Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun

One reviewer of this game called it Castlevania for kids. That's describes it exactly. It's a well made game that went under the radar everywhere except Japan for a long time. This is Kid Dracula more or less, based on the watered down Game Boy version released around the same time I think. Boka Dracula-kun itself is based on Castlevania, or it seems like more of a parody, which should be very noticeable when you see it's cartoon-like renditions of many well known enemies. The music and graphics are also lighter and much less gloomy and dark.

FAQ
Q1: How much Japanese do you need to know to play this game?

A1: A fair bit to read the stuff at the end of each level and for some other parts. You really don't need to know much to play through most of the stages.

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================================================================== Game Basics

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--- Controls ---

A Button - Makes your character jump.

B Button - Shoots a Fireball. Hold down to charge special attack.

Select Button - Changes your special attack.

Start Button - Pauses the game.

Directional Pad - Moves your character around.

--- Special Attacks / Abilities ---

At the end of each stage, you'll get a special attack which you can use from that point on in the game.

Big Fireball - You start the game with this. It does more damage than the small fireballs.

Spread Fireball - You get this on the second stage. It sends out five fireballs in a fan shape that also track enemies.

Explosion Fireball - You get this on the third stage. It's like the Big Fireball except that when it hits an enemy it will cause a explosion that others can get caught in.

Bat Transformation - You get this on the fourth stage. It turns you into a bat for a limited amount of time, allowing you to fly over spikes and high walls.

Upside down - You get this on the fifth stage. It lets you walk on the ceiling for a limited amount of time, allowing you to reach inaccessible areas.

--- Items ---

Heart - Restores one health.

Full Heart (flashing) - Restores all health.

Heart Container (heart w/ a box around it) - Adds one heart to your maximum.

--- Mini Games ---

At the end of each stage, you get to play several mini games that reward you with lives if you win. There isn't any skill involved, so just pick something and hope for the best.

Choose the Path - You have to choose which of the four vertical paths the ball ends up at when it reaches the bottom. This one is hard to win since there is so much random chances here.

Can-Can Girls - I have no idea what's happening in this game. Choose an option and hope for the best. You have a better chance of winning when you choose one of the lower amounts of lives.

Lottery - Hold the B button to make the wheel spin and a ball will fall out which determines what you get. You will probably get a few lives here and there and rarely the golden ball which gives you 7 lives.

Skeleton in a Barrel - Put the swords in the holes and hope they don't hit the skeleton. If you get them all in without hitting it, you win. If you hit it, you lose. Simple enough.

Roulette - Use the hand icon to choose the base number of lives that you want. You can press the base number several times to multiple that base number by the number above it and/or press other base numbers to increase your chances of winning. After you've decided, press the button on the far right to start the roulette. If the ball lands on that base number of lives, you win!

--- Enemies ---

Zombie - Walks around waiting to be killed. Yeah, they are cannon fodder.

Bat - Hang from the ceiling and drop down when you walk under them. The other kind will fly at you.

Spear Knight - Walks around, occasionally throwing spears in whichever direction it's facing.

Frankenstein - Walks around but starts running at you when you get close to one.

Panda - Jumps around. That's about it.

Bird - Flies around. Gets in your way.

Witch - Flies around. Drops eggs when you walk under one.

Turtle - Flies around. Gets in your way when you're on the rollercoaster.

Thunder Guy - Circles around the rollercoaster. Throws thunder at you.

Wind Guy - Same as above, except that it will blow wind at you.

Mine - Floats around slowly rotating. When you hit one, it's spikes will fly either vertically or diagonally, depending on the direction they were facing.

Spark - Moves around platforms. You can't kill them.

Submarine - Not the sandwich. An annoying enemy that drops bombs on you when you walk under them.

Electric Eel - Swims around and makes this weird noise when they touch walls.

Ice Guy - Stands around and tosses popsicles at you when you get close.

Seal - Balances a bomb on it's nose, which it tosses at you when you get close. That's a nice trick.

Snowman - Stands around and jumps toward you when you get close.

Frozen Duck - Runs at you and slides.

UFO - Flies around and drops Martians if you don't kill them quickly.

Martian - Walks around, usually following you. They can jump but not over holes.

Gorilla - Stands around and shakes the building and occasionally tossing stuff at you.

Spiderman - Yeah, really. Climbs up buildings and starts jumping around if you don't kill them quickly. Maybe they mistake your for that vampire guy from the comic.

Punk - Walks around on the subway cars, throwing their hair at you when you get close.

Masked Killer - I suppose this is a take on Jason or someone like that. They pop out of the grey boxes on the subway cars and then run around if you don't kill them quickly.

Cactus - Pops out of the ground and fires it's needles at you if you take to long to kill it.

Sand Monster - Sits at the bottom of a pit. That's about it.

--- General Tips ---

You can fire upwards in this game. Remember that to save yourself some trouble.

If you're ever in a situation where you're on a platform and it's inevitable that you will get hit, try to stand in the middle so that you won't fall off. It's not like Castlevania where you fly backwards when you get hit but you'll still hop back a little.

Use your special attacks whenever you can. Not only are they useful for killing enemies but when you hit them with it, they will drop a coin that you can use for the mini games.

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================================================================== Walkthrough

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--- Stage 1 - Castle ---

You'll start the game beside your coffin. Walk to the right and kill any Zombies you encounter until you reach the spike mashers. These aren't the same instant-death ones that you find in Castlevania so you don't have to worry about dying. Pass under the three of them and you'll be in the clear. Continue to the right until you reach the Bats. You can either just walk past them or go forward a little, back up when the Bat drops down, and hit it. Another Zombie will usually show up once you're past the third Bat so take of it before it hits you. Climb the stairs at the end and hit the Spear Knights ahead twice to kill them. You can also hit them from below to make it easier. After the third set of stairs, jump across the gap and grab the Heart Container ahead.

A Zombie will appear when you're at the edge of the platform. Kill it and keep going forward, avoiding the Bats above. After awhile, you'll come up to a Panda jumping around with several Bats hanging on the ceiling. Tread carefully past them, while killing the Pandas along the way. You should see another platform ahead but don't jump to it from the front unless you kill the Bats hanging nearby. Be sure to grab the Full Heart on the right under the platform before going up. It will restore all of your health. Now jump to the stairs to the right but don't climb them right away. Wait for the Frankenstein to walk toward you and then pummel him from below. You'll be in the typical clock room now. =). There will be a Spear Knight walking around on the gear.

Kill him from below and then jump, jump, jump to the stairs. Kill the second Spear Knight on the gear and continue up the stairs and to the left. At the top of the stairs there will be another Frankenstein. Kill him from a distance and continue to the stairs and then the pendulum to get across to the other side. Keep going until you see the Bat hanging around and the trap door below it. This one is a trick, you can just walk over it and it won't flip over. =). The next one however, you will have to watch out. Get close to the Bat so that it drops down. Now back up and hit it and then jump over the two consecutive trap doors to avoid them. Jump up to the platform leading outside and kill the Bat that will fly at you. It will be above your shots so you have to hit it while it's going low.

Jump to the next platform but watch out for this next one. It will slowly fall toward the bottom of the screen but you'll be fine as long as you jump towards the edge of the falling platform. He doesn't get much distance when jumping, you see, so you have to be careful from here on in. There will be another Bat flying towards you once you reach the next platform. Wait for it to fly low and then hit it. After that there will be two more falling platforms. Jump across them and you'll be in the clear for this stage. Grab the Heart at the left edge and continue up. This next part will look familiar for those people who played the original Castlevania. Yup, it's the final path to Dracula himself... but he's not home right now. Walk into his chamber room to meet the boss.

BOSS: Ghost Child / Parent

You'll face off against the Ghost Child first. He starts off by slowly jumping to the right. You can pummel him while he's in the air and again when he lands. If you're quick you can defeat him before he makes it all the way to the right. If you didn't, he'll throw two fireballs at you, and then run back to the left to start all over again. Jump over the fireballs and him and then keep hitting him until he starts crying and walks off the screen. Heh. It's not the end of this fight though, because the Ghost Parent will appear right after him. He has exactly the same attack pattern as the Ghost Child, except that you can duck under his fireballs. Pummel him the same way and he'll start crying as well.

--- Stage 2 - Sky ---

You start at the edge of a cloud. Run to the left and kill the Bird at the other end. Jump to the next cloud and kill the bird there. Keep going until you see a bunch of smaller clouds. Jump on those clouds and then jump again to kill the Bird flying above you. At the edge of the third one, you'll see a Witch flying toward you. Kill it and then carefully jump to the cloud below. Switch to your Spread Fireballs here so you can hit the Witches more easily. Continue to the right, avoiding the Witches and the eggs that they drop, until you see a huge structure. Keep jumping across the holes here and head up the stairs to the moving platforms.

Jump onto the closest one, wait until it reach the left side, and then jump to the next one. Wait for the next one to get to the top and just before it starts moving down again, jump to the one above it. You should easily make it. On this one, wait for it to reach the bottom and then jump to the Heart Container below. If you don't want it, just continue to the right and onto the roller coaster. Yay! It will start off slow but after the drop off it will speed up a lot. Various enemies will fly at you here so be on the lookout and charge up your special attack if you want. Once it levels off again there will be two Turtles in your way, kill them.

When it goes up again and back down there will another set of Turtles right at the spot where it goes down. Use your Spread Fireballs to hit them or you can just jump over them and then back onto the rollercoaster if you don't have time to hit them. Soon after that, two enemies will circle around you. The green one will blow wind at you, and the orange one will throw thunder at you. It's not too hard to kill either one but watch yourself here and jump over the wind and the thunder to avoid them. After awhile, they will disappear and then you'll take two loops and be finished with the rollercoaster. On the loops there will be two Birds coming from either direction at the top. Hit the one on the left on both and you'll be okay.

If not try to stay on the front part to avoid getting knocked off. At the end of the platform there will be a weird looking cloud below. These are like the platforms in the previous stage, except that they move in various directions. The first one will move to the left so you have to quickly jump to the next one. The remaining clouds will move in this order, left, down, and right. Stay on the last cloud and you'll be taken to a solid cloud. The next two will move down so quickly continue jumping. A Witch will usually appear here, so kill it and head right. There will be more Birds and Witches here but nothing really hard so I'll leave it to you. Just watch out for the Witches on the small clouds ahead. Climb the ladder to find the boss.

BOSS: Mr. Chicken

Mr. Chicken has a beef with you... so now it's time to settle it. His attack pattern consists of flying around for a bit, tossing out an egg from directly below and two more to the left and right, and then diving at you. In order to avoid the eggs, either stay a fair distance away or a little to the left/right of him. Avoiding his dive is tougher. The best method is to just stay under him so that when he dives, he'll miss you completely. The other way is to stay as far away from him as possible, duck when he start his dive and he'll hopefully miss you. Hitting him is simple. Just use your Spread Fireballs. They hit multiple times and they will track him if some of them miss the first time. It'll take a couple dozen fireballs to turn Mr. Chicken into KFC.

--- Stage 3 - Underwater ---

You start above ground but you have no choice but to jump into the hole in front of you. You'll fall onto a platform below when you do. Now fall off the left side and fire at those Mines moving around. They will shoot out spikes when you hit them so either jump or duck under them. At the edge to the right, jump to the platform above but watch out for the Spark moving around it. It's best to just jump extra high so you'll float over it and land on the ground ahead. You can do this for this Spark as well but you'll have to be more careful because of the spikes above. Hit the Mines on the right and then make your way up to be above water again.

Head right and get into the Booster ahead to get sent flying. There's a Heart Container on a platform to the left but don't get out right away, wait until just after you see the ceiling. Now jump back into the Booster and go right before a little after that. You don't want to wait too long because there's some inertia when you get out of it. Keep doing this until you reach the last one. Now this time go reasonably high and press right when you fall out. The reason for this is that there's spikes along the floor. Once you're back on the ground, you'll have to drop into the water again =(. Jump over the spikes on the floor and kill any Fish that comes at you.

Fall into the hole and head right to avoid the spikes and then down the stairs. There are Electric Eels here. Kill them or avoid them but head down the next set of stairs. Directly to the right of the stairs are three Mines and they are very close to you. Do a short hop and hit the two lower ones if you can while their spikes are diagonal. That should help you avoid getting hit. At the far right there's another Spark moving around a platform. Jump to the platform and again to the next one. Kill ANY of the Subs that come toward you. Trust me on this. They are a pain in the ass.

It's a good idea to continually use your Spread Fireballs so you can kill any of them at appear at awkward times. You'll want to do this for sure when you jump to the tiny platform ahead and then to the ground where the stairs are. You don't have to hit the first Mine but you'll have to destroy the second one to reach the stairs. Electric Eels will appear during the next two platforms along with a Mine floating near the stairs. Hit the Electric Eels that get in your way as well as the Mine while it's spikes are diagonal and then climb the stairs. You're in the clear from this point forward so climb the stairs to find the boss.

BOSS: Bubble Octopus (hey, that could pass for a Mega Man boss. =))

The boss doesn't have an absolute attack pattern. It will float around in it's bubble, trying to hit you. Switch to your Spread Fireballs use them to get in lots of hits. Standing backwards from the boss while using the Spread Fireballs is a good way to make your shots more accurate. Either that, or fire upwards when it's above you. Avoiding the boss is fairly simple. Just watch where it appears and move out of the way. Avoid jumping if you can and duck when he floats across the screen. When you hit him enough times, he'll float to the center of the screen and he and his bubble will dissolve.

--- Stage 4: Arctic ---

As it is with snow and ice, you'll slide if you try to stop while you're running. Tap the directional pad in the opposite direction that you're moving to stop the slide. Run to the right and then across the four icebergs. After the fourth one there will be an Ice Guy standing on the far right. Hit him with a fireball to kill him but don't get too close or he will start tossing popsicles at you (yeah, you heard right, popsicles). These next four icebergs are tougher to cross, as they sink and rise out of the water repeatedly. The first two are alright, just jump to them. The third one is tricky since it's out of sync with the first two. You'll have to wait until the second one is nearly underwater and then jump to the third one.

The fourth one is simple to get to but keep an eye out for the Ice Guy standing slightly off screen. Hit it when you see it. Keep going and melt the Snowmen that you see waiting ahead. If you get too close, they will jump over you. It's not a problem though. A Heart Container will be waiting for you at the elevated ground ahead and along with another Ice Guy in the dip, followed by a Seal at the top of the hill. Continue to the right and jump into the hole in the ground. In the ice cave below there will be several moving platforms. Fall onto the first moving platform when it gets close, don't jump or you might hit the spikes overhead. Do the same thing when you see the next moving platform, and then jump onto the solid ground at the far end.

There will be a Frozen Duck to meet you ahead, followed by another one towards the next set of moving platforms. Hit them while they are still running at you, and jump over them if they go into a slide. When you reach the moving platforms ahead, you should just drop onto one of them, as well as the next one. Jump to grab the Heart lying on the ground and fall onto the next set of moving platforms as usual. When you reach the far right side, wait until the moving platform starts to turn downwards before you jump to the ground ahead. You don't want to die and start over when you've gotten this far do you? =). Fall onto the ice below and switch to your bat transformation special. Charge it up and fly across the spikes.

Now do the same thing here but be careful. Fly somewhat above the platform on the left and then fly diagonally into it to transform back. If you don't do this, you might transform back while you're at the edge and then you'll fall into the spikes hanging down. I'm weird and probably paranoid but it happened to me. This next one is tough. You have to keep a steady hand here or you'll fall to your death or run into the spikes that line this next area. Transform and carefully make your way up into the spike area. Fly across it and try to stay in the middle and not too close to the spikes. Once you reach the far end with the wall and the drop down, you can just hit the wall and transform back. You'll end up back on solid ground, or icy ground if you want to call it that.

Walk to the far right, switch to your Spread Fireballs and hit the Seal there. Do the same thing with each of the Seals ahead but don't get too close or it'll toss that bomb on its nose at you. And let me tell you that it's not a pretty sight being hit with it. At the top use your bat transformation again to get over that wall with the Full Heart on it. You're almost in the clear but there's still a little ways to go yet. You should see a Skater ahead. Kill it just as you see it or it'll jump at you and start skating around. There will be two more of them ahead. Get rid of them and you'll be out on the water. The boss is just ahead.

BOSS: Mr. Dragon

This boss is so simple it's almost bordering on pathetic. Almost. It has a few tricks up its sleeve though. It starts off by flying around the screen randomly. Take this time to switch to your Spread Fireballs and start hitting it as much as possible. After awhile it'll start flying lower and lower toward the ice as you hit it until it finally goes right through. This will shatter several blocks and then it will start flying around again. Keep hitting it until it starts moving faster and faster. Pummel it a little more and it will die. Good riddance.

--- Stage 5: City (presumably New York) ---

You'll start out on top of a brown building. Jump to the next set of buildings and then down to another brown building. Kill any UFOs flying around or they will drop Martians that will pester you. When you reach the brown building ahead, there will be a Heart Container waiting for you. Jump onto the orange building and kill the Spiderman that climbs up. If you don't, it'll jump around and you'll likely get hit. On the next building another Spiderman will come up. Kill it before it becomes a nuisance. Two more will appear right after that. Drop right down beside the first one and plug him. The second one will appear at the far right side of the building. Once they are gone jump to the orange building to meet a Gorilla... on a rooftop, right...

It will jump causing the building to shake but it doesn't do anything to you. Just blast it and continue on. There will be another one on the next building. After it's gone, use the bat transformation to get to the orange building but transform back at the edge, and kill the Gorilla waiting there. At the far right side on the grey building there will be a Full Heart waiting for you. Grab it and then fall between the buildings to end up in the subway system. The denizens of this place aren't too happy to see you though. Turn up the volume while you're here, you'll need it. There's a few spots here where the trains horn will sound, signifying that orange overhead is lower than usual. Isn't that courtesy? I didn't know the train operator was so nice.

When it sounds, stay below the grey box on the train or just duck. Either way is fine. Head to the right and hide when the horn goes off when you're on the second car. It will sound off again when you jump onto the third car. It will go off once again when you get between the two grey boxes on the third car. It's longer than the others but stay here until it passes. The horn sounds again when you get between the third and fourth train car. Stay low and don't jump onto the fourth train car. It's a longer one again but you can easily make it through before you get trapped on the left. After this one passes you'll be in the clear for awhile but now you'll have to deal with those subway denizens I was talking about earlier.

The Punks are simple to kill but they come from both directions and they have a distance attack, throwing their hair at you. Heh. Kill them quickly because they get annoying and a little dangerous. Keep going right until you reach the Heart sitting between the two train cars. Soon after you grab it, a Masked Killer will appear on the train car to the left. Kill him or he'll jump out and start harassing you. On the next train car, a second Masked Killer will appear to the right, followed by another one right after that. Kill them both and jump onto the next train car. A forth Masked Killer will appear on the left side of this train car, followed by a fifth on the right side.

The next bit of this stage is rather tricky so be careful not to get trapped on the left side by the scrolling screen. If at all possible, try to attack the Masked Killers on the right instead of the left. The Punks and the Masked Killers will also coordinate their attacks. =). Several more Masked Killers will appear followed by Punks, mainly coming for the left. Not long after you take care of those guys, the horn will sounds again. Find a nook and stay there until you pass it. One more Masked Killer will appear and several more Punks before the train finally stops. Climb the ladder to the top and then jump over the wall to meet the boss.

BOSS: Statue of Liberty Quiz Time!

You don't really fight the Statue of Liberty. Instead it will quiz you on a variety of topics. You lose one health if you answer a question wrong, and if you lose all of your health or get beat by Mr. Chicken or the Ghost Child you'll get sent back to the beginning of the subway section. It will talk for a bit and then finally get to the questions. When you see a sentence with a question mark at the end that's your cue to get ready. Right after that, it will start listing the three possible answers in point form. When it does, start pressing the B button to ring the buzzer, and then answer the question. That's the format of this through the entirety of the quiz. Just like jeopardy.

Question 1: 2nd answer Question 2: 1st answer Question 3: 2nd answer Question 4: 3rd answer Question 5: 2nd answer Question 6: 3rd answer Question 7: 3rd answer Question 8: 3rd answer Question 9: 3rd answer Question 10: 2nd answer Question 11: 3rd answer Question 12: 2nd answer Question 13: 2nd answer Question 14: 1st answer

You've won once you've correctly answered three questions. It will talk a bit more and then let you go onto the next stage. =)

--- Stage 6: Desert ---

This stage is fairly simple but there are several spots where you can die very easily. You'll start out beside a Cactus, but you can only see it's top from where you are right now. Walk towards it and hit it with one of your special attacks to kill it quickly. If you take too long to kill it, it will shoot out needles at you. There will be another Cactus on top of the hill ahead. Kill it the same way. After several hills and dips there will be a Sand Monster sitting at the bottom of a dip. Either jump over it or kill it with the Spread Fireballs. Continue walking to the right and you'll find two more Sand Monsters just sitting there, along with two Birds flying above you.

The Birds are too high to bother you so you can deal with the Sand Monsters accordingly. Ahead, there will be three slightly rises in the sand. Don't walk on them. Just stand there for a bit and a Sand Snake will come out and start flying around. I don't know how a snake can fly but blast it about a dozen or so times and it will disintegrate. Right after that one, there will be another one. Kill it and grab the Full Heart ahead. A little further you'll find the entrance to a pyramid. Enter it (as if you had a choice) and kill the Skeleton waiting there. It will throw it's head and then run towards you if you take too long to kill it. You'll find another one waiting deeper inside followed by a more ancient spike masher.

The only difference is that you shouldn't go under it. You'll find that you can get out without killing yourself. Go over it instead and the next one as well. The third one is going in the opposite direction, so use your bat transformation to fly under it. When you're safely on the other side, transform back and kill the Skeleton on the far right. Change back into a bat and fly under this one too. The last one is going the other way again, so just jump over it as you did with the first two. Further ahead there will be spikes on the ceiling and a very long platform leading to the right. You don't need any special attack here, just run across and kill the Skeleton Head that appears later on. Near the end, you'll see a Heart Container under the platform.

Keep walking until you're under it and then let the platform collapse to grab it. Use your bat transformation to get back on track. Grab the Full Heart in the corner if you need it, and then fall into the hole. Kill the Skeleton at the bottom and fall into the next hole and kill the second Skeleton waiting there. As you fall down this hole, stay on the left side, and then run like hell to the far left, where there will be another hole to save you. There will be two Skeletons at the bottom of this hole. Kill them and continue to the left. Just run and don't stop. You won't die. At the end, you'll see a hand and a whole lot of darkness. It will take you to the boss.

BOSS: Tutankhamen

This boss is simple to defeat but you have to watch out for the bubbles it shoots out from time to time. If you get hit by one, you can kiss one of your lives goodbye. Try to destroy the bubbles when they appear and hit Tutankhamen as much as possible. It won't take long if you're using your special attacks. After you've hit it enough times, it will start crying and some solid ground will appear below you. Yay!

--- Stage 7: Outer Space ---

It may be because I'm writing this at 4AM and I'm tired but this stage is HARD. I probably died on this stage more than any of the others put together. Your own mileage may vary. Anyway. Grab the Heart Container and then jump onto the platform to start this stage off with a blast. Be careful and jump quickly and accurately because if you miss a platform, you're more than likely dead. You should also continually use your Spread Fireballs. You'll see why when you get far enough. So, when the platform starts falling back down, jump to the next series of platforms until you see one that's falling faster than the rest.

Jump onto that one and then quickly jump to the next platform on the far right. There will be three more quickly falling platforms, quickly jump onto them until you reach the more stable platforms above. Face left and kill the two Green Robots with your Spread Fireballs. Now jump onto the platforms previously occupied by the Green Robots and continue up until you see three more quickly falling platforms. Jump onto the middle one, wait until you have enough room to jump onto the one on the right, and then jump onto the stable platform above it. From there, jump onto the quickly falling platforms, and then to the stable platform on the left.

There will be two more Green Robots walking around on the two platforms above you. Jump and knock the Robots off each of the platforms, and then continue up onto the stable platform on the left. Once you make it, there will be another three quickly falling platforms. Jump onto them and then back to the left, where there's another stable platform. After this, there will be nothing but quickly falling platforms and the occasional rocket that will appear from the bottom of the screen. They appear randomly but if they get in your way, you'll be in big trouble. After climbing for awhile, you'll see a single stable platform above the rest. Jump onto it and you'll be taken to the boss.

BOSS: ????

This is the guy you see just before the title screen appears. Switch to your Explosion Fireball and wait for him to stop talking. When he runs towards you, let the fireball go to damage him. He'll continue toward you until he's close and then he'll lift his sword and try to hit you with it. When he does this, wait about a second or so after he lifts the sword, and then jump to avoid it. He'll keep going this until you hit him, so when he backs up and tries to hit you, charge up the Explosion Fireball and hit him when he comes at you again. This will make him jump to the far right, shoot out a stream of fire, and then charge you and try to hit you again. He'll keep repeating this pattern until you hit him enough times, and then he'll turn into a giant coin. Yay!

--- Stage 8: Sky (yes, again) ---

You'll start on a bunch of clouds moving slowly to the left. Jump from cloud to cloud until you reach the airship. A Cannon will appear and start shooting cannonballs. Kill it and the next one on the lower platform ahead. A Grim Reaper will appear above. Switch to your spread fireballs, jump and hit it. Avoid it's swoop attack and continue hitting it until it dies. Now, kill the Cannon on the ledge ahead and then continue onto the clouds again. You'll come to the another airship soon enough. This time a Cannon will be waiting at the edge. Pummel it from the clouds and then jump onto the airship. There will be a Heart ahead, followed by another Grim Reaper and a Cannon. Kill the Grim Reaper first, grab the Heart, and then take care of the Cannon on the lower platform.

One final Cannon will be walking around on the higher platform just ahead and then more clouds. Continue cloud jumping until you reach another airship. Jump onto this one and kill the Red Robot running at you, or just jump over it if it gets too close. Following the Robot is a Knight. You can kill it or just jump over it. Further ahead, there will be a hole. Don't jump into this one, jump into the next one to find a Heart Container. Use the Bat Transformation to get out of this hole and into the first one you found. Continue ahead and kill the Blue Robots running around if you can. If you don't a whole bunch more will appear. There will be another hole ahead. Fall into it and then continue killing the Blue Robots to the right until you find the elevator.

Use it to take you back on top of the airship. There will be another Red Robot waiting for you right beside the elevator so kill it quickly. Use the Bat Transformation to get onto the wall ahead and then kill the Red Robot running at you, followed by another Knight. Jump into the hole and then DUCK. I'm not kidding. Soon after you do, a huge energy beam will come from the left and obliterate the Blue Robots roaming around. After it disappears, jump out and continue to the left. Jump into the hole at the far left when it's clear and kill the Blue Robot at the bottom. Grab the Heart at the right and fall down again and then continue to the left to find the boss.

BOSS: Giant Robot

This boss is simple as long as you have enough health. Use your Upside Down special to stick to the ceiling. Fire at the Robot's head as much as possible and just take the Robot's hits. After while it's arm and then the rest of it's body will explode and disappear. I don't know of any better way to kill it.

--- Stage 9: Base ---

Walk to the right to find the first boss of this stage.

BOSS: Fire Dragon

The only thing that can damage this boss is your Ice special so switch to it if you haven't already. It doesn't attack though. It randomly appears in a spot, runs towards you, and then jumps into the fire in the background. Wait until it materializes completely, hit it if you're far enough away, jump over it, and then try to hit it again when it's bouncing around the side of the screen. Keep doing this until you kill it. It takes awhile so I hope you're patient.

Head to the right and you'll come across a tunnel lined with spikes and several Robot Crabs inside. Kill the Robot Crab that you can see, switch to your Upside Down special, and then continue through the tunnel. When you reach the other two Robot Crabs, hit them as fast as possible, and then walk to the right until you reach safety again. By the time you reach the far end, you will be almost be out of time. Further to the right, you'll see many Yellow Robots. You can kill them with one fireball each but they will probably swarm you and possibly causing some damage.

Soon after that, the floor will start slowly rising upwards. Walk to the far right, killing any Yellow Robots that appear, and stay there until you clear the spikes. Walk back to the left until you pass the spikes again. By now, you should see the outline of the huge robot in the background through the gaps in the wall. You'll do two more repetitions, first to the right and then back to the left until you reach the head of the robot in the background. Really try to conserve your health up to this point. You'll need it. But about the robot head. Guess which boss you'll be fighting against next...

BOSS: Robot Head

The head will disconnect from the robot's body and start flying around. Notice the drill at the bottom of it's head? You need to avoid that. The head will make that harder by occasionally dropping it into the ground to try and hit you. You can tell when it's about to drop because it will stop moving for a few seconds. When it drops, you can damage the head. Keep doing this until it's destroyed.

Continue to the right and you'll meet the final boss.

BOSS: ????

He'll talk for awhile and then make a dramatic fade in appearance. Heh. He'll then start to fly around and when you walk until him or just wait long enough, he'll shoot a stream of electricity out of each of his hands and occasionally a fireball downward from his mouth. The only way to damage him is to hit him in the mouth with one of your attacks. Stand under him to make him use his electricity attack and then walk along with him and wait for him to open his mouth. When he does, hit him in the mouth. I find that the explosion fireball is best because it allows some leeway and you won't have to stand directly under his mouth to damage him as you would with your other special attacks. Keep doing this over and over again and he'll eventually die.

You finished the game! Congrats.

Ending
After you kill him, some text will appear and then it will show you back at the castle sitting on the throne with some of the enemies you encountered through the game. Some more text will appear and then the credits will roll.