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_______________________________________________________________________________
For Sega Genesis
FAQ/Walkthrough v1.0
By Deathspork
jtw030283@hotmail.com
_______________________________________________________________________________
________
Contents
________
INTRO
-Mini-Review
-Story
-Characters
-Controls
-Items
-Options
WALKTHROUGH
-Stage 1 * Kingdom of Zebulos
-Stage 2 * Mountain Range
-Stage 3 * Going Underground
-Stage 4 * Flying Battleship
-Stage 5 * Kingdom of Devotindos
-Stage 6 * Deep Space
-Stage 7 * The PIG STAR!
EXTRAS
-FAQ
-Did You Notice?
WRAPPING IT UP
-Credits
-Final Notes
-Legal
===============================================================================
-INTRO-
===============================================================================
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= Mini-Review =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This has got to be one of the most under-rated games of all time. It was
Konami's debut title on the Genesis, and they did a great job using the systems
strengths in creating it. It has fast become one of my favorite side-scrollers
ever.
Graphics: 9/10
WOW. Excellent stuff here. These have got to be the most well-animated sprites
on a 16-bit system, Sparkster seems to have at least 100 separate frames, for
all his different situations. They don't skimp on the enemies either. The
graphics themselves are very bright and vibrant, and Disney-like (in a good
way). However, at times Konami tries to use a "fake 3D" effect by making some
enemies out of a bunch of balls.
Sound: 9/10
I constantly have some of these tunes stuck in my head, if that tells you
anything. While a lot of the tracks seem to simply not fit in with the
surroundings, there is no denying that the music is great. In fact I would say
the tunes range from good to excellent (did you expect anything less from
Konami). Similarly, the sound effects seem to be quite inaccurate, but are
still great for what they are.
Gameplay: 10/10
Sonic ain't got nothin' on Sparkster! The game has seeming normal gameplay with
one exception; Sparkster can charge up his rocket pack at any time and go
jetting off in any direction, destroying any lesser enemy in his way. This
makes for a lot of fun and is a catchy gimmick. Not that that is what makes the
game, couple this with the fact that RKA has some of the best level design
ever. You won't get bored with any one part, that's for sure. The game starts
out good and gets better as you go along (anyone who is not blown away by level
5 and 6 is simply too jaded for their own good).
Replay Value: 7/10
Four difficulty levels, but its the same exact game each time (with the
exception of 'children' mode)
Story: 9/10
The story from the booklet is great, definitely more than is needed for a game
like this. Plus the bits of story in the game are all done through action, with
no words, how cool is that?
Overall: 9/10
VIVA KONAMI
-=-=-=-=-
= Story =
-=-=-=-=-
The setting for your journey is the world of Elhorn, a world where magic,
medieval and machinery meet (in 'Disney cartoon fashion). Within this world is
the kingdom of Zebulos, a thriving kingdom with a rich history. It has been a
peaceful kingdom for many hundreds of years, but all of that is about to
change...
The nearby Devotindos empire is on the attack, Zebulan forces are almost
completely wiped out, including most of the Rocket Knights, an elite fighting
force charged with the job of protecting the ancient key to the seal. Behind
the attack is the traitor and former Rocket Knight, Axle Gear. The leader of
the Rocket Knights, Sparkster heads off to Castle Zebulan. By the time he makes
his way through the castle, Axle has taken off with Princess Sherry, in hopes
of using her to blackmail the king into handing over the key to the seal. When
activated, the key to the seal will release a great danger sealed long ago, the
gigantic space travelling Pig Star. What Axle doesn't know is that Princess
Sherry is the only one who really knows the location of the seal, and she isn't
talking any time soon.
For a better rendition of the storyline, read the instruction booklet.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
= Characters =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Sparkster
---------
Main character of the game, and the one you will be controlling. He was a war
orphan, and was taken in by Mifune Sanjulo, a great Rocket Knight and
descendant of a long line of Rocket Knights. Sparkster was raised in his
example. Sparkster's arch nemesis is Axle Gear, who badly wounded Mifune 10
years ago. He seeks revenge. In case you were wondering, Sparkster is a
opossum.
(Quick note: One section of the booklet claims Sparkster is the leader of the
Rocket Knights while another says that he is a strong defender of justice who
wanders around posing as an outlaw. The second seems more fitting, but draw
your own conclusions)
King Zebulos
------------
Direct descendant of the royal Zebulos family, who are credited with destroying
the Pig Star many many years ago, and has since protected the "key to the seal"
which binds the Pig Star today. He is a well loved king, had many adventures
with Mifune in his youth, and is the father of Princess Sherry.
Princess Sherry
---------------
She is very kind and proper, but slightly naive. She is the target of an attack
by the Devotindos Empire and has been kidnapped. Sherry is also the only one
who knows of the location of the key to the seal.
Axle Gear
---------
The very cool looking leader of the Black Knights, a small group of Rocket
Knights that have defected and turned to evil, corrupted by power and greed.
Axle wounded Mifune while trying to steal the ancient book of the Rocket
Knights, which held their secrets. Now Axle has become the right hand man to
Emperor Devligus of the pig-driven Devotindos empire. He secretly loathes
the Emperor and is just waiting for his chance to overthrow him. He also has a
secret crush on Princess Sherry.
Emperor Devligus Devotindos
---------------------------
A great archeologist, he dug up and revived an army of robots by himself. Using
powers of hypnosis, he controls his legions of pig soldiers to do his bidding.
Ultimately he created the Devotindos Empire, and is set to go to war with
neighboring countries such as Zebulos. His ultimate plans are quite unclear,
what could his secret be?
Captain Fleagle
---------------
Captain of the flying battleship, the Big Barone'. He is a very clumsy and
whimsical fellow who never gets things right. He doesn't have all that much of
a place in the game, you'll only see him throughout level 4.
-=-=-=-=-=-=
= Controls =
-=-=-=-=-=-=
Normal Controls
---------------
Rocket Knight Adventures lets you customize the controls basically anyway you
want. These are the default controls:
Start button: Starts the game; pauses the game; unpauses the game
D pad: Controls Sparksters movement and direction of attack
A button: Press to attack; hold to charge Sparksters rocket pack
B button: Jump
C button: Same as A button, you can use either one you want
Rocket Attacks
--------------
Pressing down and holding A or C will charge up Sparksters rocket gauge, until
you release it. If it's full and you release it, Sparkster will perform a
powerful spinning attack. Also, you can use the D-pad in conjunction with the
rocket attack to blast extremely fast in 8 directions. Rocket attacks can also
be done in the middle of jumps.
This attack is also useful for rebounding off of walls, you will often need to
use it to reach high spaces and make it up long shafts. You lose control of
Sparkster when you're in the air and your rocket attack ends, so be careful.
Flying
------
On a few occasions the game will switch to flying shoot-em-up style. Here use
only the D-pad to move Sparkster around the screen and the attack button to
shoot your projectiles (they seem to go a bit longer here).
-=-=-=-=-
= Items =
-=-=-=-=-
Gem: Worth bonus points. Also many of them are sometimes used to guide your
path.
Apple: A little life is restored
Banana: A lot of life are restored
1-up: Earn an extra life
*You can also earn 1-ups by getting points. One extra live is given at 20,000,
the next at 60,000 and again for every 60,000 points after that.
-=-=-=-=-=-
= Options =
-=-=-=-=-=-
From the title screen, you have the choice of going to the Option screen to
change the game settings. When you change everything you want, then press Start
to get out or go to EXIT.
Control: Changes the function of the A, B and C buttons
Level: Choose the game's difficulty level
----------------------------------
Children: Players 3, Credits 5 (no chance to see the real ending)
Easy: Players 2, Credits 3
Normal: Players 1, Credits 1
Hard (more like impossible): Players 1, Credits 0 (1 life block, fruit
does nothing)
Sound: A sound test! Listen to any track in the game
Exit: Return to title screen
===============================================================================
-WALKTHROUGH-
===============================================================================
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
= Stage 1 * Kingdom of Zebulos =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Outside the Castle
------------------
When the pig soldiers jump out at you, take them out with normal shots. Take
out the trucks with either normal shots or a spin-slash. Get over the high
ledge by rocketing diagonally upwards, and continue forward. It's best to just
Rocket straight past the pig soldiers that are up above you, before they come
down. Take out a few more of those, rocket over (or use the branch to get over)
the next high ledge, and then you come to a point where you face some walkers.
Charge up your rocket pack and wait for them to get very close, then spin dash
and follow up with some normal shots. You'll have to take out one group before
the screen will scroll forward, and then destroy another group.
When you reach the trees, make sure to replenish your energy with some of the
apples near the top, and also get the 1-up that is just left of the top-left
branch. To pass the last very high ledge, rocket up to the ledge just before
it, which will slide you along and drop you off right on the edge. At the top
you are soon ambushed by 4 red pig soldiers. Charge up your rocket, be in the
middle and rocket to the side when they appear, then turn around and start
firing away. After that you go out onto the waterfall to face the first of
many, many (read: many) sub-bosses.
Sub-Boss: Pig Tank
------------------
Wait for him to come out an inch or two from the right side of the screen, and
then rocket diagonally over him, once behind him it's very hard for him to hit
you. Now just wail away and hit him continuously, he begins to blow up and the
bridge collapses. When you're sliding down the waterfall, immediately get to
the right and start charging up. The tank comes back around, this time out of
control. When he's close, perform a slash attack, continue until dead.
Skies over Zebulos
------------------
When you land, hit the arrow and you're off. You face a series of simple
enemies, just get one hit on them and they go down. If you don't take care of
them, however, they'll fire 3 shots when they get to the left side of the
screen. These should give you a good feel for the flying sections. Right after
this is another sub-boss.
Sub-Boss: Water Dragon
----------------------
He enters from the left side of the screen, slowly slithering up and down as he
moves, once you have a chance get some shots on his head by moving into
position when his body curves down, getting your shot in and quickly moving
back up. Once he gets all the way to the right he rises up and jumps, position
yourself so he goes right over you. He continues to jump and starts a little
closer to the left each time, you should also be getting one or two shots on
him each time he does this. When you hear him slithering back again, you have
little time to move back towards the middle of the screen. From here repeat the
process, it should only take 1.5 cycles before he is completely destroyed,
assuming you're on the default difficulty.
The Castle Zebulan
------------------
Walk past the screaming residents and get the bananas. Be careful as you jump
over the fire pits, and destroy the panicking pig soldiers. Now notice patterns
in the wall in the background, rocket diagonally up, trying to follow it. You
then come to an auto-scrolling section where flames shoot out at you, go along
as fast as you can and get into the first pit quickly, and duck to avoid the
first stream of flames (they come in groups of 3). Now for the next two fire
sequences, jump the ledges as quickly as possible before the first stream
comes by, and duck the 3rd stream which is always low. Go through the door at
the end.
In this next room, rocket diagonally up in the pattern of the gems. Once you
reach the top, you will have to rocket off the left wall to reach the next door
at the top. Be careful with the jumping pig soldiers, wait for them to come to
you. Rocket up once again at the end of the room and continue forth. Make sure
not to miss the 1-up at the end of the room, you'll have to use the rocket pack
to get it. Now through the next door, wait for the pig soldier to jump out of
the birthday present, take him out, and then (once again) rocket diagonally up,
avoiding the flame pit. Don't miss the bananas right at the end, you will have
to rocket for them too. Now it is time to face the boss.
Boss Battle: Giant Robotic Centipede
------------------------------------
Hit the head at every available chance. He first busts down in the middle, and
then the left, then the right side. After than he comes out of the left wall,
stay in the middle and jump up to hit him, and then he does the same from the
right wall. He comes down in the middle again, and then sends out a legion of
small robotic bugs. At first there is nothing you can do, keep jumping over
them as he sends them down, walk along with them for a little bit, and then
jump back over the next batch, until they are walking all over the walls and
ceiling. The boss the sends out an orb that moves around the room clockwise,
charge up and rocket straight across when its moving across the floor and all
of the bugs explode. Now he'll come down from the ceiling as his tail comes out
from the sides. Get away from it! Walk to the opposite side of the room, still
turning around to hit the head. He'll come down from the ceiling a few more
times after this, if you don't have him beat by now he'll start repeating his
attacks randomly.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= Stage 2 * Mountain Range =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sub-Boss: Repulsive Raccoon Robot
--------------------------------
The target here is the robot's big red nose, just jump up and start hitting it
at the start of battle. Remember that swinging your sword gives you some
temporary invincibility, so if the spike hands get close just swing. Continue
to hit the nose at every available chance. When he starts swinging his arms in
circles, get just out of range of them. He has another attack where it looks
like he's gearing up to swing at you with one arm, but he actually throws the
other at you.
The Lake And Vines
------------------
The pig soldiers in boats are easy, just fire once to cancel out their shot,
and then again to destroy them. Once you get the bananas, power up and rocket
right through the last 3 of them. When you get to the very edge of the
waterfall, power up, jump up out of the water, and rocket straight up. You
should hit a 1-up. After that rocket diagonally up and right, moving quick
enough to avoid the owls. There are bananas in the area if you need them. When
you reach the end of the vines, you have to rocket over to the next ones. From
there hop on any of the revolving platforms, which will take you behind the
waterfall, and jump on the vines there, continue heading right while avoiding
the silhouette of the spiked balls. At the end, you hop on another platform to
get back out in front and rocket across to another vine, and another sub-boss
fight begins.
Sub-Boss: Water Snake
---------------------
This one is hard to get the hang of. I stay mainly on the right vine, when he's
coming up hit the red ball on his tail as many times as possible. If he's
about to hit you, either spin dash or rocket over to the other vine. As long as
you hit his tail continuously you should be able to beat him. He slips behind
the waterfall at times so you can't always hit him. The platforms at the bottom
can take you behind the waterfall, I suggest staying in front since the vines
are higher.
After the fight, pick up the 3 apples and head into the cave.
Watery Cave
-----------
Go forward and drop down into the water, you automatically float up in the
water so hold down on the D-pad, when you see the moving spikes about to hit
you then let off of the down button until they start to go back. Float back up
on the other side, when you get to where you see the owl, rocket into him to
destroy him. Now rocket diagonally up either way to get over the ledge. There
are jewels and bananas on top if you want to get those. Dive down once again,
the spikes on the other side act different, they drop as you go under them.
When coming back up stick to the left side.
The next screen has a really short bit where you swim through a series of
chained spikes. It's really easy, nothing you'll have to even worry about, but
at the end make sure the top spikes are high before you proceed.
The Mine Cart Track
-------------------
Hop on the first cart, and you're off! You'll notice that you get thrown up as
the cart reaches the top of an incline, so when you see the signs with
exclamation points on them, stay ducked, there are spikes over-head. After that
you come to a point where you fight pig soldiers in their own carts, they
attack alternately from the left and right (with a couple exceptions). Stay in
the middle, destroy them with a single shot and then avoid the bombs they
throw, they always blow towards the left. You know you are finished with this
sequence when you fight 2 pig soldiers from the left side.
When the cart starts flashing, that means you have the ability to get off of
it, so be careful. Jump on the low roof, get the bananas and then jump on the
next cart. Duck for some more over-head spikes, and then you come to a sequence
where you have to hop from cart to cart 4 times. It can be a bit hard to aim
your landing precisely, I try to jump over it barely and then compensate for it
by pressing back.
When that's all done, duck another series of spikes, and then a series of pig
soldiers attack from an above track. This is easy as long as you never let one
get in front of you, just stay around the middle and continue to jump up and
hit them all. Now you go right through a chicken coupe, after that jump to the
next roof. Here I always jump up and down until the chicken that is flying
around my head leaves (he can be distracting during the boss fight)
Boss Battle: Train Tank
----------------------
For this bosses first phase, he attacks from the left and constantly fires at
you. Start out in the middle of the screen and attack him as fast as possible.
When he shoots at you, jump over it, and move back a bit after every 2 shots
from him. This shouldn't be a problem at all.
When you blow his cannon off, he retreats and then comes back, on a higher
track, this time with very long swinging arms. Start off this phase on the
right side of the screen, wait for an opening and then rocket straight across,
and into a position where his back hand is moving clockwise around you. Get as
many hits on it as you can, and stay in the middle of it. Soon he switches
attacks, when he pulls both his hands back in get to the right side of the
screen, start powering up. Don't do anything when he throws his back hand at
you, when his front hand comes out do a spin dash, quickly power up and do the
same thing again. He then reverts back to his first attack. Make sure not to
jump at any time during this fight, touching the boss will take off a lot of
life.
Whenever you take out his hands, he again retreats forward for phase 3. He
comes out from the right side firing bouncing projectiles. This should be easy
because his shots are very slow, just fire away at him, move around to avoid
the balls, without jumping. Before long he is history.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
= Stage 3 * Going Underground =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Rising Lava
-----------
Here there is lava, so clear you can see your reflection in it, rising up and
down continuously. Touch the lava, even by a pixel, and it's instant death.
Wait until it starts to go down and then move, get to the next high ground and
wait for it to start going down again.
When you come to the part where the crystals are covering up the action, wait
for the lava to come up and you can see where the floating ledges are in it's
reflection. Don't miss the 1-up right after this part. Continue forward and go
through the next door.
Underground Water
-----------------
Destroy the jumping fish, and then swim over the high spiked ledges when the
water rises all the way up (spikes do not cause instant death in this game,
by the way). Get the bananas along the bottom, and from that point, get through
the next part by moving forward as the water lowers, so you don't touch any of
the spikes from either below or above. Stay low, and when you get to the next
high, long ledge of spikes, wait for the water to rise to it's highest, and
rocket straight across from the edge. After that, weave around some more spikes
and when you reach the end, head down.
Sub-Boss: Under-Water Robot
---------------------------
Start off this fight in the middle of the screen, as soon as you see the pig
operators head coming up from the bottom of the screen, rocket down and hit it.
You can get 3 or 4 hits in on him before he even gets into position. Now when
his claw hands start moving, get to the right of both of them, power up, and
then rocket diagonally down, through the right-most arm, to hit both the claw
and the operator. Watch out for his left claw (actually his right; left to you
though), when it's coming at you, jump out of the water and to the right, or
if you're powered up then spin-dash or attack. Continue to rocket right through
the right arm, your best chance is when it is extended fully to the left, when
you do so you'll hit the target, begin spinning and hit both the claw and the
operator.
Soon the right claw explodes. Now focus your attack on the remaining arm-pit,
just rocket diagonally down into it like you were doing before. Remember to
avoid his claw attacks. Before long the boss goes down (special thanks to my
friend who showed me this way of beating this boss, it is much better than the
strategy I used to use). When it's all done swim down into the new opening.
Boiling Lava Pit
----------------
The lava here is different from last time, you won't instantaneously die if you
touch it. As soon as you jump on the walker, it takes off, so stay on it. If
you get knocked off it is basically impossible to get back on, since it sort of
throws lava behind it. Swing at the owls when they come down in front of you.
When you reach land, jump off of the walker and just walk across, the thing
doesn't always duck the spikes. When it gets back in the lava, hop back on.
Follow these tactics and you'll get through it just fine.
Boss Battle: Gigantic Mechanical Fish
-------------------------------------
This is a complicated boss. You can't do any damage at all to the fish
directly, so don't try. When he first rises up out of the lava, the ledge
you're on moves toward his mouth, along with another long row of moving
platforms. Stay on the first ledge until you see a group of 2 ledges coming
from above, and jump to them. Stay there until they are just about to reach the
fishes mouth, then jump down to the bottom and immediately back up to the next
group of top platforms, and then do the same thing again. It may take some
practice getting used to the speed of the moving platforms.
When the platforms stop moving, wait a bit and as they fall down jump over to
the right. You'll land on a long ledge that drops down from the ceiling. The
boss comes back up in the middle and starts spewing fireballs, walk left and
right to avoid them. He also throws groups of bananas, there will be 2 you can
get. As this is going on, you need to be firing shots towards his mouth,
because at some point he suddenly opens it and the pig operator jumps out, you
should hit him once as he's coming out, and get another hit as he's in the air.
After the pig jumps out, the boss begins his first phase again, but this time
from the opposite side of the screen. When the fish is on the left side, there
will be a constant stream of floating ledges instead of groups of 2, and
everything moves faster. Jump from ledge to ledge, its hard to judge the
distance but generally jump a little less farther than your maximum. He now
comes up in the middle again, and it's exactly as it was before. You can always
get bananas on the right ledge, too. He continues his pattern, alternating
between rising up on the left and right side, until you've hit the pig enough
times to kill him (5 hits on default difficulty).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= Stage 4 * Flying Battleship =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sub-Boss: Captain Fleagle
-------------------------
After the short opening bit, immediately walk all the way to the left, and turn
around as subtly as possible (your back has to be -very- close to the edge of
the screen). Now all you got to do is continuously swing at the bombs the
captain throws, and they will usually be hit right back into him. For maximum
efficiency, hit wait until the bombs are -just- about to hit you before hitting
them. Soon he panics and then flees, and the barrier in the middle goes down.
Walk forward and rocket up the opening in the top.
Outside The Big Barone'
-----------------------
When on top of the ship, continue walking forward or the wind will sweep you
back. There are poles up everywhere to catch you as you are blown away.
However, Captain Fleagle is trying to stop you from proceeding from the other
end of the ship, and is throwing barrels at you. Watch the right edge of the
screen very closely, if you see a rolling barrel then immediately jump forward,
but just continue walking if it is bouncing. Get the banana's in the middle,
when you get within firing range of Captain Fleagle then take a shot at him,
and gets blown away. Now you'll see Axle Gear and Sherry in the cockpit, jump
on the pig nose at the head of the ship and it drops off, jump to the left to
get to the underside of the ship, where you'll catch ahold of the rails running
beneath it.
Continue left, jumping from rail to rail, but watch out for the small round
creatures that also hang from them. They'll constantly move from one end to the
other, so if one is in your way then just wait a second for it to move, and
then hit it. When you see the 1-up beneath you, power up, drop down and then
rocket back up after you get it. You can conveniently try for it until you get
it, since even if you die you'll pick it up just before. Not long after that,
there is another sub-boss.
Sub-Boss: Flying Flamethrower
-----------------------------
Get all most all the way to the left when the battle starts, you can get up to
2 hits on him with your sword as he's coming down into position. Now move back
and forth along the rail, he will move and then stop where you are, shoot fire
upwards, and repeat 2 more times. Don't worry because you have plenty of time
to move out of his way. After that attack, he moves from left to right
continuously as a group of creatures come down from the ship above. What you
want to do is hit them where they'll hit the boss when they fall off. The best
place to pull this off is when the boss is changing directions. If you don't
beat him with the first group of creatures (which you probably won't), he'll
repeat his flame throwing attack and then more creatures come out, until you
beat him.
Outside The Big Barone' cont.
-----------------------------
After that fight, continue left and jump on the platform on rings. It will
swing you WAY over and you see another platform on the other end, do this
twice, and then you will see the door to the battleship. Wait until you're at
the very top and jump inside.
The Corridor
------------
As soon as you see the pig commandos, fire at them, and then duck, in case they
get a shot off. You will have to continue to use this tactic as you are dealing
with the rest of the area. Pause before each barrier and wait for it to go
down, and then walk through it. Be extremely careful when you have to stand
between two that are very close together, make sure neither is touching you.
There will be a few occasions where you can walk through 2 at one time, but
only do that when it's obvious. When you finally manage to get through the low
area, pick up the bananas, and continue into the next room.
Boss Battle: Captain Fleagle And His Giant Junkbot
--------------------------------------------------
As soon as the robot drops down, get all the way to the left. He starts out the
fight by stomping twice, and junk will fall around the middle. After that he
begins his main attack, he'll dance in place sporadically while junk falls all
around the room. There are 2 main safe spots, both near the left side and a bit
right of the center, but you will have to move around wherever you are. It may
take practice, but walk left and right to avoid the garbage. It's best to keep
your eye on the very top of the screen where it's all coming from.
When it stops, the robot begins to slow down and then opens up his stomach
area where there is a red sphere. Get close enough so you can jump up and hit
it. He'll fire off a series of HUGE projectiles, jump up and hit the sphere in-
between each one. The last one he throws is followed up by a long smattering of
smaller shots, the only way to avoid it is to walk to the left, but it will be
hard to do unless you skip getting the last shot on him. He covers the sphere
back up and repeats the garbage dance phase, and continues to alternate between
these 2 until you finish him. You should be able to finish the robot the next
time he opens up though.
Finally, after his robot is taken care of, Captain Fleagle begins running back
and forth panicking. He -only- jumps up when you swing your sword, so wait
until the captain gets close to you and hit him, as you're doing so he jumps
right over you. It will take a lot of shots but he finally goes down,
eventually.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= Stage 5 * Kingdom of Devotindos =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Skies Over The Pig City
-----------------------
Finally we come to another flying section. The first wave of missiles is a bit
tricky due to the ones moving diagonally. Stay around the top middle of the
screen, and move in between them. For the diagonal movers, carefully move down
and over through the gaps. After that get to the left side of the screen in the
middle, it is a safe spot for the incoming lines of bullets. After that, you
have a long series of pigs moving around on balloons. They're easy, and you
don't even have to kill them (but you of course will want to >:)
Now comes a massive missile attack, let them close you in and move from left to
right with them, when you get back to the middle of the screen the missiles
finish off with a group of three, so be ready to move between the smaller gap.
After that, IMMEDIATELY move over to the very left side. After the first group
of missiles come up, move one space over to the right, and then back, and keep
doing that until the missiles stop coming. Now one final missile shoots up with
a pig soldier hanging onto it (for a bit of humor).
Sub-Boss: Pulsating Plasma Blaster
----------------------------------
When the screen begins to scroll down into the street, move to the bottom left
side of the screen, or else the upcoming boss will hit you when it's coming
down. Now make sure to get high enough so it will go under you when you pass
it. It then walks forward out ahead of you, showing off some of its power,
after this get ready to fight.
Stay high to avoid the double laser shots, when you see the boss appear then
swoop down, get a hit on the 3 small barriers in the middle of him, and quickly
move back up to avoid the next laser shot. Do this until he shoots out 2-3 big
walls of lasers, when this happens find the largest opening and let it move
past you. After this he will pause a bit, letting you get a few good hits in,
and then he moves to the left side of the screen. Fly over him, he'll continue
his laser pattern when he gets back into position, and then moves forward
again. Now he'll repeat his whole pattern. You won't deal any actual damage to
the boss until all 3 barriers are gone. After a good number of hits, his legs
get blown off, but if you've been paying attention to this game at all, you
should know that's not the end of the fight.
For phase 2 the blaster comes back as a flying vehicle. Start off at the middle
left side of the screen, he comes from the left but you can't hit him until he
gets to the middle. As soon as you can, fire away as fast as possible. He'll
flail his arms out, but if you're along the very left side they won't touch
you. You should be able to destroy him before he even makes it to you.
The Imperial Castle
-------------------
In the first room, get the 1up, and then rocket diagonally over the invincible
armored pig when he's running at you. Walk onto the teleport pad at the end.
The next room is a race against a group of armored pigs, just walk right until
you drop down, walk left until you drop down, repeat. You should easily reach
the teleport pad at the bottom before the pig soldiers. In the third room of
the castle, quickly walk under the pig soldiers as they're dropping down behind
you, and jump over the ledges. You should gain ground against the armored pigs
with each ledge you jump. Drop down and jump more ledges in the opposite
direction, then cross a bridge and jump on the red button at the end,
collapsing the bridge. The barrier then opens up and you can get on the
teleport pad.
The next room will take some practice, no doubt about it. Hit the spike pillar
and the floor begins rising, move so that you don't get squashed by the ceiling
when it comes down. Always jump up to the next level as soon as you possibly
can. When you come to the part with small ledges along the right side, jump up
each of them and reach the next level long before the rising floor gets there,
to make sure you aren't squashed. Now begin charging your rocket, when you can
reach the hallway then rocket diagonally up and right. Going straight across
will knock you back and you'll be squashed. Jump up more ledges and get the
1-up, if you can make it this far each time you can always get the 1-up
here and have infinite tries. After this you have 3 more low hallways, rocket
diagonally across each one of them and reach the teleport pad at the end.
Moving Platforms
----------------
Get onto the platform here, you'll notice a down arrow on the right and an up
arrow on the left. The platform will move right constantly, but you can hit
either arrow with your sword to get it moving diagonally either way. Hit the
opposite arrow once to get it moving straight again. The first room is more
like a practice run, simply move down under the low part of the ceiling and
then back up to the exit. If you fail you can get back up at the left side.
In the next room, one mistake will send you to your death. Whatever you do,
don't touch the neon spiked balls. For the first part of the room follow the
long trail of gems and you'll be fine. When they end, move up and down through
the spikes, there is one tough part where you have to go all the way down under
one group and then up to the very top. Just as long as you don't touch any
spikes with the main part of your body (i.e., an ear would be fine), you can
get through it. This may take some practice getting used to the platform
though.
Boss Battle: Axle Gear And His Giant Pig Mech
---------------------------------------------
Wait for Axles robot to rise all the way up, and for the gate at the left to go
up. Keep holding down diagonal-up/left on the D-pad and don't let go, if you
pause for a nanosecond here you are dead. Charge up your rockets and keep them
charged at all times, when you reach the first wall, rocket diagonally up as
soon as you can. Continue and do the same thing at the next wall, it looks like
the robot will touch you at any second but if you've kept moving, he never
does. Now when you come to a large pit, DO NOT jump down to the floor, but
instead begin to jump and during your decline, rocket diagonally up to pass
this section. After that, go down and rocket straight across the floor, charge
up at the end and rocket up the last opening, finally reaching the end of the
chase, but do not pause even at the top. Jump from one floating ledge to the
next until you reach.... a giant pig mech of your own!!!
The robot fight is very hard to get the hang of. One thing you can always be
sure of is you can get the first 3 hits in on him easy. At the beginning of
the battle, stand still, he comes forward, pauses around the middle, and then
walks up to you, hit him as he's doing this. He then walks right into you 2
more times, you should get the hit on him each time. The next part of the fight
will be sketchy and will require some improvisation. Let him come to you in
most instances, and never take more than a baby-step forward. Soon he'll break
into a pattern of pausing in the middle, taking 4-5 steps backwards and then
coming back up to you. Wait for him to start walking back, and take a baby-
step forward each time. When he comes forward, swing on him. It will take
practice and good timing but once you figure it out, you'll be able to beat him
as long as you make it through the middle of the fight. When the robot blows
up, Axle jumps out and escapes at the last instant.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
= Stage 6 * Deep Space =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Flying Through Space
--------------------
Stay well back from the groups of spinning pig heads, to give you enough room
to weave around their bullets. Shoot all 6 of the heads in a group and you get
an apple, make a large circular motion around all of the bullets to retrieve
it. When you get to the 2 lines of heads moving up and down, it's best to
destroy the 4 top-most ones and slip though, the purple heads give you an apple
here.
Now when you get to the asteroid field, stay all the way on the left side and
weave around the flying asteroids, look very closely at the screen to spot the
stationery asteroids and destroy them immediately, stay pretty far away from
them, if you get close to them they send out a very deadly pack of heat-seeking
missiles.
After everything clears up, get to the middle of the screen, a ring of pig
heads forms around you. Hit one to destroy them all. Sometimes this will give
you a long line of apples, and other times a long line of enemies, I -think-
it has to do with how fast you destroy it. Kill it fast for the apples. These
rings also appear in-between each of the upcoming sub-boss fights.
Sub-Boss: Space Robot
---------------------
First he'll lunge forward with his shield up, you can't do any damage at this
point, so just get out of his way. When the boss is backing up, you have a
chance to get a few shots in on him. After he lunges forward a couple times, he
shoots out a series of double lasers, these will be very hard to avoid but it's
possible, just try to slip up and in-between 2 shots. After some more lunges,
he throws out a spiked yo-yo, now is your chance to really damage him. He
repeats his earlier patterns after this. You should be able to defeat him
pretty easily
Sub-Boss: Rocket-Pack Axle And The Pig Astronauts
-------------------------------------------------
Yep, Axle Gear is still hanging around and trying to prevent you from reaching
the Pig Star. Immediately start taking out the pig astronauts, they're kind of
hard but will go down after a good number of hits. At the least try to lure
them into the middle of the screen, and when Axle Gear shows up, GET OUT OF THE
WAY!! Up to the top-right of the screen. You will soon see why, as the massive
blast from his gun takes up almost the entire screen. Any pig astronauts that
are lurking around the middle will get blown away, as well. Axle retreats, and
then comes back, as he's flying across the screen swing at him non-stop.
Remember that you get a long moment of invincibility when you attack, so keep
swinging as he's passing through you, and even as he pauses behind you at the
left end of the screen (he doesn't always do this).
When he does get all the way to the left, he'll start flying around and firing
heat-seeking missiles at you, you can hit the missiles to cancel them out, but
more importantly, you can hit axle as he stops. Avoid and attack the pig
astronauts as all of this is going on. Soon Axle retreats again, and comes back
with his big blaster, again get to the top-right. If you get a series of good
hits on him as he's flying across the screen, he'll soon be beaten, and will
limp back to the Pig Star.
Boss Battle: MASSIVE Mothership
-------------------------------
This will be the longest and most complicated, but not necessarily toughest
fight of the entire game. When the screen first flashes red and the music
changes, move to the top-right side of the screen. The ship will come from the
lower-left, avoid the bullets being shot from the front, by moving down, out in
front of the pig nose. When you have room, slip underneath the ship, preferably
before the bottom gun starts firing at you. Once behind it, it cannot hit you,
but you can hit it and destroy it if you like. Continue circling the ship, if
you attack -really- fast you can take off the back gun. Circle the ship
completely one more time, and when you get to the back end, it disappears.
Move to the bottom of the screen, almost anywhere else is too dangerous,
touching the ship will take off a LOT of your life (half of it on default
difficulty). Right after it re-forms, it disappears again and comes down from
the left corner, use this short interim to attack some of the guns. When it
finally stops disappearing, it opens up a target on it's underside, attack this
until it is gone, moving left and right to avoid the few bullets coming from
below. It disappears and comes back again, this time the target is the small
gold sphere near the front on the underside. Attack it from a bit below, and at
the same time work on taking out the guns on top. The ship moves up and down,
when it pauses, it will lunge forward. Unless the ship is very low, try not to
get caught above it when it lunges, get below it if you can, or else the fans
on top may hit you and take off most of your life.
When you destroy the sphere, another one opens up in the middle. The ship soon
lunges just a little bit forward, and sort of detaches it's front part, so
there is a gap in-between. Get in the gap and start firing away. It will
sometimes fire 2 wave beams between the 2 parts, these do not hurt you but
rather make it hard for you to get out; immediately after the 2 parts come
together again. Make sure to get out of the way quick, and keep hitting the
sphere and the majority of the ship will go down in a blaze.
-NOW- we are only getting to phase 2, and this is a bit more difficult. The
front part of the ship moves back, sprouts legs and arms and becomes a full
humanoid robot. Fly under him as soon as you get the chance, and get to the
left side of the screen. When he starts jumping up and down and firing
difficult series of shots at you, move up and down along the left side and try
your best to avoid them (it becomes easy with practice). After the wave of
bullets, the boss shoots out a blue beam, it will head right for you, pause,
and repeat, all you have to do is continue to move out of its way. Move in a
triangular pattern around the left half of the screen, and you should make it
past this.
Finally, you get a chance to damage him. He extends his hands and tosses a gold
sphere back and forth between them, hit it, and then immediately move to the
top-left side of the screen. This part is VERY hard to get the hang of, he'll
start jumping towards you, after his second jump when he begins to decline,
move straight out from the top-left corner, and get out in front of him, when
he jumps back move back into your normal position. As if getting through that
once wasn't enough, he now repeats his pattern in the same order, until you
defeat him. It takes 4 hits on default difficulty. Once this boss is finished,
it's all gravy from here.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
= Stage 7 * The Pig Star =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Sub Boss: Emperor Devligus Devotindos
-------------------------------------
An eerily easy fight. As you're walking right, begin charging your rockets, and
remember to keep them charged throughout the fight except for when you're
attacking. When Devligus drops down, quickly jump up to about the height of his
crown and rocket straight across into him. You should be knocked all the way to
the other side of the screen. Start charging again and walking back toward the
middle, jump forward but then rocket back into his crown once again. He'll
continue to do this, and will be easy if you follow your pattern. Soon he
starts flashing and moving toward the middle, get either to the very right or
the very left side to avoid the parts, he explodes. It would seem the Emperor
was just a robot the whole time, but what higher intelligence could be
controlling him?
When the pieces reform, stay charged and rocket diagonally up and into his
crotch, so you catch him with the spinning effect at the end. When he pauses
then quickly try to move out of the way, he extends his legs down at you. After
a handful of carefully guided hits on him, he explodes for good.
The Pig Star
------------
Next comes a rather short bit where you destroy a series of Devligus
prototypes. They go down pretty easy, just rocket straight into them a couple
times or use normal shots. They walk a bit before exploding.
Sub-Boss: Axle Gear
-------------------
You finally get a fair chance to face off against the Rocket Knight traitor,
and this fight is also strangely easy. For the first phase, don't use your
rocket pack at all, just start hitting him when you see him. After taking a
few hits like a dumb oaf, he starts fighting back, he'll jump up and fire off
a fast series of shots when he lands. All you got to do is make sure he jumps
over you each time, be facing him, and attack as fast as possible as he's
landing. You can usually get the hit immediately after he lands. You're sword
shots will cancel out his, you just need to be faster. After a good number of
hits, he starts flashing, moves to the middle, does a spin dash and blows out
the back of the Pig Star.
In the next phase, you will need to hang onto the pipes to avoid being swept
out into space, remember that if you're knocked back a pipe, you can always
jump forward to gain back your position. Now, when Axle gear starts circling
you clockwise, get near the top of his revolution so you can nail him with your
sword as he's coming around. He throws small bombs at you, but you can just
destroy them with a shot. Continue hitting him until he drops all of his bombs,
after that move down the pipe, and start charging up. Rocket straight ahead
into him when he comes out in front of you, and then avoid his drill attack.
Do this 5 or 6 times and Axle is a goner.
The Inner Pig Star
------------------
Here you're faced with more Devligus prototypes, but now there are some ledges
to complicate things. Never jump off of a ledge close to one of the robots,
wait at the top and then rocket straight into them when they jump up. This
still shouldn't be very hard to you. Once past this part, you are in the clear
except for the final boss. The next room is a sanctuary of sorts, and there is
less gravity so you can jump a LOT higher. Jump up the lines of gems and rocket
up at the top of your jump, there are bananas on the left and right and a 1-up
in the middle. Jump on the big ledge in the middle, there is another 1-up in
the top left corner of the second half of the room, jump up from this ledge and
rocket up to get it. Now jump and rocket up in the middle to reach the floating
teleport pad, and face your final destiny..
Final Battle: The Pig Star Core
-------------------------------
Keep in mind you are still in low-gravity mode, so you can jump right over the
core in some instances. When it begins, get to either side, but not in the
middle. Begin charging up (and stay charged up at all times), when the core
starts bouncing around jump up and rocket into the red knob, in this phase it
will always come out at one of the 3 top holes. Jump over it and rocket either
straight across or diagonally down into it.
After a while he disappears, then reappears and starts his next phase. This is
basically to show off all of his weaponry, you have no chance to attack so sit
through it. Stay between the bottom hole and one of the 2 holes next to it to
avoid all of his electricity attacks. When he begins his ring attacks, stay in-
between the first one, and when he's firing diagonally at you get to the
opposite side of the screen.
When he's done with that, he'll begin a new phase, where he moves around slowly
firing electricity at you while the knob comes out of any of his holes. Either
jump over him or jump really high beside him, to fake him out and cause him to
stick the knob out low. After a handful of hits, the music changes to a
slightly insane rendition of the normal boss music.
At this point get to the bottom right and start charging up, when he comes down
out of the corner jump up, avoiding the slow ring wands, and rocket accurately
into the knob at top. Continue to do this until he changes his pattern again.
When he starts shooting rings out of every one of his holes, power up just
right of the middle and as soon as your meter fills up, nail the knob. He
starts spitting out rings faster and faster, in the last instant they will be
coming insanely fast, but if you stick to your pattern you should hit the knob
before they can deal damage. Finally, the Pig Star Core dematerializes, and
the ship starts to blow up. When the right wall blows out, walk through the
hallway, take the teleport pad and from there get into your escape pod.
Escape To Your Home Planet
--------------------------
If you're playing the game on 'children' difficulty, the game ends with the
destruction of the core. If you aren't, you've got yet one more problem to deal
with; the entrails of the core chase you all the way back down to your planet!
Now that is what I call persistence.
In your escape pod you have no way of attacking, just full range of motion
across the entire screen. When the enemy appears, carefully dodge the rings he
throws. When he pauses, that means he's about to lunge to whichever side of the
screen you're on, it's best to stay around the middle and then move over to the
opposite side as he comes down. He then begins flailing his arms in a strange
manner, just move along with them, staying in between them so you are not
touched. He repeats his pattern as the music gets faster and faster and you
get closer to Elhorn. As the screen turns red, the core makes one last lunge at
you and then burns up in the atmosphere, how cool is that? You have now beaten
the game, congratulations.
===============================================================================
-EXTRAS-
===============================================================================
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= Frequently Asked Questions (not covered in the walkthrough) =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Q: Are there any cheats for the game?
A: Yes, including one rather l33t code where you can make your own demo (the
kind that play when you turn on the system and wait). You can find all the
cheats at http://codes.ign.com/codes/4/6299.html
Q: Were 2 versions of the game released?
A: I think so. I've heard of a separate opening intro, and I've seen pictures
of the alternate intro in RKA reviews. If anyone has any clear info on this, I
you can email me about it, I'll put it up, giving you credit of course. For the
record, in the game I have the intro shows Sparkster standing on a peak, the
camera swings behind him and it shows Devligus' head and hands.
Q: What is generally the most effective method of attack?
A: The best way to deal the most damage is rocketing diagonally into an enemy,
most of the time you will spin at the end, so its almost like 2 attacks in one.
Q: Where did you get the enemy names for this FAQ?
A: A handful of names were listed in the instruction booklet, all of the others
I came up with myself, I tried to keep it fairly general though. The official
names in the book, besides the main characters, are:
Pig Soldiers
Pig Tank
Pulsating Plasma Blaster
Invincible (?) Armored Pig
Repulsive Raccoon Robot
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= Did You Notice? =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
• If you stand in place for a minute or 2, Sparkster will actually pull his
helmet off so you can see his hair, and scream "LETS GO" at you. Couldn't
they have tried to make him a -little- less like Sonic?
• The "pulsating plasma blaster" in stage 5 is a take-off of the boss of a the
Konami classic Gradius, the only main difference being that he is a walker
• You get an apple for destroying all 6 of the groups of enemies on stage 6,
yet another Gradius-ism
• The platforms on stage 2 that move you behind and in front of the waterfall
were also featured in the Konami SNES game, Legend of the Mystical Ninja
That's all for now!
===============================================================================
-WRAPPING IT UP-
===============================================================================
-=-=-=-=-=-
= Credits =
-=-=-=-=-=-
Thanks to Konami for making this game, it's a shame it isn't as popular as so
many deeply inferior games. Thanks to my neighbor, who traded me his Genesis
with Rocket Knight Adventures, if he hadn't bought the game I would have likely
never discovered it, and another thanks to him for showing me a good way to
defeat one of the sub-bosses on level 3. Thanks to 'Master Moron' from the
Gamefaqs Rocket Knight Adventures message board who brought to my attention the
2 separate versions. Thanks to Gamefaqs for hosting this FAQ, and thanks to you
for reading it. Thanks of course to God, for my very existence.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= Final Notes =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This FAQ was typed up over a period of 4 days using both Notepad and NoteTab
Light, it took probably around 12 hours total work.
If you enjoyed this game, you will probably also enjoy the 2 sequels, Sparkster
for both the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo (they are completely different
games). I've never played either of them myself but I intend to as soon as
possible.
I appreciate every email I get about one of my FAQs, if you want to offer
corrections, better strategies, ask a question or just give your thanks, feel
free to, the email address is at the top of the FAQ. Do not ask me about ROMs,
I hardly use ROMs, I don't even have a Genesis emulator and cannot tell you
where you can find a ROM of the game.
Some quick plugs:
http://pub1.ezboard.com/bkierayincatsgamecenter <-- a great and large videogame
message board that I've been with since almost the beginning
http://nesescity.cjb.net/ <-- awesome NES message board I visit, registration
required
www.disflux.net/panesian/inside.html <-- awesome NES newsletter I write for,
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
http://www8.50megs.com/nesretreat <-- my NES website (a bit of strong language)
-=-=-=-=-
= Legal =
-=-=-=-=-
This FAQ is Copyright 2001 by me, Deathspork. It is a free document, you are
free to upload it anywhere you want or print it out as long as:
a) It is not modified or changed in any way, and there is no frame or ad
visible on the page
b) No profit is made, directly or indirectly from the use of this FAQ
c) Your URL is not "www.fbgames.com"
Rocket Knight Adventures and is Copyright 1993 by Konami, all rights reserved
-VIVA KONAMI-
