Marvel Land/Walkthrough

Namco's 1989 platform arcade game Marvel Land, which was the company's last game of the 1980s, is divided into four worlds; the first, third and fourth worlds of the game have four areas each, but the second world has five. The player controls heroic Prince Paco, who is on a mission to save Princess Luxy from the evil Mole King - and his objective for every area is to make it from the beginning to the end without dying or running out of time. Along the way, he will encounter Dust Containers, which either can or cannot be pushed (much like certain fire hydrants, cacti and tree trunks from Namco's own Pac-Land); a powerup will emerge from the ones that can be pushed once they have been pushed all the way to the left. He will also encounter springs with pinballs and bullets (which look somewhat like a smiling version of the Bullet Bills from Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. series) on the end of them - and once the springs have been pushed all the way to the left, the pinballs/bullets will either roll forward and kill any enemies in their path for increasing point values, or explode upon impact with an enemy to kill it along with any others in the vicinity. And he will also encounter barrels (which look similar to the ones from Nintendo's Donkey Kong); once they have been pushed in either direction, they will roll forward and kill any enemies in their path for increasing point values in a manner similar to that of the aforementioned pinballs. These barrels must also be used on water in the 3rd world.

If you are playing the Japanese version of the game, you will be given a choice between "EASY" and "NORMAL" mode once you have inserted your coin and pushed the start button - but the "EASY" mode only includes Worlds 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-Bonus, 2-1, 2-3, and 4-4. This guide has been written for the readers who chose "NORMAL" mode, which includes all twenty areas of the game; however, if you are playing the US version of the game, the game will display the text "COMPLETTED THANK YOU" once you have cleared World 3-Bonus instead of proceeding to World 4, before going into high-score mode. However, if the arcade owner has set the "WORLD SELECT" dip switch in the game's options menu to "ON" (which is also present in the Japanese version), you can start from World 4 once you have inserted your coin and pushed the start button - but the game will recognise that you did not defeat the three previous bosses (the Great Condor, the Demon Angle and Princess A La Mode), thus did not rescue the three Guardian Fairies (Florrie, Sylphie and Sweetie), thus did not receive the three Trident Crystals which are required to defeat the Mole King once you have beaten him at his minigame. Given that there is no way to attack him without at least one Trident Crystal, your game will basically be over, regardless of how many lives you have remaining; but once you have defeated him with the power of your Trident Crystals, you will still have to escape from the dungeon with Princess Luxy in tow...