Dark Arms - Beast Buster 1999
-----------------------------

Weapons & Monster Guide
-----------------------

Index

1.0     Revion History
2.0     Copyright Information
3.0     Introduction
4.0     Weapons
    4.1 Introduction to weapons
    4.2 Creating a weapon
    4.3 Advancing & Evolving
    4.4 Weapons List
    4.5 Evolution Chart
    4.6 Seed Locations
5.0     Monsters
    5.1 Monster List
    5.2 Food Pages
6.0     FAQ
7.0     Walkthrough
    7.1 Getting Started
    7.2 Dark Grab - getting your first seed
    7.3 Dark Grab - Collecting Oum & Seeds
    7.4 Rest Hamlet
    7.5 Schatten Village
    7.6 Fate Tower
    7.7 The 9 White Witches
    7.8 Wandering Town
    7.9 Basement
8.0     Future Releases
9.0     Thanks to ...
10.0    Contact Information

1.0 Revision History

20th July 2000

Final, Final Version

OK, so I lied a little.  This is my last update.  I have removed all the maps 
from this copy of the guide.  I tend to believe that it should be all or 
nothing, as I won't be updating the maps then I decided to remove them instead.

I have also tidied the document up a little using wordrap, so you should be able 
to read this guide properly.

I have removed the offer of this guide being updated by anyone else.

Finally this document is now opened up as public domain.  If you want to post 
this guide on your site, feel free.  BUT this guide can not be placed on a pay 
site, sold with copies of the game or sold on it's own.


5th July 2000

Final Version (by me anyway)

There is no update in this version as such.  Basically I am no longer planning 
on updating this guide anymore.  The main reason being as I no longer enjoy 
playing this game.  I found after playing through it several times it just got 
boring, especially as the game never really ends.

7th May 2000

V1.01
Long time no update.  Sorry about that.  Anyway I have made this version 1.01.  
There is an almost complete monster list thanks to Tom Rossi from his aborted 
FAQ.  I have also added most of Schatten Town.  I just need to complete Schatten 
Town, and then I can start on Fate Tower and the Basement.  I will need to 
restart the game to do the Wandering Town.

2.0 Copyright information

Dark Arms, all weapon names and all monster names are the copyright of SNK 
Corporation.  This guide is owned by Paul Keating and as such can not be 
modified, changed or altered in any way, shape or form without the express 
permission of Paul Keating.

3.0 Introduction

Dark Arms is a virtual pet game with one or two minor differences. First of it 
is not a pokemon, dragon warrior monster or any other type of monster you are 
trying to raise but a weapon.  Also, as the focus is on the weapons the game is 
not a turn based RPG but an action RPG where you actively catch the monsters. 
Although not as good as the aforementioned Pokem or DWM it is still a fun little 
game in it self.

This guide is intended as to help you raise your weapons by letting you know 
what each weapon can ultimately evolve into and what monsters there are out 
there.

4.0 Weapons

4.1 Introduction to weapons

The whole idea behind Dark Arms is to try and raise the ultimate weapon.  To do 
this you need several things to help you get started:

    An Egg
    An Oum
    Food

The eggs are generally found by killing boss monsters or in certain parts of 
dungeons.  Like the eggs, oum are found in dungeons.  Food is everywhere, these 
are the monsters you kill using your catcher weapon.

4.2 Creating a weapon

Once you have both an egg and an oum you can go to the master and speak to him.  
Select the first option he gives you, modifying a weapon.  This will open a new 
screen showing all the weapons and eggs you have (10 in total).  Select the egg, 
you will now be taken to a new screen showing all the oum you have.  Each oum 
has a different style, such as the handgun, mano, swingt and so on. Choose the 
oum and it will show you the weapon it will give, OK this. Congratulations, you 
have created your first weapon.

4.3 Advancing & Evolving

Once you have created a weapon, you will want to make it more powerful.  There 
are two ways you can go about this.  Either increase the level of the weapon or 
evolve the weapon.

Increasing the experience of the weapon is a simple task.  In the masters house, 
speak to the master.  Select the second option he gives you.  This allows you to 
equip the weapon for use.  You can equip up to 3 weapons on you at any one time.  
Once you have equipped the weapon, go out to one of the levels and starting 
destroying the monsters.  When you leave the level you are awarded experience 
points to all the weapons you have equipped.  This applies whether you use the 
weapon or not.  When a certain amount of experience is reached the weapon goes 
up a level.  When the level is increased either the ATK or POW statistic gets 
raised, ultimately making for a more effective weapon.

To evolve the weapon is a bit more involving.  First go out and hunt some 
monsters using your catcher weapon.  When you have some monsters return to the 
masters house and go to the modify weapon screen.  Select the weapon you want to 
modify and then select the first option, Feed Weapon.  Here there will be a list 
of all the monsters you have hunted and caught (there are 10 pages in total) 
Selecting one of the monsters shows you a picture of the monster and the amount 
of EVP given.  This is important as it is the EVP that is used to raise the 
weapon to it's next evolution.  Each weapon has a EVP limit, which when it is 
reached will prepare the weapon for it's next form.  So start feeding your 
weapon the various monsters you have found.  When the EVP limit is reached a 
small arrow appears on the weapon icon, this means the weapon is ready to 
evolve.

To evolve your weapon you need to return to the screen where you were asked 
about feeding the weapon.  This time select evolve and then select the weapon to 
be evolved.  Generally there will only be one choice of evolution for a weapon, 
but in some cases, such as the hand gun there will be several options.  Select 
the icon for the weapon you want to evolve to and press the OK button. You will 
be told what it will evolve into and if this is OK.  You can make the final 
decision here, if you cancel you are returned to the previous screen otherwise 
you are shown the stats of the weapons.

One final point to bear in mind.  When on the feeding screen you will notice 
that certain monsters have an icon next to their name. This indicates what 
element they come from.  Feeding this monster to the weapon gives that weapon 
the element.  So feeding a fire keeper to your shotgun gives the shotgun a fire 
attack.  When you feed it again the monster will lose this element, unless the 
next monster has the same element.  There are three elements:

   Fire
   Water
   Electricity

4.4 Weapons List

The weapons list will show the following information:

Weapon Name - The name as given by the game
ATK - The atk rating the weapon starts at.  The ATK is the amount
      of damage the weapon can do.
POW - The pow rating the weapon starts at.  The POW is the energy
      bar used for the weapon.  The first number indicates the
      amount of POW used in a single shot.  The second number is
      the length of the bar.  So in a 40/255 POW rating you can
      fire six shots in rapid succesion before needing to recharge
      the gun.
EVP - The EVP needed to evolve the weapon
Evolves to - The weapon it will evolve to
Comments - These are comments about the effectiveness of the weapon.

There is a total of 31 Unique weapons.  But with element variation this brings 
the total to 124 weapons.  There are ten final evolutions.  There are also ten 
seeds located around the various dungeons and towns of the Dark Realm.

Ambusher
ATK: 25
POW: 60/255
Evolves to:
Comments:  An unusual weapon.  This acts like the C4 in metal gear solid.  When 
you fire the ambuser it drops and hides where it lands.  When you press fire 
again the ambusher appears hitting anything near or around it.  Not particularly 
useful.

Attackdummy
ATK: 15
POW: 50/255
EVP: 400
Evolves to: Burst Dummy
Comments:  Like the dummy, this creates a duplicate of you that again wanders 
of.  This time though it also has the ability to attack.

Beam Gun
ATK: 8
POW: 50/255
EVP: 500
Evolves to: Vanisher
Comments:  Fires a single beam of energy.  This is quite a good weapon, the ATK 
rating is quite high.  There are two real advantages to this weapon, it can fire 
the full length of the screen and that when the beam hits a monster it caries on 
right through the monster and hits anything else in it's path.

Bombshell
ATK:  20
POW:  60/255
EVP:  ---
Evolves to:  ---
Comments:  Similar to the shell, energy swills around you. When you fire the 
weapon an energy beam fires.  When the beam hits it's target or reaches its 
maximum range it explodes.  Extremely useful for clearing large areas of 
monsters.  Final Form

Burstdummy
ATK: 50
POW: 80/255
EVP: 800
Evolves to: Dummytrap
Comments:  Again another duplicate that wanders around the screen.  This time 
when you press the attack button the duplicate explodes causing some hefty 
damage.  Keep an eye on the POW meter though, as it won't explode if your POW 
gets below 80.

Catcher
ATK: --
POW: --
EVP: --
Evolves to: --
Comments:  This is the weapon given to you at the beginning of the game.  
Although weaker than all the other weapons you will come across, this is vital 
to beating the game.  Any monster killed with this weapon is caught as food.  
This is upgraded later in the game.

Counterstab
ATK: 30
POW: 99/255
EVP: ---
Evolves to: ---
Comments: When activate a skull appears in front of you. While the skull is 
there, when you are attacked this will counterattack.  Pretty useless as either 
a) you have to take damage before inflicting damage b) the weapon tends to 
disappear before you can get any use out of it.

Crawler
ATK: 20
POW: 50/255
EVP: 300
Evolves to: Ambusher
Comments: The tentacles of the SwingT now actually leave your body.  The move 
half way across the screen hitting everything in it's path and then returns to 
you.

Dummy
ATK:  10
POW:  40/255
EVP:  200
Evolves to:  Attackdummy
Comments:  Creates a duplicate that wanders of in the opposite direction.  All 
monsters near by will go after the dummy instead of you.  Quite a good 
distraction.

Dummytrap
ATK:  100
POW:  99/255
EVP:  ---
Evolves to:  ---
Comments:  Again similar to the Burstdummy, but this time does twice the damage 
over a slightly larger area.
Final Form.  The dummy trap has the ability to capture monsters, making this the 
only other weapon that can catch monsters.


Hand Gun
ATK: 2
POW: 40/255
EVP: 100
Evolves to: Sub M Gun
            Beam Gun
            Sub Shotgun
Comments: This is the first weapon you will get. Fires a single bullet, exactly 
the same as the catcher.  In fact you are better off using the catcher for a 
while at first. Keep this weapon equipped though as it gets more useful in the 
higher levels.  Unfortunately as it gets anywhere near the higher levels you 
will probably be ready to evolve to a far more useful weapon.

Machinegun
ATK: 20
POW: 40/255
EVP: 600
Evolves to: Protectmgun
Comments:  An increase in the ammount of bullets that are fired  You now get 
three bullets fired.  Also carries on after hitting it's target.  You can no hit 
multiple targets.

Mano
ATK: 10
POW: 40/255
EVP: 200
Evolves to:  Strongmano
Comments:  This is a close range weapon.  It punches straight forward.  Useful 
in crowded areas due to it's high ATK rating.

Messer
ATK:  10
POW:  50/255
EVP:  200
Evolves to:  Strongmesser
Comments:  A short range blade that circles around you completley.  Useful for 
large ammounts of monsters that get in close.

Movetasten
ATK:  25
POW:  50/255
EVP:  ---
Evolves to:  ---
Comments:  The shield has been increased and the spike enlarged.  Also the 
length of the dash has been extended.
Final Form

Protectmgun
ATK:  20
POW:  40/255
EVP:  ---
Evolves to:  ---
Comments:  Similar to the protectsgun.  You get an increase in the range of the 
bullets and also armour which absorbs some damage.  Final Form

Protectsgun
ATK:  15
POW:  40/255
EVP:  ---
Evolves to:  ---
Comments:  Basicly a more powerful version of the Shotgun. The real addition 
here is that you are now encased in armour which absorbs some of the damage you 
take.  Final Form.

RoundT
ATK:  25
POW:  50/255
EVP:  ---
Evolves to:  ---
Comments:  Extended range of the tentacles.  They also now rotate through 360 
degrees.  Extremely useful.  Final Form.

Scamper
ATK:  30
POW:  60/255
EVP:  ---
Evolves to:  ---
Comments:  Similar to the ambusher, but when the scamper is activated it not 
only ambushes the target but also wander around attacking any other targets near 
by.  Final Form.

Shell
ATK:  15
POW:  60/255
EVP:  500
Evolves to:  Bombshell
Comments:  Energy swirls around you.  When you press the fire button the energy 
fires in the direction you are facing

Shotgun
ATK: 10
POW: 40/255
EVP: 600
Evolves to: Protectsgun
Comments: Better than the sub shotgun, this now fires in three different 
directions.  Allows for some pretty nifty sharp shooting.

Shovedmano
ATK: 25
POW: 50/255
EVP: ---
Evolves to: ---
Comments: This is the final form of the mano weapons. Not only is it more 
powerful than the Strongmano, it also pushes the enemy away from you.  An 
extremely good weapon for catching the more powerful monsters as the time you 
get allows you to switch back to the catcher.

Strongmano
ATK: 18
POW: 40/255
EVP: 500
Evolves to: Shovedmano
Comments: An extended version of the original mano weapon. Also hits the monster 
twice now.  The extra strenght makes this a formidable weapon.

Strongmesser
ATK:  15
POW:  40/255
EVP:  500
Evolves to: Counterstab
Comments:  Unlike the messer, this is a long range blade attack (similar to the 
strongmano).  But if you change direction while the blade is extended, the blade 
swings around with you.

Sub M Gun
ATK: 8
POW: 40/255
EVP: 300
Evolves to: Machinegun
Comments:  Fires a burst of two bullets.  Unlike the beam weapon each bullet 
stops at the target.  Not used this weapon to much, so I will update this 
further at a later date.

Sub Shotgun
ATK: 6
POW: 40/255
EVP: 300
Evolves to:
Comments:  Probably the most useful of the three handgun evolutions.  The 
shotgun fires two bullets in a 30-degree angle.  OK so the bullets don't travel 
straight but in most levels the monsters are scattered.  With a bit of timing 
you can utilise both bullets.

Supertasten
ATK:  18
POW:  40/255
EVP:  500
Evolves to:  Movetasten
Comments:  This creates a larger shield in front of you. The dash has been 
extended as well.  Finally you will now dash through the enemies, meaning you 
can hit multiple targets.  Be careful though, if you stop on top of a monster 
then you will take some damage.

SwingT
ATK: 8
POW: 50/255
EVP: 100
Evolves to: Crawler
            Tentacles
            Shell
Comments: Another close range weapon.  Unlike the Mano, which punches in one 
direction, this attack sweeps around you in a semi circle.  Another useful one 
for large groups of monsters.

Tasten
ATK:  10
POW:  40/255
EVP:  200
Evolves to:  Supertasten
Comments:  Creates a shield in front of you.  When you press the attack button 
you will dash a short distance across the screen.  When you hit a target you 
will stop.  Of limited use, but the evolutions are better.

Tentacle
ATK:  15
POW:  30/255
EVP:  300
Evolves to:  WideT
Comments:  Similar to the Mano.  A large block of tentacles extend out in from 
of you.

Vanisher
ATK:
POW:
EVP: ---
Evolves to:---
Comments:  This is as far as the Beam weapons will evolve. When fired the weapon 
turns you invisible.  The power bar will slowly decrease and when it empties out 
you stop being invisible.  You can fire a beam weapon while you are invisible 
but switching to another weapon cancels the invisibility. This weapon is 
actually more useful than I first thought. While you are invisible you can 
actually touch the monsters and not get hit.

WideT
ATK: ??
POW: ??
EVP: 600
Evolves to: RoundT
Comments:  Again, like the mano series, this is just an extended version of the 
basic Tentacle attack.

4.5 Evolution Chart

The following should give you some idea of the path taken to evolve the weapons.

         /-- Sub M Gun    -- Machinegun --  Protectmgun
Hand Gun --- Beam Gun     -- Vanisher
         \-- Sub Shotgun  -- Shotgun    --  Protects Gun

Mano     --- Strongmano   -- Shovedmano

         /-- Crawler      -- Ambusher   --  Scamper
SwingT   --- Tentacles    -- Widet      --  RoundT
         \-- Shell        -- Bombshell

Dummy    --- Attackdummy  -- Burstdummy --  Dummytrap

Tasten   --- Supertasten  -- Movetasten

Messer   --- Strongmesser -- Counterstab

4.6 Seed Locations

This is a list of locations for ten of the seeds.

I think that 10 is the maximum number of seeds that can be found, based on the 
fact that there is ten different weapon evolutions. 

Dark Grab

The first two seeds are located in the shrine in the main graveyard. This shrine 
is only open at night.  You can get the first one when the master sends you 
there at the beginning of the game.  The second one becomes available after 
completing the Dark Grab area, when you have obtained the three oum.

Rest Hamlet

There are three seeds located in the Rest Hamlet.  The first one is hidden in a 
house in the first half of the hamlet itself.  The house is the one immediatly 
above the entrance as you enter.  It is hidden in one of the cupboards.

The second seed is dropped by the vampire in the mansion's gardens. Destroy him 
and collect the seed.

The final seed can only be obtained when you have defeated the master in Fate 
Tower.  After defeating him return to the village area of Rest Hamlet.  Talk to 
every one and they will tell you that a demon has awoken.  This will open up the 
blocked area in the entrance to the Rest Hamlet.  Enter here and go up to the 
second new area.  In here is a giant skeleton monster.  Destroy him and his head 
will fall of.  Shoot the head and it will reveal another seed.

Fate Tower

Another two seeds here.

In the first room where you have to shoot the witches to activate the platforms, 
destroy the first four witches.  This will give you full access to the left-hand 
side.  Go up to where the fifth witch is and take care of her.  Now half way 
across the top wall is an area of the wall that can be shot.  Destroy it to get 
the third seed.

The second seed is only available after defeating the dark master. Return to the 
room where the dark master was, it will now look like a lab.  In the center of 
the room is another seed.

Wandering Town

This is the final seed that I know of.  Half way through the town you will face 
another vampire.  Kill him and he will drop another seed. I would advise 
collecting this immediately as the wandering town leaves as soon as you complete 
it.

5.0 Monsters

Key(Explanation of abbreviations)
1)The number of the monster as it appears in the beastiary followed by a
name
Life:The range of numbers that the beasts hit points will fall between
EXP:The number of experience points that are awarded to your weapon
EVP:The number of Evolution points awarded to your weapon
ATR:The attribute for the beast either fire, ice, electricity or none
Desc:A brief description of the beast as it appears in the game.
 
1)Zombie
Life:6-36
EXP:5
EVP:1
ATR:None
 
Desc:A heavily decayed reanimated corpse
 
2)Skeleton
Life:15-45
EXP:10
EVP:2
ATR:ICE
 
Desc:Reanimated Bones
 
3)Sly Ghost
Life:10-40
EXP:15
EVP:4
ATR:Fire
 
Desc:Grudge-holding phantom.  Amazingly cunning
 
4)Fire Keeper
Life:10-40
EXP:20
EVP:4
ATR:Fire
 
Desc:Attacks anything that threatens fire
 
5)Bat
Life:3-33
EXP:6
EVP:2
ATR:None
 
Desc:Starving bat. Will do anything to get food.  Loves human blood
 
6)Red Knight
Life:24-54
EXP:20
EVP:6
ATR:Fire
 
Desc:Color Altered due to blood of victims.  Armor missing a master.
 
7)Blue Knight
Life:24-54
EXP:20
EVP:6
ATR:Ice
 
Desc:Empty Armor with only master's cold spirit still remaining
 
8)Death Hand
Life:100-130
EXP:100
EVP:25
ATR:Fire
 
Desc:Hell's minion, bringer of death... guaranteed death.
 
9)Rat
Life:1-31
EXP:7
EVP:1
ATR:None
 
Desc:Enormous, hideous rat.  Possibly small and cute in the past.
 
10)Stone Golem
Life:36-66
EXP:20
EVP:6
ATR:None
 
Desc:Made of stone inancient times to protect humans, but has lost that power
 
11)Mummy
Life:20-50
EXP:10
EVP:5
ATR:Ice
 
Desc:Evil reanimated corpse, buried in ancient times

12)Skull Mania
Life:40-70
EXP:15
EVP:6
ATR:Fire
 
Desc:Tomb-raiding ghoul.  Almost looks human.
 
13)Werewolf
Life:40-70
EXP:30
EVP:6
ATR:Electricity
 
Desc:An otherwise nice guy, becomes hideous feral beast at night.
 
14)Lycanth Wolf
Life:12-42
EXP:10
EVP:3
ATR:None
 
Desc:Think it is just playing around, but its sharp fangs are deadly
 
15)Fat Man
Life:50-80
EXP:1
EVP:30
ATR:Fire
 
Desc:Greedy, Even after death, keeps fighting to protect it's assets
 
16)Mad Plant
Life:35-65
EXP:40
EVP:10
ATR:Ice
 
Desc:Giant experimental plant, was abandoned and grew naturally

17)Slasher
Life:35-65
EXP:10
EVP:15
ATR:Ice
 
Desc:Excited by ripping and tearing flesh with Phantom knife
 
18)Vampire
Life:300-330
EXP:300
EVP:40
ATR:Fire
 
Desc:Night-leading Vampire.  Also leads savage beasts

19)Undead
Life:15-45
EXP:8
EVP:3
ATR:None

Desc:Human-like reanimated corpse.
 
20)Policeman
Life:50-80
EXP:30
EVP:10
ATR:None
 
Desc:Ex-cop, has been recalled as beast
 
21)Performer
Life:40-70
EXP:15
EVP:18
ATR:Fire
 
Desc:Anxious to use circus-aquired skills
 
22)Cruel Doll
Life:45-75
EXP:35
EVP:10
ATR:Ice
 
Desc:Grudge-holding doll, once abandoned by a human.  Burning with revenge
 
23)Killer Bee
Life:1-31
EXP:10
EVP:3
ATR:Electricity
 
Desc:Human-attacking bee, constantly in fear and watching its surroundings

24)Mafuto
Life:90-120
EXP:50
EVP:16
ATR:Electricity
 
Desc:Beast reanimated without realizing it.  Has lost all emotion
 
25)Pudding
Life:10-40
EXP:10
EVP:4
ATR:None
 
Desc:Constantly changes shape, hard to see what it really looks like. Low IQ.
 
26)Shadow
Life:30-60
EXP:20
EVP:4
ATR:None
 
Desc:Formless Shadow.  Reason for emergence unknown
 
27)Green Knight
Life:40-70
EXP:20
EVP:8
ATR:None
 
Desc:Armor previously owned by famous nobleman, now wandering aimlessly
 
28)Ice Witch
Life:30-60
EXP:40
EVP:8
ATR:Ice
 
Desc:Witch with ice force capable of controlling ice.
 
29)Electrified
Life:10-40
EXP:15
EVP:5
ATR:Electricity
 
Desc:Has electrified body. Slightest touch results in electric shock.
 
30)Freezie
Life:10-40
EXP:10
EVP:5
ATR:Ice
 
Desc:Pudding-like creature, has somehow aquired mysterious ice force
 
31)Chariot
Life:80-110
EXP:70
EVP:1
ATR:Electricity
 
Desc:Dead arms merchant reanimated as electrically driven tank
 
32)Fire Witch(need data)
Life:
EXP:
EVP:
ATR:
 
Desc:
 
33Petite Head
Life:30-60
EXP:30
EVP:6
ATR:None
 
Desc:Has empty pumpkin head.  Easy-going fellow.

34)Fire Wolf
Life:40-70
EXP:25
EVP:10
ATR:Fire
 
Desc:Originally a werewolf, now surrounded by a fire force
 
35)Sprite
Life:10-40
EXP:30
EVP:8
ATR:None
 
Desc:Tiny beast without own will.  Obeys orders
 
36)Tarantula
Life:80-110
EXP:70
EVP:20
ATR:None
 
Desc:Loathed Spiders, but was cursed by spiders to look like one after death.
 
37)Demon
Life:300-330
EXP:600
EVP:100
ATR:Ice
 
Desc:Hell-Beast clawing its way out of the ground. Leads the undead
 
38)Fairy
Life:20-50
EXP:40
EVP:10
ATR:None
 
Desc:Actually not a fairy, but a bunch of vicious sprites.
 
39)Thunder Witch
Life:40-70
EXP:45
EVP:8
ATR:Electricity
 
Desc:Witch with electric force. Generates electricity within body.

40)Pumpkin Head
Life:50-80
EXP:50
EVP:15
ATR:Fire
 
Desc:Loves nightime, has growing head with increasing attacking abilities.

41)White Vamp(need data)
 
42)Spunky(data needed)
 
43)Chilly
Life:20-50
EXP:30
EVP:8
ATR:Ice
 
Desc:Collection of grudges left by lonely people in the land of the living.

44)Black Knight
Life:50-80
EXP:60
EVP:10
ATR:Electricity
 
Desc:Armor darkened by the evil sprite residing within.
 
45)Ice Keeper
Life:30-60
EXP:25
EVP:8
ATR:Ice
 
Desc:Wears ice like armor to protect the ice.  will perish without ice.
 
46)Medusa
 
47)The Arm
Life:500-530
EXP:1500
EVP:0
ATR:None
 
Desc:Has now become a powerful beast by integrating itself with the Master.

6.0 FAQ

Q. If all the attributes are lost at evolution, what is the point of leveling up 
a weapon.

A. At first I thought there wasn't one.  But after playing for a while I found 
out the real use.  For example, the Vanisher is a really useless weapon to start 
with, but raise it a few levels and you can find yourself staying invisible for 
longer.  Also once you  have a fully evolved weapon you can start making it more 
powerful by raising the levels.

7.0 Walkthrough

7.1 Getting Started

Before you enter the world of the Dark Realm you have to talk to the master and 
tell him your name.  After entering your name he sends you of to collect a seed 
from the seed chamber in the Dark Graveyard [the game map calls it the Dark 
Grab, so I will call it this from now on to avoid any confusion].  Before you 
leave he gives you a catcher, this allows you to catch the monsters so you can 
feed them to your weapon.

Leave the masters house and enter the Dark Grab (the only other location you can 
go to at the moment).

7.2 Dark Grab - Getting your first seed.

Unlike all the other seeds in the game this one is pretty straightforward to 
collect.  It is currently night (and will stay night until you get the first 
seed) and there are monsters roaming the graveyard. 

Monsters: 3 Zombies
          2 Fire Keepers

These are relatively simply to take care of, just watch out for the fire keepers 
attack.  Head upto to the northern end of the graveyard and there are three 
exits.  At the moment the left and right exits are closed, but the middle exit 
is open (under the statue of the godess). Enter here.

There are no monsters to worry about here so just head north and grab the egg at 
the top of the screen.  The egg to the right can not be obtained yet so leave it 
for the time being.

Return to the masters house and he will explain about seeds, oum and creating 
weapons.  He will give you a handgun oum, so use it to create your first weapon.  
Don't forget to equip this weapon.  He will now explain that there are another 
two oum and another seed in the Dark Grab, so it looks like it is back to the 
Dark Grab for you.

7.3 Dark Grab - Collecting Oum & Seeds

So return to the Dark Grab.  I would spend some time catching monsters and 
attempting to upgradde your weapons now.  Also try and get a feel for the weapon 
and how powerful it can be.  You may not like to upgrade this weapon or it may 
be useless to you in it's current form.  [Refer to section 4.0 for more details 
on the weapons in the game].

Anyway when you are ready, it is time to get on with the mission.

When you return to the the exits to the left and right will now have opened up.  
There isn't much to do in the right hand exit so head to the left.  You will now 
enter the North Exit of the graveyard.

Here the area is divided by two, in the northern half is the exit which will 
open up the next section.  Unfortunately this is blocked at the moment.  So head 
to the left and you will come to the Graveyard Village.

You want to head to the house on the far right of the screen.  Kill the monsters 
and climb the stairs.  Up here you will find a man tied up and three skeletons 
roaming around.  Take care of these monsters and free the man.  He will give you 
a key to Tomb 1.  Leave the house.  You can have a look in Tomb 2, but there is 
nothing here of interest.  Head up to Tomb 1.

In tomb 1 there are four graves on the floor in a cross pattern.  Stand on the 
square in the centre of the cross pattern and the grave should open up revealing 
four skeletons.  Kill the skeletons and then leave Tomb 1. The door to Tomb 2 
should have closed and the door to Tomb 3 will have opened.  Enter Tomb 3.

Tomb 3 has several sections to it.  Head north and enter the next room. You will 
be shown a pattern on the floor briefly.  Try to memorise this. The patterns 
will disappear.  You need to reveal each pair of shapes otherwise you will be 
dropped to the next level.  After matching all four sets of pairs the door will 
open and you can get access to three oum (even though the master only told you 
about 2).  They are:

   Handgun
   Mano
   SwingT

Leave Tomb 3 and return to the North Exit.  The barrier that was blocking the 
northen most exit has now gone.  You can leave the level via this exit. When you 
return to the Dark Realm map you will see that a new section has been opened up.  
You know have access to the Rest Hamlet.  But before entering there you still 
have some business to take care of in the Dark Grab.  Return to the Master's 
House, rest, save and then go back to the Dark Grab.

It should be night time now.  If it is head north and re enter the seed chamber.  
In here you can access your second seed, get this and then head to the North 
Exit.  You will notice an absense of monster here this time around.  Head into 
the north section and suddenly you will be locked in and the deathshand will 
appear.  Fight of this monster and when he is defeated he will drop a key to the 
Rest Hamlet.  Also you will be able to leave the level again.

Return to the Dark Master's house and rest up.  Make any changes to your weapons 
that you need. Then Head on out.

7.4 Rest Hamlet

Before heading over to the Rest Hamlet make sure it is daytime.  You need to be 
able to speak to the villagers before you can carry on with your adventure.

When you enter the Rest Hamlet you will start out in a caved area.  Heading up 
will lead to two passages going up.  The left hand passage is blocked by a 
boulder and the right hand passage is blocked by a locked gate.  You can't do 
anything with the blocked passage yet so head to the locked gate.  Just push 
against the gate and you will automatically use the key you obtained from the 
deathshand.

You will now actually be in the Rest Hamlet itself.  The rest hamlet is split 
into two halves.  In the first half there is several houses and a butcher. In 
the other side is a mansion and one more house.  At the moment there isn't much 
to do in the other side (the mansion is locked) except monster hunting.

In the first half of the rest hamlet you need to speek to all the villagers to 
get an idea of what is going on and what is expected of you.  So visit all the 
houses and speak to every one.  There is one house in particular you will want 
to visit.  This is the house immediately above the entrance you have just come 
in through.  In here is an egg that is hidden away.  Just shoot the chest in the 
top left and eventually you will destroy it and get a seed.

There is little left for you to do here other than monster hunting.  When you 
are ready head back to the masters house and rest up, save and prepare your 
weapons.

Return to the Rest Hamlet at night.  This time around you want to head over to 
the other half of the Rest Hamlet.  The mansion's door should be open (if it 
isn't you need to return to the rest hamlet during the day and make sure you 
have spoken to every one).  Enter the mansion and the door will shut behind you 
immediately, so there's no going back.

There are three doors you can go through, but before you do anything you will 
see a girl leave the room.  Speak to the man and he will tell you that there is 
a problem with the left hand room.  You can't leave until you have solved this 
little problem.  So head up to the this room.  The problem here is moving 
furniture.  Shoot the furniture and the real problem is revealed, sly ghosts. 
Destroy all four ghosts and that is one more problem solved.

Head back to the main hall were you entered and speak to the man once more (you 
need to speak to him to allow you to leave).  You can explore the house a 
little, but when you are ready to leave head up through the middle door and then 
head out the door on the left.  You will now be in the garden.

Head up to the top left of the garden and you will see the girl who ran out of 
the room (if you don't see her here then head back to the hall and try talkng to 
the man again).  Head up through the door at the top of the screen. The doors 
will shut on you again and there is another boss monster to fight. This time it 
is a vampire (refer to the monster section on how to defeat him).  Once he is 
gone you can pick up another seed and leave the this area through the door at 
the top.  You have another area you can visit now, Schatten Village.

7.5 Schatten Town

Enter Schatten Town.  You will be in a large square with 4 exits.  The southern 
exit will lead to the Dark Realm map.  The northern exit leads to the circus.  
The eastern exit leads to the east side of town and the western exit leads to 
the west side of town.

There are two seeds hidden in Schatten so you should head over to the west part 
of town and enter the building around the bottom left corner of the screen.  In 
here you should head straight up the stairs and immediately to the left there is 
a crate, shoot this and get the seed. Now head to the east side of Schatten.  
Ignore the cloaked figure for now.  Head to the house in the bottom right corner 
of the screen and speak to the man.  He will tell you that one of the cupboards 
won't open.  Destroy this cupboard and you will get another seed.

Now go back out and talk to the old crone (the cloaked figure) and she will tell 
you that she has lost a key and would like you to find it. She had it last in 
the circus.  If it is night time then leave and return when it is day, this will 
make your job a lot easier.

Head back to the square and then head north to the circus.  Take the central 
exit at the top of the next screen, the one on the right leads to some toilets.  
Take the only exit to the north and you will be faced with a Mafuto (if it is 
night time then there will be two). This lion like monster can be lethal if you 
aren't careful, but take it out and you will be given the key.

Head back to the house of the old crone.  She is standing outside, give her the 
key and she will ask you to come inside.  Enter here house and speak to her.  
She will give you some more information about the Dark Realm, the Master and the 
pact between the living world and the Dark Realm.  After a while she will ask if 
you want to stand against the master, answer yes.  [I will examine if you can go 
down a different route at a later date].  She will open up the blocked passage 
in the west side of town.  Head over there and leave through the new exit.

You now have access to fate tower.

But first head back to the masters house and rest, then return to schatten and 
return to the old crones house.  She will now be gone but there will be a new 
passage way opened in her room, go through here and you will find the dummy oum.  
Head back to the masters house and create a dummy weapon.  This will be useful 
for later.

7.6 Fate Tower

Head into fate tower.  There are some stairs down and there are a lot of gaps.  
Following the steps down leads you to a large chamber, the only exit is the way 
you came.  The way forward relies on you destroying the six witches will open up 
the way forward.  As you destroy the first two, and a path to the centre opens 
up.  Destroy the witches to the left and right and this will give you access to
the last two witches.  Head back down and walk around and up to the left.  You 
will come to the fifth witch.  Destroy her.  There is a hidden egg in the wall 
that runs along the top.  Shoot at the wall around the centre and you should 
find it.  Head back down and then over to the right hand side and up.  Destroy 
the withc here and you should now have a clear path to the central door.

Head through the door.  You will be in a room that is continually generating 
monsters.  There are two switches in this room.  They are on the left and right 
hand side of the two doors where the policemen are coming through.  Destroying 
this closes those two doors and opens a third door in the centre.  Head through 
here.

There is a door in the centre of the room.  Also to the left and right are two 
doors that appear and disappear.  The left hand one leads to another room with a 
switch in.  Destroying the switch opens a door that leads to a health 
regenerator.

The middle door leads to a room that has a blocked door.  The door has the 
outline of a figure on it.  To open this door you need the dummy weapon (any 
evolution).  Simply activate the dummy and walk into the door.  This will lead 
you directly to the fight with the master.

The door on the right hand side takes the long way around, useful if you haven't 
got the dummy weapon yet.  The rest of the solution follows the long route. 
Enter the door on the right hand side and it will lead to a flight of stairs.

Climb up the stairs and you will be in another room that keeps generating 
monsters.  Just keep destroying them and eventually they will stop coming out.  
The door will now open.  It is now plain sailing until you come to a room with 
the master in.  After a bit of waffle you will have to face the monster.

The monster is actually quite easy to beat, if you know how.  It also helps to 
have the protectgun at maximum level.  Destroy one of the eyeballs at (left and 
right of the screen).  Now start shooting away at the face in the centre.  
Several shots with a fully maxed weapon will take care of it.

Well the dark master is defeated and you have saved the day...

Well not quite.  With the old crone gone, the residents can't be resurrected.  
You need to locate ten white witches before you can carry on.

But first head back to Fate Tower.  Make your way around to where you fought the 
master (either long or short route) and you will find it is now a lab.  In the 
centre of the lab is another seed.  Collect this and head further up the screen.  
This will make you leave the Fate Tower and return to the Dark Realm map.

7.7 The 9 White Witches

You don't really need a walkthrough for this bit, simply return to all the 
previous locations except at night.  If you are stuck then follow the list 
below:

Dark Grab

There is one located in the seed chamber (where you got your first seed) and one 
in the entrance to the second catacomb (where you get the three oum from).  It 
is worth revisiting here as you can collect the three oum again.

Rest Village

There is one in the basement of the mansion.  There is another one located in 
the first half of the village, located in the house in the upper left corner of 
the map.

To get the third one here, you need to return in the daytime.  Speak to everyone 
in the village and they will tell you that a demon has awoken.  Return to the 
caves at the entrance of Rest village.  When you go to the area that had the 
boulder blocking the way you will find the boulder has gone.  Enter here and go 
up a screen.  There is a giant skeleton here.  Destroy the arms (they will grab 
out for you) and then destroy the head (fires three shots at you).  When he is 
dead his head will fly off.  Shoot the skull to get another seed.  Head down the 
new passage that has just opened.  In here there is the last two oum, the Tassen 
and Messer Oum.  Leave Rest village and return at night. Re-enter the sealed 
cave and there will be another white witch in this area.

Schatten Town

There is one located in the old crones house.  There is another located in the 
toilets around the circus area.  Head over to the west side of schatten town.  
Enter the building at the bottom left of the map.  Head to the second room on 
the ground floor.  There is another white witch here.

Return to the Masters house and you will be told that the wandering village has 
returned.  Head over to the Wandering Town.

7.8 Wandering Town

There isn't much of a walkthrough to this area.  The idea is to enter the 
wandering town and light all the torches.  So first you will need a fire based 
weapon.

When you enter the town you will see a lot of empty squares.  These are the 
torches.  Simply shoot at these until they are all lit and move on to the next 
room.  There are two exceptions to this.  One room doesn't apear to have any 
torches.  There are three pumpkinheads and three pumpkin like monsters. Destroy 
each monster and a pumpkinhead will light up.  The other room has a coffin in 
it.  The doors will seal and you have to defeat the vampire. This vampire 
teleports around the room to the four corners.  It will also open it's cloak to 
shoot bats at you.  He is just as easy to get rid of as the first vampire.  Just 
remember to pick up the seed.

Eventually you will return to the entrance again, and if you have missed a torch 
you need to go through it all again.

If you have succeeded you will be met outside by the old crone, the young girl 
and a villager.  There will be a small cut scene (and you see your self for the 
first time) and the credits will roll.  You have saved the day and can rest easy 
now...

Well no you can't, you still have the basement to go through.

7.9 Basement

You will be in the masters room.  Speak to the old crone and she will open up 
the cellar.  The cellar consists of roughly 54 floors.  There are usually 9 
floors of monsters, generally of one type.  Then every tenth floor is usually a 
boss room.  This is followed by a room with a teleporter in it which returns you 
to the masters house.  There is also a health pick up.  Then the same is 
repeated again until you hit the 50th floor where the final boss is hidden.  The 
other four floors are just connecting corridors.

  Level 10 - Deathshand
  Level 20 - Vampire (similar to the one in Rest Hamlet)
  Level 30 - Skeleton (similar to the one in the blocked are of Rest
             Hamlet)
  Level 40 - Vampire (similar to the one in Wandering Town)
  Level 50 - Medusa

The only real tips I can offer are:

Take as few hits as possible, I know this may sound stupid but there are only 
health pick ups on the 11, 21, 31 & 41 floors.  If you aren't careful you will 
end up dead.

Use your catcher here.  There are plenty of different monsters for you to catch.  
It is also the only area to give you a direct teleport back to the masters 
house, again on the 11, 21, 31 & 41 floors.

When you reach the 41st floor you will have to make a decision.  Do you carry on 
or do you return to the top.  The last nine floors before the medusa have some 
of the harder monsters on them.  If you don't have full energy you may want to 
return and try again.

Climb down to floor 41 and return to the dark masters house.  If you have shot 
everything on the way down you should get somewhere between 1000 ~ 2000 exp 
points for your weapon.

8.0 Future releases

As you should have read above I am no longer updating this guide. So there are 
no longer any more Future releases, by me anyway.

9.0 Thanks to...

PDTari for the additional information on the Dummytrap

Andrew Yeh for the location of a couple of hidden seeds.

Tom Rossi for the monster list.  Chears saved me a lot of time.

10.0 Contact information

As I am no longer updating this guide I probably won't be answering any 
questions.  BUT you can always try.

houshin@talk21.com




