-= Falconer's The King of Dragons FAQ: Version 1.0 =- -= Trademarks =- The King of Dragons is a trademark of Capcom. -= Legal Crap =- This FAQ is Copyright (C) Scott Faulkner/Falconer (sfaulk@earthlink.net). It may be posted only on the following sites: www.gamefaqs.com GameFAQs www.gameoverdude.com gameoverDude.com Q: I see this FAQ on a certain site other than the ones you listed above. Now what? A: Tell me ASAP at sfaulk@earthlink.net. Q: If I receive permission to host this FAQ, how may I post it to my site? A: Only in its original plain text form. If I find out that changes or deletions were made to it, I'll ask you to take it down. I will do more than ask if it is necessary. (Note: This FAQ should _NEVER_ appear on megagames.com, gamesdomain.com, or CNET Games Center. If you found it there, TELL ME. They tend to rip off FAQs, from what I've heard.) Q: Where can I check for the latest version? 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Your ISP may pull your account or take other sanctions against you, and it may get to the point of legal penalties if you spam and/or decide to rip-off parts of my FAQ. -- The King of Dragons (abbreviated as KoD from this point forward), is one of the few side-scrolling beat-em-ups that I still like playing. Even though it is several years old and several 'superior' beat-em-ups have since come and gone, there's something about KoD that keeps me playing it whenever I visit the arcade (somewhat) nearby. What I intend to supply by the time I complete this FAQ is a way through KoD with as few casualties on your part as possible. This relates to how to best approach certain bosses, how to make food last, when to use magic, and so on. I also intend to have detailed information about the five characters you can control, and how to best utilize their strengths/weaknesses. More middling stuff like how much 'EXP' the various monsters are worth, how much 'EXP' various items are worth, what exactly the various armor and weapon upgrades look like and what good armor does will also be in here. This FAQ walks through the 'World' arcade edition of King of Dragons. Any differences between it, the Japanese arcade version and the SNES version will be listed to the best of my knowledge. At times I will add in personal opinions of my own; I don't expect anyone to treat them as fact. -= Index =- Zero) Getting Started 1.) How to Play KoD 2.) Known Differences Between Versions I.) Characters 1.) The Cleric 2.) The Dwarf 3.) The Elf 4.) The Fighter 5.) The Wizard II.) Items, Armor and Weaponry 1.) Items i.) Gems and Gold ii.) Magic Crystals iii.) Food 2.) Armor i.) The Cleric ii.) The Dwarf iii.) The Fighter iv.) The Wizard 3.) Weaponry i.) The Cleric ii.) The Dwarf iii.) The Elf iv.) The Fighter v.) The Wizard III.) Monsters 1.) Normal Monsters i.) Orcs ii.) Wolven Archers iii.) Slimes iv.) Harpies v.) Skeletons vi.) Lizard Men vii.) Mummies viii.) Cutpurses ix.) Mermen x.) Traps xi.) Archers xii.) Flying Imps/Devils IV.) The Stages 1.) The Orc Village 2.) Treasure in an Old Castle 3.) Battle on a Mountain Peak 4.) Cave of the Hydra 5.) To the Norde Isle 6.) The Giant in the Shrine 7.) Trent Woods 8.) To the Castle 9.) In the Castle 10.) Underground Pass 11.) Battle in the Fortress 12.) Castle Garenos 13.) The Dark Wizard 14.) A Cave in the Woods 15.) The Underground Labyrinth 16.) A Limestone Cave V.) Miscellaneous 1.) EXP Listing 2.) Damage Listing 3.) History 4.) Thanks and Mentions 5.) Random Crap -= Getting Started =- 1.) How to Play KoD How the joystick works is self-explanitory. The character will, if possible, move in whichever direction you point them at. The attack button swings, zaps or shoots your weapon. The jump button... makes you jump. Pressing both buttons at the same time will summon blasts of either fire or lightning, depending on the character. The cleric, dwarf and fighter have shields, which can be used to block most any non-grab/impale move by pressing away from the enemy about to hit you just before the attack lands. If successful, they will raise their shield in a blocking stance, taking no damage at all. What this means is if an enemy on your right (say, an Orc), is about to cave in the skull of the dwarf with their mace, if you press left on the joystick before the attack lands, the dwarf will crouch slightly and raise his shield to block the blow, which makes an audible clanking sound. 2.) Known Differences Between Versions - The SNES version has an item that will add a credit to your total, while neither the World nor the Japanese version has such an item. - In the arcade versions, gaining certain amounts of EXP will add an extra life to your characters' current amount. The SNES version does not. - The arcade versions support up to three players, while the SNES version supports up to two. - The SNES version makes it possible to have one button for magic and/or one button for blocking. This makes it easier for a cleric/dwarf/fighter to use their shields, something I don't much like. - Several features found only in the Japanese arcade version: A green lizard spearman and dark red lizard swordsman, a gold gauntlet treasure worth 800 EXP, a standing triple fireball attack for the Green Dragon, an attack for the Hydra where any of the heads jerk backwards and spit a fast glob at a sharp angle, not all fruit restores 16 health, the order you get upgrades is reversed (armor followed by weaponry), the characters gain max HP at different levels, and a different sound effect is used when a character gains a level, enters a stage or is revived. -= Characters =- I'm not sure if Capcom ever gave these guys actual names, or if they do only go by Elf, Cleric, Dwarf and so on. With that in mind... 1.) The Cleric "Although it is against his creed to used (sic) sharp weapons, he has powerful defensive abilities and, his god willing, his level can advance quickly." Height: 203 cm Weight: 109 kg Age: 34 -= HP: 2nd Attack: 3rd Defense: 1st Speed: 3rd Magic: 3rd Range: 4th =- My personal favorite of the characters. He has the best starting defense, possibly the best overall by game's end, and as his description states, he has the easiest time gaining levels. He gains HP rather quickly, further enforcing his 'tank' persona. He has no serious drawbacks, aside from being a little unfleet of foot. He makes a solid partner, and is a good choice for someone just starting out. He starts with an iron cudgel and a wood shield. He gains HP upgrades at the following levels: 2.) The Dwarf "Although small, he is 100% pure muscle and can handle the harshest punishment. Kind of a slow study his level does not advance too quickly." Height: 120 cm Weight: 70 kg Age: Unknown -= HP: 3rd Attack: 1st Defense: 2nd Speed: 4th Magic: 4th Range: 5th =- Eh. He's OK, but early on it can be a pain to keep him intact. He's got the worst reach of the five, so you have to get much closer than you may want to in order to hit enemies, and Ice Traps are hard to avoid until you get some of the higher class weapons. It takes him awhile to advance in level, so getting health from food and killing bosses becomes more of an issue. On the bright side, he's got high attack power and it takes a bit more to kill him off. Later on he gets to be quite good, but he's definitely not a character I'd suggest you choose for your first run through the game. He starts with a hand axe and a leather shield. He gains HP upgrades at the following levels: 3.) The Elf "Ever nimble, he can often pick off the enemy from a distance with his bow. If it comes to close range, however, he can't handle too much abuse." Height: 175 cm Weight: 60 kg Age: Unknown -= HP: 4th Attack: 5th Defense: 5th Speed: 1st Magic: 2nd Range: 1st =- Truer words were never spoken than those for the Elf's description. He's got speed flying out of every pore, and he can shoot twice in the time that the other characters swing/zap once. He has the hardest time doing damage, but when it comes to fighting bosses, this usually turns out meaning he gets a lot more experience. However, his one terrible, TERRIBLE weakness is that he seriously can't take damage worth anything. A strong wind bruises this guy, that's how easy it is to find yourself won- dering where all of the Elf's health went to. From what I can tell, he's the only character who gets no defensive boosts from anything, since both of his upgradable items deal with offense. This is especially troubling since he doesn't gain HP as fast as any of the other characters. If you're interested in fighting from a range where getting hit is kept to a minimum, noone does it better than the Elf. Otherwise, avoid him like the plague. He starts with a short bow and a quiver of wooden arrows. He gains HP upgrades at the following levels: 4.) The Fighter "His fiercest ally is his sword but when it comes to magic, he prefers to leave that to the guys in the bathrobes." Height: 183 cm Weight: 90 kg Age: 26 -= HP: 1st Attack: 2nd Defense: 3rd Speed: 2nd Magic: 5th Range: 3rd =- He won't be confused with a master of magic anytime soon. He does the least damage with magic, so unless you're playing solo, leave all magic crystals except Jewelry to your partner. Where the Fighter shines is in close-range combat. He has the best mix of damage and attack speed of the three melee combatants. His mobility and defense are up there as well, so taking or avoiding a hit aren't pressing issues. He levels at a good clip and gains HP almost as well. In my opinion, he's the best choice for someone playing for the first time. He starts with a short sword and a leather shield. He gains HP upgrades at the following levels: 5.) The Wizard "He may be a slow mover and not be too handy with a sword, but after he's garnered a little experience, only the foolish dare to hazard his mean side." Height: 169 cm Weight: 56 kg Age: 28 -= HP: 5th Attack: 4th Defense: 4th Speed: 5th Magic: 1st Range: 2nd =- He's nothing special when you first start out. He has slow attack speed, below average damage, slow on his feet and he takes more damage than everyone except the Elf. As time goes by, though, every problem except his foot speed fade away. By game's end, he might have better defense than the cleric, hits hard at a fast rate and has magic powers beyond those of any other character. His initial difficulties are the only thing keeping me from picking him ahead of the Fighter for newcomers. He starts with a small curled staff and a purple-gemmed ring of protection. He gains HP upgrades at the following levels: Level 3 (40 max HP) Level 6 (48 max HP) Level 9 (56 max HP) Level 12 (64 max HP) Level 15 (72 max HP) Level 18 (80 max HP) -= Items, Armor and Weaponry =- 1.) Items Throughout the game, various gems and items will be found in chests and off of monsters. Some monsters drop more than one type of item, although certain drops are rarer than others. Some restore health, some add EXP, some can do both and others still are used to attack enemies. 1i.) Gems and Gold Cutpurse's Sack: A very small sack of gold with a light blue question mark. Only dropped by Cutpurses after they get hit. Small Gold Sack: A small sack of gold with a red G on the side. Found in chests and dropped by several monsters. Large Gold Sack: A large sack of gold with a wide red G on the side. Found in chests and dropped by fewer monsters than the small sack. Purple Gem: A smooth oval-shaped gem. Usually found in chests, although some monsters drop it upon death. Yellow Gem: A rectangular gem with the corners cut off. Also usually in chests, but slightly more common as a monster drop than the purple gem. Ruby: A flat orangish-red gem, like the Yellow Gem on its side. Somewhat uncommon; almost more likely as a monster drop than as a chest reward. Diamond: Blue in color, with the standard pentagonish diamond shape. Rarest of the gems; very few monsters drop this. 1ii.) Magic Crystals Meteor: Sends meteor chunks crashing upon random parts of the screen, but it looks like all enemies will get it, even if no chunks land by them. Possibly the strongest of the magic attacks, but somewhat rare. Thunder: Three bolts of lightning crash to the ground, seeking out any enemy nearby. From what I've seen it's the weakest of the three attack magics, but the heat seeking property serves it well. The dwarf and fighter drop this after losing all of their lives. Fire: Four blasts of fire burst from the ground, seeking out any enemy nearby. Stronger than Thunder, but weaker than Meteor. The cleric, elf and wizard drop this after losing all of their lives. Frog: Turns some enemies into frogs, which become harmless and then hop offscreen. Personally, I consider it the worst magic there is. It can do damage to bosses, although it's rare you get a Frog Gem to use against a boss. Jewelry: Turns up to four enemies into rubies. If the enemies you're about to transform are worth less than 2,000 EXP, then go ahead and use this magic to come out ahead without getting damaged. It can do damage to bosses, but if that opportunity comes to pass, it's a total waste in my opinion. This Gem is for getting EXP, not for doing damage. All five characters can use either thunder or fire magic (it depends on the character) without a crystal by pressing the Jump and Attack buttons at the same time. However, this takes away 8 life (10 for the dwarf and fighter) and isn't as strong. 1iii.) Food Fruit: These can be a strawberry, a bunch of bananas, a bunch of grapes or a green apple. These restore 16 HP. Red Apple: This is rare; the only place I've seen it is in stage 15. It's much bigger than the green apple and restores 24 HP. Elixir 1: This looks like a yellow flask with two handles on the side. It restores 24 HP. Elixir 2: This is the ultimate in healing, restoring 32 HP. It looks similar to Elixir 1, but with a purple bottle enclosed in the center. 2.) Armor As you beat bosses and open certain gold chests, you will find upgrades for the armor of your character. Unless, as noted above, you're using the Elf. These upgrades will make it so your character takes less damage, up to the point where some enemies can only do 1 damage to you. It IS possible to avoid picking up these upgrades, but I don't suggest it unless you're trying to increase the difficulty of the game. 2i.) The Cleric Level 1: Wood Shield Level 2: Level 3: Level 4: Level 5: Level 6: Level 7: Level 8: 2ii.) The Dwarf Level 1: Leather Shield Level 2: Level 3: Level 4: Level 5: Level 6: Level 7: Level 8: 2iii.) The Fighter Level 1: Leather Shield Level 2: Level 3: Level 4: Level 5: Level 6: Level 7: Level 8: 2iv.) The Wizard Level 1: Purple-Gemmed Ring Level 2: Silver Ring with an Orange Gem Level 3: Purple Scarab Armlet Level 4: Bronze Amulet Level 5: Bronze Jewelled Necklace with Pearls Level 6: Golden Armlet with Purple Gem Level 7: Necklace with Crystal Shards Level 8: Golden Coronet with Purple Gems 3.) Weaponry Like with Armor, certain bosses and gold chests hide superior weaponry than what you currently have. For the most part, this means increased power, speed and range. The Elf has the distinction of getting two separate boosts to his weaponry. He gets boosts for his arrows and his bow. 3i.) The Cleric Level 1: Iron Cudgel Level 2: Level 3: Level 4: Level 5: Level 6: Level 7: Level 8: 3ii.) The Dwarf Level 1: Hand Axe Level 2: Level 3: Level 4: Level 5: Level 6: Level 7: Level 8: 3iii.) The Elf Level 1: Wood Bow and Wooden Arrows Level 2: Level 3: Level 4: Level 5: Level 6: Level 7: Level 8: 3iv.) The Fighter Level 1: Short Sword Level 2: Level 3: Level 4: Level 5: Level 6: Level 7: Level 8: 3v.) The Wizard Level 1: Wood Staff/Orange Fireballs Level 2: Wood Staff with Purple Gem/Blue Fireballs Level 3: Gnarled Staff with Blue Gem/Blue Force Waves Level 4: Gnarled Staff with inset Blue Gem/Green Force Waves Level 5: Wood Staff with Metal Headpiece and Red Gem/Orange Flame Level 6: Wood Staff with Crescent Moon Headpiece/Blue Flame Level 7: Wood Staff with Jagged Headpiece and Red Gem/Green Flame Level 8: T-shaped Staff with Purple Gem/Blue Lightning Bolt -= Monsters =- 1.) Normal Monsters Gildiss has amassed a small army to help keep the populous intimidated and in line. It's your job to stab, shoot and zap everything that gets in your way. Some of them will be pitifully easy to defeat, some will require that you pay attention, some will merely be annoying. 1i.) Orcs The common grunts of KoD. They wear a grey metal helmet, brown clothes and brown felt boots. They have an annoying fondness for making noises and hopping about. They come in green, blue and red versions, with increasing amounts of musculature and, in the case of the blue and red orcs, shields that are occasionally used. 1ii.) Wolven Archers The first of many enemies that apparently have fractional HP, since it takes nothing more than a single hit to kill them. They'll shoot three to six arrows at you, and if given the chance, run away afterwards. You can shoot or hit their arrows to get free EXP. It might be worth it to let them fire all of their arrows for the EXP, then kill them to get even more EXP out of them. They come in brown, blue and yellow versions, with the yellow archers firing arrows in bunches of two. 1iii.) Slimes There are two types, green and red. From what I can tell, they both explode into giblets after one hit and are only threatening if you let them wrap themselves around your legs. The dwarf is short enough to hit them whether they're airborne or slithering along the ground, and the wizard has two weapons (level 3 and 4) that give him this ability as well. 1iv.) Harpies They only show up on one level, and all they do there is flutter about in the air, occasionally going offscreen and then diving down in the hopes that they can grab you and drop you. One hit sends them crashing to the ground for a dirt nap. While they're floating around in range of you, they can hit you for negligible damage, so don't let them flit about in front of you. 1v.) Skeletons In possession of a healthy amount of attack power, these undead sport a metal buckler and battle-scarred long sword. They enjoy slashing living things a good deal. They tend to freeze in place after burying their sword in your shoulder, giving you a free hit if you react quickly. They bounce backwards after getting hit, making it easy to 'lock' them in place with attacks timed to hit when they land from the previous attack. They come in two versions: grey sword and shield, and blood-red sword and shield. On some occasions, skeletons will introduce themselves by walking on screen and throwing a spear in your general direction. These tend to hurt. 1vi.) Lizard Men - Swordsmen The best non-boss sword and shield enemies you'll have the dubious honor of facing. They like to block almost to the point of excess. Unlike orcs, they don't always try to counterattack after blocking you. Sometimes they'll just back away and set up another attack, or block your next hit as well. It's not much fun getting hit by them either, since they can knock you down after an attack, despite 'freezing' like the skeletons do. They come in green and orange varieties. - Spearmen These monsters are not terribly bright, if you ask me. If you stand directly across from them, they will break into a straight line run and try to spear you. This would be problematic if it weren't easy to move out of the way and/or hit them before they get the chance, causing them to fall flat on their face, leaving them vulnerable to a free hit as they stand. Up close, they're mildly threatening, but their attack speed is lacking. They come in red and blue varieties. 1vii.) Mummies They show up twice, and do nothing except lumber towards you, try to choke you to death, and occasionally stagger around with their head nearly torn off after you hit them. They have an unusual defense system that consists of bouncing backwards with their arms crossed, giving you more chances to hit them as they try to lumber back up to your face. 1viii.) Cutpurses They're not enemies as much as they are annoying guys who try to steal food and gems left onscreen. Smack them once to make them drop whatever they've picked up, as well as a small bag of gold. They can't hurt you, unless you consider losing food and/or EXP as a method of receiving pain. 1ix.) Mermen They show up twice and in two varieties, blue and green. They like to hop around and stab you when you get too close. If you hit them, they flop to the ground, then bounce up, jump into the air and try to spear you. The only problem with this is that all you have to do is jump backwards and attack to send them down again. Repeat until they stop getting up. 1x.) Traps There are two types of traps: The Mimic and the Ice Trap. The Mimic looks like a metal chest which twitches nervously on occasion. When you get close to it, it jumps up in the air, teeth bared in hopes of latching on to you and whittling away your health. One hit while they're airborne, twitching or on the ground will destroy them. If they happen to latch on, shake the joystick back and forth to forcibly remove them. Ice Traps emit five blasts of ice to the left, a 45 degree angle, a 90 degree angle, a 135 angle and to the right for a short distance. If you're within their range, you get encased in ice, open to any attack that a nearby monster wishes to bestow upon you. If no monster is nearby, the ice will, after a few seconds, whittle your health. If you wiggle the joystick fast enough upon being encased, you can break free and lose no HP. 1xi.) Archers They pop up in a few stages, decked in shiny black armor from head to toe. Said armor must be made from tissue paper, because it takes only one hit to kill them. Given the chance to fire after hopping on screen, they fire a VERY fast arrow which will drop your character on their butt. After firing once, they hop offscreen. Oddly enough, they don't try to get lined up with you. You could be at the bottom of the screen as one hops at the top and he will fire his arrow anyways. 1xii.) Flying Imps/Devils They show up in one stage only and serve the purpose of trying to run into you and occasionally drop really nice items as you kill them with one hit. -= The Stages =- This stage walkthrough makes the assumption that you pick up armor and weapon upgrades as you come across them. If you ignore one along the way, you may find that where I say a chest spits out the level 4 weapon for a character, it instead spits out the level 4 armor. So, if you've decided to make things tough on yourself by not picking up armor and weapon upgrades, gold chests and boss drops will not conform to what I list from this point forward. 1.) The Orc Village The first stage serves as a place to get used to the controls and possibly practice your blocking on the green orcs that pop up from time to time. Not long after starting the stage, you'll run into a chest that usually carries a large bag of gold, but occasionally has a purple gem. A few green orcs get in your way before you reach the next chest, which contains either a Fire or Lightning Crystal. If you want, use it on anything that is still alive, or bounce it off your character further along the stage until you get enough targets. On the way to the next chest, some wolven archers, green orcs and blue orcs await your presence. The next chest, like the first, has either a large bag of gold or a purple gem inside. Move to the right, running into another blue orc and a gold chest which contains fruit. A little further to the right of those is: Stage 1 Boss: The Orc King I'm personally insulted by this guy. All you have to do is stand directly in front of him and he can't hurt you. He can swing his twin extendable maces all he wants, he's not going to deal a single point of damage to you. Beat him into the ground, pick up the gold and food he drops and acquire the first of many weapon upgrades to come. 2.) Treasure in an Old Castle Just to the right after starting the stage is a chest with a Lightning or Fire Crystal. Use it on the incoming enemies. A little to the right of the Crystal are two chests. The upper one contains an ice trap, ignore it or trip it after beating up the green and blue orcs that jump in to greet you so you can get in some joystick wiggling practice. At the end of the stage is a chest with a yellow gem and the second boss: Stage 2 Boss: The Minotaur A boss that you can't sleepwalk through is always a good thing to see. Try to stay somewhat close to him, or else he'll constantly run back in both, hoping that you'll get in his way and be lodged on his horns. Aside from the aforementioned gore attacks, he likes to swing his axe twice, which then creates waves of force. If he swings four times, he's about to unleash his long range waves. The key to winning this battle with minor casualties is to time your attacks to where you get your hits in while he's swinging (and missing), but have enough time to get out of the way of the resulting shock waves. An interesting quirk of the Minotaur is how if he starts swinging his axe and you move out of the way, sometimes he'll hop up or down to get back in front of you. You can hit him once, move out of the way, have him hop after you, hit him again, hop again, hit, hop... but eventually he stops pursuing and just swings away. After you drop him to half health, the floor falls out from under the both of you, sending you hurtling down to the lower level of the castle. Try to get yourself lined up with him before this happens, so you can get in some free hits in before you land. After that, repeat the tactics you used before and you'll be picking up gold and getting your first armor upgrade in no time. For fun, use some magic on him and watch him get blasted into the air with each shot, then drop to the ground and shake his head to clear the cobwebs. For Street Fighter fans, see what happens if you gain a level while standing right next to the Minotaur. It's probably just me, but I'm reminded of Ken and a certain super move of his. Hitting the Minotaur with many attacks in a short period of time will knock him back a step, so aggression is not frowned on, provided it's not overdone. 3.) Battle on a Mountain Peak The first chest you run into here has some fruit in it. Eat up then move onwards and upwards. Several green orcs get in your way to the next chest as do some blue and red orcs. Your reward for beating off the orcs is a purple gem. A few monsters and a short trek further, you'll find another treasure chest, this one containing a small bag of gold. After the chest lies: Stage 3 Boss: The Wyvern A fairly strong boss, given the locale, but he telegraphs his moves in the air far too often. If you see him hover in place, he's getting ready to dive down at you, possibly to pick you up. If he does pick you up, you can shake the joystick to make him drop you and escape any damage. If you don't shake fast enough though, you're getting dropped, and it'll hurt. If all he does is claw at you though, then you're going to have to either block him, avoid him, or take the damage. When you drop him to six bars of health, he will fly high into the sky, then come down to the ground, flapping his wings furiously, which creates a wind that blows you backwards. Once he's on the ground, he'll start walking on his legs. At this point, he has two attacks: breathing a ball of fire at you or dropping his head near the ground and spitting out three fireballs. Hit him hard and fast, he winces after each hit, making it possible to get in several hits at once before he manages an attack of his own. Once you get him to four bars of health, he runs offscreen into the sky, diving down at you and resuming his aerial show. Knock another bar off his health and he lands again. Drop him to one bar and he takes to the air for the last time. Put him out of his misery and he descends offscreen and audibly crashes. No armor or weapon upgrades this time, just gold. Make sure to pick up all of it as fast as you can; you move onto the next stage almost immediately after he crashes. 4.) Cave of the Hydra Greeting you at the start of this stage is another weapon upgrade and a few brown wolven archers. Dispose of the archers and get your new weapon. A little further on are some blue and green orcs, as well as the first Mimic. Get rid of them and open up the chest to the right to find another Magic Crystal (from this point forward, if all I say is Magic Crystal, that means either a Fire or Lightning Crystal). Save it to dispose of the upcoming slimes and blue orcs. Blow up the skeleton at the top of screen to get a small bag of gold. A little more to the right are two chests. The bottom one is an ice trap while the top one has fruit. Many green and blue orcs introduce themselves at this point. Beat them down and break loose another dead adventurer to get a large bag of gold. A little to the right are more blue orcs and a chest with a yellow gem. At the end of the stage is a chest with a purple gem and: Stage 4 Boss: The Hydra Three heads, all of which use the same types of attacks. If you get in front of a head, it'll spit a glob of something at you. The green head spits acid, the red head spits fire and the blue head spits ice. If you get too close or start hitting a head too often, it'll rear back and try to headbutt you. It is not too hard to avoid either attack, since all three heads pause before spitting at you and seeing a head go offscreen is as blatant a tipoff there can be. They all share the same life meter; after you do about three bars worth of damage to a head it dies and rips itself off of the body and spits up treasure. Concentrate all of your attacks on a single head to give as much maneuvering room as possible to yourself. After lopping off all three heads, a badly beaten soldier shows up and informs you of what Gildiss has been up to. Turns out you'll be heading north to save the folks from evil critters of all kinds. The only way there is by ship though, so... 5.) To the Norde Isle ...off we go. The entire ship, which is about two screens long, is all the stage you get here. To the left is an armor upgrade, a Frog Crystal and some fruit. To the right is more fruit. Your uninvited guests for the trip are a small army of skeletons brought in by harpies, and after about a minute, a few green mermen. After you fend off all of these, the stage is over. No boss at all. 6.) The Giant in the Shrine The first thing you'll find upon landing on the beach before the shrine is a chest with a Magic Crystal. Not long after that you'll run into harpies. Pick them out of the air with an attack to keep them from being a nuisance. Not far from the Crystal chest are two barrels. The top one contains an ice trap and the bottom one has fruit. A combined horde of blue wolven archers, blue orcs, green orcs and harpies get in your way before you reach the next treasure location, which has a purple gem inside. Collect the gem, beat off the horde of critters and advance within the shrine itself. Not long after entering the shrine you'll find a chest with a weapon upgrade, as well as some green orcs to test it on. A few blue wolven archers, blue orcs and red orcs get in your way before you reach the next chest which has a small bag of gold. After killing all of these thugs and acquiring the booty, some skeletons walk onscreen and try to throw their spears into and through your abdomen. Shatter them to pieces and a bunch of their buddies will dig out from under the ground and pick up where their undead buddies left off. After you send the gravediggers to the bone yard, you'll find a gold chest with a piece of fruit and the first mini-boss: Stage 6 Mini-Boss: The Minotaur Apparently Gildiss is willing to give this mythical beast a second chance, even if you happened to severely clean his clock. He's slightly weaker than when you last fought him, but if you've been picking up every single weapon and armor upgrade, you're stronger than last time. Swat him like a bug and advance further inside the shrine. The orcs are starting to get organized, as shown by two sets of two green orcs with a blue orc in the center drop down from the sky and try to pound you into submission. Beat them into the ground and move onwards, cracking open a chest with a purple gem inside. Not long afterwards, a pair of red orcs and a pair of blue orcs run onscreen to fight you. Fend them off, and a wood chest with a small bag of gold and a Mimic await you. Smash the mimic to get another purple gem, but be wary of skeletons who like to drop down from the sky and try to cut you in half. About five skeletons in a row make this their initial move, so look for their shadows when moving forward. Turn them into a mess of bones, then fight against a blue orc, a red orc and some skeletons who decide to introduce themselves while still on the ground. A red orc will try sneaking up from behind after you clean up the massive bones left from your last assault. Wipe it out, then look for the edge of a chest behind a pillar. Most of the time it has a yellow gem, but occasionally it will have fruit inside. Reach the top of the shrine and fend off the red orc forces that show up, with occasional support from spear-chucking skeletons, divebombing skeletons and normal skeletons. Once you beat them down, walk to the right so you can properly greet: Stage 6 Boss: The Cyclops Melee fighters will have a somewhat hard time with this guy unless they're good at blocking. The wizard and the elf can hit them from their maximum range without fear of getting hit by his normal attack. The wizard barely has any leeway with his best weapon at this point, so it'd be better to hit and run. Hit and run is a good tactic overall, especially when he charges up for a mighty swing that moves him across half of the screen. Getting in hits when he tears off a piece of pillar is a good tactic to employ as well. Try to shake him off if you get grabbed and he won't get the chance to bite you once, nevermind twice. Just whittle away at him until he falls for good, then pick up your new armor upgrade. 7.) Trent Woods A small swarm of red slimes show up right around when you find the first chest in this level, which happens to have a slime-unfriendly Magic Crystal inside. Use it at your leisure and advance to the next chest once all of the slimes are dead to acquire a piece of fruit. A variety of skeletons show up next, throwing spears, digging from out of the ground and merely walking on screen for battle. Beat them to bone meal and face off against a blue wolven archer who is guarding a Mimic that swallowed a yellow gem. The first lizard swordsman encounter comes up next, so get used to their battle tactics. More skeletons come next, then a chest with an Elixir 1, and finally a chest with a yellow gem. After picking up all of this, face off against: Stage 7 Boss: The Giant Spiders Constantly be on the move. There's only one direct attack the spiders have, which is to swoop down, grab you, haul you into the air and then drop you to do notable damage. If you're always on the move, they'll never catch you. The only other way it can do damage is when it spits a few small pools of acid that quickly whittle away your health. Get your hits in when it drops down, whether it is to try (and fail) to grab you, to spit its pools of acid, or to dangle there for a second, doing nothing but let you hit them. When you drop them to four bars of health, two spiders will start attacking you at a time. Keeping mobile becomes more important; only take the time to deliver hits when there's no way for a spider to sneak up and grab you while you're busy hitting one that's dangling about. Once you get rid of all of their energy, all six spiders crash to the ground, dead as a doornail. Trent itself will revive afterwards and thank you for killing the spiders. As a reward, it'll give you another weapon upgrade and tell you where to head to next. Namely, the northern castle, where Trent suspects Gildiss lurks. 8.) To the Castle The road to the castle is a long one, and unfortunately, not devoid of lizard swordsmen and spearmen trying to cut/poke you with great fervor. No monsters show up before you reach the first chest of this level, containing a diamond. Pick it up and brace yourself for a fight against some skeletons and a green lizard swordsman. Beat them and two red spearmen show up, accompanied by some green lizard swordsmen and an orange swordsman. Cross a small bridge to find a chest with a Meteor Gem inside. Walk along until you reach a small barrel, which has fruit inside. After reaching it, five Armored Archers show up and try to shoot you. Now would be a good time to use that Meteor. Move a little farther along and another five Archers show up. Kill a few of them so that you have a clear path to avoid the fire of the rest, or just shoot a few arrows out of the air for EXP, which serves the same purpose. After the run-in with the archers, a barrel with a ruby inside awaits, as do a few green lizards. An orange lizard shows up from the left after you beat back some of the green swordsmen, accompanied on the right by some skeletons and a gold chest with an Elixir 1. Once you destroy all of those, a red spearman and two more green lizards show up. Beat THOSE and you face off with: Stage 8 Boss: The Dragon Rider You'll see this guy a lot in the future. He carries a big bec-de-corbin and rides upon a dragon all too eager to spit fireballs and fire trails at you. None of their attacks can hit you in the air, unless you happen to jump in front of the Dragon's mouth when it spits out a fireball. Otherwise, it's a matter of timing your jumps to go over the stabs that the rider does with his weapon. Up close the dragon itself almost never attacks. Being slightly above the dragon will keep you out of the way of all possible attacks, but its mobility makes this a hard position to maintain. Just keep jumping and moving, making sure not to leave yourself vulnerable to one of the rider's stabs. After you beat the life out of his dragon, the rider will retreat off to the castle, ending the fight for now. Pick up your newest armor upgrade and head into the castle ahead for your next battle. 9.) In the Castle Hidden behind a pillar before a barrel is another barrel with a yellow gem. Within the unhidden barrel is a Jewel Crystal. Bounce it along until a set of armored archers try to ambush you. Break the jewel to make four rubies and then take out the archer who escaped transformation. Another set of archers show up afterwards, so defeat them, or just shoot their arrows for better EXP. The Dragon Rider shows up again to harass you, with a stream of blue orcs that back him up. Two chests, one with fruit and one with an ice trap, sit in the same area that the Rider guards. Once you beat the Rider again, pick up the fruit and don't get caught in the ice. A red orc and some green lizard swordsmen show up next; defeat them and move forward to the next encounter. A chest with a ruby lies ahead, guarded by an orange swordsman. Collect the gem, defeat the swordsman and fend off a red spearman and two green swordsmen. The Dragon Rider is back AGAIN, joined by a small army of red spearmen. Two blue orcs apparently got lost and stumbled into this sudden rematch with the Rider. Beat all of them up and make sure to collect the Elixir 1 within a barrel at the bottom of the screen. There's also a barrel near the top of the screen nearby, but it contains an ice trap. After a short walk, a green swordsman and an orange swordsman confront you. Try not to move much further to the right until they're dead, or else you'll have to fend with a few armored archers as well. Once you kill the archers and swordsmen, prepare to fight two blue spearmen, another line of archers, and a green swordsman. Fight your way through all of those, and a few more spearmen and swordsmen take their place. Kill THOSE, and finally you will be able to fight: Stage 9 Boss: The Black Knight I really, really, REALLY hate this guy. He's agile, he has a long reach, he hits hard, and when you take off a few bars of his health, he has a blue dragon assist him on each side, which have the same attacks as the Dragon Rider's pets. You can hit the dragons to momentarily stagger them offscreen, but you'd be better off concentrating on keeping the one closest to your side of the screen away. They won't attack if you're too far away, so having half of the screen to work with against the Knight is all that's important. The Knight himself can block your attacks with his sword. Immediately after blocking an attack, he'll slash at you. Sometimes he'll flip into the air, land, and slash. It takes him long enough to pull this off in order to get out of his range. He has an aerial attack where he flips over you and tries to split open your head with a mighty slash. If you're too far away, he may decide to throw shuriken at you, which you can knock out of the air with a well-timed attack. Also, as if his normal mobility isn't bad enough, he has the ability to double his speed, leaving a trail of afterimages behind him. He'll home in your position and try to slash you during this, and rendered untouchable by normal attacks. Jumping away from him before he gets in front of you will keep you safe from this attack. The wizard's fifth weapon can eat through his health very fast; it's one of the few times you may want to be aggressive and act like a melee character with the magic nut. Once you finally put him down for the count, a knight from the castle shows up and thanks you, informing you that Princess Mari, who had been inside the fortress north of this castle, has been abducted by monsters. It's time to fulfill one of the requirements of being a hero: rescuing a princess. In order to reach her, you must first... 10.) Underground Pass ...travel through this underground tunnel. Compared to earlier areas, the amount of monsters is somewhat sparse. Greeting you not long after entering the level is yet another weapon upgrade. Slightly further along is a chest with a large bag of gold. A short jog from there is an adventurer's corpse which has a diamond inside. A few skeletons and mummies show up around this time though, so you'll have to fend them off in order to get it. A pair of mimics come next, one with a ruby, one with a purple gem. Some skeletons try to prevent you from moving on, so show them the error of their ways. Two wooden crates lie just ahead of the skeleton mini-army, one with an ice trap, one with an Elixir 1. A short walk later, another unfortunate adventurer will surrender a small bag of gold. He also signifies the end of the level, where you fight against: Stage 10 Boss: The Wraiths They're kind of creepy. Other than an occasional toss of a hand scythe, all they do is silently rotate in a circle, causing you damage upon touching you. Try to stay in the middle of their circle and attack each one you can get in range. Each time they lose a bar of health, they'll float up into the air and come down to start circling lazily once more. When they drop to one bar of health, they turn bright red and start circling twice as fast. Quickly dispose of that last bar of health and they'll turn into random gems. You'll also recieve an armor upgrade. 11.) Battle in the Fortress A trio of skeletons greet you at the entrance of the fortress. Turn them to shattered bones and head further along to find a chest with a yellow gem, and some green and orange lizard swordsmen. A several waves of armored archers come onscreen from each side, so the screen may become filled with projectile death. After you survive that onslaught, a few chests with a small bag of gold, a yellow gem and a purple gem, lie ahead. More green swordsmen arrive afterwards, as well as another set of archers on each side. Get through all of those, and two orange swordsmen appear. Once those die, some red spearmen will arrive. Take care of them to face: Stage 11 Boss: The Draconian This guy looks intimidating, but he's not too hard to take down. He has a charging attack like the Minotaur, which is just as easy to see coming and thus avoid. He has a few sword attacks, one of which he does at long range (his sword stretches into several segments and can hit you from afar). The other is a normal sword slash. If you plan to fight up close, make sure your blocking/evasion skills are up to snuff, because the normal slash comes out quickly. He also has an attack where he spins his sword, then slashes. I think it's a total waste, because it gives you a lot of time to get out of the way. Finally, he can take to the air and try to divebomb you. The only drawback is that upon impact he bounces, leaving you the chance to smack him several times before he manages to recover. He has the most dramatic death of any boss in the game, dropping to one knee, screeching and getting zapped with a big bolt of lightning. He is covered by blue flame, and leaves nothing but bones after the fire abates. The princess is overjoyed at her freedom, informing you that the northern castle has fallen to monsters... which you learned from Trent back in his woods. Nonetheless, off you go to finally liberate said castle. 12.) Castle Garenos Upon entering the castle proper, you'll find a barrel with a large bag of gold inside. Pick it up and move forward to run into the new generation of skeletons, complete with blood red swords and shields. You'll also run into an old friend, the Dragon Rider. He still uses the same tactics as when you first met him, so deal with him as needed. After he's dealt with, several skeletons and a few yellow wolven archers appear. A few waves of these two enemies later, and you'll advance to the end of the castle, where a vase with some fruit awaits. A few more skeletons show up at this point. After you get rid of them, the bosses for this stage show up, and if you thought one black knight was bad, wait until you fight: Stage 12 Boss: The Royal Knights They attack just like the Black Knight. They look almost exactly like him too, wearing the same style of armor, except with a helmet and in a different color (one is red, the other is green). They share the same life bar, so it only looks like they're harder to hurt than the Black Knight. They both give fruit among their death spoils, which helps a bit. As with the Hydra, focus your attacks on one of them, to both give yourself more room and to keep the number of shurikens and swords headed your way to a minimum. Pick up another weapon upgrade after the dust settles and continue your quest to purify the castle of evil. 13.) The Dark Wizard After entering the stage, walk across the bridge, blowing away the incoming devils/imps and picking up anything they drop, opening any chests along the way. They contain, in order: fruit, Magic Crystal, ruby and a large bag of gold. After the rain of flying mobs stops, a pair of green swordsmen, a pair of orange swordsmen and a blue spearman show up. Three chests are in their vicinity. The rightmost chest has a small bag of gold, the leftmost is a mimic and the middle one has fruit. After you kill them, the apprentice of the dark wizard starts showing off his teleportation ability. After a few dozen of them, he starts his attack. He'll appear in a random location on the screen and then either shoot a gout of flame from his staff, or summon two energy balls which shoot a bolt straight across the screen. If you hit him or let him complete an attack, he teleports again. After a few hits, he dissolves into a pile of orange dust. With him out of the way, you can face off against: Stage 13 Boss: The Dark Wizard Before the start of the fight, he has a small speech prepared for you, more or less saying "For rebelling against Gildiss, I'll reduce you to component atoms with my black magic." Don't let him talk to you like that; let your actions show that you're not the one dying this day. He hovers around the room, pausing from time to time to flash and release a fireball which will explode several times and head in the general direction of where you were last standing when he started casting. If you get upclose, he will cast a fireball which scatters in mid-air, exploding in a circular pattern around the wizard. After you get him to around three bars of health, he will summon a cluster of energy balls to rotate around his body and start moving up and down the screen, releasing them at you once you're directly across from him. It's easy to avoid the first two attacks, since he flashes for two seconds before releasing his spell. If he DOES connect with the homing fireballs, you're going to get seriously hurt. The spreading fireballs are very weak in comparison. Be very aggressive, making sure to dodge out of the way before he finishes his spells, and back off once he summons the energy balls, so you have as much room as possible to avoid them. There are also four golden chests in the room, three of which have treasure, with the last one having fruit inside. Usually, the top left chest has the fruit, so keep that one closed unless you really need the health. Upon death, the Wizard is reduced to a cloud which dissolves into several frogs. Pick up the armor upgrade left behind as a result and head towards the next area. 14.) A Cave in the Woods Move right until the screen stops scrolling. You'll have found two vases and three blue mermen. Deal with them the same way you did against their weaker brethen, making sure to collect the large bag of gold in the rightmost vase, while dodging the ice trap in the leftmost vase. After you defeat the three mermen that initially showed up, two more jump in to take their place. Four chests of varying quality lie ahead, one of which contains the final weapon upgrade you'll get. The rest are a mimic with a diamond (bottom left), fruit (top middle) and a ruby (top right). Pick these up and you'll eventually be reunited with your old friend, the blue orc. Kill them and blue spearmen and a yellow archer will appear, followed by a few more blue spearmen and one red spearman. Kill them and you'll find a vase with a ruby. A short distance past that, you'll find a vase with another ruby. Pick that up, then prepare to fight: Stage 14 Boss: The Blue Wyvern Attacks exactly like the Wyvern, but it uses ice instead of fire. This is a slight perk, seeing as how the ice balls themselves do no damage at all. The physical attacks are more powerful than the Wyvern's, so avoiding contact is even more important. When you drop it to six bars of health, an army of blue spearmen, one at a time, join in on the fun. Try to avoid them as best you can; taking out the Blue Wyvern should be your top priority. It takes to the air and lands at the same health levels as the Wyvern, so if you absolutely must kill some of the blue spearmen, do so while the Blue Wyvern is up in the air. Occasionally, you may see a red spearman appear instead of a blue one. All that means is less hits to be rid of it before you can continue attacking the Blue Wyvern. Pick up the gold that it drops upon death and have a hearty discussion with the denizens of these woods who were forced into hiding when Big Blue took residence outside. They direct you to the cave to their right, saying that's where they believe Gildiss is hiding. 15.) The Underground Labyrinth Similar in decor to the Underground Pass you met the Wraiths in, it's just as scarce in monster population. Just to the right of where you start is the final piece of armor; from this point forward any gold chests will have fruit or gold inside. Some red slimes are attached to the far wall, and will drop down once you get close enough. Splatter them and move onwards, collecting a diamond and a purple gem from the vases in their vicinity. A vase lies just past where the slimes lurk, containing a ruby. A barrel is next up, guarded by a few mummies. Deal with them as you see fit and collect the yellow gem from the barrel. Several 'red' skeletons appear next, some with spears. Get rid of them and break open the body of a slain adventurer to get a ruby. Yet another barrel is next, as well as several wallclinging red slimes. Within the barrel is the first and likely last big red apple you'll see. Once you move far enough so that the slimes drop to the ground, a barrel with a yellow gem comes into view. Squash these slimes, collect your gem, then fight the bosses of the labyrinth: Stage 15 Boss: Twin Cyclops Aside from having to fight two at once and that everything except the pillar toss do more damage, this is just like the fight you had back at Stage 6. If possible, get both cyclops on the same side of the screen so that you've got a lot of room to fight. Being caught in the middle makes it harder than it has to be, but it's not a fatal drawback. Each Cyclops will drop fruit upon death, so try to be at full health each time to get EXP from them. After both Cyclops are dead, it's time to investigate the cave beyond. 16.) A Limestone Cave There are no monsters to fight here except for Mimics. Aside from those, you have nothing stopping you from looting every single chest you see. Collect all the food and treasure you desire, including the first and last Elixir 2 you'll see. Some of the golden chests may have an armor or weapon powerup, should you not have the best the game offers by this point. Once you have acquired everything, move all the way into the gold-lined cave. You'll hear a voice and see a dragon's head, who effectively says to you: "You puny sack of flesh, I'm going to make toothpicks out of your bones." Once the speech is done, it's time to drop the gloves and fight: Final Boss: Gildiss, the Red Dragon For the most part, all he will do is glare at you, followed shortly by a big breath of flame which reaches across half of the screen. If this hits you, you're getting smoked, flung to the edge of the screen and relieved of a lot of health. This is the strongest attack in the game, so avoiding it would be in your best interest. If you stay in front of his face too long, his hand will reach out and pick you up, then toss you away. To my knowledge, there's no way to escape this once grabbed, so walk/jump away from him once you see his hand wander out to the middle of the battlefield. If you get out of range fast enough, he will relax and move it back to the top of the screen and try to light you on fire again. Sometimes he'll emit a few fireballs which fly off in random directions. On rare occasion, he'll rear back, breath a gout of fire, and advance up, down and towards you. Magic can knock him out of this attack, but unless you don't mind losing the health required, trying to a find a safe spot is the best course of action. As you whittle away at his health, he will jump into the air and change the direction he's facing. He does this at six, four, two and one bar of health. All this means is that you occasionally need to switch the direction you're pointing your weapon at. Finish him off and he'll flop up into the air and crash onto his side, which results in gems and bags of gold bursting from his neck and head. This also causes a shower of gems, necklaces and gold to rain down in the foreground. Pick up everything you can and your character will walk to the center of the screen and raise their weapon in celebration. Sit back and watch the ending unfold, content in the fact you've freed the land from Gildiss' iron fist... er, claw: "Although the heros (sic) received many wounds, they were finally able to defeat the red dragon. Now their country would know peace again. Standing in the cavern of Gildiss' treasure hoard, they were nearly blinded by the sparkle of gold. As they stood looking at their hard won haul, they looked as though they could see new adventures reflected in each precious gem." -= Miscellaneous =- 1.) EXP Listing Name Amount --------------------------------------- Cutpurse's Sack: 100* Small Gold Sack: 200 Large Gold Sack: 500 Purple Gem: 800 Yellow Gem: 1000 Ruby: 2000 Diamond: 5000 Food: 5000** Mimic: 1800 'Chests': 300 Green Orc: 800 Blue Orc: 1200 Red Orc: 1600 Brown Wolf Archer: 800 Blue Wolf Archer: 1300 Yellow Wolf Archer: Skeleton 1: 1600 Skeleton 2: Green Slime: Red Slime: 1600 Green Lizard Swordsman: 1800 Orange Lizard Swordsman: 2500 Red Lizard Spearman: 1800 Blue Lizard Spearman: 2500 Armored Archers: 100 Harpy: 1000 Green Merman: 3200 Blue Merman: 3800 Mummy: 2800 Flying Imp/Devil: Wolven Archer Bolts: 800 Armored Archer Arrows: 1000 Thrown Spears: 1000 The Dark Apprentice: 3500 The Orc King: 500 per hit The Minotaur: 500 per hit The Wyvern: 600 per hit The Hydra: 600 per hit The Cyclops: 500 per hit The Giant Spiders: 500 per hit The Dragon Rider: per hit The Black Knight: 600 per hit The Wraith: 500 per hit The Draconian: 700 per hit The Royal Knights: 700 per hit The Evil Wizard: 1000 per hit The Blue Wyvern: 1000 per hit Twin Cyclops: 1000 per hit; either Cyclops The Red Dragon, Gildiss: 2000 per hit * I'm not sure if there's a trick to making these little bags of gold with a blue question mark give more than 100 EXP. Maybe let multiple cutpurses run onscreen so that multiple bags are dropped? ** Food, when eaten at full health, acts like you picked up a diamond. Try not to use food unless you really need to; memorize which chests have food in them so that you can fight off all the mobs and then open the chest, thus making it possible to pick up the food without worrying about it vanishing as you fight off mobs. 2.) Damage Listing A listing for the five characters, showing how much damage they take from the monsters in the game with their varying amounts of armor. In the case of the Elf, there's only one listing. Some monsters don't have any actual attacks; all they do is grab you and gradually eat away at your HP (Mimics and Slimes), and thus armor has no influence on their damage. These damage listings are based on the Normal difficulty level. The lower difficulty levels result in weaker and less aggressive monsters. Similarly, higher difficulty results in stronger and more aggressive monsters. For some odd reason, when continuing, I'd notice that all attacks did one less damage to me. If during your playing you find an attack that I list doing 15 damage with a certain character and piece of armor, but it does 16 damage to you, this quirk would likely be the reason why. Cleric: Monster L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 -------------------------------------------------------- Green Orc - Normal Attack - Lunging Strike Blue Orc - Normal Attack - Counter Strike - Lunging Strike Red Orc - Normal Attack - Counter Strike - Lunging Strike Brown Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Blue Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Yellow Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Skeleton 1 - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Leaping Slash - Spear Throw Skeleton 2 - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Leaping Slash - Spear Throw Green Lizard Swordsman - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Lunging Slash Orange Lizard Swordsman - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Lunging Slash Red Lizard Spearman - Normal Attack - Running Impale Blue Lizard Spearman - Normal Attack - Running Impale Armored Archers - Normal Attack Harpy - Physical Contact - Grab and Drop Green Merman - Normal Attack - Leaping Attack Blue Merman - Normal Attack - Leaping Attack Flying Imp/Devil - Physical Contact The Dark Apprentice - Staff Flame - Energy Bolt The Orc King - Normal Attack - Triple Swing The Minotaur - Normal Attack - Quick Horn Charge - Horn Charge - Short Force Wave - Long Force Wave The Wyvern - Lunge - Sky High Lunge - Fire Ball - Triple Fire Ball - Lunge and Grab The Hydra - Head Ram - Ice Ball - Fire Ball - Acid Glob The Cyclops - Normal Attack - Charged Swing - Grab and Bite (1st) - Grab and Bite (2nd) - Pillar Throw The Giant Spiders - Grab and Drop The Dragon Rider - Normal Attack - Fire Trail - Fire Ball The Black Knight - Normal Attack - Leaping Spin Slash - Illusion Slash - Dragon Fire - Shuriken The Wraith - Physical Contact - Thrown Head Scythe The Draconian - Normal Attack - Spinning Sword Slash - Shield Charge - Sky Drop Slash - Segmented Sword The Royal Knights - Normal Attack - Leaping Spin Slash - Illusion Slash - Shuriken The Evil Wizard - Exploding Fireballs - Surrounding Fireballs - Rotating Magic Orbs* The Blue Wyvern - Lunge - Sky High Lunge - Lunge and Grab Twin Cyclops - Normal Attack - Charged Swing - Grab and Bite (1st) - Grab and Bite (2nd) - Pillar Throw The Red Dragon, Gildiss - Fire Breath - Fire Balls - Grip and Toss Dwarf: Monster L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 -------------------------------------------------------- Green Orc - Normal Attack - Lunging Strike Blue Orc - Normal Attack - Counter Strike - Lunging Strike Red Orc - Normal Attack - Counter Strike - Lunging Strike Brown Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Blue Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Yellow Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Skeleton 1 - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Leaping Slash - Spear Throw Skeleton 2 - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Leaping Slash - Spear Throw Green Lizard Swordsman - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Lunging Slash Orange Lizard Swordsman - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Lunging Slash Red Lizard Spearman - Normal Attack - Running Impale Blue Lizard Spearman - Normal Attack - Running Impale Armored Archers - Normal Attack Harpy - Physical Contact - Grab and Drop Green Merman - Normal Attack - Leaping Attack Blue Merman - Normal Attack - Leaping Attack Flying Imp/Devil - Physical Contact The Dark Apprentice - Staff Flame - Energy Bolt The Orc King - Normal Attack - Triple Swing The Minotaur - Normal Attack - Quick Horn Charge - Horn Charge - Short Force Wave - Long Force Wave The Wyvern - Lunge - Sky High Lunge - Fire Ball - Triple Fire Ball - Lunge and Grab The Hydra - Head Ram - Ice Ball - Fire Ball - Acid Glob The Cyclops - Normal Attack - Charged Swing - Grab and Bite (1st) - Grab and Bite (2nd) - Pillar Throw The Giant Spiders - Grab and Drop The Dragon Rider - Normal Attack - Fire Trail - Fire Ball The Black Knight - Normal Attack - Leaping Spin Slash - Illusion Slash - Dragon Fire - Shuriken The Wraith - Physical Contact - Thrown Head Scythe The Draconian - Normal Attack - Spinning Sword Slash - Shield Charge - Sky Drop Slash - Segmented Sword The Royal Knights - Normal Attack - Leaping Spin Slash - Illusion Slash - Shuriken The Evil Wizard - Exploding Fireballs - Surrounding Fireballs - Rotating Magic Orbs* The Blue Wyvern - Lunge - Sky High Lunge - Lunge and Grab Twin Cyclops - Normal Attack - Charged Swing - Grab and Bite (1st) - Grab and Bite (2nd) - Pillar Throw The Red Dragon, Gildiss - Fire Breath - Fire Balls - Grip and Toss Elf: Monster L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 -------------------------------------------------------- Green Orc - Normal Attack - Lunging Strike Blue Orc - Normal Attack - Counter Strike - Lunging Strike Red Orc - Normal Attack - Counter Strike - Lunging Strike Brown Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Blue Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Yellow Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Skeleton 1 - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Leaping Slash - Spear Throw Skeleton 2 - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Leaping Slash - Spear Throw Green Lizard Swordsman - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Lunging Slash Orange Lizard Swordsman - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Lunging Slash Red Lizard Spearman - Normal Attack - Running Impale Blue Lizard Spearman - Normal Attack - Running Impale Armored Archers - Normal Attack Harpy - Physical Contact - Grab and Drop Green Merman - Normal Attack - Leaping Attack Blue Merman - Normal Attack - Leaping Attack Flying Imp/Devil - Physical Contact The Dark Apprentice - Staff Flame - Energy Bolt The Orc King - Normal Attack - Triple Swing The Minotaur - Normal Attack - Quick Horn Charge - Horn Charge - Short Force Wave - Long Force Wave The Wyvern - Lunge - Sky High Lunge - Fire Ball - Triple Fire Ball - Lunge and Grab The Hydra - Head Ram - Ice Ball - Fire Ball - Acid Glob The Cyclops - Normal Attack - Charged Swing - Grab and Bite (1st) - Grab and Bite (2nd) - Pillar Throw The Giant Spiders - Grab and Drop The Dragon Rider - Normal Attack - Fire Trail - Fire Ball The Black Knight - Normal Attack - Leaping Spin Slash - Illusion Slash - Dragon Fire - Shuriken The Wraith - Physical Contact - Thrown Head Scythe The Draconian - Normal Attack - Spinning Sword Slash - Shield Charge - Sky Drop Slash - Segmented Sword The Royal Knights - Normal Attack - Leaping Spin Slash - Illusion Slash - Shuriken The Evil Wizard - Exploding Fireballs - Surrounding Fireballs - Rotating Magic Orbs* The Blue Wyvern - Lunge - Sky High Lunge - Lunge and Grab Twin Cyclops - Normal Attack - Charged Swing - Grab and Bite (1st) - Grab and Bite (2nd) - Pillar Throw The Red Dragon, Gildiss - Fire Breath - Fire Balls - Grip and Toss Fighter: Monster L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 -------------------------------------------------------- Green Orc - Normal Attack - Lunging Strike Blue Orc - Normal Attack - Counter Strike - Lunging Strike Red Orc - Normal Attack - Counter Strike - Lunging Strike Brown Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Blue Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Yellow Wolf Archer - Normal Attack Skeleton 1 - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Leaping Slash - Spear Throw Skeleton 2 - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Leaping Slash - Spear Throw Green Lizard Swordsman - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Lunging Slash Orange Lizard Swordsman - Normal Attack - Counter Slash - Lunging Slash Red Lizard Spearman - Normal Attack - Running Impale Blue Lizard Spearman - Normal Attack - Running Impale Armored Archers - Normal Attack Harpy - Physical Contact - Grab and Drop Green Merman - Normal Attack - Leaping Attack Blue Merman - Normal Attack - Leaping Attack Flying Imp/Devil - Physical Contact The Dark Apprentice - Staff Flame - Energy Bolt The Orc King - Normal Attack - Triple Swing The Minotaur - Normal Attack - Quick Horn Charge - Horn Charge - Short Force Wave - Long Force Wave The Wyvern - Lunge - Sky High Lunge - Fire Ball - Triple Fire Ball - Lunge and Grab The Hydra - Head Ram - Ice Ball - Fire Ball - Acid Glob The Cyclops - Normal Attack - Charged Swing - Grab and Bite (1st) - Grab and Bite (2nd) - Pillar Throw The Giant Spiders - Grab and Drop The Dragon Rider - Normal Attack - Fire Trail - Fire Ball The Black Knight - Normal Attack - Leaping Spin Slash - Illusion Slash - Dragon Fire - Shuriken The Wraith - Physical Contact - Thrown Head Scythe The Draconian - Normal Attack - Spinning Sword Slash - Shield Charge - Sky Drop Slash - Segmented Sword The Royal Knights - Normal Attack - Leaping Spin Slash - Illusion Slash - Shuriken The Evil Wizard - Exploding Fireballs - Surrounding Fireballs - Rotating Magic Orbs* The Blue Wyvern - Lunge - Sky High Lunge - Lunge and Grab Twin Cyclops - Normal Attack - Charged Swing - Grab and Bite (1st) - Grab and Bite (2nd) - Pillar Throw The Red Dragon, Gildiss - Fire Breath - Fire Balls - Grip and Toss Wizard: Monster L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 -------------------------------------------------------- Green Orc - Normal Attack 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 - Lunging Strike 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 Blue Orc - Normal Attack 12 10 7 3 1 1 1 1 - Counter Strike 12 10 7 3 1 1 1 1 - Lunging Strike 12 10 7 3 1 1 1 1 Red Orc - Normal Attack 17 15 12 8 5 2 1 1 - Counter Strike 17 15 12 8 5 2 1 1 - Lunging Strike 17 15 12 8 5 2 1 1 Brown Wolf Archer - Normal Attack 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 Blue Wolf Archer - Normal Attack 15 13 10 6 3 1 1 1 Yellow Wolf Archer - Normal Attack 19 17 14 10 7 4 2 1 Skeleton 1 - Normal Attack 22 20 17 13 10 7 5 3 - Counter Slash 22 20 17 13 10 7 5 3 - Leaping Slash 25 23 20 16 13 10 8 6 - Spear Throw 20 18 15 11 8 5 3 1 Skeleton 2 - Normal Attack 29 27 24 20 17 14 12 10 - Counter Slash 29 27 24 20 17 14 12 10 - Leaping Slash 31 29 26 22 19 16 14 12 - Spear Throw 26 24 21 17 14 11 9 7 Green Lizard Swordsman - Normal Attack 21 19 16 12 9 6 4 2 - Counter Slash 21 19 16 12 9 6 4 2 - Lunging Slash 21 19 16 12 9 6 4 2 Orange Lizard Swordsman - Normal Attack 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Counter Slash 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Lunging Slash 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 Red Lizard Spearman - Normal Attack 19 17 14 10 7 4 2 1 - Running Impale 21 19 16 12 9 6 4 2 Blue Lizard Spearman - Normal Attack 21 19 16 12 9 6 4 2 - Running Impale 23 21 18 14 11 8 6 4 Armored Archers - Normal Attack 25 23 20 16 13 10 8 6 Harpy - Physical Contact 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 - Grab and Drop 30 28 25 21 18 15 13 11 Green Merman - Normal Attack 15 13 10 6 3 1 1 1 - Leaping Attack 17 15 12 8 5 2 1 1 Blue Merman - Normal Attack 32 30 27 23 20 17 15 13 - Leaping Attack 34 32 29 25 22 19 17 15 Flying Imp/Devil - Physical Contact 18 16 13 9 6 3 1 1 The Dark Apprentice - Staff Flame 27 25 22 18 15 12 10 8 - Energy Bolt 30 28 25 21 18 15 13 11 The Orc King - Normal Attack 7 5 2 1 1 1 1 1 - Triple Swing 7 5 2 1 1 1 1 1 The Minotaur - Normal Attack 13 11 8 4 1 1 1 1 - Quick Horn Charge 15 13 10 6 3 1 1 1 - Horn Charge 15 13 10 6 3 1 1 1 - Short Force Wave 13 11 8 4 1 1 1 1 - Long Force Wave 13 11 8 4 1 1 1 1 The Wyvern - Lunge 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Sky High Lunge 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Fire Ball 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Triple Fire Ball 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Lunge and Grab 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 The Hydra - Head Ram 22 20 17 13 10 7 5 3 - Ice Ball 15 13 10 6 3 1 1 1 - Fire Ball 15 13 10 6 3 1 1 1 - Acid Glob 15 13 10 6 3 1 1 1 The Cyclops - Normal Attack 22 20 17 13 10 7 5 3 - Charged Swing 22 20 17 13 10 7 5 3 - Grab and Bite (1st) 17 15 12 8 5 2 1 1 - Grab and Bite (2nd) 26 24 21 17 14 11 9 7 - Pillar Throw 22 20 17 13 10 7 5 3 The Giant Spiders - Grab and Drop 28 26 23 19 16 13 11 9 The Dragon Rider - Normal Attack 25 23 20 16 13 10 8 6 - Fire Trail 32 30 27 23 20 17 15 13 - Fire Ball 32 30 27 23 20 17 15 13 The Black Knight - Normal Attack 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Leaping Spin Slash 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Illusion Slash 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Dragon Fire 32 30 27 23 20 17 15 13 - Shuriken 20 18 15 11 8 5 3 1 The Wraith - Physical Contact 23 21 18 14 11 8 6 4 - Thrown Head Scythe 21 19 16 12 9 6 4 2 The Draconian - Normal Attack 23 21 18 14 11 8 6 4 - Spinning Sword Slash 25 23 20 16 13 10 8 6 - Shield Charge 31 29 26 22 19 16 14 12 - Sky Drop Slash 28 26 23 19 16 13 11 9 - Segmented Sword 28 26 23 19 16 13 11 9 The Royal Knights - Normal Attack 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Leaping Spin Slash 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Illusion Slash 24 22 19 15 12 9 7 5 - Shuriken 20 18 15 11 8 5 3 1 The Evil Wizard - Exploding Fireballs 42 40 37 33 30 27 25 23 - Surrounding Fireballs 19 17 14 10 7 4 1 1 - Rotating Magic Orbs* 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 The Blue Wyvern - Lunge 35 33 30 26 23 20 18 16 - Sky High Lunge 35 33 30 26 23 20 18 16 - Lunge and Grab 35 33 30 26 23 20 18 16 Twin Cyclops - Normal Attack 33 31 28 24 21 18 16 14 - Charged Swing 33 31 28 24 21 18 16 14 - Grab and Bite (1st) 33 31 28 24 21 18 16 14 - Grab and Bite (2nd) 42 40 37 33 30 27 25 23 - Pillar Throw 22 20 17 13 10 7 5 3 The Red Dragon, Gildiss - Fire Breath 52 50 47 43 40 37 35 33 - Fire Balls 30 28 25 21 18 15 13 11 - Grip and Toss 32 30 27 23 20 17 15 13 * These do up to eleven hits, depending on whether or not your health holds out for all of the hits. You get knocked down after the last hit, as well. If you're airborne when they hit, they do all eleven hits instantly. 3.) History July 28th, 2002: I start work on v1.0 of the KoD FAQ. August 8th 2002: I finish the meat of v1.0, and send it out to pre-readers. August 10th, 2002: I fix minor details related to spelling and the random crap section. After feedback from the pre-readers and changes made necessary by said feedback, v1.0 will be ready for submission. 4.) Thanks and Mentions - Capcom, for making this game. - gameover.com and GameFAQs for hosting this. 5.) Random Crap -= Extra Lives =- Depending on how the arcade operator sets the machine, you get extra lives at different EXP levels. The ones I'm aware of are: - 80k and every 400k afterwards. - 100k and every 450k afterwards. - 160k and every 450k afterwards. - None at all. For all three settings involving getting extra lives, they apply for as long as you don't continue. The moment you lose all of your lives and continue, the counter, for lack of a better term, is reset. So, if you get up to 520k EXP in the first setting before continuing, you get two extra lives. When you reach 600k, you'll get another extra life, instead of waiting until 880k. So in a way, you're rewarded for taking risks that may end up getting you killed earlier than normal (less EXP needed for an extra life as a result), as opposed to being cautious since it'll take you at least 400k to get your next extra life. There appears to be no penalty for continuing in terms of a high score either. -= Keys to Getting the Highest of Scores =- - Whenever possible, eat food when at full health. The 5000 XP reward will add up after a while. - Avoid using magic on bosses. You get EXP with every hit you land on a boss no matter how weak the hit is. Just because the Orc King dies whenever you break a Magic Crystal in its vicinity doesn't mean you HAVE to. - Ignore weapon powerups. Fact: Bosses and mini-bosses give EXP per hit. Fact: It doesn't matter how strong the hit is; you'll get the same amount of EXP. So, with these two facts established, ignoring powerups for your weapons means that it takes more hits to kill bosses. That means more EXP than if you'd picked up those new weapons. This also means that normal monsters, which only spit up EXP when dead, will take longer to kill and thus leave you open to more attacks. - Be greedy in two-player mode. I don't personally endorse this tactic, but it will nonetheless get you a healthy amount of EXP. If a monster comes onscreen, be the one who blows it up. If a chest drops gold or gems, be the one who pockets them. If a wolven archer begins target practice, make sure you're the one who breaks his ammo. If a boss shows up, be the one who lands as many blows as humanly possible at the expense of the safety of your partner. When using this tactic, don't expect whoever you're playing with to help you out when you get into trouble, unless they're letting you kill and pick up everything on purpose. - Shoot down every single arrow and spear you can get at. You get 800 EXP each time you shoot down the bolt of a Wolven Archer. You get 1000 EXP for each spear a Skeleton throws at you and for each arrow an Armored Archer fires. - Be the one who kills the bosses. The one who kills the boss gets the time related EXP bonus. - At all costs, don't let Cutpurses steal your stuff. It may not seem like a big deal, but letting them get away with the treasure you just acquired from your orc-related blood bath one too many times will show up when you enter your initials at game's end, if you get the chance at all. -= Additions Intended for the Next Version =- - Fill in the EXP listings I missed during my Wizard's run through the game. - Complete the Damage list; the Wizard shall not stand alone. - Add/fix anything that readers of the FAQ happen to spot.