Vigilante/Stage 4

In the downtown stage, you will have to contend with a large number of heavy hitters. Although your encounters through this stage may not match the description in this guide exactly, it will be fairly close. One thing is for certain: if you get killed, take advantage of all the invulnerability time that you are granted when your next life begins.

The action starts almost right away with a Dirty Jack that approaches you from the right. Do not attempt to go toe to toe with him, as the knife gives his attacks better range than your kicks. Instead, try to rely on jump kicks against him, which he has little defense against. Moving on, you're likely to encounter a Red Mohawk next. While you're fighting him, a Dirty Jack will approach from the left, and this is where the trouble really begins.

Your safest attack when you are surrounded like this, is to perform a jump kick, and then push the joystick back in the opposite direction while you kick off the first opponent in order to attack the enemy on the other side of you. Which ever enemy you focus on, the other one will surely assault you, so do your best to alternate your attacks as frequently as possible.

As you continue on in front of the next building, Stranglers will flood the screen, appearing from both the ground level doorways, as well as the ledge one story above. The ones above you will drop down to the ground behind you. In addition to all this, a Red Mohawk or Dirty Jack is likely to be following behind as well. Walk forward as far as you can before you are forced to turn around and attack the closest Stranglers. Then proceed forward again until you are once against forced to deal with the situation.

By the time you reach the end of this building, you will be forced to deal with whichever strong enemy was following you, and a Chain Gang will approach from the right to surround you. Deal with them and advance forward. After a short distance, you are likely to be attacked by more Chain Gangs, and Dirty Jacks.

After you pass a fence between buildings, you'll have to deal with another surprise: Crow Bars dropping down from the roof tops. You can't see where they are waiting for you, but they will join the fray, often in pairs that surround you, in addition to whatever tough enemies you are already facing on the ground. Making your way through this stage unharmed is incredibly challenging, if not impossible. Fight your way through the waves of tough enemies by relying primarily on jump kicks, and the occasional fast ground kick (standing or squatting) before turning around and dealing with the opposite side. You'll spot a pair of nun-chucks on the ground when you are getting close to the boss.

Boss: Skin Head
Also known as Skinhead the Horrible. Skin Head starts out by tossing sticks of lit dynamite towards the ground at your feet. These sticks fall and take quite a while to explode. Naturally, you don't want to be standing anywhere near them when they do finally explode. In the mean time, jump up and perform mid-air punches (or swing your nun-chucks in the air if you're still holding them) to damage his feet until he finally gives up and decides to face you on the ground.

Once he jumps down, you no longer have to worry about the sticks of dynamite, and this becomes a more conventional boss fight. However, unlike the boss in stages 1 and 3, this boss is no push over, and won't be taken in by random fast attacks. You'll have to be a bit more calculated, and rely more heavily on jump kick attacks. If you still have the nun-chucks, you can try to swing them continuously, but don't do it squatting down, as that seems to give him an opening.

Alternate between jump kicks and kicking him immediately upon landing. If one doesn't hit him, the other one is likely to. You'll need to watch out for the moments when he tries to leap over you. He will typically do this if he is getting too far to the right and he begins to feel cornered. Pull back a little bit to keep him on one side of you, and attack him as soon as he lands.

If he does leap over your head, continue with the strategy of jump kicks, and kicks upon landing. Once he is defeated, walk all the way to the right, ignoring any basic enemies as much as possible. Once you reach the lift at the end of the building, you will advance to the fifth and final stage.