-<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ____ _ _ _ / ___| |__ __ _| | | ___ _ __ __ _ ___ | | | '_ \ / _` | | |/ _ \ '_ \ / _` |/ _ \ | |___| | | | (_| | | | __/ | | | (_| | __/ \____|_| |_|\__,_|_|_|\___|_| |_|\__, |\___| |___/ __ _ _ ___ / _| | |_| |__ ___ / _ \| |_ | __| '_ \ / _ \ | (_) | _| | |_| | | | __/ \___/|_| \__|_| |_|\___| DDDDD RRRRRR AAA GGGG OOOOO NN NN DD DD RR RR AAAAA GG GG OO OO NNN NN DD DD RRRRRR AA AA GG OO OO NN N NN DD DD RR RR AAAAAAA GG GG OO OO NN NNN DDDDDD RR RR AA AA GGGGGG OOOO0 NN NN FAQ/Walkthrough >>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>== For Nintendo NES Version Final By Chris Zawada User: antseezee E-mail: chris@z-wad.com Website: www.z-wad.com Created: 07/19/06 Last Update: 03/10/11 Copyright 2011 Chris Zawada -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- Author's Note ---------------------------- Action titles for the Nintendo Entertainment System were not only abundant, but some of them felt like bores rather than exciting cores. Action titles with beat-em-up action was almost a commonplace, thanks to a simple controller design and ability to fight in simple side-scrolling environments. Challenge of the Dragon was a fighting game produced by Color Dreams, which was not a very good NES developer back in the day. This was one of their decent titles to be released, that featured action similar to Double Dragon, but a tad lower in the quality department. Playing as an engaging character, and equipped with some nifty moves, can you fight your way to freedom? Contributing/Feedback ---------------------------- If you have any contributions, feedback, or strategies you'd like to have added to the guide, contact me via e-mail or on GameFAQs. I'll be more than content to add your segment of information, and will also provide credit. If you have any questions you'd like added to the Common Questions section, ask. I simply don't have the time to sit around thinking of questions. Provide me with what you want to know! Updates ---------------------------- =03/10/11= vFinal Final update. =07/20/06= v1.0 Finished the FAQ. Most of the levels were very short, and some of them just felt like they were put together in five minutes. The graphics still varied and so did the amount of enemies. =07/19/06= v1.0 Started the FAQ. Expecting to finish it within a day or two. ============================ - Table of Contents - ============================ 1) Introduction 2) Game Basics > Controls > Powerups 3) Walkthrough > Stage 1: Village > Stage 2: Swamp > Stage 3: Fortress > Stage 4: Castle > Stage 5: Rocky Path > Stage 6: Forest > Stage 7: Town > Stage 8: Perimeter > Stage 9: Graveyard > Stage 10: Lair 4) Codes 5) Common Questions 6) Copyright/Distribution/Reproduction Guidelines 7) Proper Credits -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================ - 1) Introduction - ============================ Beat-em-up titles are short and plenty between on the NES. Charging in as a wayward character armed with martial artist techniques, and the ability to melee opponents, most of the games were fairly fun. Some had enough depth and the features to pick up weapons or interact with the environment. Other games slouched heavily when it came to melee combat, and suffered poor graphically. Challenge of the Dragon is a title developed by Color Dreams, which was a below average developer back in the day. Most of their titles were fairly pathetic, and offered nothing new to the system. Challenge of the Dragon is in no ways innovative to the genre, but it does just enough to get by as a decently good game. It has the same inclusions that Double Dragon had, meaning you could pummel enemies a few times before they died. You can run around doing acrobatic jumps and use the environment to your survival. Along the way, you'll face some fantasy-like enemies that use wizard projectiles, and attempt to discern you from your objective. Either way, the game revolves around kicking butt. The storyline is fairly non-existant. It shows two lovers kissing each other when suddenly an evil wizard pops onto the screen and vanishes one of them. The man's love gets warped away, and he vows vengeance. Here's a brief excerpt from the game itself (credit to Color Dreams): The Land of Lorin was serene. But then evil came into being and one wizard ruled over it. Now you must vanquish him. The challenge awaits you. ---------------------------- _____________________ ##### GAME INFO ##### //////////|\\\\\\\\\\ Players: 1 Developer: Color Dreams Released: 1990 Rarity: rare Special Features: n/a Cover Art on box: - Shows martial artist performing kicks against surrounding enemies -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================ - 2) Game Basics - ============================ The NES controller is fairly simple to understand thanks to the A & B layout. Most of the action will be fluent, and any special actions can be taken care of using the select button. KEY representation for each button: A = A button (red) B = B button (red) Control Pad = directional pad (black) START = start button (black) SELECT = select button (black) ______________ /Game Controls/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Down + A - Jump down platform A - Jumps in general B - Melee attacks, jump kicks Left/Right + B - Performs dash attack A + B - Jump melee attack SELECT - Uses magic, requires gathered potions START - Pauses game - Controls are very simple. Your character can move around using the directional pad while the B button performs attacks. Attacks seem to be partially random, with some being sword swipes, and the other being side kicks. If you run by pressing left or right and attack, you will do a minor dash attack. Use select when you have gathered a special potion to use magic. This helps temporary damage or stun tougher bosses. _________ /Powerups/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= In the Land of Lorin, you will come across some potions that allow you to use special magic. This magic is sometimes necessary if you want to deal with bosses without too much of a hassle. _______________________________________ Potion's Color ||><|| Potion's Effect ======================================= White -- Adds 2 health hearts Blue -- Gives 1 magic Purple -- Gives 10 magics Green -- Gives 1 hero life -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================ - 3) Walkthrough - ============================ Without much of a complex storyline, or gandering plot to follow, the rest of this guide will lead you through the game. There are several stages in Lorin, but most of them are moderately short, and the amount of detail will be kept brief. _________________ /Stage 1: Village/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Difficulty: ** - Our hero will begin inside a small neighboring village in Lorin. Immediately to your right will be a gray thug. Deal with him in a basic manner. The best tip I can give you on this level is to knock your opponents into the pits to your right. This way, it saves having to deal with multiple threats at once, and instantly kills him. Jump across the pit and 2 more thugs will greet you. Watch for the flying blue bat. It loves swooping down while you are engaging enemies. Leap over it. Try to do a jump kick on it to disable the threat. The blue bat should die just from one melee hit. Continue up a tad further, and get on the middle roof. You should find 5 health potions in this area. Grab the lower 3, and if you can reach the top 2, then take them. Two more thugs will greet you here. - Move ahead, and then you should notice a blue-robed man near the middle on a roof. You should also notice a blue potion. Snatch the potion and immediately strike this magician. The boss is basically a teleporting wizard. He warps from spot to spot, and shoots energy rings that seek you. He can be difficult if you have trouble jumping from platform to platform. The wizard will only go to several different spots as follow: X X X X - When the wizards warps into thin air, follow his mist ----- ---- --- trail. It will slow down and warp at one of the spots. X Intercept him immediately with a jump kick or melee X X ---- --- strike. Repeat the process. If you cannot catch up to him when he does warp in, then avoid the energy rings he fires at you. Remember that you can drop down from a roof by pressing Down + A. _______________ /Stage 2: Swamp/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Difficulty: ** - Right when you begin, you will see a pink-suited lizardman charge at you. He's not that difficult, but makes use of some jumping attacks. Avoid them and counter-charge with a dash and some melee swipes. Then, little gnats will start to fly and bite you. These guys are more of the less annoying. To deal with them, swing your sword violently as they surround you. A jump kick deals with them as well. Watch out for the bridge pits. Bypass them by hopping over the pits. A mini-boss will be on the next screen. This man loves swiping straight ahead. Lure him to one of the nearby pits, and continue to pummel back - he has no special attacks. - Continue ahead, but look at one of the support beams on this bridge. You should see 2-3 indentations. Jump on the indentations directly above each other. This will let you get to the top of the bridge. Now, move to the next area. Now, 2 green-suited men await you. Knock the first one to the ground. Stay up here as they will climb to reach you. Watch out for their roundhouse kicks - they are fairly annoying and tough to avoid. Two pink-suited men and a green knight await you. Once they're down, continue to take care of the pesky mosquitoes. You will eventually reach the last section where a boss awaits you. This time, it's a green flying STOMPER. What you want to do is move to the upper left corner on the high-side bridge. The green stomper has a path. It will fly to the upper left in a horizontal manner, then swoop down diagonally right, then repeat the process. Stay in the upper left and wait for the beast to fly horizontally. Jump over his horizontal attack, then counter-attack him in the corner when he stomps down with some melee bashes. Repeat this process about 5-6 times to slay him. You will find a health potion in the upper right corner. __________________ /Stage 3: Fortress/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Difficulty: *** - Our courageous hero has managed to progress to a nearby fortress in Lorin. The opposition will most likely get tougher with no doubt. Move slightly right and you will engage your first enemy. This lone thug should be no problem to deal with. Watch for the bats though; attack them just like the mosquitoes as they will try to pester you. You'll notice some blue potions on the very top platforms. They're difficult to reach, so I would ignore them for now. Continue to the right and you will find a black-suited ninja. He has an attack that throws a shuriken horizontally. Avoid it by hopping over it, and just continue to attack the ninja until he dies. Grab the health potion. - Up ahead will be 3 more ninjas, one alone, then 2 together. The two together can be dangerous; try to stay on the top of the bridge. If they are too stupid and can't reach the top, drop to the bottom and pummel them. Continually drop kick to avoid the shurikens or dash attack. Grab the health potion and move onward. It will get a tad more difficult when a green knight & 2 ninjas greet you in the next area. Use similar strategies from before, but AVOID letting both ninjas surround you. If this happens, you will get raped by an onslaughted of continuous shurikens. It's best to stay up top as well to isolate each opponent. Three more of the same men and a life potion are ahead. Move off the side to exit the level. ________________ /Stage 4: Castle/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Difficulty: **** - Immediately when you begin, a red ninja will attack you. Red ninjas are slightly harder because they also throw black rolling grenades in conjunction to their shurikens. Avoid the bombs at all costs, and pick up the health potions. Deal with the lone threat accordingly. If you move forward a bit, you will now encounter 2 red ninjas. This part is very difficult as you will get bombarded by shurikens that move in random directions, multiple bombs, and their evasive maneuvers. Avoid using magic, and try to stay up top, but watch for the scattering shurikens. Continue to pummel them, but don't get caught in a corner so they can wear your life bar down. - Get to the top of the level, and you will find some potions for health, and one for magic. Now, comes the easy part. Stay on the very top of this next part. Three red ninjas will greet you. However, as long as you stay up top, they will most likely not find a way to the top. As a matter of fact, when they throw bombs, the bombs will hurt each man below. They can actually kill each other below without killing you. However, keep an eye out of shurikens thrown in your direction. Make sure to avoid them, and engage any opponent that does reach the top. Whatever you do, don't jump down below. That's a sign for disaster. Only jump down once 1-2 have been eliminated, then finish them off. ____________________ /Stage 5: Rocky Path/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Difficulty: ***** - Start off by moving to your right, and watch out for the green knight to pop his head out in disgust. Engage and kill the poor fellow as he will struggle very little. Move ahead but get on the topside platforms and make a quick dash for the three magic potions. This next part is difficult as a golden giant will pop out from a pillar below. Drop down below to his level. This mini-boss will smash the ground which causes boulders to drop from above. The boulders then shatter into smaller rocks which damage you as they spread out. However, the boulders shatter at the first thing they hit, which is why it's best to stay below under the platforms. As for the giant himself, use your magic attack with the SELECT button. Try to face the direction of the giant so the magic damages him. Then, when he is stunned, move up melee attack, and retreat back before he can bash your with his giant hammer. When you run out of magic, use just melee attacks, but it's truly important to avoid the little rocks that spread out from the boulders. You may lose a life here as this giant is very difficult. - Up ahead will be 3 life potions and 3 green knights. Grab the potions, then attack the knights in a courageous manner. Move on a bit further, then snatch up the potions near the top. Now, a green giant will pop out below. You want to use the same strategies below, however, be more aggressive. Jump kick and dash attack the giant more often, but try to retreat back whenever he is on a rampage as well. Use any remaining magic you have, and continue to attack him. The longer you let him live, the more damage you will take from flying debris - so be on the aggressive edge. Grab the remaining potions and exit the level. ________________ /Stage 6: Forest/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Difficulty: *** - Right off the bat, you may notice a thunderstorm raging in the background. Watch out for the lightning guard to engage you immediately. He has a horizontal attack that shoots a lightning bolt. Hop over it, and continue to pummel the poor fellow. Up ahead will be another lightning guard & a brown fighter. The brown fighter is a tougher opponent because he has attacks similar to you. He swings when he is close to you. To deal with him, take care of the lightning guard first, and use dash attacks or jump kicks. You can melee him, but make sure you engage with first contact. Two more lightning guards are up ahead. No new deal there. Then, you'll have to face 2 brown fighters and a lightning dude. Multiple melee attacks should do the trick. Eventually, this flat terrain will lead to a brown dragon & pilot at the end of the path. - The brown dragon has a simple strategy. The creature will move from left to right, then back left, and does so by firing energy balls from its mouth. Aside from this, the brown dragon will also do a scatter attack by jumping and firing multiple energy balls. Don't think about getting close and melee attacking. Instead, you want to jump kick the entire battle. Approach the beast then jump kick as it jumps up to fire energy balls. Follow it to the other side and repeat the technique. Do it until the beast collapses and dies. ______________ /Stage 7: Town/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Difficulty: **** - Remember the original magician from stage 1, well he's back, and now he's wearing a red robe. Right off the bat, you'll face one red magician. Use the same techniques of tracking down his invisible cloud, and hitting him once. Follow him, and hit him again. Look for key areas where he stops at, and jump kick if possible. Two more magicians await you up ahead. You may have some magic potions by now, but I would hold off from using them. Instead, for the part with 2 of them, track down one of them and keep tracking him down. Ignore the other one until you kill one of the magicians, then focus on finishing them off. Two more magicians await you at the one part with two little houses, and a big house on the left. This part is difficult due to the odd placement of platforms. I would use 1-2 magic spells to assist you in hurting the magicians, then use melee attacks to finish them off. Near the end, you will encounter several potions laying on the buildings along with 3 red magicians. - Dealing with this last part is fairly easy and fairly difficult. You WANT to use magic potions whenever the magicians appear out of thin air. Only use magic if you can definitely magic-hit 2-3 of them. If you can't, then it's a waste of potions. Don't worry about tracking one magician down, just hit whoever spawns. Try to stay close to all of the magicians though, because if one manages to fire off continuous rings, you will be in for trouble. Pummel them down, use a few spells, and finish them off. Exit the stage. ___________________ /Stage 8: Perimeter/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Difficulty: ** - Immediately, a female ninja will greet you at the entrance. She really has no special attacks, just a tad more agile. Deal with her appropriately. If you move to the right a bit, a white skeleton will greet you. These guys have no true special attacks, but they do melee attack quickly, so it's best not to stand close to them and do nothing. Up ahead will be a female ninja and skeleton. Move a bit further, and 3 skeletons will rise out of the ground. These foes are dangerous as in they can gangbang well. What you want to do is isolate the one skeleton on the right, kill him, then move to the upper left area so the 2 other skeletons try to jump up. Continually whack them until they die. Two female ninjas will attempt to attack you, but they're fairly easy to take down. Four thugs will be up ahead, including 2 skeletons and 2 female ninjas. Now would be a great time to use a magic potion if you have one as they will surround you a few times in the battle. Move to the right to exit the stage. ___________________ /Stage 9: Graveyard/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Difficulty: **** - This next stage is difficult as you now have a new opponent to face - fiery skeletons. Fiery skeletons wil rise from the graves below, and are faster, more powerful, and also throw a downward projectile when they hop over you. You will lose your life quickly, but there is a hope - your magic potions. You want to use them 2-3 times in each battle, preferably when there are 3-4 of red skeletons. This way, it can relay some of the damage off of you and towards your opponents. There will be about 12 fiery skeletons total in the stage, split up in waves of 2 or 3. Just deal with them accordingly, and use as much magic as possible (try to save 2-3 potions if possible for the last stage). _______________ /Stage 10: Lair/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Difficulty: ***** - The Lair is a difficult place to fight in because there will be white bouncing rocks that fall from above. They fall from the right diagonal portion of the screen and cannot be destroyed. To deal with them, simply run straight ahead and ignore them. Eventually, you will have to start platform hopping. Be VERY careful, as some of the platforms are spaced far apart. You will need a running start in conjunction with a long jump. Then, little red devils will appear. These tiny guys are hard to hit, and I would recommend using a magic spell when 3 are on the screen. They tend to hunt you down as well, but are destroyed with one hit (or one magic spell). You'll only have a few more platforms to hop until you reach the end with the Evil Wizard. - The Evil Wizard is similar to the magicians you faced before. He can only be attacked or hit by a spell whenever he spawns from his mystic cloud. However, contrary to the magicians, the Evil Wizard can hurt you in his cyclone cloud. Don't overlap when he is teleporting. Secondly, you may notice the environment you are on is dangerous. There are only a few platforms, and pit below is instant death. What the boss will try to do is force you (the player) to move back left where the dropping rocks & red devils were. Don't follow him. Just stay where you currently are, and the boss will be forced to stay on screen. When he gets close to a platform, move there, and strike him. You need to do this 4-5 times, and then the Evil Wizard will turn red. - If by chance, the Evil Wizard does spawn, and you are not near him. He will fire giant blue energy balls at you. They home just like the normal magicians do, but have a bigger range and proximity to hit you. Once he turns red, he will move slightly faster. He will also start to toss red skeletons when you are near him. Now it should only take 2-3 more hits to finish him off. Expend and remaining magic spells to damage him, then move in for melee attacks to kill this evil wizard. The man will die and fall to his death. Move to the right into the doorway. *You are victorious and a courageous fellow for defeating the evil wizard. Sir Burkelot reunited with his bridge, and they live happily ever after.* /| _______________)|.. <'______________<(,_|) .((()))| )) << YEAAYAAAAEAAAARGH!! >> (======)| \ ((( "_"()|_ \ '()))(_)/_/ ' ) THE END .--/_\ /( /./ /'._.--\ .-(_/ / / )\___:___) - There is no change in difficulty level once ( -.'.._ | / you complete the game. My best high score was \ \_\ ( | ) 106600. '. /\)_(_)| '-| XX | - There really is no intricate plot or storyline, %%%%%%%% just a very basic 3-5 sentence summary. / %%%%%%%\ ( /.-'%%%. \ /(.' %%\ :| / ,| % ) ) _|___) % (__|_ )___/ )___( |x/ mrf\ > |x) / '. |x\ _(____''.__ --\ -\-- --\__|-- -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================= - 4) Codes - ============================= Unfortunately, there are no prevalent codes available for Challenge of the Dragon. There is one small cheat method is continuing from where you left off, but it in no way gives you infinite health or limitless amounts of magic. I'd like to give credit to: - http://www.gamewinners.com/ for providing this code. > CONTINUE < ------------ If you lose all of your lives, and it says game over. Hold down START + A at the title screen, and the game will place you back at the last level you were on. -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================ - 5) Common Questions - ============================ )) Gameplay (( ---------------------------- << What would you rate this game? >> - I'd rate this game a [5/10]. For the most part, a NES title released in 1990 with decent graphics, and average gameplay is nothing to complain about. Challenge of the Dragon is essentially a prototypical side-scrolling action game with some elements of beat-em-up and some elements of platform hopping. The game has enough levels (10) to make it decently long, yet enough depth and change in scenery to offer refreshments to the player. Unfortunately, the game suffers in the gameplay department due to basic issues. Hit detection is a big problem. Often, you may swing through opponents or miss them entirely. The game has a nice array of different bosses and enemies. It just felt like an average title in the end that I'm sure any gamer would mind for one playthrough. << What other systems was Wolfchild released for? >> - The NES version is the only version. << How rare is this game? >> - This game is very rare. Color Dreams was an unpopular developer back in the day, and most of their titles had low production counts out of the factory. Challenge of the Dragon was one of them. This game fetches a fair amount of money on eBay as well. << Who is the hero in the game? >> - His name is Sir Bunkelot. You do not know much about him until you beat the game, and they actually say his name. We don't even know the name of his love, nor do we know the name of the evil being that causes all of the trouble. So much for the plot. -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ========================================================== - 6) Copyright/Distribution/Reproduction Guidelines - ========================================================== This FAQ/Strategy Guide/Walkthrough is my own published work, and copyrighted by Christopher Zawada. Whatever you do, DO NOT edit this FAQ in any way. DO NOT steal anything from this FAQ. If you want to use some information in your own guide, simply ask me. If you want to place this guide on your website, either link to the GameFAQs game page, or download the file and place it on your own web server. Basically, you can post this on your website as long as its in ORIGINAL form, and not linking directly to GameFAQs. Aside from that, all proper credit is due when necessary. Also, don't even think about selling FAQs. Trying to prosper off of other people's work will get you in big time trouble (coming from an eBay seller myself). This is a list of the current known sites that host my FAQs: - http://www.gamefaqs.com/ - http://www.ign.com/ - http://www.neoseeker.com/ - http://www.cheatcc.com/ - http://www.cheatplanet.com/ -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================ - 7) Proper Credit - ============================ I'd like to thank the following people for their help in making this FAQ possible: )) CJayC (( for constantly updating GameFAQs, and dedicating his entire life to it. Takes a lot of effort to keep a site going this long. )) Rootsecure.net (( for providing an ASCII generator which I used to create the title. Very nifty, useful as always, thanks. )) Gamewinners.com (( for providing the one method of continuing your game. )) Color Dreams (( for creating one of the decent games on the NES, despite how bad the graphics, or lacking in hit detection there may be. )) NES Completion Project (( for motivating me to write for this game. "Some people make sacrifices to make other people happy." - Chris Zawada "Frrrrreeeeeeeeeeeddddoooooooooommmmm!" - William Wallace, Braveheart