Higemaru Makaijima/Hebi Island

Pirate Ship
You will find the Pirate ship with the key to the Mermaid Island gate off the northeast corner of Jack Knife Island, the north most island. The layout of this ship will be the same as the last one that you encountered, whichs requires you to defeat 25 pirates before you are granted entrance to fight the captain. Once you obtain the key from the captain, simply sail south and you should hit Hebi Island. Follow the coast line around until you reach the south coast of the island, where you will find the entrance.

Mermaid Island
The structure of Hebi Island is rather distinct, as it is composed of a tower containing eight floors. The entrance to the island itself is built in, quite obviously, to the first floor. After arriving, you can head right one screen and you will meet a man with a warning. He will tell you that the remaining enemies from Ghosts 'n Goblins have been sealed up in this tower. As for why Capcom placed enemies from another game in this tower, the two games have something else in common besides being Capcom games. The Japanese name for Ghosts 'n Goblins is Makaimura (Demon Village) while this game is known as Makaijima (Demon Island). So Capcom placed an homage to the original "Makai" game here.

Momotaru will have to deal with these enemies a little differently than Arthur did, since the only thing Momotaru can throw at them are rocks. These enemies are powerful, typically doing 300 points of damage per hit! Fight sparingly and do not place Momotaru in harms way unnecessarily. If no enemies are actually in his way, it is best to avoid dealing with them altogether, and conserve health points. Note that Fire Flies do not actually wake up and attack until Momotaru gets close enough to them. And while rocks will smash through Zombies, they will sometimes stop after hitting one Fire Fly or Blue Killer.

As you climb the tower, you may notice a blue lamp along the way. Unfortunately, this is not the true lamp, but an impostor. Collect it anyway for an easy 200 points. The boss of the island lies at the top of the seventh floor, along with the treasure he guards. On your way up, you will encounter doors that lock shut behind you, preventing a return trip by any means other than using holes to return to the entrance gate. Of course you may notice that the tower also has a basement level. This not-so-secret level contains an important item that you must claim in order to gain entry to the next island. Read the description below to learn how to obtain the item it contains.

Boss fight
The boss of Hebi Island is none other than the boss of the first level of Ghosts n' Goblins; the Cyclops. Unlike his original appearance, he's not all brute strength. He seems to have gained the ability to throw fireballs at you. As a boss in Makaijima, he is quite similar to those which you have encountered in the past, only he has a lot more freedom of movement, and will have a tendency to chase you around the room. He does have one weakness, however. He has a high tendency to get stuck on rocks that lie between you and him. You can use this to your advantage by luring him over to the left side of the room, and leaving all but the one rock he is standing over in place. This will keep him immobile, and allow you to throw rocks at an easy target. Getting hit by fire costs 100 points, but getting touched by the Cyclops costs a whopping 1,000 points, so avoid contact with him entirely. Once he is defeated, the path to the room above will open up, allowing you to enter the room and collect the circle tablet, which you need to obtain Baido's treasure.