Mr. Gimmick/Level 4

Level 4
Walk to the right and shoot a star at Nessie, who's waiting for you in the water further ahead. It will start shooting fireballs out of its mouth but once you do some damage, it will become docile and take you across the ocean. Avoid the Pterodactyls on the way since you can't really kill them but you can jump on them if they get in your way. Jump off when you reach the opposite shore.

Further ahead there will be an ostrich with a Ball enemy on it. You can knock the guy off of the ostrich to avoid the other Ball enemies along the way. If you didn't hitch a ride, you should just avoid the other guys and make your way to the temple wall. Jump to the left when you're on the small ledge and fire a star ahead to clear out the first Ball enemy with the bow and arrow.

Take care of the other two Ball enemies on the ledges ahead and continue to the left. When you reach the top, shoot a star down the hall to knock the arrows of the Ball enemy ahead out of the way. Don't jump when you fire it or the star might disappear in a poof of smoke and you'll get hit in the lull. There will be some more Ball enemies ahead and then a hole in the ceiling.

Head through the hole and head right. Notice the white lines in the narrow passageway ahead? Those are spikes that will pop up or down as you get close to one. Jump over the low ones but don't take too long or you'll get the point from the spike wall moving from the left to the right. Keep going and then jump across the hole to nab the sought after Yellow Potion on the ledge.

Jump to the left, fall off the side and then jump over the two flames shooting out of the ground. Yet another Ball enemy, this one with a headdress, will come from the left at this point. Jump up and toss a star at it to knock it out and the two other Ball enemies that come after you ahead. When you see the second set of flames, stand next to the first one in the set and jump over it.

The third set of flames should be simple to avoid and another bunch of Ball enemies will accost you once you get past the flames. You can just avoid them if you want since there will be a reasonably high piece of ground ahead that they won't be able to reach. There will be a fourth set of flames ahead, this time they are somewhat high from your position so you'll have to star power.

Stand a little bit to the right of the pillar in the background and bank a star off of the lowest part here so that it shoots back up. Jump onto it and then jump again to clear the first flame and ultimately the second flame. Continue through the hole in the wall to reach a mini boss of sorts - a large Ball enemy with an axe. He's a tough customer. Be careful.

It will jump around and throw its axe at you, which will fly back to the Ball enemy when it stops momentarily in mid-air. You should jump around and toss stars at it when it's on the ground. Jump over it's axe and keep you're eyes peeled since the guy is rather quick and has no problem bouncing around while the axe is still flying.

It takes three hits to vanquish the punk and after that just continue on until you reach the screen with two different paths. The top path leads to the special item and all of the frustrating jumping puzzles therein. The bottom path continues on with the stage. In order to get into the top path, you have to face the wall on the left from the edge of the raised ground.

There will most likely be some trial and error before you find the exact position but once that's done, toss a star while you're in the air, jump onto it, and then jump into the hole where the top path leads. Head right and fall off the edge but don't go anywhere yet. Stand a little to the right of the opening you just fell through and toss a star at the wall on the left.

If you do it correctly, the star will bank off of the wall and bounce off of the edge further to the right. That's where you have to jump onto it when it starts sliding but jump to the small platform on the right when it falls down. After that is a series of platforms that fall not long after you jump onto them so you have to move quickly. On the far end is the special item.

Now, fall off the side and jump over the grey blocks since flames will shoot out after you walk over them. Continue up until you reach the opening you where you came in from. Face right in the opening, close to the lower wall, and jump and shoot a star against the wall on the right. That should make the star bounce around and hopefully with you on it to get to the top.

You can finally go down the lower path now. Continue on down and then left until you reach the small platforms leading up with a few Ball enemies. Ignore them and head upwards to the boss of the stage. A rather charming egg awaits you that soon hatchings into a pain in the ass bird that's fairly difficult to defeat.

BOSS: Little Bird
Stand on the side of the screen and wait for the egg to hatch. It reciprocates your movements almost exactly: you move left and it will move left; you move right and it will do the same; you jump and it won't do anything worthwhile... but tossing stars at it is another story. If you toss it low, the Bird will jump and upon landing will shoot a row of tiny birds at you.

If you toss it high, the Bird will just jump over it and shoot more tiny birds out at you. There's a fairly simple way to defeat this boss though. Walk toward the boss, jump and then shoot a star at it. With a little luck, the star will hit it and kill some of the tiny birds the boss will likely fire at you. Three hits will knock the boss down but it will get back up and attack more aggressively. Two more hits will do the boss in for good. Yay!

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