Valkyrie no Bouken/The second continent

Landing on the continent

After taking off from the dock of the first continent, set sail to the north, and travel along the west coast of the second continent until you reach the very top. The dock of the second continent will come into view. As soon as you arrive, you will be immediately assailed by the enemies that occupy the land. Your safest bet is to head south east as fast as you can in order to reach the safety of the hotel. Don't risk fighting monsters until you've established your safety. Of course, before you land, you may wish to take a short excursion to explore the nearby waters.

Explore the north islands

Before you arrive on the docks of the second continent, you may wish to explore the islands to the north of the second continent. At first glance, they appear empty and devoid of anything useful. The first island that you come to has an oddly colored section of grass right next to the dock. If you explore this portion of grass, you will stumble upon one of the Sandra's hidden shops! He has the following items for sale: Keys (160), Super Potion (320), Super Antidote (240), Ax (64), Power Short Sword (800), Helmet (320). If you don't have an Ax at this time, you may want to pick one up, but most of the other items are expensive luxuries that you can find elsewhere. Traveling a little further east, you will find a smaller empty island. But merely walking on to the island will net you a free Mantle, an item that you'll definitely be needing shortly.

Arrive at the hotel

Once you land on the dock, you'll need to race to the east in order to reach the safety of the hotel. If you haven't reached a high level of experience, then it won't take a long time for the enemies on this continent to reduce the Valkyrie's health to zero. Once you've visited the hotel, you can begin to branch out again and learn where each of the different monsters hang out, and which ones are too strong to face at your current level.

Sell unneeded items

The shop next door to the hotel is probably the first shop that you will get to visit. In it, you will find the following for sale: Lamp (32), Potion (64), Antidote (48), Ax (64), Long Sword (160), Mantle (240). If you don't own a Long Sword, purchase one as soon as you are able. At that moment, you can feel free to sell your Short Sword for 8 gold. Purchase an Ax as well if you can afford it. You will also need a Mantle, but you can wait to purchase one. Sell off any extra items that you don't need but do not sell the Ship. As crazy as it sounds, you are able to sell off your ship, but if you do, you will be unable to complete the game without continuing the game by entering a password (which resets all of the treasures in the world.)

Understanding the warps

At this point in the game, you should feel comfortable using the warp zones to quickly travel from one corner of the world to the other. To operate the warps correctly, you must stand on the purple tile directly in front of the warp structure. You must face one of four directions, and press . The direction that you face will determine which warp zone you will arrive at. If you are in possession of the Tiara (which won't occur until you can visit the 3rd continent), these destinations will change. Note that there are four warp zones on continent 2, and one on continent 1. The east-most warp zone below the east hotel and shop on continent 2 is only for your convenience to reach other locations, it cannot be arrived at. The remaining four warp zones create a square around the world.

Input	+	+	+	+
Destination	Northwest warpzone	Southeast warpzone	Southwest warpzone	Northeast warpzone
Location	North of the west hotel	East of the South Pyramid	Continent 1	Northeast of the North Pyramid

These warps are a powerful tool that will help you complete many of the following tasks with greater ease. Learn to use them with confidence.

Heading east

Once you are strong enough, you can cross the bridge east of the hotel and attack the Shizasu on the other side. Defeat it using the same technique as before, and collect the keys for defeating it. (If you already have two sets of keys, you may wish to sell this extra set at the shop.) You are a few steps closer to the dangerous desert of Marvel Land. This harsh landscape can slowly drain the Valkyrie's life, and she will need protection in the form of a Mantle. Make sure you have one in your inventory before you continue, or purchase one from the shop.

Exploring the well

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After the bridge Shizasu, you will encounter a well a little further on. It is not required, but you may wish to investigate the well to see what lies beneath. When you drop down inside, it will be quite dark, but not so dark that it is impossible to tell where to go. Still, if you prefer, you can use a lamp to brighten up the room. A normal lamp can be lit four times before running out of oil. Note that once you enter the well, the only exit will deposit you back on the 1st continent. You can sail back to the 2nd continent, or use the warp zones to return, as described above. You won't find anything in this dungeon that you can't find elsewhere, but if you're low on money, and don't have a Long Sword or a Helmet yet, the investigation may be worth your while. Remember that the dungeon features its own set of enemies, some of which are much stronger than those you will encounter above ground. Don't dawdle for too long and make sure you have enough magic and health to reach a hotel once you escape.

Investigate the lakes

Beyond the well is a long path that stretches to the north, along the mountains that separate the plains from the deserts to the east. The lakes of Marvel Land are known to contain useful items that you may find if you take the time to explore them. You may notice a lake to the west as you travel north. If you double back along the mountain path to investigate it, and wade inside its waters, you will be rewarded with a Super Potion, good for restoring your health four times. Another lake lies to the west of the north pyramid in the desert (see the image below.) Investigating this lake will give you a fairly useful prize: the Blue Lamp. This lamp never runs out of oil, so you never have to worry about getting stuck in the dark. You can sell all of the normal lamps in your possession after you obtain the Blue Lamp.

Obtaining a Sandra Soul

When you reach the edge of the desert, it is time to don your mantle, to protect the Valkyrie from the harsh environment. Another danger that you will face in the desert are the cacti; one touch of their prickly spines will poison you, so avoid them at all costs. Whether you approach the desert from the north, or arrive at the desert in the south through the southeast warp zone, you will discover one of the two pyramids fairly quickly. Finding them is easy, but entering them is another story, as you will appear to be shut out. However, as you stand in front of the door, the image of a Sandra will flash above the pyramid, indicating that you need this item in order to gain access. Fortunately for you, the one enemy that drops this item happens to be all around you in the desert: the Black Sandra. These enemies are fairly easy to fight since they remain motionless until you approach them. Therefore, you can easily control the pace of a fight between the Valkyrie and four Black Sandras. You must continue to fight them until one of the drops the Soul of Sandra, which appears to look like a small Sandra Statue.

Explore the North Pyramid

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Once you collect the Sandra Soul, you can stand in front of the North Pyramid entrance, pause the game, highlight the Sandra Soul in your inventory, and press . A wandering Sandra Soul will cross the screen from right to left, and open the pyramid doors as it passes by. Note that there are two exits out of the pyramid. One deposits you very close to the entrance, while the left exit places you north of the west hotel and shop.

Once you're inside the pyramid, your goal will be to collect two objects. One is necessary, and one is optional. Important treasures are usually guarded by large stationary enemies known as Enmakondas, such as the one shown to the left. The Blue Mantle in the lower left corner is a necessary item to beat the game. Not only will it enable you to win, it will substantially help you avoid having to replace your torn mantle over and over since it can never be consumed. The optional item is the blue Power Ax. Unlike the normal Ax, this too can never be used up. You can chop down trees and mountains to your heart's content without fear of losing the Power Ax. However, the Power Ax is a bit out of the way, and requires greater strength to retrieve. A regular Ax isn't too expensive, and 40 chops is usually enough to gain access to most of the things that you need.

Dungeon perils

There are a few things to be especially careful of while exploring a dungeon.

• Mushrooms: Touching a mushroom is like touching a cactus in the desert—it will poison you. It's best to walk around the outside edges of the rooms that contain them.
• Pit Traps: Some of the rooms are lined with invisible pit traps. You may be walking along when all of a sudden, you fall into the ground and take damage. They will always appear in the same position. Be suspicious of an object waiting in an empty room; there's sure to be pit traps nearby.
• Water: On a few occasions, a tempting item will be placed precariously in water. Swimming through water damages the Valkyrie, but only when she moves. Be sure to have the healing spell, or a potion handy before you go diving for treasure.

Gaining strength

Once you have the Blue Mantle, you'll only need to collect one more item before you are ready to travel to the third continent. However, before you go after it, you will definitely wish to gain some more strength. At this point, the most important thing is to raise the Valkyrie's strength (i.e. Max HP) over 128. This usually happens at approximately level 8, give or take a level depending on your starting strength. When the Valkyrie reaches this level of strength, she is able to chop down mountains with the Ax. And this gives the Valkyrie greater access to wells and powerful hidden items. While you can attempt to explore the South Pyramid at any time, it is wise to wait until you have the ability to cut down mountains.

Obtaining a Power Sword

The Power Sword is a very nice upgrade to a regular Long Sword. It can substantially decrease the amount of time you spend fighting a monster. Unfortunately, you won't be able to purchase one until you reach the 3rd continent (for the hefty price of 1600). However, there are three well hidden Power Swords in Marvel Land that you can obtain for free if you know where to look. Read the following to find out where.

Hidden Power Swords

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There are three free Power Swords hidden in Marvel Land. Two are accessible from the 2nd continent while the third is hidden in the south east corner of the 3rd continent. One of the swords is hidden in the dungeon that lies beneath two wells found to the east. You'll need to be able to chop down mountains in order to access the southern of the two wells, but if you can reach the well to the north of the east hotel and shop, you can reach the dungeon without chopping down any mountains. Drop down inside to end up in the dungeon whose map is depicted to the right. The power sword is hidden in the room to the south of the very long corridor. Either use the spell of True Sight to reveal its exact location, or wander all over the room until you find it and pick it up. You can also find a Super Tent in this dungeon, which can restore you MP to maximum four times before running out. The dungeon exit drops you out in the middle of the desert.

Another sword is tucked away in the mountains to the east of the North Pyramid. If you have the 128 strength that you need to chop down mountains with an Ax, it's more than likely that you have the 80 intelligence (i.e. Max MP) that you need to learn the True Sight spell. Start at the door of the North Pyramid, and walk the short distance south until you reach the cactus. Then head east from that catcus until you reach the mountains. The fourth mountain from the left hides one of the Power Swords.

The South Pyramid

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In comparison to any of the other dungeons that you've been to, the South Pyramid is huge. This also means longer periods stuck inside taking damage and risking death. Make sure that you are prepared to tackle it. Your mission in the South Pyramid is to locate and retrieve the Blue Helmet, another item essential to beating the game. It also provides you with an endless supply of damage halving armor. Optionally, you may also look for a well hidden treasure that provides you with a never ending supply of keys; the Gold Key. Brave adventurers will approach the front entrance of the South Pyramid with a Sandra Soul in hand and enter its depths. Smart adventurers know of a certain secret that can substantially cut down the effort they need to make. Read on below to learn the secret.

The secret entrance

It turns out that there is a secret entrance to the South Pyramid's underground labyrinth, and it exists in a region that you may have long forgetten about: the 1st continent. You may recall seeing a well in the middle of the continent that was surrounded by mountains. Early in the game, there was little that you could do about it, but if your strength is above 128, you can freely chop down the mountains that block your access to the well and enter it. You will land in the room with the Gold Key, which you can quickly pick up (the dungeon water will slowly drain your health as you move through it, so don't forget to heal yourself) before moving on the short distance to the room with the Blue Helmet, and out of the nearby exit.

Rescuing marine life

You're almost ready to advance to the third continent, but you'll need to pick an item up in order to reach Zouna's castle. It's actually less of an item and more of an animal… a very large animal. With no conceivable explanation, a whale has somehow become beached in the middle of the mountains, a very long way from the ocean. The only way that you'd discover this improbable event is if you use your Ax to chop down many of the mountains to the east of the desert. The whale (whose name happens to be Marco) can be found north of the well in the mountains, or to the east of where the desert quicksands begin. But once you find Marco, it may not necessarily be clear what to do with him. Even if you have an empty spot in your inventory, he won't simply appear by touching him. Read below if you can't figure out what to do with the whale.

Aiding the Ailing Whale

All that you need to do to assist Marco is to stand on him, and cast your healing spell once. He will receive the benefit of your spell and happily "swim" off to the west (even though the ocean is closer to the east). A whale icon will appear in his place, and if you have an empty space in your inventory, you will pick it up and be able to call on Marco if ever the time comes when you don't have a ship.

Crossing the rainbow

Before you leave the second continent, you should have collected the Blue Mantle and Blue Helmet. It also helps if you have collected a Power Sword, the Gold Key, a Power Ax, and Marco the Whale, but only Marco will be required in the future. What comes next is one of the most obscure points in the game. With no people to talk to guide you on your way, the likelihood of anyone figuring this out on their own is the essentially the same as pure luck.

There is another hotel and shop combination on the east coast of the 2nd continent. There are two ways to reach it. One is to simply cut straight through the mountains to the east of the desert. The other way is to slip along the east side of the quicksand portion of the desert until you arrive at a peculiar lake. There is a shoddy bridge with a sign in the water. The sign happens to mean "danger," and the warning is well heeded. The middle of the bridge will break and drop the Valkyrie into the water below, where she will suffer damage as she swims through it. Be sure to heal frequently, and swim towards one of the docks on the side of the lake to escape.

Once you're beyond the mountains or the lake, if you continue to east to the coast, you will find the hotel and shop. The shops wares are the same as the hidden shop on the small island north of the continent: Keys (160), Super Potion (320), Super Antidote (240), Ax (64), Power Short Sword (800), Helmet (320). The hotel here will be your last station before moving on to the next continent. South of the hotel is a Shizasu that guards a fifth warp zone that you cannot arrive at, only depart from. Use it if you need to conveniently warp to one of the other warp locations.

If you head north, you will eventually come to a peninsula that is also guarded by a Shizasu. Shizasus usually guard important locations, but at first glance, this one doesn't appear to be guarding anything special. If you look more closely at the scene, you may notice that one of the patches of grass surrounded by trees is shaded a slightly different color. If you investigate this patch, you won't notice anything odd or different happen. The trick here is that you must stand on the patch over night. If you are standing on the patch when dawn breaks, and you are still in possession of your Magic Ship, a rainbow will appear, and you will be whisked to the other side of it, courtesy of your ship. Upon landing on the third continent, you will lose your ship, and you will be left to fend for yourself in the cold arctic plains of Marvel Land.

If for some reason you are not in possession of the ship, either because you inadvertently sold it, or it was stolen from you by the Zuhl who lurk neaby, then the rainbow will not appear for you. In that case, you must go to a hotel and record the password, reset the game, and continue by entering a password. This resets your inventory (except for the Blue Helmet, Blue Mantle, Marco the Whale, and two other important items that you receive later), and all of the treasures in the world. With all of the treasures reset, you can obtain the Ship over again, and return to the location of the rainbow.

Of course, the easier way to obtain the Ship again is to visit a hotel, which saves your inventory, and then die. When the title screen appears again, select continue and you will keep ALL of your inventory and all the items in the game will be reset, including the Ship. The only thing you lose is that you will no longer be equipped with anything, but if you have the blue helmet and mantle, you can simply put them on again.