Black Tiger/Items

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Basic Items[edit]

Black Tiger item pot.png

Throughout the game, Black Tiger will discover a variety of items that will help him survive his journey to defeat the three dragons. Items appear in a variety of ways. Some are sitting out in the open, just waiting to be collected. Others drop from defeated enemies. But a good number of them are waiting to be found by cracking open pots (shown to the right.) Pots must be struck in order to break them, and then their contents are revealed. While items that drop from defeated enemies will disappear if they remain uncollected after a short period of time, items contained within pots will stay present no matter how much time passes, so there is no rush to collect them. However, be aware that some pots may be hiding enemies inside. Don't rush to collect them until you are sure that what has appeared is safe.

Zenny Hourglass
Black Tiger item zenny.png
Zenny coins are the currency throughout the land. You'll need to amass a small fortune of these in order to afford the better weapons and armor that traders make available within their shops. Zenny coins come in a wide variety of denominations, including 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000.
Black Tiger item hourglass.png
Your attempt to pass through eash stage is time limited. If you fail to make it through a stage in the allotted time, you will lose a life. However, if you collect an hourglass, the amount of time you have to complete the stage will be extended by 30 seconds.
Keys and treasure chests
Black Tiger item key.png
Black Tiger item chest.png
Keys are frequently found inside of pots. The treasure chests simply hang out in the open, waiting to be discovered and unlocked. For every chest you attempt to open you must possess one key. Once opened, chests can reveal valuable items worth a lot of Zenny, a potion to restore one bar of lost health, or they may simply be booby-trapped and trigger jets of flames to shoot out of the floor. Open chests with extreme caution.
Black Tiger item pow.png

Another item that you can obtain is the POW item. It is not hidden in a pot or a chest, but rather in plain sight at strategic points along each stage. Collecting a POW will instantly annihilate any enemy present on the screen. If you become surrounded by enemies and a POW is close by grab it as quickly as possible to eliminate the threat around you, then pick up all the treasure that the enemies leave behind.

Captives and shops[edit]

Black Tiger sprite captive.png
Black Tiger shop screen.png

As you explore each stage you will encounter a large number of captives who have been frozen and turned to stone. You can restore them to full health simply by touching them. Once rescued, they often repay your kindness in one form or another. They may offer you some Zenny, increase the amount of time you have remaining, restore some of your vitality, or offer you some advice. Some captives have nothing to offer you but their gratitude. However, a good number of them actually run shops and are happy to repay you by offering to sell you goods. Each shop has four different weapons and four different armors for sale along with keys and antidotes. The keys can be used to open chests, as explained above. The antidotes can be held onto in case you become ensnared by a poisonous plant. If you possess an antidote, you will automatically consume it and remain unpoisoned.

The price for keys and antidotes are fixed, but the price per weapon and armor changes according to the difficulty level set by the arcade operation, and the region of the game (International or Japan). The following chart explains the cost per item for each level and region.

Difficulty setting →
↓ Item
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Level 2 Weapon 100
150
100
150
150
200
150
200
200
200
200
200
300
300
400
400
Level 3 Weapon 1000
1000
1200
1200
1000
1600
1600
1600
1200
2400
1600
2400
1600
2400
2400
2400
Level 4 Weapon 2400
2400
2400
3200
3200
3200
3200
4800
4800
4800
4800
6400
6400
6400
6400
6400
Level 5 Weapon 9600
9600
9600
9600
9600
9600
9600
12800
12800
12800
12800
12800
12800
19200
12800
19200
Level 2 Armor 80
80
80
80
100
100
100
100
150
200
150
300
200
300
200
400
Level 4 Armor 300
400
300
400
400
500
400
600
500
800
500
1000
600
1000
600
1200
Level 6 Armor 800
800
800
1000
800
1200
1000
1200
1200
1600
1200
1600
1600
2400
1600
2400
Level 8 Armor 1600
1600
2400
2400
2400
3200
2400
3200
2400
4800
3200
4800
3200
4800
4800
4800

Secret items[edit]

Secret items can only be found by destroying certain sections of wall where they are hidden and revealing them. These items have a wide variety of effects.

Bamboo Yashichi
Black Tiger item bamboo.png
Extends the remaining time by 30 seconds.
Black Tiger item yashichi.png
Collect Capcom's ubiquitous Yashichi to obtain an extra life.
Elephant Cow
Black Tiger item elephant.png
Collect an elephant to increase your zenny amount by 500.
Black Tiger item cow.png
Locate a cow and collect it to gain 1000 zenny.
Mobi-chan Dragonfly
Black Tiger item mobichan.png
Mobi-chan makes a cameo appearance from Hyper Dyne Side Arms, and gives you 10,000 points when collected.
Black Tiger item dragonfly.png
Dragonflies will give you 50,000 when you collect them.
Octopus Barrel
Black Tiger item tako.png
Grab an octopus to increase your score by 100,000 points.
Black Tiger item barrel.png
A barrel will increase the level of your current armor by 2.
Star Strawberry
Black Tiger item star.png
A star will increase your armor's defense by 2, and refill your life meter.
Black Tiger item strawberry.png
A strawberry improves your armor's rating by 3.