms. Everywhere! You can touch the sides of all spikes to get a slight advantage to avoid being killed in a lot of places. When you can't see ahead of you, always assume that there are spikes, and watch where you step. *ahem* A (bad) Haiku About Spikes Spikes everywhere Oh shit, I died here again Back to start now. Turnstile ....... A single direction gate that stops you going back the other way again. As luck would have it, there are usually ways to sneak back behind the turnstile again. Flame Hoop ...... Hoops that are set on fire. Unlike regular hoops, you will die if you happen to touch the sides, but you still receive points for passing through them. Cleaver ......... Set inside a metal frame, the cleaver will drop down in a set pattern that’s not difficult to avoid. There are two kinds in the game that are differentiated with one frame in a “forward slash” position and the second in a “back slash” position. Flamethrower .... Statues with big cheeks that have a sinister secret *dramatic pause* A stream of flame comes out when you get close enough so you should keep your distance until it’s safe to continue. Flame Spout ..... Found on the walls and columns in the Museum, the stone faces will periodically drop a fireball on the ground. Not all of them do this, but keeping a watchful eye out will allow you to accumulate health for the long road ahead. Fireball ........ A flickering flame that will bounce along the ground when it comes out of a flame drip, or fling itself back and forth in a lava pit. It travels in a set direction so you know that there's some predictable behavior when you encounter one. Lava ............ It’s either lava or boiling hot tomato soup; in both cases lava will burn you to a crisp when you touch it. Electric Wire ... When you find a mad scientist-style bulb, an electric wire won't be far away. The wire that sends an electric charge through it every few seconds, and similar to tightrope, you will move slower while you are walking across it. Chain Whip ...... Swinging chains that travel in a clockwise or counter clockwise motion. For a chain whip travelling in a clockwise motion, get a running start right when it passes you to avoid being hit. For a chain whip travelling in the opposite direction, spin attack over the top of the pivot when it passes you also. Often, where there are three of them, the third is swinging in the opposite direction of the other two. Laser Window .... Large windows with a laser beam that travels in a figure-8 pattern inside of it. Spin attack through the window while the laser travels along the bottom portion, or wait until the laser travels along to top portion and run through. Timing it right is important; you will want to get a running start. Electric Prod ... A cattle-prod hazard encountered during the final boss fight that will shock you, but won’t kill you fortunately enough. A small mercy in an already difficult boss fight. You can skip parts of the climb by touching one, jump on top of a block, and using a spin attack to reach the walkway above. Electric Beam ... During the final boss fight, the electric beam follows behind you during the Museum Boss act. If you lag behind long enough to allow yourself to come into contact with it, guess what happens. Tasty BBQ. The arrow in the top right corner indicates how close you are to the electric beam. When it’s flashing slowly, it’s far away. When it’s flashing quickly, you better get on higher ground quick! Surviving The Circus -------------------- Antacid. Circus food doesn't sit well with my stomach. Your own mileage may vary, of course. Oh, you're talking about the game... -Look around using X and left/right on the d-pad when you aren't sure what's ahead of you. -Stronger enemies that take two or more hits to defeat should be avoided when possible. It's not worth the trouble dealing with them, unless you are in a confined area or passageway, or facing enemies that will pursue you when you run away (ie: Buttons, Colin, Mech Mike). -Use your Stars to hit enemies from a distance. There are plenty of them to go around. They are especially useful against enemies positioned over pits or close to other hazards. -Some secrets are unguarded and others are protected by random enemies or hazards. Don’t run straight into them. Through the walkthrough, I’ll let you know what you will find inside all of the secret rooms in the game. =============================================================================== Walkthrough =============================================================================== Circus Act 1 ------------ Goal: Find 7 Star Platforms The first act of the game is easy enough. There are few dangers and enemies to deal with. Take the time to practice here if you feel like it. To 1st Check ------------ You start out in the left corner. Go right and jump over the spikes to the ladder. A quick jaunt upward will reveal two star platforms and a Shorty walking along. Take out the Shorty with your drill attack and jump onto the closest star platform on the left. Keep jumping on it until it disappears. The parachute under it will carry you to the ground safely, or you can jump onto the walkway again once the star platform melts away. Head right along the walkway until you are past the slight ramp. There will be a Shorty walking around that might try to dodge your drill attack. A quick drill attack while it’s in the air will defeat it instead. You will find the first checkpoint ahead. To 2nd Check ------------ You will find a Spinner in the way on the right. Take care of it, or you can slide down the ladder to avoid it. At the bottom, you can jump through the purple & green wall on the left to find the first of many secret areas. It pays to check every wall on the chance that there might be a hidden cache of items. You can continue right in case you don’t feel like checking out what’s on the other side of the wall. Detour A spin attack is best in order to land on the columns safely, but it’s ------ not a good idea to use a downward spin attack to knock out the Spinners. You can fall onto the spikes below while you are still spinning across the column. Hit the Spinners while they are above you. At the far end, you will find a Timer and an "A" on a platform. Make your way back through the wall on the right now. Further right a couple of trampolines are placed on the ground with a number of Stars positioned above them. Bounce on the trampoline to collect them. Stars are useful to hitting enemies from a distance, so it’s a good idea to pick up as many as you can. Use the trampoline on the far right to reach the walkway above. The second checkpoint is found here. To Exit Warp ------------ At the top, you are introduced to the cannon, an object that you will become familiar with. Use it right and it’s smooth sailing; misuse it and you will likely loath it. But I digress. Use the cannon to propel yourself upward to find four star platforms in the air to melt. There is a secret on either side of the top two star platforms that are worthwhile. Don’t melt the two star platforms on the top in order to find both secrets. Detour Defeat the Spinner on the left and hold left to land on a hidden ------ platform with a star warp. The star warp will transport you to a secret area further left. Walk down the ramp when you materialize and use the trampoline at the bottom to reach the walkway above. Continue right to find a Buttons on the far right guarding three “A’s” and the extra life. Go back to the star warp to reach the main area of the act again. Once you are back you can cross the two top star platforms to reach the secret on the right, or use the cannon to reach the platform on the right when the star platform are melted already. The secret on the right is a little more mundane (Stars) than the other one. They are free for the taking and handy for irritating enemies, so you might as well. Detour The Wings provided on the platform on the left will allow you to fly ------ into the nook above. You can find a bit of loot there, four Stars to be exact, inside once you get past the spikes. Jump through the spikes to land on the platform below in order to continue on. Melt the remaining star platforms and continue to the flame hoop at the end of the walkway. A flame hoop is more dangerous than the regular one. You have to make sure that you land through the middle of them or you will be a BBBQ-bat. Head left into the nook once you land safely and use the ladder at the far end to enter the space above. Defeat the Shorty inside the enclosure and melt the last star platform on the right. The exit can be found in the open area below. Circus Act 2 ------------ Goal: Find the key and rescue Ariel. Oh-uh, it's a search and rescue mission. It stays linear throughout the act fortunately enough; there are no fancy mazes or other trickery. You might be wondering who the heck is Ariel- I can safely say that I have no idea. I don't think she's even mentioned in the manual. On a more personal note, Ariel is a rather nice name for a girl, so I'll let it slide, just this once. You are now warned Sunsoft! To 1st Check ------------ You start next to a sweet unicycle on a tightrope. Since you are more or less invincible while you are riding it, milk for all it's worth and run into all of the clowns on the tightrope. Your all-too-brief stint as a high-wire artist is cut short when you reach the bottom and fly off onto the trampoline below. Above the trampoline is a pesky Marko- he's a bit hard to hit however. It's worth it for the “B” item on the platform. You will find the checkpoint ahead. To 2nd Check ------------ Take the ladder down and defeat the Shorty here. Take the next ladder down on the left to find a bully going back and forth on the walkway. You can ignore it and collect the Stars along the wall if you want them. Climb down the ladder to reach ground level and the next checkpoint further left. To 3rd Check ------------ Hit the two Spinners on the ledges so that you can reach the top. You have a choice once you reach the top: go through the hoops or down the ladder. Psst, take the hoops. The bully at the bottom will give you a hard time because it will often throw marbles at you in the relatively small area that you are both in. On the far left is a cannon that you have to push right a bit in order to use it. If you want to defeat Buttons, hit it with Stars from a distance. Back away when it throws marbles at you. You can ignore Buttons, push the cannon into position and run in the other direction when it gets close. Run back once you have lured it away and jump inside, or push the cannon more as needed. Knock out the Marko and fire the cannon at 3/4 strength; use a spin attack to reach the platform above. The Buttons at the bottom might give you a hard time, because it throws marbles and tries to block your drill attack. You can run by it too. At the far right there will be a cannon and a second Flyer just above it. Clonk it and push the cannon right until the right edge of it is off to the right of the brown pole in the background. Get inside and fire at 3/4 strength- full strength will result in a many-holed Aero and a respawn at the last checkpoint. At the top is the key (that was quick!) and an extra life. Now you have to trudge all the way back to the very top where the two ladders are, and take the ladder up this time. Head right down the ramps and collect the "A's" along the way. Walk right to find more trampolines. When you bounce on the left edge of the first trampoline here, you should see a Spinner guarding a Double and an extra life on a ledge. Wait for one or two bounces until you reach the maximum height and then hit the clown. The Lightning is a second drill attack that you can use twice in the air without landing first. You can test it out right away- jump off to the right and grab the Stars off-screen. There's a bunch of them over there! At the top of the next ledge, a checkpoint awaits. To 4th Check ------------ There are a number of balloons in the next part that you must land on to avoid being a pincushion on the spikes. The balloons slowly rise when you land on them- a bit odd, as it should be the other way around I think. This gravity-defying ability leads to another secret. Make your way onto the third balloon and let it take you uuuup. There should be a hole in the spike-lined ceiling to the secret area. Jump off before you reach the ceiling here (more spikes) and head left. Take the ladder down and go right. At the far end there will be a Flyer and some spikes along the floor. Wait for the Marko on the downward ramp or nearby. It might dive-bomb you, but you can get a good easy hit that way. You should hold left or use the drill attack to avoid the spikes when you get too close. Don't try to jump across because the Marko will likely hit you and, oops, dead meat. Grab your reward- two lives and a Timer. Head back to the hole and fall down. You should land on the balloon again. Now just continue right to the platform and safely. A bully is waiting for you on the walkway ahead. Run by it and quickly drill the Spinner above the cannon. Don't worry about the cannon right now. Walk right and you will fall through the floor into a top-secret room. Hold left after you bounce to avoid the invisible hole and do a downward spin onto the ground. Yet another ensuing Buttons on the other end. Ignore it and grab the goods. Make a leaf and swoosh out of there quickly. Don't forget about the Buttons you left up walkway above- it hasn't forgotten about you. Jump on the trampoline and get out of there quickly. You still need to push the cannon all the way right to get out of here. Keep the Buttons at bay by running back and forth and then pushing the cannon while it's away. There's one "A" on a little ledge above you when the clown is giving you hard time. Shoot through the hoops and land on the platform on your left. Keep going until you reach the trampoline on the far left. A Shorty is running along it, the little bastard. Doing a drill attack is tricky; try not to hit the spikes on the other side of the trampoline. A couple of Stars in the clown's face will show it who's boss too. Jump on the sucka and clock the the guy spinning above you. Continue along and bop Shorty on the ramp. Climb the two ladders and hit the fourth checkpoint at the top. You are in the home stretch now! There's another unicycle on a tightrope that you can use to smash into more clowns along the route. First though, you might be inclined to grab the Parachute on the underside to get a few more points if you want. An odd, alternate route you can try is via the Wings along the bottom, or you can get out of here by way of the turnstile on your right. At the end you will find Ariel, the bat-girl, (Aero's girlfriend?!) and the exit. Circus Bonus ------------ Goal: Dive into the tank. You start waaaaaaay up in the sky with a nice display of mode-7 graphics if you ask me. Not only do you have to dive into the tank, you also have to pass through all of the rings you saw along the way. You will get some extra lives when you manage to do that. It's not too easy however since a certain squirrel with an industrial air-fan will try to knock you off course. Use the D pad to counteract the wind and don't let yourself settle into a spin. When you collect the last ring, you just have a certain amount of time before the game will take over and you can't control Aero any more. Make sure you get on target before that happens, or you will end up in the dirt or elsewhere like Wily E. Coyote when he falls off a cliff. Good luck! Aero has such an amusingly glum look on his face when you fail, it almost makes it worth failing. *ahem* I mean, don't fail! Good luck! Circus Act 3 ------------ Goal: Find 15 Star Platforms You start in a small room with a hole in the center. Jump into the Parachute and grab the variety of foodstuff you find on the way to the ground- right, middle, right, left, and right. Go through the turnstile. Before you walk through the second turnstile on the right, jump through the ceiling next to it to get two "A's". On the other side, take the balloon up and the next one to find a life. Jump off before you reach the ceiling because of the spikes. Fall back to the main walkway and melt the first two Star Platforms on the ramp ahead. Take out the Shorty when it becomes a bother and continue on to the cannon. When you look up here you should see the flame hoops above you. Don't bother with those right now. Push the cannon as far to the right as it'll go and fire at full strength. It seems like you can't make it but you can. When you get up there, hit the Spinner and jump into the star warp at the top. It will warp you to a room with Wings hanging over some spikes- there is some preoccupation with spikes in this game obviously. Use the Wings to get the Stars and make your way back to the cannon. Push it left under the flame hoops and fire at full strength. There will be checkpoint on the ledge above. on the walkway ahead, you will meet Bruno, I think that's what this guy is called in the manual- I just call him the Acrobat- no relation to you, of course! The delicious play on words of Acro-bat is far more amusing than a guy swinging on a rope. Drill the Acrobat if you want- however, an easier way to do this is to fall off the side and grab the extra life in the opposite corner. And do a drill attack to get out. Hit the Shorty and climb the looooonng ladder to the top. After that climb, there's a unicycle! Smash the couple of clowns along the tightrope and you come across a second checkpoint on the other side. There's one more mechanism that you will encounter once you pass the checkpoint: a diving board. Bounce on it a couple of times and then dive off the side. There are a number of delicious foodstuffs on the way down, just don't wonder too far or you will be flattened at the bottom. When you stay close to the food, you will land in pool of water. Jump out and head right up the ramp; left through the turnstile leads back to the cannon. At the top of the ramp, you will meet the Ballerina. It spins in place every so often and will damage you when you touch it. How an Elephant can become a ballerina is beyond me. Two hits will permanently retire it however. The third checkpoint is just ahead. Take out the Shorty and climb the ladder on the right to find three more Star Platforms. Drop back down (mind the spikes above the lowest Star Platform) and down the ladder further back. This next part can be trouble and is, unfortunately, a reoccurring thing throughout the game. An Acrobat swinging over a death pit of spikes! There is a secret at the bottom of this one though. Fall down and jump through the pink/yellow wall to reveal more spikes and a trampoline. Yeouch! Use a Star on the clown and jump onto the trampoline. Stay right of the middle on the trampoline to avoid the spike-laden ceiling there and safely land on the right. You shouldn't have any trouble to hit the Spinner to your left, just make sure that you hit him or you will get a face full of spikes. Grab the extra life and carefully go through the hole in the wall again. Jump onto the balloon and use a Star to hit the Acrobat; don't try to drill attack this one. Jump to the first swing. The second one is more difficult, you should use your flutter ability to catch the swing when you are a little off. Note, that in most of these swinging sections you are fucked when you fall or miss the swing so do your damn-best to catch it. When you make it to the other side, mercifully, there will be a checkpoint. Beyond the checkpoint, is my fav mode of transportation, a unicycle. It's just a short ride and don't go too fast because this time. There will be another unicycle right after the first, there are some enemies to bash along the way too. You shouldn't go too fast here either because there are spikes at the end of the line. There's a checkout right ahead. Clear the spikes and climb the ladder to find four more Star Platforms. Don't melt the one on the very top at first because it can be used to reach the not-so-secret area on the right. Watch out for the Spinners on the way and jump into the Star Warp there. It will take you up and right to a top secret location! Not really. When you have landed, climb the ladder and snag the Inv. Star at the top. Hurry to the trampoline and bounce to the platform above. Quickly run to the far end and grab the "A's" and extra life there. Run back right to the trampoline before the clown can hit you. Make your way to the Star Platform to the main area. Walk back to the Star Platforms and melt the remaining ones. Climb the ladder again and jump down the flame hoops. Don't be scared, or you can just use the ladder (pfft, pussy). There will be a series of ladders down; the level down has a Ballerina and a checkpoint; the next level down has an annoying placed M-Clown on a downward ramp. Hit it with a Star and use the trampoline on the other end to get a couple more "A's" if you need them. The ground level has an obvious secret in the left wall that you might have noticed on the climb. Use the balloon for an "A". Be wary of the spikes on the ceiling. Continue right over a series of spikes on the ground. They will get progressively longer the further ahead you go- it's not hard as long as you are careful. There will be a checkpoint at the end and a trampoline. Ignore the turnstile here, you can't get in that way. Bounce your way to the top and kill the clown there. Jump through the hoops and go past the turnstile at the bottom. Clonk the clown inside and climb the ladder. Head right and jump over the hole. This extra life is hard to get without dying- at least once I end up trying to get it- I'm a stubborn fool that way. With a running start from the ramp on the right you should be able to collect it, otherwise save-state (if you are using an emulator) or ignore it. Head back to the ground and through the turnstile on the left. Make your way all the way to the top again and back down the other side to the checkpoint at the bottom. Further there is another cannon and the last six remaining Star Platforms. Ignore the clown and push the cannon left to the end and fire at full strength. You will likely get hit above by the Spinner Clowns- it's almost unavoidable from my experience unless you save-state to figure out where they will appear. On the top Star Platform there's a secret trail of balloons leading left. I guess it's not so secret as the first balloon is in plain sight. Keep going until you reach the yellow/pink wall and let the balloon carry you to the top. Mind the spike on the side of the platform and jump onto and get collect your extra life and "A". Run off the side instead of jumping and take the balloons back to where you were. You might fall off but that's fine. Melt the remaining Star Platforms and knock out the Spinners when they get close. You are done! Now to find the exit. Push the cannon right to the hoops at the far end. You might need to kill the bully following you around at this point because he's a persistent little bastard. As if this stage wasn't tedious enough at this point, they had to put those bubbles in the first and last hoop. Reach the top and head left. Send the Ballerina packing on the platform ahead and the Spinner near the ladder. Climb the ladder and the exit is right there. Whew! Circus Act 4 ------------ Goal: Jump through 25 Magic Hoops. At least the game isn't making you jump through tedious hoops in order to finish it... oh, wait. Shit! All in all, this act isn't the least bit difficult- it's arguably easier than the last two acts- and contains a lot of hidden rooms with extra lives and other useful items. To 1st Check ------------ Ignore the turnstile on the right, run left and climb the ladder. Hit the Shorty on the ramp and next ladder. Here's the first hoop. You can get it without falling to the ground by jumping through it and then using your drill attack to land on the platform again. Jump to the higher platform on your left. Climb the ladder to the first checkpoint. A Ballerina is walking up and down the ramp ahead along with a ladder. Left is a tiny platform and balloon that leads to some Stars at the top. You can grab them if you want. Mind the spikes as usual. On the other end of the platform is a diving board. Use it to pass through more hoops on the way down into the pool. There's a "A" at the bottom if you need it- everyone need more health. Really. Jump over the water and continue on. There's a second Ballerina in the nook ahead. This one will move around while it's spinning so watch out. On the platform above there's another extra life on the ledge with the spikes. You might want to save-state here with an emulator. Get a running start again and jump just before the ladder. With any luck you can make it without dying. Yeouch! Take the balloons to the top for another extra life. Note that this extra life is stuffed in a little nook surrounded with spikes just like almost every other useful item in the game. Jump well before you reach the ceiling and you will be fine! Fall off the side and get back to the walkway below. Continue right and jump through the hoop over the side. Further on there’s a new item: a bubble-machine. It spits out bubbles that go toward the ceiling. There’s another checkpoint on the far right. Go back to the bubble-machine and float up to the ledges above you. They are all lined with spikes- several have “A’s” and the one on the left has an Invincibility Star. Jump to the big platform upward and take the balloon to the very top for some food and an extra life. Fall back down to your left onto the platform with the trampoline on it. Hit the Spinners on them and spring the next trampoline on the left. Bounce on it and fall left for more hoops. When you land, head right and hit the checkpoint again. You will find a see-saw at the turnstile. They are a little slow to use, thanks to the counterweight, but they won't appear too often. Get to the next level where there’s a second see-saw- you can jump through the yellow/purple wall here. Kill the Shorty and hit the checkpoint inside, but ignore the parachute in the hole for now. Carefully jump over the spikes and onto the trampoline on the other side. Look to your left with the shoulder buttons on the controller. Jump over the spikes to the Wings hanging over them. Quickly fly to the top right corner for another invisible hole. You will find an extra life in there. Go back to the parachute in the hole. Head down there and jump through the wall on the right again. You will find a Lightning in the corner. Head left. You can grab the Stars here with your double drill. Continue left through the turnstile. Climb to the top now. There will be a see-saw at each level that you will need and a Ballerina at the top that you should defeat. Climb the ladder at the other end. Ignore the Wings here and kill the Marko on your left. Grab the Wings now and fly up and left to the green structure above. There should be a hole along the ceiling here somewhere. When you get in there, climb the ladder and kill the Ballerina above. A couple of “A’s” and an extra life are here. Get outta here via the hidden hole and kill the next Ballerina along the uneven ramps below. Use the see-saw ahead to get some more hoops out the way. You can find yet another extra life here by continuing to use the teeter-totter until you reach the top of the screen. When you do, hold left and grab the life on the tiny ledge. Fall back down and climb the ramp to the left. Kill the Marko and the Buttons ahead and climb the ladder. Mark the checkpoint at the top. You can get another extra life by taking a running start and using a drill attack to reach a Wings hanging in mid-air. Take it and fly right to grab it. Get back up top and walk left to find a diving board. There will be two more hoops on the way down and more water to save your butt at the bottom. Grab the “A” and start left past the Spinners. There’s another checkpoint. Climb the ladders to the top. One last Ballerina is up there along with the last four rings on the left. Take out the Ballerina and jump through some more hoops. The exit will appear on the walkway at the bottom. Done! No more asinine jumping through hoops for you. At least until later in the game. Haha. Circus Act 5 ------------ Goal: Turn on all the lights. You might think that Act 4 was simple enough, however, Act 5 more than makes up for it in my opinion. It's pretty tough. Your surroundings are dark, fortunately, it's not completely dark that you can’t see anything. You have a handy spotlight following you around, at least until you turn on a few lights. There are only four lights, but it takes awhile to get to the end. Look at the timer for proof, there's a reason it gives you 15 minutes to finish. To 1st Check ------------ You can jump on the bubbles over the hoop to pop them for a bit of points, or you can just fall off the side. At the bottom there's a Lightning in the corner. Kill the Shorty in the somewhat low ceiling ahead. You don't have to worry about spikes on the ceiling unless you double-drill. When you enter the open area with the hoops and the cannon on the left, kill the Marko flying over you, and push the cannon to the second to last hoop on the right. Bust all the bubbles and use near-full strength to reach the top. There are spikes at the top as usual so you shouldn't overdo it. Flip the first light switch and grab the extra life in the corner. The next two hoops have Stars inside and spike-lined ceilings. It's not worth it- but in order to get them you should use than 3/4 strength and drill upwards. Continue left once you have done your business. Kill the Ballerina and couple of Spinners to your left. Clear the bed of spikes and make your way up the ladder. On the next level there's a bubble-machine- you don't need to bother with it at first. Run right for more food and another Lightning in the corner along a meet and greet with a bully. Avoid the Lightning here if you still have one. You can use it later in case you die. Go back to the bubble-machine and use it to reach the platform above you. On the center platform, a Marko will be flying around. Get onto the right walkway. On the trampoline ahead, jump to the upper left for a small platform with an extra life and an “A” on it. Jump onto the trampoline again and use to it to land on the right. There’s a checkpoint here. Good thing because you have some balloons and spikes to negotiate. You might be thinking that there’s something hidden here, but you’d be wrong- this time. There are spinners between the balloons- however, you can find Wings below. Not Red Bull, although that would be sweet. There will be a series of Wings below the four balloon but you will need to grab it while on the third one. Before you leave, take the last balloon up off the screen for a bit to find a Invincibility Star on the ledge above. It's not necessary to get it since there are no enemies along the way before it wears off but it's your decision. Fall onto the balloon again and let it carry you to the walkway above. Go right on the walkway to find the second light switch and an extra life- a present from Sunsoft (ho, ho, just another life). There’s a parachute leading below with some tasty food- left, right, left, right, left- and more stuff in the narrow corridor left. A couple of Spinners are in there, but they are sitting ducks to your mighty drill attack. Head through the turnstiles and you will end up back at the trampoline you were on earlier. Backtrack to the center platform with the spikes and go left this time. You might need to take out the Marko this time. Hit it with some Stars or drill it when it’s close enough. On the left platform, climb the ladder at the other end, and on the next level, the ladder on the right. Before you head up the ladder to your left, walk right and grab the two “A’s” on the trampoline in the corner. Go up the ladder now and at the top there will be a checkpoint. On the platform here, there are columns with spikes on them and Spinners making a nuisance of themselves above the spikes. How do you get across this mess, you ask? There are trampolines in the pits between the columns, wait for the Spinner to go back up or hit when it gets in the way. The next couple of columns are easy to jump over; a jump will take you up and over. One further ahead has spikes between the columns that you will have to clear in one go. The next column is taller and there's a Spinner going up and down on the other side. You will be able to see it- wait until it’s out of the way, or just kill it. On the walkway ahead, there will be a Bruno on a rope, along with an “A” on the left side when you grab the rope. Right after that is another checkpoint. Woo-hoo. Bounce onto the trampoline ahead for more jumping-over-looooonng- column-action- just ahead! You need to get some momentum on the trampoline to make it over, or just double-drill as long as you have it. The next one is much shorter and easier to make it over. There’s something above this trampoline; you will need the Lightning to reach it. Drill left and then right to grab it. Doing it the other way leaves you open to falling right onto the spikes on the last column. Further right, there’s more hoops- the top with bubbles blocking the way down. The two hoops below the first one are fire hoops. Either way, at the bottom, you will need to climb the long-ass ladder and you will find the third light switch ahead. Climb the next ladder and kill the Marko near the checkpoint. When you continue right, you will fall through the floor to a trampoline at the bottom. There are some Stars in the corner. Get out of there and walk left some more to find a rope swinging around over spikes. You can run and jump across this pit easily enough. The Wings at the bottom can make it easier too. Not that you really need it. You can also jump through the yellow/purple wall at the bottom to find some “A’s” in the opposite corner. Back at the top, there’s an extra life and a long line of ropes above pits ahead. This is the most difficult part of the game so far, you have to cross multiple pits of death. Let’s get this out the way! There's a Bruno on a rope further left. A dope on a rope I’ll say. It will throw some knives at you, but you can take him out with a Star. You can take the easy route here via the Wings below the first rope and use them to reach the far end safely. Don’t die at this point or you are screwed- SCREWED!! You will have to take the ropes across next time which is pretty hard. On the next walkway, there will be another extra life and a crazy swinging rope. Grab onto it and let go when it’s in the top left corner and it’ll fling you onto the walkway on the left. You can fall off the side and go through the blue/yellow wall for another extra life. Take the ladder down and kill the Ballerina there. Woo-hoo, you found a secret- a star warp. Jump into it to get warped to the space where the extra life you couldn’t get before- and now you do! Watch out for the Buttons below and re-enter the warp. Make your way back to the walkway with the ladder once you arrive in the room with the Ballerina again. Climb up the ladder and mark the checkpoint at the top. There’s a unicycle head- unfortunately, you can’t go far with it. You will reach a wall of spikes further ahead. Press X to grab onto the tightrope and shimmy yourself through the spikes. Press up on the opposite side to return you up top, right where a Shorty is walking around. Get onto the unicycle and smash the clown. Slowly roll right until you reach another wall of spikes. Use the same swinging technique as before until you reach the other side. That extra life you seen while you were going hand over hand is simple to get. Drill toward the wall above the spikes to find the hidden hole. Watch out for the bully inside and get the extra life. On the other side of the tightrope is the last light switch and the exit. Yay! Circus Boss ----------- Goal: Meet... Kill the Stilt Bros. Ah, the Stilt brothers! How are you doing old fri- oh, God, they are throwing flaming torches at me! What do you do to old friends who suddenly attack you? Cripple them of course. You need to drill attack at their legs- which turn out to be stilts (big surprise). You need to hit each brother six times to drop them to their normal size, and then the real fight begins... or something like that. It’s the only way to reach the next phase of this fight. You won’t be able to damage either diminutive brother further until they both are cut down to size. The best way to do the first phase is to rotate hits on either brother to avoid the torches they drop onto the ground. Keep moving and watch where they drop their torches to avoid getting hit. Once that’s gone, you need to hit them an additional three times each to knock them out for good. Use the same strategy as before and go back and forth hitting each brother to win. Funpark Act 1 ------------- Goal: Find 5 Star Platforms You are outside now and back to melting Star Platforms. At least you have some fresh air now, right? To 1st Check ------------ Follow the right-arrow sign behind you to the enclosure ahead which turns out to be an elevator. It will zip you upwards. Hold right and you will get dropped off the walkway above. Note that the elevator will immediately drop back to the ground when jump or walk off. Make sure you know where you are going or you will have to take it up again. On the right you will a new mighty contraption- a cloud-ride machine! It has two platforms that swing counter-clockwise around the perimeter of the machine- other ones in later acts will perform differently. The platform on the bottom will stop momentarily before it starts moving again so you have to jump onto it before it does. Just so you know! Knowledge is power and all that. Quickly jump onto the platform on the bottom and ride it to the top. Jump onto the platform above when you pass under it. It won't stop there. The first Star Platform can be found on the right. Look on your right before you melt it. The balloon along the wall will lead you to a secret area. You can melt the Star Platform and knock out the Spinner to land on the balloon. This method won't leave room for error- you have to make it or you won't be able to reach it once the Star Platform is gone. You can also leave the Star Platform alone and take the balloon upwards to the secret area. That way you can reach it again as long as the Star Platform is there. When you land on the balloon, take it up, and jump off before you reach the spikes on the ceiling. Grab the extra life and Timer in the corner. Fall back onto the balloon and drop off the side onto the walkway below it. Take the ladder down and walk left to find the second Star Platform along the wall. There are some Stars in the corner. Might want to grab those too. At the bottom, there's a checkpoint and another ladder leading down. Be careful at the next floor, as there's a Buttons near the ladder. It might get a cheap hit while you are still climbing down. Jump past it and walk over to the see-saw on the right. It normally won't chase you as long as you are quick enough. It makes this next part a bit easier. Wait on the right side of the see-saw- the reason for that being it's easier to avoid the spikes above- and bounce twice to find the third Star Platform. You can drill attack upwards to land on it on the second bounce and neatly avoid the spikes on the ceiling. You can also do this on the third bounce but you will have to immediately hold right to avoid slamming into the spikes. Melt the Star Platform and jump down to the ladder on the bottom. Climb down the ladder. Left will lead you to some delicious food and a Buttons close to the turnstile. You don't want to go there. Right is direction you are supposed to go. You can climb the ledges along the wall ahead for an "A" if you need it. On the far right there's a checkpoint and a Ferris Wheel- or what passes as a Ferris Wheel in this game. You can jump into the empty carts, however watch out for Freddy here. It will pop out of random carts. Ignore the Ferris Wheel for now and continue right to the spike-laden platform ahead. It's not hard to land on safely when you get the usual running start. You can keep going right to collect some “A’s” in the corner next to a Franco. It breathes fire at you. You have to keep your distance because the flame has quite a bit of range. Quickness counts here. Climb the ladder on the platform in either case to find a second platform above it. Hit the Spinner and climb the ladder to find a third platform above this one. At the top of this platform you will find the fourth Star Platform in the corner. You are almost done now! It's not a good idea to fall from here- spikes will drill this point home- it's safer to use the ladders instead and walk back to the Ferris Wheel. Use the Ferris Wheel to reach the top and jump across the platforms until you see the ladder. Climb up the walkway above. Watch out for a Buz above you- it acts exactly like a Marko- and it can get a cheap hit at the top of the ladder. On the left is the last Star Platform. Now that you found all of the Star Platforms you just need to find the exit. Run all the way right along the walkway. There's a diving board on the far end. Take a dive through the hoops and you will land in the water below- hopefully, or someone will be shoveling up your remains while you respawn. You will find a whole lot of nothing on the left except for a turnstile just in case you need to go back. Swim right instead and jump across the top of the weird clown enclosure ahead. Note that the eyes follow you when you climb over it- nothing creepy about that at all... Kill the Shorty and grab the food on top. A checkpoint can be found next to the ladder. Climb this loooooong ladder to the walkway above where there will be more water to swim through. The first Jester can be shot down with a Star, the second one you will have to swim past when it isn't in the way. Climb the ladder on the other end to the next floor. You will find a see-saw on the left and long bed of spikes in the middle here. It's possible to make it across by doing a running jump and then drill upwards but it's not recommended. Otherwise, you have to bounce on the see-saw three times to reach the top and then drill across. Don't forget the "A" at the top and a second "A" on the other side of the spikes. You can use the conveniently placed see-saw on the right to grab it as necessary. Get up the ladder and continue left along the string of lights until you reach the checkpoint. Time to climb the numerous columns above the beds of spikes below. It's not hard but don't use a downward drill to land on the lower columns. The exit is found on the left near the wall ahead. Funpark Act 2 ------------- Goal: Ride the Rollercoaster A lot of people don't seem to like this act, it's one of my personal favorites however. I love rollercoasters and there's some wicked rad circus music here too. There are two things that you need to know first. You have to duck or jump over the numerous spike-laden walls along the track. That's not too hard. The second one aren’t intuitive like the first one- where it's natural to avoid sharp things to save your life. There are several breaks in the track that you need to jump over, but jumping at the top of the incline is the wrong way to do it. You won't be able to get enough momentum to reach the other side that way. You should jump right before the incline instead, or close enough to it, in order to get across. Let's get to it. There are no checkpoints anywhere in this act, consequently when you die, you have to start at the beginning again. Try not to die. :) To Exit Warp ----------- You start in the corner and NOT on a death-coaster! You need to head right through the weird clown enclosure ahead and you will start moving. You will roll up and down along the track for awhile. When you start down the long decline and splash through the water at the bottom, you need to duck to avoid the wall ahead. The next wall you have to jump over, where you will have a short break to grab an extra life hanging in the air. A second extra life will be waiting at the top of the long incline ahead as well. On the decline, be prepared for the pit at the bottom that you will have to jump over. You can find an extra life above the void in the track but you shouldn't go out of your way to grab it. On the opposite side, you will have to duck, jump, and then duck past the next three walls on the track. The walls appear in quick succession so you need to keep your eyes open here. Once you clear the walls you will be free to enjoy the surroundings until you ride up the incline ahead. An extra life is hanging in mid-air on the incline along with an assortment of freebies like food. You might as well collect them. At the top, you will drop down into a steep decline that will end with a splash when you reach the bottom. Once you leave the pool of water behind and start along the track again, there will be a Timer that you can snag in mid-air. You should have more than enough to finish the act before you run out of time, but it’s there in case you want it. There are two more walls that you have to duck under ahead. Don't be fooled by the inclines and declines along the way, just duck until you clear both walls. Right after, there's another incline followed by a steep decline that leads to a break in the track. As soon as you jump over the pit, you will have to duck under a wall. There’s one more jump over another pit right after you clear the wall. On the track ahead, you have to jump over a wall right away. Keep a look out for it- this part can throw people off. You will climb one last incline where there's a wall at the top to duck under and then back down a decline. You are in the clear at this point. No more hazards to deal with. Just enjoy the ride and collect the food and the Timer if you want. You will be free of the death-coast once you pass through the clown enclosure ahead. The exit is to your right. Funpark Act 3 ------------- Goal: Find Keys and Open Doors Allow me to bring some light to the situation since you are in the dark (dohohoho) here. You need to navigate each area and find the key. Once you have it, return to the door in order to unlock it to continue. You have to find four keys in total to finish this act. Let’s get started! To 1st Check ------------ Head down the ramp on your right and into the elevator ahead. Hold left until you reach the walkway above and the first checkpoint further on. Watch out for the Shorty near the ladder. Take him out and climb to the top. There are a string of cloud-ride machines that lead to the right here. You might have noticed the Stars in the nook above you- don't worry about them right now. Jump onto the first cloud and make your way right. You can grab the Lightning on the opposite side and double-spin to the platform above, or ignore it for now and take the ladder down to grab the key. It's not a good idea to grab it and go down the ladder just in case you die. You have to take the ladder down either way. There are a series of spike-lined walls in the way and several Spinners hanging above them- be careful here, when you get hit by any of them, you will land on the spikes. It's better to hit them high than low, where you might hit the spikes instead. On the other end, you will meet ol' Franco and his difficult fire technique. You can jump past him and grab the key before he has a chance to attack when you are quick. Head back over the spikes and up the ladder. A quick right and then left double-spin will land you on top of the platform above. Mind the spikes and the Buttons ahead- rush past them to the parachute above the Stars. Float to the ground below and backtrack to the bottom of the elevator. To your right is the first door- use the key to continue past it. Cross the bridge and make your way to the second elevator. Hold right this time on the elevator. The second checkpoint is located up here and a hole on the other side. Since you have nowhere else to go, drop into the hole but hug the left corner; you will land on a trampoline with a low ceiling lined with spikes. When you are on the left corner, you don't have to bounce pass this ceiling- that would be suicide- instead you can simply walk across. You can jump through the wall on the right and grab the Wings inside for an extra life- just fly to the top. Get onto the trampoline again and bounce to the walkway above. Kill the Shorty on the trampoline above and bounce until you get inside the space between the two platforms. You can safely fall off the side and walk left to grab some goodies- an "A" and a Timer. Climb back up to the first trampoline again, bounce, and drill left. You want to make it the platform above this time. Walk left and take the lower path down to find the second key. Watch out for the Shorty down there. Take the upper path and jump over the spikes there for three "A's" if you need them. You will find a bully walking around too. Once you got everything, you can backtrack to the elevator again and walk right to open the door. Cross the bridge again and take the next elevator upwards. This next area is tougher. You should be careful here. Fall off the side to the walkway below and hit the checkpoint. The next part might remind you of Circus Act 5 where you were using the cannon to shoot yourself upwards through narrow holes. You need to use a similar amount of discretion as before- lay off the heavy thumb- so that you aren’t killed repeatedly here. Push the cannon to the nearest hole- 3/4 should be enough to reach the column on the right above. Fall to the right onto the balloon below. Let it take you to the top where you will find an extra life. Of course, mind the spikes on the ceiling. Get back to the cannon now and push it to the next hole. You should use full strength here- you will likely need it to reach the top; a double spin can help you here. When you reach the top there are two ways you can go. On the left, a Franco is guarding Stars in the corner. On the right is a ladder to the platform above. Climb the series of ladders upwards and hit the Spinners on the way. You don't want them to get in your way. On the top platform with the lights, there's a invisible hole right where the gap in the lower platforms are. Jump to the other side and quickly snag the key and the two "A's" in the corner. Avoid the Buttons and fall through the invisible hole. You can use it to fall all the way to the bottom where the cannon should still be. The last hole has a Timer at the top. You will need to use 3/4 strength to reach the column on the left and use the balloon to reach the Timer above. If you don't need it, take the balloon on your left to the top and fall down the elevator shaft once again. Take a walk right and open the third door. Another elevator, *sigh* take it upwards and hold right. You should pass through a hidden hole in the wall- there's some food and an "A" inside. You can reach the platform above you with a jump and spin attack; otherwise, you can use the elevator to reach it. Hit the checkpoint and climb the ladder. Cream the Shorty here and climb the ladder on the other end. At the top, there are a second series of cloud-ride machines; the arms will swing above left to right. You have to be quick or the arm will pull away and you will fall to your death. Get across all four cloud-ride machines and climb the ladder. There are more spike walls in your way here. At least there are no Spinners to hit you here! You need to make it over six of them this time but there's a useful item over top of each one- at the end you will find an extra life and a spike bed on the floor. Continue past it until you reach the concession stand ahead- one drink please. I'm getting thirsty here! A Buz will be flying around overhead to ruin the moment- one hit will show it who’s the boss. The item you came all this way for is hanging over a treacherous piece of spike-laden landscape. Your double drill is very handy here- just drill to grab it and drill right again to avoid the spikes. It's tricky to do without it- you have to jump from the left side of the stand to grab the key and then hold right to avoid the spikes. Practice a few times. When you find yourself over- shooting the key, use your drill attack to make to safety again. Once you have gotten a bit of practice, drill left to grab the key and hold right. You should land safely with a bit of luck. When you have collected the last key, you have to trudge all the way back to the elevator again. You can purposely kill yourself here to reappear at the checkpoint as long as you have a good stock of lives. Otherwise get moving. When you make it back to the door, head through it and across the last bridge of this act. Take the elevator upwards. Holding right this time will let you pass through a hole in the wall again, however, this path is the correct one. The walkway above leads to a dead end- one with several "A's" guarded by a Franco watchdog but still a dead end. Continuing on the correct path, you will meet a Buttons walking around. Ignore it as usual and zip down the ladder ahead. You will come across a Buz- this one is more aggressive and drops marbles along the ground. You will likely need to defeat this one because it will dive at you when you try to pass under it. It still only takes one hit to smash it. There's a ladder in the other corner. Take it down and head right. Defeat the Jester on the right and climb down this ladder. You will be back on the ground. Head across the top of the creepy clown enclosure where you can find some delicious cupcakes and a lone Shorty running around. Clonk it and continue on. On the left, there’s a balloon against the wall. Take it up and jump onto the right balloon before the spikes overhead poke you. You may have seen the extra life on the tiny ledge earlier. It's not hard to grab in spite of it being surrounded by spikes. You can collect it by jumping once you pass the spikes on the left. It is rather precariously perched on that ledge and you do not want to lose a life to gain another one. As long as you are ignoring death-trap 1-ups, stay on the balloon for a bit longer. You should see a balloon on the left at this point. Keep an eye out for the spikes above you and make the jump to the left balloon. Ride it upwards to find another spike-laden platform and the exit- pwew, finally. You have to make one last jump onto the platform on the right. Jump while you are still below it- don’t wait too long- and the exit will mercifully take you away. Funpark Act 4 ------------- Goal: Ride the Rotor I have one word to describe this act. I would say it but I suppose a kid might read this guide... one day. The theme for this act are rotors: a strange ride on a rail similar, or at least I think so, to a modern rollercoaster, where you get into a seat and it travels along a single rail that spins you around or whatever. In this act, you can also flip yourself up or down in order to avoid smashing into the metal beams that are conveniently sticking out on each ride. You have to ride three different rotors in this act and each one will get progressively more difficult than the last. I was going to liken this act to the Turbo Tunnel from Battletoads but I didn’t want to horrify you- oops, I guess I just did that. Anyway. Run ahead and defeat the Shorty near the ladder on the right. Climb up the ladder and kill the Jester hanging to your right. You will find the first rotor on the walkway ahead. Head inside it to get started- you will come speeding out on the rail so keep an eye out. The first one isn't too hard. Stay on the bottom until you pass the first metal beam, and switch to the top right after until you clear the bottom beam. Switch back down and switch up again quickly to avoid hitting the lower metal beam. Switch to the bottom again and you will reach the end- also, just an FYI, you will die if you reach the end while you are upwards. A quick reminder- it's DOWN, UP, DOWN-UP (quick transition), DOWN- FINISH to complete the first rotor. You will be back on the walkway again. Good old solid ground *smooch* Head right to the first checkpoint. A Shorty will be around shortly (hah) to greet you- kill him and head right for a couple of Stars and then down the ladder. On the lower level, there's some tasty food on the right and two "A's" on the left. The "A's" are watched by a Franco in the corner. It won't be able to hit you as long as you are quick- run in there and run back to the ladder. Take it down to the ground but watch out for the Shorty here. It will likely run past you while you are climbing down. Drill it and continue ahead. There will be a Buttons waiting on the right that you can easily jump over. No need to fight it when you can avoid it. Climb the ladder and drill the Spinner on the left for a quick extra life. I prefer to hit the Spinner while high on the ladder and drilling downward toward the platform, or you can do it the other way as well. On the walkway above, there will be a Franco next to the ladder. You can jump over it to find a couple of Stars or continue past the checkpoint to find the second rotor. This one has some inclines/declines in the rail to try to throw you off, but it's not much harder than the first one. Go through it to get moving. Stay on the bottom to avoid the initial beam and do an upwards flip to avoid the next beam. There are two sets of down/up transitions in quick succession ahead. Stick to the top to clear the two metal beams along the bottom. There's a beam on the top to avoid and a subsequent beam on the bottom again that will have to be negotiated quickly as usual. Flip to the bottom once last time and the end of this ride is just ahead. One fast reminder for the record: DOWN, UP, DOWN-UP, DOWN-UP, STAY UP, DOWN-UP, DOWN- FINISH to complete the second rotor. Once you land ashore- er, on solid ground again, walk left and take out the Jester floating back and forth. The next checkpoint is in the corner along with a ladder leading down. On the level below- while you are still climbing down, you should see another Spinner guarding an extra life on the left. This Spinner goes left to right which makes it a little easier to hit on the ladder. Wait until it moves away to give yourself some room to maneuver. Snag your prize and continue left, kicking the Spinner you see along the way in the arse. Ignore the ladder down for a sec and take the second ladder going up instead. Take the food in the left corner and head right to meet one more Spinner and a Franco at the other corner guarding some Stars. The Franco you meet in the corner is more aggressive and will try to burn you when you get close this time. You might want to use your Stars here. Once that's taken care of, head back down the ladder on the left and take the ladder down to the floor below. On the left, there's a Spinner watching over an "A". On the right there are a couple more Spinners and a bully running around once you reach the open area where the ladder is found. When you climb the ladder there's another Spinner blocking your way to an extra life on a ledge again. It's floating up and down, close to the ladder this time, which makes it harder to hit. It's actually better to hit it on the ground while avoiding the bully. Take your prize and continue up the ladder to the walkway above. Before you head through the checkpoint and the last rotor- I bet you saw that coming, heh- take a walk left to the concession stand. Jump onto the tiny ledges along the wall and hit the Spinners above you. At the top is a platform and the hidden "B" item. Bonus time! Yes! Fall back to the ground now and head through the checkpoint to the rotor ahead. This one is quite a bit harder than the last two in my opinion. You have to do this run entirely in quick succession to avoid the metal beams this time. Let's get started. Time to get dangerous. Stick to the bottom to pass the initial beam and flip upwards to avoid the next one. Stay on the top until you pass a second beam along the bottom and flip down right after. You will need to do an up/down transition here and you will pass several beams along the top. Stay on the bottom. The finale is just ahead: a long series of up/down transitions that become more closely spaced towards the end. A joy to behold for everyone! A last reminder for this act: DOWN, UP, STAY UP, DOWN, UP-DOWN, STAY DOWN, UP- DOWN, UP-DOWN, UP-DOWN, UP-DOWN- FINISH to complete the last rotor and get the win. When you make it the opposite side of the rotor- it might take several tries in fact- the exit can be found above the concession stand on the walkway to your right. Whew, now that it's over, it's bonus time. Maybe you forgot the "B" item you collected earlier. Funpark Bonus ------------- Goal: Stay Alive Oh, great, another death-coaster. At least this time you don't lose lives when you crash into sharp objects. I'm sure I could make a 70s Disco-era Bee-Gee's joke here as well but I won't. I promise. Probably. Time to bugaloo- maybe if we are lucky it won't be an electric bugaloo. You start on the left like the last time. Head into the clown enclosure on the right to start the joy-ride. Nothing happens at first- you will roll up and down the track for a bit. Enjoy the scenery while it lasts. You will need to start paying attention once you start up the long incline followed by the sharp decline into the water below. When you get out of the water, there will be some food along the track and an extra life hanging in the air. Snag it and keep an eye out for the first wall that you will need to duck under. Right after, there's another trail of food and a second extra life hanging above the wall ahead. Jump when you get close enough and duck under the next wall that appears. You will start up another incline and there will be two more walls that need to be jumped over once the track flattens out once more. There's a third extra life hanging in the air once you clear the two walls. You will continue along another decline and an incline- when the track flattens out be prepared to duck and then jump over two more walls. You will climb another long incline followed by a steep decline. You have to duck here to avoid the carefully placed wall at the bottom- those tricky buggers at Sunsoft- and you will head into a steep incline again. When you reach the top, you should see another clown enclosure signifying the end of the ride ahead. You will be free of the death-coaster once more and you can find the exit on the right. Funpark Act 5 ------------- Goal: Jump Through 25 Magic Hoops Who likes jumping through hoops? Raise your hand. I hope you do, because you need to find 25 more of them to finish this act. This act isn't terribly hard, however, you don't need to worry too much. You start out on a trampoline inside a pit. Bounce up and drill right to the second platform- the grey one, not the one below it. You will need to go there in a bit. Drill the Shorty that will appear and continue right to find a Lightning right off the bat (hah). You can use it to collect three Stars in the top left corner above the trampoline and then take the lower path right. Slide down the ladder at the end and walk left to the platform and the "A" hanging above it. It seems like it's not worth grabbing due to the spikes but just drill toward the Spinner instead of trying to avoid it. You will die when you get hit by the Spinner though. Head down the ladder and drill toward the right wall to find an hidden hole. Since the hole is close to the halfway up the ladder, you will need to double- drill to reach it. Once you make it inside the wall, double-drill toward the right corner to find a platform with an extra life above it. There's nothing on the ground inside, so head back through the hole to the columns with spikes on them. Jump over them. The second is along a downward slope, jump on the flat part of the ground on the right, and not the slope. You will find the next checkpoint ahead and a lone Shorty by the ladder. Hit him and trudge up the ladder on the left. There will be four more hoops at the top to go through. Knock the Spinner out of the air and fall through the hoops. Climb the ladder a second time and walk left this time; you will find a Buz flying around up here, however, just ignore it. On the opposite side, there are three more hoops to fall through. There's a not-so-secret area through the turnstile at the bottom in case you want the extra life you saw earlier while walking across the walkway. Come on, you might as well. It's a little tough to get, as there's a single block with spikes protruding out, sort of blocking the way. You can double-spin left and then right to land on the platform above you, or jump right, past the spike block and onto the little platform on the side. You can do the same thing with a spin-attack too. Make sure you pass the right side of the spike block before you do; don't jump straight up. The second jump is easier; nevertheless, watch out for the second spike block on the left. You are clear to grab the extra life at the top; do so, and hug the right wall on the fall down so you don't land on the spikes. You should land on the little platform you were on earlier. Fall off the side and you are free to head through the turnstile at the bottom. You will have to climb the ladder once more and fall off the side again. Knock out the Shorty before the incline and jump into the Ferris Wheel ahead. Take it up and jump out when you reach the top. There will be a series of platforms leading left and a Spinner in between each of them. On the last platform you can fall off the left side to find an "A" and then use your double-drill right. You should be able to reach the longer platform in the air again and continue on. Pass through the checkpoint on the walkway ahead to find a diving board and three more hoops that have to be collected. When you land in the water, walk left to find a couple of Jesters floating along a bridge and a checkpoint further on. You will meet a Shorty along the downward slope and an elevator in the far left corner. Take it up and get off on the walkway up there. There are more trampolines in the pits ahead- the first one has a hoop and a hole in the left wall with three "A's" in it. Take them and start jumping on the trampoline to reach over the column with spikes on it. Note the Stars and the Lightning hanging above the first trampoline; grab the Stars if you want them, but you should leave the Lightning as long as you still have the first one. Hit the Spinner above the spikes to reach the second trampoline. The next two hoops can be found here. Hit the Spinner at the top like the last time to proceed to the next trampoline where you will find three hoops. On the other side are three more hoops and the end of the line. No more romping on trampolines. You can find a hole in the wall here but it's easier do when you land and then jump through it instead of trying to bounce into it. Jump on the balloon inside and grab the extra life above. Jump back out and bounce upwards to see the walkway up there- there are spikes and one Spinner along the corner. Bounce until you reach the maximum height, hit the Spinner when it's low enough, and hold right to pass over the spikes along the top of the walkway. Hit the checkpoint and continue until you see the Franco standing there. Avoid it and the fire it will likely shoot out; you will be safe in the right corner. There's also a Inv. Star in the top right corner. That's tricky Sunsoft at work again. Tsk, tsk. It will come in handy ahead. Grab it and slide down the ladder. You will come across three different Spinners floating in your way- right in the middle, bottom, and middle of the path. You can knock them out of the air easily enough with the Inv. Star you collected earlier. Climb the ladder on the opposite side and hit the two Shorty's walking along up there. You will find another ladder on the far end. Climb it to the top of the walkway with the lights strung across the top. There's a Buz somewhere up here- keep an eye out for it. You will find a ladder going down ahead- don't jump off the side here, you will likely land on some unfortunately positioned spikes below. Instead, climb down the ladder and jump onto the trampoline further on. A couple of bounces will reveal three more hoops in the air along with a Spinner near the ceiling. Bounce twice and drill attack up-right to knock the Spinner out and pass through the hoops on the right. Three or more bounces will make you hit the spikes on the ceiling, so when you find yourself doing more than two repetitions, jump off and try again. Once that's done, pass under the column to the Ferris Wheel ahead. Wait for the Freddy to reveal itself before you jump in and knock it out of the car it appears. Stand near the spikes on the right and drill left when it appears. Jump in and ride it to the top. You should see a platform on the top leading left. Spin attack over the spikes on the edge and walk left. Hit the Shorty; it's a bit of a pain in this confined area. The next part is tricky, you might want to think about doing this. You need to drill attack toward the block next to the spikes on the ceiling and hold left as you fall to avoid the spikes on the column. Remember that you can touch the side of the spikes, so, as long as you touch the side and hold left, you will be okay. There's an extra life in the corner. Grab it and spin attack out of here. Get into one of the Ferris Wheel cars and wait until it takes you to the right- you should see two columns in your way, both with spikes lining the opening. Head through the opening just before you line up with the red blocks on the lower column. Hold right and use your spin attack to land in one of the cars on the other side. On the opposite side, you will find a walkway to stand on safely and a well-timed checkpoint. You will need a checkpoint. Keep going right to find out why. It's a harder version of the spike blocks that you traversed through early in this act. Your double-drill attack won't help here. Stand close to the spike bed on the ground to see the first spike block in the air ahead. You have to complete a low jump so you don't touch the spike block and land on the little platform right below it. For the next jump you have to jump past the spike block and drill attack toward the little platform on the right. Get onto the little platform against the wall and get ready for another tough jump. Do a short jump (maybe more of a hop, haha) under the spike block on the left and drill attack upwards to the little platform ahead. Jump onto the walkway on the left and pass through the checkpoint. You are almost done now. A little ways to go now! Run left to the concession stand with the Shorty on it. Knock it out and climb the platforms above to find four "A's" and a Franco guarding it on the rightmost platform. You have to make the Franco shoot fire at you and then run to collect the "A's". Continue up the ladder on the left once you are finished here. You can find one more secret through the wall on the right up here. Go through it and the clown enclosure ahead to find some Stars and three more "A's" along the ground. Of course, there's a Button to ruin the fun. Smash and grab, or be passive and avoid it. After you have collected everything, head back through the wall to the diving board on the left. Don't even bother bouncing on it and just fall off the side into the hoops below. When you land in the water, hit the first Jester floating in a circle here, and swim past the second one further ahead. There's time for one last obstacle course once you climb the ladder and walk left a bit. There are a number of cloud-ride machines that swing down, up, down, and up again, and several spike beds where the arm will stop on the left. You have to stay on the right but be careful when walking around while the arm is swinging. You can fall off. The second one that swings down is the toughest one. You might want to hold left as you land on it because it tends to start moving just as you do. When you land on it, move to the right a bit to avoid being spiked by the, er, spikes ahead. The last one is chinch to land on. It will carry you back to safe, old, regular ground on the left. Hit the checkpoint and jump onto the platform ahead. Avoid the Buz flying around here. Jump onto the balloon and it will take you to a series of little platforms before you FINALLY reach the warp at the top. You can fall off the side where you see a food trail leading down. There will be a balloon to stop you from landing on spikes, which also conveniently carries you upwards to walkway where the warp is found. It might be a little easier to jump over the bed of spikes in your way, but not much easier. Jump in the warp to finish this damn act. Funpark Boss ------------ Goal: Meet Mr. Bubbles No more lame jokes about meeting and killing old circus friends! This time you have to fight a squirrel inside a clown-machine that moves up and down along a rail on the right. The clown-machine has a extendo-hand sticking out of its mouth that will reach out and grab you. It's not hard to avoid since it moves slow and the hand is the only part that will damage you. Walk left or right to avoid it; don't be afraid to fall off the platforms to dodge it as well. The other attack it does is shoot tears all over the place when you hit it in the nose to damage it. The nose can take damage only while it's flashing. Shades of that old "Operation" toy that kids played with, or just a sensitive nose, I guess. Stay on the lower two platforms on the right and hit it on the nose when you can. There's no need to follow it up. It moves pretty quick and you are more prone to take damage the higher you are. Use the platforms above and below to avoid the tears as necessary; they will spray all over the place so you might have to. It takes nine mighty hits to take it out. The clown-machine will just nonchalantly fall off the screen when you hit it enough. Hah. The squirrel will make another appearance later in the game. It also appears in its own entirely new game that Sunsoft made a few years later. This has been useless trivia with Pseudonym. That's all for now. Woods Act 1 ----------- Goal: Find the Exit Ah, the great outdoors. A nice time for a romp through the forest. Enjoy nature and all the little forest animals; they are the only things that aren't trying to kill you here. Whew! The woods are one of the last "easy" areas left in the game. Take advantage of it while you can and stock lives. Time to go! To 1st Check ------------ Fall down into the pit on your left and go through the wall. A secret right away! How about that. You will find a large cave with a Timer in the corner and a Buttons guarding it. Ignore it and grab the Timer. Head outside again and follow the signpost to find a platform above you leading back to the left. Detour Go over the two platforms in the air and you will reach the cliff above ------ where you started the act. You will be going backwards at this point but it's for a good reason. Hit the Jester ahead and jump through the hole in the tree using the platform nearby. The hole is near the top of the tree; the platform provided will be helpful here. There's a nice stack of Stars in the corner once you get inside. Head back to the signpost and continue forward from there. You will go down a hill and then up another one where you will come across a deep pool of water. Knock out the Jester circling above the water before you dive in. Take a swim to the opposite shore. You will climb up a couple of gentle hills where you will find a Shorty on the peak along with a checkpoint on the platform above. To 2nd Check ------------ When you start down the decline on the other side of the checkpoint, you will find a platform in midair about halfway down that holds a nice little secret. It’s worth getting; at least I think so. Continue down the hill when you don't want to bother with it. Detour You will bump into two Jesters floating around between the holes in the ------ platforms, but you know what to do with them. You will find a Shorty on the ground ahead once you head down the decline. Take it out and continue forward. You will get your first look at the unique-looking spikes in the woods ahead- they are just sharpened sticks stuck in the ground. A single jump will clear the first spike. Jump over the series of three pits that become increasingly larger on the way across. On the opposite side of the third and largest hole, you will meet a Franco at the top of the hill. When you make it over it, there are two “A’s” along the side of the hole. You will find a secret hole in the wall on the right when you jump and drill upward toward it. Don’t miss it though, or you will get the point below soon enough. You will find a single “A” and a Shorty inside. Make your way to the steep decline again and continue down. You will reach a large pit with spikes. You need to take a running jump and drill attack to make it over. You will head down another steep hill that will level out soon enough. There’s a seesaw sitting in the middle of nowhere ahead. Before you use it, walk right a bit and kill the Jester that will serendipitously float by. Grab the six Stars in the air and continue right to the tree. You can climb through several broken branches here. Not walking forward will drop you to the lower level. In the right branch you can find two “A’s” here. A secret will be uncovered when you bounce off the trampoline and jump into the wall at the top. Of course! You will find a Shorty and an extra life in the corner. Head back to the tree and fall to the lower level. Walk right to find another minor secret. You will find the woods equal of the tightrope, a power line- later on, power surges will go through them. Not at the moment though. Fall off the side on the opposite end to find a Wings. Take it upwards to find four “A’s” in a nook in the ceiling. You likely have full health already but you can still get points for collecting them. More points is always a good idea. Head back through the tree to the opposite end and take out the Shorty on the ground. There’s a checkpoint ahead and a pool of water. To 3rd Check ------------ There's a Buz around that will cause some problems on the opposite shore. Make your way over the second body of water to find the most irritating part of this act. The platform with the trampoline on top of it is what I'm talking about, or more specifically, the Shorty running on top of it. You have to jump onto the edge of the trampoline when the Shorty is away and hit it with a Star before it hits you. You will be knocked back onto the ground if it does. You will find some Stars above the trampoline as a small conciliation for any problem caused during this part. It doesn't hurt to collect more Stars in any case, even if you didn't have a problem here. Get off the trampoline and trudge up the incline to find a bridge over some spikes. You have to jump over the middle to avoid the long spikes and you will find the final checkpoint past it. To Exit Warp ------------ Climb onto the platform in the air and continue along to find a tree that you can jump through (surprise, surprise). Grab the Lightning inside and put to good use immediately. Use it to collect four more “A’s” hanging close to the top. It might seem hard, or even impossible to grab them all but all it takes is a bit of creative effort. Still, a little overboard with the “A’s” now I think. Fall off the side now to land on the slope of a hill. Keep going to find a second power line ahead. Climb up the ladder and head left along the power line. At the end, you will find a seesaw. Like the prior pits you can pass through the wall for more goodies, in this case, three MORE damn “A’s”. This act will give you a ton of “A’s” when you don’t need them; later on, you will wish that you had them. The bully inside might be tough to avoid because the path is narrow. Walk slowly forward and jump when it appears. Use the seesaw to reach the cliff above you; you can also continue to bounce on it to find more goodies above you, including an extra life. Climb the incline and the following decline into a valley with a Buz flying around. Avoid it and continue up the hill that rolls into another decline. On the following level ground once again, you will find the exit warp. Easy, enough right? The next act might change your mind. Haha. Woods Act 2 ----------- Goal: Ride the Barrel Well, it’s one last auto-scrolling stage. This is where I start yelling at the game because it’s SO HARD, or so people would lead you to believe. It can be a real tough one for sure. So, time to talk about this act. What are we supposed to do? It's time to roll along the hills while you are inside of a tree log. Hazards like spikes and water will kill you when you land on them. Spikes in particular are evil in this act since they vary in length and height. In addition to hazards, the scrolling speed is a hazard in itself here; the screen scrolls quick and you won't have much time to react when you approach something dangerous. Oh yeah! *Macho Man Pose* Also be aware that there are no checkpoints anywhere in this act. You have to start at the beginning again when you die, making this one of the more difficult acts in the game 4 realz (no joking around). Let's get dangerous. To Exit Warp ------------ Head into the tree on the right to get rolling. It's not a nice roll along the riverside, though. As you start down the hill, you can grab an assortment of food in the air. You can get them without any consequence to yourself as long as you jump when it appears and not afterward. Right after you land, you will roll up a slight incline that leads into a jump over the pool of water. The extra life hanging above the water is easy to grab. You will likely need it for what lies ahead. On the opposite shore, you will roll up an incline that will soon level out and pass a signpost that indicates that more jumps are coming up. Take it as a sign to get ready. You will come up to two rows of spikes. These ones are short and easy to jump over. Next up is an incline leading to a second row of spikes at the top. The climb up a hill is where your first real challenge awaits. There are three rows of tall spikes that appear consecutively that have to be jumped over. You need able jumping skills here, but when you jump right after you land you will make it over the rows of spikes safely. You will come upon more water to jump over after a brief roll down a hill. Jump when you start up the slight incline before the pool of water to clear it without difficulty. The next jump over a water pool is immediately after you land. You will head down a slight decline before the jump. On the ground ahead, a fast jump is required to clear a row of tall spikes. Wait until you are close before you jump or you will hit the back spike as you start to fall. It starts to get hard from this point forward. Really, truly. You will roll up an incline and there will be a trail of food and an extra life at the peak. Make the jump right before the peak of the hill to take the extra life. The hill leads to a valley and toward one more hill where there are two rows of tall spikes. Right after that there are two consecutive rows of spikes in close proximity that have to be jumped over at the same time. The two double rows of spikes can mess with you because it looks like a single row when you approach them. You won't have time to react when you slip up. Oh-shit, back to the start for you! The next one right afterward is a single row of spikes. Roll along the hill before you reach one last pool of water ahead. Jump over it as usual and climb the hill on the other side. The double row of spikes at the bottom of the hill can be a nasty surprise if you don't pay attention. You will roll along several more hills before one last bed of tall spikes situated at the bottom of the hill. As long as you jump after you start down the hill, but before you reach the bottom, you can clear it easily enough. The difficult part is expecting it in the first place. You are free and clear at this point. Roll up the hill and head into the tree ahead, but avoid jumping over the tree when you see it, or you will land on the spikes on top. You should see the exit warp further right. It was difficult, or like certain a dwarf henchman with a rocket launcher, short and deadly.* At least I didn’t make a obvious “barrel roll” joke... haha. *This bad joke has been bought to you by the committee for bad jokes, or the CBJ, who writes all of my jokes. Have a nice day! Woods Act 3 ----------- Goal: Do the Bungee Sunsoft has a plan that involves creating a theme for every act in the woods. Well, except for one. The theme for this act is bungee jumping. For those people who don’t know what bungee jumping involves: you are attached to an elastic rope and can jump off fixed structures such as a bridge, or anything that a dare-devil acro-bat might find challenging. You have to avoid hazards and collect the key that hanging nearby to continue through the nearby door. The keys require careful maneuvering to collect them without dying. Each time that you bounce upward after you reach the bottom, the bungee cord won’t let you drop as far the next time. Take advance of this to grab the key or other items that seem difficult to collect on the first bounce, although you might die a few times before you get used to it. Regular goons are scarce and won’t cause too much trouble at least. Time to get going. To 1st Check ------------ Head right and drop into the tree ahead to reach the level below. The left side has six Stars in the corner once you jump over the spikes in front of the hole. The right side will let you continue on to the bridge with the first bungee jump. Watch out for the Shorty running around. Before you continue to the bungee jump, go on top of the hole in the tree to find more helpful items. Detour A couple of Jesters are hanging out on the platforms above. The first ------ one is positioned over the small platform ahead. Go to the edge and spin attack into the Jester before it can hit you. The second Jester is floating above the platform on the right. It's too far away to utilize the earlier method against it this time. There's always a way to do it though. Land on the edge and hit it while you are there instead. Time to “do the bungee” now like the game says in its 90s-cool language. And why not. I enjoy using old-fashioned terms from decades past too! Walk into the enclosure on the bridge to start; fall straight down at first to get your directions. The key is off to the right over the spikes. Wait for the third bounce on the bungee to grab the key without being stabbed and then collect the rest of the delicious food and other items here. Anything else here is a freebie. The bungee rope tends to keep you in the center of the area where you fall. It can make collecting items on the left/right hard when you reach the bottom. The keys in later jumps have to be collected with more careful means than the first one. That is, you have to be along the edge of the spikes and dart in to grab it and dart out before you are pierced on the spikes. When you happen to die while you grab any keys, you should just shake it off. Life goes on, at least for as long as you have more lives. At least you will have the key to continue to the next area, or you can practice some more if you really feel like you need some help while it's easy. Hehe. Head right through the door to continue. To 2nd Check ------------ You will meet a Buttons right off the bat. Avoid it like before and start to the checkpoint on the platform ahead. Trudge up the hill and down the other side to find the next bungee jump at the top. Climb the platform above the bungee jump enclosure like you did before. There are more items up there to help you along the way. Detour The Jester right above the platform on the left isn't hard to defeat. ------ The one that occupies the higher platform on the right however will readily knock you down when you land there. It's close to the edge so quick reflexes are needed. Jump onto the edge and drill upward fast to knock out the Jester before it gets a chance to hit you. Collect the Timer for your trouble. Fall back onto the lower platform and jump to the platform on your left. You will meet a Franco on the top, but jump over it. Go to the tree on the left and jump through. Cross the pit to find a bully walking around on the opposite side of a second tree. Ignore it and snatch the “A’s” and other items using the Lightning conveniently found nearby. You can fall in one of the holes here. The holes are all safe to fall through, no hidden spikes for once, and it will make it easier to reach your destination faster. No need to cross the platforms again. Now it's bungee time! The key is positioned between some spikes on the left this time. Wait for the third bounce to grab the key without being skewered. Pull right quick to evade the spikes above you. You can stay to collect the food, or head through the door on the right to continue. To Exit Warp ------------ Right away you will find a narrow vertical shaft leading past the door. Grab the Wings to take you upward, or continue to the third bungee jump right. Detour Take the Wings you find in the air and fly up the narrow path to find a ------ Timer at the top. Don't fall down yet though. Leap into the hole that's not really hidden at all in the tree to find a new place. Go down the hill but watch out for the Buz that will appear somewhere around there. Collect the three “A’s” in the corner and fall to the ground once more. Walk down the hill to find a checkpoint in the valley. A Buttons on the hill ahead will confront you. Jump over it and walk up the hill to the right. You will find the last bungee jump in the clearing at the top. It’s the bee's knees as far as I’m concerned. The key is located in the same problematic spot as before except it's even further right than before. Grab it on the third bounce as before. You will need split-second timing to pull away to miss the spikes. More falling and evading pointed things that can kill you, right?!; and, with a little luck, there won’t be any dying! Read the bit in the fifth paragraph of the act for some help here in case you need it. Stick close to the edge of the spikes and quickly dart inside to grab the key. You are finished here once you grab the key. Head through the door and down the decline to find the exit warp. Act 4 awaits. Get your swimming gear on while you are at it. Woods Act 4 ----------- Goal: Ride the Rapids A short and easy act featuring everyone’s favorite thing: water slides. Oh, yeah! The goal in this act, besides the vague message during the opening screen, is riding the water slides to the bottom while you duck under and jump over spikes on the way down. Fun! Of course, there’s no reprieve from spikes anywhere, not even during an easier act. It’s something of a practice run for a later act that’s similar to this one, but FAR more difficult. One great trick to make this act a little easier is using the jump and the directional pad in a rapid motion to climb up any water slide that you want. There are often not-so-hidden items found at the top of slides but not all of them. You can also use it to stop sliding downward for a second while you gauge your surroundings. It's useful to avoid a spike in the way since the water moves at such a fast pace. What great fun at parties and get-togethers! To 1st Check ------------ Head through the tree and stop before you fall onto the water slide below. Jump to the water slide on the right and climb it to find an extra life. Go down the next two water slides until you come to a long one that goes left. You will find two spikes to JUMP over and DUCK under here. An extra life hidden under the slide below isn't hard to reach, but requires that you take a long trudge upwards in order to collect it. It's a hell of a climb that tires your thumb. Fall to the right. There are two more spikes to JUMP and DUCK again over ahead. Drop off the left side, and DUCK under the spikes further on. The next slide has two more spikes- JUMP over both of them- and you will fall off the left side to a short slide below. When you slide off the right side, stay close to the water falling, as there are spikes close to where you fall. JUMP over it when you approach it, and DUCK over the next one further on. To 2nd Check ------------ You will be finished with the first section of the water park. Head through the checkpoint on the left and fall off the side to start the second section. You will run into spikes right away, DUCK under it and you will slide off the right side. You can grab the extra life at the top of this slide. Keep going until you fall right onto a slide with two additional spikes that you need to DUCK under right away and JUMP over on the opposite end. Right after you fall to the left, you will find a spike that you need to DUCK under. On the next slide, there are two spikes to JUMP over here until you get dumped onto a slide leading right. You will find one more spike to DUCK under here. The lower slide has one last spike to JUMP over. After that, you will fall into a pool of water at the bottom. That's the end of the second section. You are almost done now, one more section to go! To Exit Warp ------------ You will find a checkpoint on the left and the third section starts on the right. Jump down there to get started. The game doesn't mess around; it starts with three spikes on the slide to JUMP, JUMP, and DUCK under. You will get drop onto a short slide that in turn will drop you onto a slide leading right and a nasty spike nearby. The spike is located a bit left of where the water falls onto the slide from above. You will die if you decide to drop down right away. Jump to the right instead- away from the water when you drop down and JUMP over the spike when you approach it. An extra life is located at the top of this slide. It's a long climb for it, although you can do as you please. The slide below has two spikes to DUCK under. It drops you to a short slide that has two separate paths on the left and right sides (no wai). In all cases, take the left path as the right path has a wall of spikes that's impossible to cross. A long climb back up the slide is the only way when you take the wrong path. With that advice, take the left path. Stay close to where the water falls down as the split between the left & right paths is there. No need to mention the right path has a wall of spikes right near the split. When you go down the right path, death is almost assured and should be avoided it at all costs obviously. The left path has the one three-spike wall in this act. Keep a bit of distance between yourself and the spike. JUMP over it while holding left to clear it easily enough. It's not a good idea to get close and jump over, but whatever works for you. The drop here leads to a second split in the slide at the bottom. Aim to the left to reach the left path safely. A dive straight down means you will likely land on the right path. Oh, damn. I'm sure you know what that means. Yeah, that's right. The trudge up the slide is unavoidable because I'm sure you don't want to die. It really is an unnecessary evil. The drop off the left side and the following slide has two spikes that you need to DUCK under. There are two last spikes to JUMP over and DUCK under on the following fall to the right. A fall onto a short slide on the left and a plunge into the water below means you are done with this gauntlet of spikes and white-water whiplash. You might need a neck brace later, but potentially lethal whiplash aside, you can head to the exit warp on the right. You have a game to finish first, injuries can be fixed later. Dry yourself off and take a time out to soak up the sun on the ground here. There are just four acts in the woods and no boss to fight. That's nice but the hard part is still ahead. It's time to head indoors to a dusty, dilapidated museum of death to finish the game. Museum Act 1 ------------ Goal: Explore the Hallways There's nothing like a museum for a final showdown. It does look more like a medieval torture chamber rather than a museum to me. The next five acts are a test; in essence, a culmination of everything you learned in the game so far- so, if learning not to die was what you learned, these acts will thoroughly test you at every turn. At least there are no ridiculous goals here; they are all pretty much "find the exit" acts. Let's start exploring. To 1st Check ------------ Walk right to the stairs and jump over to the other side when you reach the top. Go down the decline cautiously ahead. About halfway down, a fireball will pop out of the lava and bounce a good distance along the walkway. It's easy to get hit if you aren't expecting it. Jump over the fireball when it's near and walk to the edge of the platform. Jump to the little platform ahead and look forward. The next little platform on the right has a bit of trap waiting. A second fireball will hop out of the lava and bounce left across this platform when you jump onto it. Wait for it to get out of the way and make the leap to the platform and then the solid ground further right. A Ghostly will come walking down the path right along the way. It takes two hits to defeat unlike it's weaker cousin, the Shorty, but it's not a problem most of the time. Defeat it and go on to the banded pole with the platform ahead. Keep going right past the pole elevator to continue with the act when you don't want to bother going up. Detour It's an elevator of sorts that will spin you upward. Take it for a ------ spin. Hah. You will see a little ledge on the right when you reach the top. Take a spin over onto it to find a Timer. You can jump to the other side to stumble upon a trampoline with four Stars hanging over it. As usual there are saws along the ceiling here. One bounce is more than necessary to reach the Stars, just drill attack toward them. Two or more bounces is unsafe. I'm sure that you know what will happen. Continue forward to discover the first troublesome obstacle in the museum: the chain whip. The two you come across here will swing clockwise. You can overtake the first one by running just as it passes by. You should have just enough time to make it without being hit; there are several "A's" here if you get hit in any case. There will be a flame drip attached to the column ahead, once you pass both chain whips. It will drop fireballs that will roll toward you. Leap over the fireball when it approaches and carefully inch toward the platform in the corner. You can take out the Ghostly circling the block while you are close to it now, or wait until you are level to hit it with a Star. The flamethrower on the platform on the left- the statues attached to the wall that you should see in a second- will shoot a stream of fire. Get onto the statue and hit the Ghostly with a Star if you didn't already do so. You can hit it with a spin attack when it comes within range but there's no need to risk your life. It's easier to use a Star on it, or at least I think so. Make the jump onto the block and the second jump over the saw (spike) to grab the extra life and two "A's" there. Whew! All that for an extra life!? This is what I talked about earlier about picking and choosing your battles. In this case, deciding what you want to collect when there are a lot of obstacles in the way. When you don't want to deal with shit like this, just avoid it. Fall to the ground when the fireball bounces past and walk to the chain whip. You have to jump over the two chain whips this time. It's a bit of a crap shoot whether or not you will take damage here. Keep the chain whip just in sight and take a running jump toward it. You should have enough speed to partially make it over the chain whip, but in order to get the rest of the way you need to use a spin attack. At the height of your jump, spin attack over the top of the chain whip quickly before it swings back around and hits you. You should have more than enough health to survive the two chain whips when you get hit in either case. Run past the chain whips during your invincibility phase to avoid them without taking any more damage. Don't stand there and try to jump over it again. Heh. Fall to the bottom of the pole elevator and defeat the Ghostly there before continuing right to the two cleavers. Head through the two of them when the blade falls to the ground, or else you will get slice and diced by it. Keep going to the bubbling pool of water ahead. It's not dangerous. It won't boil you alive or anything horrific like that. There's a checkpoint on the other side and a single Ghostly that will be walking toward you. To 2nd Check ------------ Send it packing and hit the trampoline on the wall to get sent flying to the walkway above. Don't worry about what's on the other side of the wall. You will find out soon enough. Go up the ladder but not all the way to the top. Wait for the Ghostly that will come running at full speed across the walkway above you. It will walk through the wall on the left. Can you guess what's in there? A secret of course. Climb the rest of the way up and walk slowly into the wall. Detour You won't be able to see a thing and a certain fleet-foot creature with ------ a bed sheet will come walking back toward you at some point. You might be able to get lucky and do this part without taking damage. Be ready to toss Stars forward to hit the Ghostly until you come across a pit of lava. The fireball can knock you into the lava if it hits you, so wait until it jumps to the left before you jump over the pit. There will be two "A's" and a Timer in the corner. Jump over the pit of lava again. Make your way back to the ladder and head right down the decline to continue with the act. The Ghostly will make a second appearance around this time, but it's not much of a threat out in the open. Watch out for the flame drip at the bottom and drill attack upward to the platform to find an "A". Fall to the ground and inch forward to meet up with a flamethrower on the far wall. Land on the top of it until the stream of fire retreats and drop to the platform below. There are two more along the way. Both of them are attached to the right wall and you can get around them using the same method. A Ghostly will be walking around below the third one. Take a quick glance at the ground before you fall past the third flamethrower to avoid being hit. Collect the "A" in the left corner and continue right to the checkpoint ahead. To 3nd Check ------------ Here you have to test out your skills in the regular (for this game) jumping and passing through spike-lined columns events. You might remember this feature during an earlier Olympic event, *er* time in the game. Bust out your track shoes. Jump over the lava and onto the trampoline to get started. Bounce a few times to grab the Stars to get ready. Move close to the column once you are set and drill attack downward or upward through the opening. It's easier to bounce high while staying close to the column on the subsequent fall, and using a spin attack downward through the opening once it's safe to do so. The opening on each of the following three columns will become more narrow and closer to the trampoline. It will be harder to do an upward spin attack through the columns without hitting the saws as you continue. The fourth column has a normal lower exit and double top-secret exit high in the air. You need to do a downward drill attack to get through the lower opening for sure this time. The opening is too close to the trampoline to complete an upward drill attack through it. There will be a ladder that will lead to the next checkpoint after you pass through the column. Take it down and hit it to start the next section. Detour For those adventurous people who want to take the high road: bounce ------ until you reach maximum the height, hold right so that you are level with the lower set of saws between the column, and drill attack through the opening. There's one more trampoline inside and a Ghostly circling above. Bounce once to get a closer look and hit it when it passes near. Keep bouncing to find an extra life on the ledge to your left. Drill attack toward the first saw on the ceiling and land on the platform below. Don't fall straight onto the platform from the trampoline as there's a chance to hit the saw on the side of the platform. That would suck. Collect your well-earned extra life and fall along the right wall to the main area below. You will be next to a ladder near the lower opening in the column now. Slide down the ladder to find the next checkpoint. To get the "A", jump off the ladder while you are level with the saw beside you. The risk of being killed isn't great, but there's always the chance that you will. You should pass right over the saw if you hold left while you jump off the ladder. You can always ignore it when you don't want to take the chance of dying. To 4th Check ------------ Beat down the Ghostly when you walk down the decline to the row of statues along the corridor ahead. You can grab the items above the statues but watch out for the Buttons that will break out of specific ones when you get close. The second and the fifth statues will turn out to be Buttons in disguise. Keep going to the series of four cleavers at the top of the incline. Each is placed so that you have to use an upward or downward spin attack to get through them. You will encounter one creature that's possibly more irritating than Buttons on the other side of the fourth cleaver. It's Colin, the crazy mother- shut ya mouth! I was talking about the clown that difficult to defeat without taking a lot of damage. It's not worth fighting. Jump over the top of it when it's travelling along the ground, or drill attack toward the ground to pass under it when it tries to block the way by jumping in the air. Go down the decline to find a flame drip on the column at the bottom. Walk under it and hope that it doesn't drop a fireball on your head. Continue to the pole elevator in the open area ahead, but wait a second before you take it up. Keep walking right to find a checkpoint and a secret in the little space ahead. It should be obvious that something is there because of the saw. This secret is a bit tough. You can always head back and take the elevator up instead. Detour Through the wall, you will find more lava and a string of blocks that ------ lead to the right. Right off the bat you have a difficult jump to the first block. All the other blocks are spaced closer together and not difficult to traverse on their own. Still, being careful should be your watchword here. You can fall into the lava due to unpredictable hazards. Your first real challenge is a fiery ball of flame of course. The third block has a fireball that arcs over it; as long as you jump to the block while the fireball lands right you will be fine. The fireball travels in an arc that falls close to the right edge rather than the left edge; accordingly, you should stick to the left to avoid taking damage. There's one final block to negotiate and the prize is yours to claim: a Timer and an extra life. That's all!? Make your way back to the pole elevator and take it up. At the top there's one more secret through the right wall. To Exit Warp ------------ Take a running jump from the platform to get through the wall easily. You won't be able to see anything until you emerge on the other side. Again, this one is tough. You might want to consider going back to the elevator and jumping across to the other side and continue to the end of the act. Detour It's quite a bit more difficult than the last hidden area and wretched - ------ to collect the goodies without getting killed. There are saws and more fireballs to harass you (oh my!). The fireball flipping over the first block has a more variable pattern than some of the earlier ones, but it's more of the same. When the fireball lands on the right, hop across the block like a madman who's, er, really fast, to the next block. The fireball over the third block has a more regular pattern. The arc of the fireball takes it closer to the left edge than the opposite edge. Stick to the right. The following two blocks are safe. No fireballs or other hazards to put up with. Jump onto them and land on the solid ground beyond the lava. You will find two "A's" and an extra life along the narrow corridor. You won't be able to collect the goodies without a devious little trap in the way of course. Sunsoft laying that kind of BS trick in your way?! That would be unthinkable. The stream of fire from the statue on the right wall will extinguish your health or possibly a life after the time it took to get here. To remedy this, run and quickly jump onto the statue to avoid taking damage. Slow and steady won't cut it this time. Make your way across the pit of lava now- without dying on the way one can hope, you don't want to make this whole excursion moot and pointless do you- once more and jump over the hole. You will appear next to the elevator again when you die, so you might consider that a plus. Hehe. Whew. Now that's done you can make your way to the end of the act. Keep an eye out for the flame drip on the column before you continue left. Head down the decline to meet a second Colin at the bottom. Dodge it's projectiles until you are close enough to drill attack under it. Again, don’t bother to fight it. Go up the incline to find one last vat of lava with longer platforms this time and more fireballs that will show up unannounced as you cross. Boo! You find a fireball on the first platform. It's not hard to avoid. Jump to the next platform and look ahead. A fireball will bounce down the midpoint of the walkway that will likely to hit you. That's when it does appear on the left; jump over it as usual when it comes out on the right. Land on the edge of the platform and jump over the fireball as it bounces across. You can collect the "A" there if you get hit anyway. Land on the next platform. It's fireball free, that's a guarantee! Fireproof if you will. The following platform however does have a fireball. You can use the same strat as before. Land on the edge and jump over any hazards that might appear- Oh, I don't know, a particular fiery ball hazard, that will come tumbling along the platform. Mind the saw at the top and jump over the fireball when it appears on the way down the walkway. Collect the "A" and stand on the edge to wait for the fireball on the next platform to make itself known. It will jump out of the lava and makes its way across the platform. Make your way onto the platform and the next platform with the two saws on either side of it when it's safe to do so. Aim for the middle of the platform if you don't want to get killed and land on the other side. Ah, sweet solid ground once more. The exit warp is ahead. Head down the decline and continue left to find it. The next act is tough. I hope you are ready for it. Museum Act 2 ------------ Goal: Ride the Conveyor Belts Oh, fuck, this act! It's not a particularly long act, but it's filled with precariously positioned conveyor belts that are lined with saws. More saws than usual, even! Patience is key during this act if you don't want to get killed repeatedly. Conveyor belts rarely move backward into hazards- it's miniature saw blocks for the hazard de-jour in this act. I'll note where the conveyor belts move backward, so you don’t have to worry about it. Time to get started. To 1st Check ------------ Go past the pole elevator ahead to grab the "A" in the corner. You will find two Stars through the wall if you keep walking straight ahead. Take the pole elevator up now. It's a long trip to the top! There's an extra life in the wall on the left once you reach the top. Take it and head right past the pole elevator to the ground on the other side. The first conveyor belt is right ahead. Take it down and jump over the large saw block at the bottom. The conveyor belt on the opposite side will take you to the top and directly to a second large saw block. Leap over it like you did with the first one to reach safe ground once more and the first checkpoint. To 2nd Check ------------ Head over to the right and take out the g-g-Ghostly circling over the hole. Look right to the conveyor belt over there. A second conveyor belt above the first one will lead you to a secret. Several different secrets with some nice items, in fact. Land on the edge of the conveyor belt and spin attack upward. With any luck you will make it up there. When you miss it, you will have to drill attack upward along the conveyor belt to try again. You might fall off once or twice before you make it. Keep trying, although, be careful that you don't fall off the left side because there's nothing below except for death. That's right, the physical form of death- *ahem* by death, I really mean saws- will take you away off this mortal coil, or the nearest equal parallel dimension and all that. But again, I digress. You can also continue down the conveyor belt which will carry you down to the area proper. Detour You have a third conveyor belt to climb after you make it onto the ------ second one. The third conveyor belt moves right and you will fall off when you land on it unless you drill attack immediately. Drill attack left along the conveyor belt after you gain a foothold to reach the block on the other end. Look left once you land on the block and jump to the platform on the left. Go through the wall to collect a boatload of food and other stuff in the narrow corridor. Run all the way to the end without a care in the world. You won't find any enemies inside, but there are no lives either. No need to worry about that too! Head the other way again and land on the higher block on the right. Fall onto the block right below you and, ta- da, an extra life just for you. There are two ways to collect the sheltered extra life in the corner, both of which are similar in execution. The first: run off the side and spin attack upward. Don't fall off, or you will have to climb all the conveyor belts to get back here. The second: jump off the side and spin attack upward when you pass under the saws above you. Drop off the side now and you will be back where the first checkpoint is located. Take a ride down on the conveyor belt to the large block with saws on top of it. It's not a good idea to jump too far ahead of the large block because there are more hazards ahead. To be more specific, there are little blocks surrounded with saws a bit further ahead along the next conveyor belt. Once you make it onto the conveyor belt, drill attack over the three blocks with saws from a distance. Don't get too close and attempt to get over them; it won't work. Immediately after you will have to jump to the next conveyor belt slightly above the one that you are riding. There's a Ghostly circling above the conveyor belt that normally won't cause any trouble, but you should hit it when it gets in your way. At least there's nothing here that will likely kill you outright! One more large block with saws in the way before you reach safety once more. Jump over it and hit the checkpoint ahead. To 3rd Check ------------ A Shorty will come your way after you walk past the checkpoint. Once you dispose of it, climb the two ledges on the right and more one Colin at the edge. Get close enough to draw it away from the edge and drill attack under it when it jumps up. Get onto the conveyor belt leading down and drill attack over the large block with saws at the bottom. This one is longer than the others and has a Ghostly circling above it. You will certainly land on the saws when you touch the Ghostly, but often you can push through without being hit. The Ghostly is often overhead when you attempt the jump over the large block. You might want to inch forward and jump back to avoid the saws to see where the Ghostly is located if you are the more cautious type. There's one more conveyor belt leading up. Take it along to find safety on the ground. It's a short-lived sense of security as you walk forward. The next series of conveyor belts lead downward and they all have little blocks with saws to confront you. There are three blocks with saws on the first conveyor belt past the checkpoint to jump over. You will find two "A's" sitting on two blocks above the conveyor belt that you are riding. It's not hard to collect them. Spin attack toward the right side to avoid the saws surrounding it. Grab both of the "A's" and drop onto the conveyor belt again. Take a easy ride on the lower conveyor belt and fall down onto the large block below. As it has saws on either side of it, you don't want to fall off the block. You will find two different paths here; the right path leads to a secret, and the left path is where you continue with the act. The right path isn't hard, or just continue along the left path. Jump onto the conveyor belt you want to take and ride it down. Detour The conveyor belt on the right will lead you straight to an extra life ------ suitably placed on a block directly where it will drop you off. Go through the wall to find more good stuff inside that's good for you. Assorted food among other things. The climb back up the conveyor belt is naturally more difficult than the ride down. You want to drill attack upward until you reach the midpoint of the conveyor belt. One more drill attack should land you on the block separating the left and right conveyor belts once more. Don't push it when you don't think you will reach it. Get closer to the block before you attempt to drill attack onto it again. Holding left after you complete the drill attack will help when you don't have quite enough distance to make it. Now that you are back on the center block, take the left conveyor belt down and drop off the side. The conveyor belt below has two more blocks with saws on the way down. The blocks aren't difficult to clear since they are spaced out enough. It will be a leisurely stroll along the remaining conveyor belt until you land the ground below. Walk toward to the food leading to the wall and jump through the hidden hole right below the conveyor belt above. You will find a Timer, Stars, and several "A's" inside the corridor. Head out past the two statues on pedestals now- predictably, the second one has a bully that will break out of its encasing, but won't cause any trouble- to the checkpoint further left. It will provide a safe point for the next gauntlet of conveyor belts and saws that you will encounter ahead. To Exit Warp ------------ Go to the left corner to find a small cache of food along the wall before you continue on the conveyor belt above you. The Ghostly in the corner will have to taken out before you collect the food though. I'm not talking about a date either; that would certainly be weird. *ahem* Get onto the conveyor belt to get moving. The following series of conveyor belts are tougher because of the saw block that are placed on the opposite side of each one. Jump right up and spin attack onto the second conveyor belt right before you reach the little wheel on the top of the conveyor belt. No doubt, it's a tricky jump. Jump before you reach the saw block; when you miss you can easily get back there without wasting a life. Ignore the Ghostly above you. The second conveyor belt has a saw block on the far end, this time you can spin attack right over it to the platform with the "A". Make sure to jump right before you reach the wheel on the conveyor belt; any closer or further away than that and you will get a close shave via the saws. The strategy that you used on the earlier conveyor belt won't work here because this one is much higher up. You will have pass over the saws and drill attack left to land on it. Grab the "A" and jump onto the left conveyor belt. Take a ride to the other end and jump over the saw block. Safe again for the time being. At least until you reach the next network of conveyor belts. Oh, you bet there's conveyor belt action ahead! Collect the two "A's" here while you get over the saw block in your way. Just past the saw block is the final section of conveyor belts that you will encounter. Jump over the first saw block close to the edge and the second one a little further ahead. There are three "A's" resting on the blocks above the conveyor belt. You can grab them since they are free health, or points when you have full health already. Spin attack on the block within your reach and collect the Stars. Fall back down between the blocks onto the conveyor belt below you to avoid the saws. Ride the conveyor belt to the ground and walk right to find a Ghostly walking down the slope. It's hard to hit with Stars without being hit yourself. A drill attack should be in order here. Damn that slanted ground! Defeat the Ghostly and walk right to find two Stars on two platforms in the corner. You shouldn't use your drill attack while you walk up the incline because the bottom of the platforms are lined with saws. Collect them and continue left to the conveyor belt. This is the last series of them I SWARE! Nevertheless it’s not too hard. The conveyor belts ahead are orientated oriented horizontally with a saw block at the left end of each one. The first one will take you forward. At the top you should jump as far left as possible onto the next conveyer belt to avoid being hit by the saw block when the track takes you toward it. Spin attack up the second conveyor belt and land on the third conveyor belt. It will take you forward once more. The same thing is needed here like the second conveyor belt- you should jump forward as far as possible to avoid the saw block. Go left along the conveyor belt and jump over the side. You are finished with the conveyor belts now! There will be solid ground below. Climb the slight incline to meet one last Colin on the flat ground at the top, but the usual routine will do. Get close enough to make it hide in its hat. Once it does, jump and spin attack under it. Head down the decline to find the exit warp. Keep going left to collect a Timer in the corner before you leave. Museum Act 3 ------------ The Tower This is the act I was talking about during Woods Act 4, except that instead of water slides there are slopes with slime-covered goop on them. The slopes will carry you downward at a fast clip and there are walls with saws on them like the death-coaster acts. There's no point of sugar-coating this fact; this is one of the hardest acts in the game and a couple of deaths are almost certain. As usual, taking it slow makes it easier, or at least result in fewer deaths. To 1st Check ------------ Get going down the decline ahead. At the bottom, past the column in the background you will see a platform and a fast-moving Ghostly walking around. Defeat it and drill attack onto the platform. You can defeat the Ghostly circling around the left edge of the platform but it’s not necessary. Drill attack again onto the platform above and walk right to the Timer and “A” in the corner. Watch out for the Flamer there too. Once that’s done, head back to the bottom and go down the ladder. You will see the slime-covered decline ahead, but there aren’t any hazards on the way down for this one. Slide down and continue left over the break ahead using the momentum you gathered to reach the other side safely. Head down the other side and jump on the statue attached to the wall to reach the platform above you. There’s an easy to collect extra life up there so it’s worth the time. The slime-covered slope might cause a bit of trouble; to reach the top, stand on the bottom of the slope and drill attack upward. Hold right to reach the top easily. Jump over the saws and collect your prize. Don’t fall off the side or you will get burned... as you fall into the lava below where you jumped over the break, instead, slide back down the slime-covered slope and fall to the ground once again. Climb down the ladder now. You will find another slime-covered slope at the bottom. Again, this one is nothing to worry about. Duck while you slide down to avoid being hit by the flames from the statue on the right wall. Alternatively, you can jump onto the statue to collect an “A” if you need it. Collect the remainder of the snacks on the slide down and head right to the trampoline on the wall. You can grab an extra life and a collection of Stars by using the trampoline on the wall. The trampoline will bounce you toward a second trampoline on the left where the goods are hanging in the air. It’s a good idea to grab some Stars here because you will need them ahead. Go down the ladder when you are done to find a collection of statues. The second statue will break open to reveal a Buttons; Deal with it as you see fit. You can always use a couple of the Stars you just found too. *hint, hint* Further left you will reach the first checkpoint. To 2nd Check ------------ Go along the incline and start down the decline on the opposite end. A second fast-moving Ghostly will make an appearance as you walk down. You can spin attack it while it’s walking toward you, or back up to where the walkway is level and use two Stars to knock it quickly. The ladder down is on the left; there’s a not-so-secret secret on the platform above you too. Detour Look up to see where the saw on the block is located and simply jump ------ onto the platform. Don’t spin attack because you might hit the saw on the block instead. That would suck. Get onto the lowest block and wait for the Ghostly spinning around the higher block to come into range. Since the higher block is close, you might need to hold left once you hit the Ghostly to avoid the saw on the right edge of the block. Continue upward to find an extra life and fall along the wall once you have collected it to reach the bottom again. Jump over the saw and fall off the side to find the ladder to the lower floor in the corner. Go down the ladder to reach the first difficult part of this act. This is the first time where there are walls with saws on them on the way down. Stand at the edge to see the low wall that you have to drill attack over. There will be a second low wall right after the first one and a normal non-slimy platform to stand for a second once you pass the second low wall. The next two are high walls that you can duck under until you reach the bottom. I don’t recommend getting the “A” wedged between the two high walls, but it’s there in case you need the health. Go down the ladder at the bottom and there are three more Buttons statues on pedestals on the walkway. The first one will break open; the rest are normal statues, or as normal as it gets in this creepy place. Past the statues is more slimy sliding action. You can see the first wall from the edge of the normal platform, so there are no surprises. It’s a high wall and a low wall immediately after before you reach the safely at the bottom again. Not too hard so far, I think. Don’t walk forward too fast because of the fireballs that will fall from the drip on the column near the base of the slope. At least the fireballs will bounce left instead of toward you. Go past it cautiously and grab the “A” and the Lightning near the ladder. Continue down the ladder, or use the Lightning to reach the platform above you. Detour Spin attack along the wall and then Spin attack again right while you ------ are still level with the platform to land on it. Be careful about missing the platform because you will likely get hit by the fireball below. Walk right next to the saw and drill attack right to reach the next platform, which is just out of sight at the moment. You should be able to reach it with one spin attack when you hold right. Spin attack to the next platform on the right and then one last one to reach the walkway to the left. Climb left up the walkway and get over the wall with saws on it at the top to collect your extra life. Climb down the same way you got up here; don’t jump off the side. The hidden lower platform you can fall toward and drill attack upward if you happen to miss it. Climb the rest of the way down to the ladder. At the bottom of the ladder is the next checkpoint and one more slope gauntlet that you have to navigate. It will start to get a little harder now. It introduces a common pattern that you will see the rest of the way through the act now. When you happen to die, you will start at the very edge of the slope, causing you to slide downward. Hold left to land on the walkway on the left, or be ready to duck when you reappear. To 3rd Check ------------ Duck under the high wall and the low wall following it. It will repeat right after with one more high wall and a low wall. There's more than enough room after the high wall to make the jump over the low wall you will encounter on this slope. Use the space to set up your jump over the low wall in case you have any problems. With any luck, it shouldn't be a problem. The third check and a ladder downward is found at the bottom as usual. To 4th Check ------------ Take the ladder down to the lower platform. You will immediately have a slope to deal with. A low wall right at the start that's easy to jump over and a second low wall right after. There's not much space between the two walls to set up the jump over the second one, so don't jump too far ahead or you might not have enough room to maneuver around. The next ones are all high walls that can all be ducked under until you reach the bottom. The "A's" between the high walls aren't difficult to collect when you jump and hold right as you pass under them. Go down the ladder to reach the next checkpoint and what I think is approximately the mid-way point of the act. To 5th Check ------------ You will see a ladder going down and a pool of lava with several blocks leading right. The blocks lead to a secret that's well worth collecting, but you should take the three Stars close to the ladder when you don't have any Stars before you attempt to cross. Go down the ladder if you don't want to bother with it. Detour Get across the lava using the blocks until you reach the longer platform ------ with the "A" on it. The Ghostly circling around the block ahead is where the trouble starts. Don't use a spin attack to reach the block because you will definitely hit the saws above when you do. There are three ways to do this part without being killed in the process. One, use a Star on the Ghostly to get it out of the way. Two, jump onto the block when the Ghostly is away and jump onto the next block in the corner. Three, wait for the Ghostly to pass over the block while you jump beside the block and spin attack upward to hit it. It can be done but I don't recommend it though. Now that you are on the block in the corner you need to reach the longer platform on the left. Mind the block with the saw on the bottom and spin attack onto the platform. You might want to spin attack right of the platform and fall onto it to avoid hitting the saw. Collect the "A" and climb the rest of the blocks to find the next bonus item on the platform in the corner. Yay! The climb down is easy due to the way this area is designed. Fall onto the longer platform again. Fall off the left side to land on the longer platform near the lava and make your way across the blocks. It's a good idea to go through the checkpoint again just in case before you head down the ladder. Grab the Stars along the wall if you haven't taken them and continue left to the platform above the ladder. Spin attack onto it to collect a much-needed Timer since you are likely almost out of time at this point. Head down the ladder to the floor below. A Marvin (the magician) will bother you and a lava pit between two slopes that you need to cross here. You will need to start in the corner to build up speed in order to make it over the lava pit ahead. Keep going to the ladder further right. Go down the long ladder until the Lightning on the block becomes noticeable. Jump off the side of the ladder and drill attack upward when you want to collect it. You might still have the one from earlier. There are saws below, so you have to make sure you can reach the block before you drill attack toward it. Go down the ladder below now. Go slowly to avoid the fireball that will bounce toward the ladder when you climb down. Such a cheap hit! The face on the column is the cause of it all! Jump over the fireball and use your new-found ability by means of the Lightning to reach the Wings in the vertical shaft ahead. You will find all sorts of snacks inside, along with two Stars and a Timer at the top. Head left to the ladder once you fall back to the ground. An old opponent is back at the bottom of the ladder. The chain whip! Two of them! *gasp* Both of them are swinging in a counter-clockwise motion. You will have to wait for them to pass before you start running as usual. Watch out for the Marvin; it's still following you from earlier but it won't cause any problems as long as you keep moving. You can dodge the "magic" it fires at you easily enough too. At the far right is the next checkpoint. To 6th Check ------------ Is there more relatively easy platform action ahead? Nope! It's back to sliding down slick slopes of sadism. The high wall at the top won't be a problem to get through. The next two are low walls that are close enough together to create some problems for careless people. Right after you jump over the low wall, take as long as necessary to jump over the low wall in front of you. The high wall after that needs a ducking motion to clear it and you will reach the bottom. Before you slide down the ladder, consider this: an extra life is located at the top of the series of blocks that's not difficult to collect. Might as well grab it, I think. Use the statue attached to the left wall to reach the lowest block and wait there for a second. The Ghostly circling the block right above will come down on your left side; that's when you should defeat it and land on the block against the wall. Get to the top and claim your extra life. Jump back onto the next lowest block and fall off the right side to evade the fire from the statue at the bottom. For some reason I find the statue will start to flare up when you fall down the middle. You still need to watch out for the saws on the right too. Go down the ladder to find the next checkpoint and more sliding action. To 7th Check ------------ It looks like there's nothing ahead, however, looks can be deceiving. A low wall is hidden halfway down the slope followed after by two high walls. Slide down and jump over the low wall when you get close enough. Duck under the two high walls and ignore the "A" hanging close to the second wall. It's almost certain death from my experience and there are easier ones to collect ahead. Go right to the ladder. The trampoline further right leads to a few “A’s”. They are difficult to grab without dying however; it’s much easier to do when you have the Lightning, otherwise it’s a death trap. I would ignore this area when you don’t have the Lightning; when you have it, you can give it a shot if you would like. Head down the ladder otherwise. Detour Go on the edge of the trampoline and walk right to the wall. Jump to ------ start bouncing while you are near the wall. On the second bounce, hold left just enough to avoid the saws above you and fall back down toward the trampoline. Hold left again on the third bounce to collect the three "A's". Using your drill attack to reach the "A's" is possible but you have to move right and back left again quick to avoid the saws. Go down the ladder and walk right to find the checkpoint. There’s more of the same ahead. To 8th Check ------------ It's time to deal with one more slope of death while you are finished taking a break from those *easy* areas earlier. *easy areas described above may not be as easy as it seems. Pfft. To hell with having an easy time through this area. The high wall at the top is followed by two low walls close enough together that they can jumped over at the same time. I think that’s what Sunsoft had in mind, since the “A” is right over the middle of both low walls. You have enough room once you are past the high wall to get into position to make the jump. The last wall is a high wall and you will find a ladder leading down. The checkpoint is ahead. To 9th Check ------------ It starts to get truly difficult at this point. The high wall and low wall pattern is repeated here, although all of the walls are much closer together this time around. You have less room to maneuver; much less room in fact, so you have to make your jumps count. Getting into the pattern of the jump over the low wall on earlier slides is the best way to prepare for this part. Duck past the high wall as you have done plenty of times before. After you pass the high wall, immediately jump right over the low wall. Using a spin attack will work here too. Right after the low wall, the second high wall will come into view. Duck under it like before and jump over the low wall that will be coming. Take the ladder down where you will come to one last gallery of statues. The second and the fifth statues will break open- curiously, both are on the lower pedestals. The ninth checkpoint is just ahead. To 10th Check ------------- The trampoline attached to the wall leads to a nice surprise. You know what that means... Stars! And extra lives! In the air. Again, the trampoline on the wall will bounce you toward a second trampoline. The second trampoline will fling you higher in the air where there are a number of Stars and an extra life. Take the ladder down once you are done. No more slopes for now. Just more chain whips to confront you. Keep going right and fall through the opening at the other end to find the chain whips. The first two chain whips swing counter-clockwise. Jump left and spin attack the rest of the way over to get past them. The third chain whip swings clockwise. Hurry past when it passes by you. Take the “A” near the ladder in case you need it and continue down the ladder to the lower floor. You will find a checkpoint and the last slope gauntlet for this act. To Exit Warp ------------ The slope here is similar to the rest you have come across in this act. You won’t be able to see too far ahead, but there’s a low wall about halfway down the slope like before. Following the low wall is a high wall and another low wall in close proximity. Duck under the high wall and jump over the low wall immediately afterward. The next high wall and the following low wall is the last hazard you will encounter in this act, so let's do this! Duck past the high wall and get yourself into position to jump over the low wall that will immediately follow. A cheer once you reach the bottom is helpful. Break the tension because you are all done now! *FINALLY* works well. The ladder on the bottom leads to solid ground rather than more platforms and slopes. All you need to do now is head down the decline to find the exit warp further to the left. Whew! At least the next act is a lot easier. But first... Museum Bonus ------------ Goal: Bounce on the Trampolines An exceptionally nice surprise for the evil act you just completed! It's possible to collect 9-10 extra lives here by gathering all of the items scattered throughout. There's no timer to worry about regardless. I bet that you are glad that you got the bonus item now. I'll point out where the extra lives are located, but anything else is your own business. To Exit Warp ------------ Collect the Lightning ahead and start bouncing on trampolines. Use the trampolines on the walls to bounce up the wide shaft and the second, more narrow shaft that leads to a wide open area. Take the left path to find an extra life in a small alcove at the top. Fall back down to the open area and bounce up the right path now. You should notice that the path will become narrow and wide again as you bounce upward. After you pass through the second narrow portion of the path, there will be a narrow opening along the left wall. You can bounce off the trampoline on the right to reach it easily. There's a narrow shaft leading up where you can grab an extra life once you reach the top. At the top of the wide path, a second narrow opening will lead to more trampolines along the walls. Take the right path to find another extra life in a small nook at the top again. Go through the opening on the left to continue. Use the trampolines along the wall to bounce your way into the large room at the top. Almost every surface is covered in trampolines in here. The blocks in the middle are the ones that matter however, since there's one more extra life to collect. Bounce on the trampoline on top of the first block to find it. Go to the top of the room now and use the trampoline to continue. Bounce along using the trampolines on the walls until you reach the second large room. An extra life is hanging above the block in the middle of the room like before. You can keep going to the top at this point and bounce through the opening there to find a third large room. There are no extra lives here, just a lot of food. Keep going through the narrow shaft at the top to find the proverbial fork in the road. There are three paths to be specific. The right and middle paths both lead to an extra life. The left path is where you go when you want to continue on. Go along the path and you will find a fourth large room. I'm sorry to say that there are no extra lives to be found here either. Hehe. Bounce your way to the top of the room and continue up through the narrow path. You will bounce upward very quick. Keep an eye out for the two narrow openings on either side on the way up. Both are a little difficult to reach because there isn't much room. You can use a downward spin attack to make it easier to get in there. Be careful when you bounce upward however, because the exit warp is located at the top. You don't want to go without collecting what you came into the bonus act for. Once you get into the first narrow opening, it will be simple to get into the other one. Collect the extra life. Bounce to the top and jump into the exit warp. Museum Act 4 ------------ Goal: Explore the Secret Passages This act is all about secret passages, although not in a way that you have seen so far. You have to break the wall with your spin attack to find them. Often there are hidden items housed inside, or it's a path to let you continue on your merry way. There are a few devious little traps waiting throughout this act too, but there's no need to reveal them until the right moment. I'll point out every trap & trick when the time comes. Let's get started. To 1st Check ------------ You can find a secret passage inside the left wall right away. Use a drill attack to break it open. There are several saw blocks on the ground inside that you can jump over in case you want the Stars. You can head the other way if you don't want them. Don't hold left or right after you jump or you will likely land on the next set of saws. Collect the Stars as necessary and leave the hidden corridor for the one of the right where the Ghostly is walking around. Take it out and smash the wall in the corner to find the next hidden passage. Follow the passage to the large room further right. Go down the platform slowly. The column at the bottom will drop fireballs that will bounce toward you when you walk down. Head under the platform and over the saws along the ground once you are past the flame drip on the column. You will find three more Stars along the wall. Jump over the saws again and travel up the incline to find a trail of food leading to a clue. Sort of a bread crumb trail where the extra life is hidden behind the wall and line of saws surrounding it. Keep note of the position of the extra life. You will find a way inside in a little bit. Head down the slope and hit the Ghostly circling around the rightmost block in the air. Get onto the block and jump onto the platform near the ceiling on the right. Break open the wall and continue through the other side. Jump over the lone saw just before the decline to the far right wall. The wall can be broken into find a series of "A's" inside. The saw blocks along the ground should be dealt with the same way as before. Head down the decline and wait for a second for the fast Ghostly on the platform below to get out of the way. Stars aren't much use while you are left side because the Ghostly will run into you regardless. Keep away from the hazards when you attack the Ghostly. Bouncing right into the saw or the statue below might occur as a result of a mistimed spin attack or when the Ghostly hits you. You can also run further right where the platform is flat and away from the hazards. It will be easier to take out the Ghostly with your spin attack or two fast shots with Stars that way. Hit the checkpoint in the corner before you continue. To 2nd Check ------------ Go left to collect the Timer on the single block along the wall. Smash the wall here and walk inside to find the extra life I mentioned earlier. You might have been wondering how to get into the little space where the extra life is found. Take the extra life and fall onto the platform that you were on earlier. The platform below has a statue along the left wall that can surprise you. Fall off the side when it's safe and get away from the statue before it hurts you. It’ll say means things to you and make you cry. Get out of earshot quick! Don’t run too fast down the decline or you will fall into the hole where the chain whip is spinning. On the far right are several Stars that you can collect. Fall below when the chain whip is spinning left and walk to the left corner. You can smash the wall here to find a secret. Inside you will find a trampoline and an “A” in the corner. Above the trampoline you can collect an extra life. You can ignore it but it's not hard to collect. Bounce on the left side of the trampoline to avoid the hazard on the right; namely the platform with the saws around it. After two or three bounces you should see the extra life on the right side of the higher platform. Hold right once you pass the lower platform to collect the extra life and then fall along the right wall to land safely on the ground again. Head outside to negotiate the chain whip in front of you. Get to the left side and drop off the side. The wall is breakable here, but you can walk down the decline and pass through the wall on the right to find goodies inside. Break through the wall on the left and trudge up the incline ahead. You will find a platform with a checkpoint and an "A" on it. Be careful about the saw on the side and the fireball that will periodically come bouncing down the incline further ahead. To 3rd Check ------------ Walk up the incline to the bulb mechanism attached to the wire that leads left. An electric surge will go through the wire every few seconds that will hurt you upon contact. Get used to jumping over the surge when it zips along the wire from the right. No need to worry about the saws on the ceiling unless you do something silly. Further ahead you will find a series of walls enclosed by saws while you continue across the wire. You should expect as much so far. Get near the wall and jump over the other side when the surge gets close. That way you can avoid both at the same time. You don't want to get to the other side and get hit by the surge; or worse, get hit and bounce into one of the saws behind you. You will reach the end of the wire after three walls and find a trampoline against the wall as you continue left. Use the trampoline to reach the passage near the ceiling and continue left to the Parachute in the hole. Stay centered on the trail of food while you float down because there’s a nasty surprise waiting close to the bottom. It's even worse when you choose to drop down without the Parachute. Pass through the middle of the two platforms suspended above the corridor and walk to the Ghostly further right. The wall will break open here. The fine folks at Sunsoft wouldn’t leave you hanging (haha). Go through the wall to find the checkpoint ahead. Heads up! To 4th Check ------------ Meet the bane of your existence: the raft, which you will need to cross the lava. The walls are here to get in the way ahead! Ignore the health on the two low-lying platforms along the way; they are there to distract you. A fireball will shoot out of the lava and likely hit you when you grab the “A”. The raft will inevitably leave you behind and you will be almost certainly screwed. Run to the other side quick to avoid the fireball and get on the raft. The walls are useful as stepping stones when the raft has left you behind. You have to get past the first platform because the next wall extends from the ceiling to near the lava, meaning that there’s no way to get past without using the raft. As the walls are rather far apart from each other, you have to jump and likely use your spin attack to reach the next one. Keep this in mind because you will encounter a more difficult one in the next act! The jumping over the walls and navigating the platforms aspect of this area will become easier once you get the hang of it. You might die once or twice before you do. ;) After the second platform there are a series of blocks hanging in mid-air that form an L-shape with an extra life positioned on the base. The extra life can be collected without being killed provided that you are quick, or you can stay on the raft to the end of the line. Detour A spin attack will land you on the lowest block in order to collect the ------ extra life. You won't be able to see the raft from this spot, which will cause a problem. Time to make a leap of faith! You can make the blocks in front of you functional by getting on top of them. Jump into the wild blue yonder, or the smoke-filled lava pit, and use your spin attack to land on the raft. You should land on the raft before it get to the wall. There are two more walls to jump over until you reach the far end of the lava pit. That’s the end of that. At least for now! Go down the decline to find the next checkpoint once you are back on shore. To 5th Check ------------ A high-speed Ghostly is cruising in the vicinity past the checkpoint. It can catch you off-guard unless you watch carefully; use your Stars to take it out if you have any. A quick spin attack will do the job too. The wall in the right corner is breakable and the adjacent room has staggered platforms with chain whips situated on each one. Although not right away! Go all the way to the right and use the statue attached to the wall to reach the platform above. The first and the second chain whips will spin clockwise. Run past the two of them as usual. The third will spin counter-clockwise. You have to jump over the top of the pivot once the chain whip passes by. Common knowledge by now, but I’ll give you a hand in case you are just joining me. The company is always nice. Use the statue on the left wall to reach the higher platform. There are no chain whips here. You can run to the right side without fear of being hit. The next checkpoint is near the breakable wall on the far right. You will find some health on the ground in case you need it. There’s one more area to finish and you will be done. To Exit Warp ------------ Open the wall with your spin attack and continue through the corridor to the vertical shaft. Because the shaft is lined with trampolines, you can bounce your way to the top where there’s a second corridor leading left. Defeat the Ghostly in the corridor and smash the wall open to enter the next room. A Mech Mike on the decline ahead will test your patience if you try to defeat it. It moves too fast along the decline to make it worthwhile. At the bottom is a second bulb mechanism attached to a wire. This one is more difficult than the first one because the walls are closer together. Make sure to wait for the electric surges before you jump over the walls like before. Get onto the wire and start walking left. Jump over the wall when you are level with it. Don’t try it while you are below the wall or you will likely die. It’s more of the same until you reach the fourth and fifth walls. Both of the walls extend from the ceiling to the wire with a decent-sized hole in the middle for you; you have to jump through the hole and drill attack the rest of the way to get through safely. The game will throw a bit of a loop at you at the end, of course! The health that you find in the two walls will help in case you are close to death. As long as you don’t touch the saws! Heh. You are done once you pass the walls at the end. The exit warp is just ahead. Museum Act 5 ------------ The Laboratory Hey! It’s the final act. Of course, Sunsoft pulled out all the stops and kept the devious things for last. Things like a second, even more difficult lava pit to cross, the introduction of laser windows (read the "enemies section"), and more spikes than you can shake a stick at. Seriously though, as long as you are careful, this act shouldn't be more difficult than the last one. Are you excited? You know I am. Let’s get started. To 1st Check ------------ A secret is hidden inside the left wall at the start. Just like the last level, el-oh-el. There’s no old man in here to tell you cryptic remarks in this game, except for me. I’m not really an old man, I just play one on the internet... oh, never mind about that! Go through the left wall at the start which leads to an extra life, or you can walk down the decline ahead. Detour Through the other side of the wall you will come across a Lightning ------ against a saw block that you will need ahead. Jump over the saw block to reach a vat of lava where you can put your newfound power up to use. The fireball arcing across the lava should be a piece of cake considering this is the umpteenth time dealing with them. Use your drill attack to stay close to the ceiling while you cross over the lava pit. Try not to fall down between each successive drill attack, or the saws at the other end of the room can catch you off guard. They are along the ceiling, keep an eye out for them just in case. Take the extra life and head back through the wall in order to start the act proper. Walk down the decline and keep an eye out for the two fire-breathing statues perched along the wall. You can collect the Star on top of each one if you care to do so, otherwise, continue to the bottom and knock out the Ghostly wandering there. The wall on the far right has a trampoline attached to it that you will need to bounce to the opposite wall, where a second trampoline will fling you in the right direction (toward the corridor above the first trampoline). Detour While you are bouncing toward the second trampoline, you can drill ------ attack to the ledge above it to find a Timer and then jump through the wall to find three Stars. Getting to the ledge without the Lightning can be a little tricky, a well-timed drill attack will land you there sooner or later. Preferably sooner, but it won't take long. Fall onto the left trampoline to reach the corridor on the right. Further along, once you reach the corridor with the statues on the pedestals, the third one will crack open and a bully will appear. Deal with the bully however you want to, however, they are rather irritating enemies, so you might want to deal with it before you go. Don't run too fast to the right if you choose to ignore the bully, because immediately past the statues is a column with a flame drip attached to it. Be wary careful for the fireballs while you cross past the flame drip. They will bounce left as usual. Past the flame drip, you will find a hole in the floor and a helpful checkpoint on the other side of the hole. Make sure that you hit it before you attempt to dodge your way through the chain whip below. Damn those chain whips! Look closely through the right wall and you can see a secret area, but you have to deal with the chain whip first... To 2nd Check ------------ The chain whip in the hole spins clockwise, which will turn out to be good news for you for a change, actually. The secret to the treasure you saw earlier is easier to reach. The first task at hand is getting down there, wait until the chain whip just passes over the hole and spin attack toward the right side quick before it returns. Go through the wall to find the secret: some health along the ground and the Stars on the blocks along the walls. Before you leave, you can walk into the right wall at the top to find an extra life . And you thought that’s all that was here, hah! Head through the wall where the second task is to come, getting past the chain whip. You have done it before, so it won’t be a problem, or, for those who are just joining us, run under the pivot when the chain whip swings past you. The flame statue on the left wall once you pass the chain whip is hiding a rather nasty surprise. Look down with the X button and L/R to see what I mean. Try it when you are on top of the flame statue. There are saws on the ground in the immediate area of the statue, jump toward the pillar in the background to avoid them. Once you are on the ground safely, run right to find the first security window in the metallic background ahead. I guess that there’s a steel and death-laser motif going on that I can get behind, especially when you are an evil doctor. Well, anyway, there are two ways to tackle security windows: the first is the "quick and reckless" method, which is my preferred way to do things; the second is the "slow and steady" method. The first involves waiting for the laser to start travelling downward along a window, either diagonally or vertically, to make your way past the window. Aero starts out walking slowly, so you have to get moving just when the laser goes downward along the window. The second involves waiting for the laser to travel upward in the same manner I mentioned earlier and walking into the middle of the security window where the laser can't damage you. Once you reach the correct spot, wait for the laser to get out of the way before you cross the remaining portion of the security window. The only weakness of the second method is that is requires good timing and patience, both of which I'm not good at, but if you are, all the better. Provided that speed isn't an issue and you have the timing down pat, the second is nifty if you can manage it. There won’t be enough time to do this during the next act, but I’m getting ahead of myself. You will see for yourself, haha. With that out of the way, continue past the first security window and you will find a Mech Mike at some point past it. You might want to fire a Star to hit the Mech Mike, or follow behind it for some security. Detour The pole elevator ahead has two minor secrets which hold a significant ------ amount of Stars in case you need them. At the top of the pole elevator, jump through the wall on the left to find four Stars. You can find a similar passageway on the opposite side that’s not hard to reach as long as you have the Lightning. Without the Lightning, you will have to jump from the left passageway and hold right to reach it without dying. Fall to the bottom to continue with the act. Two more security windows are waiting further right. Get the “A” on the ground and keep going to find the first one. Make your way past the security window and get ready with two Stars to knock out the Mech Mike that will show up, otherwise, proceed with care to the second security window. You will find it further right and should be dealt with the same way as the first one. With that out of the way, you are free to continue right into the open space ahead. Go through the right wall to find an “A” inside. Don’t drill attack over the saw or you will run right into the other saw along the right wall. A simple jump will do and you can grab the “A” and continue to the trampoline you saw earlier. Like before, it will send you toward a second trampoline that will land you on top. You will find the next checkpoint there. To 3rd Check ------------ Head across the uneven walkway to the far right side, where you will find a hole to a lower walkway. You will find two chain whips that spin counter- clockwise there, which will lead to a second hole at the other end. The flame statue inside the second hole is nothing special. Stand on the statue and fall off the side once it’s safe to collect the Stars along the wall. There are more goodies along the wall ahead before you come upon the first Colin of this act. Past the large column with the saws along the bottom, you will see the Colin standing at the edge of a lava pit. Lure it toward the more open area before the column with saws, while dodging whatever it throws at you, and then drill attack under it as usual. Walk quick to the lava pit again before the Colin can follow you back and jump onto the wire suspended over it. You won't be able to walk all the way across because the wall of deadly saws in the way. Hang off the wire and go hand over hand until you are past the saws. Once you reach the safely of the other side, keep on going through a second metallic area that mercifully lacks a security window, to the bulb mechanism with a live wire further right. One last dash over the high wire before the end of the game and everything will be groovy, er, rad, um... copasetic once again. Go through the checkpoint that’s nearby before you cross. To 4th Check ------------ For the last hurray of deft high wire action, the wire isn’t that difficult to cross. Keep your eyes open for the surge of electricity while you are walking across the wire and everything will be fine. As before, it's best to jump through each of the walls just as the electrical surge approaches. That way you won't have an accident on the other side as the electrical surge makes you fall backwards into the saws you just jumped over. The first one is a low wall that will come into view once you walk down the steep decline in the wire. The second and the third ones both span the whole distance of the ceiling to the wire, but there’s a hole in the middle of each one that you can conveniently drill attack through. The fourth and fifth ones are different than the others. This time, you have to drill attack part way over the low, two-block-wide wall and hold right to make it the other side. The two walls on the ceiling are distractions and simple to avoid, in fact, unless you have a death wish, you have to really make an effort to hit the saws. Don’t make a big deal about it. Drill attack over the lower wall and hold right to reach the other side. The sixth one is similar to the second and third walls where it's a single span between the ceiling and the wire with a hole in the middle. On the other side of the wall is the end of the line. Jump off the wire and continue on your tour through the museum of horrors. You can see more of the fine decor ahead, more of the steel and glass motif, before you reach a lava pit on the far right. Take out the Ghostly wandering nearby before jumping to the suspended platform over the lava pit. There's a pole elevator that you will need to use in order to reach the area above, but keep going right and jump through the wall there to find an extra life. Score! To 5th Check ------------ Go through the checkpoint in the corner before you leave and then take a ride to the top using the pole elevator. The Ghostly circling around the block above is guarding a very worthwhile secret that you can see for yourself while you are riding on the pole elevator. You can also ignore it and continue through the act by going right instead. MAKE YOUR CHOICE NOW. Detour Blocking your way to the secret room is a single Ghostly, who is the ------ primary problem that needs to be dealt with. Knocking it out with a Star from the pole elevator is the easiest way to proceed since you should have plenty of them to go around. Without any Stars, you will have to knock it out with a spin attack which is much more difficult. Spin attack upward to avoid being killed, or falling down accidently. Jump to the left side and run through the wall to find a bunch of delicious food. You can find each kind of foodstuff in the game along with more health and ammunition in the connecting rooms. Jump through the wall in the last room to find four extra lives inside. Mega score! Make your way back to the pole elevator to continue with the act. In case you still have it, a Lightning will help you reach the upper corridor faster to neatly circumvent the pole elevator, otherwise, you have to take the pole elevator to the top again. You will find a Colin is waiting for you in the corridor ahead. Get close enough to stop it from throwing crap at you and then you can drill attack under it. With that out of the way, there are more uneven platforms with columns staggered at the low point in the floor. Look out for fireballs when you pass by the second column on the way to the hole in the right corner because it will periodically drop fireballs onto the ground. The hole in floor on the far right leads to more chain whips on the left: the first two spin clockwise, and the third will spin counter-clockwise, which leads to another hole further ahead. On the other side of the hole you will find two Stars next to the wall and saws on the ceiling. You should avoid using your spin attack here if you choose to collect them. There are two more Stars on the walkway below that you should be able to see from this spot. You will find them useful against any Mech Mike in the next area. They will rue the day they messed with you. Rue! Either way, fall into the hole and walk down the ramp to find your way to the bottom. While you are here, take advantage of the checkpoint and the extra health on the right. To 6th Check ------------ This area is mercifully short, but there are several hurtles in the way: a laser window and a Mech Mike that need to be cleared. Go right until you enter the tastefully decorated steel backdrop and the laser window a little further in. Past the laser window is where Mr. Mech Mike will make its appearance; as usual, two Stars right in the face will set it straight. *Pow, Pow* You are free to walk on without being harassed. The next checkpoint is just ahead. To 7th Check ------------ Speaking of hurtles, guess what's next? No really, guess. There's another lava pit crossing that's more difficult than the last one. The horror! Trying to do this area with the raft will almost certainly cost a life or two. Not to discourage you, of course! Due to the way this area is designed (the walls are spaced closer together), ignoring the raft and using the walls to reach the opposite side is a considerably more attractive option this time around. Take note of the distance by using the X button and L/R to look ahead for the next wall and find errant fireballs on platforms before you jump. So, on to the regular way across the lava pit: now with extra death for your inconvenience. Once more with feeling this time! The initial three walls won't be a problem to get over, and although the second one seems high, it can be cleared with a spin attack. Following the third wall is a platform suspended high above the lava. Use the lower wall as a stepping stone in order to reach the little platform easier, or spin attack like usual to get over the wall. Stay close to the edge when you land because of the fireball that will bounce across the platform. I find the first method is preferable as it's easier to avoid any future fireballs you encounter. Get to the right side of the platform right away so that you can land on the raft again when it's safe. While the raft is barely visible from the platform, falling onto it from here won't be a problem. You can use a spin attack to delay your fall so that you land on the raft without a hitch too! The second platform is positioned lower than the first one is ahead, so it should be easier to handle the obligatory fireball that bounces across the platform. Leap over the fireball when it emerges from the lava on the right and then land on the raft again. Next up are two more walls: the first one is low enough to jump over or it can used as a stepping stone for the next wall; the second one is higher, but it's a manageable jump from the raft without a problem. There's a longer suspended platform ahead with a series of obstacle course like walls that will attempt to slow you down if you are trying to keep up with the raft. You are not going to let a couple of lame walls get in the way since you are so close to the end. Run to the opposite end of the platform before the raft leaves you behind. You can see that there are two things that you can do here: the first leads to an extra life, by jumping right into the void to find the suspended platform near the ceiling. The difficult part is landing on the raft once you get the extra life because you won't be able to see it from this spot. Hotfooting it over the lava with the help of the walls is the likely outcome, but it's not difficult. If you have your mind set on landing on the raft again, jump to the next wall further to the right and wait for it there. It will be easier that way. That was a bit of a digression, back to the second option. Forget all that jazz I said earlier and just jump onto the raft as it passes by. There's a short wall to deal with underneath the suspended platform before the final stretch of the lava gauntlet. Four remaining walls have to be hurtled over like the proverbial hurtles race that you are running before you are able to take a breather. The four walls have to be taken in pairs, ideally by using the first, low wall as a stepping stone to vault over the second, higher wall. You can use a spin attack to get over the wall, but you might want to do so when you reach the peak of your regular jump to ensure that you make it over. These walls are high, yo! After a short stretch of lava, the first pair of walls show up. These two walls are fairly low to the lava and shouldn’t be a problem as long as you are quick. Shortly thereafter, the second pair of walls come into view. The first wall is low enough to land on easily enough, the second wall is very high and you should be aware of it. Getting onto the wall with a jump and then using a spin attack at the highest point of your jump also works. In case you missed the raft, you can get across the lava with a jump and a spin attack to freedom. Safe ground is just a screen away and surely you don’t want to restart at this point. Now that the difficult part is done with, the remainder of the act is a piece of cake in comparison. Mmmm, delicious cake. Take a walk down the ramp to reach the next checkpoint. Defeat the Shorty that will come walking down the ramp on the opposite side of the checkpoint. To 8th Check ------------ Past the checkpoint is a short stretch of electrified wire. The length and elevation of the wire is completely reasonable, unlike the last one, and there’s more health on the opposite end just in case. Use the wire to reach the block next to the wall and make your way all the way to the left. Watch out for those saws along the way! Those little blocks are tricky to cross and you might fall off. No matter, because you will land on the electrified wire again. Leap in the air right after you land to avoid being shocked. Health is important for the next area, and you should conserve as much as you can. From the platform, jump across the pit to find the next checkpoint. To Exit Warp ------------ Pain is waiting ahead: a long passage with a couple of mechanical nuisances (Mech Mike) and more obnoxious obstacles than before. Both are often found together as you have probably noticed. With the right amount of health, about three is fine, you should not have a serious problem reaching the exit warp intact. Two of the Laser Windows have a convenient space between them. Should be helpful when you have low health, plus there’s more health further left. Sunsoft’s not that sadistic, at least not right now, although the boss might make you reconsider, but anyway! Back to the task at hand. Later on, walking through the passage, you will find a chain whip that travels along the ceiling and floor. Madness, inanimate objects can’t move by themselves. While I’m not sure how Sunsoft intended you to get past these chain whips without being hit, you will find more health right after. Drill attack over the chain whips just as they are turning, that is, when they are diagonal to the floor, to get past. It’s worth a shot even though it’s a bit difficult to do. Past the chain whips is the final obstacle, more devious and deadly than anything that you have seen yet... who I am kidding, it’s more Laser Windows. The first one is just ahead. Wait until the laser is travelling down the top right corner and across the middle before you jump through. If you time it right, you should make it without being damaged. It's going to come in handy ahead. The next three Laser Windows are spaced closer together and consequently, you won't have any place to take a breather between each one. Taking a run for it is the best option as long as you have the health to do so - two more or more is more than enough to make it through. For the brave people who want to take it slow, or only have one "A" left, you can try this instead. By carefully positioning yourself in the space between windows and quickly jumping across to the next space, it's possible to make it without a scratch. I wouldn't count on it, though. The laser will come around again and hit you if you take too long since a small portion of your character's sprite will stick out on either side. Also, encountering a Mech Mike here will almost certainly result in taking a hit. Be careful and you might make it through. The exit warp is just ahead. Run all the way to the left corner, past the exit warp, to find an extra life before you leave. Museum Boss ----------- Edgar Ektor’s Domain Hate. Let me tell you how much I have come to hate this boss since I first played this game. This much! Hate hate. The man himself, Edgar Ektor, and his squirrel second in command are behind the wheel of the strange clown-copter before you appear. Keep these thoughts in mind before you start: -This act consists of three different sections. You have to climb upward while avoiding the electric beam that will appear. At the end of each section, you have to fight Edgar Ektor. The electric beam will stop following you when you reach the fight area. -The arrow in the top right corner indicates how close you are to the electric beam. When it’s flashing slowly, it’s far away. When it’s flashing quickly, you better get on higher ground quick! -Since the electric beam will fry you when you come into contact with it, you should stay ahead of it at all cost. Provided that you have two or more health, you should just plow through all obstacles in the way. The reason being that there are a few areas that require going back down in order to continue on. -Don't take more health than you need along the way. There's plenty of health through this act. 1st Section ----------- The first section starts with long stretches of left to right action, which is time consuming and leaves you vulnerable to the electric beam. Later, it opens up considerably, with little platforms leading upward. Be careful not to fall! *Go right. Keep going until you reach the top and run left to the ladder. Climb the ladder and run right again. The trampoline on the wall will bounce you onto a platform suspended in the air. *Go to the right and climb the ladder. Jump across the pit and keep going right until you see the trampoline. Get on the trampoline, bounce once, and then drill attack toward the platform on the left. *Go down the stairs on the left. Just to be safe, you might want to jump around to avoid the electric beam. Climb up the blocks next to the wall. *On the last block, note the electric prod on the wall and drill attack right to avoid taking damage. Although these two chain whips are the first serious obstacle of this section, you can run through them because there’s more health up ahead. Use the trampoline on the right to reach the platform at the top. *Go left to find the ladder going d-d-down! Slide down the ladder by pressing X to save some time. Hopefully, you should still be well ahead of the electric beam when you reach the bottom. *Go to the left. You might want to jump toward the left to avoid the electric beam just to be safe. Use the platforms against the wall to reach the top. *The two three-block high walls need to be hurtled over. Problems. You will have them if you have just managed to keep ahead of the electric beam at this point. The solution is difficult to pull off. Purposely touching one of the electric prods and using the invincibility time to reach the ladder by jumping along the walls... yes, it's possible to do, although it's a last resort! *On the platform above there are two four-block high walls this time. If the electric beam is still right on you back, and you have enough health, you can try this. Like before, the key is jumping on one of the walls while you are invincible (from taking a hit), jumping again and using a drill attack to reach the platform above. You will find the ladder is found on the far left. *Near the end of the first section and now the game starts being a bit of a bastard. There are long stretches of open area here and falling will often mean death by electric beam. It start off easily enough. Use the platforms provided to climb up until you reach the single blocks. Here it's a good idea to jump to each block instead of using a drill attack because they are so small. *This next part is quite difficult. You will see why once you reach it. There's a chain whip in the way! Two actually! Reaching the platform above you without being knocked off is difficult. Hint: it involves taking damage again, so I hope you have extra health. Letting the chain whip hit you on purpose right when it passes overhead should knock you right onto the platform. A different way is jumping right and using a drill attack left to land on the platform. *The next chain whip is positioned right above the series of platforms that have to be navigated to reach the top. No shortcuts this time, but it shouldn’t matter as you should be used to this by now. Take your time when you jump to each platform after the chain whip passes. The platforms are spaced close together and using a drill attack can make you fall off the other end if you're not careful. Go to the top to fight Ektor. 1st Fight --------- Ektor flies back and forth and drops two Spinners on the ground periodically. Spinners are largely a non-issue because they will often bounce into a corner, out of the way. Defeating one and leaving the second one alone will stop Ektor from releasing any more. To damage the clown-copter, you have to drill attack its jaw. In order to do that, jump and fall downward before you drill attack, otherwise you might miss. Takes about 5 hits before Ektor will fly off again. 2nd Section ----------- Strangely, the second section is easier than the first. The long stretches of open area are replaced with networks of pipes and platforms. Ektor will also start leaving Spinners behind. *Depending on which side you were standing when Ektor flies off, start climbing the left or right side. Both sides lead to the same place anyway. *On the long platform, there are more platforms along the wall. Keep going up until you reach the network of pipes. A metal ball will shoot out of the open ends of the pipe and move around in a clockwise pattern. Don't bother waiting for the metal ball unless you have low health. You can find some health in the corners if you need it. You will find a long platform at the top. *Use the blocks on the sides to climb to the next platform. There are more pipe structures at the top. *Ignore the initial pipes in the corners because they are dead ends. Land on the middle pipe structure, drill attack onto the pipe structure along the wall, and then back onto the pipe structure in the middle again. You can also climb right up the middle if that's what you prefer. *At the top of the pipe structure, drill attack onto the middle platform and one of the two platforms near the wall. Drill attack through the platform above to find more pipes. *Climb the ladder in either corner and jump onto the platform in the middle. There’s health at the top of the ladder provided you have the time to reach it. Press jump + right/left repeatedly until you are able to jump off the ladder- you might have noticed before that the controls "stick" a little while you are climbing a ladder. Climb the ladder in the middle to reach the top. Often, Ektor will release a Spinner here – you might have no choice but to take a hit. *More pipes. Drill attack onto the middle pipe start climbing upward. There are platforms between each pipe structure along the way, so there’s no serious risk of falling. The pipes will give way to open areas with a single platform – get onto it and then the pipe structure in the middle again. *The platform above the pipe structure is the next destination. Above there are chain whips on either side of the platform, but they are spaced apart so that you can drill attack past them easily enough. There’s a long platform that you need to reach by using the platform close to the wall. *You should see a platform near the middle that you will need to reach the block against the wall. There’s health in the middle. Use the platform to reach them and quickly move along. *The platform in the middle has health, but it’s a dead-end. Instead, use the trampoline on the wall to bounce to a platform high in the air. Use the platform to continue upward to find more pipes. They form precarious little platforms that are easy to fall from – time your jumps to avoid the metal balls that come out. Use the pipes available to continue upward. At the top you will see a long platform where you fight Ektor again. 2nd Fight --------- The second fight is more of the same thing. Ektor will fly back and forth, stopping periodically to drop Spinners on the ground. This time it will take 8 hits before Ektor tries to escape again - you will know when it happens because the jaw of the clown-copter will break off. 3rd Section ----------- The final section is a mix of the first and second sections – you will find some old obstacles that might make you groan. Overall, there are no significant open areas to fall, but quite a bit of back and forth running. Ektor will often leave Spinners behind and squirt water at you. *Start climbing upward using the platforms on the left or right side. There’s a long platform at the top with a ladder in the corner. *Up the ladder quick! Run down the decline at the top to find a trampoline. You will have to bounce twice to reach the platform above. *Jump up the step-like platforms to reach another long platform. Run to the trampoline on the right to get bounced toward a second trampoline on the left. It, in turn, will send you into an alcove formed by a pipe structure. *Use the platform to drill attack onto the pipes above. The gap between the pipes above can be breached with the platform here. *Keep on going. Not too far now! Run toward the platform in the middle and climb to the long platform. Drill attack to each of the little platforms in the middle and along the wall. Jump through the long platform at the top. *Get some health on the right and then climb the ladder on the left to find an old obstacle waiting for you. Laser Windows! Two of them. You don’t have time to play, just run through them. You can attempt to avoid the laser as best as you can, but don’t take too long. Use the block against the wall. *Jump onto the platform on the left so you can jump through the long platform at the top. *Run to the left to find another old obstacle. Chain whips! And these two are longer than normal. You know the usual routine: jump to the platform and then the next platform when the chain whip passes you. The next chain whip is more difficult. Jump onto the edge of the next platform and wait. As the chain whip goes past, jump up to land on the platform above and once more to land on the platform on the left. *You aren’t quite out of the woods yet. With a little care, drill attack toward the platform on the left. Drill attack too high and there’s a chance that you might get shocked and fall all the way down. Jump through the long platform at the top. *More walls with electric prods. Hurtle over both walls and bounce off the trampoline on the wall quick! *Bouncing to the top, you will see another ladder heading down! Slide down the ladder and run toward one of the trampolines on the left – you might want to drill attack upward to avoid the electric beam at this point. Bounce off one of the trampolines quick. Depending on where you landed, you might have to drill attack over the hole to reach the platform on the right. *Drill attack through the long platform overhead and climb the platforms near the wall to fight Ektor for the last time. 3rd Fight --------- That wily Ektor, still up to his old tricks. In addition, he has several new ones that wants to show you – spraying water down on you, and turning the blade of his clown-copter upside down, so that it’s facing toward the ground. The former will damage you, the later will kill you upon contact! With the jaw gone the nose is the last part of the clown-copter you have to damage – it’s easier to damage because it’s positioned much higher than the jaw. It will take 12 more hits to finish Ektor for good! The Ending ---------- When you’ve hit the nose enough, the music stops playing and his clown-copter begins swaying back and forth in increasingly larger circles until it crashes through the wall. Not before Mr. squirrel is able to make his escape, and Ektor manages to jump onto the platform extending from the wall. Aero takes care of Ektor will a final spin attack, knocking him off the platform. Victory! The feeling of satisfaction when Ektor presumably falls to his death was amazing when I was younger. Of course, he doesn’t die, because he reappears in the sequel *oops, spoiler alert* I don’t care at this point, he’s finished for now and this game is finished. =============================================================================== Cheats =============================================================================== Level Skip/Select ----------------- *On the start/options screen press: Down, A, Down, Y, Down, A, Down, Y *Start the game. *Pause when Aero appears and press: Up, X, Down, B, Left, Y, Right, A, L, R, and Select. *On the end of act tally, hold R until the screen fades. Level Select Screen Cheats -------------------------- Extra options: L, R, X, B, Left, Up, Right, Down, Y, A No Collisions: Down, A, Y, R, Y, B, Up, L, Y, A Unlimited Stars: A, Y, L, Up, Down, R, A, Y, Right, Left Title Screen Cheats ------------------- Input these while on the title screen with Aero flying. Five Continues: X, Y, B, A, X, A, B, Y, Up, L Nine Continues: X, Y, B, A, X, A, B, Y, Up, R Level Select Menu: Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, R, L, Y, A =============================================================================== Closing =============================================================================== Final Words ----------- Goodbye. It's been fun writing this thing for you all. Any questions, comments, suggestions, praise or criticism, should be sent to my email address at shdwswrm(at)hotmail(dot)com. Any specific information that isn't in this guide, please tell me know and I'll fix it. I’d appreciate a quick email beforehand if you are planning on using this walkthrough for your website/wiki/whatever, please. Thank you for reading! Credits ------- -Sunsoft/Iguana Entertainment for this game. -Wikipedia for some helpful information. -Mountain Dew, Pepsi, and Coke for helping me stay awake while I'm writing. -KingMike, KasketDarkFyre for codes provided on the “Codes” page on GameFAQs. -NSX on Neoseeker for clarification on some codes that I couldn’t get working. And thank you for reading. End of Document________________________________________________________________