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This is certainly one of the most underplayed Capcom titles. The is so much to this gme, scoring tricks, multiple allies, hidden routes, and its one of the only games besides Knights of the Round to unite both No Miss 'super' players and score attack players alike, as the score is linked to your characters health level.

Here are two excellent Japanese superplays. The US ver replay by player 'George' is the one to watch, showcases the elete scoring, ally power -up and other tricks. He has a Lvl8 Thief by floor 7, Max (10) Vitality Level by floor 33 and a Lvl8 Knight soon after!!
The Jp ver replay by player'Onz' is quite sloppy, but does show some interesting scoring tricks, like if you jump over the Moai Heads and hit them from behind, they yield 8000pt coins, and shows the floor 30 Wizard's Rocks 1m point scoring trick.

Everthing you need to watch is contained in download pack:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TIYSN8IQ
*Question: Player George has a technique where he waits for a Thief to try to steal an unclaimed Item, then hits him and gets him to ally. This allows him to power-up his Thief superfast. How is this done? I tried hitting him and crouching, what am i doing wrong?

Allies:
There is some debate, but to me the Thief is certainly the best Ally. As described in this excellnt page:
http://www.rygar.info/a4e/msword/npc.htm
the Thief can not only identify hidden and boobytrapped chests, but his Bombs do excellent splash damage, and can arc over the top of platforms and walls. These are all extremely usefull and make him better than the Lizardman imo. The Knight certainly in the top 3 too.
I personaly play with the Priest, who is generaly regarded as one of the worst characters. I picked him up because I had learned Midnight Wanderers (from Capcom's Three Wonders)before this game, and the best 'Option' Ally in the game plays just like the Priest, so I got used to waiting for the homing shots to charge. Would be gret in a 2p game paired with the Lizardman.

Misc Info:
You level up your Ally by joining another of the same type, and picking up Red Heart Items.
Hitting Food Faries before they fly away wil yield a fourth food item.
The Necklace will double your scoring, the on screen display will remain the same for point iems, but your score will display the true figure.
Mummies and Lizardmen will always yield food items if you are carrying the magic scroll item.
Page detailing all the Items:
http://www.rygar.info/a4e/msword/score.htm

Info on the Secret Doors from: http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php ... il&id=1439
* Secret Doors :
Floor 7 - When you enter the floor, walk left and hit the column. warp to level 11.
Floor 17 - Slash the left side of the last arch. Warps to floor 20.
Floor 21 - Between the imprisoned (knight) and the exit, jump left from the elevated ground while slashing. Warp to floor 24.
Floor 28 - Crouch on the platform above the first pool of acid and slash the space in the middle. Enters RED floors 29 to 32.
Floor 34 - Jump and slash the left side of the the fourth pair of hanging pillars. Warps to floor 36.
Floor 39 - Slash the ledge immediately to the left of the first door after the pit of fire. Warps to floor 42.
Floor 40 - Crouch and slash the space above the ledge before the first pit of spikes. Enters RED floors 41 to 46.

An alternate view on Allies and othe point scoring tips from: http://rcatt.classicgaming.gamespy.com/index.htm
There are three stages I feel one needs to take to finish the game on one quarter:
FOOD: The duration of your game depends on your vitality and your vitality depends on how much food you can get. There are several tricks to accomplish this.

Magic Scroll. Definitely the most important item in the game you could have. Unfortunately you can have it for only 2 levels per find. As stated before it allows better probability of food being dropped from monsters. The scroll is hard to find at the low levels(1-20+) so you have to depend on surviving for a while.

The absolute BEST time in the game to have the scroll is, I think, level 33. The level with the swarms of Jellyfish. With average luck and prayers you can get 2 or 3 lobsters, and about 4 or 5 smaller food values like mushrooms and tomatoes. I've managed to get 3 FULL vitality levels (not bars) just from those jellyfish alone!

The tough part is acquiring this very lifesaver (Scroll). The only way, besides hoping the ninja on that level has one(100-1), is to acquire one from the previous level, #32. To do this you have to hope and PRAY one of the Samurai gives you one when you kill them. This will not always work. There is however, an alternative way of getting a scroll. It is on level 32 of the ALTERNATIVE path that one can be GUARANTEED a magic scroll. The hard part then is keeping it to when you need it for the jellyfish. All those stupid skeletons dropping crystal balls can be a pain.

Alternative paths. Take those RED levels!!! Sure they're more harder, but oh, that food at the later levels as well as the points are REALLY nice down the stretch. I can't remember the last game I've played where I have taken the regular route.

Earlier Levels. Master those levels! Find every nook and cranny where food can be found. Don't get hit! Build your Vitality! By level 28, I've managed to get 7 FULL vitality levels (not bars).

COMPANION CHOICE: Of the 8 different companions to chose from I will list them in the order of which I see is most valuable for survival.
Lizard Man. Best in the game by far. His shot speed along with power makes him ESSENTIAL for certain Bossmonsters.
Thief. His bombs are great but knowing where those randomly placed trapped chests are is a definite boon. Build him from the VERY start.
Knight. Supposedly the best in the game. His shot speed is lacking and the opportunity to increase his levels is awkward and not well placed except at level 48 when he is guaranteed level 8.
The others. Not worth taking EVER unless you want variety or a challenge. Try winning with the priest from ground zero. It's a bitch!

POINT MAXIMIZATION: Only through learning the previous 2 steps can this one ever be contemplated. Whenever you find a necklace, grab it! Milk the 2 levels you have it of ALL its points! Through the use of this, and learning where all the Blue Gems(flames) are you can get scores over 5,000,000. If you include the Diamond, 6 Mil.

MIND-BLOWING SCORES FROM HELL: Level 47. That's all there is to it. As long as you have a good amount of vitality(3+) you can grab the necklace and WREAK HAVOC on points. The biggest thing to note is that a necklace is available on this level. Grab it and go back to the platform at the beginning of the level and wait for those weird things with the floating skulls around them to appear. Give a blast of Magic (hit both buttons).

All the skulls turn into 8000 pt coins(16000 if you have the necklace). Repeat until time is running out or you are almost dead. The next level has SOOOO much food you can still easily finish the game. Using this method I've been able to get scores over 8 MILLION! With my personal high being 8,850,000 points. I might add that this is WITHOUT knowing about the 1 mil. diamond (mentioned below).

An extra 1,000,000 points is available on blue level 30: there is a wizard there who levitates rocks. Jump and sword him once, and then when he causes the rocks, to appear use magic (both buttons) to turn the rocks into 8K gold pieces. You can do this until time runs out.
On level 47, pick up the double-point necklace, then use magic to destroy the wizard that keeps appearing (but wait till the instant the skulls around him materialize). They'll all turn into 8K GP's, doubled by your necklace. If you don't get hit by any of the dogs or red ghosts you can break even on this, since a food fairy appears just about every time you repeat this twice.
On level 49, bring the enemy as far to the left in the level as it's possible to go. Then kill him. While you're immune (for about 5 seconds after it dies), jump into the spikes to your left and open the far left chest. There's a jewel inside, worth 1 million pts.
The best way to get it is to kill the chimera (nasty dragon thingy) on the left side of the level and walk safely through the spikes while the screen vibrates.

Any other Magic Sword fans here?

cool magic sword info but can you find the direct link instead of this one

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TIYSN8IQ

all i get is crap adds and pron when i click on it... or if it actualy has the rom in the download please remove it...

EDIT:
here are some marp magic sword links
http://marp.retrogames.com/index.cgi?mo ... xlines=999

DEFCON=5

Crayfish wrote:*Question: Player George has a technique where he waits for a Thief to try to steal an unclaimed Item, then hits him and gets him to ally. This allows him to power-up his Thief superfast. How is this done? I tried hitting him and crouching, what am i doing wrong?

Ring has the power force to be friend not only for lizard men but also theives.
Thieves sometimes drop pendant. and is the clue to make high score.

Some TIPS.
1. Pendant is the best ITEM. floor 31 and 33 are very exceptional floor, only those two, scroll is more useful.
2. If you try to make high-score, you had not better to go RED floor.
blue 30F and blue 45F are over million points score improve spots.
and red floor does not have the floor like these.
3. Call thives as possible. increase 2 level up. you can get all black hearts. 8000 points are not cheap.

12 million is not difficult for normal player like me.
so I will teach some tecnique as possible.
do not blame my poor language, If you do, I will write tips by "my mother language!!"

DEFCON=7
Floor 0:Never damaging. Big man is stronger and Amazon is faster.I think amazon is better.
Floor 1:2F-3F are cheap to improve score. you may warp into 4F.
Floor 2:Kill statue from back.(8K) either of platinum proson is trap.
If you find amazon, never open the other. (platinum key gives you good score)
Floor 3:Be careful. dogs are weak. but you and your companion is much weaker.
Floor 4:make pattern to kill fast. Amazon L4 is stronger than thief L2.
Floor 5:kill many bats to get ring.you should call thieves as possible.
Floor 6:8K coin is good to call thief.
Floor 7:you should control your score. not to appear 600K fairy at spike of 9F.
Floor 8:same as 5F.rizard man sometimes 80K gem.
Floor 9:you should get 80K gem and fan.
Floor 10:If knight drop(9F's) the best shield, you must ignore light shield now. and it is only one exceptional case that ignore shield of all this game.
(50000x2 at 12F is bigger than 50000 at 10F+20000x2 at 12F)
Floor 11:you may postpone to get 30K coin after get pendant.
Floor 12:right side is safety spot.(sometimes fail.if you feel danger,use flash)
Floor 13:get shield and escape.
Floor 14:kill dogs until get ring. and call thief. if he drops pendant, 380K points are yours. of course not to get shield and 2 hidden gems until this trial.
and with pendant,you may think warp into 19F and get 80000x3x2 is reasonable.
yes. it is not so bad choice. but I think 15-18F give you 240K or more.
Floor 15:If you have scroll/pendant, zombies give you good score.
(1 bar life =20000 points)
Floor 16:play carefully. you should understand when fairy will come.
(300K,600K,900K,1.3M,1.7M...400K every)
Floor 17:if gold and shilver door is near, then open both at time.
you can get scissors and help same friend quickly,you can get 60K points without level drain.
Floor 18:use flash at first.it destroy all traps of arrow.
Floor 19:Kill baby dragon first.sometimes they drop scroll.never forget 3 80K gems.
Floor 20:If you have scroll, kill many mummy.they drop foods offen.
Floor 21:warp into 24F is not bad choice.if you do or not, never forget to kill last blue spirits. they sometimes drop stone(call fairly)
Floor 22:red serpent drops stones often. golem sometimes drops 80K gem. play careful.
Floor 23: One of the chepest floor of all. never waste time.
Floor 24:Get heart before boss battle.
Floor 25:you should kill many bats. platinum key is important. and ring is also.
Floor 26:last position is very good place to make score. if you have priest.
(I know you didnot). kill many scorpion. sometimes drops mashroom.
Floor 27:kill many scorpion to mashroom.
Floor 28: NEVER ENTER DOOR OF RED FLOORS. kill serpent carefully. they drop robster often.
Floor 29:get last robster.
Floor 30: BIG FLOOR. I will write detail later.
After30F, Good players should above 4 million points.
Floor 31:jelly fish drops robster often.
Floor 32:After get scroll, you should ignore ring and call thief. Here and 38F are exceptional floor, give up to call thief.
Floor 33:kill all jellyfish with scroll. good for recovery floor.
Floor 34:big choice.you may get all item with pendant and exit into 35F,and you may get all item with pendant and warp to 36F.
warp to 36F,kingdragon's score and 80K gem score will be twice.
If wizard and lizard man of 35F do not drop any gem and scissors, 36F warp is superior.
Floor 35:you should get scissors if rizard man drops it. 120K is so big.
Floor 36:if you warp from 34F, careful. not to get any stupid item (gauntlets od blue potion)
Floor 37:Hidden star at top of the goal.(100K points).kill many bats and get ring. rizard man drops gem/scissors(80K/60K). after do it,you should call thief. of course postpone to get gem and 100Kstar until thief trial.
Floor 38:Pendant is very useful. after get pendant, you should give up to get ring.
ring appears faster, then call thief/rizard man.
Floor 39:get golem's item. even if it is scissors. This floor has 7 level thief.
Floor 40:same as 28F. RED floor is the way of loser.
Floor 41:play carefully.you may use flush if you feel danger.
Floor 42:all conpanion are LEVEL 8. never open platinum door. all traps.
Floor 43:scorpions do not drop any worthy item.carefully.
Floor 44:Ninja sometimes drop scroll.never open platinum door. trap.
Floor 45: Big floor 2. write detail later. (7+ million points)
Floor 46:use flash at first to elase trap.
Floor 47: Big floor 3:write detail later. (11+ million points)
Floor 48:restore your life. when your life number is "zero",companion drops item BETTER one than when it of life is "1 or more".
Floor 49:not only get 1M diamond, but also 60K scissors and 80K gem.
Floor 50:just kill the boss.

Floor 30.
Best companion is LV8 ninja.LV 7-8 thief is also good.
rizard man is very poor at here.

Repeat this.
1. hit your companion's attack into necromanser.
2. use flash when stones rise.
each flsh makes 96,900 points. and zombies scores are also good.
If you want to try to get ultimate score, you have to get scroll first.
and kill necromanser by your sword at first.
if you have luck, he will drop the ring.
and call thief using magic book which set on the middle of 30F map.
and hope that thief will drop the pendant.
you will success once of 8 times, but if you do this, your score will be added about 1 million points more.
If you fail, you just will lost scroll at 31F. big disadvantage.
but you should try.

If you get pendant here, it will be more useful than scroll.
twice score,twice fairy. you may use all vitality number here.
you can get 3 million points at 30F when you have luck.


45F
important floor. you can get 1.5 million points. but it cost 2-3 vitality.
(not bar but number).
when you time out, then you should exit this floor.
because 47F is more valuable floor to make score.

if you want to get ultimate score, thief of 42F MUST drop the ring.
and use it to call the thief at 43F. he also MUST drop the ring.
and thief of 44F must drop the pendant.
require third power of miracle.(success once of 512 chances)
it is worth more than 2 million points.
(I think when I have pendant at 45F, 15 million is not so difficult).


47F
Pendant was set by default.
you must use all your vitality here.(48F is recovary floor.)
everyone know that how important this floor is.
you can get 3+ million here.

nice. this definitelyfalls under the "leeching allowed" games, again because of the timer syst4m placing a limit on it. scoring is by both being good and knowing where to leech here.