Genpei Touma Den/Part A

Kagekiyo has been summoned from the hell. Now is the time to defeat his arch-enemy, Yoritomo, in Kamakura! His first leg of journey is to across the ancient Japan, to reach Kyoto.

Hell (地獄, Small Mode), part 1
Welcome to the game. Kagekiyo can find three scrolls in this stage. Use them to get rid of the bouncing rocks coming from behind, the skull boat high in the sky, and the skull spearman. You can choose to ignore the bouncing rocks and let them pass, or even take a free ride. Watch out for the large rocks, as they will pound down when you are close. You need to jump on them to collect some scrolls and attack the skull boats for sword points. You will also find some webs that are generating skull spiders. Destroying the generator yields two life points, and killing the spiders yields one Zeni each. Later, you will encounter a few skull spearmen. Do not hit their spears, as this will damage your sword. You can choose to jump on their head. Just before the torii, there is a Gaki Generator which will disappear after it has generated ten Gaki. It is a monster generator so that you can destroy it for two life points. There are two toriis in this stage, but they do not have any difference. Buy the sword between the toriis before leaving the stage, but watch out for another spider web and some stones.

Hell (地獄, Big Mode), part 2
Hold up your sword while moving to the right. You will encounter a few Hitodama come flying. Take them out. Once you have taken out two enemies coming at the same time, Gaikotsu will appear and challenge Kagekiyo to a swordfight. Once you've hit him enough times to make him collapse, step back until his parts have disappeared, and proceed. If you can aim his rib and destroy that, you can collect two life points. Three more Hitodama will come flying towards you. Get rid of them and continue onward to the torii.

Nagato (長門, Overhead Mode)
Kagekiyo has set foot on the land of ancient Japan. As you start this stage, pick up the scroll and move right. Get rid of the bone dogs and find a box and another scroll later. The box contains 10 Zeni. Grab the scroll and proceed to remove more bone dogs, two pools that generates Namazu, and a hyodan shooting small spinning tops. Destroy the generators fast to obtain two life points each, and the Namazu will drop one Zeni when killed. You will now come to a Dai Dokuraku which has eight smaller Dokuraku attached to it. If you run fast enough, you may finish it with sword wave without damaging your sword. It will drop 10 life points. Continue your running with a few more dogs and you will run into a wide path. A new swamp between two hyodans will be generating Jigokusha. Destroy the swamp and hyodans to claim two more life points each. There are two more boxes with Zeni inside. Three torii are present at the end of this stage. They will transport you to three different paths: Ishimi (Upper, Hard), Suou (Middle, Normal) and Buzen (Lower, Easy). For the fastest and easiest path, pick the lower torii to Buzen.

Buzen (豊前, Big Mode)
You are welcomed with theme music of Minamoto no Yoshitsune. Move with caution. A few tigers will try to leap to you from behind. Use upper cut to get rid of them. As you move on, three Hannya (purple demon face) will fly towards you. Destroy them for precious sword points, one each. Before reaching Yoshitsune, a few fire arrows will be flying. They also drop one Zeni each. This Yoshitsune with 40 life points will only throw daggers. Defeat him for five more sword points, and leave the stage and move to Bungo.

Suou (周防, Big Mode)
You will move to Aki in the end of stage.

Ishimi(石見, Big Mode)
Your next destination will be Izumo.

Bungo (豊後, Small Mode)
Start your trip with a few charging bulls. The bad thing is, they charge fast and knocks you back. The good thing is, they drop three life points each. You will then come to some large rocks. Jump on them and proceed. At around the sixth stone, you will see Moth flying in the sky, and an invincible Shakutorimushi on the ground. Destroy the moths and hop over the worm. Later you will see an "Ojizōsama" (land god) statue which will exchange 10 Zeni for 500 points every few seconds, along with a seventh large rock. A candle is above that rock, but you can collect that after killing another enemy on the right. You will then come to a Stone Lion that is spitting blue fireballs at you, and once you have killed it, it will leave a (randomly-generated) 1000-point bonus item behind (it is either a Galaxian Flagship, a Rally-X Special Flag, a Libble Rabble Hoblin or a generic red car). Just before the torii, there is another staircase leading upwards, with a flower and a Gaki Generator behind the torii. The flower can be picked up, but other than a character Love (愛), it has no effect. Ignore the generator, as you cannot reach that, instead, use the torii to move to Iyo, the next stage.

Aki (安芸, Small Mode)
Your next stage is Bingo.

Izumo (出雲, Small Mode)
You will encounter another elite enemy in the incoming Houki.

Iyo (伊予, Big Mode)
This time the theme is of Saito Musashibo Benkei, but he is not available at first. Hold your sword up to deal with monkeys jumping out from a few vortexes. After four generators, a fire arrow indicates Benkei's coming. He will shout "Fools!" and start throwing iron balls. Attack his head a few times to remove his 60 life points. Collect the three sword points he left, and proceed to the torii, but beware of more fire arrows. Your next destination will be Sanuki (Inaba after Houki, and Bichuu after Bingo).

PC-Engine note: In this version, Benkei's weakness point is his leg instead of head.

Bingo (備後, Big Mode)
Following the path, and you will arrive in Bitchuu.

Houki (伯耆, Big Mode)
Prepare for your hard trip to Inaba.

Sanuki (讃岐, Small Mode)
Your first obstacle is a vortex generating wolves. Eliminate them fast. An Enormous Mukade is waiting for you, but you cannot defeat it at the moment. Instead, jump on him (which means you take some damage), and use the platforms to move on. If you choose the path of floating platforms, you will find a torii in the end, which guides you to Bizen immediately. This stage also features birds as common enemy, proceed and you will encounter some. Two large rocks are in the way, one of which has a candle atop, but do not immediately collect it unless you are low in health. Your next enemy is Raijin with thunder flash in the sky, bring him down and use the candle to recover. A few more birds will try to knock you off the ground. At the end of stage there is a staircase with a Jigokusha-generating swamp upon each step. Dispose of them and find the torii behind, which sends you to Awaji the bonus stage.

Bitchuu (備中, Small Mode)
Normal exit will send Kagekiyo to Bizen, and hidden exit shows the path to another bonus stage, Mimasaka.

Inaba (因幡, Small Mode)
Normal exit will send Kagekiyo to Tajima, and hidden exit leads him to Mimasaka as well.

Stage 7.5
Both Awaji (淡路) and Mimasaka (美作) are bonus stages that teleports Kagekiyo to Bizen when ended. Enjoy your collecting of sword power.

Bizen (備前, Big Mode)
This stage features the theme of Biwa Houshi. But first, a tiger will greet you from behind. After running in the bamboo woods for a while, Biwa Houshi will appear, spawning Usagi and Kame which drop poison mushrooms on death. After beating a few of them, Biwa Houshi will leave, and you can simply move on to Harima.

Tajima (但馬, Big Mode)
Tango will be your next stop.

Harima (播磨, Small Mode)
You will notice a dragon (Ryu) screaming far away, and his life is shown. Proceed and beware of holes on the ground. Ignore the webs at the start, and move forward. A sword and a scroll will be in the air, and you need to collect them with help of the dragon. Use the scroll to dust the dragon for sword points. Just at the same time you will find a flying rock coming from the left. Do not destroy it, but use as platform. Later you will find a sword above three rows of moving platforms, and you can collect it from the right side. Proceed and remove the swamp generating Jigokusha. The rest of the stage are filled with moving platforms and rocks. Do not collect the Tawara, as later in the stage there is a candle with no cost. Instead, spend your Zeni on yet another sword. The first two toriis will bring you to Tanba immediately, but the last one will guide you to Settsu, a gag stage with an important item.

Tango (丹後, Small Mode)
This more difficult stage also has a dragon, but in the middle of stage. You can still arrive in Tanba later, but you cannot find the path to Settsu from here.

Settsu (摂津, Small Mode)
You will find many gag talks of five Namco employees, which later reappeared in 16-bit form in the ending sequence of Beraboh Man. Move forward and collect the scroll in the air, using the large rock nearby. You will encounter these enemies, in order: Yahei, Gaki generator, Mukade. Destroy them all with your mighty sword wave, jump over the four floating boxes, and you will find a stone lion guarding the Magatama. Finish the stone lion and claim the Magatama, and you are no longer afraid of any poison. The staffs will advise you to use the first torii to leave, and it will bring you to Tanba. However, if you choose to ignore the warnings and proceed... Yoritomo will laugh and appear in the background and start smashing you. You can find another torii in the end, but it also sends you to Tanba.

Tanba (丹波, Small Mode)
This stage has many high walls and holes, jump with caution. You will have to dispose of the Yahei in front immediately. A few more are farther away. The first Gaki generator can be destroyed. You will need to jump off those large rocks in order to land on the next. Another Mukade awaits ahead, but there is a scroll nearby, along with two Tawaras. You will find the power of your Magatama, if you have that in the pocket. Climb the hill and you will find some Chimoguri Kouke on the ground level. They drop 5 Zeni each. A Daimajin will appear in the second wave of hidden heads, but he is not a match with your sword wave. You may want to exchange some Zeni with points by visiting the land god statue. The goal torii is guarded by four Yaheis raining arrows on the high wall, ignore them and proceed to Yamashiro.

Yamashiro (山城, Big Mode)
You can learn from the theme that Yoshitsune is coming. After the first fire arrow, he will appear and laugh at you before attacking. This time he has 60 life points. Defeat him and proceed to the torii to Kyoto, but beware of more fire arrows.