Hinotori Houou Hen: Gaou no Bouken/Gameplay

Controls

 * : Use the direction pad to control Saruta. Press left or right to make him run in either direction.  Press down to make him squat.
 * : Press the A button to make Saruta jump. The longer the A button is held down, the higher Saruta will jump.
 * : Press the B button to make Saruta throw his chisel. If a chisel hits an enemy, it will be transformed into a gargoyle head.  Hold  to throw chisels directly overhead.
 * : Press the B button while holding to deposit a Gargoyle head on the screen. If Saruta is standing on the ground, the gargoyle will be placed at his feet.  If Saruta is in the air, the gargoyle will be placed beneath his feet and remain suspended in the air.
 * : Press Start to begin a new game, or the pause and unpause the action mid-game.
 * : Press Select to sacrifice one of your lives and start over from the beginning or latest checkpoint of the current stage.

Player
You play through the game as the bulbous nosed Saruta. Original the general of Queen Himiko's army, he destroys a village in search of the Phoenix for his queen. He enslaves a young boy, Nagi, and teaches him how to use a bow and arrow, which the boy then uses against the queen. Saruta is punished for the crime but Nagi saves him. Saruta then embarks on the quest to locate the Phoenix, not for the benefit of the queen or even himself, but for Nagi's dying sister.

The game loosely depicts Saruta's quest to locate the Phoenix, but it does so by having Saruta travel through a variety of locations, and even through different time periods, in an effort to collect 16 Hanafadu cards which, when assembled, form the image of the Phoenix and releases her into the world. To complete his quest, Saruta must traverse each stage and collect the card found at the very end. Sometimes he must defeat a stage boss first before he can collect the card. He has a chisel at his disposal which he can use as a weapon against his enemies. Saruta also has a health meter, displayed in the upper left corner of the screen. He will lose a life if he receives enough damage to empty his health meter, if he falls below the bottom of the screen, or if he runs out of the time provided to complete the stage.

Gargoyle Blocks
Saruta has a talent for chiseling gargoyle-like faces into stone. And in the game, he can make use of the gargoyle blocks that he collects by creating steps and platforms out of them. Whenever he throws his chisel at an enemy, it will turn into a yellow Gargoyle Block. As long as the block remains yellow, it will slide along the ground and Saruta can collect it, adding one to his supply of blocks. If he throws a chisel at a yellow block, it will reverse direction. If a yellow block falls or hits a wall, it becomes an immovable gray block. Saruta can also create gray blocks where ever he likes by pressing as long as he still has a supply of blocks, shown at the top of the screen. Saruta can destroy any gray block by holding and jumping on top of the block three times. This trick may allow him to access areas that he otherwise could not.

Items
All items in the game (except for the Hanafadu cards) are collected from treasure chests. Treasure chests can only be opened if Saruta can hit them with a chisel. This means Saruta cannot open chests that lie at Saruta's feet unless he can position himself lower than the chest. Once a chest is open, the contents will be displayed and can be collected.