The Return of Ishtar/Gameplay

Controls

 * Joystick: Use the 8-way joystick to direct Ki (or Gil if you're player 2) around each room. (The screen will only scroll according to Ki's location). While holding down the second button, Ki can use her joystick to cycle through the six different types of magic spells ("ATTACK", "PROTECT", "ASSIST", "LIGHT", "MEDICAL" and "SPECIAL") and select them with first button.
 * First Button: Use this button to make Ki cast her currently-selected spell at the enemies. (Gil will automatically draw his sword whenever an enemy gets close enough to him). While holding down the second button, Ki can use this button to select a different spell. There are a total of sixty-four different spells in the game - but she will only start out with ten of them.
 * Second Button: Use this button to make the menu of spells appear in the bottom-left corner of the screen. As mentioned in the section on the joystick above, Ki can cycle through the six different types of spells with her joystick, and select them with first button, but she will lose the ability to move and cast her currently-selected spell at the enemies while doing so.

Ki and Gil
The two protagonists of the game; player 1 controls the spell-casting Princess Ki (shown in the image to the left), while player 2 controls the sword-wielding Prince Gilgamesh (shown in the image to the right). The screen will only scroll according to Ki's location - so if you are player 2, you will have to stay close to your partner if you want to explore the rooms. Ki will attack by casting spells at the enemies, while Gil automatically draws his sword whenever an enemy gets close enough to him; however, each time Gil kills an enemy with his sword, the numerator of the fraction in the bottom-right corner of the screen (the denominator starts at 15) will decrease by a preset amount depending on what enemy type it was. If it goes down to 0, he will evaporate, and it is game over for both players - and it is also game over for both players if Ki is touched by any enemy at all, which instantly makes her evaporate.

Vampires
These blood-sucking monsters come in four different colours - purple, orange, green and black. The purple ones take two hits to kill, the orange ones take four hits to kill, the green ones take ten hits to kill, and the black ones take twenty hits to kill. None of the four varieties of Vampires have any recovery points.

Slimes
These oozing blobs come in eight different colours - green, black, red, blue, yellow, pink, dark yellow, and dark green. The green ones will take 6 hits to kill, the black ones take 10 hits to kill, the red ones take 34 hits to kill, the blue ones take 56 hits to kill, the yellow ones take 106 hits to kill, the pink ones take 136 hits to kill, the dark yellow ones take 168 hits to kill, and the dark green ones take 208 hits to kill. The green ones will also have a singular recovery point, the black ones will have 2 recovery points, the red ones will have 3 recovery points, the blue ones will have 4 recovery points, the yellow ones will have 5 recovery points, the pink ones will have 6 recovery points, the dark yellow ones will have 7 recovery points, and the dark green ones will have 8 recovery points. They also from the original game.

Bats
These nocturnal animals come in four different colours - purple, orange, blue and black. The purple ones take four hits to kill, the orange ones take ten hits to kill, the blue ones take twenty-six hits to kill, and the black ones take seventy-two hits to kill. The purple ones don't have any recovery points, but the orange ones do have one recovery point, the blue ones have five recovery points, and the black ones have twenty recovery points. The blue ones are also known as "Hambrabi" (Katakana: ハンブラビ) - literally "Hanburabi".

Snakes
These reptilan animals come in four different colours - green, blue, orange and black. The green ones take 8 hits to kill, the blue ones take 20 hits to kill, the orange ones take 72 hits to kill, and the black ones take 136 hits to kill. The green ones don't have any recovery points, but the blue ones have 6 recovery points, the orange ones have 19 recovery points, and the black ones have 32 recovery points. The black ones are also known as "Otapyon" (Katakana: オタピョン) - literally how spelled in Romanji, unlike "Hanburabi".

Oozes
These smaller versions of the Slimes come in eight different colours - green, black, red, blue, yellow, pink, dark yellow, and dark green. The green ones take 18 hits to kill, the black ones take 96 hits to kill, the red ones take 296 hits to kill, the blue ones take 462 hits to kill, the yellow ones take 560 hits to kill, the pink ones take 666 hits to kill, the dark yellow ones take 842 hits to kill, and the dark green ones take 1039 hits to kill. And the green ones have 2 recovery points, the black ones have 15 recovery points, the red ones have 47 recovery points, the blue ones have 75 recovery points, the yellow ones have 92 recovery points, the pink ones have 110 recovery points,, the dark yellow ones have 139 recovery points and the dark green ones have 171 recovery points. They may be smaller than the aforementioned Slimes, but they are certainly tougher...

Magicians
These warlocks come in four different classes - Mages, Druids, Sorcerers and Wizards. All four classes will take five hits to kill and have no recovery points.

Hyper Magicians
These "hyper" warlocks (which are identical in appearance to the regular ones) also come in four classes - Hyper Mages, Hyper Druids, Hyper Sorcerers and Hyper Wizards. As with the regular ones, all four classes take five hits to kill, and have no recovery points, but they materialize at faster rate than regular ones.

Ropers
These many-tentacle mounds come in five different colours - orange with green tentacles, green with red tentacles, yellow with blue tentacles, blue with yellow tentacles, and white with pink tentacles. The "green" ones take 52 hits to kill, the "red" ones take 134 hits to kill, the "blue" ones take 254 hits to kill, the "yellow" ones take 414 hits to kill, and the "pink" ones take 568 hits to kill. None of them have any recovery points, but the "pink" ones also have an "AC" after their colour.

Super Ropers
These "super" many-tentacle mounds (which, like the Hyper Magicians, are identical in appearance to the regular ones) only come in three different colours - orange with green tentacles, green with red tentacles, and yellow with blue tentacles. The "green" ones take 780 hits to kill, the "red" ones take 926 hits to kill, and the "blue" ones take 1026 hits to kill. As with the regular ones, none of them have any recovery points, but they move at a slightly faster speed than the regular ones (and also take more hits to kill).

Knights
These armoured warriors come in total eighteen different classes (a lot) - Blue, Blue Captain, Black, Blue Eye, Black Captain, Mirror, Golden Mirror, Hyper, Steel Hyper, Silver Hyper, Golden Hyper, Green Lizardman, Pink Sword (L?), Black Lizardman, Brown Lizardman, Red, Blue Shield, and Akynd. The Blue ones take 13 hits to kill, the Blue Captain ones take 50 hits to kill, the Black ones take 22 hits to kill, the Blue Eye ones take 82 hits to kill, the Black Captain ones take 142 hits to kill, the Mirror ones take 59 hits to kill, the Golden Mirror ones take 175 hits to kill, the Hyper ones take 306 hits to kill, the Steel Hyper ones take 556 hits to kill, the Silver Hyper ones take 856 hits to kill, the Golden Hyper ones take 1300 hits to kill, the Green Lizarmen take 402 hits to kill, the Pink Sword (L?) ones take 482 hits to kill, the Black Lizardmen take 602 hits to kill, the Brown Lizardmen take 762 hits to kill, the Red ones take 590 hits to kill, the Blue Shield ones take 906 hits to kill, and the Akynd ones take 2490 hits to kill. None of the three (four?) types of Lizardmen have recovery points - but the Blue ones have single recovery point, the Blue Captain ones have 4 recovery points, the Black ones have 2 recovery points, the Blue Eye ones have 82 recovery points, the Black Captain ones have 16 recovery points, the Mirror ones have 7 recovery points, the Golden Mirror ones have 18 recovery points, the Hyper ones have 34 recovery points, the Steel Hyper ones have 63 recovery points, the Silver Hyper ones have 98 recovery points and the Golden Hyper ones have 149 recovery points, the Red ones have 68 recovery points, the Blue Shield ones have 104 recovery points, and the Akynd ones have 255 recovery points. As with the Slimes (but not the Oozes), they're also from the original game.

Will O' Wisps and Land Urchins
Will O' Wisps (shown in the images to the left) come in two different colours (red and blue), but Land Urchins (shown in the image to the right) only come in one (green). If Ki and Gil spend too long in any room after the song they are hearing from the Yamaha YM-2151 has increased in tempo, four Will O' Wisps will appear in the centre of the room and make their way to the corners before homing in on the heroes' current position; it is not known how many hits they take to kill or how many recovery points they have, but your best way of escaping is to collect the nearest key and head for the door that it opens. Land Urchins, however, will appear in both the third-last and second-last rooms of the game under the trap doors that you have to fall down if you step on them - and as with the Will O' Wisps, it is not known how many hits they take to kill, or how many recovery points they have.

Keys
In every room of the tower, you will come across at least one of these small yellow keys lying on the floor as you walk around; each one unlocks a specific door in the room, and once the player who has collected a specific key walks up to the door it unlocks, it will open up for them. Once both players have walked through the open door together (neither player can walk through an open door individually like in Namco's own Toy Pop), the name of the room it leads to will be shown on the screen and you will be given a three-character "Room Pass".

Treasure Chests
In some rooms of the tower, you will come across one of these small brown chests in a "hole" in one of the walls as you walk around; if Ki pushes the second button to bring up the menu of spells in the bottom-left of the screen and uses her joystick to select the Blue Crystal Rod spell, then uses it on the chest while facing it, it will disappear and its effects will be transferred to her until she and Gil leave the room. Some of them will even give her new spells, which will be displayed in the bottom-left menu of spells under their respective types.

Fork
This piece of cutlery appears in the Kitchen, and can only be collected by Gil, as Ki will just walk through it; it will give him the power to deflect the Magicians' spells with his sword.

"ATTACK"

 * Fire Ball: Ki will always have this spell (along with the Flying Disk one below) when she starts the game. Effective against all four varieties of Vampires and all eight varieties of Slimes.
 * Flying Disk: Ki will also always have this "ATTACK" spell when starting a game. Effective against all four varieties of Vampires, all four varieties of Bats and all eight varieties of Slimes.
 * Lightning Bolt: The first spell from a Treasure Chest. Effective against all four varieties of Vampires, all four varieties of Bats, all eight varieties of Slimes and the Blue class of Knights.
 * Fire Element: This one is effective against all four varieties of Vampires, all four varieties of Bats, all eight varieties of Slimes, the Blue variety of Knights and all four varieties of Snakes.
 * Press: This is the third "ATTACK" spell in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest. It is effective against all four varieties of Vampires, all four varieties of Bats, all except for that two Dark Yellow and Dark Green varieties of Slimes, all four varieties of Snakes, the Blue class of Knights, and the Mage class of Magicians.
 * Spark: This is the fourth "ATTACK" spell in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest. It effective against all four varieties of Vampires, all four varieties of Bats, all eight varieties of Slimes, all four varieties of Snakes, all eight varieties of Oozes, the "Green" Ropers, and the Blue, Blue Captain, Mirror, and Black Knights.
 * Ice Breath: This is the fifth "ATTACK" spell in the game that will be found in a Treasure Chest. Effective against all four varieties of Vampires, all four varieties of Bats, all eight varieties of Slimes, all four varieties of Snakes, all eight varieties of Oozes, the "Green" variety Ropers and the Blue, Blue Captain, Mirror, Black, Blue Eye and Black Captain classes of Knights.
 * Heat Body: This is the sixth "ATTACK" spell in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on Treasure Chest. Effective against all four varieties of Vampires, all four varieties of Bats, all eight varieties of Slimes, all four varieties of Snakes, all eight varieties of Oozes, all four classes of Magicians, all four classes of Hyper Magicians, all five varieties of Ropers, all three varieties of Super Ropers, and all except for the Akynd class of Knights. (In order to kill an Akynd class of Knight, you will have to find the "Death Spell"...)
 * Fire Explosion: This is the seventh "ATTACK" spell in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest. It is effective against all four varieties of Vampires, all four varieties of Bats, all eight varieties of Slimes, all four varieties of Snakes, all eight varieties of Oozes, all four classes of Magicians (along with all four classes of Hyper Magicians), the "Green", "Red" and "Blue" varieties of Ropers and the Blue, Blue Captain, Mirror, Black, Blue Eye, Black Captain, and Hyper (this is seven), classes of Knights.
 * Thunder Bolt: This is the eighth "ATTACK" spell in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest. It is effective against all four varieties of Vampires, all four varieties of Bats, all eight varieties of Slimes, all four varieties of Snakes, all eight varieties of Oozes, the "Green", "Red" and "Blue" varieties of Ropers and the Blue, Blue Captain, Mirror, Black, Blue Eye and Black Captain (this is six) classes of Knights. (The Hyper Knights are immune to this spell, unlike the Fire Explosion one mentioned above).
 * Killer Cloud: This is the ninth "ATTACK" spell in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest. It is effective against all four varieties of the Vampires, all four varieties of Bats, all eight varieties of Slimes, all four varieties of Snakes, all eight varieties of Oozes, the Green, Red and Blue varieties of Ropers and all except for the Blue Shield and Akynd classes of Knights. (In order to kill a Blue Shield or Akynd class of Knight, you will have to find the "Heat Body" spell mentioned above or the "Death Spell".)
 * Death Spell: This is the tenth "ATTACK" spell in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest. It is effective against all four varieties of the Vampires, all four varieties of Bats, all eight varieties of Slimes, the Blue variety of Knights, all four varieties of Snakes, all eight varieties of Oozes, all five varieties of Ropers, all three varieties of Super Ropers, all eighteen classes of Knights, both varieties of Will O' Wisps and Land Urchins. (Only the Magicians, and the Hyper Magicians, are immune to this spell...)
 * Big Burn: This is the eleventh and final "ATTACK" in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest. It is effective against all four varieties of Vampires, all four varieties of Bats, all eight varieties of Slimes, the Blue variety of Knights, all four varieties of Snakes, all eight varieties of Oozes, all five varieties of Ropers, all but the Brown Lizardman, Red, Blue Shield and Akynd classes of Knights, Red Will O' Wisps and Land Urchins. (The Blue Will O' Wisps are immune to this spell, unlike the Death Spell one.)

"PROTECT"

 * Shield: Ki will always have this "PROTECT" spell when she starts the game. Its effect will increase the numerator of Gil's energy fraction in the bottom-right corner of the screen by one, and cause the preset amount that it decreases by whenever he kills an enemy with his sword (as mentioned above, it will depend upon what type of enemy it was), to go down by half.
 * Protection: Ki will also always have this "PROTECT" spell when she starts the game. It will generate barrier around her that renders her invulnerable until she and Gil leave the room.
 * Neutralize Spell I: This is the first "PROTECT" spell in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest, and will later be superseded by the "Neutralize Spell II". Its effect will give Gil the power to neutralize the spells that cast at him by the Magicians (because after collecting the Fork, he can only block them from the front).
 * Reflect Spell I: This is the second "PROTECT" spell in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on Treasure Chest, and will later be superseded by the "Reflect Spell II". Its effect will give Gil the power to deflect the Magicians' spells with his sword diagonally (after collecting the Fork, he can only deflect them horizontally or vertically).
 * Shield Redline: This is the third "PROTECT" spell in the game, that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest, and will later be superseded by the "Shield Blueline" spell. Its effect will increase the numerator of Gil's energy fraction in the bottom-right corner of the screen by two, and cause the preset amount that it decreases by whenever he kills an enemy with his sword to go down by a third, which adds up to a total of a fifth - however, as mentioned above, it will still depend upon what type of enemy it was.
 * Protection Large: This is the fourth "PROTECT" spell in the game, that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest, and supersedes the "Protection" spell that she started out with. It will generate a larger barrier around her that again renders her invulnerable until she and Gil leave the room, and can kill enemies by touching them.
 * Neutralize Spell II: This is the fifth "PROTECT" spell in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on Treasure Chest, and supersedes the "Neutralize Spell I". Its effect will give Gil the power to neutralize the spells that cast at him by the Hyper Magicians (because, once again, after collecting the Fork, he can only block them from the front).
 * Reflect Spell II: This is the sixth "PROTECT" spell in the game, that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest, and supersedes the "Reflect Spell I". Its effect will give Gil the power to deflect the Hyper Magicians' spells with his sword diagonally (once again, after collecting the Fork, he can only deflect them horizontally or vertically).
 * Shield Blueline: This is the seventh "PROTECT" spell in the game, that will be found when Ki uses Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest, and supersedes the "Shield Redline". Its effects will increase the numerator of Gil's energy fraction in the bottom-right corner of the screen by three, and cause that preset amount that it decreases by whenever he kills an enemy with his sword to go down by a quarter, which adds up to a total of an eighth (counting other two) - however, as mentioned above, it still depends on what type of enemy it was.
 * Sword Barrier: This is the eighth "PROTECT" spell in the game, that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest. Its effect will create a barrier around her that will render her invulnerable to the swords of all eighteen classes of Knights (or however many may be present in the current room) until she and Gil decide to leave that room.
 * High Speed: This is the ninth and final "PROTECT" spell in the game that will be found when Ki uses the Blue Crystal Rod spell on a Treasure Chest. Its effect will give Gil the power to attack the spells of the Druid and Wizard classes of Hyper Magicians (along with the Druid and Wizard classes of regular Magicians), before the aforementioned Magicians disappear.