Athena/World of Forest

Arcade Walkthrough
While most stages are fairly straight forward, the single most important aspect of surviving Athena is powering her up enough to the point where she can survive a couple of hits. Even when you bring Athena to near full power, it's not impossible for an enemy to wipe her out in a matter of seconds, so be careful, and keep your distance from the enemies as much as possible.
 * You will be confronted with enemies as soon as you land in the World of Forest. Kick the Nuupah slimes and the Boa enemies until a Boa drops a Club.  Pick up the Club and keep attacking Boas until one drops the Hammer.
 * Once you have the Hammer, keep walking right until you reach some blocks. (A flower will appear out of the ground for you to attack if you need Hearts.)  Inside the first set of blocks, you should find the Shoes of Icarus which will increase your jumping ability.
 * After you collect the shoes, keep breaking the blocks that you encounter. You should find a shield next, and immediately after that, a flail will be hidden to the left of a vine.  Break the blocks to the right next to find some armor.  And lastly, break the blocks under the small ledge to find a helmet.  Now you have a complete set of the weakest protective gear.


 * At this point, the horse-headed Pyutans will appear with swords. Begin attacking them so that they drop a Blue Sword.  Collect it, and continue to attack them until they drop a Yellow Sword.  Once you have the Yellow Sword, break the block as shown in the middle picture to the left to obtain a Blue Ring which will power it up to the projectile firing Red Sword.
 * Lastly, there is a Bronze Crown hidden in the block directly beneath the stump pictured in the middle image to the right. If you break the block that contains it with you helmet and collect it, your Bronze Shield, Armor, and Helmet will all be upgraded to the Silver variety.


 * At this point, you are fairly powered up, and can proceed all the way to the boss fight if you wish. There are, however, two optional activities that you can attempt.
 * The first optional activity is to make the power-up platform appear that will transform Athena into Ultimate Athena. To do this, you must stand on the stump as shown in the middle image to the right, and squat down.  This will make the platform appear down below.  Jump on the platform to transform into Ultimate Athena.  Remember that you will transform back to the same stats you had before you transformed when it wears off.
 * The other option is to head down to the lower section. Down there, it is possible to obtain the strongest magic weapon, the Magic Tome.  A Cane is hidden in a set of blocks below a platform that is high off the ground.  Once you get this weapon, you can't break blocks, but a Scroll is hidden shortly thereafter, which you can obtain by breaking a block just above the ground with your helmet.  Continue to the end of the first lower level, and before you have to return to the surface level, the Magic Tome is hidden in the large section of block in the lower right corner of the screen.  Watch out for the Armadillos and Kassamus that patrol the area.
 * On you way to the end, there is another set of protective gear. If you find the first set, the Bronze Crown, and the second set, you can have the Gold armor before you reach the boss.  The second shield is at the end of the first lower level.  The second armor is at the end of the second lower level.  And the second helmet is just before the boss.
 * The boss of the World of Forest is known as Hammer Dryuas. He is a large tree with a menacing face visible on his trunk.  He has two flailing branches which move non-stop and serve to keep Athena from getting too close and attacking him at point blank range.  That is why it is essential to have a projectile weapon at this point in order to fight him; either the Red Sword, or any Arrow or Magic weapon.  Stand as far to the left as you can, and continue firing at him as rapidly as the game will allow.  Throughout the fight, Hammer Dryuas will launch fireballs at you, which will arc through the sky before falling down and landing on the ground.  His aim is fairly accurate, so you'll need to side step the fireballs while you fire.  Focus on avoiding getting hit, and only fire at the tree when it's safe to do so.  Upon defeat, Hammer Dryuas will release many hearts for Athena to restore her health, as well as a K Slate, which will allow her to keep her equipment beyond death.