Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra
HaKox Guide
Version 1.3
Last updated September 19, 2006
Copyright (c) Arthellinus (arthellinus@yahoo.com) 2006
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Legal Disclaimer
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This FAQ is for personal use only and is not to be reproduced for any other
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or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission from the
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===============================================================================
Version History
===============================================================================
Version 1.3 (9/19/06)
- Added a few contributions here and there. What, you wanted specifics? Okay,
fine, fine. The ones to look for are 4-9, 5-7, 5-8, and 6-6 (check this one
out especially, it's a neat trick).
Version 1.25 (9/12/06)
- Added alternative strategy for World 6-4, as well as a nifty video courtesy
of Tentakel (from the GameFAQs boards).
Version 1.2 (09/12/06)
- Whoa! Tons of e-mails flooding in on all sorts of things, and here I am to
add all of it in! Credit will be given where it is due, of course. Not all of
it is strictly alternative solutions; there is also elaboration here that you
may find helpful. Stuff from e-mails I'm including will be marked with
[ON THE WIRE] (how's that for a lame heading?) immediately following my
original discussion of that particular stage and are presented in original
form, except for syntax issues that I may wish to tidy up.
- Random little things added throughout.
Version 1.0 (09/07/06)
- First full version of guide completed.
Version 0.8 (09/07/06)
- Finished walkthrough, more or less. May add some extra stuff to fluff it up
at a later time.
Version 0.25 (09/05/06)
- Started guide, laid out table of contents.
- Walkthrough for Worlds 5-6 completed (since the later stages will be the ones
giving people more trouble, I decided to work backwards from World 6).
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Contents
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I. Getting Started
a. Introduction and Overview
b. Why Play?
c. Roster
II. Walkthrough
a. World 1 -- Beginner: Very Easy
1-01. Basic Rules
1-02. Basic Character Controls
1-03. Stage Completion & Game Over
1-04. Gimmicks
1-05. Slopes
1-06. Apartment
1-07. Railway Bridges
1-08. Zohar
1-09. Spinning Corridor
1-10. Dual Towers
b. World 2 -- Medium: Puzzling
2-01. HaKox
2-02. Starting Points & Goals
2-03. Using Gimmicks
2-04. Camera Controls & Jumping
2-05. Combos
2-06. Basic Distribution
2-07. Floating Noodles
2-08. Confetti
2-09. Broken Keyboard
2-10. Durandal
c. World 3 -- Advanced: Primitive
3-01. Maze
3-02. Worm
3-03. Trash Chute
3-04. Applied Distribution
3-05. Siege
3-06. Cube
3-07. Jump Platform
3-08. Phoenix
3-09. Merkabah
3-10. Switchback
d. World 4 -- Expert: Messed Up
4-01. Dam
4-02. Long and Winding Road
4-03. South Pacific
4-04. Seesaw
4-05. Manhole
4-06. Palm
4-07. Rainbow
4-08. Sewer
4-09. Frying Pan
4-10. The Great Wall
e. World 5 -- Extreme: Neural Damage
5-01. Starbase
5-02. Sorted Garbage
5-03. Labyrinthos
5-04. Mosquito Coil
5-05. Resistance
5-06. Trash Can
5-07. Black Robot
5-08. Ladder Lottery
5-09. Side Shot
5-10. Sokoban
f. World 6 -- Master: Champion
6-01. Tower of Light
6-02. Castle Walls
6-03. Chicken
6-04. Cross
6-05. Purple is Difficult
6-06. Intersection
6-07. Piston
6-08. Jumping
6-09. Pizza
6-10. Pinball
III. Afterword and Acknowledgments
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I. Getting Started
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I-a. Introduction and Overview
------------------------------
HaKox is a 3D puzzle minigame in Xenosaga Episode III. The purpose of this
guide is to help anyone who doesn't want to bother sitting through it, but
wants all the goodies that clearing HaKox provides. I do recommend that if you
have any sort of affinity for puzzlers, use this guide sparingly and put in
some effort in figuring things out yourself. It'll prove to be much more
satisfying. In that case, consult this guide if you really can't get something
down and need some guidelines (like for World 6-4).
I'm not going to provide a tutorial here because HaKox itself sets up a very
thorough tutorial in the first two worlds. Thus, for tutorial stages where you
pretty much have to do the right things to clear them, I have given them a 0
out of 5 on the difficulty scale. 1/5 will be the minimum rank for any stage
that actually requires you to input commands yourself without being prompted in
order to clear the stage.
And on that note, we come to how the walkthrough is set up. I will separate the
stages by worlds. For each stage, I will list the description, the stock, the
quota, and the number of starting points you'll have, which I call spawn points
here.
HaKox is a game where you move characters to their respective goals. The
stock is how many characters will spawn as provided by the game. The quota is
how many characters much reach goals. Sometimes, the stock number will be less
than the quota number. In this case, you must use combos in order to increase
your stock. Combos are obtained when you group together two or more characters
and lead them into one goal simultaneously or in rapid succession. All of this
will be explained in more detail as you play through the tutorial stages.
There are a few HaKox rules that are not explicitly stated within the tutorial.
Keep these in mind as you work your way through the stages.
- There cannot be more than four starting (spawn) points.
- There can never be more than four characters present on the stage at once.
If you have four characters moving around, you must have at least one of them
either reach a goal or die (fall off/get squished) in order for the next one
to appear.
- In stages with multiple spawn points, the spawn order is fixed. I have noted
this by listing the precise order in which each color spawns characters. For
example, in World 2-8 I list the spawn points in this order: blue, red,
purple, green. That means your blue character will spawn first, then red,
then purple, then green.
- How much additional stock do you get for your combos?
2 Combo = +1 Stock
3 Combo = +1+2 = +3 Stock
4 Combo = +1+2+3 = +6 Stock
You can see the pattern here. You can't get higher than a combo of four, so
that's all there is to it.
I will refer to individual characters as "characters", "spawns", or their
respective colors interchangeably. Obviously each character can be male or
female; I will use "he" as general notation for simplicity's sake.
I-b. Why Play?
--------------
- Clearing World 1 gets you Decoder 2 for your Segment File.
- Clearing Worlds 2-3 gets you miscellaneous Skill Upgrade items.
- Clearing World 4 gets you Ziggy's Swimsuit.
- Clearing World 5 gets you Vaquero, Jr.'s best weapon. If you don't know this
already, ultimate weapons are far better than any weapon you can buy.
- Clearing World 6 allows you to use the builder mode, as well as the head-to-
head mode. You also get Brave Heart, which increases you max boost by 3. You
do NOT get Evangelist like the strategy guide claims. Personally, I think
Evangelist would be a more proper reward, but oh well. Thanks for getting our
false hopes up, Brady.
- It's hilarious and quirky. I am referring to the interface, the mechanics of
the game itself, and of course, the classic death screams of your characters.
So as you can see, beating HaKox gets you some nice stuff. You don't even have
to beat every world if you don't want everything I listed, and within each
world, you don't have to beat every stage in order. Therefore, I think it's
worth it to tackle HaKox if you don't mind doing a bit of puzzling. Clearing
World 5 as soon as it's available will make Jr. an awesome character to use for
most of Chapter 8, because his stats will easily outclass those of every other
character, since you have access to his best weapon so early.
At the very least, clear World 1 for Decoder 2. Most of the levels are simple
tutorials that don't require you to do anything on your own.
I-c. Roster
-----------
HaKox boasts a roster of 21 characters from the game. They are, in order of
their listing under the Character Select menu:
Shion
Jr.
MOMO
Ziggy
Jin
chaos
KOS-MOS
KOS-MOS2
Allen
Matthews
Tony
Hammer
Professor
Scott
Miyuki
Albedo
100-Series
Gaignun
Canaan
Mary
Shelley
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II. Walkthrough
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II-a. World 1 -- Beginner: Very Easy
------------------------------------
1-01. Basic Rules
Description: Introducing the basic game rules.
Stock: 1
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 1 Red
Difficulty: 0/5
The very bare bones of HaKox. You have to guide a character from a starting
point (spawn point) to a goal.
1-02. Basic Character Controls
Description: Characters act according to a set of rules.
Stock: 1
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 1 Purple
Difficulty: 0/5
Characters walk forward, following the path. When the path turns, they turn to
follow the path. At T-intersections, they always turn right. Remember that.
They'll make a U-turn at dead-ends. It's annoying waiting for them to walk long
distances, so press L1 or L2 to make them run. If you press L1 and L2 at the
same time, they'll run even faster. Even at branches, they won't change their
path. They will always go straight. Verbatim!
1-03. Stage Completion & Game Over
Description: This is what the parts of the screen mean.
Stock: 2
Quota: 2
Spawn Points: 1 Red
Difficulty: 0/5
This stage explains the stock, the quota, and the Start and Select buttons.
1-04. Gimmicks
Description: A gimmick is a device or trick.
Stock: 1
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 1 Purple
Difficulty: 0/5
More tutorials. This one introduces the gimmick.
1-05. Slopes
Description: Watch out for slopes! You can't climb them.
Stock: 2
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 1 Green
Difficulty: 1/5
Slopes will be the bane of your HaKox career. Well, one of them. You have to
finish this one on your own! It really is more like a 0.1/5 though.
1-06. Apartment
Description: Just lead them so that they don't fall.
Stock: 5
Quota: 5
Spawn Points: 1 Red
Difficulty: 1/5
Ah, your first real stage (and the first of many thematic stage names). Baby
stuff here, just hold and release Circle when you have to.
1-07. Railway Bridges
Description: Falling is fast, but...
Stock: 8
Quota: 5
Spawn Points: 1 Blue
Difficulty: 1/5
But you can't just fall here, there's no proper path to fall down on! Everyone
is going to have to walk, so use the gimmick as you need to, and you will,
because everyone has to keep moving.
1-08. Zohar
Description: The Zohar? Don't be fooled.
Stock: 5
Quota: 5
Spawn Points: 2 Purple
Difficulty: 1/5
Don't use the transport gimmick! The upper goal isn't reachable.
1-09. Spinning Corridor
Description: There's a shortcut.
Stock: 3
Quota: 3
Spawn Points: 1 Green
Difficulty: 1/5
Indeed there is. Hit Circle. See the yellow tile? When a character reaches that
tile, let go of Circle to get knocked down to the lowest level. Yay, shortcut.
1-10. Dual Towers
Description: It takes time for them to come out.
Stock: 6
Quota: 3
Spawn Points: 2 Red
Difficulty: 1/5
It is possible to make that long jump from the far tower. You need a running
start (hold L1 and L2).
II-b. World 2 -- Medium: Puzzling
---------------------------------
2-01. HaKox
Description: There are four types of gimmicks in all.
Stock: 1
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 1 Blue
Difficulty: 0/5
This stage tells us that HaKox is innovative enough to use X, Triangle, and
Square, in addition to Circle, as gimmicks!
2-02. Starting Points & Goals
Description: The secret of the start color becomes clear.
Stock: 4
Quota: 4
Spawn Points: 1 Red, 1 Blue, 1 Green, 1 Purple
Difficulty: 0/5
Yay, another level designed by Captain Obvious. Secret, indeed.
2-03. Using Gimmicks
Description: You must understand gimmicks to proceed.
Stock: 2
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 1 Blue, 1 Red
Difficulty: 0/5
This level introduces squishing, jumping, pushing, and transporting with
gimmicks.
2-04. Camera Controls & Jumping
Description: Lights, camera, action!
Stock: 1
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 1/5
You have to complete this level on your own, but it's straightforward.
2-05. Combos
Description: A patient explanation of the basics of combos.
Stock: 8
Quota: 8
Spawn Points: 1 Blue, 1 Red, 1 Purple, 1 Green
Difficulty: 0/5
You don't have to do anything here. This also introduces you to yellow spawn
points and goals. Anyone can enter a yellow goal, and any color can come out of
a yellow spawn (and it's usually random).
2-06. Basic Distribution
Description: Each to one's own goal.
Stock: 20
Quota: 10
Spawn Points: 1 Blue, 1 Red
Difficulty: 1/5
No problems here. Jump blue characters and block off red characters (making
them turn left).
2-07. Floating Noodles
Description: Catch it as quickly as you can.
Stock: 12
Quota: 10
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 1/5
A ramp up from the last stage, but still nothing to write home about. The
gimmicks are what I call color-coded here, meaning that a particular gimmick
helps out the corresponding colored character. So, the red gimmick (Circle)
gets red characters to their goal. The blue gimmick (X) helps blues. And so on.
Reds and blues also get second chances here. You can use Square to push reds as
they're going down that slope. The same goes for Triangle and blues.
2-08. Confetti
Description: Who heads for which goal?
Stock: 4
Quota: 6
Spawn Points: 1 Red, 1 Blue, 1 Purple, 1 Green
Difficulty: 2/5
Your first real test with combos. You only get one character of each color, and
you need two extra characters. However, it isn't hard to combo the first two
characters that appear (red and blue) because your red character won't move
forward unless you help him out. Once you have that down, you'll get one extra
character, but you need one more. Well, you can combo the fourth character
(green) with the extra character you end up getting (back to red). Time it
right and you'll get your combo. Then, just walk your extra blue character in.
2-09. Broken Keyboard
Description: It's still possible to play it.
Stock: 1
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 4 Yellow
Difficulty: 1/5
There's no danger of your character falling off, so this is just a matter of
figuring it out. Here's the quickest way. Don't do anything at first. Let your
character turn right at the Circle. Once he does, however, hit Circle and hold
it down. That will force a right turn soon. Next, hold down Square. This will
clear a path for your character to get to the other side.
2-10. Durandal
Description: Make good use of dashing.
Stock: 30
Quota: 25
Spawn Points: 1 Blue, 1 Green
Difficulty: 2/5
This is your first marathon stage. It might be a ramp up for some people in
terms of demands on coordination, but this isn't too stressful. You need Circle
to get both blues and greens across to the next section. Greens have the first
jump next with X, then blues with Square. These specific jumps must be made.
Otherwise, your character will fall off. Dashing is useful here because it will
allow you to focus on getting one character at a time through quickly, instead
of having to deal with multiple characters at once and risking making a wrong
jump with one or more of them.
II-c. World 3 -- Advanced: Primitive
------------------------------------
3-01. Maze
Description: Look over the whole screen.
Stock: 1
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 1 Blue
Difficulty: 3/5
This might be difficult if you're having trouble getting the big picture. Make
good use of pause to plan out your moves. I will describe the shortest path you
can take. For reference, let's say that the spawn point is in the upper left.
Don't do anything at first and let your character make the right where the
first X is. Soon you'll approach the second X. Hit X at this point to raise
that second X, forcing a left turn (instead of a right turn, making your
character walk over the second X. Wait as your character comes around. Once you
make a right turn and walk past the path of the Square at the lower left, hit
Square. Your character will make a U-turn and, now impeded by the Square, turn
right. Move along until you approach the third X, and hit it to force a right
turn. You will now head down an isolated branch with a Triangle at the end of
it. Use it to jump across to where the goal is.
3-02. Worm
Description: Jump once. Have you learned your technique?
Stock: 3
Quota: 5
Spawn Points: 1 Blue
Difficulty: 2/5
Have you been getting your R1 timing down? Well, here you're forced to do so.
Holding down Square will have your characters walking back and forth until you
decide to let them jump forward. You want to spawn your second and third
characters in a way such that they will clump together, allowing you to make
(optimally) a single jump that will net you a three-character combo and get the
extra stock you need. So, when do you hit R1? It's easiest to do it if you're
WALKING back towards the spawn point, right as you reach the space immediately
in front of the spawn point. This will allow two of your characters to be more
or less on top of each other. Repeat this for the third character, then make
one jump to get all three of them across (it needs to be a running jump). The
rest is straightforward. Note that you can combo in two groups of two and that
will be enough to clear this stage as well.
3-03. Trash Chute
Description: Sorted garbage.
Stock: 11
Quota: 12
Spawn Points: 2 Green, 2 Red
Difficulty: 2/5
Ah, the first of our garbage-themed stages. You need to get a combo, and the
maneuvering for greens and reds is different on both ends of the stage. If the
red goal as being on the left and the green goal as being on the right, then
greens from the left and reds from the right require gimmick movement, while
reds from the left and greens from the right do not. Got it? Good. Notice that
there are two safe areas on the right. One is the initial starting area where
the spawn points are. If you hold Circle, characters will just run around back
and forth there. The other is in the area in upper right corner. Both of these
are safe areas for both greens and reds from the right, since you can shuttle
back and forth with Circle. Now, what abotu the combo? Since you only need one
simple two-man combo, I'll give you the easiest one to pull off. The spawn
order is green from the right, red from the right, red from the left, green
from the left. Then it repeats. You want to combo characters 4 and 5, meaning
green from the left and green from the right. Take care of the first three
characters. Then wait for character 4 to come out (green from the left,
remember) and let him walk. You should hear the cue for character 5 by now. Hit
R1 just as character 4 makes a right and heads for the red spawn point on the
left. Now hold down L1 to make them both trot (don't forget to use Square to
bridge character 4's path). This will allow you to combo them both. Not the
neatest method, perhaps, but it's the first easy one I found, and this isn't a
hard stage, so no need for me to spend more time than is necessary here.
3-04. Applied Distribution
Description: You won't have enough if you don't use combos.
Stock: 10
Quota: 20
Spawn Points: 1 Red, 1 Blue
Difficulty: 2/5
A remix of 2-06. The spawn order is red, blue, red, blue. You need to use
Circle to have your reds make the left turn onto their path, and also to have
your blues jump up to reach their goal. What's the X for? Why, it's to bunch
together your reds so you can make fantastic combos, of course! Start by
holding down X. The first character will be red, so have him turn and watch as
he plods back and forth on his path (since he has nowhere to go, sandwiched
between the slope and the X). The second character will be blue. Guide him to
his goal. We're back to red, so repeat the process. Do this four times until
you have four reds being very crowded down on that path. Now you can release X
and run all four of them in at once. Thank you, have a +6 to stock! You can do
this once more to get the total stock you need.
3-05. Siege
Description: Hit them and knock them down.
Stock: 20
Quota: 15
Spawn Points: 2 Green, 2 Blue
Difficulty: 3/5
You're going to need some good timing here. The greens aren't particularly
hard. Just use X to jump them in, although one side requires holding down
Circle to properly stop jumps on that side. What gets tricky is taking care of
the blues. You need to use Circle to knock them to the sides, either by hitting
Circle at the right time, or holding it and releasing at the right time. It
gets even worse when greens and blues start popping out one after another
because you're going to have a hard time keeping the tower of Circles in the
right position for each character coming down. All I can suggest is to use R1
to space out characters as far apart as you can so you can hopefully deal with
them one by one.
[ON THE WIRE]
-- coyote1284@yahoo.com --
Blues can full run (L1+L2) for jumps to the "rampart" while shifting the O
gimmick to allow them to fly past. I released the L triggers and blocked
launches for green and kept O where it was for that character as blue and green
spawn from opposite sides, then release or hold for the next green. Best if
viewed from spawn point side.
-- mike_brady@unc.edu --
If you hold down L1 AND L2, the characters will sprint (instead of just
jogging). So hold down L1 and L2 the entire time. Now the blues can jump far
enough to reach the back targets, as long as the tower is out of the way. This
simplifies the strategy considerably – just keep the tower in the way for the
greens, out of the way for the blues. As an added bonus, sprinting will
naturally space the characters out so that you don’t have to use R1. Given the
order in which the characters spawn, it usually works to move the tower in the
following order: Right (off) for the first character, then left (on) for two,
right for two, left for two, etc. Pretty easy!
3-06. Cube
Description: Look behind you.
Stock: 8
Quota: 8
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 1/5
Well, the description gives it all away. All you have to do is let your
character make the U-turn, then use Triangle to jump down onto the slope which
drops down to the goal. No need for the rest of the stage. The only thing is
that you can't do jump while you run or you'll overshoot it.
3-07. Jump Platform
Description: Drop them in the secret goal.
Stock: 11
Quota: 12
Spawn Points: 1 Purple, 1 Green
Difficulty: 2/5
You need a combo here, but it's pretty easy to time one if you hit R1 twice to
make two spawning characters pop out at once. Either route has a choice of two
goals. However, don't run if you want to knock someone off and into the purple
goal. You'll actually end up walking past (over?) the goal and fall off.
3-08. Phoenix
Description: The return point is the key.
Stock: 12
Quota: 10
Spawn Points: 2 Red
Difficulty: 3/5
Be careful. There are a few aspects to this stage. For the spawns directly
opposite the single goal on the lower level (that's all that matters), you only
need to make one jump. It must be a running jump, and it must be started as the
character is on top of the Circle but leaning a little towards the goal (I hope
this is clear). As for the characters coming down the big slope, you need two
jumps. The first jump must be a WALKING jump. This lands them on the other
spawn point and turns them around. After that, it's the same as what I just
described. Just don't be careless and forget to make the first jump for the
characters coming down the slope (because they'll fall off if you let them
keep going).
3-09. Merkabah
Description: You mustn't throw them all away.
Stock: 12
Quota: 18
Spawn Points: 2 Purple
Difficulty: 2/5
Combos are the key here, but they're fairly easy to get because a) nobody can
fall off if you just let your characters walk around, and b) the bar of three
Xs can easily shove in multiple characters at once. You shouldn't really need
any help on this one.
3-10. Switchback
Description: There's a way to not loop back...
Stock: 35
Quota: 25
Spawn Points: 1 Red, 1 Blue, 1 Green, 1 Purple
Difficulty: 3/5
I actually don't know what the trick is. I just did this by brute force, and it
was fairly taxing. Yeah, so I didn't feel like thinking. Reds and purples need
running jumps if you're going this way. But yeah, e-mails welcome! :)
[ON THE WIRE]
-- coyote1284@yahoo.com --
No real trick, red and purple must run for their jumps from second tier, so you
are right on it. Plenty of leeway to loose a character here and there, but you
can try grouping red or purple for higher score (or make up if you lose too
many.) The main difficulty is managing all the jumps right, rotating the
screen so the blocks match your controller (X at bottom) may help.
II-d. World 4 -- Expert: Messed Up
----------------------------------
4-01. Dam
Description: Learn the intersections.
Stock: 25
Quota: 20
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 2/5
This is simple. Just hit the appropriate gimmick for each color. To spell it
out and make it even easier, hit Square for blues, Triangle for purples, Circle
for greens, and X for reds.
4-02. Long and Winding Road
Description: It's just long.
Stock: 8
Quota: 10
Spawn Points: 1 Red, 1 Purple
Difficulty: 2/5
This stage requires combos, but there's no hurry because there are no slopes
into oblivion, and also because there's only one goal. So characters will just
walk around until you feel like moving them over to the other side. Bunch two
or more together to get the combo(s) you need.
4-03. South Pacific
Description: Like an assembly line.
Stock: 8
Quota: 8
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 2/5
This could potentially have been annoying, but thankfully you don't need combos
so just take it one at a time. Reds are the simplest here; they only need for
you to bridge the forward path with Circle. Blues need to be knocked off onto
their path at the right time with X. Purples need to start falling off the
first slope before you can knock them over with Circle, but you have to hit
Circle JUST as they start to fall or else they'll just be knocked onto the
lower level with the red goal, which is no good. Likewise, you have to do the
same for greens except it involves X, and you have to initially hold X down and
then release it at the right time as your greens start dropping off the second
slope.
4-04. Seesaw
Description: Up, down, up, down!
Stock: 7
Quota: 12
Spawn Points: 2 Red
Difficulty: 3/5
Although this stage isn't too difficult, you may find yourself having a bit of
trouble knowing how to time R1 if you haven't been practicing lining up combos
very rigorously. Wait for the first guy to appear on his own (as in, don't hit
R1). Once he appears, mash R1 immediately, as you should hear the cue for the
second guy. Now, use X to bridge the first guy across, and once he's across,
turn on the gas. The combo window is pretty generous here, so even if your
two characters are a few steps apart, having them run into the goal is usually
good enough for a combo. Rinse and repeat. The spawn rate will speed up in the
middle, so you'll be able to hit R1 in quick succession at that point to get
two guys out quickly.
4-05. Manhole
Description: An old electronic game.
Stock: 25
Quota: 20
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 3/5
This is an endurance test. Getting one character alone to the goal isn't hard.
Coordinating several of them at once can be tricky, since you can't just sit
back, not hit R1, and hope that you'll be able to get your current character
into the goal before the next one comes out. The shortest route for any one
character is to bridge the character across twice with Circle and Triangle, and
then connect up the home stretch with X. There are other ways to do it, but
they're not as straightforward. The challenge is to keep all of your characters
moving. If a gimmick isn't in place when a character needs to cross, he'll turn
around and fall off one of several slopes. There is a two-block safe spot in
the middle (it involves holding down Triangle and NOT pressing Circle) but you
can't maintain that for long because you must use both of those gimmicks before
long. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Remember, you do get five
second chances.
[ON THE WIRE]
-- coyote1284@yahoo.com --
Again, you're right for just clearing the stage, but it's possible to loosely
group characters in the middle as the part with the X gimmick is safe (walking
1-2 squares behind each other is adequate.)
4-06. Palm
Description: It's the left hand.
Stock: 4
Quota: 10
Spawn Points: 1 Blue, 1 Green, 1 Purple, 1 Red
Difficulty: 3/5
The trick here might not be intuitive, but once you figure it out, this stage
is a snap. What you want to do here is trap each character on a gimmick. So in
this case, blue will spawn first. Once blue reaches Triangle, hold Triangle
down. Now blue is stuck, but once you let go of Triangle, he'll make a jump
forward and reach his goal. See what I'm getting at? Now, trap green on Circle,
purple on X, and red on Square. Now that you're holding down all four buttons,
do some counting. You'll see that there are 4 spaces between Triangle and the
blue goal, 5 spaces between Circle and the green goal, 3 spaces between X and
the purple goal, and 7 spaces between Square and the red goal (don't forget to
count the X!). So in order to time your release, count to 5. On 1, release
Square. On 3, release Circle. On 4, release Triangle. On 5, release X. You'll
get a nice combo with all four characters, netting you +6 to your stock and
freeing you from having to worry about combos for the rest of the stage.
[ON THE WIRE]
-- coyote1284@yahoo.com --
I may have done this the hard way, but I held everyone but blue in a loop off
their respective gimicks while holding blue in the pit, then timed the
releases.
4-07. Rainbow
Description: Trick question.
Stock: 9
Quota: 10
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 3/5
Blues: Hold Triangle and hit Circle to get where you need to go. Greens: Hold X
and hit Circle at the right time. Reds: Pull them off with Circle and hold
Circle down, hold X down, and finally release Circle to have them fall in.
Purples: Pull them off with Circle and hold Circle down. Now, release Circle
and hit Square IMMEDIATELY, all in one motion. It has to be in rapid
succession. The Square will knock them over into the purple goal. Now, you also
need one combo, which shouldn't be hard to do because spawn order is random,
so you can bunch your favorite color together and use Circle in the appropriate
manner to get them to bunch together. If you're really having a lot of trouble
with purples, this stage is still doable. Just waste the purples however you
like and hope you get good colors the rest of the way. Two-man combos usually
aren't going to be enough, so move off other colors until your characters end
up having three or four of the same color.
4-08. Sewer
Description: Move the covers.
Stock: 3
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 2/5
Wow! I just have to get 1 in? Really? Despite requiring a bit of good timing,
this stage isn't too bad. Start by holding down X. This clears the way for a
jump. When your character reaches the Triangle, hit it JUST after the left
turn is made. Proper execution of this should result in a catapult up to the
Circle above the Square. Once your character has a proper footing on the
Circle, use it to transport him across. If you miss, hit Square so he'll turn
around after a few steps and come back the proper way. After that, quickly make
sure that you hold down all four buttons at once and your character will fall
right into the goal.
4-09. Frying Pan
Description: If you don't let them fall, you'll get through it
eventually.
Stock: 6
Quota: 12
Spawn Points: 1 Blue
Difficulty: 3/5
The description gives good advice. Use various inputs of Circle, Triangle, and
X to mix up the paths of your characters and work towards merging them into a
single group. When you're ready, hit Square to let them through and get a nice
combo. One four-man combo should be all you need. However, this does take a bit
of patience, and you can mess up by letting your characters walk too far past
the last row with a Triangle and X. Use the appropriate gimmicks to give them a
shove and turn them left or right.
[ON THE WIRE]
-- princessartemis@gmail.com --
I believe 4-9 is the level that all you have to do is hold X and Triangle until
they're all trapped next to the Square...there should be no need for them to
get anywhere near the space between the X and Triangle gimmicks. The hint for
the level is to make them go clockwise, and they will straight off if you hold
down X and Triangle. As soon as they're all out and headed in the right
direction, hold Circle and they'll all bunch up on their own in a 2x2 area,
then use Square and make them dash to the goal for combos.
4-10. The Great Wall
Description: Have you learned how fast the characters move?
Stock: 5
Quota: 5
Spawn Points: 1 Red
Difficulty: 3/5
The camera is intentionally difficult here, but in truth, you don't actually
need to know how fast your characters are because you can still keep track of
them. Adjust the camera so that you're looking at the stage from the side, at a
45-degree angle from the top. You can keep track of your characters by their
red cursors on top of their heads. Start each character off by holding down
Circle. Once the character disappears into the wall (make sure you can't see a
cursor or anything), release Circle. Now, wait until you can see the cursor.
When you can, it means that your character has walked over the first X. Hit X
at that point, and your character will cruise on to the goal. The only hard
part is to keep track of your next character and make sure that you have your
Circles and Xs lined up so you don't lose one. You can't combo on this stage,
so what you're given is all you're going to get.
[ON THE WIRE]
-- coyote1284@yahoo.com --
I had the camera pointed pretty much straight in from the goal end 'cos from
there I could see when they passed the first O (hold until they step off) and
the second O (hold X and O when they hit the slope and release as soon as they
hit the goal.)
-- XenoPhreak (xenophreak@gmail.com) --
You said in your FAQ that it's not possible to make combos in stage 4-10 (The
Great Wall). But yes, it's possible.
After you hear the sound indicating that one character is coming out, you wait
until you hear that sound again. When you hear the sound the second time, you
pull out 2 characters together, take them to the goal, and make a combo!
II-e. World 5 -- Extreme: Neural Damage
---------------------------------------
5-01. Starbase
Description: Move it aside.
Stock: 7
Quota: 10
Spawn Points: 1 Blue, 1 Purple, 1 Green
Difficulty: 3/5
For a quick combo, grab your blue character and move him off with Circle. Hold
him there as your purple character is coming out. As the purple starts to
fall, hit X to knock your blue into his goal. You can repeat this process
until you have enough stock. You could also do this with green and purple, but
it's a bit more work since you have to hold down Triangle as well as Circle.
This leads to the warning that you should definitely not bunch together your
blues and greens.
5-02. Sorted Garbage
Description: Divide them between inside and outside.
Stock: 10
Quota: 20
Spawn Points: 2 Green, 2 Red
Difficulty: 3/5
Another combo stage. Your characters can't fall off without using the gimmicks
to knock you off, so you can maneuver all you want in order to group your
greens and reds together for combos. The principle behind this stage is the
same as that of Stage 6 in this world (see below), but the bunching technique
in this one isn't nearly as strict, since the area is bigger and there are
multiple goals. However, if you want some timing tips, let's say you have a
green character and another green's about to come out. The characters will just
walk around in a clockwise manner, so get your character to within two spaces
of the space that the next character will hit when he comes down the slope,
then hit R1 to spawn. A simple schematic will illustrate what I'm saying. Think
of the following as the lower right corner of the main area.
- -
| |O| <- moving down
- - -
| | | |
- - - - -
| | | | |X| <- moving to the left
- - - - -
X is the spawn point. Let's say it's red. O represents the spot where your
existing red character should reach before you hit R1 and spawn the new one.
This is all at walking speed (no L buttons pressed).
Once you get the hang of it, the stage is simple.
5-03. Labyrinthos
Description: Controlling the camera is a pain.
Stock: 1
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 1 Purple
Difficulty: 4/5
Okay, annoying camera aside, you'll probably start this stage off by hitting
Circle, transporting your character across with X, making another transport
with Triangle on the far side, use the two Squares to vault yourself up to the
upper deck in the middle of this stage. But then what? [Edited out, see below
and note the change in difficulty rating.]
Update: Ah, thanks for all of the suggestions. All of them seem to have a
common theme. Now that I think back on it, I MIGHT have done something like
this as well. Perhaps I remembered the wrong Square. In any case, I'm pretty
sure it was totally by accident and I wanted to have nothing further to do with
that stage, so I refused to go back to it and just tried to put down the
solution from memory. However, seeing as how everyone pretty much made the same
suggestion, it's quite possible that I did it in the same or a similar way,
albeit unknowingly.
I know that there is really only one general strategy presented in what is
listed below, but I'm just going to put them all in to assign proper credit.
I'm 99.752314% sure (yay for on-the-spot statistics) that at least ONE of the
following will make sense to you. :)
[ON THE WIRE]
-- jboynowski@gmail.com --
Basically when you vault up twice by using Square twice or, instead of
letting your character fall off the slope back on the Square again, you block
the slope JUST as the character starts crossing it with whatever gimmick it is
that blocks it (I really forget, I think it was Triangle I could be wrong
though). Most of the time your character will turn right, walk around, and go
for that slope again. However, if you time it right (and I dunno what right IS
just yet, I'm still figuring that out, but it happens! try it a hundred times
or so >=P), you will do a full U-turn. At which point you vault up the next
ledge when your character walks on the gimmick that is normally unaccessible
due to always turning right 90 degrees on that part.
-- goofy20@gmx.ch --
Instead of using the second square block to vault you up onto the middle
platform wait until your character turns around then vault him, he should land
on the outer rim (with the second X block), use the X block to vault him up the
slope. Then dash onto the second O block and vault, the character should land
on the free hanging slope above the walkway with the exit, drop down from there
and walk to the exit.
-- aramis@glass-waltz.net --
I found that once you jump off the first square and are ready to jump off the
second; if you let your character walk around once and face the other
direction, and do a running jump (which is most easily accomplished by just
letting the character run until you feel it's right to hit square) that you'll
hit a high platform at will cause your character to reverse direction, fall,
and walk around towards the goal. Hope that helps.
-- LeaperBP@aim.com --
I think I remember this stage, and I too was frustrated, until I figured it
out. The key to the stage is to use the UPPER Square gimmick, not the lower
one. When your character is facing away from the topmost deck, you launch
him/her with the upper Square gimmick (I forget whether you have to be dashing
or not). (S)he will land directly onto the far lane that has the X gimmick at
the bottom of the slope. Then all you have to do is launch him or her onto the
lane above the slope with X, then get a running dash onto the O gimmick and
launch him/her to the lane with the goal.
-- fumei_ryu@hotmail.com --
I personally found it much easier to use the second Square to jump to the
goal strip (rather than getting onto the center island, dropping back onto
the first Square, and using THAT to jump). Just wait until your character
turns around (walking) and hit it.
-- MD_Level (ryuichisakuma011@yahoo.com) --
steps:
from starting point > block with circle > transport across with X > transport
across with traingle > jump up with first square > jump up with second square.
then it requires a little timing; when the character is turning around and is
right beside the X on top, push him with it to make him fall; he should be
falling towards the second square. about halfway down push up the second square
and it will transport him to the strip to the goal. hope this helps, i only did
this accidentally so i don't know if it's 100% effective without a little
timing and luck.
-- trinity_larsen@msn.com --
You wanted suggestions on Labyrinthos and I was able to get through it with
actually somewhat of a simple way (despite the luck). Circle, transport with
x, transport with triangle, use the first square to get you on the next one
and let the character turn around on the second square, and then vault her
up with the second square gimmick when she's facing the goal strip.
That was how I got through it once, and I really don't want to do the stage
again so I'm going to avoid it at all costs.
(Me: Amen.)
-- vfudo1@yahoo.com --
I found an easier way to get to the purple goal in Labyrinthos. When you get
to the 2nd square jump wait til the guy is just about to turn around then
quickly press Square before he gets off the gimmick. If done right this should
launch him on the strip with the goal. However this method takes practice to
get the timing right. I hope this helps.
5-04. Mosquito Cell
Description: Looks like a shortcut hunt.
Stock: 4
Quota: 3
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 5/5
As if the last stage weren't enough, now we get this one. The timing on this
stage is so particular that it's enough to drive you crazy. Now, let's get
into it. The most obvious route is to go around the outside, jump up onto the
elevated platform at the top, then vault onto the middle spiral. While this is
definitely viable, it's easier said than done. Getting to the upper left is
easy enough, but you have to be careful after that. WALK, don't run, towards
your next Circle, and start your jump EARLY. I can't stress this enough, since
it's so easy to overshoot. Once you come down and start heading down the slope,
you must start your jump EARLY once again, or you'll slide right off once you
land. At the same time, since there is only one gimmick, you have to make sure
that you're not vaulting off your other spawns into the abyss while you're not
paying attention. The other way to do this is to time your jumps so that you
jump diagonally from the outer ring into the inner portions. This is also not
easy to do, but you have several options here. The easiest is to use the one
all the way on the left side to make a running jump directly onto the central
path with the goal. The diagonal here is easier because there's a space to the
right of the Circle, meaning your character will make a slower turn since he's
turning right and not all the way around, but it's still difficult to pull off.
What also might happen is a diagonal jump from the very first Circle two rings
inward, leaving you on the path you have to jump over the two-block segment
with the slope. Of course, there are other possibilities, none of them
particularly fruitful. Personally, I think that the path along the outer rim is
the safest.
5-05. Resistance
Description: Jumping is faster.
Stock: 20
Quota: 30
Spawn Points: 1 Purple, 1 Green, 1 Red, 1 Blue
Difficulty: 3/5
Yet more timing exercises. The purple and green paths are the same length. The
same goes for red and blue. Therefore, you should go for purple/green and red/
blue combos. Wait until purple comes out, then mash R1 so green comes out at
the same time. Then repeat the process for reds and blues. Note that reds and
blues HAVE to make running jumps, where as purples and greens don't have to
jump at all, so be careful.
5-06. Trash Can
Description: Just keep on throwing them away.
Stock: 10
Quota: 50
Spawn Points: 1 Red, 1 Green, 1 Blue, 1 Purple
Difficulty: 2/5
Another stage all about knowing when to hit R1. The main area is a 3x3 with a
hole in the middle, and you can use any of the gimmicks to knock people into
it for the goal. With the stock deficit you need to make up, you obviously
want to get four-man combos to make your life easier. Therefore, I invite you
to take a look at the following (crude) schematic:
- - -
| | p |
- - -
| |H| |
- - - -
| | | |P|
- - - -
This represents the main area, with the purple spawn point tacked on, which I
am treating from the viewpoint of it being at the lower right. The H labels
the hole in the middle. Now, notice the lower-case p I have used to designate
one of the sides connecting two of the blocks. Keeping in mind that all of
the characters will walk in a clockwise direction, let's say you have a
character traversing this area. p represents the exact location where you
should hit R1 in order to have a purple spawn come out and MERGE with your
character, effectively setting up a combo. In words, this means that you
should hit R1 right as your character is about to turn right and approach the
purple spawn point. This is at WALKING speed, so don't touch that L1 button!
I could find the location for if you are speeding up, but that would be more
work than it's worth, wouldn't you agree? Anyway, since everything is
symmetrical, you can apply what I said to each spawn point, meaning a full
schematic would look something like this:
|R|
- - - -
|B| | p |
- r - -
| |H| |
- - g -
| b | |P|
- - - -
|G|
-
After that, just knock everyone in. Rinse and repeat.
5-07. Black Robot
Description: Don't Hit Unnecessary Characters
Stock: 12
Quota: 20
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 2/5
The spawn order is random. I've gotten four purples in a row here, which,
needless to say, made for a very nice combo when I stacked them on the proper
gimmick (they're all color-coded here, by the way). While this stage depends
a little on luck of the draw, the ball will likely bounce your way at some
point.
[ON THE WIRE]
-- princessartemis@gmail.com --
For what it's worth, on 5-7, you can combo blue and green as long as blue
spawns first. So if you're lucky and get two blues then two greens, there's a
four character combo right there. The blue gimmick is low enough so that the
green one will pass over blue's head and blue and green's path is the same
length. I just thought it would be useful to note that you don't have to rely
solely on single color combos for this stage.
5-08. Ladder Lottery
Description: The wrong route leads to a quick death.
Stock: 6
Quota: 6
Spawn Points: 1 Blue, 1 Green, 1 Purple, 1 Red
Difficulty: 3/5
You should space out each character as much as you can so they don't clutter
and you don't go into a frenzy trying to shift gimmicks back and forth. Make
good use of R1 here. There are a number of safe areas for you to play with,
but you can get screwed if you get sloppy with your timing.
[ON THE WIRE]
- princessartemis@gmail.com --
Also, on 5-8, it's pretty easy to manage them if you dump them all off on the
next row over from purple's goal (I think it's the row for green's goal). As I
recall, every color can reach their goal from there, even purple (although I'm
not certain--if not, purple has an easy run for the goal anyway), so you can
let four go in evenly spaced and just let them hitch rides on gimmicks when
ever you're ready to let them reach their goals. Pretty much ignore the top
level except to get them onto the second row. Not much gimmick juggling at all
and a very leisurely level if you play it that way. IIRC, you have to hold down
triangle to keep them from making a run to the green goal, but that's about it.
5-09. Side Shot
Description: You'll have to take a shortcut and try for combos.
Stock: 20
Quota: 25
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 4/5
This is pretty tough. Blues require a push-off from the Square gimmick, and
greens require transport with Triangle. Reds can only get to their goal if you
block off their forward path with X. Purples have two routes: either the
default path or a shortcut via the red path, going across on Circle. On top
of that, you need to add +5 to your stock somehow. The easiest way to do this
is to use a combination of X, Square, and Triangle to trap blues or greens in
that area so they bunch together, then combo them off. It's best to just move
reds and purples along without trying anything fancy with them, although it's
certainly possible to combo them as well. I just think it's more intuitive to
focus on blues and greens because you have to end up using Square and Triangle
to get them where they have to go regardless. However, if comboing reds and
purples comes easily to you, then be my guest.
5-10. Sokoban
Description: Move the goods and head for the goal.
Stock: 5
Quota: 10
Spawn Points: 3 Red
Difficulty: 2/5
The trick here is to hold down X. This guarantees that characters from all
spawn points will eventually circle around in a 2x2 area sandwiched by the
lower Triangle and the uppermost Square, X, and Circle. Once you've got four
of them moving around there, wait until all of them have turned right at the
Circle before hitting both Circle and Triangle, all the while continuing to
hold down X. They'll all march into the goal and get you a big enough combo
to cruise the rest of the way, although ultimately it's really just easier to
repeat the process for the next four.
II-f. World 6 -- Master: Champion
---------------------------------
6-01. Tower of Light
Description: It's a bit rough on the eyes!
Stock: 1
Quota: 1
Spawn Points: 1 Blue
Difficulty: 2/5
Despite the cumbersome camera, this stage is quite easy. Let your character
walk around the top until he comes around to the slope in between the two
purple goals. Use X for a safe landing, then hit Circle once he walks past the
next purple goal. That'll turn the character left and into the blue goal.
6-02. Castle Walls
Description: No need to change the angle.
Stock: 10
Quota: 12
Spawn Points: 2 Red, 1 Blue
Difficulty: 3/5
Turn your camera so that you're looking at a V shape (the red goal should be
right in front of you). The blue goal is on the left, behind the red spawn
point there. The left side is a safe spot; the right side is not unless you
make periodic use of Triangle, which you need to get your blue characters down
to the lower level. The small upside-down V shape on the lower level is
another safe spot. This is where you want your blue characters to crowd so you
can bunch them together for a combo. If you really want to combo your red
characters, more patience and trickier timing is required. Nevertheless, it
doesn't end up being a big deal either way because you only need two normal
combos, or just one if you're particularly nimble.
[ON THE WIRE]
-- coyote1284@yahoo.com --
I found it easier to time red and allow blue to hang out in the safe area below
until I was out of reds, then hop the blues over.
6-03. Chicken
Description: You'll have to pay attention to the entire screen.
Stock: 25
Quota: 30
Spawn Points: 1 Blue, 1 Green, 1 Purple, 1 Red
Difficulty: 4/5
It's easiest to combo in twos. Blues and greens will come out in succession,
as will purples and reds. However, the strategy of wait-for-the-first-one-
before-pounding-R1-to-get-the-second-out-immediately-so-you-have-pairs needs
to be tweaked here, since the paths are not all of the same length. The blue
path is longer than the green path, so wait until your blue character takes
a few steps before summoning the green one. Likewise, the red path is longer
than the purple one. Since purples come out before reds, this makes a red/
purple combo unreasonable. Blue/green combos is the way to go.
[ON THE WIRE]
-- coyote1284@yahoo.com --
I held X the whole time and timed green/purple and red/blue spawns so that
green would ride over on Triangle and be a step or two away from purple while
red rode Square to meet blue. After both side passed Tri/Sq, I'd release it
and have them run. This made for nice 4 combos.
-- pikamitsu@gmail.com --
Basically, get to the point where you can summon a red and a blue at almost
the exact same time. Then when the red falls onto the square widget,
immediately switch it to the other side, so the blue falls right on it. The
same can go with the purples and greens. Also, if you summon the second one a
little bit too late, you can press and then quickly release the corresponding
button so that they will become confused and circle around in the center of the
widget. That way you can stall until you can get the other person onto it.
6-04. Cross
Description: The door closes.
Stock: 10
Quota: 15
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow, 1 Green
Difficulty: 5/5
You can save yourself a lot of trouble if you have two controllers. There is
basically no reason why Triangle and Square shouldn't be held down at all
times (they are the "doors" to which the stage's description refers), so set
those to the 2P controller and tape those buttons down. That'll save you
many fits of headaches. Unfortunately, the stage is still pretty difficult
even after you do this.
One way is to focus on combos at just one goal. The obvious choice here is to
go after everything that comes out of the green point. The spawn order will be
yellow, green, yellow, green. Therefore, make sure that you get all of the
yellow spawns through as soon as possible. With Triangle taped down, all you
have to do is occasionally time your X. Be careful that this doesn't axe any of
your green spawns. Speaking of those, use X to get them to the middle level
(with the Circle) and have them chill out. With Square taped down, that whole
level is a safe spot. Once you've gotten four yellow spawns through, you'll be
left with four green spawns. Use X and Circle to bunch them together. For the
best results, take your time until you can get them into one big blob, then
carefully use Circle to vault them up. The resulting combo will allow you to
not have to worry about combos for the rest of the stage (combo of 4 gives you
+6 stock, remember?).
Another way you can do this is with a bunch of normal (+1) combos. This method
requires that you spawn both yellow and green one after the other, and their
paths are of similar length. However, you have to do this five times, which
means that you really don't have much room for error. The warning about proper
timing with X stated above is a crucial factor here. Tentakel (of GameFAQs) has
a great video of this particular approach:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn4un40TbsA
If you don't have a second controller, then good luck. Just remember that
Triangle and Square should pretty much be held down at all times. You might
try taping them down even on your own controller. It'll be cumbersome, but
it'll save your fingers a lot of stress.
6-05. Purple is Difficult
Description: Did you say they're all difficult?
Stock: 4
Quota: 4
Spawn Points: 1 Green, 1 Blue, 1 Red, 1 Purple
Difficulty: 2/5
Actually, this isn't very difficult at all. None of your spawns can fall off
the top level, so they'll just wander around until you guide them to the right
gimmicks. They are as follows: Triangle for green, Square for blue, Circle for
red, and X for purple. In other words, the green and red characters just have
to go towards gimmicks of the same color, while blue and purple switch it up.
[ON THE WIRE]
-- coyote1284@yahoo.com --
Without moving gimmicks, Red and Purple will eventually walk right to their
gimmicks. Purple goes almost right to it after a few turns. (Is HaKox being
sarcastic?) Red will end up near Blue's spawn point beofre walking to her
gimmick, leaving Green and Blue needing convincing. Green needs to end up near
Red's spawn point, just block her way a few times. Blue will need a bump and
well timed blocks to end up near Green's spawn point. (Maybe Square is the
"purple" it's refering to.)
6-06. Intersection
Description: Obey traffic lights.
Stock: 18
Quota: 15
Spawn Points: 1 Red, 1 Green
Difficulty: 2/5
This stage can be deceptive. There are two one-block safe spots on either side
of the Circles, and that's it. Otherwise, you have to keep everyone moving
right along. The problem is that you may end up crushing some of your spawns
due to the constant need to shift your gimmicks back and forth. Therefore,
even though you have an extra 3 stock, it doesn't hurt to crank out a combo or
two and get some insurance. This can be done most easily at the Circles,
because if you don't hit Circle, characters will just move back and forth along
that strip until you finally send some people across. This leads to an easy
accumulation, and you can send them along on their way whenever you want.
UPDATE: I have received word that there is a very neat trick to finishing this
stage. I will let the voices of the Internet elaborate.
[ON THE WIRE]
-- pikamitsu@gmail.com --
In [Intersection], you can juggle the people with the widgets there as well. It
take a little bit of timing, but you can get all 4 people on Square, or any one
of them, at the same time.
-- leviathan7734@yahoo.com --
Just wanted to tell you about something I discovered by accident in
Intersection (6-6). If you move the square gimmick right as a character is
about to step on it, they'll fall down to the lowest level and walk right into
the goal. It requires some fairly precise timing, but I was able to use this
strategy to beat the level.
-- uaotaku@gmail.com --
On intersection the easiest way to do it is to bring out one person at a time
and then time square just right so that the will fall rather than ride square
over. They run right into the goal after that. Timing can be hard to get at
first, but once you get it down its a breeze.
6-07. Piston
Description: A standard chaotic stage.
Stock: 20
Quota: 30
Spawn Points: 1 Green, 1 Blue, 1 Red, 1 Purple
Difficulty: 3/5
This isn't really that bad. After the first two spawns, characters will pop out
in pairs (green/blue and red/purple) at increasing speed. Mash R1 as is
appropriate to get pairs out quickly so you can bridge them across at the same
time, netting you combos. The spawning does speed up dramatically, so you'll be
scrambling a bit towards the end, but once you get into a rhythm (which you can
pretty much control with good usage of R1, and if you've made it this far, that
is something you should have), there isn't much else to it.
6-08. Jumping
Description: Timing the jump is the key.
Stock: 20
Quota: 15
Spawn Points: 1 Yellow
Difficulty: 3/5
There's a lot to keep track of, but since you can't have more than four guys
out at a time, this isn't a big deal. Just hop them over one at a time to their
respective goals. The only thing you want to avoid is bunching up a group of
characters near the start, since two or more characters of different colors
merged is not the way to go on this stage. I usually try to jump a second
character once, to the left of where you start, to keep things separate.
[ON THE WIRE]
-- coyote1284@yahoo.com --
Stacking is not necessarily bad IF they are right on. Manipulating one at a
time is fine if you let them spawn naturally.
6-09. Pizza
Description: Inspired by pizza.
Stock: 8
Quota: 8
Spawn Points: 1 Green, 1 Red, 1 Purple, 1 Blue
Difficulty: 3/5
Once again, there are no slopes, so characters can't fall off, although they
can be knocked off. There's no real trick to this, just be careful not to bump
anyone out and it shouldn't be too difficult if you're patient.
6-10. Pinball
Description: Timing is everything.
Stock: 3
Quota: 2
Spawn Points: 1 Blue
Difficulty: 5/5
Well, timing IS everything. There's not much I can say here. How hard this
stage is all depends on how long it takes for you to get your timing down.
What you want to do is to use Circle and X to bump your character to the far
platform, over which Triangle hovers. Then, use X to vault your character up
against Triangle. Use Triangle once you've gone as far up as you can go, then
use Square to knock yourself back to the bottom of the initial platform.
Finally, use X to vault yourself up to the goal. Persistence is all the advice
I can offer you here, so have at it!
===============================================================================
III. Afterword and Acknowledgments
===============================================================================
All names taken from Xenosaga Episode III listed in this document are
copyrighted by Bandai-Namco.
Any additional input continues to be welcome, but I think I've gotten enough
Labyrinthos e-mails. Let's mix it up a bit. :)
Special thanks to:
- CJayC.
- Everyone who wrote in. The full list:
coyote1284@yahoo.com
pikamitsu@gmail.com
jboynowski@gmail.com
goofy20@gmx.ch
aramis@glass-waltz.net
LeaperBP@aim.com
fumei_ryu@hotmail.com
MD_Level (ryuichisakuma011@yahoo.com)
XenoPhreak (xenophreak@gmail.com)
trinity_larsen@msn.com
mike_brady@unc.edu
vfudo1@yahoo.com
leviathan7734@yahoo.com
princessartemis@gmail.com
uaotaku@gmail.com
- Tentakel specifically for his great 6-4 video.
- Bandai-Namco for sticking with the series.
- Monolith Studios for working its ass off on the franchise we've come to know
and love(?) as Xenosaga.
