Youkai Dochuuki/Walkthrough

Shadow Land (known as "Yōkai Dōchūki" in Japan) is a linear platform game divided into five stages. You must progress through every stage, from start to finish, in order to see the end of the game. Along the way, you only have one health meter and one life. If your health meter is drained, and you do not have any restoration items in your inventory, the game will end. You will then be given an opportunity to continue your game at the cost of additional credits.

The greatest challenge present in this game, is its tendency to punish players who stand around in one spot for too long. Punishments for this can include falling frogs, swarming background demons, are appearances of face demons and Hell Wheels that pursue the player until they are defeated, or scrolled off the screen vertically. Hell Wheels are particularly dangerous since they can kill you with one mere touch.

Differences in the PC Engine version
The PC Engine version is graphically very faithful to the arcade game. However, many of the stages have been simplified. A majority of stages are presented only through horizontal scrolling, and completely lack any vertical scrolling. Vertical travel is typically accomplished by dropping through chasms at the bottom of the screen, which will transport the player to another region.

The PC Engine version is considered both easier and harder than the arcade for a couple of reasons. Although the game still punishes you for standing around in one place for too long, the punishment is less severe, as only two face demons will every appear at once, and Hell Wheels are extremely rare and almost never encountered until the very end of the game. The game is harder, however, because there is no option to continue after you die.

Differences in the Famicom version
Compared to the PC Engine version, the Famicom version is much more faithful to the original presentation of each stage, although it is understandably graphically inferior. Particular to the Famicom version is an additional characteristic of the player which is tracked throughout the game, Piety. The player will have opportunities to make certain decisions which can raise or lower his piety. The game then determines the ending based strictly on the final value of the player's Piety as opposed to the usual method.

In addition to shops, there are also temples. At temples, you can choose to pray for an increase in your spirit, power, or jump. You can only upgrade each stat once per level. In order to upgrade them, you must first make a donation to the temple. To donate, you must enter two numbers; the number on the right represents 1000s of your money, while the number on the left represents 10,000s. For every 1000 you donate, you get 10 units of time on a clock. Once the clock starts, you must constantly tap or  until the meter by the timer is full.

Tapping the buttons as fast as possible will not help you. Tapping too fast will not fill the meter up quickly. You should instead find the fastest rhythm that allows you to fill the meter with the least wasted button presses. If you fill the meter before time is up, you will succeed in increasing your stat. If the meter is not filled in time, you will lose your money, but you can still try again. After enough practice, you shouldn't need more than 60 units on the clock to fill the meter. Start with 80, and then go down to 70 once you have the hang of it, until you can consistently fill the meter within 60.