Athena/World of Sea

Arcade Walkthrough

Jump to this island before you dive in the water.

The Shell Necklace turns you into a mermaid.

• Even if you picked up the Shell Necklace that you were rewarded with for defeating Golem, you won't be allowed to bring it to this stage where you actually need it. Fortunately, there is another Shell Necklace hidden in the blocks immediately to your left from where you start. Break the blocks to collect this important item. (If you miss it here, there will be other opportunities to collect it in the water below.)
• Before you dive into the water below and turn into a mermaid, be sure to leap over the gap ahead of you by jumping up twice, and leap forward on the third jump. If you can proceed all the way to the end along the top before it dead-ends, you will reach a series of blocks in the wall, which contain the Lamp needed to warp on to the next stage without fighting the boss. Because it is in a small crevice however, it can be difficult to collect.

Death Fishers and Dagosus will attack nearly non-stop.

This giant octopus boss is known as Neptune.

• It is easy to get distracted by the many blocks that you can break throughout this stage. The blocks near the top of the screen tend to have good items such as Gold Crowns and Red Rings. But if you spend too much time breaking blocks, you make it very easy for the Death Fishers and Dagosus to attack you. There are, however, a surprising abundance of flowers underwater, so you may want to take some time to explore the ocean floors to see if you can make them appear.
• The boss of this world is a considerably large Octopus known as Neptune (the Roman god of the sea). He attacks very much like the tree in the first world, only the target, his face, is higher off the floor, forcing you to maintain an elevated position when you attack him. A simple trick can be used against him however. Much like Golem, you can attack Neptune from behind with near invincibility. Before Neptune has a chance to attack, swim up to the top of the screen and descend when you are to his right. Then get in as close as you can to his face and attack him. You will defeat him quite easily from there.

NES Walkthrough

In case you missed the first necklace, there's another one above Athena in this image.

• As soon as you arrive at the World of Sea, you can collect a Shell Necklace which is a required item that will transform you into a Mermaid. It is buried in one of the blocks to the left of your arrival spot. Just watch out for the Club which also falls from the sky, as you will probably not want to collect it.
• As long as you have the Necklace and enough health, Athena will transform when she hits the water. Just in case you miss or lose the necklace, there is a second shell which you can obtain from the first set of ceiling blocks underwater. It is difficult to move around underwater if you're not a mermaid.
• The underwater enemies are quite dangerous, even if you are a mermaid. They move very swiftly, and it is easy to get bogged down in a fight with them if you don't keep moving through the stage at a good pace. Be careful when attacking the enemies, as they have a high tendency to attack from above. As a result, the weapons they drop are likely to fall on you, and you will collect them involuntarily. Hold on to your weapon and try to attack enemies from a distance to avoid this costly mistake.

Only as a mermaid can you pass through this narrow passage.

• Just as with the last stage, you may find two Blue Hourglasses in close proximity to one another. The first one is found at the end of the lower level, and the second one is in the ceiling shortly after you arrive in the upper level. Since your timer cannot be increased above 5 minutes, collecting only one of these items is sufficient. Focus on staying alive. Be aware, however, that if you collect the first blue hourglass, and rise to the top level before the timer finishes increasing, you will interrupt the increase, and it will not continue once you arrive at the top.
• As shown to the right, you can only complete these stage and successfully reach the boss if you are a mermaid, just like in the Arcade version. This is a rare moment in this world where the enemies are less likely to appear and gang up on you, so take advantage of this opportunity and swim through the passage as quickly as possible while the water is safe.

Although it may not look like it, you can attack the boss from here.

• While the items which are hidden in the ceiling blocks are very tempting to collect, unless you have a weapon like the Flail or the Magic Tome, they are very time consuming to dig out, and they put you in a dangerous situation where enemies may surround you with no chance for escape. Unless you feel the items are critical, you should ignore them and swim on to the boss.
• The boss of the World of Sea, Neptune, attacks Athena just as he does in the Arcade version. However, instead of trying to swim above and behind him, you can actually successfully attack Neptune by swimming down to the location indicated in the picture to the right. From here, not only will you be able to damage Neptune, he will also be unable to harm you, so you will have a fairly easy time of it. Just be aware that as soon as Neptune is defeated, another Club falls from the ceiling, which you probably will not want to collect, so swim out of the way before that occurs.