Mr. Gimmick/Level 6

You start out having to take a stroll across an icy surface and over (presumably) sub-zero temperature water. Oh, and of course, enemies that are scattered here and there. Start walking right and blast the snow fox and the yeti creature further ahead. Getting rid of the yeti is simple enough but, oddly, the fox can be a pain. It will follow you around, even jumping over the water. You can jump onto it though or just try to goad it into jumping into the water to be rid of it. Continue to the right, grab the Orange Medicine, and then enter the tower.

Walk right a little bit and the two horned warrior statues in the middle of the room will come to life. You must best them to open the gate on the far right so there's a bit of a battle ahead. They use their maces pretty well, which gives them a long reach and you can't really attack them from above because of it. Furthermore, they jump around a lot while swinging their maces around so you should be jumping around as well to avoid getting hit.

Keep them on one side and wait for them to jump, and then toss a star so that it damages them when they land. Another way is to simply stand on their head - even though it doesn't look like it, their maces cannot reach you, so once they have their shield down a dropped star will damage them. It takes three hits to do each of them in.

Now that the guards are gone, the gate will finally let you into the interior of the tower. Jump into the tube and then the group of blocks beside the Ohagi with the bow and arrow. Face away from it and toss a star. It should bounce toward the Ohagi and do it in so that you can continue on.

Jump up the wall to the left and take out the first Ohagi on the gear. Get rid of the second one on the smaller gear by bouncing a star off of the big gear. If you get impatient, just jump onto the big gear and hit the other Ohagi from there. Continue across the gear and enter the next tube on the right. You don't have to bother with the Bomb on the ledge though.

When you emerge again, toss a star to the left to get rid of the two Ohagi enemies on the gear ahead. This next part can be tough. It's a jumping marathon across a long field of spikes. Make your way across and enter the tube and then jump across the gears in the next room to the screen above. Stand on the edge and jump left slightly to get onto the small platform there.

It never hurts to get more health so it's a good idea to nab the Orange Medicine near the ceiling. Once you grab it, you can just jump down onto the small gear and continue on until you reach the springs ahead. Jump onto the first one and then the next, and then the small gear leading to the tube. You can also wait on each spring to get your bearings and then jump up again to continue on.

The tube will toss you out and if you don't press back when you first enter, you might fall onto the spikes below. Once you're safe, fall onto the big gear below and continue onto the tube on the right. Walk left and stand close to the left wall. Jump and toss a star against the wall and ride it to the tube sticking out of the ceiling. Jump into it when the star gets close to reach the Hidden Item Stage.

You're really close to the final item. If you have a Bomb on hand, push the spring toward the right side of the cannon and use the Bomb on it. If you don't have a Bomb, you'll have to use the spring to reach the ledge where the cannonballs are falling and wait until the cannon shoots out a Bomb. Grab it and do the part mentioned before.

Now, push the spring back to the left wall and jump onto the cannon. I think you know what you have to do next and it's not pretty. Basically you have to do the same thing you did to get the special item on the second level, that is wait on top of the cannon until a cannonball comes out and then walk onto it and ride it to the opening in the wall. If you can push the cannon forward a little do so.

It will help. As you did before, you'll want to use a save state here if you're using an emulator. When you make it, cross the spikes via the spinning platforms and grab the special item. Head back across and enter the tube in the room below to proceed. Ignore the item on the other side of the spikes and head down and left into the next room. Jump onto the moving platform and then onto the big gear ahead.

Keep jumping onto the next moving platform and grab the Pink Medicine when you see it further on. Jump back onto the moving platform and wait for the other moving platform to get close and then jump onto the reach the end of this room. You're near the end of the level and therefore it's necessary for what's coming.

Boss: Daimahōtsukai Ohagi (大魔法使いおはぎ)
Anyway, the boss of the level first appears in the next room. Heh. It's a cloaked Ohagi enemy that floats around and shoots bubbles at you. The bubbles will trap you and not allow you to use your star power on it. Just jump around and avoid them if you can and throw stars at the guy when it's close to the ground. It takes three hits to finish it off and then some blocks will appear. It is possible to skip the initial confrontation with a well-timed star jump.

In the next room, it will appear again but it's tougher than the fight since it will drop icicles onto you as well as the bubbles. Do the same thing that you did with the last one and you'll be all right. After you it is defeated, a couple of blocks will appear again and you can continue on. This room must be cleared before moving on, as there's an invisible barrier that won't be lifted until this phase is dealt with. The next couple of rooms are empty but the final battle occurs in the room after that. It's Boss Determination Mode yet again!

This is the witch's last stand, and it is now larger and holds a cane. It attacks pretty much the same way as well, only it's much more aggressive. It will stay fairly high off of the ground and start shooting bubbles at you like crazy. If you get caught in one, it will start flying close to the ground to try and hit you but it will do that anyway if you manage to stay clear of them.

It's pretty simple to avoid getting hit but actually hitting the final boss is tough because of its attack pattern. The most effective way to damage it is to purposely get caught in a bubble after tossing a star out. That way you'll get the magician to come near the ground and the star might run into it, causing damage. It takes five hits to finish it off.

Normal End (ノーマルエンド)
If you didn't collect all of the special items in each of the stages, you'll get this ending. Yumetarō rides Tori-san in each of the worlds he's been in, but in spite of his victory over the dolls there's no trace of the girl. The title screen pops up, and the player must start over from the beginning.