The King of Fighters: Battle de Paradise (Neo Geo Pocket Color) Last Updated: March 5, 2001 Walkthrough written by Christina Rose. If you have anything useful to contribute, please email it to me at lemina_ausa@hotmail.com and I'll give you due credit, but please, no requests for updates! When I collect a large enough amount of information, I'll add it. This walkthrough is intended for personal use only. If you wish to use it for anything else, please contact me and ask permission first. I don't mind others hosting it on their sites, as long as nothing is altered, and I keep my small amount of credit. If you wish to visit Neo Geo's official KOF Battle de Paradise homepage for nice info and pretty pictures, you can find it at http://www.neogeo.co.jp/kof00/toppage/para_index.htm This walkthrough will contain Japanese text for all of the main commands and options, so I suggest reading it with a viewer that supports SJS encoding. I would like to give special thanks to three people whose help was invaluable to me in writing this. First, Andrew Egerton, for getting the game and begging me to translate what people were saying. Without him loaning the game (and NGPC) out to me to play around with, none of this would have been possible. Second, I want to thank my wonderful friends and esteemed colleagues Nuku-Nuku and Filia, of LNF Translations (http://translations.animangarpg.org), for putting up with me on IRC when I threw random words and phrases I didn't understand at them and asked them to translate on the spot for me. Also, thanks to all the people who took an active interest in this FAQ and emailed me with info. I got three seperate emails just about Gai within hours of my posting it up. Thank you for the prompt responses! I'm very grateful. Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, I'd like to add a shameless plug for my own pet project web page right now (http://www2.netdoor.com/~fujisawa/4koma.html), my Dragon Quest manga translations page. I don't know how many SNK fans enjoy the series, but if you do, please stop by- I'm sure you'll appreciate what I have there. UPDATES! In addition to the stuff I listed last time- Added more character details! Obtained the final stage! Also added the Robert card! Re-added the Stages section, now that I can list them all. TABLE OF CONTENTS Section 1: Beginning a New Game Section 2: Playing with Settings Section 3: Strikers Section 4: Gameplay Section 5: Mini Games Section 6: Events Section 7: Cards Section 8: Dreamcast Link Section 9: CHEESE GUIDE Section 10: Stages Section 11: Secrets, Etc. Section 1: Beginning a New Game At the title screen, there will be three options to choose from: まえのつづき Continues from a previous save, if one exists. You can only have one saved game at any given time, so this will be the option you should always choose, unless you haven't started a game at all yet. はじめから Starts a new game. ゲームルール Game rules. Has detailed explanations of all rules, but I don't care enough to do an exact translation of everything it says right now. If you have stopped in the middle of a game and turned the cartridge off, then turned it back on without removing it, then a RESUME option appears at the top to let you pick up where you left off. Isn't that convenient? To begin a new game, choose the second option. You will be presented with four different characters to choose from. I don't think it really makes a difference, who you pick, but don't choose this option if you already have a saved game, because if you save after playing a game, you lose all previous data. All your striker levels and extra points and secrets will be flushed down the toilet. I did this to myself, twice, by accident. Characters: I think the only thing this affects is the cards that you start out with, although I'm not sure about that. The only person I've used so far is Yuu G, who starts every game with Assassin Strike and Mirror of Yata. Yuu G: The guy with the headband. Masamune: The guy with the ponytail. Hatoko: The brown-haired pleasant-looking girl. Ai: The blonde, dark-skinned girl. Section 2: Playing with Settings This is the menu that pops up after making your new character. It's also what you get when you choose the Continue option. メインゲーム Main Game ユーザー User Sub options: バトルゲーム Battle Game シークレットデータ Secret Data レベルアップ Level Up オプション Option Sub options: メッセージスピード Message Speed なんいど Game Difficulty DC通信 Dreamcast Linkup ゲームデータセーブ Game Data Save Main Game: Choose your striker, and pick whether they're Justice or Dark. ぜん Justice く Dark This does seem to affect gameplay. Some cards can only be used by Justice strikers, and some can only be used by Dark. Also, some cards will change your alignment, as well as some events. Next, choose 1-player or 2-player mode. Unless you have a friend with another NGPC and copy of this game, which is highly unlikely, stick with 1-player. Choose the amount of turns you wish to play for. 30 turns isn't long enough to accomplish much, but 99 is great for earning lots of stars and coins to exchange for ability points! Then, choose your stage. The first stage is definitely the best for beginners. There are two hidden stages: Mount Rushmore (Terry's stage in Fatal Fury 2), and another mystery stage I haven't unlocked yet. I'm hoping it will be Southtown, or possibly Osaka! I'll cover gameplay in the sections following. User: This section contains all of the extra things you can toy around with, if you earn them. The Battle Game section allows you to choose from any mini-game you've unlocked so far and practice on it against the computer. Secret Data is a collection of 20 cute pictures, which must also be unlocked through ability points. Level Up allows you to invest the stars you've earned in games to purchase additional levels for your strikers. I don't see any reason to conserve stars for anything else, so go ahead and spend them on that. Options: Message Speed はやい Fast ふつう Normal おそい Slow Game Difficulty かんたん Easy ふつう Normal むずかしい Difficult DC Linkup allows you to upload data to your VMU, or download data from your VMU. This requires a VMU save of The King of Fighters '99 Evolution, import version. I'm not sure if it works with the US version or not, since I haven't played it yet. Game Data Save prompts you with a question of whether or not you want to save your current data. はい Yes いいえ No Section 3: Strikers This is a basic rundown of the different versions of each striker. I would love to list what each Striker does to the opponent on Fight panels, but it's very rare for me to find those, so I only know what a few of them do. Also note, you do have to level up Justice and Dark seperately. If you level up someone's Justice side to 3, but leave their Dark side at 1, then when they switch alignment, that alignment will have the level it's listed with. Kyo The main hero of the King of Fighters series, and head of the Kusanagi clan. Theme music: KOF 96 Japan Team theme JUSTICE: Encounters Iori. On Delay/Loss panels, he goes off to study with Yuki. DARK: Encounters Shingo. Instead of wasting a turn on Yuki, he wastes 5 coins. I prefer this tradeoff. Daimon Kyo's teammate from '94 to '97, he acts as the voice of wisdom and reason in the Hero team. Although nobody likes using him, he's one of the game's stronger characters. Theme music: KOF 94 Japan Team theme JUSTICE: Encounters Shermie. Loses a turn on delay panels. DARK: Encounters Chizuru. Loses a turn on delay panels. Chizuru The president in charge of the corporation sponsoring KOF 96 and 97, she is also the only remaining heir to the ancient Yata clan, who participated in sealing Orochi away 1800 years ago. Theme music: Her KOF 96 theme. JUSTICE: Encounters Kyo. DARK: Encounters Chris, who is crying, and you have to console him. Athena The leader of the Psycho Soldier team, as well as a famous idol singer. (She makes other appearances in Athena for NES, Crystalis, Psycho Soldier, and Athena for PSX) Theme music: Psycho Soldier, the exact same track as in every other NGPC game with her in it. JUSTICE: Encounters Robert, loses a turn on delay panels. DARK: Encounters Kensou, loses a turn on delay panels. Billy Geese's main flunky, he's a cheap, nasty fighter originally from Fatal Fury. He encounters Iori and Yamazaki, who were his teammates in '95 and '97 respectively. Theme music: London March, from KOF 97. JUSTICE: Has big cute round eyes, and loses a turn to get medicine for his sick little sister Lily. DARK: Looks like normal Billy, except with ugly colors. I haven't gotten any delay events with him yet. Yamazaki Another Fatal Fury character, this guy is a frighteningly crazy psychopath. This could be due to the Orochi blood inside of him, or he could just be messed up in the head. Theme music: His theme in KOF 97. JUSTICE: ABSOLUTELY ADORABLY CUTE! His smiling happy face has a striking resemblence to Xelloss's, from Slayers. I never use anything but Justice for him. He wastes a turn, probably to go rescue some old lady's kitten stuck in a tree or something. He encounters Billy. DARK: He looks like his normal evil-looking psychopathic self, and encounters Iori. Alfred A hidden striker, he's from a Fatal Fury game, I'm not sure which. His goggles alone make him cool, though. Justice and Dark versions both seem to be about the same. Fio The main hero of Metal Slug: 2nd Mission, she makes an appearance as a hidden striker that you can earn after earning a lot of ability points. I've only used her once, myself. The person she meets in Justice mode is Leona. Gai Another hidden striker, this guy is from a Neo Geo 64 fighting game called Buriki One, and is a Muay Thai kickboxer. Another one. How many of those guys does SNK have, anyway? He also has a card in Card Fighters' Clash. Thanks to Logan Sharp (lsharp@optelnow.net) for this frighteningly obscure piece of info! Syo You need at least 400,000 ability points to unlock him. His counterpart character, at least in Justice mode, is Kyo. After doing some extensive research, I finally stumbled across a picture of Syo in one of my KOF artbooks, in a section full of preliminary designs that they threw out for Kyo. In other words, he's a version of Kyo that could have been, but never was. His full name is Syo Kirishima, and he is Kyo's Another Striker in KOF 2000, going along with the alternate character versions theme. If you wish to level them up, go to the User menu, and select Level Up. Raising a level from 1 to 2 costs 2 Stars. Raising a level from 2 to 3 costs 5 Stars. 3 is the maximum level, as far as I can tell. I'm not sure exactly what relevance the strikers' level has to the actual game, aside from the Chizuru's Cash card, but if you upload the strikers to your KOF 99 Evolution VMU save at level 3, they become truly nasty and powerful. Section 4: Gameplay When the game begins, both characters will roll a dice to see who goes first, higher number wins. When your turn comes up, you get three options. サイコロ Dice - Rolls dice and moves ストライカー Striker Status - Lets you view the current level and alignment of your striker. This can change in the course of the game. カード Card - Lets you use any special cards in your current inventory. I'll explain more about cards further on. Remember, if you hold down the B button and push the direction pad, you can have a full view of the entire board. Make sure to get a good look at where you're going when choosing the direction you take at a fork. PANELS Blue Coin: +5 coins Red Coin: -5 coins [ ! ]: Event Panel, many different effects [VS]: Mini Game Panel! [/F/]: Star Panel. Heidern sells you up to 3 stars per visit, at 20 coins apiece. Card Panel: Vanessa's Card Shop. There are many panels, but only 4 distinctive shops. Cone Panel: Toll booth. If you don't have 3 coins to lose, you can't stop there. Skull Panel: BAD Panel. Depending on the stage, it can have Rugal, Goenitz, Krizalid, Omega Rugal, or Orochi. Sometimes they'll force both you and the opponent through some horrible mini game ordeal which is nearly impossible to win, and causes both sides to lose money if you don't. Other times, they just cut the pretense and take your stuff. Switch Panel: Switches the location of the Skull Panel and Star Panel. Section 5: Mini Games Matching Game: This is your basic game of Memory. You flip two cards, and if they're alike, you keep them and gain points. The gold bars and bags of gold offer more points than the single coins, piggy banks, and purses. If you flip over Shingo's card, he'll steal 50 points from the opponent's side for you. If you flip over the card showing the hand with the X, you lose that turn. You can get a maximum of 500 points in Easy mode, and if you do, you get a nice bonus. Normal and Difficult modes also have a K' card worth 200 points. Synchronize Game: This is a Quick-Draw type of game, where you wait for the exact moment when Benimaru uses Raijinken, and quickly press the A button. He'll wink at you if you do it right. To win, you need 3 successes. Arm Wrestling Game: Tap A and B alternately, and do it fast, in order to beat the opponent. The faster you do it, the more points you get, and the better bonus you recieve. Bouzu? Mekuri: This is a card game featuring Art of Fighting characters. You choose a card from one of three stacks. If the card is Ryo or Robert, it's automatically put into the discard pile. If the card is the almighty MR KARATE, you keep it. If you happen to draw Mr Big, you're forced to discard 4 cards in your hand. However, if you draw Yuri or King, you get to take everything in the discard pile! Whoever has the most cards by the end of the game is the winner. This is the only game that you can't win with skill; only luck will help you. Nikuman Road: In this Pac Man ripoff, your character, one of two Kensou's, walks around the screen eating meatbuns. Their movement is very difficult to control, so be careful when trying to guide them to the center of the stage, to get the giant meatbun. If your character runs into the opponent, the game ends, and whoever has the most points wins. Let's Copy Mai: The screen will show Mai dancing, and display instructions for each move. You have to copy them with the same rhythm. As far as I've seen, this game lasts until both characters miss a step. This, and Bouzu? Mekuri, are the two most annoying mini-games to deal with. Ikari Target: Playing Ralf and Clark, you have to shoot the enemy units, while avoiding Leona, Whip, and Heidern. If you hit any of them, you become slowed down or paralyzed temporarily. This game doesn't offer much, bonus-wise. Escape: Chang and Choi make a break for it! Help them pick the right door to make it outside. Doors with coins give nice point bonuses, but, if you open a door that Kim or Jhun happen to be standing behind, it's Game Over. In Easy mode, pick Middle, then Left, Left, Right, Right, and Middle to get every possible bonus, and make it outside. Fly! Brian!: Rotate your direction pad as quickly as you can, to build up power for Brian Battler's mighty leap into the sky! Whoever can stay in the air the longest wins. Although this game doesn't offer many bonuses, it's easy and fun. Sunset Carnival: While this isn't a BAD mini-game, it's easily the most exhausting one of the bunch. You have to tap the A button as rapidly as possible, to help Shermie pull various and sundry vegetables from the ground. This may very well be the most taxing 30-second button mashing experience since Metal Gear Solid. You're in Doubt!: There will be three people on the screen. A hint appears at the bottom, which is very helpful for people who can actually read it, but a good tip for those of you that can't is to just try and pick the odd one out of the group. Usually, there will be two people with something in common, and then the other person will stand out. 3 successful picks wins. Silhouette Shatter: At the top of the screen, a shadowy silhouette of a character appears. Below that, three characters are displayed. You have to pick the character that the silhouette corresponds to. Sometimes the silhouette will face a different direction than the character displayed, so don't let that throw you off. The winner is the one who has the most points after 8 matchups. Top Present: In this game, your striker vies with the opponent's striker to jump and pull the ring that appears in the upper center area of the screen. This action causes several random objects to fall, including coins, gold blocks, rocks, and bombs. Avoid the rocks and bombs; they'll trip you up and put you out of commission for a few seconds. At random intervals, a large boulder will roll across the screen. You can jump over it, if you time it carefully. The object is to grab as many of the coins and G blocks as possible before time runs out. The winner is the one with the most points. Zaku Zaku Jump: Here, you press A to make your striker jump up and hit the treasure bag overhead. Tap A again just after the striker lands, and the striker will jump up faster the next time. The most important part of this game is the timing of those taps. If you can slowly build up a rapid pace, and then keep it up, it's easy to win. TANK?: Remember the old Atari game, Battle? It's like that. You pilot a little tank that rolls around the screen picking up coins and gold blocks, while avoiding bombs. You can shoot the enemy tank with the A button. A direct hit will destroy their tank and leave plenty of money behind for you to grab. They'll come back, though. The game ends when time runs out, and the winner is the one with the most money by then. Eyes in the Dark: In this game, your striker is placed in a dark building with a very limited vision range. The object is to reach the goal on the opposite side of the building, but it also helps to grab as many coins and extras as you can find along the way. BOOM! Escape: Run from the fire and leap over obstacles to evacuate Rugal's private ship before it sinks and takes you down with it! Screw up, and you're dead. Krizalid Game: This is a very difficult timing game. Keep a careful eye on the meter above your character. When the red line touches the yellow line, hit A to have your character swing a giant mallet and knock away a section of pillar. If neither side knocks the entire pillar down, including Krizalid on top, before the timer runs out, both sides lose. Koko desu ka? 2000: I don't know about you, but after having to dodge Goenitz's damn wind pillars in KOF 96, the phrase "Koko desu ka?" brings back that old nervous twitch. As you might guess, this is a game where you get to run around dodging as many as three wind pillars at once! The only way to see where they'll pop up is the arrows that briefly flash at the bottom area of the screen. If you get hit three times, you die. Living constitutes running like MAD and managing to survive for 60 entire seconds. Orochi Game: This is the same thing as Goenitz's game, except, you're dodging Orochi's pillars of light, and the indication of where they'll appear next is at the top of the screen instead of the bottom. Remember, if both players die, they both lose 10 coins! Ouch! BOOM! Escape - Omega: Same as BOOM! Escape, which is listed above. The only difference is, instead of normal Rugal, you deal with Omega Rugal shouting taunts at you as you run for your life. I left out one mini-game from the list--- Track Race - This is a straightforward button mashing game. Keep tapping the A button as fast as you can, until your character reaches the finish line! Nice bonuses for times under 9.5 seconds. Section 6: Events Meet Kim: If Justice, your character gains 12 coins. If Dark, Kim beats the crap out of him or her and you lose one turn. Meet Chang and Choi: If you're Justice, they beat you up and you lose a turn. However, if you're Dark, you gain 12 coins. Meet Ryo: If you're Justice, Ryo will beat the crap out of you and take 10 coins. If you're Dark, he'll just beat the crap out of you, and you lose a turn. Meet Robert: If you're Justice Athena, and encounter him, it'll be a normal response prompt event most of the time. But, otherwise, he'll sell you a Star for a cool 10 coins! Meet Ralf: Ralf, being the generous and caring soul that he is, will attack the enemy with his Galactica Phantom super. If the opponent has more stars than you, Ralf will steal one of theirs for you. Meet Leona: Steals 5 or 10 coins from the enemy for you. Meet Shingo: "Kusanagi-san, are you watching?! I'm doing my best!" He attacks the opponent's striker, delaying that person for a turn, even if the opponent's striker is Kyo. Meet Iori: Stupid dork causes both players to lose 25% of their coins. Meet Seth: Get 12 coins. Meet Vanessa: Get 3 cards. Meet Shermie: Get up to 3 cards. Meet Chris: Feeds you a tainted meal, and you lose a turn. Meet Kensou: "Meatbun 4 U" You add 25% of your current coins to your stock. Alignment Change: Depending on your striker, a different character will approach you and ask you a question. If you answer nicely, you become Justice. If you answer in a mean or inconsiderate way, such as Athena asking Robert to join his team with Kensou standing right there, or Kyo calling Iori by his other alias, Miss X, you become Dark. Fight: Your striker attacks the other striker and attempts to get rid of their cards or coins. Delay/Loss: Something happens to delay you for a turn, or to make you lose money. For instance, with Athena, she'll have forgotten to attend a CD signing, apologize, and run off for a turn. With Billy, his little sister Lily becomes sick and he needs to take a turn to get medicine for her. Justice Kyo forgot his date, so he runs off to go out with Yuki. Dark Kyo needs 5 coins to buy her a present. Section 7: Cards I'll list them in order by color. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to type all of these up in Japanese. If you really want to read them, find a hiragana/katakana chart. Most of it is written very simplistically, and none of the characters' names are written with their normal associated Kanji, so it's easy for anyone to read. Some of these names may not be entirely accurate translations, as well, especially some of the Red cards. But, the effects are all accurately listed. This is not an entirely complete listing; I'm still missing Choi's yellow card, and a few others that I've only gotten from Vanessa or Shermie. RED CARDS: These cards allow you to control your dice roll once. If you can't read Japanese, but still want to buy one, just look at the number in the description. There's a card for every possible dice roll, and when used, you go forward a certain number of spaces, nonstop. This is very useful for when you happen to find yourself right in front of a Skull panel and want to avoid it. I always keep at least one Blackout on hand in case of emergency. They all cost 3 coins apiece. Violent Advance: Moves forward 1 space. Scramble Dash: Moves forward 2 spaces. Assassin Strike: Moves forward 3 spaces. Lucky Vision: Moves forward 4 spaces. Shadow Movement: Moves forward 5 spaces. Blackout: Moves forward 6 spaces. YELLOW CARDS: These cards have an immediate effect on your inventory. Chizuru's Cash: (5 coins) This is a cheap and very useful Yellow card for any player that has a high level striker. It gives you a certain number of coins, which raises with each level of your striker. With my Level 3 characters, I get 12 coins each time I use this, making a nice profit from the 5 coins I pay for the card. So, when you find a shop with this card, buy as many as you can, and use them ASAP. Yuri's Change Purse: (15 coins) Don't let the computer buy this if you can help it! It's a card to switch your coins with your opponents, very inconvenient unless they have more money. Kim's Wallet: (15 coins) Divides both players' money equally between them. Typical of Mr. Justice. Ryo's Pocket: Both players gain 10 coins. Justice only. Robert's Wallet: Adds 25% to your current coin total. Justice only. GREEN CARDS: These cards have an immediate effect on your cards. Cloning: (15 coins) I haven't used it, but I think it makes 5 copies of any card. Dark only. Lily's Laundry: (10 coins) Reduces the enemy's cards to none. Justice only. Billy's Laundry: (10 coins) Reduces the enemy's cards to none. Dark only. Mai's Bouquet: (15 coins) Gives you up to 5 random cards. Justice only. Vanessa's Lucky Cat Statue: (15 coins) Lets you warp to a Card Shop. Whether it's random or not, I can't be sure, but the one time I used it, I ended up at a card store right in front of a Skull panel, and subsequently got to deal with happy fun Rugal. So I caution you to use it only in dire emergency if you have it. LIGHT BLUE CARDS: These cards, while expensive, are very nice. Burning Shingo: (20 coins) Takes 25 coins, and you get a Star. Ryuuhaku's Wish: (25 coins) Gives you one star. Justice only. Just who Ryuuhaku is, I'm not sure. Eiji's Grudge: (25 coins) Causes the opponent to lose 1 star. Dark only. DARK BLUE CARDS: These cards have drastic effects on both players. Use them wisely. Blood Riot Iori: (10 coins) Cuts both players' money in half. Blood Riot Leona: (10 coins) Reduces everyone's cards to none. PURPLE CARDS: These seem to be all the cards that don't fit in any other category. Double Strike: (5 coins) You gain or lose double coins from the red and blue coin panels, for 3 turns. Save this card for when you know you won't touch any red ones. Mirror of Yata: (3 coins.. awfully cheap for a historical artifact) Switches your character's alignment. Loser Blues: (5 coins) The player currently behind gets a coin present. (Remember Joe's victory quote in '99?) California Romance: (15 coins) You lose your cards, and both sides get an amount of coins equal to 25% of their current inventory. Psychic Teleport: (10 coins) When you use this card, tap the A button as many times as you want to move forward. There are four distinct card shops in the game. I'll list them here. Shop #1: RED Scramble Dash RED Shadow Movement GREEN Cloning GREEN Lily's Laundry LIGHT BLUE Burning Shingo DARK BLUE Blood Riot Iori PURPLE Double Strike PURPLE Psychic Teleport Shop #2: YELLOW Chizuru's Cash YELLOW Kim's Wallet YELLOW Yuri's Change Purse LIGHT BLUE Burning Shingo DARK BLUE Blood Riot Iori DARK BLUE Blood Riot Leona PURPLE California Romance PURPLE Loser Blues Shop #3: RED Assassin Strike RED Black Out GREEN Billy's Laundry LIGHT BLUE Ryuuhaku's Wish (Just who is this Ryuuhaku person?) DARK BLUE Blood Riot Leona PURPLE Double Strike PURPLE Mirror of Yata PURPLE Psychic Teleport Shop #4: RED Violent Advance RED Lucky Vision YELLOW Chizuru's Cash YELLOW Kim's Wallet GREEN Mai's Bouquet GREEN Vanessa's Lucky Cat Statue LIGHT BLUE Eiji's Grudge PURPLE Loser Blues Section 8: Dreamcast Link This is the fun part! (If you don't have an import copy of KOF 99 Evolution, I suggest getting one, since it has an option for full English text and dialogue, as well as an amusing web page you can view by putting the CD in your computer's CD ROM drive.) Dreamcast --> Neo Geo Pocket Color This option lets you download the ability points you earn in KOF 99 Evolution from your VMU to your Neo Geo Pocket Color. Don't even bother with this, since you can earn tens of thousands of points in Battle de Paradise, in the same time it takes to earn 500-1000 points in KOF 99 Evolution. Neo Geo Pocket Color --> Dreamcast This option allows you to upload all of your striker data and levels to your KOF 99 VMU, unlocking them if you haven't bought them in that game already. The advantage to this is the fact that, in KOF 99, you can't level them up, and you're stuck with Level 1 Extra Strikers. Using this, you can raise their level in KOF 99 as high as 3, making many of them frighteningly powerful. I'll give you a few of my favorite examples: Level 3 Justice Athena: She leaps into the screen, and if she doesn't connect with the enemy, she assumes her Shining Crystal Bit posture, and instead of summoning her two crystal balls, she sprouts giant brilliant orange phoenix wings, a homage to the old Nintendo/Arcade game, Athena. This raises your power level by one and a half bars. If she does connect, she does a series of light and strong punches, followed up by a Psycho Sword. Level 3 Dark Billy: Has the best range of any striker I've seen. He runs into the screen, nearly all the way across it, and grabs the opponent, hoisting them up with his staff and juggling them for a good few seconds, leaving them WIDE open for a combo. Level 3 Dark Yamazaki: PAIN. Level 3 Dark Alfred: Runs in with a swift leaping attack, with a range of about 3/4 of the screen. Section 9: CHEESE GUIDE A brand new section, devoted to all the different techniques I've found for dealing with all the nasty stuff the opponent can throw at you. I can guarantee the effectiveness of my methods on the Easy setting, but I can't guarantee that it will turn out as well on Normal or Hard, where the computer is far, far more devious. Tip 1: Choose the version of your Striker that loses Money on Delay panels, instead of a turn. It's much easier to simply absorb the loss of a lousy 5 coins, than it is to sit through two turns where you lie at the mercy of the computer opponent. Tip 2: Go out of your way to get to any card shop you can. If you can remember the specific locations of shops with Red cards and Yellow cards, it helps a lot. Even if you end up in front of a Skull panel, if you're at a card shop and you have money, you can usually buy a Shadow Movement or Black Out card to pass by the Skull, in addition to whatever else you're getting. Tip 3: Although you don't have to get it at the very start, make sure that once you have a lot of money, you should always have at least one Yuri card on hand, in addition to whatever other cards you have. This is the safest way to guarantee that if the computer steals your money, you can just steal it right back. Tip 4: Also go out of your way to find as many VS panels as you can. While there are a few games, like Let's Copy Mai, which are difficult and nearly impossible to win, you'll generally be able to win far more often than the computer does. On Easy mode, every victory nets you 3 coins plus up to 10 more coins in bonuses, and it also causes the computer to lose 3 coins. This is a very effective way to constantly drain the opponent's money, making their chances of getting potentially dangerous cards or Stars very slim to none. Tip 5: While Double Strike seems like a nice enough card for getting money, the serious drawbacks pose a problem. To avoid this, simply buy Chizuru's Cash cards, which guarantee a 7 coin profit over what you paid for each card. If you fill your inventory up with these, and use them once per turn, you'll quickly find yourself a far richer person than before. Tip 6: Try to keep at least one Red card on hand at any given time. Not only are they useful for getting past problem areas, but, for instance, if you find yourself 5 spaces away from a particular card shop panel that you like, with a Shadow Movement card, you can use that card to guarantee that you won't pass it and miss it completely. Tip 7: Be very wary. Sometimes, the computer chooses routes with no regard for its own welfare, only with the intent of causing you to lose money. The computer can be very vicious and spiteful if you let it. So don't hesitate to do the same to it. Tip 8: Unless you need them for levelling your Striker up, save your coins and don't bother buying stars. As far as I've been able to tell, there is no further use for them after every striker reaches Level 3. Also, this way, if you have less stars than the computer, and you happen to land on a Ralf event panel, you cause the computer to lose a star! Winning is still important, though, so once it's about 20 turns from the end of the game, try to have the same amount of stars, or just one more, than the computer. This will guarantee that your coin total is doubled before being calculated into Ability Points. Section 10: Stages Stage 1: Construction site, easy. Best beginner stage, although the music is annoying. Stage 2: Krizalid's lab, easy. Second best beginner stage! Music is less annoying. Stage 3: Neo Geo Land, normal. A good stage to play when you're sick of the other music. Stage 4: Dinosaor World, difficult. That's not a typo, either. It's the ONLY freaking English text in the entire game, aside from the names in the credits, and it's misspelled. Ahh, SNK. Same museum as the one in the KOF 99 stage. Stage 5: Mount Rushmore, easy. Earn through ability points. Terry's stage in Fatal Fury 2. Stage 6: Athena Land! Difficult and confusing. You have to get a whopping 600,000 ability points for this one! This stage seems to be based around the Athena NES game. They probably made the layout difficult and confusing in order to capture the feel of the original game. (The original game is one of the hardest things I've ever played in my life, and that's including Section Z and Ninja Gaiden 1.) Section 11: Secrets, Etc. Every secret in this game is unlocked by gaining more and more ability points. The best way to do this is to try and have at least 200 coins at the end of every game. When you win, the coins you earn are multiplied by two, then multiplied by around a thousand points. These then become the ability points added to your consecutive total. Once you earn 600,000 ability points, you can safely say you've "beaten" the game. You earn the final stage, and some very cute credits roll. Don't worry, it still lets you save afterwards. Every time you win a game after that, you'll get the same funny credits. Yoyuuchi! Secret Data Section: Hit Right and Left on the direction pad to scroll through the images. 1. Picture of Zero and Lin. 2. Hinako, looking cute 3. KOF 2000 Athena! 4. Something beating up on a straw dummy with Kyo's face taped to the top. 5. I think it's Fio, carrying a teddy bear. 6. Two guys from Metal Slug being squished by a tank. 7. Fio and the guy from Metal Slug 1, whatshisface, gossiping while sitting against a cliff face cleaning their guns. 8. Trust me, you don't want to know. 9. The Fatal Fury Team! 10. A full body shot of Whip, with a closeup of Krizalid's face in the background. 11. Chris with all of Orochi's body tattoos, standing there looking all cute and innocent and shirtless, with Kensou in the background freaking out and covering a confused Athena's eyes. 12. Seth and Vanessa. 13. Cool Cool Toon shameless plug. 14. Athena, as she originally appeared in her NES debut, complete with a tiny red bikini, and a giant spiked shield strapped to her back. 15. Athena again, this time in full Greek goddess regalia, with plate mail, a sword and shield, and angel wings. 16. Hatoko and Ai strike a cute pose in front, while the guys try to get in the picture in the background. 17. Oops! Shermie accidentally hits Chris in the face with a turnip from the Sunset Carnival game. 18. Kyo and Shingo avert their eyes, terrified of the horror that pursues them. I won't tell you what it is; such things should not be seen by human eyes. Okay, fine. It's Iori in a pink dress with braided hair. See?! I told you! 19. Chinese-style image of Xiang Fei hogging a lot of meatbuns away from Kensou, who looks hungry. 20. Vice and Mature make their only appearance in the game in this picture, striking a cool pose with a dark silhouette of Iori's distinctive face and hair in the background. Battle Game: This is where you can play all of the mini-games you've unlocked. The mini-games section has them all listed in the order that they appear here, so you can use that for reference to pick the right one, if you can't read the names. Etc: Future Updates--- I have a few more character profiles to completely finish. Gaining encounter events is harder than it seems, and it took me a while just to gain the ones I have. There are also a few more stray cards floating around that I haven't managed to translate and document yet, due to the fact that it seems you can only get them from Vanessa. Her encounter event is pretty rare; you'll only meet her an average of twice per 60 turn game, if that. This text is copyright Christina Rose, all rights reserved, blah blah blah, last updated March 5, 2001.