------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Black Tiger -Hidden Item Location Guide By: Charles Valentino (Tearlock) Version 1.2 --Table of Contents-- --------------------- 1.0 Preface 2.0 Revision History 3.0 Glossary of Terms 4.0 Index of Hidden Power-Ups and Bonuses 5.0 Hidden Item Locations 5.1 Level 1 5.2 Level 2 5.3 Level 3 5.4 Level 4 5.5 Level 5 5.6 Level 6 5.7 Level 7 5.8 Level 8 6.0 Acknowledgements 7.0 Contact 8.0 Legal 1.0 Preface ----------- "Black Tiger" stands out as one of the best coin-operated action platformers of the 1980's. It's also one of the most under-appreciated. If you have never played it then I recommend picking up a copy of "Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2" and trying it out. Having been a fan of the game since I was a kid, I decided it was about time someone stepped forward and created a guide to find the many hidden power-ups and bonuses throughout the game. Although there are many power-ups lying around in plain view, there are also two to three super-secret power-ups found in each level of the game. Some of these items are one-of-a-kind and provide a nice boost to your armor, score (which increases your vitality bar), wallet, and some even kill enemies. This guide should help you find all of those items in all ports of the game. I have also done some research using the miracle of emulation and added notes of the changes found in the Japanese version of the game known as "Black Dragon" in case you were curious about the differences. I'm glad that this guide can be useful to players of "Black Tiger" and "Black Dragon!" 2.0 Revision History -------------------- March 30, 2009 - Version 1.0 is born! April 1, 2009 - Version 1.1 -Fixed numerous grammatical and typographical errors -Tightened up some of the wordiness and refined some of the directions in section 5.0 Hidden Item Locations -Added "Pillar High-Jump" to 3.0 Glossary of Terms -Added a new hidden item to 5.8 Level 8 April 3, 2009 - Version 1.2 -Fixed some more grammatical faux pas and restructured a few passages -Added info on vitality bonuses in section 4.0 -Added "***Black Dragon Version:" notes to section 5.0 where applicable 3.0 Glossary of Terms --------------------- Please pay careful attention as I will use these terms throughout the guide. Column - This refers specifically to the extremely wide and stone-textured cylinders that are found throughout the game that act as barriers that must often be passed by climbing or platforming over them. The first column in the game would be the barrier directly to the left of your character at the beginning of the first level. Although they vary in thickness and height, I refer to all of these as "columns". Pillar - or "climbing pillars" are thin cylindrical objects that run vertically. Your character may grab onto these and shimmy up or down on them. You may also leap to other pillars or platforms from them. These range in size from being several screens high, to being tiny nubs you can just barely fit upon. Long-Jump - By holding your joystick or directional pad to the right or left while pressing the jump button you will perform a "long-jump". This will not achieve the height of a high-jump but will cover more horizontal distance. High-Jump - This may take a little practice to perform consistently on cue. In order to high-jump, you must perform a quick button combination. Begin by pressing the jump button. Once your character is almost at the peak of his jump, move the joystick or directional pad to the right or left and your character will suddenly move forward in mid-air prior to descending back down. This will not cover the same horizontal distance as the long-jump. High- jumping will be a vital move if you plan on getting all the hidden items because it will allow you to reach platforms you would not be able to otherwise. Pillar High-Jump - Similiar to a normal high-jump with one added complexity. You must hold the joystick up while pressing the jump button, then quickly shift the joystick left or right. You cannot jump from a pillar at all unless you are holding the joystick up, left, or right. Plant - AKA Man-Eating plants. These are man-sized venus fly-traps that bust out of the ground trying to eat you. I will use them as landmarks from time to time. Sage - These are the petrified old men whom you free in order to gain rewards. I will use them as landmarks from time to time. Dungeon - These are short bonus levels found within each level. The entrance to these stand out as they have a flashing "In" sign over the doorway. These dungeons often contain hidden items and I will also use these as landmarks for finding others items nearby. 4.0 Index of Items ------------------ Bamboo shoot - Looks like an inanimate orange man-eating plant that is all closed up. Grabbing one of these will add 30 seconds to your timer. Elephant Statue - Looks like a small grey cartoon elephant. $500 zenny coins for grabbing one of these. Boo-yah! Mech - A small silver robot??? I've seen these in a lot of Capcom titles like "U.N. Squadron". Grabbing one nets you 10,000 points. Remember, at 20,000 points you get an additional vitality bar and then once again at 120,000 points; 220,000 points; and so on. You can have up to five vitality bars. Note: The Black Dragon version of the game appears to award vitality bar extensions at different intervals and generally requires more points overall to max out. Barrel - Brownish red barrel upgrades your armor level +2. Yashichi - A red pinwheel, also a recurring power-up in a lot of 80's-era Capcom titles including Gunsmoke. Grab these for an extra life. Hammer - Large primitive looking barbarian hammer. Unfortunately it's not a weapon. Getting one of these nets you 50,000 points. Too bad, a new weapon would always be welcome. POW - The letters P-O-W in uppercase serif letters. Touch it and everything on screen that can harm you keels over or disappears, including projectiles. Although these are found out in plain view throughout the game, there is at least one that must be uncovered first. Strawberry - Somehow this little red berry boosts your armor +3 levels. Octopus Statue - A red inanimate octopus staring straight at you. Finding one will net you a whopping 80,000 points. Cow Statue - If you plan on buying the best weapons, then every penny counts. Grab it for $1000 zenny coins. w00t! Gold Star - Well this is redundant. Grab it to upgrade your armor +2 levels, same as the barrel. 5.0 Hidden Item Locations ------------------------- ------------------------- Warning: If you uncover a hidden item and scroll it off the screen instead of collecting it, it will disappear permanently. 5.1 Level 1 ----------- Bamboo shoot ------------ At the very beginning of the first level, immediately head left and strike the column repeatedly at ground level to uncover the Bamboo shoot. Elephant Statue --------------- This is hidden in another giant column. Look for a sage who will allow you to shop for weapons and armor once he's freed. You will have to free the sage first to get him out of the way. The platform they are found on is floating in the air up and to the left of the large staircase leading to the level boss. You will need to climb a green pillar and long-jump to this plaform. Unfortunately, you cannot cash in these newly found $500 zenny until you find another merchant sage with a shop somewhere down the line. Mech Statue ----------- Immediately strike the wall to left of you once you appear in the dungeon, score! 5.2 Level 2 ----------- Barrel ------ From the beginning of the level, make your way to the right until you encounter a giant stone column that stands to the right of a sage. This particular sage will advise you to search for hidden symbols (duh). Chip away at the column to the right of him for that barrel o' armor. ***Black Dragon Version: Everything is the same except that the sage is missing. Yashichi ------- Head up and over the giant stone column where the barrel was hidden. Continue to the right until you encounter another giant stone column with a floating green pillar to the left of it. Cling to the bottom of the pillar and strike at the column repeatedly. Break away two layers until you expose the Yashichi. Now drop to the floor and do a high-jump into the little nook. 1-up! Hammer ------ Proceed up the pillar to which you had previously clung to expose the Yashichi, then head left until you encounter another giant column and climbing pillar. Climb almost all the way up and strike the wall to expose a hammer (You'll need to kill the minotaur to your right to avoid getting fried by a fireball first), then strike the wall above the hammer for some more landing room. Long-jump over to it for 50,000 points. 5.3 Level 3 ----------- ----------- Barrel ------ This item is hiding in the wall on the right side of the platform that is found just below the dungeon entrance. ***Black Dragon Version: The barrel has been replaced by a gold Star. POW --- In the dungeon, climb all the way up to the platform just beneath the exit doorway. Break the left wall to expose a POW symbol. I never get this item. It's kind of pointless because it kills the minotaur above you who typically drops $50-$100 zenny. The problem is that you can't collect the zenny he drops if you use this. The coins will disappear as soon as you scroll them off-screen in any attempt to climb the pillar that leads up to them. You're better off leaving the POW and killing the minotaur yourself with your weapon. Also, you can't get the POW if you get the coins first either because the coins appear in the exit and to get them you must jump on top of them. This consequently activates the exit, causing you to leave the dungeon permanently. Boo! ***Black Dragon Version: The POW has been replaced by a barrel. Now it's worth getting. Strawberry ---------- This one's hard to explain. It's close to the end of the level where the platforms have changed from a pale green color back to a brown stony texture and you are basically platforming upward. It's in the left wall on a platform somewhat high above a mummy cavern and a sage that awards you with additional time. The platform just above the hidden item has a single urn. Good luck with the first dragon! 5.4 Level 4 ----------- Squid ----- At the beginning of the level, proceed to the right and head up the stair -steps and jump over to the next platform (watch out for plants). You will see a large grouping of small pillars above you. Climb and jump up this series of pillars heading back around to the left until you make it to the long pillar that runs alongside the left wall. Climb halfway up this pillar and strike the wall to left for the octopus. Be sure to also break away the section of wall above the octopus as well so you have more landing room for a long-jump. Yashichi ------- After getting the octopus, continue up the pillar. It will stop near the ceiling and you are forced to head right. Make your way to the right until you come to a large gap with a many small pillars bridging your way across. As you Jump from pillar to pillar you will see a plant spring up from the ground on the opposite side of the gap to the right. Just underneath the platform that the plant is on are two or three little ledges forming steep steps. Jump onto the lowest step and chip away at the next step in front of you to uncover another Yashichi. Mech Statue ----------- After getting the Yashichi, get onto the platform that the plant is springing up from. Head right and you will descend a staircase. When this particular staircase drops off, jump to the right to land at the top of another staircase below it. Strike the wall to the right to reveal the mech. Good luck on beating Firebrand. 5.5 Level 5 ----------- Elephant -------- This one's tricky, mess it up and it's gone forever. Proceed as far right as you can from the beginning of the level until you are forced to climb up the many small pillars. As you do you will see an indestructible spinning skull as an obstacle. In the wall to the right of it is an elephant. When the skull floats away from the pillar closest to that wall jump up to it quickly and strike fast at the wall. Once the elephant is exposed, drop down to the pillar just below you before the coin comes back. Now perform a pillar high-jump from the lower pillar to the elephant. If you are feeling brave, you may also try and strike the area above the elephant for landing room then do a long-jump. ***Black Dragon Version: The elephant has been replaced by a cow. That's a big improvement! Hammer ------ In the Dungeon, in the very beginning, you will be facing a pair of large stone columns with no space in between. Climb the pillars above you to go up and over to the other side of the columns then turn around and strike at ground level. This will reveal another hammer. ***Black Dragon Version: The hammer has been replaced by a strawberry. Barrel ------ After the dungeon, head back to where there is another section of climbable pillars leading up towards a whole group of spinning skulls. As soon as you have climbed just enough to have a wall running to the right of you, strike the wall to reveal a barrel. Use the pillar high-jump from a lower pillar to get this as well or strike the area above it to expose enough room for a long-jump. ***Black Dragon Version: The barrel has been replaced by a hammer. Beat the crap outta that demon knight for me. I hate that guy. 5.6 Level 6 ----------- Gold Star --------- In the Dungeon- Immediately strike the left wall to reveal a star. Cow Statue ---------- After exiting the dungeon immediately climb up past the tiny ledge to the right until you are level with the large ledge to the left. Strike the right wall to reveal a cow. Be sure to strike the area above the cow too for more room to land. ***Black Dragon Version: The cow has been replaced by an elephant. Bamboo shoot ------------ After getting the cow head as far left as you can go until you reach the leftmost level boundary. To get there you will find yourself climbing up and over larger obstacles and sometimes back down again to slightly lower levels. You will know if you are in the right place because there will be a sage surrounded by two minotaurs and an ogre who when freed will offer only his gratitude (cheap little punk) Strike the level boundary wall to get another Bamboo shoot. Good luck on the red dragon! 5.7 Level 7 ------- Yashichi ------- Head as far right as you can until you hit your first large wall which would force you to start climbing up pillars. Climb part way up and strike the wall to reveal a Yashichi. Be sure to strike the wall above it too for more room to land. Strawberry ---------- Once you get the Yashichi continue up until you can jump to the next platform on your left. Coninue left as far as you can go until you hit the level boundary. Head straight up the line of climbing pillars above you. Strike the wall while clinging to the fifth pillar up from the floor for another strawberry. If anyone has found a third hidden item for this level or a dungeon for that matter, please contact me. There appear to be only two hidden items in this level as far as I can see. Good luck on the gold demon night. 5.8 Level 8 ----------- Gold Star --------- Proceed as far right as you can go then climb up the small pillars near the rightmost wall. Strike at the wall while clinging to the third pillar up from the ground to reveal the star. Be sure to strike the area above it for landing room too. Bamboo shoot ------------ After getting the star head up and to the left. Shortly after landing on the floating platform left of the star, you will see some tall pillars leading up. Climb up and long-jump to the platform on the left. Another worthless sage will again remind you to look for hidden symbols. Chip away at the wall to the left of him to get a Bamboo shoot. Strawberry ---------- Now head back down and to the left from where you found the Bamboo shoot. About half the distance back across the level you will come to a series of pillars leading upward and downward. These pillars trail to the bottom of the level, but we are not headed that way. Climb up as high as you can until you are at the top. There will be a pair of hourglasses floating above the highest pillars. Now drop down to the pair of pillars just below these top pillars. Strike the left wall for a strawberry. Don't forget to strike the area above it for more landing room. ***Black Dragon Version: The strawberry has been replaced by an octopus. I hope it was enough to get you that fifth vitality bar. That's all of them. Good luck on the Black Dragon! 6.0 Acknowledgements -------------------- Thanks to GameFAQS for providing a fantastic library of video game information. I would like to thank Capcom for making one of the best action platformers ever. Rygar doesn't hold a candle... I would also like to thank the team behind Capcom Classics Volume 2 for including this game in the pack and making the perfect emulation. The MAME community for creating a tool without which I would not have been able to explore "Black Dragon". Many thanks to my wife and family for putting up with my video game obsession. Thanks to me for doing all the work finding these darn secrets without the help of someone else's guide (because none exist yet. FIRST! ;) 7.0 Contact ----------- All messages to me should be emailed to: caerlas@yahoo.com Put the phrase "Black Tiger Faq" in the subject line. I do not check the box very often and it is loaded with spam already so if you do not follow these instructions, I will not find it when I run a search on my Inbox. 8.0 Legal --------- This document is Copyrighted (C) March 2009 to Charles Valentino. The publishing, posting, reproduction in any form, or distribution of this guide or any excerpt of the guide to any publication, website, or other form of media without the expressed permission of the author is strictly prohibited. Only GameFAQS.com and Gamespot.com have permission currently to display this guide on their site. If you wish to use this material, then please contact the author to place a request.