Keith Courage in Alpha Zones/Gameplay

Controls

 * / : Press left or right to move your character in either direction.
 * : Press down to crouch and avoid high attacks.
 * : Press up when your character is standing in front of a door to enter. Also press up at the shrine at the end of each overworld zone to summon a rainbow which will transport you to the underworld.
 * : Press the I button to jump into the air. The longer it is held, the higher you will jump.  Use it together withthe direction pad to jump diagonally.
 * : Press the II button to swing your sword.
 * : When wearing the Nova Suit, hold up and press II to deploy Bolt Bombs, provided you have enough ammunition in stock.
 * : Press Run to begin a new game, or to pause the action mid-game.
 * : Not used by itself.
 * : Reset the game and return to the title screen.

Keith Courage / Wataru Ikusabe
During the overworld portions of the game, you are in control of Keith Courage (or Wataru Ikusabe) while he wears his normal attire. In this mode, you move across the world, encountering various houses where many of your allies live. You have a short sword which you can use to defend yourself and destroy the small menaces which attack you as you travel to the right. Some enemies destroyed in the overworld leave gold coins behind which you must collect in order to earn enough money to buy services and weapons. You have some health which is indicated by the row of hearts near the upper left corner of the screen. If you lose all of your hearts by taking too much damage, or if you fall through the bottom of the screen, the game will end. If you choose to continue, you will begin at the start of the last zone you died in, but with half as much gold.

Nova Suit / Ryūjinmaru
Once you reach the far right side of the overworld, you will find a shrine. If you press up while standing in front of it, you will summon a rainbow that transports you to the underworld. Along the way, the Nova Suit (or Ryūjinmaru) appears and forms around you. You will traverse the underworld in this magical armor. The armor moves much faster than you can without it. As a result it can jump much farther too. It shares the same life force as your character, and you will die if you lose all of your hearts, or land on a bed of spikes. The armor starts out with a powered blade, but as you progress through the game, you will gain access to longer and stronger weapons for the armor, provided you are able to collect enough money to purchase these weapons. The Nova Suit can also make use of Bolt Bombs. You must purchase the bombs in the overworld, but in the underworld, you can collect five different orbs which alter the behavior of the bolt bombs when fired.