Xexyz/Area 9

Outdoors
The land around this stage is very unforgiving, with small volcanoes spewing bits of lava in many directions. The stage starts with a ship depositing enemies on the ground. Jump up to the first door above the ground: Watching out for the lava bits flying out of the volcanoes, jump over the pits to the right while avoiding the bouncing green head. You will reach a star column with an E block on the other side. Collect it and then leap to the door above another E block. Note that it's possible to collect this E block, but it's dangerous to try because if you miss, you will fall through the bottom of the screen and die.
 * Information room: "Welcome Apollo. This is the island of the volcano.  Our leader, Queen Esther is captured at the mechanic castle on this island."

Inside the door is a Weapon upgrade room, but you really don't need it, so exit or skip the door, and continue jumping over the gap to the right. You'll reach another door in a small ditch: Jump up to the next door directly above the volcano if you want to play the Treasure box room mini-game. Beyond that door is another door above a narrow passage along the ground. In this door is an Item shop. If you have a lot of money, it's not a bad idea to purchase a Typhoon at this time.
 * Weapon room: The creature inside will give you the final weapon, the Laser. Visit twice to receive the upgraded Laser for free.  Now you will be able to shoot a constant stream of bullets at your enemies.

Drop down to the ground below. You must walk through the narrow channel, which has red rain dripping down from the ceiling, like the castle in. Avoid the rain, and the enemies which occupy the passage. When you reach the other side, jump up to the door above the exit: Unlike a lot of information that you are given about bosses in this game, this statement happens to be very true. The next door above the volcano happens to be a: Jump over a few more volcano pits until you reach a star column. Then shoot away two looping enemies before you start leaping from platform to platform over bottomless gaps. You will see an L block below a door. Collect it by jumping carefully over to it, and then leap up to find a Money room and receive 20E. Drop down to the next platform and then leap back up to another door, where you will find an Item shop. This time, there's no need to purchase anything, although you can buy a Mirror if you have a lot of money.
 * Information room: "The enemy boss in this area is VERY TOUGH! Be careful."
 * Rescue room. If you purchased the Typhoon and enter this room quickly enough, the Typhoon effect will continue.  Furthermore, while you are in this room, the countdown for the Typhoon effect stops, so you will hold on to that power for as long as you are in the room.  You should easily be able to defeat the floating head and receive 40E, half the cost of the Typhoon.

Leap over the remaining gaps, and approach the door in the middle of the ditch. Inside is a Health room that will cost you 90E to restore your health. Definitely purchase this if you at risk of dying, since the experience of repeating this stage is unpleasant. Not long after, you will reach the door to the castle. If you're worried about having not found the Force Star yet, fear not. There is a star column right before the door. Shoot this column to reveal the hidden door.
 * Force Star room: If you have the powered up Laser and the Mirror, this battle isn't too hard. Without the mirror, you will be forced to jump up and shoot the head more times to defeat the statue.  Collect the star and enter the castle.

Indoor 1
As soon as you enter, you are greeted by two platform cannons and a robot. If you are low on health and want to collect L blocks, your only option is to stay on the ground and take the air-well through the floor to the level below. However, this block is heavily guarded and may cost you more health than you stand to receive from it. At the end of the lower floor is an Item shop.

Back on the original floor, jump up to the middle platform. You will see an air-well in the ceiling on the platform above. This leads to a small room with an Information shop that is not worth visiting (pay 20E to learn, "Boss's weakness is its throat.") Instead, stay on the middle platform and continue to the end of the first level. You'll find a second air-well in the ceiling, and a door in the lower-right corner, which contains a Gambling room.

Jump up through the second air-well, and take out the four robots that greet you. Then proceed to the right along the middle platform. If you follow it to the end, you'll find an E block and a door which contains a Weapon upgrade room. Jump up to the top platform, and then drop down to the floor to find the door to the hangar.

Scrolling
In the first section, the spiky red platforms shoot at you, but you cannot destroy them, so just avoid them. Instead, watch out for the ceiling/floor orbs, and the exploding bubble enemies. The first S capsule will be perched upon the lower of two spiky red platforms. Shortly after that, you'll find the first P capsule on top of a high platform. Beyond that are the doors. Take the top door to proceed.

This time, the game tricks you a little since the background of the second section is identical to the first. But you'll soon realize it's different when you see the yellow columns. As you navigate through the columns, you will be attacked by small tanks on the ground, and small crab creatures which drop from the ceiling. Bubble enemies will also be present. Two spiky red platforms will appear, and the second P capsule is on the lower one. Collect it to add a second shot that fires straight up. When you reach the doors, take the lower one to proceed.

Stay low to the ground in this section, letting your forward guns take out the small tanks and your upward guns attack the crabs. Don't worry about collecting the S capsule on top of the platform. All you have to worry about here are the shots from the occasional platform cannon. When you reach the doors, take the top door to exit this section.

Indoor 2
You arrive in a small room with an E block, and three enemies that float up and down across the room. Destroy them and jump up to collect the E block. Then jump up through the air-well above. In the next section, you'll see two spiders crawling along the ceiling. If you're low on health, it's a good idea to stay here, jump high into the air, and try to shoot them before they have a chance to drop down, although it's not required.

Proceed to the right, and watch out for a set of platform cannons. Jump over the gaps, and you'll find an L block. Beyond the block is a door that contains an Item shop. It is highly recommended that you buy the Mirror for 50E at this time. More importantly, after you buy it, you must do your best to avoid getting hit as you should try to keep possession of this item for the boss fight. Unfortunately, this is made particularly difficult by the position of the platform cannons which almost guarantees that you will have to take one hit in order to escape and make your way back to the left where you started.

Back in the original room, drop down through the air-well to the level below. Watch out for the Spider on the ceiling, and take out the two platform cannons on the right with your Laser. Jump over the gaps, and jump up to the high platform to collect an L block, but watch out for the shooting statue. Your goal is through the air-well on the ground. If you proceed to the right, you will reach a door: If you jump up through the air-well in the ceiling, you will find a small room with a door that leads to a Rescue room, but if you are trying to maintain your Mirror item, this trip is not recommended.
 * Information shop: Pay 20E to learn, "The battle soldier who collects five FORCE STARs will have the strength to battle in space."

Instead, drop through the air-well through the floor below the middle platform. Take out the two hovering robots, and jump over the gaps. Stay on the floor and walk to the right. Watch out for the spider on the ground who appears near the end. Jump up to collect an E block, and then jump through the door to face the boss.

Boss: Horrza
Without question, this boss is by far the most difficult in the game, even surpassing the difficulty of the final boss, Goruza. This boss totes two guns, but packs even more firepower that is unseen. His two guns, one in his hand and one in his tail, along with his mouth, frequently fire three large fireballs. In addition, lighting bolts fly across the top portion of the screen. For this reason, staying near the top of the screen is nearly impossible, and you are better off doing most of your fighting near the bottom. It's important to get in as many early shots as you can while he is still appearing on the screen.

One Horrza has fully arrived, he starts moving randomly in clockwise or counter-clockwise circles, making his motion a little difficult to predict. Since you are safer near the bottom, you'll need to focus your firepower on his tail. In order to survive long enough to do damage to him with your weapon, you'll need to navigate through the space provided between the lower two fireballs. If you can do this long enough, you should be able to defeat him with the power-up laser. It may take many tries before you succeed. This is why having the Mirror is so helpful, but it is difficult to maintain the Mirror all the way to the fight.