Hello again. Last time, I made some progress in the Endless Corridor, and obtained the Twin Statue. I'm pretty sure that's the key to unlock The Maze, and I'm keen to go there and try it out, but I've still got Corridor to explore. For today, I'm loading up the Yie Ars Kung Fu combination to try and figure out what it does, and heading back to the Infinite.
I head down through the layers. In the red zone, I notice that the block receptacle at the lower left is still there. Dropping a block on it causes another to appear, but without the receptacle at the lower right there's nothing I can do with it.
I try anyway and get nowhere, but that's not what this screenshot is for. What's that thing just above Lemeza in the first shot? Last time I was here a lot of these pots dropped weights, and when I pick it up my weight count goes up by two. I guess it's a weight? Have they always looked like that?
Nope! Here's this weight drop pictured next to one from earlier in the game. Last time I was in this room the weights looked like the one on the right, now they look like the one on the left. What's changed? The only thing that comes to mind is that I've got the Yie Ar Kung Fu/Yie Ar Kung Fu 2 combination in my MSX. I mentioned last time that if YAKF2 is played with the first game in the second slot, the player character's dad will show up with healing tea when you're low on health. This new weight sprite looks kind of like a cup with steam coming out, doesn't it? I found a video of YAKF2 where the father appears and drops the tea. The sprite doesn't look like this one. Even so, although the tea sadly doesn't restore any of Lemeza's VIT, I think I've figured out what this combination does. I wish I'd realised it while playing, though. I'll spend the rest of this update having to switch Glyph Reader in and out each time I reach a stele.
I go left one screen and weight the dais I caused to appear last time. This brings a pillar into the room which will allow me to push the rightmost block onto the receptacle. Let's do it:
I start by pushing the uppermost block slightly to the right, then break pots below it until it falls to a location from which I can stand on it and push the rightmost block. Getting it to the receptacle causes another big dais to appear at the upper left.
As you'd expect at this point, weighting the big dais causes the dragon at the bottom to break free and clears a path to the level below.
At this point I realise that the pillar and the block are preventing my accessing the rightmost part of the room. What if there's a ROM hidden there?! As I write this, I've just opened up the game with a save from before summoning the pillar and gone in and had a look. I couldn't find anything with the scanner, so crisis averted, I guess. I also took the time to check the weights with and without the Yie Ars, and the sprite definitely changes when the combo is loaded. Good to know.
I take the ladder downwards to the lowest level of the Corridor. The backdrop is now black, with only the stars and the outlines of the buildings visible. I read the stele, which talks about shutting eyes, and after I do the eye in the corner comes alive.
Initially it just bobs there. Sadly I didn't stay in place long enough to get a seamless GIF.
When I turn away the eye opens and starts to follow Lemeza, but when I turn back it closes up again and stops. It's your basic Mario ghost behaviour.
I bait it across the room and try attacking its nest, with the usual result. I'm not keen to take on the eye until I have some idea what it's about (there was a clue earlier, "The left eye sees Kindness", that maybe relates to this?), so I head for the next room.
The eye follows me. Once again, the lack of sound in a GIF lets us down, but when I strike the llama I hear the ping of an ineffective strike as the backswing of the whip clips the eye. I head for the higher platform to confirm, and get the same sound from each strike.
This section of wall gives the more satisfying sound that indicates I'm doing damage, and soon breaks. The upper bit doesn't.
I kill and break my way through the room, not finding anything notable. The last rong xuanwang corpse spends ages in its invincible middle size, but I get it in the end. Time to move to the next screen.
Smooth.
The eye soon joins me as I make my way across these small pillars. I drop down at the far end, either accidentally or because I want to clear the room of enemies. I don't know what the point of the pot floating between two pillars is. It doesn't drop anything when broken, and standing on it and scanning gets me nothing.
I make my way to the next room.
There's a heck of a lot going on in this room. There's another eye nest at the upper right, but instead of a big eye following me around there's a mass of eyes on the floor spitting more eyes at me. The makers of this game certainly weren't afraid to break the MSX sprite limit when the situation called for it. Killing the eye mass takes the pressure off, but doesn't open the path forwards.
After clearing out the bats as well I start trying to get the big eye into the nest at the upper right. It builds momentum as it moves, so it'll keep going towards something even after Lemeza moves or looks at it.
This isn't working for me.
I try attacking it again. Some of the shots bounce off, some pass through, and some seem to land. It looks like when the eye is closed it's invincible, but when it's open it can be damaged by striking the iris/pupil.
I make an attempt with the whip, but it isn't working, so I go back to my standard move for room guards: loads of Shuriken. It works, and when the eye dies a large dais appears. Let's use it:
Success! This is the lowest level of the Endless Corridor, and it looks like the ladder leads to a Field transition. I haven't seen any sign of a Guardian or Ankh Jewel yet, which is kind of odd, but remember this clue:
Stele:I guess when I find the Rear Corridor the Guardian will be there. There was a clue about this in The Maze, I think:
The Guardians lurk in the front. Places without them are the rear. This is the law of the ruins. Only the Infinite Corridor is an exception.
Stele with image of serpentine woman over infinity symbol:If I have it right, Tiamat is the Guardian of this place, but currently absent.
Tiamat used her powers to escape from the front of the world.
I head down the ladder and sure enough, I'm in a different Field. I think this is the Ninth Field, in fact. According to another clue:
Stele:So I guess this is everything.
Walk down the infinite corridor. Beyond it lies everything.
What appeared to be three bats is revealed to be... more than three.
It takes a little while to clear all of them out. In the process, one of the statues starts spitting at me. The stele again talks about the chosen one. I think Lemeza is the chosen one, so I'll be carrying on.
Right after I get trapped, that is. Hmm.
I warp back to the village and take the chance to save. Because I've just warped out of a trap I use the Game Master 2 cart for the save, in case I've locked myself out of something. It's probably unnecessary though, since when I return through the Corridor to the nightmare of bats in the Ninth Field, the trap appears to have been reset.
The pot at the lower left doesn't seem to hold anything. Trying to get back to the platform at the right I fall on the spikes. I use the mercy invincibility from this to reach the next room at the lower level, where I scan two shorter-than-usual spikes to find Konami Baseball, a 1984 sports game.
I'm forced to take a hit to get out from below the platform, and then I take another because I didn't realise the moving platform would go down into the spikes. Whoops. There's a picture of Amphisbaena in this room. I guess it matches the one of Bahamut I saw near the other entrance to this Field.
I struggled a bit with these skeletons, but I got to the stele in the end for another Tiamat clue. I guess if she's not in the reverse corridor maybe she's here? I head down the ladder and find myself with little choice about where to go next.
As I head right a pillar falls and blocks the right side of the screen. I guess I need to come back here once I find a way to stop time. There's another Guardian portrait here - this one's the big lizard from the Temple of the Sun.
I head back to the left. The combination of bats and spikes everywhere is not a friendly one. I head down a ladder to a room with more of the eye blocks and another Guardian picture. I don't recognise this one, which looks like a woman's face in profile. Maybe Tiamat?
I try without success to get past the eye blocks and am attacked by one of these wall monkeys. I saw them in the upper room that I reached from the Chamber of Extinction entrance to this Field, but I don't think I managed to stay on that screen long enough for this move to activate.
I read the stele and take out the monkeys. The hippos are a little harder:
There are two: one stationary that teleports when struck, and another that flashes constantly, moves on its own, and respawns after dying. Killing the first also removes the second. The statues firing at me don't make it easier.
Not wanting to navigate the statue spit, I head back up and try going left, reaching a room full of moving platforms over a floor almost entirely spiked. The treasure chest is the one place at the bottom where I can stand. There are also four locks on the walls, one of each type.
I break the three locks that I have the seals for, then fall in the spikes.
I head left again, where I find more hippos, a chest, a Life Lock, a dais I don't seem to be able to reach, a stele, and another Guardian picture (I think it's the Giant). I think the "great soul" in the clue here must be a Guardian, meaning I need to get the flute so that the Sages will talk to me in order to find it. I guess.
Breaking the lock here opens the chest, but I can't reach the contents. It's a bit hard to tell because of all the stuff coming out of the statues, but the barrier that pops up when I approach the skull hurts Lemeza.
User's Manual:I think this is the item we're looking at here. The power to warp spacetime might be what's making that barrier. For now, I have no idea how to collect it.
Crystal Skull: It supposedly has the power to warp spacetime. What was it made for?
I work on taking out the hippos, which is made more difficult by all the projectiles coming out of the statues. Apparently I've already forgotten the recently learned lesson that killing the hippo that doesn't blink will get rid of the other one too, but at least I top off my EXP for a VIT refill. Once I do take them out, nothing obvious changes. I don't know how to get down to the dais at the bottom.
I head back to the monkey room and go down from there. What awaits?
Skeletons!
The one at the mid-level on the right has some moves I haven't seen before, and I get caught out by one of them. It's also a subtly different sprite - there's a little protrusion from the upper front corner of its skull.
Speaking of new attacks, check out the pegasus (?) on this next screen. There's also a Guardian portrait. Looks like a sad turtle. I don't think I've met this one.
I take out the enemies and read the stele. Not sure who "we" refers to on this one. Humans? There was a stele earlier that referred to the Giants as the "second race born of the Great Mother". I wonder what the first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth were? I head back to the left. The raised platform just to the left of the middle of this screen looks interesting, doesn't it?
If there's anything to be done there I don't find it, sadly. I clear the room of enemies without finding anything, then move to the next screen. Will we see any new attacks here?
We will, but first things first. There's a stele here! I guess the Sages are statues for longevity purposes.
Here are the new attacks. The demon guys spit fire, and the monkey has a screen-filling multi-fireball attack.
The monkey is immune to the whip and to flares, but the axe does the job.
I take out the other enemies for no benefit and move to the next screen, where I'm stuck in a little corner dead end. I backtrack a little and reach the stele. Maybe this refers to the spark that comes out when I use an Ankh Jewel?
I head down the ladder. The portrait on the next screen appears to be The Viy. I make my way to the screen below, where there's a picture of I guess a bull. I haven't met that Guardian yet. There's also the highly suspicious box Lemeza is standing on in the last shot. There's gotta be something in there, right?
I make a couple of attempts to get into the box, but no dice.
So I head back up and take a right, finding the area's altar and with it a name: The Shrine of the Mother. Ominous!
I head to the next screen, where a tall person stands beneath a big eye symbol. He seems peaceful. Let's try diplomacy:
Diplomacy fails, and I'm left chasing little clouds of bugs around the room for far longer than I want to be. Killing them gets me nowhere.
User's Manual:I think this is Beelzebub, which would make this the core of La Mulana.
Beelzebub: He is said to be a ruler of Hell that takes on the form of a fly, but in actuality he is a guard that diligently watches over the core of La Mulana.
I don't seem to be able to interact with the eye. Leaving the room and returning causes Beelzebub to respawn.
I get the same result with the Shuriken that I did with the axe.
He doesn't seem to hold grudges, at least.
I've been to this room before - the next screen down has the path to the Chamber of Extinction. I haven't been able to get through these eye blocks, though, and I wasn't expecting them to crumble beneath me, either. I manage to stay on the screen, but can I make it back up to to rest of the Field from this platform?
Nope!
I spend quite a while trying to get back up, but I just can't pull it off. The moving platforms don't go high enough to reach the upper level, and I can't get rid of the monkey to clear my landing on the lower level.
Eventually, low on VIT, I warp back to town and save. Then, just to test it out some more, I put in the Yie Ars Kung Fu and warp to the Endless Corridor to deliberately get hit by the flower and see if some healing tea will appear (I hadn't figured out that the Yie Ar Kung Fu combination was responsible for the different weight sprite at this time). No tea appears, and I die. Good time for a break!
Maps:
Endless Corridor:
Shrine of the Mother:
This map looks like a human figure, or at least it would if I'd reached -2/3. It made me think at first of the Woman Statue, which I've seen in the manual but not yet in-game, but that statue appears to have its legs together, while this map is clearly manspreading.
Clues:
Village:
"Have you found all the ROMS? Something good will happen if you do." "The traps and tricks in the ruins are said to have been set by the Four Sages. They wait for you to come." |
"Eight souls rest in this land. The souls are those of the Guardians that protect these lands." "The sad tale of the giants. Their history is recorded therein." "In the temple of the Sun, a new trap fills a hole and conceals a trigger." ""Twin Guards" "Silent and alone" "Deliver a stone on high""   |
"Ye who has life. There is still time. Turn back. The confusion continues." "11 children guard Tiamat's chamber. The Grail is powerless therein." "You have done well in making it this far, wise one. Break through the final confusion." "This is the Confusion Gate. The path will open to the wise." "Is the one reading this tablet wise or a fool? I pray it is one that has wisdom."  |
"So these ruins are those from a race of giants... I was just about to decipher their legend too..." "We are the second race born of the Great Mother. We were born to return her to the skies. This is the sad story of our race. Nine brothers led our race: Zeb, Bud, Migera, Led, Fut, Abt, Zi, Riv, and Sakit." "In order to hold up the Earth, Zeb stopped moving, and the remaining brothers split into two factions and fought amongst themselves." "Abt, Zi, Riv, and Sakit wanted the Mother to remain here on Earth."  "The eldest, Zeb, could not move, as he had to hold up the Earth." "We could not grant the Great Mother's wish. I am the only one to remain, and here I go to my long, final rest. Abt" "Zi started praying to the Earth on a moonlight night." "On a day when the sun was bright, Led fell in battle. A large hole torn in his chest, he went into his long, final rest." "Bud went into a long, final rest on a night when the sky was full of stars." "To launch the tower, water was indispensible. Migera carried a lake to this land and expired in the effort." "Grieving for his elder brothers, Riv dug a tunnel from the lake to the tower to bring water to it. He collapsed in the effort and went into a long rest." "The youngest, Sakit, followed his own path. He locked Led's body, left power in his hand, and went into a long rest." "1 Sword, 2 Bodies, 3 Wishes, 4 Disasters. 5 Stars, 6 Moons, 7 Lights, 8 Paths. 9 Cups, and 0 which is Life." |
"Only thy own strength can get thee through this frozen land." "Art thou the chosen one or not? Proceed ahead. We wait for thee beyond." "The rogue that releases many lights. He who does not hold the silver shine is doomed."  |
"Challenge the cavern of the inferno. It will be a long road. He who follows it should be prepared to die." "If there is a man, there is also a woman. "Summon the power of the twins. The twins are two and yet one. The twins are very much alike." "Sahete's understanding/clarity was born from The Mother"  |
"This is the Temple of Moonlight. The lovely, female temple." "Changing water to power, the Tower flies up into the sky." "The sound of the flute is given to the pregnant woman."  |
"The water that operates the tower. It flows here and is converted to energy."
"
Inferno Cavern:
"Strange, these ruins are strange. This shouldn't be a dead end..." "Discover where the truth of this land lies." "This is the Inferno Cavern. A place that was once a source of power." "If you can't find something important where it should be, check the back." "What is here is not everything. This is the critical location. Take another path and return to this land again."  |
"The kind, mischievous fairy. The kind, lonely fairy. Her mischief is innocent. Innocent mischief will do thee no harm." "The large earthen doll, It carries the flying golden key." "The flying iron bird. Distressed at its travel, the goddesses depart." "That which moves too fast to see. Even stopping time cannot stop its movement." "The people who created Nu Wa, those who imitate the power of the Great Mother. The power to create life. The power to create us. That wish goes unfulfilled." "The left eye sees Kindness."  |
"If thou cannot go left, go right." "A joyful soul is milky hued, an eloquent soul is black, an honest soul is purple, a happy soul is green, a pure soul is white, a passionate soul is red, and a kind soul is blue. Souls have colors." "The Guardians lurk in the front. Places without them are the rear. This is the law of the ruins. Only the Infinite Corridor is an exception." "Spriggan, the giant statue. Show hostility and he will awaken. Fight him more and he will return to sleep."  |
"Release the twins."  |
The Shrine of the Mother:
"Proceed from the correct path."
"Endlessness and dimensions. With her great power, Tiamat bent the laws of both."
"A land guarded by 8 souls."
"The Sages will only show the path to the chosen one. At its end lies a great soul."
"We were born of this earth. We were the seventh to be born. And we forgot our Mother..."
"Through a ceremony passed down through the ages, the four Sages attained undying bodies."
To-Do:
Anywhere:
-Find Shorn Kosugi
-Find the Four Sages and talk to them
--Get the flute
-Clear each screen of enemies at least once
-Complete the software use and software combinations lists in the manual
--
-Figure out what the key fairy does
-Get all the ROMs
--Have something good happen
Village:
-Go through invisible door at 4/1 --Defeat Inferno Cavern Guardian -Return to hidden door at 4/2 with all the ROMs |
-Get the Jewel in the star at 0/-4 -Do something with the angels at 1/-3 |
-Open chest -4/1 (x3) -Enter door -4/1 (upside down) -Get past barrier at -5/3 -Push block to obstruct light at -5/3 -Summon Key Fairy at -6/3 and look for something to unlock -Reach the left side of Shu's blood shower head at -3/2 |
-Decipher the legend of the giants -Do something at the upper left of 2/-2 --Try again with the Grapple Claw to reach it -Do something with holy wall at 1/-1 |
-Get something from chest at 1/-3 -Break the wall at 2/-1 -Scan stele: 2/-1 (x2) -Weight dais: 2/-1 -Open barrier: 2/-1 -Do something with holy block at -1/1 --Try to reflect enemies' attacks with Silver Shield --Get into shaft at right of -1/1 from -1/2 somehow ---Break floor in -1/2 -Do something with fake spikes at -1/-2 |
-Scan steles: 1/-2 (several) --Do something at gap in top row of steles at 1/-2 -Solve all the puzzles -Do something with the wall that goes "ping" at the upper left of 3/-3 -Do something with the statue at 4/-2 -Do something with squiggles at 3/-3 --Bring the Woman Statue |
-Weight daises: -1/0 -Break all the bricks in -1/0 -Head through door at -1/0 to other Field -Unlock and take the path to another Field at 1/3 -Open chest at 0/-1 --Try the dais again -Open chest at 1/2 -Do something with the reproductive system image at 1/2 -Get the statue in the room at 2/2 to say or do something --Go to it after getting the flute |
-Get the statue in the room at 0/1 to say or do something --Go to it after getting the flute -Reach the two circular objects in 2/0 -Break wall at 1/-2 |
-Reach the stage outside the small corridor at 0/0 -Kill all enemies at 0/0 -Scan space where brick block was at 0/0 -Attempt to enter potential hidden door where brick block was at 0/0 -Read stele: 0/0 |
-Unlock and take the path to another Field at -2/1 -Reach the two rooms at the top left of the map -Defeat the Viy at -3/-4 |
-Find hidden doorway in -4/2 --Break upper middle wall -Defeat the invisible enemy (probably at -4/1) --Get the medicine of life -Stop time in -4/1 -Do something with the blue cross at -3/2 -Reach the fairies at -3/3 |
-Reach the rooms at the upper right of the map |
-Figure out the layout -Go through the Twins' Gates --Acquire the Twins' Souls ---See if the Twin Statue is the Twins' Souls |
-
--
-Reveal and climb the missing ladder at 1/-1
-
-
The Shrine of the Mother:
-
-Get past falling pillar at 0/4
--Try stopping time when able
-Remove eye blocks: -2/1, -1/3, 0/4
-Open chest: -2/4
-Get Crystal Skull at -3/4
-Weight dais: -3/4
-Do something at the platform at -1/2
-Do something at the box platform at -3/0
-Defeat Beelzebub at -1/1
--Open the core of La Mulana
Death Locks:
-Temple of the Sun 0/-4
-Shrine of the Mother -2/4
Fairy Locations:
-Confusion Gate -6/3
-Temple of Moonlight 0/-1
-Spring of the Sky 3/1
-Chamber of Extinction 8/-3
-Endless Corridor 0/-2
ROMs:
-Athletic Land -Contra -Diviner Sensation -F1 Spirit -F1 Spirit 3D Special -Firebird -Game Collection 1 -Game Collection 2 -Game Collection 3 -Game Master -Game Master 2 -Glyph Reader -Hyper Olympic 2 -Hyper Olympic 3 -Hyper Rally -Hyper Sports 1 -Konami Baseball -Konami Boxing -Konami Golf -Konami Pinball -Konami Tennis -Magical Tree -Mahjong Dojo -Mahjong Wizard -Metal Gear -Metal Gear 2 -Pennant Race -Pennant Race 2 -PR3 -Q-bert -Quarth -Road Fighter -Ruins RAM 8K -Salamander -Seal of El Giza -Shin Synthesizer -Sky Jaguar -Super Cobra -Video Hustler -Yie Ar Kung Fu -Yie Ar Kung Fu 2  |
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Next Time:
Part 29: Double Mazes
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