Higemaru Makaijima/J.Knife Island

Pirate Ship
Just like last time, you will find the Pirate ship with the key to the J.Knife Island gate just above the southern portion of Ookami Island, immediately near the most recent island entrance. The layout of this ship will be slightly different from the last two ships, but you are still required to defeat 30 pirates before you can face the captain. Once you obtain the key from the captain, sail north between Curse and Hebi Islands, and then clockwise around the southern coast of J.Knife Island until you come around to the gate on the west side.

J.Knife Island
J.Knife (or Jack Knife) Island is a frozen tundra. On here, you will encounter a number of elements which are unique to this island. The first and most obvious are the cracks in the ground. Falling into these will cost you no less than 7,000 life points, and can very quickly turn an otherwise successful game into a finished game. It cannot be stated strongly enough that you should avoid these cracks as much as possible. Be aware, however, that you can safely jump over them. Holding a rock while jumping over the cracks is risky, as the game will sometimes prevent you from completing the jump entirely. The next element that is unique is the ice. While not inherently dangerous, the ice can surprise you into making a mistake because of how fast you will find yourself moving along it. You can easily slide across the surface of the ice and run into an enemy or fall into a crack if you're not careful.

The last unique element on J.Knife Island are the bombs. These bombs are present to help you, not harm you. By throwing a rock at one, you will instantly detonate the bomb (along with all others present on the screen) and instantly wipe out any enemies that are present. These bombs can be a valuable tool for restoring your life points. Enemies that are wiped out by bombs are valued at whatever number object the bomb was hit at. In other words, if the bomb is the first thing hit by a rock, all enemies will net you 100 life points each. However, if it is the second thing to be hit, the first enemy will give you 100 points, and all enemies destroyed by the bomb will give you 200 points. While very difficult to pull off, it is even possible to do better and hit the bomb third or even fourth, netting you ever more points for the remaining enemies eliminated. Use this to your advantage and regenerate lost health points. It's fairly easy to obtain at least 700 life points at a time using this method (100 for one enemy hit before the bomb, and 200 each for the three remaining enemies).

In addition to more Higemaru pirates, you will find a strange assortment of enemies throughout the island, such as the large and slow moving abominable Snow Men, the bomb laying Bomber Turtles, and the Killer Sharks which surprisingly leap out of some of the crevices to bite you. You start along the west coast of the island, and your main objective should be to reach the right side of the north-most region of the island where the boss awaits. While there are a number of treasure chests with life-point giving items on the island, there are no significant items to obtain here, just a large amount of information provided by the old men that live here, and the monolith on the left side of the north region.

Boss fight
The boss of Ookami Island has no particular name, and will be referred to as Ice Breath for the sake of this guide. It is a dome of ice which blocks the path to the screen above, and contains a single eyeball and mouth which is uses to breath freezing blasts of icy wind at you. Although this boss is stationary, it is actually quite tough to defeat. It can only be harmed when the eye is exposed, and the blasts of ice it breathes can destroy the rocks that you throw at it. Every blast that hits Momotaru steals 1,000 life points away, and it's difficult to avoid getting hit when attempting to position yourself to hit the eye ball when it's exposed. You are actually somewhat safer taking shelter along the ice near the top of the screen then down below, as the boss seems to have far less accurate aim when you stand near the top compared to when you stand near the bottom. It's a good idea to amass a safe amount of health points before taking this boss on. Once you defeat it, the pathway on the right will open up, but all you will find in the screen above is another hint giving island inhabitant.

You've now visited all seven islands, but a few mysteries remain; Where is the third tablet? What of the bridge and the locked door in the fortress on Ookami Island? What is the message of the monoliths? You'll have to piece all of these together in order to complete the game.