Item Containers
In this game, items are never dropped from enemies. You find items in containers. Hammer a container to open it. Each hammering will open only 1 container, but be aware of the exception when you're on the broom.
Food Pot - Contains a piece of food. Once opened, food remains in position until you grab it, or you lose a life, or you clear a stage. Thus, when you are going for All Gold Bonus and you open a wrong type of food by mistake, you can leave it alone and come back to pick it up later, but be extra careful not to die in the interim!
? Box - On the upper right corner of the screen, below the "EXTRA" letters, there are 5 boxes. A cursor cycles through them. If you open a ? box when the cursor is over an icon, the icon appears in the box. Otherwise, a default item appears. The default item is determined by the location of the box. Unlike food, only one icon or default item can be in play at a time. If you open a second one before grabbing the first, the first one disappears. Keep this in mind! You'll also lose an opened icon or default item if you lose a life.
Fake Wall - These look like walls, but can be destroyed by hammering. They function like ? boxes in terms of deploying icons, but they never contain default items. Such containers will be referred to as "fake walls", even if they form a horizontal section of "wall" (i.e. floor/ceiling).
Magic Jar - There is one in each scene. It contains either an Esper or a Magical Bonus. Refer to Getting the Espers. An Esper or Magical Bonus has the same staying power as food, but there is generally no reason not to grab it before moving on. Remember not to open a magic jar when the timer is on the last second!
Food
100 to 2000 points. You'll find lots of food around. In additional to giving you points, you also gain one icon for every 6 pieces or so of food you pick up. Expert players will invariably try to get all the food in every scene, but this is not always advisable for novice players.
The first piece of food in a set (type) is worth 100 points. The point value increases by 100 points for each subsequent piece of food in the same set that you pick up in a row (without picking up other types of food), up to a maximum of 2000 points. For example, the set of 24 beers in scene 8 is worth a total of 29000 points if you get them in a row. These points are subject to multiplying! If you get all the food in a set in a row, you also get the "set gold bonus".
The type of food which appears when you open a pot is not random, but is completely determined by your actions. At the beginning of each scene, there is a cursor pointing to the first set. Each time you hammer without hitting a food pot (even if you hit an enemy or a ? box), or when you finish a set, the cursor moves to the next remaining set. When you open a pot, the food that the cursor is currently pointing to appears. But here's the trick: the list of food and the cursor are not displayed on the screen when you're playing! By careful planning and elegant play, you can get "set gold bonus" for all the sets, which gives you a big "All Gold Bonus", in additional to lots of food points!
Icons
An icon appears in one of the 5 boxes for every 6 pieces or so of food you pick up. However, you don't get a new icon when all 5 boxes are already full. If you open a ? box or fake wall when the cursor is over an icon, the icon appears in the box. Managing and deploying icons is an important skill in this game. It makes a big difference in both helping you to clear the game, and to get a good score.
Which icon appears when you collect food seems to be effectively random. If you have figured out how to practically control which icon appears, please tell me.
EXTRA letters - 500 points. Getting one lights up the corresponding letter above the icon box display. When you collect all 5 letters, you get an extra life. However, the extra life is not actually awarded until a few seconds after you collect the last letter (when the EXTRA letters finish flashing), and is lost if you die or get any kind of bonus score or extra time or an Extra Bonus in the interim! (Getting an Esper is okay.) Keep this in mind. (This is probably a bug.) If you pick up a duplicate letter (or any letter when the EXTRA letters are still flashing), it is simply wasted. When you collect food, duplicate letters will not appear unless impossible. However, when you have collected 4 of the 5 letters, multiple copies of the last letter may keep appearing. Try to cash in the Extra bonus sooner to prevent this.
P Power - 500 points. This is a very nice item. Getting it will give you a boost in all ESP powers (jump, hover, power and attack). In particular, your attack power will be boosted so that you can destroy any large enemy with a single hit. Against Satan the Devil, your attack strength is doubled. The effect lasts until the end of the scene, or until you lose a life.
x2 - 500 points. Increases the score multiplier for the remainder of the scene. All direct scores from items and enemies are doubled, but bonus points are not increased. The effect can be nested; you can have a x4 or x8 multiplier by getting 2 or 3 x2 icons in one scene. However, if you grab a 4th one, the score multiplier resets to x1. The effect is retained even if you lose a life. Note that the 500 points for grabbing the x2 icon is excluded from its own doubling effect; keep this in mind when adjusting points for the Secret Bonus.
Stop - 500 points. For a while, everything else is stopped, including the timer. Note that this does not make you invincible, however. Satan's fireball-throwing is not affected, though stopping other enemies and moving boxes (if at the right position) is often helpful. The Stop icon is often used to stop and hit Zara the witch. If you get a Stop icon while on the broom, the time duration for the broom will be reset.
Magical - ?
Default Items
A default item appears when you open a ? box while the cursor is over an empty box. The kind of item is determined by the location of the box.
Smiley - 100 points. Most ? boxes contain this. This is basically the "nothing" item; experienced players who know the contents (default items) of the boxes are supposed to use these boxes to deploy icons instead. One should try to use these boxes (and fake walls) to deploy icons, and get the default items in the other boxes.
Time UP - 500 points. An often important item which adds 40 seconds to the timer.
Red Jewel - 2000 or 4000 points, subject to multiplying. Normally, it's worth 2000 points, but if you pick it up while the hundredth digit (the 3rd digit from the right) of your score is "0", you'll get 4000 points.
Blue Jewel - 4000 or 8000 points. The same as a red jewel, except that it's worth twice as much.
Extra Bonus - 500 points. Awards an extra life. There are only two of these in the game, in scenes 3 and 6. The extra life is awarded immediately, unlike spelling EXTRA.
Secret Bonus - 10000 (10k) to 1000000 (1M) bonus points. In each scene, a certain ? box contains the Secret Bonus. To get the Secret Bonus, when you open the box, the thousandth digit (the 4th digit from the right) of your score must be equal to the number of times you have previously earned the Secret Bonus in this game. (Of course, the cursor must also be over an empty box.) For example, in scene 1, you have to open the appropriate box when that digit is "0". After that, the digit has to be "1" in scene 2, and so on until the digit has to be "7" when you open the last and 8th Secret Bonus in scene 8, for a million points! If the digit is not right, you'll get a Smiley instead.
Pot - ?
Magical Bonus
10000 (10k) to 1000000 (1M) bonus points. When you are opening a magic jar and not getting an Esper, you get the Magical Bonus. The point value increases if you get them in a row; getting an Esper interrupts the sequence. This is just another reason why one should try to get Genzoh in scene 3! See the Scoring page for score values.