SSSSSSSS HHH HHH IIIIIIIII NNNN NNN IIIIIIIII NNNN NNN GGGGGGGG SSS HHH HHH III NNNNN NNN III NNNNN NNN GGG SSSSSSSS HHHHHHHHH III NNN NN NNN III NNN NN NNN GGG GGGG SSS HHH HHH III NNN NNNNN III NNN NNNNN GGG GGG SSSSSSSS HHH HHH IIIIIIIII NNN NNNN IIIIIIIII NNN NNNN GGGGGGGG SSSSSSSS OOOOOOOOO UUU UUU LLL SSS OOO OOO UUU UUU LLL SSSSSSSS OOO OOO UUU UUU LLL SSS OOO OOO UUU UUU LLL SSSSSSSS OOOOOOOOO UUUUUUUU LLLLLLLL Copyright 2002 by Onikage No part of this guide may be copied or used anywhere unless expressed written consent is given by me the author of this guide. TABLE OF CONTENTS I..........INTRODUCTION II..........GAME PREMISE III..........CONTROLS IV..........GETTING STARTED V..........THE TOWN VI..........FIRST ADVENTURE WALKTHROUGH VII..........ITEM USAGE VIII..........LEVELING UP VIV..........THE INVENTORY SCREEN X..........THE OPTIONS MENU XI..........SAVING AND ENDING YOUR GAME I. Introduction This is just a short little guide to get Non-Japanese Speaking gamers started playing the Japanese version of Shining Soul. It does not translate the story, but does give you a strong enough grasp of the game to hopefully be able to get through it. I originally wrote this for the forum at Gbxemu.com to help out some people with their rom and import copies. I hope you find it useful to help you enjoy this wonderful game until the version for your country comes out. Remember once again this is not a translation so offical names of menus and items are not known. Most are just described. II. Game Premise This game is pretty much a hack and slash game much like the Diablo series and Baldur's Gate series for the PC and other consoles. You pick your weapons, class, and items up and just go through many dungeons killing everything you see and gaining exp. It is very fun so give this game a try. III. Controls Directional Pad (Arrow Keys): Move around A Button: Attack/Talk/Use Environment/Confirm menus B Button: Use item in Quick INV Slot/Cancel Menus L Button: Brings up Quick Weapon Change Menu R Button: Brings up Quick Item Change Menu IV. Getting Started Upon turning on the game you will be presented with the Sega Logo and eventually the title screen. At the title screen press start and select the first option on the list which is Single Player. The second is Multiplayer, but if your playing a rom it won't work. After selecting the first option you will be presented with a screen that has 4 large squares. Each Square represents a File. Choose a file by highlighting it and pressing A. Then you need to select your character. The first is a standard Warrior class, the second is a Wizard, third I haven't checked yet, and 4th is a Stronger Warrior Monster. You may also select your color scheme. After that it will ask you to enter your name, in japanese of course so just pick some characters that you think look nice if you can't read em . Select the face in the lower right corner when your done. After it will show the story of the games beginning which you can skip if you want by pressing Start. Next your hero will receive some instructions or what not on what he has to do through some dialog and then your off. Take the time to check out the town. V. The Town If you follow the little path the first 2 shops you will encounter are the Weapon Shop (Has a little sword at top) and the Identifiers Booth (Identifies your unknown items for a Fee). Next on the path will be the Armor Shop (Has a little Shield picture at top). Going even further along the path you have the Other item shop (It has healing items and Other helping stuff). Finally the last Tent you have on the path is the Bank. Here you can store money and items you don't need at the current time but would like to save. After getting familiar with the town its time to set off on your first adventure. VI. First Adventure Walkthrough Once your done in the town you need to leave it to go to the first dungeon. To do this follow the path to the very end where you cross a little brown bridge and finally exit. It will shift to a world map view with your location signified by your Head next to a Blue circle. Move the head to the red circle which is the new location and press A to enter it. Get ready! There are 3 floors to this dungeon and they are not really too hard. You must walk around and kill enough enemies so that you will eventually open up the entrance to the next floor. The enemies appear in front of you when you get close and all you have to do is repeatedly hit the A button to slash em up and kill em. You get Experience points for each enemy you kill and sometimes they drop items. If they drop an item pick it up by standing over it and pressing A. Items will be explained after this. You can switch your weapon at enemy time by using L to do a quick switch. They vary in speed and power of course. Once you have beaten enough enemies on the floor a Little House looking thing with stairs will appear. Go onto it and press A to head to the next level. Repeat for each floor. Now its time to fight THE BOSS. He is a weird looking monster with snakes coming out of his head. His pattern of attack is he will start at the top of the screen, walk down to the center and unleash some short ranged smoke looking attacks. These can be avoided by staying away from him. After he will change into a ball and roll around the area. He always rolls to the same spot so learn the pattern. Take oppurtunity to set yourself up to hit him when he stops. Once you have hurt him enough, he will shoot little beams after he rolls and then repeat the walk down, roll pattern again. After beating him you get an item and can leave back to town. VII. Item Usage There are many items, but I have only found out a few of their uses. GREEN HERB OBJECT (HEALS 30 HP) BLUE TEAR OBJECT (HEALS 100HP) WHITE WINGS (TAKE YOU BACK TO TOWN) BOOKS (FOR SPELLS, WEAPONS FOR THE WIZARD) WEAPONS, ARMOR, ACCESSORIES (VARIOUS STATS) GREEN BALL (RESTORES SP) IDENTIFYING SCROLLS (LOOK LIKE PAPER TOWEL ROLLS) - USED TO IDENTIFY ITEMS WITH ? ON THEM VIII. Leveling Up When you have accumulated enough EXP points then you will see the level up message above your characters head. When this happens push start when you are clear of enemies and select the Box on the left. This screen is your stats screen used to Build up your character. The first Box on the left is your individual stats, STR, INT, DEX, VIT. Next to the face you will see the amount of points you have to distribute, usually 4 at each level. STR determines your damage, VIT your health, INT your SP or mana, and DEX how often you miss. Everything is of course the HIGHER the BETTER. Spend the points wisely. The Next Box is your skills. You get One Happy face for every level you earn. The skills are in this order... Sword Skill (INCREASES DAMAGE WITH SWORDS AND ALLOWS YOU TO USE BETTER SWORDS) Axe Skill (SAME AS SWORD SKILL, BUT SUBSTITUE AXES) Spear Skill (SAME AS SWORD AND AXE, BUT SUB SPEAR) Defense Skill (BOOST NATURAL DEFENSE STAT OF YOUR CHARACTER) UNKNOWN UNKNOWN Ice Resistance (BOOST RESISTANCE TO COLD SPELLS AND WEAPONS) Lightning Resistance (BOOST RESISTANCE TO LIGHTNING SPELLS AND WEAPONS) VIV. Inventory Screen The inventory screen is where all your stuff sits and is where you put on armor and put things in your Quick Access Menus. To get to it press start in the game and select the Top box that has a treasure chest on it. You will see your quick menus on the left and Right signified by 3 boxes in each. Your "Backpack" in the center signified by the Checkerboard area. Your Character and his armor on the left and finally his stats on the bottom. Use A button to select items and move items around. You can reorganize the inventory, put new armor on your char, or stick items/weapons in your Quick Inv Slots on the left or right side. You can also drop an item you don't want by putting it over the DROP box and pushing A. X. The Options Menu The options menu has only a few options but can be reached by pressing start in the game and picking the box on the right. MUSIC ON OFF CONTROL TYPE A TYPE B A: ATTACK B: ITEM B: ITEM A: ATTACK MENU COLORS R (RED) : VALUE B (BLUE): VALUE G (GREEN): VALUE DEFAULT XI. Saving the Game When your done playing and if you don't like using save states in an emulator or you own the actual cartridge Push Start and Select the Bottom box to bring up the save menu. It will ask you if you want to save and exit the game. Pick the nodding head to say yes or the other one to say no. Well that should be enough to get you started on the game. Remember this was not a translation. I do not know Japanese and figured all this stuff out on my own. I hope it helps you play the game because I am loving mine. If you have questions or want to talk to me you can always catch me over at the forums at gbxemu.romster.ru/forum. Thanks all and good luck!