Kid Niki: Radical Ninja/Stage 5

Forest of Mad Monks

 * 10: As soon as you begin this level, many crow tengu will fall from either top corner of the screen to the ground and approach you from both directions. They appear much more frequently than the Blue fox clan does, so you will only be able to make short bits of progress to the right before you are forced to stop and attack the crows in front of and behind you, or they will overtake you.


 * 9: The steps up to the higher ledges will provide you with some relief against the crows which were ganging up behind you. Jump up the steps to the higher level, taking out any crows that appear in front of you.  Then beware the pit below you.  The grass may appear to be high, but you will see the tengu fall into a lower pit near the floor.


 * 8: Carefully drop into the pit, swinging your sword as you do so as to remove any tengu that have already fallen in. Do not hesitate; immediately jump back out of the pit on the left side before you give more tengu a chance to fill in the pit from the left.  There are more pits in the remainder of the grass, but the tengus will stop appearing after the first pit.


 * 7: After dropping down from the grass, you will see four watch bugs hanging from a tree. They are not a threat, but the mad monks which appear from the temple entrance to the right are.  Most will run towards you and can easily be remove with your sword, but a few will jump over you instead.  When they land, they toss their monk beads back at you, so beware.


 * 6: Continue running through the temple entrance, taking out the monks as you do. Eventually, you will reach the inner sanctum where very large Buddha statues lie in wait.  More monks can be taken out, even within the lap of the Buddha.


 * 5: After the Buddha, you will see a large bell-shaped object hanging from the ceiling. When you get close to it, several members of the Bee Corps will fly out of it.  If you do not stop in a good position, they will almost assuredly hit you.  The best place to stop is immediately to the right of the bell, where you must turn around and constantly swing your sword to take out the Bee Corps until the coast is clear.  Once it is, immediately run to the right to evade the next set of Bee Corps which fly out to the right.


 * 4: Continue to run so that you are out of reach of the newly appearing Bee Corps. Take out any monks that on headed your way and proceed to the next Buddha statue.


 * 3: This time, Bee Corps will be hovering around the statue. Every now and then they get the urge to stab downward at the floor with their spears.  You must time your approach carefully.  One thing to note about the stabbing Bee Corps, they can only stab a location to the right of you, never to the left.  Keep this in mind and inch forward in an effort to trick them into diving early.


 * 2: Clear out the remaining Bee Corps on the right side of the Buddha statue, and jump over the wall to reach the stage's boss.

Boss: Big Baldy
Big Baldy will usually assume one of two positions; either on top of the gray stone slab, or behind it. When you get close to him, he is more likely to jump behind it. That's just fine because his weak point is his bald head, and you can easily attack it from on top of the stone slab. The difficulty is not hitting Big Baldy, it is timing your attack. Big Baldy uses his very screams and commands to attack you. When he opens his mouth, bubbles of text appear which can hurt you. They tend to bounce over the slab and along the ground. This can make collecting your dropped sword particularly precarious, so time you movements appropriately. When Big Baldy is close to defeat, he will utter a command which summons monks to attack you. You must have your sword in order to attack the monks. Deal with them if you must to clear the area of any extra threats, and then continue your attack on Big Baldy's head.

NES differences

 * The Crow Tengus comes down at a much wider angle, making them extremely difficult to avoid. From their entrance at the top of the screen, they will land nearly in the middle of the screen, which is the space that you occupy.  You will have to move much more hesitantly and strike them away more often to survive the first section.
 * The "hidden" grass pits (shown right) are longer and far more obvious. They do not make the section any more difficult, as the Tengus are already substantially difficult to fight to begin with.
 * The tree before the temple contains the one and only watch bug in the entire game.
 * A lone stabbing Bee Corps member will appear early on in the game at the entrance of the temple.
 * Inside the temple, there are very high ledges that you must sometimes jump twice in order to leap over.
 * The hive that the Bee Corps fly out of only release four members; two which fly high, and two which fly low.
 * Big Baldy has some different attacks in this version. He will always stand on the gray slab and shout.  In one attack, he shouts "FOOL!" which flies overhead, and rains tiny "F" circles down to the ground.  In another attack, he sends many medium sized "F" circles which will land in one of three place.  During this second attack form, the only safe place to stand is slightly to the right of the second tree from the left.

Secret Areas
5-5: When you enter the temple, run beneath the second window that you encounter and duck down. It is ok to continue to fight off the monks as they approach you. Just remain squatting for a few seconds and you will be transported to a bonus room just like the second secret in the first area. Collect the 300 point coins or 500 point scrolls that drop until the candles expire, and then exit the room to the left to return to the temple entrance.

5-8: The following trick can only be performed on a Famicom with a microphone on the second control pad. When you reach the first Buddha statue, walk to its lap, squat down, and shout in to the microphone. You will be transported to a bonus area that contains scrolls which bob up and down. Some scrolls reveal coins, while others may reveal Princess dolls or extra lives. If a scroll does reveal a doll or an extra, it will float up from where you struck the scroll and a large hand will sweep across the room from left to right. If you are hit by the hand, you will lose a life. For both of these reasons, it is recommended that you jump up and strike the scrolls when you are on your way down from the jump and the scroll is low in the air. This will allow you to a) duck when you land to avoid the hand that sweeps across and b) collect the doll or extra since it won't float particularly high. If you miss any dolls, don't be concerned, one is provided for you at the end of the section. When you exit, you will be deposited on the hand of the second Buddha statue at 5-12. Note that this secret is present in the North American version of the game, but without a microphone, it is inaccessible.