Legacy of the Wizard/Walkthrough

Goal
The goal of the game is to use Xemn, Meyna, Lyll, and Pochi to collect each of the four crowns by defeating four guardians. Succeeding in that task will allow Roas to use the crowns to locate the Dragon Slayer and ultimately use it to defeat the evil King Dragon who is imprisoned in a painting in the center of the dungeon.

The dungeon
The dungeon consists of 16 floors, and each floor is composed for four long horizontal rooms. In the NES/Famicom version of the game, the screen scrolls smoothly from one end of a room to the other. However, on the two MSX versions, each room is further broken up into four screens. While the view of the room may change, you are still considered to be in the same room until you actually move your character off the left or right side of the screen.

In order to collect the crowns, you must send each family member into a portion of the dungeon that is specifically suited for that member's special abilities. The following map shows how the dungeon is divided among the different members.
 * The green area along the top and stretching a bit into the center of the dungeon is accessible to every member of the family, regardless of their talents.
 * The yellow area that occupies most of the middle and a bit of the right is packed with dangerous monsters that will make short work of all family members except Pochi.
 * The red area off to the right contains very high jumps and series of blocks which must be broken, making this area suited for high jumping Lyll and her mattock.
 * The blue area along the bottom has hallways of spiked floors and entire rows of locked doors, which only winged Meyna can unlock with her Key Stick.
 * Finally, the orange area on the left contains corridors that must be navigated by moving blocks with careful precision, a task only Xemn can do correctly with his glove.

Progress
In order to collect the crowns, every family member except for Pochi must have access to special items that enable them to reach the locations where the Crowns are stored in their respective portions of the dungeon. Items that each family member needs are not typically found in that member's area, but rather in another member's region of the dungeon. As a result, it is necessary to visit different portions of the dungeon in a specific order to enable each family member to make it all the way through their own portion.

Collecting items
Lyll, Meyna, and Xemn all need particular items in order to reach the locations where the crowns are hidden. Below is a guide to which character needs what item, and who can retrieve it for him. Note that this walkthrough assumes that all items are found and not purchased (with the exception of the shield which can only be bought in a secret store.)

Collecting Crowns
The Crowns can be collected in any order that you like. There is nothing forcing you to collect one family member's Crown before another's, other than the collection of required items. However, the order in which you collect the Crowns is in fact important. The reason the order is important is because each Crown's guardian becomes progressively stronger.

The first Crown you collect is guarded by the weakest boss, regardless of whose Crown you collect. The next Crown is guarded by a stronger boss, and so on, until you reach the fourth Crown which is protected by the strongest guardian in the game. For this reason, it is a good idea to use some strategy when going after the Crowns. The safest way to collect the Crowns is to pair each family member with a guardian according to their compared strength.

Despite Pochi's strong attack power, his limited range and rapid depletion of magic power makes him best suited for going up against the weakest guardian in the game. Since Xemn is the strongest member of the family, he has the best chance of surviving the fight with the strongest guardian. This does not mean that Pochi or any other member of the family (except Roas) can't fight the strongest guardian. It just means that they will have a much more difficult time succeeding in that battle. Use the chart below to plan your strategy.

The safe method
The safe method has you using each character at least twice; once to go through their area to collect all of the valuable items they can find, and a second time to collect the Crowns in a safe order. This means that you will have to navigate some of the trickier areas of the dungeon twice, particularly Xemn and Meyna's areas. However, it does allow you to fight the guardians with family members of comparable strength, and it allows you to enter every guardian fight with the Shield.
 * 1) Use Pochi to collect the Glove and the Power Knuckle.
 * 2) Use Xemn to collect the Hit Rod, the Powered Boots, and the Mattock.  Use a Crystal to return home.
 * 3) Use Lyll to purchase the Shield (and optionally collect the Key Stick). Then, use Lyll to collect the Fire Rod, and the Wings.
 * 4) Use Meyna to collect the Key Stick (if not already collected by Lyll or Xemn), the Armor, and the Jump Shoes.  Use a Crystal to return home.
 * 5) Defeat the Crown Guardians:
 * 6) * Have Pochi defeat the first Crown guardian.
 * 7) * Have Lyll defeat the second Crown guardian.
 * 8) * Have Meyna defeat the third Crown guardian.
 * 9) * Have Xemn defeat the fourth Crown guardian.
 * 10) Select Roas and use the Crown to access the location of the Dragon Slayer. Then, have Roas bring the Dragon Slayer to the dragon painting and defeat the King Dragon.

The quick method
The quick method does as little backtracking as possible, and does not send each member of the family up against a guardian that they are necessarily well suited to fight. You must be an expert player in order to survive the later guardian fights, and you may want to bring Magic Bottles or Elixirs into the fights with you to ensure that you survive.
 * 1) Use Pochi to collect the Glove, and optionally the Power Knuckle.  Then have Pochi defeat the first Crown guardian.
 * 2) Use Xemn to collect the Hit Rod, the Powered Boots (optional), and the Mattock.  Then have Xemn defeat the second Crown guardian.
 * 3) * Optionally, use Lyll to purchase the Shield.
 * 4) Use Lyll to collect the Wings, and optionally the Fire Rod.
 * 5) Use Meyna to collect the Key Stick, the Armor (optional), and the Jump Shoes.  Then have Meyna defeat the third Crown guardian.
 * 6) Have Lyll to fight the fourth Crown guardian.
 * 7) Select Roas and use the Crown to access the location of the Dragon Slayer. Then, have him bring the Dragon Slayer to the dragon painting and defeat the King Dragon.

MSX2 method
The locations of a few key items have been altered in the MSX2 version of the game. As a result, the method for completing the game is a little different. For more details about these changes, please read the MSX2 changes section of this walkthrough.
 * 1) Use Pochi to collect the Glove, the Power Knuckle, the Mattock, and the Key Stick.  Then have Pochi defeat the first Crown guardian.
 * 2) Use Lyll to collect the Jump Shoes (from Meyna's area), the Fire Rod and the Wings.  Then have Lyll defeat the second Crown guardian.
 * 3) Optionally, have Roas use the Crown to warp to the secret shop location and purchase the Shield.
 * 4) Have Meyna defeat the third Crown guardian.
 * 5) Use Xemn to collect the Armor.  Then have Xemn defeat the fourth Crown guardian.
 * 6) Select Roas and use the Crown to access the location of the Dragon Slayer.
 * 7) Have Roas bring the Dragon Slayer to the dragon painting and defeat the King Dragon.