Stage 1

You begin each new game on this stage. (If you have returned here after completing stage 7, you should search for the warp to Future World 1.) As with all stages, you must advance to the right to reach the end where the stage card is contained. The game starts out by presenting every possible item to you in order to familiarize yourself with each item's properties. After collect the 10-gargoyle block treasure, you'll have to use one block to leap over the next rock ledge. Eventually, you will find the mirror which allows Gaou to walk right through physical terrain. You can't get trapped in a wall, so don't worry. You will reach an area with Officials walking about, along with some snakes. Break the walls that lie to the right of some ledges so that you break the top two blocks, and the first middle block. An item is usually hidden in the first middle block, including a 1-up doll. You can use the staircase-like arrangement to reach any treasures on top, including the invincibility granting Phoenix feather. If no wall is available, you can always create gargoyle blocks as steps. After you defeat the last string of Officials, continue to the open area, where you'll have to use blocks to reach the top of some very high ledges to proceed. Remember that you can create blocks in mid-air while you jump. This can help you cut down on the number of blocks necessary to clear the stage. You will reach the boss after clearing this section

Boss: The boss of this stage is a giant Gargoyle head that bobs up and down across the room. When he reaches the peak of his floating, he shoots two boulders from his nose. It is possible to play this fight very carefully and avoid danger, but you can also run right up to him and fire at him quite rapidly and destroy him before he can cross the room one time. You will take a bit of damage, but if you entered the fight with full health, you'll defeat him very quickly. Don't forget that Gaou can also fire his chisels upwards.

Stage 2

Compared to the last stage, this stage is more of an open plain. There are a number of treasure chests that lie on various ledges, but they are easily accessed. Try to avoid taking much damage until you reach the life restoring Onigiri in the second treasure chest. Your biggest threat here are the bouncing foxes. Eventually, you will find one treasure chest that contains the necklace which stops time for the enemies for a short period. Use it to advance quickly through the stage. After the first gap, you will begin to see the floating evil spirits that cross the screen. The treasure chest at the top contains an invincibility feather. Use it to crash through several enemies. Shortly after that, treasure chests will begin to drop from the sky. You'll have to shoot at them at just the right time to hit them and collect their contents before they hit the ground. Once they drop, you can't access them anymore. The enemies tend to appear less and less as you reach the end of the stage, and you will reach an enclosure shortly after collecting an invincibility feather from the last chest.

Boss: There is no actual boss to this stage. All you have to do is destroy some of the blocks that close off the room where the card is contained. Two foxes and a Monk also occupy the room, but they are easily taken care of. Take the top route to avoid the most damage, stand beneath the card next to the right wall, and fire up to let the card drop and collect it.

Stage 3

The rocky terrain of the third stage is laid out a bit more like the first stage. In the beginning, the biggest threat will be posed by the owls that float across the screen, and the occasional fox. You won't have to use any gargoyle blocks if you jump properly. If you happen to get stuck in a crag, you'll have to lay one or two down to climb back out. Eventually, the jumps start to space out a bit more and it may be more practical to rely on a block or two to help you along. The sky will start to open up and the terrain will level out. You will find a treasure chest enclosed in some rocks. Read the spoiler below to find out what it is. As you continue, more gaps will begin to appear between the rocks, and floating evil spirits will traverse the screen. Take it slowly, so as not to slip off a ledge to the gaps below. If you do happen to fall, try to save yourself with a gargoyle block. You will reach some ledges where you must rely on a couple of gargoyle blocks to get you over and beyond. When you see three chests close together, you are just before the stage boss. Be sure to collect the Onigiri in the middle chest.

Boss: The Rock Man is a living creature of stone. He can leap high up in the air and cross the screen, or he can tuck himself into a giant boulder and roll across the floor in an attempt to flatten you. When he stands, he typically throws stones at Gaou. Once again, you can trail this boss rather closely, and continuously hit him with chisels as rapidly as possible in order to do away with him quite fast. Try to anticipate his moves, and you'll be able to destroy him in no time.

Stage 4

When you start this stage, you will probably be quite distracted by the treasure chests that reside high up in the tree branches. While a few of them are worth the effort to climb up and collect, the majority of them are just point bags which are not worth endangering your life to grab. Your much safer staying on the ground and poaching a treasure chest whenever one becomes more accessible. After the first to tree chests, two more chests will fall to the ground which you must accurately time a chisel throw in order to hit and collect the contents. As you progress, be on the lookout for enemies which are likely to attack you from above. Stand still and shoot them out of the air if necessary before proceeding. You will soon come to a watery location where coy fish jump out of the water, and can hurt you if they touch you. While the first treasure chest may be tempting to collect, it will place you in a lot of danger as you try to collect it. It is better off to stick to the top level of platforms and avoid the fish. When you are forced to drop down, be sure to collect the last chest in the area for an Onigiri. Finally, you will reach another small watery gap with one fish. Carefully build a staircase up to the first chest, collect the time stopping necklace, then continue up to the next two chests and collect one last Onigiri before proceeding to the boss fight.

Boss: The Face Wheel of fire hovers over the center of the screen, pouring down balls at Gaou as it spins. It moves very slowly from that position, so you can stand beneath it and fire straight up at it. To speed up the fight, create a few gargoyle blocks beneath it, and climb higher so that you can fire you chisels at it more rapidly and collect the card before it even begins to move.

Stage 5

It is actually quite possible to run through a majority of this entire stage straight through without stopping as long as your quick enough on the fire button. After defeating a couple of ground based enemies, treasure chests will begin to fall to the ground. If you time your shots carefully, you can shoot them as they are falling and collect their contents. Eventually, you will reach the first of two shrines. You can choose to simply run beneath each of the shrines, and you would be well advised to do so, as the alternate method of running through the shrines themselves is slow, and can put you in danger. If you try to run through the shrines, you must leap from one Buddha statue to another, and the chests that fall are very difficult to get to in time. After running past the second shrine, you will only have a couple of Buddha statues left to jump over before you reach the boss.

Boss: Hanya can be a tough boss to face as he continuously spits out small enemies to attack you. While he is stationary and very easy to hit, it can be difficult to avoid taking a lot of damage from the smaller enemies. It is possible, however, to set yourself up so as to avoid taking any damage. As you run into the room, don't continue to run all the way. Break down the blocks that lead to Hanya and climb up to his level. Place a two block tall tower in front of his head and one more block to the right to stand on. Then scroll the screen all the way over. Stand on the platform and continue to fire. Any faces that can make it out of the area will get shot down, and Hanya should be defeated rather easily.

Stage 6

Monks will be the first to greet you and attack you as you make your way across this platform based stage. The first bridge you cross is designed to give you a false sense of confidence; portions of later bridges will fall away, so be careful when you reach the second bridge. After picking up the invincibility feather from the chest at the foot of the bridge, move slowly across to see the two break-away areas before you end up walking over them. Stay aware as you cross the third and fourth bridges as well. Eventually, the stage will transition to a series of platforms guarded by Officials. Don't move too quickly, and you should be fine. The treasure chest that lies flat on one platform contains a 1-up doll, which you can collect after dropping down to the ledge to the left. From there, you will have to build a staircase of blocks to reach the higher ledge, and then drop down to the lower ledge and repeat the process again to continue. Monks will then return to attack you until you reach the boss at the end of the stage.

Boss: Although the Lightning God moves considerably more than most of the previous bosses, he is actually a lot easier to fight. You can run just as fast as him, which means you can stay beneath him through nearly his entire path (except for the platform to the far left.) Remain underneath him as he moves, and fire upwards continuously as fast as you can. He will only be able to fire off around three or four lightning bolts at you, and some of them will miss anyway. His card will be yours in no time.

Stage 7


Avoid these balls from the Mural
As you start out in this cave stage, Owls and Monks will attack you. When you reach a split in the path, make sure that you take the top area to proceed. Otherwise you will be forced to move into an area that leads to a warp, which is not necessarily bad, but it won't let you reach the end of this stage. You will reach water where Coy fish jump out. To get the first treasure beyond the waterfall, you'll have to fall down and create a gargoyle head beneath your feet as you fall, but you will find that the chest only contains a point bag; not worth risking your life for. The same is true for the following chest. The treasure trapped up in the ceiling however are worth the effort to rescue. Just shoot the spikes that hang from the ceiling to gain access to the treasure they hold up. The stage will flatten out and you can run right through it for the most part without fear, until you see fish again. After you jump over the water and the gaps, the lower of the two pathways contain valuable treasures including an Onigiri and an invincibility feather, but you'll have to jump carefully so as not to cause Gaou to fall down the gaps before the spikes.

Boss: The Mural, much like Hanyo, is a stationary boss, so it is very easy to hit. The danger it poses comes in the form of the balls that it spits out in an attempt to hit you. Run all the way to the right wall, and create a few gargoyle blocks to shorten the distance between you and the Mural. This will help you fire chisels at it much faster and destroy it before it can spit too many balls at you. You will end up collecting the card as soon as it is destroyed.

Note: At this point, the game will return you to stage 1 of the Feudal Japan stages, rather than sending you on to stage 8. You'll have to find the hidden warp which can send you to the eighth stage.

Stage 8

You can only access this stage by warping in from the secret location near the end of the third stage of the Prehistoric Times. It won't be significantly different from other stages that you've encountered, except that the entire stage will appear to be undergoing an earthquake, making it slightly more difficult to gauge the accuracy of your jumps. The stage is very repetitive, with small bumps and jumps that appear continuously. Even if you arrive here with a full eight bars of health, be very careful to avoid damage, as there isn't an Onigiri to restore your health until quite late in the stage (it appears in one of two chests that lie next to one another.) Eventually, you will reach a gap, where a Coy fish will be jumping around. On the other side, Monks wait to attack Gaou, followed by Officials. Long flat platforms will be followed by large gaps that must be lept over at full speed. After a few such gaps, rocks will appear to fall out of the sky.

Boss: You've seen this type of stage end many times before, once in Future World and twice in Prehistoric Times. All you must do is dodge the falling rocks will drop from the sky and crash through the ground, destroying blocks as they fall. You must quickly run to the right side of the screen, build a set of gargoyle platforms and jump up to the card waiting in the right hand corner of the screen. If you collect this card, and you don't have all 15 other cards, you will return to the first stage where you began the game. If you have all of the other cards, you will add this 16th final card to the collection, revealing the Phoenix and ending the game. Congratulations! You will then get to start the game over from the first stage again at a slightly higher difficulty. Enemies will appear much more frequently than they used to.

The easiest way to reach the first stage of Future World is to take the warp in the first stage of Feudal Japan. It is located behind the second barrier wall (from which you receive a hidden 1-up doll). Destroy the wall and push up at the cave entrance to warp.

Stage 1

If you have returned here from after defeating the Super Computer in the fifth stage, the stage is a little longer and you must pass through a different beginning. Look for a warp to the Prehistoric Times very early on when you find yourself back among the usual start to the stage. After you cross the very first bridge, you will notice a treasure chest below in the water flow. This chest can be very difficult to reach but it is possible if you fall through the gap in the bridge and carefully place a set of gargoyles blocks beneath you back to the left. Eventually, you will reach the chest which contains a nice reward: a 1-up doll. Whether you get the chest or not, proceed to the right over the rest of the bridge, watching out for the bouncing insects. After the bridge, there are a series of chests trapped in the rocks to the right. You can break them out by shooting the rocks. The first one has an Onigiri. Make sure you destroy the lowest set of blocks before proceeding to the low platform occupied by a number of Amoebas. Climb up to the higher platform, break the blocks above that and jump over the gap. While you can dig down into the middle layer of the next portion, it is actually safer to simply run along the top of the screen. When you reach a small shallow pool, you'll have to climb up and knock out the highest blocks to continue. Another valuable Onigiri is hidden in the low block just before the long waterfall. Just beyond that, a series of twisting Moais should begin to appear.

Boss: There is no actual boss for this stage per se, but a large number of Moais will appear on the right side of the screen and crash through the blocks as they travel to the left. Each one will leave behind a tunnel, and eventually you will be able to proceed closer to the card on the right. You can speed up the process by making your own tunnels. Once you collect the card you will be off to the next stage.

Stage 2

Once you arrive on this stage, your best strategy is to keep moving as quickly to the right as you can. You will be attacked by insects and a series of falling meteorites. There aren't a lot of treasure chests to help you, and those that are present will only slow you down. That makes it all the more important to find hidden treasures like the Onigiri in the second step of the staircase of blocks that lead you to the top of the screen One the other side, you'll have to begin shooting down some of the bricks to gain access to the pathway beyond. An invincibility feather is hidden in one of the bricks. You must continue to shoot through that layer. If you happen to run ahead and think that you've become stuck, you can break through the blocks that you stand on by squatting and jumping three times. Two tiers of platforms will appear. The lower one can be shot and destroyed, revealing a few hidden items. Meteorites will begin to appear again. Another set of platforms can be jumped over, or shot through and run below. After you encounter three chests in a row (the last one contains Onigiri), larger meteors will begin to fall out of the sky.

Boss: Like the previous stage, there is no actual boss, but an obstacle you must avoid while trying to make your way to the card at the end. In this case, it is a series of falling Meteors which plummet to the ground and crash through the blocks below, creating gaps which Gaou must jump over in order to survive. Once the card is in view, don't hesitate; begin building a staircase to the card immediately. If Meteors fall over the gargoyle blocks, they will be destroyed. Patiently replace them and continue on your way to the card.

Stage 3

Pass below the first platform, and prepare to shoot out some of the blocks of the next platform in order to get a better foothold, but watch out for the bouncing Kruuk aliens. You will have to advance through a series of platforms and avoid the Mecha Pill bugs that occupy them, until you find three chests next to one another. Meteorites will fall from the sky again. Advance to the fenced in area. Take the low path below the next platform to avoid the Amoebas. Eventually, you will see Mecha Bees bouncing in a closed off area. The wall that separates you from them can be shot and destroyed, revealing an Onigiri inside. You can take either path. If you take the low path, you will have to push the block at the end out of the way to continue. Next, you will encounter three pairs of cylinders. If you try to jump between them, you will most likely get caught in there with a set of Kruuks. Sometimes Amoebas roam back and forth on top of them. A treasure chest usually lies on the second cylinder, but it can be hard to reach if the space between them is not safe. Beyond those pairs, you will have to climb over very high cylinders, one of which contains a chest with Onigiri. As you move on, Missiles will begin to appear from the floor and fire forward when they reach your vertical height. Then you will find three more chests, one with another Onigiri. After that, you will reach the boss.

Boss: The Byebull is an alien that behaves very much like the Mural boss at the end of the seventh stage in Feudal Japan. It remains stationary in the upper right corner of the screen while shooting smaller aliens at Gaou. If you build a set of gargoyle blocks along the right wall, you can get close enough to it to fire quite rapidly at it from below, destroying it quickly and collecting the card. Another alien will fall to the ground in an egg and hatch, but you needn't worry about it if you are up on blocks.

Stage 4

This futuristic city stage starts with a secret passage below the first platform, including some hidden items, followed by a series of platform jumps while the Evil Spirit faces float across the screen. An Onigiri is in a chest lying on a low platform. You must fall and stop yourself with a gargoyle block in order to collect it. Below the three statues of women pouring water, there is a secret pathway which you can break open by squatting and jumping on. Breaking the blocks will reveal different items once you shoot them. Watch out for the Amoebas that occupy the tops of the high platforms. After a high platform with a time stop necklace in the chest, there is a building on a mid-level platform that has a hidden chest in the ground below, containing an Onigiri. Chest will fall out of the sky until you reach a set of steps, the lower of which can be broken and shot through, revealing a mirror that lets you pass through the ground. When you reach another split, the block that lie in front of the high platform can be broken, and also hide an Onigiri. The low chest before a wall of blocks only contains a point bag.

Boss: The wall itself actually represents the end of the stage, where you must shoot through a series of blocks in order to reach the card in the upper right hand corner. Hidden in the blocks are a couple of spherical enemies which follow the contour of the space you create by blasting out the blocks. They should pose a minimal threat, and you should be able to collect the card in very little time.

Stage 5

Start by running beyond the three chests and turning around to open them. The first one has an Onigiri. Watch out for the Quasail aliens that run about, and the meteorites that fall after them as you proceed to the right. Jump to the high platform, and watch out for the Mecha Bees as you jump over the staircase of blocks. A hole can be punched in two locations of the wall that follows, high or low. The low routes leads to chests while the upper route is crowded with Amoebas. Meteorites will begin falling again, so be sure to collect the Onigiri in the chest that follows. Navigate over the next series of platforms, ignoring the low lying treasure chest (point bag). Just before the boss, there is a high platform with a chest that contains an Onigiri.

Boss: The Super Computer is another very stationary and easy boss to defeat. It sends out football shaped objects that bounce around the room, but don't necessarily pose a significant threat to you. Create a gargoyle platform off the ground so that you can get closer to the core and fire at it more rapidly. Eventually the core will be destroyed and you will reveal a Konami symbol behind it as you collect the card.

Note: At this point, you will be returned to the first stage in the Future World.

In most cases, you will arrive in the Prehistoric Times by warping from the first stage of Future World, and arriving on the second stage of this zone, not the first.

Stage 1

The first stage starts out with a long flat run before a gap. Watch out for the turtles that follow. Archaeopteryx begin to appear as you approach the tree branches that you must jump along to proceed. A 1-up doll can be found in the chest that occupies the very low branch. It can be difficult to collect if you're not adept at creating gargoyle blocks as you fall off the ledge. An Onigiri can be found in the mid-level chest during the second set of trees, where Evil Spirit faces float across the screen. On the other side of the trees, watch out for the fire breating Tyranos, as well as the bouncing Anatosaurus. Eventually, you will see three chests lining steps before some trees. The lowest chest can be particularly difficult to get but holds a big secret. Deeper into the trees, another very low chest contains an invincibility feather, and can be worth the effort to collect. By this time, logs will appear to fall from out of the sky.

Boss: The end of this stage is no different than the second Future World stage and the third Prehistoric Times stage. The logs fall from the sky and crash through the blocks that lie beneath them. You must quickly run to the right and create a set of gargoyle platforms for you to climb up to the card in the upper right hand corner and complete the stage. If you've collected all three Prehistoric Times cards, you'll need to return to the very end of the third stage to find the warp to the eighth and final stage of Feudal Japan.

Stage 2

Start out by getting past the bouncing Anatosaurus, and move on to the segment with the turtles. The low lying chest contains a beaded necklace, and isn't always worth the effort needed to collect it. Watch out for the flying Archaeopteryx as you leap over the gaps. The low lying chest that you encounter next contains a mirror, but the higher chest above it contains an invincibility feather which is more useful. When you reach the low tunnel, you may wish to simply climb to the very top and run along the ceiling, and the low path isn't particularly difficult either. But the truth is there are a number of valuable items hidden inside the stone that forms the top part of the tunnel, which you can break and discover. Once on the other side, safely jump from one ledge to the other over the gaps. Continue to jump over the gaps of the flat portion of the stage. Pass below the high rock. Once the Archaeopteryx stop appearing overhead, you're close to the boss.

Boss: Dino Fossil may look imposing, but it is once again a rather simple boss. It's only weak point is the skull, which you must actually hit in order to damage it. You can stand directing beneath it and fire up, or create a gargoyle block of the ground and fire at it straight on. It will spit spikes at you, but if you fire at it fast enough, it won't be able to hit your more than two or three times before you defeat it.

Stage 3

The icy terrain here poses a serious threat to your control over Gaou. He will slip and slide along the ice in the direction of his momentum, so be prepared to stop early and counter his sliding. After collecting a time stopping necklace, take the time to shoot the low chest which contains a mirror. Use it to run straight into the mountain side and fire continuously as you run through it. You will eventually wear part of the mountain away and if you continue to shoot, you will reveal the ice shoes, a very valuable item which can help restore you control over Gaour by preventing him from sliding around. Be sure to make a distinction between the pillars that follow and the snowy horizon that composes the background. Collect the Onigiri from the high platform as you proceed. Be careful opening the treasures below the swooping Archaeopteryx. Eventually you will reach the interior of a cave, where Tyrannosauruses wander across the platforms. Deeper in, you will start to see Giant Ants instead, but they are slow and pose little threat. The turtles on the other side of the cave are more dangerous. The background of the stage will change to white pillars. It is at this time that you may wish to search for a warp that will lead you to the eighth stage of Feudal Japan if you have already collected all of the Prehistoric Times cards. Icicles will begin to pour down from the sky.

Boss: The icicles at the end of this stage are a lot like the meteors from the end of the second stage of Future World. They fall from the sky and crash through the ground, destroying every block that they touch. For this reason, it is important that you run to the right and create a quick set of platforms in order to climb up quickly and grab the card before an icicle crashes down on the steps you are building.

Note: At this point, you will be returned to the first stage of the Prehistoric Times.