#######ENERGY FAQ V1.0#######

Pc-Engine\TurboGrafx 16
Written by Aurélien Noyelle (aureliennoyelle@yahoo.fr)
Version 1 finished 29/07/03


Hi everybody! First of all I would like to say that i'm not a native english
speaker (I'm French in fact) so forgive me for the mistakes I will surely make,
and don't hesitate to send me a mail (aureliennoyelle@yahoo.fr) if you see one,
I will correct it!

I)Introduction

In this part, I will just say a few words about this game, and how I've finally
found myself writing this FAQ (in fact I would say it's more a walkthrough than
a FAQ, as i've never heard any questions about this game, except mine... ;0) )

Energy was a Hu-card for the pc-engine edited by NCS in 1989. This company was
going to be a famous one with a good reputation of making great games, however
we can't say it about Energy. Actually, it has poor graphics, poor colors, poor
gameplay. What is more, it's totally in japanese, and if you can still beat it
without understanding one single word of this language (I did it, and I'm going
to explain you how to, that's the purpose of this text, isn't it?), it lowers
its interest for westerners like us, because we miss all the "adventure" part
of the game. Fortunatly, this aspect isn't much developed, so don't worry.

Now, why I wrote this FAQ. To explain it, I have to speak a little bit of my
personnal story, which may not interest everyone, so if you prefer you can jump
this part to directly reach the beginning of the help. But as I think not 
many people played this game, if you're reading this, it's maybe because you
had a similar relationship with this game.
The pc-engine (that was the name this system used to have in France, I think
in the USA it was turboGrafx 16, not sure about the other countries) was, with
the NES, the first console I owned. 
For what i've learnt later, the pc-engine didn't benefit of a real marketing 
support outside Japan, which is really a pity, as it was truly a good console.
Most of the games weren't translated, and even if it wasn't such annoying as 
one could think, nevertheless it was always a little bit demotivating. In
France, there was some kind of official but limited importation, which explains
the existence of a significant community of French fans (by the way, 2 very 
good emulators for this system, Magic-engine and Hu-go, are made by some
French).
Anyway I was very young when i played Energy for the first time. I was quickly
repelled by the difficulty of the game and the all-japanese texts, and I stayed
stuck at some point in the game. But I was very curious; and the fact that 
the game was entirely in Japanese added a little bit mystery to it: I often
wondered what this game was about and what there was beyond this point where I
was stuck.
With time passing by you know how it goes: you begin to play your old consoles
less and less, one day they finally land in a box and you forget it in a dark
corner of your home. And another day, years later, you finally unwrap it, fall 
by chance on these ancient devices that you used to pass hours on,and begin to
play it again, just to remind you "good ol' days". When I saw Energy, I
remembered the curiosity it triggers in me years ago, and i realized that 
nowadays, with internet, it would be easy to find info about this game. 
I had just forgotten one thing: the name of the game, as displayed on the title
screen, was in Japanese. Anyway, after some researches, I finally managed to
know that its english translation was "Energy". But it wasn't really a step
forward, as I soon realized that i couldn't manage to find detailed information
about it, just 3 or 4 concise reviews. 
So I decided to manage to finish the game all by myself, now that I was older.
I succeeded, and now I write this faq for people (if there is any) who find
themselves in the same situation as i was.


II)The story (as far as I understood it ;0) )
I do this from memory, from what i remember of having read on the notice
(which very certainly currently lay into ashes at the bottom on some garbage
can) years and years ago, the plot is this one: After an earthquake, monsters
have been woken up and come out of the Earth. You are a boy who seems to have
developed some "psy" power, and you have to go down under the ground, through 
underground, caverns, etc to do something! 
My lack of knowledge of the Japanese language prevents me from giving you 
something else than this mixture of memories and guess. Sorry! 


III)Some tips

-Be careful for your life level. There are some places in the games where you
can recover your life, but you can lost your life very fast and when you die,
you have to start from scratch, as there are no extra lifes, continues, save
systems or passwords (The game has to be completed in one time).

-Take care not to stop anywhere to take your breath again: in many screens,
new monsters will appear after a while. So don't stay too long on the same 
screen (there are some exceptions, places where new monsters don't appear:
for instance the screen where the exit are blocked till you kill all present
monsters, and other places I'll try to indicate in the walkthrough).

-You don't really have to care for the "psy" level (the blue bar) until the
end of the game. But when you'll have the "ice shot" (see part IV if you don't
see what I mean), it will become important, as this weapon uses a lot of "psy
power". Use the screens where new monsters don't appear to get it back full
before entering new screens. An important point: to have your "psy" bar 
recovering, you have to stay immobile.


IV)The object

   a)The phials

-Red: make your life level (red bar) totally recovers.

-Blue: make you "psy" level (blue bar called "esp") totally recovers.

   b)Objects of the inventory

There is an "adventure" side in Energy: you can talk to some people,
who will answer you. Some will give you objects, others won't. In this
last situation they are not very interesting for us (they probably
give clues but as it is in japanese, i had to do without...). If
they give you objects, they appear in your inventory screen. Some are
used automatically when you select it in the inventory screen,otherwise
you have to press A and B at the same time during the game, after 
having selected it, when you want to use it.
You can also find some of these objects in blue boxes you will 
encounter during the game.
There are 4 kinds of inventory objects. You have one of each at the 
beginning of the game.

*First kind of object:
3 objects belong to this first category.

-A square with a blue horizontal line

-A square with two blue horizontal lines. You find it in a box at the beginning
of the game, in one of the first underground screens. 

-A square with 4 blue horizontal lines. A boy gives it to you, in the room when
you arrive when you jump in the swirl in the lake (see the walkthrough)

You get these items early in the game. It determines the number of times you
can shot at a stretch. I explain: each time you shot, you see your ball going
through the screen.When the first item (one blue line) is selected, you have to
wait that your ball has disappeared(by touching an obstruction or a monster) to
shot again. When item n°2 is selected (2 blue lines), you can can have two balls
at the same time on the screen. When it's item n°3 (4 lines), you can have 4
shots at the same time on the screen. I know it's not very clear, but it's hard
to explain; anyway in the game you will immediatly understand what I mean.
Anyway, you just have to select it in the inventory screen: I advise you to 
select the highest you have.


*Second kind of objects: Direction of fire
There are 3 items of this kind. When one is selected, yours shots go
in the direction shown by the arrow on the picture of the item.

-Horizontal arrow: Normal shot, in a straight line. 

-Vertical arrow(turned down): Your shots go down. 

-Vertical arrow(turned up): Your shots go up. Funnily enough, I had this one 
prior to the second, and it will be the same to you if you follow my 
walkthrough. Maybe as I didn't understand the texts, I didn't play the game in
the logic way the creators expected players to do... Anyway, you find it in 
a box in one of the screen with the destroyed subways.

The vertical shots (up and down) are mainly useful against the bosses.


*Third kind of objects:Kinds of fire
3 items here too. they look like a ball. Each has a particular color. 

-Green ball: When it's selected, you have the normal shot (the one you begin
the game with). Doesn't use many "psy" power, but not very powerful too.

-Red ball: Aka the "fire shot". More powerful, but uses more "psy power". You
will play most of the game with it. You have it after beating the first boss of
the game (see walkthrough)

-Blue ball: Aka the "Ice shot". It's the most powerful shooting, but its use of
"psy power" is really important, making your blue bar dramatically decreases
when you shot numerous times successively.


*Fourth kind of objects: Various items

Only these items have to be activated by pressing I and II at a particular 
point in the game after having being selected in the inventory screen. They 
constitute the "adventure" aspect of the game, these items allowing you to
progress and access new places.

-The "strange thing looking like some weird minitel"(gasp, I think minitel is a
typical archaic exclusive French device.OK,let's say it looks like some weird
terminal. Much better:0) ) You have it when you start game, but it will only be 
useful at the last screen of the game! Use it when you are in front of the final
boss, 2 people will appear, protecting you from his shots. It may be some 
talkie-walkie or whatever I don't know, really hard to say, and as long as we 
know its use, that's not really important to know what it is exactly supposed
to be.

-The "whistle": You have it when you go and talk to the strange green creature
looking like a crab, after having killed monsters surrounding it. It allows you
to cross the lake (see walkthrough):used in front of water, it calls a 
creature which brings you to the other side.

-the green phial: At some point of the game, you'll find yourself propelled in 
the air, through several screens, thanks to some monsters (see the walkthrough).
At the top of your ascension, you'll find three men on a stone platform. One
of them will give you this.
Use it some screens below, in front of the girl who has been metamorphosed, she
will take her original shape again and let you pass through the passage she was 
blocking.

-The necklace: You'll find it in a blue box at the first screen of the serial
of screens with lava. Use it immediatly, otherwise you lost gradually life.

-the medal: You gain it after defeating the boss at the end of the row of 
screens with lava.
It makes disappear (and opens the way) the strange creature (another thing I
can't tell what it may be by just looking at it) two screens left of where you
begin the game.

-the glasses (at least something easily recognizable!). You win it after 
defeating a boss. It allows you to see your enemy in the room where you lost
life (not the ones with lava) without knowing why and which has one of its exit
locked.



V)Walkthrough

At least!
A few words to begin. Energy is mainly an action game, where you have to jump
and shoot, not really much more. Unlike what you could think (and what I 
thought) at first sight, the "adventure" aspect doesn't play an important part.
For non-japanese readers as you probably are, it summarizes to pushing the 
button frantically to jump all these japanese characters till obtaining the
item the person has to give you (when he has something to give you).


You begin outside, in the middle of the street. Don't bother going to the left 
for the moment,as you would be stuck after a few screens by a creature blocking
the way. Go right, avoiding to be hit by the green monsters by jumping or 
shooting at it. Don't stay too long on the same screen, as new monsters keep
appearing. After some screens, you will see a character beside an hole in the
ground. Go and talk to her. At the end of your conversation, she will be 
changed into something strange and will disappear. Don't pay attention to it
(you'll cross her path again anyway) and go in the hole.

Then you will have to go through several similar rooms. When you enter one of 
them, exits are blocked till you kill all the monsters. Here, you will find
only 2 kinds of monsters: Some flying eyes and some looking like kind of big
red fishes. This last kind is more dangerous because it can spit (i think it's
the right word) something to you. Just try to be fast and accurate, you
shouldn't be in trouble. In the fourth room you will win a red phial after 
killing all your opponents. In the next room, there is an item (the one whose
picture is 2 blue horizontal lines, see part IV). Once you have it, select it
and keep making your way. Still one similar room to cross, and the landscape
changes: you arrive in a screen without any enemies, in front of water.

BEWARE! Don't go into the water or you'll die instantly. For the moment there's
nothing to do here, so take the liana and go down. You encounter 2 green 
monsters like the ones outside. Kill them, you'll obtain a blue phial (not very
useful for the moment in fact) and go to the left. One people (I'm not sure 
people is the right word, given how it looks.. let's say creature) to save!
Kill the 2 monsters (I suggest one technique for it: go at one side, shoot
them, when they come back jump over them, go to the other side, shoot them,
repeat this until their death.). Talk to the green creature looking like a crab
that you've just saved, it will gives you a whistle. Go back to the room with
the water, and in front of it, use the whistle (select it in the inventory 
screen, then go back to the main screen and push I and II at the same time.)
A creature appears and takes you to the other side. At the arrival, do you
see this swirl in water? Be courageous and jump into it. You'll reach some
kind of "secret" place (I think, as it seems not necessary to have the item
you're going to obtain here to finish the game). Kill the monster here, go and
talk to the boy, he will gives you the object whose picture is a square with 4 
blue horizontal lines. Go on your right, you will find yourself again in the 
place where you won the "whistle". Go back to the screen in front of water, 
cross the lake again by calling the monster with your whistle. This time, when
you arrive on the other side, go to the left. You will have to go down, using
lianas, through several screens. I advise you not to waste time trying to 
kill ennemies, just go fast and avoid it (if you wait too long, new monsters
will happen anyway). Once you reach the bottom, there's only one opening, on
the left. You arrive in a room, where you can go whether up or left (in any 
cases use lianas, which allows you to avoid monsters).
Here you have the choice: whether you go up, encountering the first boss of the
game; whether you go left to finally obtain the "vertical up shoot", then go
back to beat the boss. It's really easy to kill this boss without this item,
so in my walkthrough I will go up immediatly, but if you prefer to do the
other way just read a little bit further to see what you have to do.
So you go up, and you arrive in a screen where you see a face on a rock wall.
Go and talk to the face. It will finally turn to a monster. The exit is blocked
till you kill him. If you don't have the "vertical up shoot" item, there is 
still an easy way to get him: Just jump on the liana on the right side of the 
room (it may be a bit tricky first, because when you approach the thing 
blocking the exit too close, it repells you; you have to be as closest as 
possible, jump and at the last time push on the right wing of the directionnal 
pad. Train yourself in the first rooms you have crossed, when after killing all
the monsters you have to wait a little bit for the opening of the exit.) Climb
till you are at the same level that the monster's face, and just keep shooting
at it -take care not to fall when turning left to shoot!- This way not only
can you touch him, but what is more you're protected from his shoots because
you destroy it with yours shoots. One important note: there are no particular
signs indicating you that you touch the boss, but you harm him, so don't bother
and keep shooting, it will finally die.
When the job is done, you win the "red ball", which gives you a more powerful
shot. Select it in your inventory.
Now exit the screen(down), and go left in the following screen.
You arrive in a different landscape: no roof, and 3 strange green creatures 
going up and down. You have to jump on one of these things to be able to 
continuate: it will propel you in the air. You may have to try several times,
as it seems that you have to jump at a precise moment. Anyway no difficulties
here.
Your vertical ascension spreads on several screens. Unlike the crossing of the
lake, you keep the control of your character.(in fact there are things to do
at several screens). You fall back as soon as you hit an obstruction (a stone
platform above your head, or if you make yourself knock against a wall), but 
don't worry, you don't lose any life when you finally touch the ground again.
To make things faster, i will consider you first go at the top of the 
ascension; but it's absolutely not compulsory (and you are very likely not to
succeed from the first time, as you have to avoid several stone platforms!)
At the top, there are 3 men. Talk to each of them: you will have the green
phial. Some screens below, there is a girl dressed in red: everytime you'll 
talk to her, she will make you recover all your life and psy power! Don't 
hesitate to go and see her as often as necessary through the game, even if it's
not said in the walkthrough.
One screen below, have you recognized her? Yes, the girl you met at the 
entrance of the basement and who has turned to some strange thing I really 
can't define (sorry! Since the graphics of this game are really ugly, it's 
kinda hard to say what it can be). She is in an opening on the left wall, 
leading to another part of the game, and blocking it. Go and talk to her. You
don't know what she's saying (at least if you don't understand Japanese), but
she prevents you from making your way. Select the green phial in your inventory,
then press I and II at the same time to use it: She becomes a nice girl again,
and you can continuate. :0)
[Note: you have probably noticed another character at the beginning of your 
vertical ascension, lying on a stone excrescence on the left. I didn't mention
it because he doesn't seem to have a particuliar interest, he just talks to
you).
You arrive in a subway tunnel. You can pass under the coaches or jump on it.
I advise you to jump on it, it's easier. Keep going left, till you arrive on a
screen where you see a blue box under the coach you're on. Go one screen back,
fall in the espace between two coaches, go left and open the blue box: you win
the item "vertical up shoot". [Here, if you haven't already kill the boss which
gives you the red ball, go back and do it].
Go back till you could jump again on the coaches. Keep going left till you can
go down thanks to a pillar. 

BEWARE! As soon as you arrive in the other screen, go left to reach the other
one: You have no choice, as the exit on the right is blocked, and you lost
life when you stay here (you're going to see later why).
The landscape has changed: walls are blue, you seem to have gone deeper and
deeper into earth. In the room you are, there is an old man with a white beard.
Talk to him if you want, then go left. As soon as you arrive in the next 
screen, shoot: this way you will be able to kill that strange yellow monster
before he touches you. As always don't stay too long, because new monsters
appear after a certain lapse of time. Keep going left until you see an opening
on the ground. Go down, you arrive in a new room, go to the overture on the
right (don't waste time and life to kill the monster, just use the lianas 
hanging from the roof).

BEWARE: You will have to be fast on the screen you're about to enter. You are
in a new landscape (a place where it's very warm, at the last screens there even
are lakes of lava you have to jump over so take care). As soon as you enter the 
first screen of this kind, you begin to lose life. Jump over the monster and 
open the blue box: you get the necklace. Always as soon as possible, select it
in your inventory and use it (push I and II at the same time). That's ok, 
you are protected from the burning temperature. Keep going right, avoiding or
killing ennemies (be careful, they can shot). Don't fall in the lava lakes!
You finally reach a room with a boss. Hanging at the roof, it's very easy to
kill: just use the "vertical up shoot". It produces some monsters (the flying
eyes), shot them as soon as they appear, this way they won't bother you when
doing your job ;0) . You win the medal.

And now? And now you got to do ALL the way back to where you began the game 
(don't forget to go and see the lady in red to make you recover your health if
necessary). When you're here, go 2 screens left, and uses the medal in front
of the monster blocking the way: it will disappear. Go left: you will see 3
pillars going through the ground. Use the last one. Kill all the monsters, then
jump on the strange green thing looking like 2 faces.

You are teleported in a new landscape. Keep going right, as always avoiding or
killing monsters, and you'll finally find yourself in a boss room. It's
actually really easy to kill it using the following technic. The boss is on
the floor, simply going left to right and backwards. You arrive at the top of
the screen, and there're some things you can grab in front of you. So you just
have to let you fall on the ground when the monster is on the right side of the
screen, shoot at him, and as soon as he goes left, jump, grab the "alien liana"
(I will call it this way) and go up, waiting for the monster to go back at the
right. Doing it, you will soon defeat it. You win the glasses.

Guess what you have to do now? Make all the way back till the screen where you
lose life without knowing why, even with the necklace; the room which has one
of its exits blocked, although it doesn't seem to have any enemies. (If you
don't see which room i mean, that's the one just one screen right before where
there is the old man. That's in fact the screen where you arrive when you go
down thanks to the pillar at the end of the subway screens.)
Once in this room, you understand why you were loosing life: in fact there was 
an invisible monster here (at least invisible until you got the glasses). Just
kill him (use the "vertical up shoot") and the way to the right will be open.
Go right, till you reach another boss. The room where he is almost the same as
the one where you beat the last boss; but you can't use exactly the same 
technic as this time the boss can not only move right to left, but go up too.
One way to kill him is to stay on the groud on the left part of the screen and
to shoot at it, when it comes towards you, jump on the "alien liana", go up,
go right on the liana (the monster will follow you,but you're faster), then
fall back to the ground (you should be in the middle), go to the left part 
(during this time the monster will arrive on the floor too) and shoot at the 
boss. Keep doing it till he dies.

And one more time you have to cross 3/4 of the screens of the game to go back
at the place on the left of where you begin the game (in the street outside);
where the 3 pillars going through the ground are. This time take the first one.
Kill all the enemies in the place where you arrive to open the way on the left.
Go left, jump on the teleportation device (that green thing looking like 2 
faces).

It will soon be over, dudes: you're teleported in the last row of screens of 
the game. You are in some kind of alien gallery, whatever anyway keep going 
right, and take care not to be hurt by the shots of the things on the roof.
When you arrive in a room where a dialog box will appear, it will mean that
you're in the screen just next to the final boss. Use this empty room to fully
recover your "psy" power. When your blue bar is full, go right.

The last boss is a huge eye. It can't move but it shoots at you (5 or 6 balls
in a time.) But again there's a very easy way to kill it.
When you arrive in its lair, don't move: stay on the little piece of rock where
you are when you enter (if you fall, it will be very difficult to jump on it
again and to turn back to shot at the boss without falling). In your inventory,
select the first item of the last row (the one you already had at the 
beggining), then push I and II at the same time like always: 2 characters will
appear and protect you from the shots of your enemy. So don't worry about 
avoiding it, just don't move and keep shooting.
After a while, the monster will finally die. The game is finished, the end is 
not very interesting for non-japanese reader (actually it seems not very 
fascinating even for a Japanese reader ;0) )

VI)Contact and last words

I hope this file has been useful to you. It may have some errors, I've tried to
do my best in a language that wasn't mine, anyway in this case it will be kind
to contact me about it. 
You can e-mail me at aureliennoyelle@yahoo.fr 
If you want to put this file on a web site, just ask me. I will probably not
have any reasons to decline, it's just to know where what I wrote go...


By the way, if anyone wants to get rid of these things, i'm very interested in
NES and Pc-engine related-things (console, games, accessories, documentations..)
I'm also interested in anything related with emulation (maybe someone can help
me to find a device that will allow you to play roms directly on your console,
if it exists it's my quest...).


VII)Legal stuff



This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other
web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a
violation of copyright.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.

Copyright 2003 by Aurélien Noyelle