Initially, all you will see if three snakes appear in front of you. However, off the screen to the right, several rats also appear, both red and blue. They will come charging at you and arrive around the time that you approach the first snake. You'll have to do your best to stab as rapidly as possible in order to defend yourself against the rush of several rats until they stop approaching long enough for you to continue. If you succeed in defeating many blue rats, you are likely to receive one or two 10,000 point crowns for your trouble.
In the SMS version, this section is considerably easier due to the fact that the rats have a much more limited range in which they are permitted to run. There are no red rats, but you are better able to deal with the blue rats one at a time.
Door A contains a shoe shop. You should purchase the Leather Shoes for 80 gold at this time if you don't already have them. Door B is a shop that has armor and another item. The other item will be Medicine for 100 if you don't currently have any.
Door C is a bar and Door D is a hospital. Depending on how low you are in health, you may consider utilizing one of their services to get back just a few hearts, or all of them.
After crossing the gap in buildings, you will reach door E where you will encounter Poverty for the first time. He is accompanied by a collection of red spirits. (In the SMS version, he is accompanied by three blue spirits, only one of which is a threat to you.) As you defeat some of the red spirits, they are seemingly replaced by more, but they won't do this forever. It is possible to ultimately rid the room of red spirits, so you may wish to focus your attack on them until they are removed. Eventually, all you are left to deal with is Poverty himself.
Poverty looks very much like Death, and in fact behaves identically to Death as well. The only two differences between them is that Poverty has many more hit points and thus requires a lot more hits to defeat, and that every time Poverty strikes you, he steals money away in addition to health. Use the exact same strategy against Poverty that you use against Death, and you will be able to defeat him while keeping him at bay, and keeping your gold to yourself. The reward for your success is the second greatest sword in the game, the Excalibur!
After you collect the sword, head out and continue right to door F. The inhabitant will inform you that to reach Pororo island, you must return to the left. Indeed, when walk back to the left, past door E, you will find a newly revealed platform in the field. Jump on it and allow it to take you up to the top, where you will be projected into the clouds.
This section of the stage most closely resembles a bonus stage of sorts. Once you arrive, no matter where you fall, you will survive and wind up at the start of part C. The goal is to see just how far you can travel before this inevitably happens.
Nearly every cloud possesses a hidden money bag, so the farther you travel, the more money you will obtain. The only obstacles hampering your progress are a couple of red spirits, and some sinking platforms. After dealing with the red spirits, any platforms that you encounter will begin to drop once you land on them, so be prepared to quickly leap off of them.
You will land on the island to the left. You will most likely have to jump into the water, avoiding the leaping Jellyfish, in order to make it to the large land mass in the middle containing a tower and door G.
This central land is occupied by a series of crabs. They will drop special weapons and other useful items so be sure to kill each of them as you approach door G. If you are prepared to fight the boss at this time, enter door G now, read the Boss section below, and return to this section of the walkthrough.
Whether you face the boss now or later, you should proceed to the right end of the stage if you possess the flute. You will cross some shallow water between the center and a small island to the right. When you reach the island, climb up the ladder. If you have the flute, you will play a tune when you reach the top. This will expand the stage a little more, revealing an island with a mansion on it to the right.
Jump down off the small island, and head to the right to visit the mansion. Enter through door H to examine part D.
You will start off on the right side of the entrance hallway. It is primarily occupied by a series of easily defeated snakes. However, deeper into the hallway, you will have your first encounter with blue spirits. Blue spirits are similar to their red cousins, but they are extremely hardy and difficult to defeat.
When you strike a blue spirit with your sword, it goes flying off in the opposite direction before turning around. As a result, you should only hope to merely push them away for a while as you advance down the hallway. Eventually, you may wish to attempt to kill them, as doing so will provide you with 30,000 points! Killing two of them will put you 60,000 points closer to the next new heart in your health meter.
Eventually the hallway will open up into a chamber occupied by a red knight. (In the SMS version, this red knight will be a smaller version of the typical boss.) It won't even begin at full health, so you should be able to defeat it with only a few hits. It's safest to remain on the ledge above the room and strike the knight's helmet when it approaches you.
After the knight is defeated, and you collect whatever it drops, a floating platform will appear. Ride the platform up, and when it reaches it's peak, press up to reveal a hidden door behind the wall. Inside, the inhabitant will exchange the flute for a charm.
When you return to the hallway, now would be a good time to deal with the two blue spirits you've been chasing. It is possible to get them stuck against the lower left wall, giving them less space to run away from you, and forcing them to turn around quicker. Getting in close, you should be able to stab both of them frequently, and destroy them in far less time than normal. They may even drop useful equipment upon defeat.
With the charm in your possession, head out of the mansion through the left to return outdoors. There's one more blue spirit that you can attempt to kill which you can trap against the stairs. If you have not defeated the boss yet, do so now to collect the key. If you already have the key, return to the gate and exit to the next stage.
The guardian of the key to the gate to the next stage is a knight, the first blue knight that you've seen. As you might expect, he behaves entirely similar to a red knight, he is simply stronger and has more health. If you've grown accustomed to fighting red knights, you will find this knight no more challenging than the others. You simply have to hit him more times. Assuming you've been doing well accumulating swords, and possess the Excalibur, you won't have to strike him too many more times in order to defeat him.
Once you succeed, you will notice that the bosses are now providing money in such numbers that they drop eight money bags instead of coins. Be sure to sweep them all up before grabbing the key. If you fought the boss prior to using your flute, continue along with the walkthrough above. If you have already successfully obtained the charm, or if you do not have the flute in your possession, simply head back to the left to open the gate and proceed to the next stage. Blue spirits will appear around the gate, but without anything solid to trap them against, you should not attempt to spend time killing them as you might have in the mansion.
Note: Round 8 is exclusive to the Sega Master System version. Arcade and PC Engine players should proceed to Round 9 for the next stage in the game.
Most clouds of part B possess hidden money bags in the middle of them. Normally, you need to jump up after you land on them to make them appear. If you manage to reach the last cloud(you need legendary or wing boots to succeed), you'll get 3 money bags as reward.
Stand on the left side of the platform above door H and jump to make three coins appear.
Stand on the cloud above door G to make three coins appear (only possible to reach from the ladder island).
