Hello, all! Well, I finally got around to writing this thing. It turned out a tad longer than I thought it would... Anyhow, in reading this guide to the Ranma action game, please keep in mind that this is essentially my first draft, and there doubtless might still be some errors in it. So don't necessarily trust everything I say... (wink) If anybody notices any mistakes, please send me word. And if anybody has anything significant to add, then likewise. I would certainly be most appreciative of such input for when (if) I get around to revising this guide. Thanks. And as for right now, hope you enjoy the guide! Well, that's about it for now, so... Until later, Richard Uyeyama uyeyama2@husc.harvard.edu President & Founder, Dunster Anime Anime Expo '93 Staff, Rear Fleet Admiral (Hon.), Video CRA-ZS (Video Control Room Automated-Zombified Slaves) Charter Member, Shampoo Int'l Fan Club (Shampoo fans, unite!) "I look up at the stars and beg them to tell me... They tell me you are here... within the darkness of the night." -- "Within the darkness of the night" (Sol Bianca 4: "G-prime") 8< - - - - cut here - - - - - A Guide to the Ranma Nibun no Ichi action game for the PC Engine CD ROM game system by Richard Uyeyama V1.0 (7/15/93) Note: PC Engine CD ROM games will run on the equivalent American game system (the TurboGrafx-16 with CD ROM attachment, or the TurboDuo). This is not, however, true for all game systems... THE BASICS: Knowledge of Japanese needed? Not really. You don't need knowledge of the Japanese language to be able to finish the game. However, the animated story sequences will be of greater entertainment and/or amusement value if you know what they're saying, obviously... Background: Ranma Nibun no Ichi (Ranma 1/2) is an animated TV series that ran on Japan television rather recently, having ended only a year or so ago. Although the story takes place mostly in Japan, the basic plot complication is brought about by these cursed pools of water at a place in China called "Jhusenkyo" that was formerly used for martial arts training. If one falls into any of these cursed pools, one will henceforth, whenever splashed with cold water, turn into whatever creature last died in that pool, to return to one's original form only upon being splashed with hot water. The title character (Ranma Saotome (male, 16 years old)) has had the misfortune of falling into a pool where a young, teenage girl drowned some 1500 years ago... Ranma games for the PC Engine CD ROM game system: There's at least three. There's the action game (what this text is describing), an adventure game (lots of text and dialogue, most of it spoken as well as printed), and a fighting game (an SF2-like game). There may be more, but that's all I'm currently aware of. Controls: I forget which button is "jump", and which is "attack", but those are what the two buttons do. I think button II (the left button) was "jump", and button I (the right button) was "attack". Upon this assumption: I punch up + I kick down + I sweep down duck II jump II, II double-jump II, I jump kick II, down + I heel spike II, II, down + I super heel spike And then left is left, right is right. That's pretty much it as far as controls... Oh, wait. Two more things. Start button will pause the game. Select button will summon the panda (Genma Saotome -- your father), if you've collected a token. When summoned, Genma-panda will come on-screen, rush towards you, knocking down anything that gets in his way, then pick you up, take you off-screen, splash you with appropriate water, and bring you back on-screen, gender reversed. Male vs. female Ranma: There is a significant difference between the two, as far as gameplay is concerned. Quite simply, the male Ranma does a lot more damage, and the female Ranma is a lot quicker, and can jump higher (and longer). Strength vs. dexterity. Sometimes you'll want one trait, and sometimes another. Also, certain opponents will only fight you if you're the same gender as them... As far as ways of changing gender, besides summoning Genma, there will also be various of other ways to change gender. Keep an eye out for them, whether to utilize them or to avoid them... LEVEL DESCRIPTIONS AND STRATEGIES: Part I: Jhusenkyo Pretty elementary level. Make your way through the jungle to make it to Jhusenkyo, where you'll get to fight your father. Learn to use the jump kick against certain of the larger creatures, and keep in mind that some things will just go away if you leap over them and let them pass... Oh yes, and certain of the gaps you'll need to use the double jump to make it across them... To make things easier in the fight against Genma, stay on the ground, let him jump onto a pole, then attack him as he leaps down. Repeat as often as necessary. Jump kicks and standing kicks do a lot of damage. Use them. Part II: Enter Kuno The first part of this level is kinda fun (though not necessarily totally easy...). Fighting your way to school with Akane... Note that Akane attacks when you attack. Use this fact to your advantage by sending her ahead if you can, as she doesn't seem to take damage as readily as you do. I guess the boys are more intent upon defeating her than damaging her... Also, some of the opponents will leave bandages or first aid kits when defeated. However, since your motion will be at all times forwards, they'll sometimes be kinda difficult to pick up. Have Akane defeat them in front of you... I think the sumo people usually left such healing items... The battle with Kuno is pretty easy, I think. Stay male. Play with the super heel-spike. Of course, you could just summon Genma to knock Kunou down... but what's the fun in that? Part III: Enter Ryoga I don't think there was a "beginning" part to this... just the battle against Ryoga. Ryoga's a bit tougher than Kuno, but shouldn't be too hard to beat... Use lots of jump kicks, especially when he jumps. Part IV: Enter Shampoo The first part of this is fighting the women in Shampoo's village. Pretty simple. None of them know how to attack ducking opponents, it seems... Just stay low, and sweep everything to death. Keep in mind that the ones that throw the mini-bombs (or whatever they are) can hit you while you're on the ground, but not if you're right in front of them. So if you see any of them, move towards them and get rid of them first... When you get rid of enough opponents, the rest'll all run away, and then two giant women will appear and start throwing pots at you. Lead them together if you can. Then jump up in front of them. You'll be able to balance on the constant flow of pots in front of their faces and sweep them to death if you position yourself right... Now the battle with Shampoo. This is the first really difficult battle of the game. Shampoo does much too much damage with those battle hammers of hers (I forget what exactly they're called...)! Two ways to defeat her. One: Hit her at times when she cannot strike you back easily (certain points in her jumps are the best times to attack her (when she jumps towards you, walk under her, turn around, get a quick one or two jump kicks in (behind her), and then run away before she can strike back); when she's on the ground, you *can* get away with heel-spiking her just to the back of her, but if you don't place it right, you'll get hit once or twice... (ouch!)). Two: Trick her into jumping off the edge of the balance beam (not as easy as it sounds!)... Of course, you *could* try just doing a bunch of super heel-spikes on her (these things are pretty damaging, even when you're female), but it's kinda tricky not getting hit in the process, so I wouldn't recommend this approach unless you're really good at it, or have acquired by this level a decently higher max. health than you started out with at the beginning of the game... or both. Part V: The Ramen Race You, Shampoo, and Akane start out in the race. Shampoo will attack you any time you're in range. She'll go on ahead (she's a bit faster than you are) when either you begin to near the pond, or you've done enough damage to her to bring her down to three health units (hearts). Duck and sweep at her until she's this low on health. Once Shampoo goes on ahead, run to catch up with Akane (who's pretty slow...), pass her by, reach the pond, leap in (be careful of the crocodile) (you're already female, so the water won't do anything...), and run along the bottom (it's a lot quicker than leaping from stone to stone). Exit the pond, run along the side of the building, being careful of the serving people, who always seem to trip at the sight of you, falling on their faces, flinging a cup of tea (hot liquid -- be careful if you don't want to become male!) at you, as the round tray the tea used to be on also rolls towards you... For some reason (shame or embarrassment, perhaps?), they explode when you get too near them, so make sure to jump over them... It's obviously easier to leap over them if you're female, but the male Ranma can manage as well... At a certain point, Shampoo will appear again. Duck and sweep at her. At a certain other point, a giant suit of armor will attack you. Duck and sweep at it (although because the armor moves around, this won't be as easy as it was for Shampoo). Or double jump and super heel-spike it (keep the button held down to make it last through its entire height, doing a ton of damage in the process...). At the end of the first part, you'll meet Kodachi, who'll toss like three bandages (I think) at you if you're male, and will attack you if you're female. Even if you're female, I think you can go off the right edge of the screen without having to defeat her... And then the last part, if you're female, Kuno will happily eat your ramen, and if you're male, you'll have to "convince" him to (i.e. fight him). Kuno by this time has learned one or two new things, but is still pretty easy to beat. For this level, if you're not too up to fighting, you can let yourself be splashed by the hot tea to turn male for Kodachi, use the bandages she tosses you, then use the panda token the armor gave you (I think) to turn female, then go and meet Kuno. Or you could use the panda token in the battle against Kuno, which would do the same thing... But I think each of these opponents will give you an "increase max. health by 1" item, so if that's important to you, you might want to arrange things so that you get to fight both of them instead... Part VI: Attack of the Bald Things! There will be *lots* of things to fight in this first part. Keep in mind that you don't have to fight all of them. Most of them will go away if you bypass them. Although certain of the larger opponents will give you some nice things (panda tokens, bandages, 1-up, etc...), so don't bypass *everything*... Oh, and when Shampoo shows up in her cat form (Shampoo's been to Jhusenkyo, too...), as there's no way to defeat her (that I've been able to figure out), just avoid her and the other cats as best you can, and get to the end of the level as fast as you can. At the end of the level, you get to face a giant bald thing. I'd recommend using the panda against it, which'll damage it pretty good. And then if it's still alive, use your few moments of invulnerability to do a super heel-spike inside of it... Slower methods involve leaping atop the boards he throws at you to gain good position on him to do a bunch of jump kicks or a massive super heel-spike... all of which will be much more effective if you're male, of course... Part VII: Ryoga and the One-Finger Technique Being chased by a giant boulder makes you realize how much slower your male form is... But you're fast enough to outrun it. Just be careful of all the wildlife. Call upon your experience in jump kicks and heel spikes learned from Part I to help you out here... And don't forget to use the double jump in appropriate places in leaping gaps...! When you reach the river, it'll take a little extra effort, but try to stay on the stones and out of the water, so you can retain your male form for the fight against Ryoga. Trust me. It'll make things a whole lot easier. Oh, an interesting note... I have, on a couple of occasions, had a cameo appearance of Ryoga as P-chan (a small, black piglet -- Ryoga's been to Jhusenkyo, too...) in this first section. It doesn't always happen, and the few times it did happen, I'd played from the beginning of the game without continuing, so that may have something to do with it... But when he's there, he's sitting on the ground right after the falling bridge, glaring at you as you approach. Then, when you get too close, he leaps away (up and towards you, then offscreen) quickly. I guess if you're doing well enough, Ryoga takes some time to watch your progress, or something. Anyhow... The fight against Ryoga. Ryoga's been taught a very powerful one-finger technique by Shampoo's great-grandmother, Cologne. This makes him much, much, much more dangerous an opponent than the last time you fought him... Hopefully, by this time, your max. health is reasonably high, as you'll probably need it in this battle. Use the super heel-spike a lot, and jump kicks, if timed right. And if you're female, the same, but also use your superior speed and jumps to your advantage, since you'll be doing so much less damage on him... There's not too much more I can advise on, as far as specifics... but then, this is one of the hardest battles in the game, in my opinion. Good luck! Part VIII: The Neko-hanten Akane's been kidnapped and taken to Shampoo and Cologne's Chinese restaurant, the Neko-hanten. The first part of this level is a battle against Ryoga for the honor of rescuing her. Don't worry... Ryoga's much, much easier here than at the end of Part VII. Treat him pretty much like the first time you fought against him (Part III). BTW, if you really don't want to deal with Ryoga (although he does give you a "increase max health by 1" item, you'll probably come out a bit damaged from the battle, if you want to instead keep that health for other battles...), there's a Secret Warp at the beginning of this level that allows you to completely bypass fighting Ryoga. Just go to the very left edge of the screen, duck, and hit the jump button. You'll instantly be transported to the next section of Part VIII (I actually discovered this one by accident... I don't know if there are any others in the game, but if anybody knows of any others, please tell me! Thanks...). Of course, the animated short will also be skipped, so... But I guess this is just Ranma taking advantage of Ryoga's total inability in dealing with directions to quietly slip by him, or something... The second part is inside the Neko-hanten. There are six levels, each one lower than the previous. In the first level, heel spike what saucers you can't simply avoid, and when you get near the right edge of the screen, don't go too far to the right (which'll expose the hole in the floor leading to the second level), or the first guard might accidentally fall down and disappear... You want the panda token he gives you when defeated. Use the heel spike on him as he rushes by you. Repeat as necessary. Get the panda token. Go down to the next level. Level 2: Avoid the fireballs (pretty easy), make your way to the second guard. Duck and sweep him to death. Position yourself carefully, however, as if you don't, as he moves from side to side, his flame breath may catch you... Pick up the first aid kit he leaves behind when defeated (ahhh...). Full health recovery! Go down to the third level. Level 3: Make your way to the right until you see the stalactites on the ceiling. Move forward enough to trigger them to fall, then go back to the left edge of the screen to wait for them to all fall. Then proceed to the right, where the third guard is waiting. Fight him if you wish, but I prefer to use the panda token here instead. When defeated, he'll give you another panda token, so unless you really want two, I'd use the first one here... Besides which, being female is much handier for the fourth level, and essential for the fifth, so... Level 4: I think the only things here were the statue guards. Since they don't move (except their hands and feet), just jump over them, being careful to avoid their hands and feet. Make your way to the edge of the screen. Here, make sure you're female. If you aren't, use a panda token (although I really don't see why you wouldn't have used it before to make jumping the statues easier...). Jump into the hole and veer right as sharply as possible. Level 5: BIG wall of fire following you! Run as fast as you can (aren't you glad you're female?) to the right. The flames will be slightly faster than you, but not enough so as to be able to catch you before the edge of the screen, if you did things right. BTW, the flames won't kill you outright, but will do lots of damage... At the end of this level, a bandage will fall from the ceiling. If you time your jump correctly, you can grab if from the air... Level 6: There's an easy way to do this level. I'll describe that first. Go to the left. You'll see Akane chained to the wall. It's not Akane, but Shampoo in disguise. Keep going left, jump over Akane (who'll turn into Shampoo), and keep running left (Shampoo will be following you). You'll see Cologne appear at the top left of the screen after you get far enough. She'll stay there for a while, then start to head diagonally down towards you. All this time, keep running left. When she's about halfway to the ground, hit the select button to summon Genma. If you time things right, he'll come running across the screen, knocking both Shampoo and Cologne down! Pick up the bandage (I think) that Cologne leaves behind. If you get the timing *almost* correct, Genma'll knock down Shampoo, but only injure Cologne. But things'll still be much easier than before... And if you totally mess up the timing, Shampoo'll be downed, but Cologne will still be undamaged... The hard way is to handle them one at a time. Basically, well-timed heel-spikes'll do wonders against each of them. If you're female, they won't do as much damage, and so things'll take a while, but... if you choose to save the panda token for use in the final battle, then you'll have to fight Shampoo and Cologne female. Shampoo's kinda tough, since she dodges pretty well. Also, make sure you don't let her lead you too far to the left, or you'll have Cologne to worry about as well... Fightning Cologne is merely a matter of patience. She'll be floating at one of the upper corners. Wait until she starts down towards you, then jump towards her to land with a heel-spike as you meet. Repeat as often as necessary. Once you defeat Cologne... The Final Battle: Now you get to fight Shampoo's father, who appears to blame you for Shampoo's condition (I won't get into the explanation here -- it'd take too long...). Shampoo's father throws these giant glowballs at you. Decently damaging. But once you injure him enough, he splits into two. Only one is the real him, however. Concentrate on that one. He'll then split again, so that there are three of him on-screen, all tossing glowballs around. Figure out which is the real one (the health meter will go down when you hit him), and concentrate on him (use lotsa super heel-spikes...). Keep in mind that if you defeat one of the fakes, the real one will split again, and I think he'll also recover all his strength in the process too, so... concentrate on the real one. When you start to get low on health, there's a first aid kit at the right edge of the screen (but don't go there until you need it, as once it's appeared on-screen, it'll only stay for a little while before disappearing)... When you get the real Shampoo's father down to zero health, the screen goes white, and when your eyes focus again, you're in a different location, Shampoo's father has regained all his strength, and you're still fighting three of them. Once again, concentrate on the real one. Also, this location also has a first aid kit at the right edge of the screen, so take advantage of that if you need to... This time, when you get him down to zero health, he falls, defeated (whew!). Congratulations! You've just won the game! Now sit back and enjoy the ending... EXTRAS: After the Ending: After the ending song has ended and the last few credits have been displayed, I think if you hit a button (although it might have been to wait for a while...), the ending song will play again, and a special message (in Japanese) will roll up the screen. Thanks and stuff. It also tells you about a secret Video Mode (for lack of anything better to call it) where you can view all the story bits and other animated shorts that are used in the game. Which means you don't have to play through the game with all possibilities of male and female Ranmas to see all the differences. Also, I think it also allows you to select any single stage to play (just that section), if you want to practice a particular battle or section or something... Anyhow... Activating Video Mode: You'll have to reset the game to do this. But as the game is loading, and before the Masiya logo appears, hold down Button II and Joystick Right (II + right (hold both)). When the Masiya logo appears, instead of just the normal Masiya logo, Masiya Pegases (is that the plural of "Pegasus"?) will fill the entire screen. Now, when the Ranma title screen appears (you can skip the intro by hitting the Run button -- won't affect anything...), hold down Button II, Joystick Left, and Select, then hit Button I (II + left + select (hold all three), I). That should do it... Enjoy! KAO PASS CODES: Here follow the codes for skipping to each of the eight parts. Since I identify them by character, I realized that without knowledge of which character is which, or of the order of them in the character wheel, these won't do you much good... Sorry about that. I'll get around to being a bit more detailed when I revise this entire review... But as for right now, I'll just list them as I noted them. The codes are made up of three characters, one the head, one the torso, and one the legs. So here they are: Part I Part II Part III Part IV Kodachi Kodachi Shampoo Shampoo Akane Akane Kuno Kodachi Ryoga Ranma (m) Genma (p) Tofu Part V Part VI Part VII Part VIII Shampoo Kasumi Genma (h) Genma (h) Tofu Shampoo Ryoga Tofu Ryoga Ranma (m) Genma (p) Soun Hope that helps some!