Youkai Dochuuki/Stage 4

Arcade
In order to complete this stage, you must locate and defeat three mini-bosses who guard the three treasures. Only after you collect the three treasures will you be able to go to the guardian of the River Styx and ask for her permission to cross. There are many branching paths that lead to the various locations in this stage. One word of warning: If you thought the Hell Wheels were difficult to deal with in the previous stage, even more will appear in this one. The best strategy is to run forward as much as you can without ever stopping to turn around unless you absolutely have to.

As soon as the stage begins, you will be attacked by a pair of single horned green demons who try to jump and cling on you and drain away your money. Shoot at them as soon as possible. You will be right outside of another shop. If you were cursed by Pandora's Box and turned into an old man, you'll have to spend 10,000 on the large ? to break the curse. Spend as much money as you can, as there's no reason to save any of it. From the shop head to the right, and enter the cavern. Shoot any zombies or frogs that get in your way, and watch out for a pair of hunger demons near the end. Jump over a set of rocks that have many one-eyed demons bouncing around. Continue right until you see a set of stairs. A ramp below the stairs leads down. Follow the ramp and the steps to the bottom. A wind demon is likely to be hanging out in the area, blowing wind at intruders. Run to the right, and watch out for more clinging demons, along with a red demon with a bow and arrow. Eventually you will reach another staircase. Run past it and stay on the lower path. The scenery will change to a forest area. At this time, you should turn around and try to deal with any Hell Wheels that might be giving chase. When the area is clear, run to the right until you reach a large tree. This is the first mini-boss, the demon of trees. The demon is mostly invulnerable to all of your attacks. On occasion, the tree will sprout a tentacle that will spit a seed at you. The seed will bounce around the screen while you try to attack. The tentacle is the only vulnerable point on the tree. Charge up your ki and wait for the tentacle to appear. Then shoot at the tentacle before it disappears, and before you get hit with a seed and lose your charge. After you hit the tentacle enough times, the demon will be defeated. It will leave the treasure of wood behind for you to collect.
 * Treasure of Wood

From the tree, run back to the left and return to the set of stairs that you passed along the way. Climb up those steps and the ramp to the level above, and continue climbing up the next set of steps and ramp that you find. From here, it is a very short run to the right until you reach a set of steps to a ledge. Unfortunately, you some Hell Wheels may have appeared in that time. Turn around and try to remove them before you approach the ledge. As you walk across the ledge, you will see fire whirling around something to the right over the lava. This is the second mini-boss, the demon of fire. This is the easiest mini-boss, as he remains stationary, only choosing to defend himself with the flames that circle him. The good news is that he is always vulnerable as long as he is visible, and you don't have to stand at the end of the ledge to hit him. If you get pushed back too far to the left, you may have to walk forward again just to make him appear. Charge up several blasts of ki and shoot at him until he is defeated. The treasure of fire will appear at the end of the ledge.
 * Treasure of Fire

Some of the paths on the stage are just dead-ends. On the way to the third treasure, you may discover a path that is actually a trap. From the demon of fire, return to the left, and drop down both sets of stairs and ramps until you are on the very bottom. Then continue running to the left until you reach the original staircase that brought you down here. Climb up those steps, and continue to climb up the next set of steps to the level above. You will see yet another set of steps, but if you don't wish to waster you time, run to the right. If you are curious, follow the stairs up to the highest level and run to the left. You will reach a shiny and reflective platforms that leads to a pond with what appears to be a goddess bathing in it, but her back is turned to you. If you approach her, she will turn around and reveal her true frightening form. To make matters worse, coils of poo will begin to fall from the sky, making it more difficult to get away. You clearly won't earn a heart by visiting here, so don't bother.
 * The false goddess

Instead of bothering with the false goddess, run to the right rather than climbing the third staircase. Another clinging demon and a bow and arrow demon will try to stop you. After passing under a gate, you will reach another set of stairs. Climb these, and if any Hell Wheels appear, try your best to get them to your left. At the top, run to the right. A large flame breathing Buddhist will appear. If you have plenty of health, you can try to simply leap over him, but there will be more behind him, and health is precious at this point. If you feel you must fight the Buddhist, be sure to defeat any Hell Wheels around you first. Two hunger demons and a rock appear between the first Buddhist and the second. Jump up the sets of stairs as you begin crossing a stone bridge. A third Buddhist will appear after a gap. Beyond this bridge is a region of spiked floors with hovering clouds. Landing on the spikes will hurt Tarosuke, so stick to the clouds, and small ledges of clear land. At this point, it's very likely that you are being chased by a gang of Face Demons and Hell Wheels. Don't try to turn around and fight them all, just do your best to leap from each cloud and safe ledge to the next. At some points, you must wait for a cloud to rise in order to safely jump. If you can use one of the following enemies as a means of transport to save time, do it. When you reach the very edge, you will see a 500 money bag out in the air. You can leap to collect it, or simply fall down to the level below. You will find a small pile of rocks with some talismans on it. Shoot it once to break the talismans, which will unleash the third and final mini-boss, the demon of stone. This demon is actually a spirit who disperses the rocks all around it, and then draws them back into itself to recreate the pile. Obviously, it is only vulnerable to attack when the stones are dispersed. Charge up your ki and wait for the demon to launch the rocks. Then shoot your ki at the exposed spirit. Obviously you are safer if you stand back as far to the right as possible. Keep shooting fully charged blasts of ki at the spirit until it is defeated. Then it will leave the treasure of stone behind.
 * Treasure of Stone

Now that you have all three treasures, it's time to head to the river and ask the guardian for permission to cross. The point of saving the demon of stone for last, is that the exit from his location deposits you right on the path to the river. From the demon, head to the left and fall down the next gap. You will take a shortcut all the way to the branch that leads to the river. Once you arrive, immediately run to the right. You will encounter a rather large variety of enemies as you make your way to the river. Ignore as many as you can, and only stop to deal with the ones that you must. Eventually, you will reach the three eyed-guardian of the river, who is accompanied by a rather large flock of ravens. She will ask to be shown the three treasures. If you don't have them, she will tell you to go find them. If you then attack her, she will sic her ravens on you. It is actually possible to cheat and jump over the guardian using the enemies as a means to get higher into the sky than you normally could, but this is difficult to pull off. Assuming you have all three treasures, she will grant you access to the river. You will cross to the other side, and when you arrive, you will find a red Oni seated at a table. He will invite you into the fifth world where you fate will be decided. He will indicate that your performance will have an impact on getting into heaven, and then he will wish you good luck.
 * The River Styx

PC Engine
The same task of collecting the three treasures must be completed in the PC Engine version of the game, but the task is made shorter by connecting five different areas of the game via chasms in the floor. There is the beginning area, the three mini-boss locations, and the River Styx. You must learn how to reach each area to advance through the stage. It starts out with two green walking zombies, as well as a third which bounces, approaching Tarosuke right outside of the fourth instance of Zakka's shop. If Tarosuke has been turned into an old man by the box given to him by the lead mermaid on the previous stage, his walking speed will be severely hindered and he will take more damage when he gets hit. You must then pay 5000 in order to purchase the large ? from the shop which breaks the curse. Spend all of your remaining money now on health and power ups as it will do you no good to save it any longer.

Once you leave the shop, jump onto the hovering cloud, and on to the platform. You will stand before a wide gap with a single cloud hovering within. If you happen to fall into this gap, it will take you to the location that leads to the end of the stage. If you arrive there without all three treasures, you can return to the beginning of the stage by walking through the door located on the left side. Jump onto the cloud and prepare to deal with a series of hunger demons that walk along the high platform to the right. Charge up your ki and shoot it at the demons before you jump over. A few one-eyed demons bounce around on the floor below. If you walk back to the left and fall through the gap, you will arrive at the location of the Demon of Wood. Instead of falling through, ride the next cloud to the high platform, and you will stand before rugged terrain loaded with spiked floors. Use the clouds to jump over the spikes. If you fall into the next gap, you will arrive at the Demon of Fire, but don't head there just yet. Instead, jump over the gap and continue to the right. You will reach the location of the Demon of Stone.

The Demon of Stone is a large spirit that surrounds himself with rocks. He attacks by exploding the rocks outward, before gathering them back around himself. He is only vulnerable when he is exposed. Stand on the far left side of the screen, charge up your ki, and shoot him when he sends the rocks flying. It will take a good number of fully charged up shots to defeat the mini-boss. During that time, it is likely that other enemies such as background demons, frogs, and head demons may try to interfere in the battle. Do your best to remove them as a threat between exposures. Once defeated, the Demon of Stone will leave the stone orb behind. Collect it, and then return to the gap before the spiked floor. Drop down the gap to reach the Demon of Flame.

The Demon of Flame is substantially easier than the Demon of Stone. He starts out with a large number of bats hovering over him. In this version, he appears as a Hell Wheel from the arcade version. He sends a large number of flames all over the screen, but interestingly enough, these flames don't hurt you. They merely interrupt the charging of your ki. However, if you hang around for too long, two free-floating Hell Wheels will appear, and they possess the same instant-kill properties as their arcade counterparts. Charge up your ki and fire off as many blast as quickly as you are able to in order to avoid an encounter with them. Once defeated, the Demon of Flame will provide you with the flame orb. Beyond the demon are two gaps. The closer one leads to the Demon of Wood, while the farther one leads to a series of platforms and chasms. Drop into the closer gap.

When you land in the forest, you will immediately encounter the Demon of Wood. He is much easier to fight than the arcade version, as he is always vulnerable to your attacks. It sends out rather large bouncing seeds, however, which improve it's defense. You're actually safer standing quite close to it, in order to stand underneath the seeds after their first bounce. Charge up three ki blasts to defeat it and collect the wood orb. Then run to the end of the section and jump into the gap. You will land back in the Demon of Flame's location. Run to the right and jump into the farther of the two gaps. You will land in the section of platforms and gaps. The first gap takes you right back to the same section, the second gap to the Demon of Flame, the third to the Demon of Wood, and the fourth gap takes you to the beginning of the stage. If you're curious and investigate the fifth and final gap, which requires that you jump from the cloud, you will find that it only takes you back to the Demon of Flame.

Fall through the fourth gap to return to the beginning. You can visit the shop again if you feel its worthwhile. Then jump into the first chasm that you come to. When you arrive, you must be on the look out for any head demons that float around, and red birds that fly above, and two skeletons that occupy the ground before the river guardian. Jump over the skeletons' heads and run to the guardian. Provided you have collected all three orbs, she will grant you access across the river. The man on the other side will invite you to visit the final stage, where you will be judged based upon your performance.

Famicom differences
Once again, you must track down the three mini-bosses, defeat them, and collect the treasures they leave behind. However, the locations of many of the bosses will be different than in the other versions. Find the Demon of Wood along the bottom. The Demon of Fire is above the starting level, and to the left. The Demon of Stone is above and to the right. The treasure left by the Demon of Fire is particularly tricky to collect, as it is left just above the lava. This means it is not possible to clear this level without taking four bars of damage. Make sure you have at least five bars before you jump into the lava to collect the treasure. You can find the third and final temple by taking the first set of stairs down, and walking back to the left.