_______   __            __           ________        __     ___
\      \ |__| ____     |__|____     /  _____/_____  |__| __| _/____   ____
/   |   \|  |/    \    |  \__  \   /   \  ___\__  \ |  |/ __ |/ __ \ /    \
/    |    \  |   |  \   |  |/ __ \_ \    \_\  \/ __ \|  / /_/ \  ___/|   |  \
\____|__  /__|___|  /\__|  (____  /  \______  (____  /__\____ |\___  >___|  /
\/        \/\______|    \/          \/     \/        \/    \/     \/
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
|                   Author: A I e x                                          |
|                   Began: September 21st, 2005                              |
|                   Completed: September 30th, 2005                          |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
____________________________________________________________________________
|~\/~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~\/~|
| || CT.TS ||                  Table of Contents                 || CT.TS || |
|_||_______||____________________________________________________||_______||_|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
|               - Table of Contents.....................CT.TS                |
|               - Controls..............................CN.TR                |
|               - Walkthrough...........................01.00                |
|                    - The Way of the Ninja........01.01                     |
|                    - The Hyabusa Ninja Village...01.02                     |
|                    - Skies of Vengeance..........01.03                     |
|                    - Imperial City Infiltration..01.04                     |
|                    - The City of Fiends..........01.05                     |
|                    - The Monastery...............01.06                     |
|                    - Hidden Underground..........01.07                     |
|                    - Tairon Under Alert..........01.08                     |
|                    - The Military Supply Base....01.09                     |
|                    - The Aquaduct................01.10                     |
|                    - The Path to Zarkhan.........01.11                     |
|                    - The Caverns.................01.12                     |
|                    - The Fiendish Awakening......01.13                     |
|                    - Vengeful Spirit.............01.14                     |
|                    - The Core....................01.15                     |
|                    - The Dark Dragon Blade.......01.16                     |
|               - Sixty Fiends Challenges...............02.00                |
|                    - Chapter Six.................02.01                     |
|                    - Chapter Seven...............02.02                     |
|                    - Chapter Ten.................02.03                     |
|                    - Chapter Ten.................02.04                     |
|                    - Chapter Twelve..............02.05                     |
|                    - Chapter Twelve..............02.06                     |
|                    - Chapter Thirteen............02.07                     |
|                    - Chapter Fifteen.............02.08                     |
|               - Enemy & Boss Guide....................04.00                |
|                    - Chapter 01 Boss.............04.MU                     |
|                    - Chapter 02 Boss.............04.MS                     |
|                    - Chapter 03 Boss.............04.DY                     |
|                    - Chapter 05 Boss.............04.HY                     |
|                    - Chapter 06 Boss.............04.BD                     |
|                    - Chapter 07 Boss.............04.AL                     |
|                    - Chapter 10 Boss.............04.GU                     |
|                    - Chapter 11 Boss.............04.DO                     |
|                    - Chapter 12 Boss.............04.SG                     |
|                    - Chapter 13 Boss.............04.AK                     |
|                    - Chapter 14 Boss.............04.GH                     |
|                    - Chapter 15 Boss.............04.FF                     |
|                    - Chapter 15 Boss.............04.SF                     |
|                    - Chapter 16 Boss.............04.FB                     |
|                    - Bat.........................04.BA                     |
|                    - Black Spider Ninja..........04.BS                     |
|                    - Brown Ninja.................04.BN                     |
|                    - Claw Demon..................04.CL                     |
|                    - Ghost Fish..................04.GF                     |
|                    - Golem.......................04.GL                     |
|                    - Grenade Soldier.............04.GD                     |
|                    - Grey Soldier................04.GR                     |
|                    - Horseback Archer............04.HA                     |
|                    - Horseback Spearman..........04.HS                     |
|                    - Magician....................04.MG                     |
|                    - Ogre........................04.OG                     |
|                    - Red Lizard..................04.RL                     |
|                    - Red Ninja...................04.RN                     |
|                    - Samurai.....................04.SM                     |
|                    - Stinger Bug.................04.ST                     |
|                    - Super Claw Demon............04.SU                     |
|                    - White Ninja.................04.WN                     |
|                    - White Soldier...............04.WH                     |
|                    - Windmill Ninja..............04.WI                     |
|                    - Zombie......................04.ZO                     |
|               - Item Checklists.......................05.00                |
|                    - Chapter 1...................05.01                     |
|                    - Chapter 2...................05.02                     |
|                    - Chapter 3...................05.03                     |
|                    - Chapter 4...................05.04                     |
|                    - Chapter 5...................05.05                     |
|                    - Chapter 6...................05.06                     |
|                    - Chapter 7...................05.07                     |
|                    - Chapter 8...................05.08                     |
|                    - Chapter 9...................05.09                     |
|                    - Chapter 10..................05.10                     |
|                    - Chapter 11..................05.11                     |
|                    - Chapter 12..................05.12                     |
|                    - Chapter 13..................05.13                     |
|                    - Chapter 14..................05.14                     |
|                    - Chapter 15..................05.15                     |
|                    - Chapter 16..................05.16                     |
|               - Weapon Techniques.....................06.00                |
|                    - Dragon Sword................06.01                     |
|                    - Nunchuku....................06.02                     |
|                    - Vigoorian Flail.............06.03                     |
|                    - War Hammer..................06.04                     |
|                    - Dabilahro...................06.05                     |
|                    - Spear Gun...................06.06                     |
|                    - Unlabored FLawlessness......06.07                     |
|                    - Kitetsu.....................06.08                     |
|                    - Dark Dragon Blade...........06.09                     |
|                    - Lunar.......................06.10                     |
|               - Collectables Checklists...............07.00                |
|                    - Lives of the Thousand Gods..07.01                     |
|                    - Life of the Gods............07.02                     |
|                    - Golden Scarab...............07.03                     |
|                    - Jewel of the Demon Seal.....07.04                     |
|                    - Spirit of the Devil.........07.05                     |
|               - Golden Scarab Rewards.................08.00                |
|               - Item List.............................09.00                |
|               - Legal.................................LE.AL                |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~\/~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\/~~~~~~~\/~|
| || 01.00 ||                     Walkthrough                    || 01.00 || |
|_||_______||____________________________________________________||_______||_|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+--------------------------------- CONTROLS ------------------------ CN.TR --+
+--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| X            | Attack                                                      |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Y            | Special Attack                                              |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| B            | Projectile Weapon                                           |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| A            | Jump                                                        |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Y + B        | Ninpo                                                       |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| X + A        | Wind Run                                                    |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| L            | Guard                                                       |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| R            | Centre Camera                                               |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Black        | Display Map                                                 |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| White        | Karma Window On/Off                                         |
|--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Start        | Bring up the menu                                           |
+--------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
______)
(, /
/
) /
+-- (_/ HE WAY OF THE NINJA [CHAPTER 1] ---------------------------- 01.01 --+
You now take control of Ryu Hyabusa, one of the awesomest most ninja-badass
killing machines you will ever meet.  You cantake a moment to familiarize
yourself with his ninja abilities, but this will happen gradually anyway as
you proceed through the game.  Begin by interacting with the body of the ninja
you just killed, by pressing the X button.  This will get you an ELIXIR OF
SPIRITUAL LIFE.  Now make your way up the hill ahead of you, the ramp on your
left.  Jump up over the small ledges you pass by and soon enough some kind of
flower-knife will be thrown you way.  It's a mere single jump to get over the
gap ahead of you, now simply walk up to the wall beside you and press the X
button to examine the object which was thrown.  The scroll explains you to in
a lengthy fashion, that you have the ability to run up walls, and it's going
to become a practical tool in just a second.  Ahead of you there is a vertical
wall.  Jump straight at the wall and keep holding the A button to run up it
and grab onto the ledge.  Shimmy to the right by pressing the analog stick in
that direction and then press the A button and climb up.
Another scroll is thrown at the wall beside you, read it and the scroll
explains that you can look around at your surroundings using the right analog
stick.  This will help in a moment as there is a not-so-obvious ledge above
you.  Before that however take a look on your right, there is a small box at
your feet.  Examine it with the X button to kick it open and acquire an ELIXIR
OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.  Opposite the chest, you can run up this wall and grab the
ledge above.  Climb to this higher area and proceed up the tree to the left,
where you will be ambushed by two simple ninjas in brown clothing.
Thee will be the first enemies you defeat, and certainly not the last.  Their
attacks are weak, and infrequent, basically they sit there and wait to die.
This of course doesn't mean they aren't dangerous in the slightest, but still
you should have any trouble defeating them.  Simply angle the left analog
stick in their direction and tap the X button to attack.  Between attacks hold
the L button to block anything they may try to do, the enemies should be
defeated in a matter of seconds.  A new scroll will appear on the wall, this
one informs you that there is more than just one way to run on a wall.
The gap ahead of you is quite large, stand back and run beside the wall, when
you are about to go over the edge, jump and hold the A button while beside the
wall to run along it horizontally, this should be enough to get you to the
other side.  Open the chest here on your left to acquire a GREAT SPIRIT
ELIXIR.  Now jump across the next gap and Ryu will grab hold of the tree
branch sticking out, and spin around it.  When you're ready, tap the A button
again to swing off the branch to the other side.  Examine the scroll which
appears beside you to learn about the wall kick.  Run up the wall on the left
vertically and then before you reach your peak, tap the A button to jump in
the other direction and land on the ledge above.  Continue down the hall.
Two more brown ninjas appear, at this point in the game simply tapping the X
button should be more than enough to get you past them.  Doing so will usually
have Ryu end with a kick, this kick can hit both of them simultaneously so it
helps out.  Be careful as you make your way forward, before you reach the urns
a third ninja will pop out of the hall on your left.  Smash the urns and you
should net some yellow essence.  To your left is a dead end.  Remember that
wall jump you did a moment ago?  Well you can keep doing that over and over if
the wall is high enough, run up the wall and jump once, then again to get out.
Welcome to the Ninja Fortress, two more brown ninjas are going to run out from
here, by now you've already become accustomed to dealing with them.  You can
feel free to smash the torches for some more yellow essence if you wish.
Follow the hallway up and then to the right where you will come across a door.
This door leads int oa room with three of the default ninja enemies attacking
you.  The enclosed space will make blocking that much more appealing here.
Let me give you a couple of other tips.  Since according t othe control
scheme, the attack button and interact button are one and the same, people
have a habit of opening doors, treasure chests etc while in the middle of
fights.  Something like a chest should interfere too much but I still
recommend you try to stay as close to the middle of the room as much as
possible, unless of course your fighting style requires you to run wildly
along walls, in which case please feel free.  Once the enemies are dispatched,
smash all the remaining urns for more yellow essence and then open the chest
on the right to get the MAP OF THE NINJA FORTRESS.  The door leading out of
this room is actually a secret wall, on the upper left side of the entrance.
Upon entering this next room, the gate drops down and from that you can really
tell something is afoot.  There are ninjas everywhere in here, countless
ninjas, and each time you defeat one more appear!  Fortunately no more than
three can appear at one time, and they do eventually stop.  Be sure to make
good use of the block button (the L button) while fighting in here to maintain
your health, and try combinations of the A button and Y button with your
attacks to end up with powerful combos, there still aren't really that many
you can perform at this point in the game.  Head through the door which
unlocks after all the enemies are defeated.  Make a right and defeat the three
ninjas here.  After doing so turn around and approach the suit of samurai
armour at the end of the hall.  You're free to examine it but there is nothing
you can do with it right now.  Instead what you simply want to do is examine
the shelf on the left, and the wall opposite the armour to get an ELIXIR OF
SPIRITUAL LIFE, and another ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.  Turn around and run all
the way to the end of the hall, go through the white double doors here.
Another bunch of brown ninjas attack Ryu in this room, by now if you're an
inexperienced player your health is likely waning.  When all the enemies are
defeated open the treasure chest at the side of the room to get the LIVES OF
THE THOUSAND GODS [001].  This special item is used in the menu and designed
to increase Ryu's maximum health a little bit, you had might as well go use it
right now.  After doing do feel free to use a normal healing item if you need
it, always keep track of your health, I can't predict when you're going to be
hurt and when you aren't.  Return to the game and take a look at the wall
scroll behind the sword rack, chop it once to reveal a hidden door out of this
room.  Head through this path and prepare yourself for battle once again.
It's time to be introduced to a new type of enemy, the white ninja.  His power
is far greater than that of the brown ninja and he is far more aggressive.  I
will note of course that fighting the enemies in this area is totally
optional, but often the white ninjas drop health essence, so if you can manage
to defeat them without taking too much damage yourself, then you're probably
in pretty good shape.  When they are defeated notice that up the small steps,
there is a slightly off coloured panel in the ground.  Stand on it and you'll
drop through the floor in a secret area below, the Underground Storehouse.
This whole area is populated by bats, which when given the chance will really
syphon the ealth out of you.  Don't give them that chance, forget the sword
they can be eliminated easily simply by throwing your Shurikens.  Be sure to
wait near the corpses because they almost always drop health essence.  After
the bats are taken care of, check behind where you fell to find a number of
urns, when they are smashed it reveals a chest behind them containing a GREAT
SPIRIT ELIXIR.  Proceed up the hall and stop in front of the torches, examine
the chest to the left of them to get FANGS OF THE SAMURAI, the use for this
item will become clear to you very soon.  Break the torches down and follow
the path out to the edge, and then up the ledge on your right.  Examine the
scroll which is thrown in front of you and then jump up the grab the ledge.
This outer walkway leads you back around (past a couple of the brown ninjas
again) into a small room with a hole in the floor.  Before doing anything,
open the chest beside you to acquire the TALISMAN OF REBIRTH, a special item
which will bring you back to life with full health when you are defeated, not
something you want to pass up.  After you get it, drop down the hole in the
middle of this room and turn around.  Head through the door on the northeast
side leading south (according to your map).  This will take you back to the
hall with that suit of samurai armour.  Approach it and interact with it to
place the Fangs of the Samurai in the mouth.  The hand opens and Ryu acquires
the KEY OF COURAGE which you will be needing soon.  Backtrack through this
hall to the room where you just came from, and from there go through the
hidden door into the room with the white ninjas and trap door in the floor.
Once again you can feel free to fight all the enemies but you do not need to,
jump over the trap door and slash the wall scroll, there is another hidden
door here.  Head through it and take a look between the door and the stairs.
This is a save point, if you think you are doing well then you will want to
save.  If you are doing poorly then perhaps not.  Saving records the exact
state of your character, meaning that if you have wasted all your health
potions already, loading your game won't get them back, it would be easier to
simply start the mission over again.  Either way, save the game and head up.
At the top of the stairs on the walkway you will be confronted for the first
time by two white ninjas simultaneously.  Take extreme caution when battling
them, but note still there are far more difficult challenges to come.  Examine
the scroll which is thrown ahead of you, it describes the rolling ability, you
may already have figured out which is performed with the L button and analog
stick.  At the end of the walkway, use the Key of Courage on the large door
which opens up the way toward the Inner Sanctum, and to a dangerous fight.
Immediately when you enter the room yo uare ambushed by three of the white
ninjas at once, this makes for a difficult fight.  Try to position yourself if
possible so that you don't have all three of them coming as you at once, which
means standing perhaps near the opposite door, or on the stairs or something.
When one enemy is defeated, before you collect the yellow essence, if you hold
the Y button you can absorb the essence into yourself and release a very
powerful attack that might help out very much here.  Although you don't
actually collect the essence you absorb, the resulting yellow essence that
comes out of the enemy you defeat is increased.  When you think that you are
adequately prepared, then it is time to proceed to the boss battle.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
|                               +-- M U R A I --+                            |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Prepare yourself for one of the most difficult first bosses in the history |
| of video games.  Murai is a nunchaku wielding death machine, and he's only |
| supposed to be testing your ability!  There are literally over a dozen     |
| things to keep in mind during this battle, so listen up, I'll try to cover |
| everything that I can.  First of all we'll begin by running to the         |
| opposite side of the room, there is an urn there you can break and inside  |
| the urn is an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.  It will come in handy for this    |
| battle.  Now you're going to have to approach him, you don't want to try   |
| fighting him from a distance by throwing Shurikens, he'll just use his     |
| nunchakus and deflect them back at you, hurting you instead of him.        |
|                                                                            |
| Approach the boss and prepare for battle, blocking is extremely important  |
| during this fight.  The boss' basic attack is just swinging his nunchakus  |
| around, an attack which you can block quite easily.  His next favourite    |
| attack happens to be a kind of charge up attack, it has good range and     |
| while it's true that you can block it, it actually throws you off balance  |
| temporarily, so be careful when he uses it.  Next, Murai has a normal kick |
| attack, nothing special there.  Here are the ones you have to watch out    |
| for.  First of all, the block button is not going to act as your           |
| "invincibility button" for this fight, quite the contrary.  In fact you    |
| are not going to want to block at all when he is close to you, instead     |
| hold the block button and tap the analog stick away to roll.  The reason   |
| for this is that when you are standing directly beside the boss and        |
| blocking, he will do a grab attack where he knocks you down and lands a    |
| really powerful kick to your body.  Only block from a distance.            |
|                                                                            |
| Attacking the boss isn't a means to avoid damage either, not only is he    |
| fast enough to attack between your attacks (the reason why you have to     |
| block between attacks), he is also capable of grabbing your arm in the     |
| middle of a combination and knocking you to the ground like a throw.  This |
| is frustrating, but it basically just means that using the normal          |
| combination over and over isn't going to be very effective.  Secondly,     |
| while attacking every once in awhile the swords will clash and you will    |
| get into a little stand still where you have to tap the button as fast as  |
| you can to knock the boss back.  This gives you an advantage since his     |
| defense is temporarily lax, however if he wins then you yourself will be   |
| temporarily off balance.  Just be sure not to lose, they aren't too hard.  |
|                                                                            |
| Now that all the other stuff is out of the way, let's look at attacking    |
| the boss himself.  Like I said before, the default combo isn't very        |
| effective, not only because he grabs you but also because he blocks every  |
| hit in the combo virtually every time; meaning of seven attacks, you       |
| usually only hit him without about one of them.  Most of the other kinds   |
| of combinations you will try out will likely be pretty inneffective too.   |
|                                                                            |
| The most widely accepted and used tactic for defeating this boss is the    |
| downward strike from the air, called the Helmet Splitter in the technique  |
| menu.  Basically it consists of your jumping up into the air and pressing  |
| Y to do either a downward stab or a downward slash.  While this is         |
| effective there is an even better way to do it.  When pressing the Y       |
| button after jumping off of a wall, the attack is even more powerful.      |
| Lure the boss close to a wall and run up it, then come down with a Helmet  |
| Splitter for massive, unblockable damage.  Don't try running back up the   |
| wall immediately or you will be hit, instead wait for him to do the charge |
| attack which leaves him off balance for a moment, at which point that is   |
| the best time to try it again.  Of course the boss is perfectly beatable   |
| with normal combinations and skillful blocking, but for those who find him |
| to be the most difficult enemy ever, and there are some who do, at least   |
| this will give you a chance to defeat him, and progress on with the game.  |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
______________________________________________________________________________
______)
(, /
/
) /
+-- (_/ HE HYABUSA NINJA VILLAGE [CHAPTER 2] ----------------------- 01.02 --+
As this level begins you appear in the same room where you just fought the
boss battle, Muria is happy to give you a few pointers on how to fight and
utilize a couple of techniques, but I've already covered them so there
shouldn't be anything new to learn.  Basically what you're trying to do now at
this point is simply get back to the very beginning of the game.  Remember how
at the very start you went up the sloping ramp and climbed toward the Ninja
Fortress, well this time follow the ground level path around and it will take
you to a door which was locked before.  The door is no longer locked so you
can proceed through it.  Here you will find THE ART OF FIRE WHEELS scroll.
This is your first Ninpo magic spell, go to the menu and select this scroll,
now when you return to the game you can press the Y and B buttons
simultaneously to use the ninja magic.  Below your health bar that is where
you can see how much ninja magic you can use. Refill this with items and such.
Behind where you found the scorll there is a kind of elevator, stand on this
and press the X button to make it drop down.  When you reach the bottom there
is a secret treasure chest behind you which contains an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL
LIFE.  Make a right when you come out of the cave and stay close to the wall
on your left, jump beside it and run along the wall to get across the gap.  On
the other side there is a very conspicuous chest which contains a SMOKE BOMB.
This is a special weapon you can equip as a projectile, you don't have an
infinite number of them.  If you're playing the original then this chest will
contain an Elixir of the Devil Way, which refills your ninja magic.
Continue forward and you will encounter some new enemies, the samurais.  They
have a habit of blocking much more than previous enemies you have faced, but
you'll find they aren't too much more aggressive.  You have to take on three
of them at once here.  After they have been defeated, then continue to make
your way down the linear path.  At the end you will begin sliding down the
slope, just before you hit the water press the jump button to grab onto a tree
limb above.  You can swing from tree limb to tree limb and eventually land on
the other side.  If you happen to fall into the water accidentally (or on
purpose) then note the following controls.  Press and hold the A button to
dive underwater, move about with the analog stick.  Up on the analog stick
means you will go up and vice verse, it's not inverted.  When you reach the
other side tap up on the analog to climb out of the water.
Here you will face not only two more samurai but a new enemy as well.  The
magician has the ability to attack and cast magic as well.  He can also
teleport which makes him especially dangerous.  He will cast magic from a
distance, a ball of energy he fires at you, and then teleports up close to
attack with his sais.  While fighting other enemies, if you see him charging
magic in the background get ready to roll out of the way while blocking,
sometimes he teleports right into a combo you are doing, which always helps,
but most of the time you'll just have to wait for him to appear and attack,
then attack him yourself.  Just a little bit forward there is a ladder leading
up to the top of a tower.  Here you will find a chest with a MAP OF THE
HYABUSA VILLAGE inside it.  Drop down and follow the path forward.
When you arrive at the broken bridge, jump into the water and swim to the
southeast platform.  Here you will find a flower scroll on the wall that tells
you how to run on water.  Turn around and run into the water, the second your
foot touches it keep tapping the A button to run along it.  If you move
straight across you should be able to run all the way to a ledge on the other
side which you cannot reach otherwise.  Here you will find a chest containing
LIFE OF THE GODS [001]. This is a special item, different from the one you got
the first time.  You need to collect nine of these before Ryu's health total
can be increased.  Go to the menu and use it, one of the Japanese characters
at the top will light up each time you use one, when all nine light up, your
health maximum increases.  Cross back over to the other side where you found
the scroll and run vertically up the wall here.  At the top take a look on
your left for a chest which contains an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.  Now go back
over and use the statue in order to save your game.  Now ascend up the stairs.
Make an immediate left in your village and go around behind the house here,
there is a corpse on the ground and when you interact with it, you get an
ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.  Head back to where you entered the village and go
straight down the path this time.  You'll be attacked by quite a few samurais
here, the camera in the middle of the path can get a little awkward, so you
might want to run down to the bottom and face them there.  Once all of the
enemies have been eliminated, take a look in front of the house at the bottom
of the hill and you should see some weird stone object on the ground.  Examine
it to get the STATUE HEAD.  Head back up to the top of the hill again and
place the head on the decapitated statue near the entrance, this will get you
another LIFE OF THE GODS [002].  Near the bottom of the hill on your left is
where you have to go, note a very low rooftop onto which you can jump, but
wait a moment.  For those, at this point who are playing Ninja Gaiden Black,
you will find inside the golden urn a new weapon called the LUNAR.  This is a
long staff which you can spin around quite spectacularly a-la Kilik from Soul
Calibur or perhaps to a lesser extent, Donatello from Ninja Turtles.  Either
way your goal is to jump up from here onto the roof and go thorugh the window.
If you are playing Ninja Gaiden Black then there is a scene here where Ryu
obtains the BOW.  If not, then all you have to do is drop down the hole and
examine the Bow on the ground beside the door to acquire it.  After dropping
down into the place below, turn around and exmaine the statue of the old man.
This turns out to be one of the game's numerous shops where you can spend your
yellow essence like money.  I would recommend you purchase The Art of Inferno
for sure, since new magic is always good.  Beyond that it's basically spend at
your discretion, there's no harm in saving up as much as you like for later.
When facing the exit door, on the shelf to the left you can find both an
ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE and an ELIXIR OF THE DEVIL WAY.  Upon leaving this
room you will be attacked by not only a few samurai, but a number of magicians
as well.  If you're playing Hurricane Pack or Ninja Gaiden Black, this may be
a good chance to try out your Lunar, but I find the Dragon Sword seems much
more effective most of the time.  When all the enemies are defeated, examine
the corpse beside the house on the left side to find some ARROWS, there are an
infinite supply of arrows in this guy's body so stock up.  Note that there are
some kinds of targets over the fence.  What you will want to do is run as far
away from these targets as you can and equip the Bow.  Hold the B button and
move the left analog stick to aim.  If you can get a perfect bullseye on the
left one, then it will start spawning blue essence, a perfect bullseye on the
upper right one nets you yellow essence and a perfect bullseye on the lower
right one gets you red essence.  They are just small but with an infinite
supply of arrows nearby, you are free to do this as long as you like.
When you're ready, head in the opposite direction from the targets and make a
right when you reach the wall.  Here the wall will crumble down behind you and
you'll be trapped.  Two hosrse riding enemies appear, one with a spear and one
with a bow, both of them are really going to get on your nerves.  The one with
the bow will be firing at you from a distance the whole time and the one with
the spear will be constantly charging.  Always be blocking the spear attack
because when it connects, there's a good chance the spear guy will drag you
all the way around the field for quite a bit of damage.  There is a corpse
here with an infinite supply of arrows, I think ideally the best best is to
try and hide and use the Bow to fire arrows and knock the enemies off the
horses.  Personally I'm an awful shot, so I like the more offensive approach.
Chase after those damn horses, run and jump and do the X button attack in mid
air to knock them off and then kill them before they can even get up.  There
are about two or three of each type to defeat, shouldn't be too bad.
After they are dead, the fire goes out on the other pile of wreckage, jump
over that one.  Here you will find a save point and beside it, a dead ninja
holding a GREAT SPIRIT ELIXIR in his hand.  There is an optional area if you
go left, it takes you up to the Graveyard.  It's optional because there is
absolutely nothing for you to do there at the moment, your real destination
lies to the right of the save point.  Taking this bridge will lead you to the
boss battle.  Before you go there make sure you've saved, and also make sure
that you have a full complement of arrows.  When you're ready, then proceed.
____________________________________________________________________________
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
|                           +-- H O R S E M A N --+                          |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| The enemy you must face here is just a much more difficult form of an      |
| enemy you have faced already.  He's a spearman riding around on a horse,   |
| except he cannot be knocked off, his attacks are much more powerful and he |
| has a lot more health.  Also you must deal with the fact that there are    |
| many respawning magicians that move around the field two at a time.  There |
| are a couple of different ways to fight this boss, both of them effective. |
|                                                                            |
| The slower but more difficult way is as follows.  Forget the magicians for |
| the most part, you'll only want to kill them if they get in your way.  The |
| Bow is the weapon of choice here, it does good damage against this boss.   |
| Stand in a corner and wait for the boss to attack, block it and then when  |
| he runs away, whip out the Bow and aim it toward him then fire.  The       |
| reason you have to aim instead of just tapping the B button is because you |
| will most likely end up auto-targeting one of the magicians instead of the |
| boss otherwise.  The magicians can be killed in a single hit by the Bow,   |
| so if you're aiming at the boss and see a magician casting a spell, feel   |
| free to pick him off.  Another benefit of taking them out is that they     |
| usually drop blue essence, and every once in awhile they drop red or       |
| yellow essence.  If they drop red essence then you can use the Art of      |
| Inferno for a strong magic projectile attack.  If they drop yellow essence |
| then you can try the charge up Y button attack, it's quite powerful.       |
|                                                                            |
| The other way takes slightly longer, but is also relatively safe.  It      |
| relies on the fact that the magicians do not respawn forever, there are    |
| somewhere between ten and fifteen of them, but no more than that.  For     |
| this reason you are going to want to take out every single one of them.    |
| Given that they drop blue essence, it only reinforces the statement that   |
| this way is slightly less difficult.  Once all of them are dead, then you  |
| are free to tap the B button quickly and fire auto aimed arrows at the     |
| boss, regardless of whether you are actually looking or not.  They are     |
| strong enough so that fifteen will be able to take him down no problem.    |
|                                                                            |
| Finally you will want to note that the boss' attacks are quite powerful,   |
| and regardless of which method you choose you will always want to be       |
| careful to be blocking all the time.  Magicians will not use magic while   |
| they are off camera, but the boss has no qualms about appear for a charge  |
| attack even from off camera so always be ready.  Magic projectiles cannot  |
| be blocked so be ready to roll at any time as well.  If all else fails and |
| you run out of arrows, magic and sword attacks work well on the boss, it's |
| just a bit more difficult because the closer you are the more likely you   |
| are to get spear'D or possibly horse kick'd in the process.                |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With the boss dead there is a glowing item on the ground, interact with it
to pick up the TECHNIQUE SCROLL: COUNTER ATTACK.  This will allow you to
counterattack by pressing the X or Y buttons while blocking enemy attacks.
After you have picked it up, examine the door to trigger a cutscene.
______________________________________________________________________________
__
(__/  )
/
) /
+-- (_/ KIES OF VENGEANCE [CHAPTER 3] ------------------------------ 01.03 --+
Right at the beginning of this level there is a save point beside you to use.
On the table next to the save point be sure to pick up the ELIXIR OF THE DEVIL
WAY.  Leave this room and head straight across the hall into the next room,
there on the table is an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.  Leave this room and make a
left, then another left into the first room you pass here.  There should bea
trasure chest on the ground beside the bed in this room, open it up to acquire
the AIRSHIP MAP.  The instant you try to walk away, suddenly two enemies will
break in through the glass.  Both of them are new enemies, so let's take a
look at how they fight.  The white soldier is more common and has less health,
the grey soldier has better defense and fights slightly better.  The white
solder however is the one you have to watch out for, unlike the grey soldier
he has the ability to use a throw move where he grabs you through your block
and attacks, never block when right beside a white soldier.  The grey one also
has a throw where he knees you in the face, but seems to do it less often.
Either way you should be careful when blocking near both of them will defend
with his shield quite often but if you jump and attack downward, that should
be reasonably effective.  When both enemies are dead, leave the room.
All you will find in the room across from you is another one of those flower
scroll tips, no big deal.  LEave this room and go up the hall, there is one
more door on your right, there you will find an ELIXIR OF SPIRITUAL LIFE on
the table.  Leave this room, turn right and make your way to the end of the
hall where a few enemies appear.  Same idea as before, grey soldiers and white
soldiers to eliminate.  Be careful because they are equipped with projectile
weapons as well, so it's a good idea to always be blocking even when they are
off screen.  When all of them are dead there is a shining object on the
ground, this is the WING KEY and it's used to open the door in front of you.
In this room you will see staircases on your left and on your right.  Jump
down the stairs on your left to find another of Muramasa's shops at the
bottom.  Forget everything else, what you really want to do is upgrade the
Dragon Sword to the second level here, that is the most important thing.  It
will not only increase it's power but unlock some brand new attacks as well.
Once you have done this turn around and climb back up the stairs again.  At
the top head over to the opposite side of the room and run down the other
stairs.  Both doors at the bottom happen to be locked, but there is a save
point there which you can use if you need to save your game again.
Note something I neglected to mention before, check the shop after you upgrade
your sword and a new item appears in the inventory, the Technique Scroll:
Izuna Drop, so you'll definietely want to pick that up.  Climb the stairs
again and face the direction opposite the way you came in, there should be a
large set of double doors which you cannot pass through.  Go left of these
doors and head through the door there to wind up in the kitchen.  Open the box
at your feet, inside is a LIFE OF THE GODS [003].  Leave this room and go over
to the right side of the double doors this time, it will lead you through a
room to the Crew Compartment where a number of enemies attack you.
This room is small, so the close quartered fighting might seem a bit
difficult, but it's a great chance to use your charge up Y button attack, do
so after killing an enemy to absor the essence and let loose.  There's nothing
really to be found in this room so once the enemies are defeated, head thorugh
the door on the left.  Make a left in this hall and interact with the door
here to unlock it from this side.  Turn around and go back through to the hall
again.  Proceed through the door on the left, opposite the one coming from the
crew quarters.  This takes you into the into a nice office-like room.
Laid out on the desk is some form of memo, most likely worth reading.  Beside
it is the more important MAP OF TAIRON rolled up, you'll definietely want to
pick that up.  Before leaving this room there is one more thing to do, check
the windowsill behind the desk and you should come across a glowing object.
Pick it up to acquire your first GOLDEN SCARAB [001].  This is one of many
special collectables that you can exchange with Muramasa the shopkeeper in
order to get some great stuff.  When you're ready to go, step into the
elevator located on the side of this room and press the button to descend.
There's not much to do here so make your way around this part and take the
next elevator going down.  At the bottom you will encounter a number of normal
white soldiers, you can take them on one at a time fairly easily.  Once all
the soldiers are eliminated, a grey soldier is going to come down on the
elevator.  As usual he's a bit more difficult, but not by much,  Your reward
for defeating all of these enemies is the ID CARD, a special item which will
get you through most of the locked doors now.  Before going back up the
elevator again, enter the room beside the elevator and kick open the chest to
acquire another LIFE OF THE GODS [004].  Leave this small room and take the
elevator back up again to the floor above you, where you came from originally.
This time take a few steps and head through the door on your left, it can be
opened now that you have the ID Card.  Inside this roo mare a couple of white
soldiers, be careful because there really isn't any indication that they are
coming after you.  Follow this hallway to the dragon statue where you have
been before.  Save your game and then keep going in the same direction,
through the opposite door.  Cross the walkway and enter the large cargo hold.
Near the large door at the back there is a crank, turn it three times and
you'll be ambushed by a number of white soldiers.  Dispose of them easily,
feel free to break the nearby crates and use the essence to power up your
sword attacks.  After doing this, turn the crank a few more times and the door
will be down.  Before going any further make sure to equip the Bow, if you
need Arrows, an infinite supply can be found in the tub back near the entrance
to this room.  When you're ready, go back to the large door you just opened.
Above you on your right is a long wire you can grab onto, but wait a moment.
Stand at the edge and face across to the other side, hold B to pull out the
Bow and move the analog stick to aim.  Take aim and fire at the two white
soldiers who appear on the other side, you will definitely want to defeat them
before you go any further or they will shoot you off mid-way across.  Jump up
and you'll automatically grab the wire.  You can shimmy across using the
analog stick and when you reach the end, press down and the A button to drop.
As you run down the walkway be prepared to take on a gey soldier when you come
around the corner.  I recommend extreme caution in this battle, believe it or
not the first thing which happened to me was have him grab me, knee me in the