Game - "Magical Pop'n" System - Super Famicom Title - "'Magical Pop'n' Guide" Version Number - 1.6 Date - 8/11/04 Author - Don Umali/Bata-kun E-mail - Bata_kun@asia.com America Online Instant Messenger screen name - Jazzie kun ICQ number - 152318018 Web place - jnuchi.shorturl.com ### Table of Contents ### Ichi (One). Introduction - Version History Ni (Two). Legal Statements - My Copyright Speech - Places You Can Find This Guide San (Three). Fundamentals Yon (Four). The Adventure - Stage 1 - Stage 2 - Stage 3 - Stage 4 - Stage 5 - Stage 6 Go (Five). What Will I Add in the Future? Roku (Six). The Final Chapter - Credits - Last Words === Ichi (One). Introduction === This is the first ever "Magical Pop'n" guide. "Magical Pop'n" is a 1995 kawaii platform game by Pack-in-Video. This game uses elements from various series. It's a shame that this game never did get much attention. It is one of those games where you just have fun and feelings of nostalgia. Hopefully, this will be the most complete guide to "Magical Pop'n". It will have the fundamentals, the items, the boss tactics and so forth. To be honest, this will be the hardest task I have done because I have never typed up a complete guide for a game before. I have typed up guides for a particular part of a game, but not an entire guide for a game. Also, what makes this guide harder to make than "Money Idol Exchanger" for example is the amount of topics to cover. A legendary magical jewel was stolen from a peaceful land. Whoever has it will become powerful. It's up to a young princess to save the jewel. She may be a girl who likes having fun and all, but she does the case anyway. So, the girl goes out and tries to stop the evil magician who is some geezer. The girl does look like "Akazukin Cha Cha's" title character. This game was never released outside of Japan. Why? I don't know. Maybe it's because the game wasn't a hit in Japan and that by releasing it elsewhere, it would make matters worse for Pack-in-Video. To be honest, I think it is because it is a game that has a lot of voice acting in Japanese. Many people would be turned off from the Japanese. Never the less, this certainly is one game people should try out. As you can see, I still have to edit parts of the guide. Don't worry. I'll get to them eventually. --- Version History --- This is 1.6. 1.6 - 8/11/04 Don't worry. I only did minor edits. 1.5 - 4/3/04 Just editing the guide. 1.4 - 7/19/03 Level 4's done. 1.3 - 7/5/03 I am half-way done with the adventure chapter and I corrected some mistakes. 1.2 - 7/3/03 Legal statement changes. That's it. 1.1 - 7/2/03 Not much went on. I just did a bunch of minor edits. 1.0 - 6/27/03 I started the guide. I have the basics down and the directions of the first two levels are here. A lot will be added. === Ni (Two). Legal Statements === "'Magical Pop'n' Guide" Copyright 2003 by Don Umali --- My Copyright Speech --- This guide is not for sale, rent or auctioning, like E-Bay. This document is protected under the U.S. Copyright Law and pretty much any other international equivalent as well as other national laws I have not stated. You may print this guide for your own personal reference & distribute this guide "individually" to others, just as long as you don't hand it out for a profit. (If I can't earn money by writing guides, then there should be no reason why you should sell my guide for a profit. The same should be said for putting up my guide or reviews for rent or for an auction. Okay?) All inputs, if used in this guide, will be credited to its rightful owner. To have the guide up elsewhere, ask first and that's it. Of course, the place must have a good reputation. That's easy, ne? Want to make an html version of the guide? Go ahead. The use of macrons is the only change I will allow. Of course, you must still give me credit. If I ever find out that you have taken this document without my permission or messing with it to deceive someone or whatever, I will sue your for every dollar, peso, en, pound, euro or any other currency and win! Yes! I will win! Think about it! Writing or in this case, typing up guides takes a good amount of time! It certainly has taken me a long time to make this guide overall! I don't want to see you making an ugly act just because of a document you did not work on with your perseverance and heart! That is the last thing I want to see! Plagiarism is a big felony, you know! So, don't act so stubborn and keep that in mind! I may be nice, but rules are rules! I can and I will change moods in a snap! Being in trouble does make you feel bad! I hope you will remember what I have said! Oh and don't think that I'll let you slide with my other works. What I have said here does apply to my reviews and other works. I don't know why this is hard to follow. I don't want to experience any copyright problems! "Magical Pop'n" - (C) of Pack-in-Video and Polestar - 1995 All other series and such mentioned here - (C) of their respectable owners --- Places You Can Find This Guide --- Besides my place, you should/will in the future only find this guide for now at: www.densetsu.com === San (Three). Fundamentals === Controls: Left or Right - Character moves horizontally Up - Enters holes on the wall and such Down - Ducks and such A - Special weapon B - Jump X - No function Y - Sword attack (and if you keep swinging it, you'll get a different stroke from the standard one that has more range) L or R - Selects the special weapon Select - Spell Down+B - Drop down a ledge Down+Left+B or Down+right+B - Slide, a la Rockman During a jump, Down+Y - Attack downwards Items: Candy - This treat restores half of a heart. Small cake - This treat restores a heart. Big cake - This big treat restores your health completely. Heart - The more of these you collect, the more life you'll have. It is really important to find them. After you grab a heart, you restore the hearts you lost if you did get hit and you also have one heart added to your health status. (It's taking a page from the "Zelda" series.) Self Icons - Collect three of these little icons and you will get an extra life. Star - What makes Magical Pop'n different from other platform games is that all of your Special Weapons as well as the spells use up stars. Every time you use a special weapon or your spells, you use up stars. Those weapons use up a certain number of stars, in which I'll explain shortly. Big star - These will give you ten stars. In the beginning, there are two choices: Game start and Omake. When you pick Omake, you'll just hear an audio test and you get to choose your sound modifications between stereo and monoral. After you fiddled with that section, you can start your game. When you begin your game, you should see this layout: A [B C D E F G] H I J A - This is the number of lives you have. You start with three. You can gain extra lives. When you lose all of your lives, you have to start the level over. B - B through G shows the special weapons. For B, this is your first special weapon, the Palm Strike. It is a laser goes straight and it is pretty quick. This special weapon uses up 2 stars. Also, each special weapon carries an spell. For the Palm Strike's case, it's the Magical Palm which looks like the Kamehameha from the various "Dragonball" series. This spell uses up 8 stars. C - At first you may think that C's slot represents a rattle or a Bubble Pop lollypop, but it is actually the Bomb. The Bomb is thrown at an angle and it makes an impact when it hits the ground. This also blows up walls with the Grenade symbol. It is a powerful weapon, especially since it uses up 4 stars, the most of the special weapons you have to collect. The spell here is the Magical Bomber. During the spell, you are invincible as you charge up your attack. Every spell except for the Magical Palm has you invincible for a a short period of time. At the end of the charging up period, you unleash a hugh amount of energy with explosions attached to the attack. This covers the whole screen and it is powerful. This spell uses 12 stars. D - The Magical Rope is not a special weapon per se. It is more of a tool. The Magical Rope lets you swing off of a hanging "O", a la "Castlevania". The best part about this is that it does not use up any stars and of course, this means that if you run out of stars, this spell will only be highlighted. However, the same can't be said for its spell. The spell, in which I've called it the "Crystal Rope Spread Shot", is pretty much like the Magical Bomber. The differences between the two spells, besides the element involved, are that it has less range since it attacks in only eight directions with limited reach and not the whole screen, you have the ability to move as you charge up this attack, and since you attack in eight directions, it uses up 8 stars, making it a bit weaker than the Magical Bomber. It's still a spiffy looking spell though. E - The Blizzard is your Spread Shot of the "Contra" series. It shoots out three shots that cover a lot of range. It also takes out flames that are in your way. Although it is a spiffy weapon, the bad part is that you can't shoot downwards, upwards or diagonally. You shoot only horizontally. Oh well. Since it shoots off three shots, it uses up 3 stars. Its spell is the Magical Blizzard and it shows a huge blizzard covering the whole screen. This spell uses 16 stars. F - The Fire shoots out a flame that does not travel far. The main purposes of the weapon are to light torches and melt ice blocks to open paths. It uses up 3 stars also. Of course, you can make many flames come out for a second with one use by holding A. The spell, the Magical Fire, is the strongest spell in the game. The spell lasts longer than any spell out there and in this spell, lots of flames are spread out. It covers the whole screen as well. Like I said, the Magical Fire is the most powerful spell out there and as a result, you have to use up 20 stars. G - Like D's slot, G's does not show a weapon. It is a tool. The Roll makes you roll up walls and it will get you to higher places. It's a shame that Sonic can not do this. Hee hee! Anyway, this tool uses up 2 stars. The Koro Koro Flash (Rolling Flash) is a spell in which you roll and roll in random directions. Blue and pink spots are right behind you and in the end, you stop rolling at your starting point. Unlike the roll, this one hits enemies. This spell uses up 8 stars. H - This shows the number of stars you have. You can get up to 99 stars. I - Icons. Get three icons of yourself and you get an extra life. J - This shows your health status. Many attacks will have you lose half of a heart, but don't think that the game will be that way. Lose all of your hearts and you lose a life. If you are facing a boss, the boss's life status will be shown in skulls seen on the opposite side of your health. === Yon (Four). The Adventure === I have divided up the chapter by sections. Each section will tell you how to get through each stage. At the start of each section, I will list ways on how to each boss so that not only will this make my job more easier, but it will also make sure that you know what you are reading. The layout of each section is shown here: [Position (Boss or sub-boss): Name of the enemy Health Description] After the bosses are there, the rest is the guide of the stage. --- Stage 1 --- [Sub-boss: Dark Mage 2 skulls Your first sub-boss is a dark mage dressed up in purple clothing. He will move objects you see in the room with magic. He will use the objects to kill you. You should not have much trouble. Attack him when he is in the process of lifting up the objects. You don't have to use any of your special attacks to beat him. When the objects are lifted up, watch where they land and stay away from them. That's it.] [Boss: Gremlin 4 skulls The Gremlin is a blue flying creature. He pops out of a statue in the beginning. Other than that, just beat him down. The first boss should be easy if you know what you are doing. What are his tactics? This fellow loves diving in towards you. He also spins like a top that is trying to hit you. His final two tactics, which are rarely done, are a projectile tactic and a boomerang tactic, in which he starts spinning at one spot, advances and goes back to the original spot. If there is a tactic you should do right off the bat, it's looking at the background you are in. You should see a higher platform. It's not real high, but you should be able to reach high enough to hit him. The right side should be your aid for the most part. To counter his first tactic, once he rises back up from a dive, you should nail a good shot at him. The top gig is easy to pick up because by hearing the ground rumble, you can jump over him and you can counter from there as he stops. Since you don't see his third tactic a lot, you should be fine, but just in case, avoid the projectiles. The fourth one is simple: avoid him.] Before you see your first stage, you will see a quick scene of the king being terrified along with two guards. A magician wants the jewel, but he ends up being chased away by our heroine. She goes outside, but she falls off into the first stage of the game. In the beginning of the game, you start outside of a building. It is raining. You want to go in it. Well, here we go. The first part of the first stage is not much. Just go forward. The bats and duck soldiers should be easy to get rid of. Have the ducks drop their guard or just shoot them with your laser. You can also dive in. As for the bats, time your jumps and your attacks carefully and you'll be fine. Now, hop on to the somewhat tall platform (not the house at the end) and fall into its hole. You are now inside. If you need extra to restore health or stars, kill the bats on the right. Otherwise, just go through the door on your left. Fall into the hole. Once you have reached the bottom (and there is no need to worry if you land on your rear because she doesn't lose health if she doesn't land correctly), the only way to go is up. The new enemy you'll face here looks like small blue goo. Just hit them if you need any items. They are not that threatening. Don't go all the way to the right, but rather stop midway. You should see some 2 platforms hanging in the air. Go on them. Once you are on the second platform, jump on to the platform that is moving horizontally and enter the hole. A spring is present in the room you are currently in. Jump on it, unless you have to hit the big blue goo which will turn into three smaller goo baddies. See the moving platform on the right? Land on that one and move on. Go up and you should be outside of the building you were in earlier. This time, it is not raining. Now, this is where you really have to start watching what you are doing because the new enemies, one being a guy with a spear and the other being a reptile that blows fire, are a tad harder than what you have faced so far. I'd go right to save trouble, but if you need items, go down and make sure that you use your Magical Palm if you have to. It doesn't matter if you go on the spring or not since you'll still be in the next building, but in this case, the next set of directions will have you at the bottom floor. If you need stars, don't go up yet. Go right and you'll face a green creature with a mohawk who throws objects at you. Just attack him quickly and get the stars. Once you are back where you started from, take out the guard by hopping on to the table (which you should be able to land on if you don't know) and attack from the bottom. Go up the stairs by jumping on to them and get the stars if you need to. You should be on the middle floor (which is the floor of the high entrance). You should find two treasure chests that are opened up by hitting them with your sword: your first heart on the left, which is found by jumping on to the beds, bringing you to the top floor and your first icon of yourself, in which you go all the way to the right. Hit the stairs again and move on to the first sub-boss of the game. After you defeat the sub-boss, you see that the room is a mess and all you have to do now is move on. Another scene outside is here. The new enemy here looks like rabid dogs. They back off when you threaten them. Try swinging your sword and following up with a laser. Keep going right and fall off. Beware of the cannon, though you can actually hit it and make the cannon turn around, making the soldier panic. If you need health badly, go to the upper floor which will have a big cake inside and then come back outside so that you can go to the entrance of the building at the bottom. When you enter, you notice that you hit a wall with two symbols that look like rattles or lollypops. In this case, you need to get the Grenade to explode the wall. Drop down on to the stairs and go left. The one obstacle you have to worry about is the green circle that moves around because they can hurt you if you're not careful. Keep going until you see a hole. Enter it to reach a room that contains the Grenade. Jump up to get it. Omedetou gozaimasu! You got your first newly acquired weapon! Now, go back to where you previously were. Don't explode the wall on the left. You'll know why a bit later. For now, go all the way to the right. Explode that wall you first encountered. Go up if you need stars. Otherwise, just keep going right. Attack the reptile and use your grenade to get rid of the guard if you still have stars. Go down and blow up the wall on the right to get another self-icon. After that, enter the hole on the left side. If you need 30 stars, go right before doing this task. Now, go all the way to the left side. It doesn't matter if you fall off or not. You'll still be able to reach the next point. Remember the wall in which I told you that you don't explode it? The room you are in now is the reason why I said this. Work your way up and you will find another chest that contains that third self icon you need to get your first extra life. Return to the hole and enter the place with the many platforms. Oh and once you enter it, stay on the platforms this time around or you'll have a hard time reaching the exit. (If you didn't know by now, had you blown up the wall earlier, you would have spent more time replacing the four stars you wasted since you would have seen an unreachable chest.) In the next room, go right and explode the wall to get the stars. There is not much else here. So, keep going. Go with the flow of the moving platforms and go right. Make sure that you don't have yourself crushed or you'll lose some health. Enter the hole once you have reached the top. We're about to face the first boss soon. Just go up. Beware of the tanks though. Just hack at them if they're annoying to you. If you need to face a few extra ducks for items, go left to enter a room. Otherwise, just go right and beat the first boss of the game. After you defeat the first boss, you are running forward, going outside and you see duck soldiers retreating as well as your status being restored. You just finished the first level. --- Stage 2 --- [Sub-boss: Big Sprout 4 skulls There are two parts to this sub-boss. The first part is its chompers The second part is the seed shooting parade. In the first part, you want to aim for the heads of the chompers. You can use your sword here if you want. Otherwise, just use your projectiles. If you don't hit one quickly, the plant will close up and run into you, assuming that you are on the bottom part of the area. The plant will also close up and run into you after you hit a head. Hit each head twice and they will fall off. The second part is a bit risky if you fight with only your sword. I'd rather use my projectiles to hit the top part of the monster that shoot seeds. In fact, you should be doing that. The risky way is you diving in and taking advantage of its invincibility period. Don't do this unless you somehow used up all of your stars. Other than the seeds, the process is still the same for this part.] [Boss: Spiked Plant 4 skulls The Spiked Plant is an orange with spikes. He also has a grass strand used as a propeller. When he becomes invisible, he turns green. The boss is easy if you follow the pattern I give you. Follow him and attack once he becomes visible. Watch out as he will retaliate by sitting on you. Let him become invisible. Rinse and repeat. That's it. His attacks if you want to know are his homing propeller and the seed spit out, in which it makes three spiked plants grow and vanish after a short period of time, as well as the sitting attack.] Stage 2 has you in a forest. This time around, the duck soldiers hide behind bushes. So, keep your guard up. The three new enemies you will encounter quite often in this stage are piranhas, rabbits and a plant that spits out seeds (kind of like that one annoying plant in the non-Japanese "Super Mario Brothers 2"). Keep you distance from the piranhas and get them in the air. The rabbits hop a lot and you must look at their pattern carefully. Just hit the plants quickly to get rid of them. Go right to reach the next part of the stage. If you stay high, you notice that you see an "O" in the air. Well, you don't have the item for this scenario yet. For now, drop down and enter the hole on the left side. You are now in a dark place. There are electric jellyfish buzzing around. They're easy to take care of. Drop down and go to the left side. There is a creature that appears to be a bug that rolls and rolls. Attack it before it starts rolling. Enter the hole you see ahead. Do you need stars? Go left to reach a room with 8 stars. Otherwise, drop down and go right. Watch for the burrowers, as they can dig to do surprise attacks on you. Don't go left, unless you need to attack burrowers for items. Go down. Watch out for those plant chompers. The first two have a small delay period. Take advantage of it. Jump over the next two. Let the fifth one rise up and jump forward before the sixth one gets you. Fall into the gap and take care of the sub-boss. After that, go left to get 10 stars and another heart. Return to the place you came from and enter the hole to get the Magical Rope. Move on once you have received every item here. You now have the opportunity to test out your new tool. Oh and you get stars along the way. So, just swing your way across and enter the hole. Go up and enter the holes. At some point, you will reach the first section of the dark place. Head back into the hole up top. You remember that first "O" you encountered, right? Swing from there. Then, you should find another "O" and you have to swing from there also. There should a bouncy branch. Go on it to reach yet another "O". Press B when you land on the branch to get more height. For extra stars, go to the hole up top. Otherwise, be at the moving platforms and swing from there to move on. The next part will have an ogre jump down and make an impact on the ground, breaking apart the ground you are standing on. So, just go right and fall down. Once you have landed, follow the arrow and go right. You will face archers and some mad flying insects. If you stay up high, stop at the second tree you see. If you fall, swing, get on the bouncy branch and stop at the second tree from the left side of this section. (In other words, the tree I am mentioning is the one on the far left side of the new platfrom you reached.) Make your way to the top of the tree so that you can swing your way to a Self Icon. Head back to the same tree and you should encounter an "O" after you hopped on to the next tree. Throw grenades at the bugs, so that you won't be bothered when you swing forward. Keep on swinging and you should reach a chest with another Self Icon. Watch out for the rabbit right near you as you enter the next part. Swing over if you need stars. What you have to do now is drop down. There is a hole on the left side that contains a chest. I still can't find a way on how to get the chest there; thus I'll skip this part for now and cover it later. Keep going until you see spikes. Jump on to the bouncy branch and keep going up. From there, if you find a chest all the way to the left side, don't bother with it because a bomb is inside and it will hurt you. So, just go the second tree that you see and keep going up. If you need a big cake, go left; otherwise, just take out the archer and go on to the branch he was on. Drop down from there to take out another archer. Jump across to swing yourself to a Self Icon. Go back to the second tree I mentioned earlier, but this time, go up and by now, you should be on a bouncy branch. Jump high and if you need a cake, go right; otherwise, just go left. Take out the archer and swing onwards to a little hole. After entering the hole, just jump up to the hole without touching the spikes. You should meet up with that ogre you saw earlier here. If you want to know how to take it out, just attack from behind as you reach the branches and don't let him do his wave attack since it is powerful. Get the cake on the left side if you have to. Just make sure that you return back or you'll end up in the long fall again. Just go to the tree on the left and hop on to the tree on the right. Jump and jump to the platform with the arrow point right that will lead you to the boss. Defeat the boss and the doors of the temple open up, bringing you to the next stage. --- Stage 3 --- [Sub-boss: Death Skull 4 skulls You are facing a skull which has a protective shield full of skulls (a la Skullman of "Rockman IV"). Besides the barrier, it also will launch a fire skull attack which tries to burn you and a pounding attack. If it does its pounding attack, watch out for the impact it makes afterwards. If you want to take it out quickly, use your bombs when you an opening during his shield phase or be daring w/ the sword. Otherwise, wait for his other two phases. If it does a pounding attack, hit it once the rocks are not there and be fast to the attack. If it does the flame attack, dodge it and retaliate quickly if you can. Don't forget that those platforms can help you out if he is out of reach.] [Sub-boss: One-eye Stone Monster 6 skulls In its first phase, take out its four stems seen on the corners of the monster. It will blow some projectiles and short ranged flames if you don't attack them. It will also do a rocket boost, meaning that it will go fast for a quick moment. After that, just attack the monster itself. Just watch out for its tear attack. Don't forget about the platforms if it is out of reach.] [Boss: Three-face Head 4 skulls In general, if it starts or if it is in the process of firing at you with any type of projectile, attack it. That's it.] You are now inside the temple to begin the third stage. Jump over the fire pit or you'll lose a heart. Wait for a moving platform and jump on it. From there, jump on to the next one and you should end up at a hole to enter to. You will meet your newest enemy: the pink spiked goo. It will split into three little blobs and they will show spikes to protect themselves. Let them drop their guard and attack. Don't go up yet. There is a self-icon at the end. Just be careful. Once you got it, go up quickly and I say quickly because the platforms that are floating will vanish if you're not fast enough. Go forward. Take out that tricky enemy if you want to. Otherwise, enter the next room. You have to swing from here. Take out the sub-boss and proceed. From here, just jump from side to side with the high jumpers. If you need health and stars, go up and you will find them on the right side. Go left and then you'll end up outside. There are many entries seen out here. Start with the one on the far left. From where you're at, jump on the high platforms you see on the left. Jump up and up and jump left afterwards. If you have followed what I said here, you should be at the platform with the half-oval shaped entry and there should be a slightly higher platform on your left. Enter it. Go on to the moving platform, but land correctly since there are spikes on the sides. Make sure to jump over that one obstacle or you'll end up in the pit. Go on to the next room to face your next sub-boss and take that one out too. Proceed onwards. You now encounter two doors. Start with the one closest to you. Enter that one. You will face skeletons here. Just duck under their stretch attacks and hit them twice. In this room, you will find another room that will give you the Blizzard. Also, if you go high enough, you will see a chest with a big star and a chest with a cake. Get them if you need to and enter the other door. The new enemy here is the pink ogre. Unlike the first ogre you saw earlier, this one can blow out fire as a side attack. Anyway, go up and swing if you need stars and hearts. Otherwise, enter that hole on the top right platform of the room. Now you know why I said to enter the far left entry earlier. Shoot the flames with your new weapon. Hit that red-violet Ashura statue monster three times. It shoots out energy balls by the way. Move on. From here, jump over the pits. Watch out for the fireballs that rise up. Go to the platform that will take you higher. Hop on to the next one and get the cake if you need to. Keep going and you should find an entry that will lead you to the extra heart. Don't go back inside. The place looks familiar, right? This is the place in which I told you to go to the far left entry. From here, drop down. Go to the entry on the far right this time. There's a chest with a self-icon. To get it, freeze the rising fire pillar and jump from there to the chest. Then jump up to the platform above you, avoiding the spike ball. Grab the cake and two big stars in the far right room and go back the middle entry. Douse the flames and move on to the next room. From there, drop down and go right. You should see another chest with a self-icon. Go back up and as you go on to the next platform, wait for a moving platform as you dodge the spike ball. Hop on to the moving platform and move onwards. Beware of the shots being fired at you. Go, up, up, up until you see another entry. If you need a big star, hop on to the floating platform quickly. The positions are left, right, left and right. Jump right afterwards to get that big star after the next room and go back. You can freeze the fire pillars for a short while if you want to get the stars. Keep going until you see an O. Freeze the pillar and swing from there. Advance as usual. You can attack that ogre from below. Don't worry about the entry on the bottom left. Be careful about the chests here because some will contain a bomb. Go up and the third chest you see here should contain a cake. Then, go to the final chest to get another self-icon. You saw the entry way already. So, enter it. Go up quickly. If you fall, you will hit the floor and you will be at an entry that will lead you to the entry I told you to ignore in the last paragraph. If you need stars and hearts, go left. Otherwise, go right and move your way to the boss. Defeat it and you will be going up to the next stage. --- Stage 4 --- [Sub-boss: Gremlin 4 skulls The Gremlin is back. This time, you're in a room where the ends are small and that the floor between them is a watery path that keeps making you move to the left. Just keep moving on the watery path and when it spins down, move to the end closest to you, attacking from there. Then go back to the watery path and repeat.] [Sub-boss: Evil Snowman 4 skulls The Evil Snowman should be easy if you know what you are doing. Watch its jumping pattern and slash his head. Its attacks are an ice energy ball that rolls and his arm cannons that home on to you. It will do this when it is on the bottom part of the room. Keeping all of your hearts here will be difficult despite the pattern, but the sub-boss still is easy.] [Boss: Fish Snake 4 skulls The first part to take note of is the water. It is acid water and you will lose health if you step on it. The second part is the boss itself. Its target is its head and it tail is the shield. There are two parts: the easy part and the hard part. The easy part: hit its head and go to the left platform afterwards so that its head won't hit you. Hop back to the middle platform and repeat. The hard part: after taking out half of its life, it will turn red and it becomes really mad. It will hide in the water and you have to anticipate when it goes into the air. It raises its tail up and out comes acid water when it wants to come down. The best way (if not, the only way) to defeat the boss from this point on is to stay on the middle platform, jump away from its tail attack, avoid the water attacks and hit its head. The head becomes hittable for a split second. So, you must be agile enough to react.] The fourth stage has you starting up in a place up in the sky. Go forward as usual. The next area has some winged creatures that originally act as statues. Hit them twice and watch out for their dive attacks or if you want, just move on to the next area without stopping. Just jump over the laser shooter. Don't worry about the chests since they contain a big star and a cake. Enter the next area. Keep on moving forward to reach the sub-boss. Defeat it and go to the next room. Get the big star and the cake if needed and then go forward. You should see a small dinosaur monster that blows out ice blocks. You can hit the blocks with your sword by the way. The chest, to your left side below you, should contain a big star. From there, there should be a penguin that will slide if you don't attack it quickly. A bomb is in the chest close by. The deep bottom chest has another bomb. The chest near by it has another big star. Don't go to the next room yet. Go back to the platform with the dinosaur monster. Swing all the way to the right and you should have found two icons of yourself along the way. Now be careful as you drop and go to the next area. Play it safe and take out the jellyfish. You'll notice that there's that watery path again. This one moves you to spikes. Get on the moving platform carefully because of the spikes on its sides. Hop off carefully once you see the wall with spikes since there's another platform coming at you. Move your way forward, avoiding the jellyfish and the winged creature. You should see the entry up above you. So, hop on to the platform coming towards you and enter the next room. Take out the piranhas and swing. Fall into the first gap that is under the ceiling of spikes. Be safe and use the Bomb's impact to take out the penguin. Small hop on your way forward. Take out the chests in your way, containing a cake and a big star and proceed. (You probably needed those two as of now.) If you somehow need a big star, swing onto the chest, taking out the skeleton that is carrying a boulder. Otherwise, go to the next room below. Take out the jellyfish and crawl your way past the spike balls. The next part is all about timing. You have two balls bouncing up and down and you still have that one high spike ball you crawled under as well as another pair of balls and a big jellyfish. If you have enough stars (and believe me that you should have enough, especially since I have not really told you to use many star-using tricks up to this point), you can use the Crystal Spread Shot to get past the first pair of balls and the second one if you are quick enough. Don't worry about the piranhas (unless you need them for candy drops) and stay up. Beware of the spread shot up ahead and take the jellyfish out. If it helps, you can take out the shots with your sword. Keep on going and you should hit the next entry. Get the heart on the bottom left side and the big star on the bottom right and move back up top to the next entry on the far right. Actually, don't get the heart yet. You'll know why in a bit. Just step on the switch and take out the penguins to unlock the entry on the right. You should be in a room with four torches up to this point. You'll notice that one of them hasn't been lit. You'll come back here in just a bit. For now, just go to the next room. See the two ice blocks covering the bottom right entry? You can't enter the room yet. For now, work your way up. Be careful about the lasers as you work your way up. Go to the entryway on the left side once you're way up high. Push the block with the laser shooter all the way until you hit the switch on the floor and enter the room you just unlocked. Step on the switch to get some stars and enter the next room. Take out the ogres or they will either pounce on you, burn you or they will smack you with their clubs. Drop down and you should be in a room with the Flame, your next weapon. Go left, not right because the chests have big stars you'll need later. You should see the two ice blocks in your way. Back off a bit and melt them quickly. Enter the room where you got the Flame and get the big stars if you have to. Leave and go to the entry on the left side. The room you're in looks familiar, right? Now, drop down safe and go back to the room with the four torches. Light up the one that hasn't been lit and you should go into the new entry you revealed to get four self-icons. Go back to the room with the circling platforms and burn the ice blocks that are blocking the bottom right entry. Enter in to face the sub-boss, but don't keep going right yet. Go back to get any stars you've missed up to this point and take the time to receive candy drops as well because once you go right, you can't return back to places like the room of the torches and the room of the circling platforms. It does get harder from here. Oh yeah. Get the heart if you haven't done so and then come back to this point. You're now in a room where you can't go back to the places I mentioned in the previous paragraphs. Drop down and get up once you're in the watery paths. There are plant monsters that bring out ice balls. Don't forget the falling icicles. Jump to a ice platform hanging in the air and you should also see a platform that disappears from time to time. Swing to the entry you see ahead. Take out the jellyfish because you'll be fighting against the watery path and jumping over the moving big ice balls with it to advance. The first ice platform you see, jump on it. You can grab the big star above you if you used the Crystal Spread Shot to protect yourself at some point. Keep on going and again, don't forget the icicles. Grab the cake (you really deserved) and enter the next room. (Oh yeah. A tip I should mention is that on the watery path, if you keep moving to the end, the balls will go over you. This doesn't work at the start though.) Keep going up on the moving platforms and watch your placement carefully as you go into the floating entry up top. Move slowly and you should see another platform on your right. Again move slowly so that you'll bounce onto a spring and that you'll be able to go to that platform, which has a switch. While avoiding the obstacles, hurry to those floating platforms and jump on to them quickly so that you can reach the entry at the top. Take note of the face statue and take out the skeleton on the platform with the locked entry. Hit the switch on the bottom right part of the room. (Thankfully, the balls leave small gaps of breathing room.) Slash the three chests to get a big star, a cake and a self-icon. Hurry to the next room. Hit the penguins and look out for the icicles as you make your way to the next entry. This part is one of the most annoying parts in the game. Go on to the spring you see ahead. Don't hit the switch yet because of the skeleton you see up top You will have to swing with the O's lined up as corners of a zigzag. The best way to get the most of your swings is by jumping off at the highest point or close to the highest point if you think that you can't make the jump and move your character forward. Take out the skeleton once you get off the second O from the top. Go swinging again all the way to the top O and swing your way towards a self-icon. Now, fall down so that you can hit the switch and swing to the get in the next entry before it gets locked again. Take out all of the enemies to unlock the entry on the right. Grab the cake and the big star. Move on and ignore the winged creatures if you want as you keep going. Take out the penguins so that you can get the last cake and two big stars of the level with peace as you prepare for the boss. --- Stage 5 --- It's coming soon. --- Stage 6 --- It's coming soon. === Go (Five). What Will I Add in the Future? === Half of chapter four is done. I want to finish that first and then add more material. === Roku (Six). The Final Chapter === Um, wow. Okay. Let's finish this. --- Credits --- Myself - I made the only guide for this game for crying out loud! Pack-in-Video and Polestar - They're the ones who brought the game. Anyone else I might have forgotten - I'll thank you later on. --- Last words --- Well, I pretty much have the basics down and half of the journey done. So, please stay tuned for the next update, okay? Ja! "'Magical Pop'n' Guide" Copyright 2003 by Don Umali - Don Umali/Bata-kun