Flying Warriors FAQ/Walkthrough v.1.1 This FAQ is copyright 2000 by Ezra Poetker(Epoetker.) All reproduction in whole or in part for commercial use is prohibited. I don't mind copying the text for your own personal use, but put it on your web page without E-mailing me for permission first(epoetker@hotmail.com) and you're in some legal trouble. The only sites currently authorized to carry this FAQ are GameFAQs and about.com. If you want this FAQ on your site too, just remember to E-mail me for permission. Version history: 3/24/01 v.1.1: Added some extra tidbits and exorcised a few typo demons. 4/8/00: First version. I finally do a FAQ that's actually been requested! (Number 4 on the NES list.) It's unexplainable, almost, but somehow this game is just fun no matter how often you play. Guess I'm building up my ethos as a "retro" FAQ writer, here...oh well.... This walkthrough will cover going through the game in Easy mode. I'll get to the changes in the Expert mode later. And I HIGHLY suggest that you choose Standard fighting mode if you're playing through for the first time, it makes the one-on-one battles just a little bit easier. Gen, your ever-faithful teacher, will give you a rundown of the moves, which in Standard basically covers this: Forward or backward to block, B to attack. I thought about giving the Master move list, but I realized that if you were tough enough to choose Master mode, you were probably smart enough to WATCH the screen when Gen went through the moves. Pressing A, B and down when you've blocked a high punch will allow you to throw your opponent(trust me, this is a good move to learn that's too often ignored.) Pressing A, B, and Down normally will make you do a spinning low kick. Pressing A, B and UP will have you doing a move reminiscent of Ryu's Tatsu-Maki-san-pkyaku(I can't believe I remembered that)and doing it while your KO gauge is full will cause you to execute the almighty Hiryu-no-Ken! That's all the moves for now...but you'll get some more, trust me... Part 1: Beginnings (If you're playing the game in Expert mode, you won't have to practice with Gen. However, don't celebrate just yet, because defeating Gen nets you valuable experience points, plus the chance to pick up some bottles of Magic Water. In fact, you might want to drag out the fight a little bit just to get a chance to grab a few more of those little vials. You can carry up to a maximum of 10, and you WILL need all you can carry, especially before the big RPG boss fights with Narga and Demonyx.) "Rick is alone in the mountains as usual brushing up on his kung fu skills." How I love that quote. Next time your friends ask you: "What'd you do today?" just say, "Not much, just screwed around in the wilderness perfecting my Hiryu-no-ken technique." Classic. Anyway, resist the age-old platform gaming temptation to go right...go left first. You'll be assaulted by flying skulls and tusk fighters. Remember that you can build up your KO gauge from these things, and when it reaches 100, you'll be able to shoot Flying Saucers. I suggest you kill the skulls to build your KO gauge up, they give you 10 units as opposed to 2 from the fighters. Progress downward until rocks start falling on your head, then go right through the bat-filled cave. If at any time lightning flashes and a purple gargoyle comes out to attack...at least make sure that you're on a flat stretch of land! Fighting those guys around holes is a surefire way to lose all of your continues. When you exit the cave, just jump up the platforms to another cave above it. Here you have to fight another purple gargoyle, who turns into a Tusk Soldier! I suppose that now would be a good time for me to go over "Dark Dimension" fighting. New techniques for fighting in the Dark Dimension: Flying Saucer: Pressing B and down whiile your KO gauge is full will cause you to shoot a few fireballs of your own at the enemy tusk soldier. It is unblockable; only jumping can avoid it. Hiryu-no-ken: I usually prefer this, and it'll only get stronger as you progress! A, B, and up while your KO gauge is full and watch the feathers fly! If your enemy does this to you, however, you CAN counter it...with a mini-Hiryu-no-ken of your own. Learned this from watching my enemies do it to me one too many times. After you defeat the Tusk Soldier, break the rocks and pick up the Angel's Robe. Then exit and go right. It's all pretty straightforward from here...go right, then up a little, then right again till you reach the angel. She'll reward you by giving you the Orb of Courage. Orb of Courage: Will flash and bleep whenever you're A) In a room with an item or B) Fighting an enemy who has an item. Usually, these are rather important items. I suggest you pick up as many as you can find. Gen sends you to China to battle his masters. You'll fight three one- on-one battles with Fusetsu, Ensetsu, and Rakan. Fusetsu: Really not that tough. Drag out the battle so you can fill up your Magic Water stock. Ensetsu: A little harder than Fusetsu, but the only really interesting thing about him is that he gives you the Mirror of Mercury, whose purpose will be revealed in the next fight. Rakan: Halfway through, he'll tell Rick to "awaken his true power and TRANSFORM!" The you get a REALLY cool sequence of Rick flashing into his costumed glory. (Try not to laugh at the obvious cheesiness. It's cooler than most of the old superhero costumes, anyway.) Then, all of a sudden you're fighting in the Dark Dimension! Be on your guard, because every so often Rakan will jump back, yell "HOWLING FIRE!" and shoot a whole bunch of asterisks at you. If you block when he does this, however, the Mirror of Mercury will form a barrier and block the spell. NOW you see how valuable those mirrors are! Defeat Rakan and you'll receive the Sword of Vijaya, which enables you to cast Howling Fire during Dark Dimension battles. New techniques for fighting in the Dark Dimension: Mystic Spells: Hee hee...finally figured out how to do these. Pause, select "Mystic spell," select the spell you want to use(press A...duh.)then to use the spell, press A and up. Just the opposite of Flying saucer. You can only use it when the red star appears on the upper or middle body of your opponent. Mystic spells seem to connect more often than the Hiryu-no-ken. You are now in China. Walk right and talk to the random citizen, who says something about a phantom and a bracelet. Go through the cave and out the other end. Beat up on the bouncing women?men? and the occasional flying flame-dropping thing until you have 20 coins. By the way, I might mention that besides the kick, you can also do a high punch by pressing Up and attack at the same time(this is in Standard, in Master, pressing A does a punch and you have to press up to jump.) Why is this useful? Because occasionally those guys will bounce just over kick range and stick to you. Punching repeatedly prevents this. Enter the first cave you come to. One door in this cave lets you look out over the Hong Kong skyline, one gets you to Shunran's store. Ignore the rest of the merchandise for now and buy the bracelet. What? She doesn't have it? But she still takes your money? Why that little(SHUT YO' MOUTH!) Actually, you need to do this, because she tells you the all-important password to get the bracelet from the dragon. Oh well...but 20 coins...geez...acckk...just go out of the cave and continue going left. Flying skulls! Easy KO gauge refill, yippee! Go through yet ANOTHER cave and up the waterfall on the other side. Walk forward, bashing through flying skulls and rocks on the way. One of the rock piles has a Mystic Crystal-grab it before it rolls off for temporary invincibility! Do NOT go into the first cave yet... just keep jumping across the platforms till you reach another cave. Enter, go left past the flaming skulls, then go into the next room and battle with the purple gargoyle/Tusk soldier! Now's your chance to practice those Mystic spells you learned! Once you've defeated Tusky, move on up into the Dragon Cave. Say the password "Fall Stars" and the Bracelet is yours. Now go on back to the other cave and beat the gargoyle/tusk soldier guarding that entrance. You'll receive the Sword of Kirik, which allows you to cast Fire Burst. Continue on to the exit, whereupon you'll have to jump across some platforms. This is actually kinda hard to do...to get to the first platform, you actually have to do a "mini Hiryu-no-ken." (Press up, A, and B.)Note how it's a LOT more accurate than jumping. Make your way CAREFULLY across these platforms, being especially careful around the flaming skulls, who showed up just to make your day harder. Oh, and make sure you have a few bottles of Magic water in stock, because as soon as you go to the next screen...a gigantic bouncing Phantom appears! It's *somewhat* easy to avoid him, but if you're not careful, he'll take you out QUICKLY. Stand right in the middle of the platform and kick repeatedly. Sometimes he'll just fall back, other times he'll fall back and then jet across the middle of the screen. DUCK when he does this and proceed with the kicking. Sooner or later, you should beat him and get the Orb of Wisdom. More on that later.(BTW, if you came here without the Bracelet, you'd have just ended up fighting him forever...he's a Phantom, you know! They don't die easily.)Tournament time!!! 1st opponent: Litron Litron is a Martial Artist. Looks cool and fights cool. Basically, if you don't see a star on anyone, that means Litron is preparing for one of his special moves, which include: Doing a "Kick throw": If you're not nearby, this won't hit you. Doing a 2-part Hiryu-no-ken: First he jumps up on the ropes, then he comes down. Flying back and forth across the screen: This is friggin' hard to dodge. Jump right in the middle of the ring and you (hopefully) should avoid it. 2nd opponent: Thornram The kickboxer looks like a wuss, but appearances can be deceiving! Incredibly annoying, as he'll dodge by jumping most of the time. I've seen him do: Jumping Knee: DUCK, don't block! 100-kick: Just stay away if you suspect he's going to do this. 3rd opponent: Shiro Cool-looking and hard-fighting Karate master. He'll probably block a lot of your moves, and occasionally do a move reminiscent of Litron's flying tackle, except he KEEPS going back and forth longer. Jump to dodge. And he'll also do...an improved Hiryu-no-ken? Something's fishy here...because when you kill him, he'll turn into a Tusk soldier! (On Beginner, this is certain, on Expert, I think you have to beat him with a certain move...don't know it yet...)Transform and defeat the evil warrior and you'll receive a Dragma. Dragma: 5 of these are needed to complete the Mandara Talisman. They also improve the power and look of your Hiryu-no-ken kick. You should now be able to do it the way Shiro was doing it. Cool stuff. 4th opponent: The Mad Ape Wrestling vs. Kung Fu! Kung fu wins easily (sorry WWF fans!) but that doesn't mean this guy will let you off. If you're not careful to block all of his moves, you may find yourself getting thrown. Also, he has a move reminiscent(actually, a complete rip-off) of Thornram's jumping knee bash. But altogether he's not too tough, although he IS more agile than any wrestler I've seen. 5th opponent: Slugger Sam HA HA, BOXER BOY CAN'T DO A LOW ATTACK, NYAH NYAH! I started saying that, then shut up when I saw how fast this dude was. And his "100 punch"(yet another rip-off of one of Thornram's moves) can be killer if you don't watch out for it. Block, block, and block again! You'll need the energy when he turns into...a GREEN tusk soldier! Yay, we have palette swapping! Be careful, though, because this particular Tusk soldier likes to cast Dark Cyclone on you. Block it and respond with Fire Burst or your new, improved Hiryu-no-ken. You get another Dragma for killing him. You also get the dubious honor of being the head of the investigation team. Let's think about this for a minute: If you choose your investigation team by a five-round ultimate fighting tournament, intelligence gathering must not be your main focus. In fact, you're probably just sending those guys in to kick the crap out of whatever thing still lurks in the investigation area. Am I right? Well, let's move on to the quotes of the team members... Rick Stalker-"I'll defeat all the tusk soldiers!" We kind of assumed that, given that you had beaten so many already. But don't you think that, as the hero here, your quote should be more...hero-ish? Slaughtering Tusk soldiers is all well and good, but there IS also the matter of a certian Demonyx to contend with...shouldn't he be your main focus? You really should look to your companions for inspiration on the quote thing, like Hayato Go-"Any enemy of peace is an enemy of mine!" THAT'S what a good quote should sound like. Although with that bad-boy demeanor and those sunglasses, he looks more like a guy who'd start fights rather than stop them. Can't argue with having mastered both kung fu and karate, though... Mary Lynn-"Don't take me lightly just because I'm a girl!" Big reason why playing this game is such a guilty pleasure. Pure Asian chick attitude. Although for someone raised in Hong Kong, she looks remarkably American...in fact, now that you mention it, ALL these guys look American, but at least Greg Cummings-"Come at me all at once-I'll still wipe you out!" shows the American attitude. Yeah, you little pansy black belts, how good is your karate when you have three or more guys coming at you at once? I've seen all those movies you made! Always the hero fights one bad guy at a time, with all the others staring stupidly on a la the Double Dragon series. Greg'd just break all their heads right away, and wouldn't even need the training required by Jimmy Cutler Jr.-"The blood of justice flows through me!" Really, I think this has to be one of the coolest quotes of the bunch. Especially when it's spoken by the psychic kid leader of the "Shadow Cult." Waiit a second...isn't this just ANOTHER reincarnation of Ness form Earthbound, or do the Japanese just have a higher per-capita "psychic kid" birthrate? Quote ratings: Rick: ** Mary: * Hayato: *** Greg: *****(winner!) Jimmy: **** Oh, heck, I'm having too much fun with these quotes. Back to the game! Rick meets up with Hayato and Mary and (coincidentally enough) they turn out to be Flying Warriors too! Realizing that having capes automatically gives them the ability to fly, they ditch the plane and do a cool formation flight down to the outskirts of the Peruvian village. Those mudmen are good for KO gauge building, so feel free to whack a few before continuing. If the spider-belching plants give you problems, just remember that after three regurgiations, they go back underground to find a few more, at which point you can walk past them. Pretty soon you'll come to perhaps the only real quiet spot in this entire friggin' game-an actual village! Take as much time as you want buying things and chatting with the locals. You'll meet up with Greg here, bringing the Flying Warrior total to four. Head on through the forest, past the tree of the spirits, and into the underground ruins. Jump up along the first set of platforms you see and make your way up and to the left. You'll find a jar that claims to be a human. True to his gung-ho demeanor, Hayato attempts to destroy the jar. Idiot. Haven't you learned that talking jars almost always prove to have a genie or something inside them? Anyway, take the jar back to the tree of the spirits(avoiding hopping skeletons along the way) and say the magic words. Don't worry, if you say the wrong ones, you can always say the other ones(and there's ony TWO choices, so it's not that hard.)Surprise! The jar was really a theif, and he's so grateful that he gives you the Sword of Kan, which allows you to cast Fire Tornado. Now go back into the cave, ignore any and all platforms going up, and go DOWN. You'll make your way down through another cave, up a waterfall, and eventually...face to face with a stone idol? As soon as you attack it, it will become activated, so be cautious. These guys can kill you FAST. Get your rhythm down: Attack, dodge, attack, dodge, wait for him to run back and then forward, attack, dodge, repeat. It takes a little while to master killing these guys, so don't feel bad if you have trouble. Just keep going on through the rooms that seem to keep repeating themselves until you FINALLY come to the Stone Tablet. Now go back the way you came(be VERY careful, the previously sturdy floating platforms are now falling out from under you) go all the way back UP to the place where you entered, then go up the ledges all the way to the right. GAAAAH! Another stupid stone idol! Like those spider-shooting plants weren't enough of a pain! After you knock this guy out, go to the Statue of Narga. After hearing a really freaky set of chords, you'll put in the tablet and the statue will slide away to reveal...the mirror of Venus! Great...now what? Well, the music's changed to the "finish this bad-boy level up" tune, so go back down and start going up the waterfall. Actually, before you do that, make sure you have at least 8 bottles of Magic Water...you're going to need them REAL soon. Buy a few bottles in the town if you're low. About halfway up the waterfall, a door will appear. Enter and go down the resulting corridor to meet... NARGA! Boss fight: Narga Now it is time to go over your options. You can choose to cast a Mystic Spell, perform the Hiryu-no-ken if your KO gauge is full, or change characters. You can change them if you want just to see their different spell effects, but I just stay with Rick for this battle. If you can't do the Hiryu-no-ken, just choose Rick's Fire Tornado for now. Narga may or may not block the attack. Now you can choose whether to form a barrier, use a vial of magic water, or(coward) escape. Choose Barrier for now. If you block the spell, hopefully your KO gauge should be full or near-full now. When it fills, choose Hiryu-no-ken for an AWESOME looking all-out flame attack. Eventually, Narga should hit the floor. Unfortunately, she'll come back ANGRY! Now she'll occasionally cast Dark Revival to recover her energy. Rick's Flame Tornado is the only thing that can break the Dark Field(aren't you GLAD that you're so nice to random jar-people?)Remember, you can use Magic water and then use the barrier, so ALWAYS heal when you get the chance. Eventually, Narga should bite the dust completely. How I do love those explosions...You get the Arrow of Ragara after you defeat her, which allows Mary to cast Fire Storm. The LAB! Somebody's gonna pay for this screw-up...like the Tusk soldier who appears as soon as you enter(defeat his gargoyle-form first, as always.) You can now choose whether to fight the Tusk soldiers or "Escape." Riiiiight. Escape. Sure. Listen, bub, we don't "escape" from Tuskies, and besides, our leader still has to DEFEAT ALL THE TUSK SOLDIERS!!! Beat him down and continue on up the elevator. Kick the things that float beside you to build up your KO gauge, then enter the next room and beat up the gargoyle there. Egad! It's the evil Virakusha, the "one who is led by the Tusk soldier's army." Bad translators. No daily rice ration for YOU! Beat him and you'll get the mirror of Mars. Continue on, beat ANOTHER tusk soldier, and then another gargoyle who turns into the very evil-looking Baishra. You'll have to fight a normal Tusk soldier first, then Baishra himself. BTW, now's a good time to experiment with using your allies. I like Hayato, personally, but it's all really a matter of taste. Sometimes, one of your guys will ask to fight if you try to choose someone else. Go ahead and let them. Not like they're doing any harm:) Beating Baishra will give you another Dragma. Now you go into the lab HQ to find...the director dead? All of a sudden, Dargon comes in! Rather than challenging you four to a fight then and there, he takes you to yet ANOTHER tournament. Here we go again... Daimon: Karate guy. Does a new unblockable "Jingou Ken!" attack. See note under Shiro. Max Crusher: The biggest, meanest wrestler around. And still sucks when pitted against a kung fu fighter. He'll do a hyper knee move that goes back and forth, though, so watch out! Harkon: This Martial Artist is easily the studliest-looking character. This one will turn into a Tusk Soldier, who'll do a "delayed" Hiryu-no- ken called Shadow Dance, which basically works like Harkon's earlier move where he stepped onto the ropes. You'll get the Sword of Ankh for beating him, giving Rick the Fire Storm spell. Samzak: No matter which way you slice it, Kickboxers still suck. But "Samzak" is a cool name... Dargon: He's a palette swap of Rick, he knows kung fu, and even YOU could predict he'd turn into a Tusk Soldier when he died. Fortunately, though rather hard, he goes down with roughly the same tactics you've been using all this time. You get the Orb of Justice for beating him. Must this fight never end? Rick and Co. have defeated the Tusk Soldiers,(Rick, I think it's time you updated your quote...) but now see that the MOONLIGHT WARRIORS were behind this whole stinkin' plot! Still, they're pretty cool-looking enemies to have. You'll go to a meeting of the local chapter of the "Shadow Cult"(2 drink minimum) and learn all about Jimmy, the kid psychic and cult leader. Seriously, if they're fighting AGAINST the dark dimension, wouldn't you think that "shadow cult" may not quite be the best moniker to have? Think of something a little more appropriate to your job description, like LIGHT WARRIORS! Wait...that's been taken. Frankly, I'm kinda scared to have this new guy on my team. But, when the Sword of Vijaya says yes...you can't say no. PSHEWWPSHPSHEEEEW! ZWING! Thus the last Flying Warrior awakens. Now the quintet goes to an abandoned subway station...as movies and video games have taught us, always a sure place to find ancient magic items and a door to the underworld. BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE, if you're playing in Expert mode...go to the subscreen and use the Orb of Justice! If for some reason you missed any items on your way, you can go back to the fights where you were supposed to get the items. Note that you CANNOT confront Demonyx without getting all the Dragmas and all the Orbs. Basically, the problems were with enemies who turned into Tusk soldiers. You had to KILL the enemy with a certain attack to cause him to do this, otherwise you'd miss the item. Yes, you'll probably want to use save states. This may be random, but here's how I got my two missing Dragmas... Slugger Sam: Finish him off with a low kick. Baishra: DON'T TRANSFORM! Finish the first Tusk guy off with a Flying Saucer. Harkon: Haven't tried him yet, but you don't NEED the Sword of Ankh to finish the game. If anyone wants to bother.... Back to the subway cave...go right until you reach a statue. PUSH, don't BREAK(breaking will release a poison gas that does 255 damage, effectively killing you.) Fall down the rather long hole and go into the next door. Just RUN past those alien/bug/robot things. When the path forks, go left first. Beat the Tusk Soldier guarding the Mirror of Earth. Then backtrack and go right at the fork. Enter the first door you come to; the resulting room has two doors. One leads to the Mirror of Jupiter and the Trident of Liva, guarded by a laser wolf(Lazerwolf the butcher! Fiddler on the Roof reference!)I wouldn't suggest fighting that wolf unless you have a need for pain and/or experience points. The next room should have the Sword of Mayuree. Go back out the way you came and into the next room, this one should lead to a room with the Axe of Kundari, guarded by an Idol. Go out yet AGAIN into the door-filled corridor and...ignore the next door! The door after that is just a store...buy magic water if you want. The very last door should take you up an elevator to a room with another deadly laser wolf and the relief key. Take the key back to the door I told you to ignore before. A gargoyle will attack you here...MAKE SURE you kill it and the resulting Tusk Soldier, as it has the fourth Dragma. Walk on up through the cave and you'll come to the Underworld Portal! The Last Level: This level is pretty straightforward, actually. Just keep advancing upward, fighting the Moonlight Warriors one by one. Thanatos, Lunatos, Seiros, and Zakros all fall fairly soon, giving you, among other things, the last Dragma and the Orb of Love. Consult the Orb of Love on the Subscreen to discover that you need to use Jimmy's Meteor Shower spell to break Demonyx's Dark Field. Then enter the last door for the final fight with... DEMONYX! Boss Fight: Palette swap of Narga: Demonyx. Try to have as MANY Magic Waters as possible before this fight. And if you didn't get all the Mirrors...you're just dead. I'll just give you a hint: This is just like the Narga battle, except that when Demonyx gets angry and makes the Dark Field, you have to use Jimmy instead of Rick to break it. Demonyx has a LOT of HP, so basically you just have to keep up a war of attrition. Keep fighting and keep healing with Magic water as needed, and you should win! However...after the ending, you realize that... ...you were playing it on EASY, so you didn't get to see the real ending! By now, you should have a pretty good idea of where everything is in this game, so going through it on Expert shouldn't be too hard. Do so and enjoy! Thanks to... Culture Brain, for making weird but cool games like these. J Dog, for...I don't know this time, he's been kinda scarce on the Reviewer's board recently... Al Amaloo, and YES, you may use this FAQ on your site. Frank E. Peretti, for writing This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness, two of the coolest books I've ever read. Movie, movie, movie! Jesus, Holy and Anointed One, Risen and Exalted One, and driving out REAL demons since 4 B.C.! (I'm going by the classical dating methods here, but if any of you want to pin down the exact date and send it to me, you're more than welcome.) This FAQ copyright 2000 by Ezra Poetker(Epoetker.) All rights not specifically described herein reserved. E-mail me at epoetker@hotmail.com if you see this FAQ on any site except GameFAQs and about.com.