Ax Battler FAQ/Walkthrough v. 1.0
This FAQ copyright 2000 by Ezra Poetker(Epoetker.) All commercial
reproduction in whole or in part without the consent of the author is
prohibited. The two sites currently registered to carry this FAQ are
Gamefaqs.com and about.com. If you wish for permission to post this FAQ on
your own website, you MUST E-MAIL ME(epoetker@hotmail.com) for it. Copying
this FAQ for private use(say, when you don't want to go to the trouble of
opening up your web browser and finding Gamefaqs when playing this title) is
overlooked. Do what you like in this regard. All other rights reserved.
Well, I was the only person who had bothered to review this game last time I
checked, so it looks like I'll be the only person to write a FAQ for it as
well. FYI: If you got the Japanese ROM of this game, bear in mind that
there IS an English version, too! At least I have the English version, and
I've made sure that several other ROM sites have it as well. Just to let
you know. Now where were we? Ah, yes, the intro. Ax Battler is the name
of this title, as well as the name of the main character, despite the fact
that he wields a sword rather than an ax. Nevertheless, the king of our
fairy-tale country decides to hire him anyway, perhaps rationalizing that
his keen pointy helmet and single-minded hero complex counterbalance the
fact that he can't tell what blunt object he's using to smash in the enemy's
face. ("The enemy is approaching! Give me
a...uh...uh...thing...that...uh...you..hit..people..with...") People with
that much brawn don't have too much room for brain anyhow, which is probably
why they decided to give up control of their mental faculties to YOU, the
player.
This game is much like Zelda 2, in that the overhead view is just an excuse
to throw a few RPG functions, like TALK, SEARCH, and ITEM, into the mostly
side-scrolling action sequences. You get into lots of random battles with
various shady characters that you'd probably recognize if you played Golden
Axe back in the glory days of the arcades. Yep, the skeletons are still the
same bony pains in the butt(clean out your mind RIGHT NOW!) that they always
were. Unfortunately, there's no more of the fun of riding those dragons or
those pink parrot-lizards(which I think would make a great stuffed toy,)
although the latter make appearances both as friends to talk to and enemies
to kill. And it's about as completely linear as you can possibly get.
Still, it manages to be fun, though it gets rather hard rather quickly if
you don't know what to do. Persevere, friend.
The controls for this game are as follows:
Game gear button 1: Swing your sword, cancel menu decisions.
Game gear button 2: Jump, bring up menu, make menu decisions.
Start: Use magic, bring up status and magic selection screen.
I have decided to arbitrarily divide this game into chapters:
Chapter 1: Crash! Bang! We have no memory to show any sort of cool
graphics! So we use comic-book style exclamation points instead!
The King gives you the lowdown on the Death Adder character(actually, you,
being the cool hero-type that you are, already know what's up with the
Adder) and you set off on your journey. Talking to people is not usually
necessary in this game, and is strictly for story value at this point.
Visit the elfin-looking password guy if you're not using an emulator that
can save-state your way through the tough spots. He's always in the
building with the "PW" sign in front of it, just so you know. Head out of
the castle and immediately go right to the cave. The Barbarians and Amazons
you meet at this point should be easily dispensed with, but the Amazons have
a tendency to jump and slash at you, so be watching for that. The cave
itself is pretty easy: Duck to hit the snakes, stand away from the flames
the flowers spit at you and hit them twice, and hit the skeletons once to
send them back to the grave. Oh, and try to advance slowly, because the
bats in here have a nasty habit of clawing your head if you rush through too
fast. Stay along the top till the end, and jump down to reach the treasure
chest with(suspenseful music plays here) A BOMB! Unfortunately, you can't
throw this thing at enemies, so just head south past the bridge.
Chapter 2: The guy has a bomb that can level mountains, and he gets beaten
by a skeleton.
Tips for dealing with skeletons: STAY back when the guy jumps, and after he
swings when he lands, turn around and give him one for Tyris Flare!(Where IS
she, BTW?) Or just use magic.
After crossing the bridge, go northwest to the town surrounded by mountains,
get into ANOTHER skeleton(or neo-Barbarian, if you're lucky) fight, and
throw your bomb at the mountain(use the "item" command,) completely
destroying it. Hey, doofus, you might have wanted to use that thing on
Death Adder! In any case, go into the town and head for the building with
the sign saying "TR"(or go to the inn first if your life is low.) This is
the training room, the site in every town where you fight in a steel-cage
match with a ravenous evildoer that got captured and put in the basement.
Be careful, for this is not a normal barbarian you fight, it's a (GASP!)
NEO-barbarian, with twice as much life and the deadly power of(double GASP!)
JUMPING! No, really, he's actually a bit of a wuss. Put him out of his
caps-lock inducing misery and learn the high jump, which changes your
jumping power from "highly athletic human being" to "non-ninja anime
character." Exeunt, head south.
Chapter 3: Egad! Those statues are following me!
Defeat the neo-Amazon in the town by the coast and get the wonderful UPPER
SWING, a quite powerful move that takes off an entire blue life bar! If
you're in the mood, go back to the bridges and start whacking a few
skeletons to pieces with this. After you have fun with that, go west to the
coastal tower, one of the harder dungeons in the game. Those statues that
turn around and follow you take off one whole life bar with every
spear-thrust, so turn around and upper-swing their pig hides as quickly as
possible. On the second level, the best way to deal with the diving ghosts
is to face forward against the wall and upper swing for all your worth until
all of the ghosts foolhardy enough to dive near you are destroyed. This is
another area where you want to have patience and observe the movements of
the enemies before rushing into the fray. Eventually, you should make it to
the next level. This one consists mainly of little Sonic-type hedgehogs(hit
them when they're open and not rolling) and bomb throwers, but they're
generally not too tough if you PATIENTLY watch their pattern and strike
quickly. If all else goes well, you should reach the top of the tower and
the crystal.
Chapter 4: See? The giant turtle COULDN'T hold the world up on his back.
He can barely carry that village!
Go down to the discolored spot of land beneath the town and choose the
crystal from your "Item" screen. This brings up a somewhat short sequence
wherein you have to fight a bunch of fishes and fire-breathing lizards that
come out of the water. It's completely linear, so I won't comment too much
on it. You should come out at another town, where fighting a skeleton nets
you the Jump Swing power. This is useful, being yet another ability that
lets you take off an entire life bar with one hit.
Chapter 5: Yeah, you just go inside the pyramid and look for the "treasure."
I'll wait around out here, sucker.
My first and only survival tip: DO NOT GO INSIDE THE PYRAMID! As soon as
you get through the desert portion, jump ON TOP of the brick that lets you
go over the pyramid! A la Super Mario Bros, you warp right into the room
that has the Key! If you want, you can suffer through the whole tomb, but I
wouldn't advise it. Head into the next town, restore your life bar at the
inn, beat up one of the Bad Bros.(he must have a LOT of brothers roaming
around, considering how many I've met!) to get the "Super Swing," yet
ANOTHER highly damaging technique, and steel yourself for the next EVIL
cavern.
Chapter 6: Rolling skulls, flame spiders, arrows, hedgehogs, ARRGH!
This is the cave where all of your skills REALLY get put to the test. Make
good use of the Super Swing and Jump swing to kill the bouncing skulls, try
to run past the spiders if you can unless their flames are keeping you away
from the platforms, and try to conserve your energy and go through slowly as
much as possible. Be aware of the water currents, as they can quite often
sweep you right into the path of a falling hedgehog or arrow pit. High Jump
repeatedly to dogde any other projectiles that come your way. After you
FINALLY get out of the cave, do NOT cross the bridge, instead go north to
the town.
Chapter 7: I'm wounded! Here, take my compass!(Two people in the world can
recognize that inside joke.)
As per the title of this chapter, talk to the soldier in the middle of the
town to get the compass. Defeat the Knight in the training room(Hint: it
REALLY helps to use the Jump Swing) to get the Tackle ability that the Bad
Bras(hehehe..cool!) have been using on you all this time, and go south
across the bridge to the fairly evil forest. Since you usually can't SEE
the friggin' bats that seem to drop on you every time you take a step,
advance VERY SLOWLY through this infernal place, Super Swinging as much as
possible. Note: You can't kill the wolfmen, so don't bother trying-just run
through as quickly as possible and dodge their little star projectile
thingies. As soon as you get out of the forest, go west to the single tree
square surrounded by swamp stuff and use the SEARCH command. You'll pick up
the FRUIT that the soldier was jawing about.
Chapter 8: Rocks and rolling don't mix.
Now head back north, go over the bridge, and follow the path to the
mountain. You can smash the rocks rolling toward you, as well as the little
monkey dudes throwing them, but there tends to be too many of them not to
justify simply high-jumping your way through the barrage, taking whatever
damage comes. Use your Tackle on the stone wall, then wait by the waterfall
until three logs come down. Jump over them, avoiding the fish, and jump on
the next set of platforms, avoiding more(sigh)falling rocks. Eventually,
you should get to the eagle at the top. Now just run over the windswept
back of the bird, easily dispatching the weak skeletons that pop out at you.
("Save me, there are nearly five of them!")
Chapter 9:
I...(rumble)...think...(rumble)...the...(rumble)...avalanche...(rumble)...stopped.
(RUMBLERUMBLERUMBLE)...
Worry not! The game's almost over! Head down the path to the last town and
defeat a DEATH ADDER in the Training Room to get your last(and possibly the
most useful) ability, the Jump Attack. Much like the Downthrust from Zelda
2(it become more like this game every second) it allows you to jump on
enemies while thrusting downward with your sword. If you don't think it's
useful, then the Neo-Skeletons roaming around this area should lay those
doubts to rest. Oh, and that Death Adder character will sometimes get
really mad and send a ground flame your way, so be watching for that, too.
Head north of this town, cross the bridge, and search the single swamp
square to get the magic stone, your last item, then stay at the inn for the
ridiculously high price of 12 vials, get your last password, and go south.
Welcome to Eskimo country! Rather than going up at the beginning, make your
way DOWN the snow platforms until you get to a set of three across the
bottomless pit. Jump over these as quickly as you possibly can, because if
the avalanche covers them, future archaeologists will think that early man
wore scanty armor in sub-zero climes during their daily life. As soon as
you reach the waterfall, watch VERY CAREFULLY for the platform that
comes-they're kinda hard to see behind all that water. And when you reach
the third platform, STAY ON IT rather than facing the spider and the wolf
down there-there will be another platform to the LEFT if you let the third
platform take you upward a bit. Now, when you reach the top platform,
IMMEDIATELY double-click to run, because ANOTHER avalanche will take out the
platform you just landed on. Indeed, you'll probably have to high jump at
the last possible instant before the snow hits your surface in order to make
it.
Chapter 10: Courage and love for humankind ALWAYS triumph over spiky
castles!
All roads lead to Death Adder's castle now, so grit your teeth, strap on
your spike-resistant padding, and get to it. There are a few very important
things to remember here:
1: Use the Jump Swing whenever possible to take out the hedgehogs on the
non-spiked platforms-you most assuredly do not have time to hit them twice
with regular swings.
2: You can use your sword to bat away the arrows, though this is very hard
to do accurately. That section is just hard no matter what the case.
3: You don't see the mirrors that lead to different parts of the castle.
But it's usually pretty easy to tell where the next one is.
4: Sometimes, there's a small section on the edges of the spiked platforms
where you can stand to take a breather without getting skewered. Look for
these.
5: Don't worry-THERE IS NO LAST BOSS! Without spoiling anything, the end of
the game is settled entirely through textual description.
That be the end, me homeys. Thanks to:
Seth Cooper, whose repeated E-mails got me off my lazy butt to play through
the ice cliffs again.
CJayC, for owning and operating GameFAQs, da best darn site for FAQs on
video games anywhere, anytime.
Al Amaloo, who, despite the fact that I already gave him permission to use
this FAQ, will probably send me a nice little thank-you E-mail anyway.
J-Dog, for previously relentless support(I don't know WHERE he is now...)
The new breed of excellent reviewers at GameFAQs who tend to surpass me in
every possible way...
fduboo, one of the best of the GameFAQs "old guard..."
wallywest80, who holds down the Christian side of the "secret debate boards"
like no one's business.
Jesus, who makes my 10% in the collection plate pay HUGE dividends. And the
whole life saving thing.
This FAQ copyright 2000 by Epoetker. All rights not specifically outlined
are reserved. E-mail me at epoetker@hotmail.com for questions, comments,
and flames. The latter receive mail bombs. Word.
