Energy
Written by Aurélien Noyelle (aureliennoyelle@yahoo.fr) Hi everybody! First of all I would like to say that i'm not a native english speaker (I'm French in fact) so forgive me for the mistakes I will surely make, and don't hesitate to send me a mail (aureliennoyelle@yahoo.fr) if you see one, I will correct it! I)Introduction In this part, I will just say a few words about this game, and how I've finally found myself writing this FAQ (in fact I would say it's more a walkthrough than a FAQ, as i've never heard any questions about this game, except mine... ;0) ) Energy was a Hu-card for the pc-engine edited by NCS in 1989. This company was going to be a famous one with a good reputation of making great games, however we can't say it about Energy. Actually, it has poor graphics, poor colors, poor gameplay. What is more, it's totally in japanese, and if you can still beat it without understanding one single word of this language (I did it, and I'm going to explain you how to, that's the purpose of this text, isn't it?), it lowers its interest for westerners like us, because we miss all the "adventure" part of the game. Fortunatly, this aspect isn't much developed, so don't worry. Now, why I wrote this FAQ. To explain it, I have to speak a little bit of my personnal story, which may not interest everyone, so if you prefer you can jump this part to directly reach the beginning of the help. But as I think not many people played this game, if you're reading this, it's maybe because you had a similar relationship with this game. The pc-engine (that was the name this system used to have in France, I think in the USA it was turboGrafx 16, not sure about the other countries) was, with the NES, the first console I owned. For what i've learnt later, the pc-engine didn't benefit of a real marketing support outside Japan, which is really a pity, as it was truly a good console. Most of the games weren't translated, and even if it wasn't such annoying as one could think, nevertheless it was always a little bit demotivating. In France, there was some kind of official but limited importation, which explains the existence of a significant community of French fans (by the way, 2 very good emulators for this system, Magic-engine and Hu-go, are made by some French). Anyway I was very young when i played Energy for the first time. I was quickly repelled by the difficulty of the game and the all-japanese texts, and I stayed stuck at some point in the game. But I was very curious; and the fact that the game was entirely in Japanese added a little bit mystery to it: I often wondered what this game was about and what there was beyond this point where I was stuck. With time passing by you know how it goes: you begin to play your old consoles less and less, one day they finally land in a box and you forget it in a dark corner of your home. And another day, years later, you finally unwrap it, fall by chance on these ancient devices that you used to pass hours on,and begin to play it again, just to remind you "good ol' days". hen I saw Energy, I remembered the curiosity it triggers in me years ago, and i realized that nowadays, with internet, it would be easy to find info about this game. I had just forgotten one thing: the name of the game, as displayed on the title screen, was in Japanese. Anyway, after some researches, I finally managed to know that its english translation was "Energy". But it wasn't really a step forward, as I soon realized that i couldn't manage to find detailed information about it, just 3 or 4 concise reviews. So I decided to manage to finish the game all by myself, now that I was older. I succeeded, and now I write this faq for people (if there is any) who find themselves in the same situation as i was.
-Be careful for your life level. There are some places in the games where you can recover your life, but you can lost your life very fast and when you die, you have to start from scratch, as there are no extra lifes, continues, save systems or passwords (The game has to be completed in one ime). -Take care not to stop anywhere to take your breath again: in many screens, new monsters will appear after a while. So don't stay too long on the same screen (there are some exceptions, places where new monsters don't appear: for instance the screen where the exit are blocked till you kill all present monsters, and other places I'll try to indicate in the walkthrough). -You don't really have to care for the "psy" level (the blue bar) until the end of the game. But when you'll have the "ice shot" (see part IV if you don't see what I mean), it will become important, as this weapon uses a lot of "psy power". Use the screens where new monsters don't appear to get it back full before entering new screens. An important point: to have your "psy" bar recovering, you have to stay immobile.
a)The phials -Red: make your life level (red bar) totally recovers. -Blue: make you "psy" level (blue bar called "esp") totally recovers. b)Objects of the inventory There is an "adventure" side in Energy: you can talk to some people, who will answer you. Some will give you objects, others won't. In this last situation they are not very interesting for us (they probably give clues but as it is in japanese, i had to do without...). If they give you objects, they appear in your inventory screen. Some are used automatically when you select it in the inventory screen,otherwise you have to press A and B at the same time during the game, after having selected it, when you want to use it. You can also find some of these objects in blue boxes you will encounter during the game. There are 4 kinds of inventory objects. You have one of each at the beginning of the game. *First
kind of object: -A square with a blue horizontal line -A square with two blue horizontal lines. You find it in a box at the beginning of the game, in one of the first underground screens. -A square with 4 blue horizontal lines. A boy gives it to you, in the room when you arrive when you jump in the swirl in the lake (see the walkthrough) You get these items early in the game. It determines the number of times you can shot at a stretch. I explain: each time you shot, you see your ball going through the screen.When the first item (one blue line) is selected, you have to wait that your ball has disappeared(by touching an obstruction or a monster) to shot again. When item n°2 is selected (2 blue lines), you can can have two balls at the same time on the screen. When it's item n°3 (4 lines), you can have 4 shots at the same time on the screen. I know it's not very clear, but it's hard to explain; anyway in the game you will immediatly understand what I mean. Anyway, you just have to select it in the inventory screen: I advise you to select the highest you have.
-Horizontal arrow: Normal shot, in a straight line. -Vertical arrow(turned down): Your shots go down. -Vertical arrow(turned up): Your shots go up. Funnily enough, I had this one prior to the second, and it will be the same to you if you follow my walkthrough. Maybe as I didn't understand the texts, I didn't play the game in the logic way the creators expected players to do... Anyway, you find it in a box in one of the screen with the destroyed subways. The vertical shots (up and down) are mainly useful against the bosses.
-Green ball: When it's selected, you have the normal shot (the one you begin the game with). Doesn't use many "psy" power, but not very powerful too. -Red ball: Aka the "fire shot". More powerful, but uses more "psy power". You will play most of the game with it. You have it after beating the first boss of the game (see walkthrough) -Blue ball: Aka the "Ice shot". It's the most powerful shooting, but its use of "psy power" is really important, making your blue bar dramatically decreases when you shot numerous times successively.
Only these items have to be activated by pressing I and II at a particular point in the game after having being selected in the inventory screen. They constitute the "adventure" aspect of the game, these items allowing you to progress and access new places. -The "strange thing looking like some weird minitel"(gasp, I think minitel is a typical archaic exclusive French device.OK,let's say it looks like some weird terminal. Much better:0) ) You have it when you start game, but it will only be useful at the last screen of the game! Use it when you are in front of the final boss, 2 people will appear, protecting you from his shots. It may be some talkie-walkie or whatever I don't know, really hard to say, and as long as we know its use, that's not really important to know what it is exactly supposed to be. -The "whistle": You have it when you go and talk to the strange green creature looking like a crab, after having killed monsters surrounding it. It allows you to cross the lake (see walkthrough):used in front of water, it calls a creature which brings you to the other side. -the green phial: At some point of the game, you'll find yourself propelled in the air, through several screens, thanks to some monsters (see the walkthrough). At the top of your ascension, you'll find three men on a stone platform. One of them will give you this. Use it some screens below, in front of the girl who has been metamorphosed, she will take her original shape again and let you pass through the passage she was blocking. -The necklace: You'll find it in a blue box at the first screen of the serial of screens with lava. Use it immediatly, otherwise you lost gradually life. -the medal: You gain it after defeating the boss at the end of the row of screens with lava. It makes disappear (and opens the way) the strange creature (another thing I can't tell what it may be by just looking at it) two screens left of where you begin the game. -the glasses (at least something easily recognizable!). You win it after defeating a boss. It allows you to see your enemy in the room where you lost life (not the ones with lava) without knowing why and which has one of its exit locked. V)Walkthrough At least! A few words to begin. Energy is mainly an action game, where you have to jump and shoot, not really much more. Unlike what you could think (and what I thought) at first sight, the "adventure" aspect doesn't play an important part. For non-japanese readers as you probably are, it summarizes to pushing the button frantically to jump all these japanese characters till obtaining the item the person has to give you (when he has something to give you).
Then you will have to go through several similar rooms. When you enter one of them, exits are locked till you kill all the monsters. Here, you will find only 2 kinds of monsters: Some flying eyes and some looking like kind of big red fishes. This last kind is more dangerous because it can spit (i think it's the right word) something to you. Just try to be fast and accurate, you shouldn't be in trouble. In the fourth room you will win a red phial after killing all your opponents. In the next room, there is an item (the one whose picture is 2 blue horizontal lines, see part IV). Once you have it, select it and keep making your way. Still one similar room to cross, and the landscape changes: you arrive in a screen without any enemies, in front of water. BEWARE! Don't go into the water or you'll die instantly. For the moment there's nothing to do here, so take the liana and go down. You encounter 2 green monsters like the ones outside. Kill them, you'll obtain a blue phial (not very useful for the moment in fact) and go to the left. One people (I'm not sure people is the right word, given how it looks.. let's say creature) to save! Kill the 2 monsters (I suggest one technique for it: go at one side, shoot them, when they come back jump over them, go to the other side, shoot them, repeat this until their death.). Talk to the green creature looking like a crab that you've just saved, it will gives you a whistle. Go back to the room with the water, and in front of it, use the whistle (select it in the inventory screen, then go back to the main screen and push I and II at the same time.) A creature appears and takes you to the other side. At the arrival, do you see this swirl in water? Be courageous and jump into it. You'll reach some kind of "secret" place (I think, as it seems not necessary to have the item you're going to obtain here to finish the game). Kill the monster here, go and talk to the boy, he will gives you the object whose picture is a square with 4 blue horizontal lines. Go on your right, you will find yourself again in the place where you won the "whistle". Go back to the screen in front of water, cross the lake again by calling the monster with your whistle. This time, when you arrive on the other side, go to the left. You will have to go down, using lianas, through several screens. I dvise you not to waste time trying to kill ennemies, just go fast and avoid it (if you wait too long, new monsters will happen anyway). Once you reach the bottom, there's only one opening, on the left. You arrive in a room, where you can go whether up or left (in any cases use lianas, which allows you to avoid monsters). Here you have the choice: whether you go up, encountering the first boss of the game; whether you go left to finally obtain the "vertical up shoot", then go back to beat the boss. It's really easy to kill this boss without this item, so in my walkthrough I will go up immediatly, but if you prefer to do the other way just read a little bit further to see what you have to do. So you go up, and you arrive in a screen where you see a face on a rock wall. Go and talk to the face. It will finally turn to a monster. The exit is blocked till you kill him. If you don't have the "vertical up shoot" item, there is still an easy way to get him: Just jump on the liana on the right side of the room (it may be a bit tricky first, because when you approach the thing blocking the exit too close, it repells you; you have to be as closest as possible, jump and at the last time push on the right wing of the directionnal pad. Train yourself in the first rooms you have crossed, when after killing all the monsters you have to wait a little bit for the opening of the exit.) Climb till you are at the same level that the monster's face, and just keep shooting at it -take care not to fall when turning left to shoot!- This way not only can you touch him, but what is more you're rotected from his shoots because you destroy it with yours shoots. One important note: there are no particular signs indicating you that you touch the boss, but you harm him, so don't bother and keep shooting, it will finally die. When the job is done, you win the "red ball", which gives you a more powerful shot. Select it in your inventory. Now exit the screen(down), and go left in the following screen. You arrive in a different landscape: no roof, and 3 strange green creatures going up and down. You have to jump on one of these things to be able to continuate: it will propel you in the air. You may have to try several times, as it seems that you have to jump at a precise moment. Anyway no difficulties here.
Your vertical ascension spreads on several screens. Unlike
the crossing of the lake, you keep the control of your character.(in
fact there are things to do at several screens). You fall
back as soon as you hit an obstruction (a stone platform above
your head, or if you make yourself knock against a wall),
but don't worry, you don't lose any life when you finally
touch the ground again. To make things faster, i will consider
you first go at the top of the ascension; but it's absolutely
not compulsory (and you are very likely not to succeed from
the first time, as you have to avoid several stone platforms!)
At the top, there are 3 men. Talk to each of them: you will
have the green BEWARE! As soon as you arrive in the other screen, go left to reach the other one: You have no choice, as the exit on the right is blocked, and you lost life when you stay here (you're going to see later why). The landscape has changed: walls are blue, you seem to have gone deeper and deeper into earth. In the room you are, there is an old man with a white beard. Talk to him if you want, then go left. As soon as you arrive in the next screen, shoot: this way you will be able to kill that strange yellow monster before he touches you. As always don't stay too long, because new monsters appear after a certain lapse of time. Keep going left until you see an opening on the ground. Go down, you arrive in a new room, go to the overture on the right (don't waste time and life to kill the monster, just use the lianas hanging from the roof). BEWARE: You will have to be fast on the screen you're about to enter. You are in a new landscape (a place where it's very warm, at the last screens there even are lakes of lava you have to jump over so take care). As soon as you enter the first screen of this kind, you begin to lose life. Jump over the monster and open the blue box: you get the necklace. Always as soon as possible, select it in your inventory and use it (push I and II at the same time). That's ok, you are protected from the burning temperature. Keep going right, avoiding or killing ennemies (be careful, they can shot). Don't fall in the lava lakes! You finally reach a room with a boss. Hanging at the roof, it's very easy to kill: just use the "vertical up shoot". It produces some monsters (the flying eyes), shot them as soon as they appear, this way they won't bother you when doing your job ;0). You win the medal. And now? And now you got to do ALL the way back to where you began the game (don't forget to go and see the lady in red to make you recover your health if necessary). When you're here, go 2 screens left, and uses the medal in front of the monster blocking the way: it will disappear. Go left: you will see 3 pillars going through the ground. Use the last one. Kill all the monsters, then jump on the strange green thing looking like 2 faces. You
are teleported in a new landscape. Keep going right, as always
avoiding or killing monsters, and you'll finally find yourself
in a boss room. It's actually really easy to kill it using
the following technic. The boss is on the floor, simply going
left to right and backwards. You arrive at the top of Guess what you have to do now? Make all the way back till the screen where you lose life without knowing why, even with the necklace; the room which has one of its exits blocked, although it doesn't seem to have any enemies. (If you don't see which room i mean, that's the one just one screen right before where there is the old man. That's in fact the screen where you arrive when you go down thanks to the pillar at the end of the subway screens.) Once in this room, you understand why you were loosing life: in fact there was an invisible monster here (at least invisible until you got the glasses). Just kill him (use the "vertical up shoot") and the way to the right will be open. Go right, till you reach another boss. The room where he is almost the same as the one where you beat the last boss; but you can't use exactly the same technic as this time the boss can not only move right to left, but go up too. One way to kill him is to stay on the groud on the left part of the screen and to shoot at it, when it comes towards you, jump on the "alien liana", go up, go right on the liana (the monster will follow you,but you're faster), then fall back to the ground (you should be in the middle), go to the left part (during this time the monster will arrive on the floor too) and shoot at the boss. Keep doing it till he dies. And one more time you have to cross 3/4 of the screens of the game to go back at the place on the left of where you begin the game (in the street outside); where the 3 pillars going through the ground are. This time take the first one. Kill all the enemies in the place where you arrive to open the way on the left. Go left, jump on the teleportation device (that green thing looking like 2 faces). It will soon be over, dudes: you're teleported in the last row of screens of the game. You are in some kind of alien gallery, whatever anyway keep going right, and take care not to be hurt by the shots of the things on the roof. When you arrive in a room where a dialog box will appear, it will mean that you're in the screen just next to the final boss. Use this empty room to fully recover your "psy" power. When your blue bar is full, go right. The last boss is a huge eye. It can't move but it shoots at you (5 or 6 balls in a time.) But again there's a very easy way to kill it. When you arrive in its lair, don't move: stay on the little piece of rock where you are when you enter (if you fall, it will be very difficult to jump on it again and to turn back to shot at the boss without falling). In your inventory, select the first item of the last row (the one you already had at the beggining), then push I and II at the same time like always: 2 characters will appear and protect you from the shots of your enemy. So don't worry about avoiding it, just don't move and keep shooting. After a while, the monster will finally die. The game is finished, the end is not very interesting for non-japanese reader (actually it seems not very fascinating even for a Japanese reader ;0) ) VI) Contact and last words I hope this file has been useful to you. It may have some errors, I've tried to do my best in a language that wasn't mine, anyway in this case it will be kind to contact me about it. You can e-mail me at aureliennoyelle@yahoo.fr If you want to put this file on a web site, just ask me. I will probably not have any reasons to decline, it's just to know where what I wrote go...
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