SNES EarthBound Low Level Game Guide Version 1.00 Written by Cody Beasley, aka Oldskool_Jester Copyright 2011 Legal Info This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Version Update v1.00 - Initial draft Table of Contents 1 - Disclaimer 2 - Gameplay Tactics 3 - Walkthrough 3.1 - Start to Titanic Ant 3.2 - Onett Police to Carpainter 3.3 - Threed to Saturn Valley 3.4 - Dusty Dunes Desert to Summers 3.5 - Kraken to Dungeon Man 3.6 - Deep Darkness to Lumine Hall 3.7 - Lost Underworld to Onett 3.8 - Final Preparations and The Final Battle 4 - Boss Strategies 4.01 - StarMan Jr 4.02 - Frank & Frankystien Mark II 4.03 - Titanic Ant 4.04 - Onett Police Force 4.05 - Everdread 4.06 - Carpainter 4.07 - Boogie Tent 4.08 - Mini Barf 4.09 - Master Belch 4.10 - Trillionage Sprout 4.11 - Guardian Digger x5 4.12 - Dept. Store Spook 4.13 - Evil Mani Mani 4.14 - Clumsy Robot 4.15 - Shroooom!!! 4.16 - Kraken 4.17 - Shattered Man 4.18 - Plague Rat of Doom 4.19 - Thunder and Storm 4.20 - Guardian General 4.21 - Master Barf 4.22 - StarMan Deluxe 4.23 - Electro Spectre 4.24 - Carbon Dog/Diamond Dog 4.25 - Mondo Mole 4.26 - Ness' Nightmare 4.27 - Giygas w/Heavily Armed Pokey 5 - Final Thoughts 1 - Disclaimer - I assume you have played this game through at least a few times, cause I won't offer much for basic story tips or hints. You had better know what you're doing by now if you are looking at this guide. - Also, in the true sense of the term this IS NOT a TRUE low level game guide. A true low level game of EarthBound would have Titanic Ant defeated at level 5, which is only VAGUELY possible if you are lucky enough to have PSI Hypnosis last for multiple turns against Titanic Ant. - I know this does defy a traditionaly llv game, but it at least gets you through the beginning, with a challenging rest of the game. - For the record, I do my llv EarthBound game in a somewhat unique way, with certain conditions for specific parts, but I'm sure you'll see the wisdom in my decisions. - This is probably my 10th low level playthrough, as it is probably my most favorite game to play low level (with the possible exception of FFVI), so my technique has only improved with time. I have wintessed countless epic battle victories pulled of by so narrow a margin I shout "YES!", and thrust my fist into the air. Yeah, I'm a dork, but I love this game. - BBR is short for Big Bottle Rocket. With how many you use, I got tired of typing it out every time so I added this part. As such, MBR will be Multi Bottle Rocket, for the few times you actually get to use them. Likewise, BR is simply Bottle Rocket, but if used in the plural, BRs, usually refers to any Bottle Rocket type items you could have at the time. 2 - Gameplay Tactics - If you see an enemy in your way, backtrack until they are just off the screen a bit. You can make almost any enemy disappear this way, and it will be crutial to help avoiding fights. - Avoiding fights is not always possible, so dodging enemies is just as important. Know your angles and know how each enemy moves. Most of all, look for how your terrain might help. Trees, juts and corners in caves, or any object that can block an enemies' path is your best friend. And do learn to love Skip Sandwiches, as most straight moving enemies are faster than you. Do also take note of which ones are slower than you. - Utilize the time you have after a battle, as you are flashing and can't be seen by other enemies for a few seconds. Use this time wisely to dash past them and round a corner or go through a doorway if possible, so they cannot give chase. Using a Skip Sandwich after a battle is highly effective if you know there will be other enemies around that didn't join your previous battle. Also, if you walk through a door, and there are enemies on the other side, you can go back and fourth throught the door until they change to a managable fight, or simply disappear. This will be referred to as the "in and out" method. - Changing direction abruptly as an enemy touches you can sometimes produce a green swirlded first strike. There is a small chance that it will produce a red swirled ambush, but I find that the prior is more often the case. I can be risky, but I figure it's worth it, since a first strike is always a guaranteed run. This technique works especially well on enemies that teleport into you (Starmen and Starmen Supers). Although, if you wait for them to teleport near you, just walking into them from any direction except behind (of all possible directions) will produce a first strike. - After defeating Titanic Ant, all normal fights will be run from, thus, it is pivotal that you master the previous skills. - ABUSE YOUR ROLLING LIFEBAR! I repeat, ABUSE YOUR ROLLING LIFEBAR!!! No matter how much damage you take from any attack, your lifebar must "roll" to the new total. Thus, if you take mortal damage, and you can use an item or PSI LifeUp before it hits 0, then you won't die. Have the text speed set to "FAST" so you can click through the actions faster, and if it is going to be close, have other characters defend so you can pull off the heal ASAP. Also, if the turn ends and your lifebar is still rolling up, stop and wait for it to stop before proceeding with the next turn, as it will buy you more time to recover from the next mortal attack. - As I stated earlier, Skip Sandwiches are your best friends. Try to always have at least one on you at all times, in case you need to escape a pile of enemies that may be there after a successful escape. - If you find that running from some fights is particularly difficult, or that you are taking too much damage before escape, then try killing them down to one and running. The collateral damage you take for unsuccessful fleeing attempts will be quite minimized. Also, paralyzing the last remaining enemy gives you time to heal back up in battle before you carry on, and with how much damage you take later in the game, this can be quite the usefull strategy. - Sometimes enemies burst into flames once they are defeated (Fire resistance is not applied when foes burst into flames O_o). If you are killing off all but one enemy before fleeing a battle, be sure not to slay any enemies that burst into flames upon death, as that would be quite detrimental to your continuing health. 3 - Walkthrough 3.1 - Start to Titanic Ant - Grab your bat at get moving! You can also grab a Cookie from your sister on the way out. Fight up to the top, but only reach lv3 before engaging the StarMan Jr. - Be sure to grab the Mr Baseball Cap, buy the Tee Ball Bat, and head to the Arcade. Fight the 2 Sharks on the first floor, and level to 5, then go save before taking on Frank and Frankystien Mark II. Just bash Frank and time your attacks for his robot, not too hard, but if you mess up, you are quite toast. - Grab the Shack Key and the Travel Charm, and try to have a few Hamburgers when you enter the Giant Step Cave. Fight your way up to the break, being only lv7, and recover with the Magic Butterfly. Get to the bottom of the final room, and make sure that the last Black Antoid you fight there levels you up to 8. Then, go up and challenge Titanic Ant. PSI Rockin until you can't anymore, and bash away, healing when needed. - Titanic Ant will prove to be your biggest challenge so far. The whole reason I do the llg being lv 8 here is for PSI Rockin, because good luck beating him with his help without it. I know it's possible, but the few xp you gain to be lv8 here won't affect your final level really, so it's just less stressful this way. From now on, no xp will be gained outside of forced battles and boss battles. 3.2 - Onett Police to Carpainter - Heal up with Frank, save at the Hotel, and head off to the Cop Shop. Having a few Hamburgers can help, but is not totally necessary. Beat down the 4 cops, then just lace Cpt Strong with PSI Rockin a few times, and he will fall. Head to Twoson after, and heal up with Frank on the way. - Avoid Everdred, and you can save yourself over 900xp. Buy lots of Fresh Eggs and farm them to Chickens. Do this until you have $200 for Apple Kid and enough for a Copper Bracelet from the Junk Shop. Save up as much as you want from Chicken farming, the more the better for later, as you will not be receiving much cash from dear 'ol Dad because of your lack of willingness to kill things. - Traverse Peaceful Rest Valley avoiding all fights, and most importantly obtaining the Hard Hat. Go to Happy Happy Village and buy the Sand Lot Bat. You can take Fresh Eggs for free from the Food Stand, if you want some more cash. Go get the Franklin Badge from Paula and fight Pokey's goons. This fight can't be run from, so just accept that you are going to gain a level here. Head back to the village and head to Carpainter. There is one Insane Cultist you must kill in the mansion, and only one, but it is unavoidable. Another point here is that the Insane Cultists can and will call for help, often. If they are successful in either of the two forced fights with them, you might as well reset. Extra enemies usually means extra xp, but I shouldn't have to tell you that. This can be a pain sometimes... - What a challenging boss... You could literally just defend and let him blast himself away, but why not help him out with a bash or two? Once obliterated, retrieve Paula and outfit her with armor, a better weapon is available soon enough. You may want to retrieve the Great Charm from the cave in Happy Happy Village. Its speed bonus will help you run better, and your speed is pathetic right now, so any help is good help. You can get by without it, but I highly recommend acquiring it. Head back to Twoson, taking the new shortcut through Peaceful Rest Valley. Picking up a Teddy Bear or three and throwing them in storage before heading to Threed can be a big help, especially when going through the underground passage to Saturn Valley. Again, not totally necessary, but worth a mention. Once ready, Runaway Five, yadda yadda, head to Threed. 3.3 - Threed to Saturn Valley - Once in Threed, upgrade equipment, and go get the Teddy Bear in the trashcan by the Hint Shop. Save before you hit the graveyard to confront the zombies blocking the way. Just getting to them and returning can be quite a challenge, the enemies in the graveyard will be numerous and not nice. Go get jumped at the hotel and become Jeff for a bit. - Once you have control of Jeff, throw away the Ruler and Protractor to make some room for Tony's Cookies. Don't bother with the Broken Air Gun in the locker, you won't be able to fix it for a long time. Once out of the school, head down to the Tessie Watchers Club and stay the night to fix the Broken Spray Can. Then, head back to the shop outside the gate and sell it for $250. Sell the Cookies as well and buy some Picnic Lunches and Cups of Coffee. Fill up most of your inventory, and also buy one Skip Sandwich DX, as it will more likely than not come in handy. Once ready, purchase Bubble Monkey and head down to the BrickRoad Dungeon. - Ok, running in here will prove difficult, but not impossible. Plus, some of the treasures are guarded but totally skipable. Skip the first 2 available treasures and encounter the Worthless Protoplasm and run. You can then obtain the Broken Iron, as it is not guarded. The next enemy is a Mad Duck, but you can draw him away from the main path downwards, and easily manage to avoid him completely. From here, there is one more Worthless Proto to run from, then you can save at the phone before encountering the Roudy Mouse that guards the Stun Gun and running. Save again, and head to the Rainy Circle cave. - Now this part can get quite annoying when trying to get all the way through at lv1. I won't hold it against you if you gain a few levels here, but it is totally possible to make it through. It just may take a few tries, or in my last attempt's case, 9 tries. But either way, you just gotta get lucky on some early flees. You should be able to make it through the first section with only 2 fights, plus receive a Hamburger at the end. In the second section, go in and out until you get a desirable (for a lack of better terms) battle, then immediately use the Skip Sandwich DX and run through the rest of the section while you are still flashing from after battle. Now, the third section can be a total nightmare, or totally easy. Go in and out of the enterance until there are no enemies in the immediate area, then go back and fourth the same until you can grab the Bottle Rocket unhindered. Use the Bubble Gum, then go up and down the ropes until there are no mushroom enemies up top, because they will kill you. They can hit you for around 20 damage right now, and that gives you MAYBE 3 chances to run before obliteration. Leave the cave and head to Dr Andonuts Lab, and take the Sky Runner to Threed. You can pick up the Broken Pipe if you want, but you won't likely be able to fix it before you return here later. - Once you reach Threed with Jeff, upgrade his equipment, and make sure to have at least 4 BRs. Save and head to Bogey Tent. As long as you have a Teddy Bear, this should not be too tough. Once down, head towards the hotel and wait for Apple Kid's phonecall. Zombie Paper, yadda yadda, grad a few healing items and head for the cave to Saturn Valley. - Not much strategy through here, run and pray. Pray that you can escape the fights post haste, as all enemies in here hit hard. Using the "in and out" strategy through doorways is not recommended here, as in the hallways you can sometimes encounter the Zombie Professors, as they appear in the hallways. It's pretty random whether you will get a first strike or an ambush, but either way, I absolutely hate getting possessed by minighosts, so just deal with the zombies in the rooms. Give the Silver Bracelet to Paula, and heal up before Mini Barf. He doesn't damage you much, so just blast away and he should fall fairly quick. Pick up a few healing items if you want from the bum outside then head to Saturn Valley. - In Saturn Valley, buy two more Silver Bracelets and the Defense Ribbon. You may want to pick up another Great Charm or two, but then again, you may not even have the cash. Loot and save, and head to Grapefruit Falls. Tell the first Slimey Little Pile you see that you have the Fly Honey to avoid fighting him. Also, don't encounter any random SLPs as you cannot seem to run from them. Skip all treasure and go straight for Belch. There is a SLP before the final room that will talk to you, even if you are flashing from a previous battle, so you can't avoid him. Just beat his arse and head to Belch. Just give him the Fly Honey and blast him with 3 shots of PSI Freeze Beta and he's toast. Now, upon Belch's demise, return through the Factory and loot. Head back to Saturn Valley and wash all that stinky gunk off of you. Oh, and don't forget to give Paula the Mr Saturn Coin. Heal up and prepare for to trek to Milky Well and confront Trillionage Sprout. - Getting to Trillionage Sprout can be another story, though. It's not a far march, but it's full of foes and if you get Mashroomized, the only way to cure it is to head back to Saturn Valley and sit in the hot springs. So avoid the shroom enemies at all costs. Ranboobs can be paralyzed for an easy escape, and in the second section, Magic Butterflies are quite common, there are a few spawn points out here. After that, just grab the Slumber Coin and give it to Jeff, then confront the boss. Your BBR should do half the job, then just keep a healer while pounding away with the other two. Once defeated, head back to Saturn Valley, then back through to Threed. If you are low on funds, you can head back to Twoson now and farm more chickens. You should have gotten over $2500 for beating Trillionage, so you should be ok. When set, head to Dusty Dunes. 3.4 - Dusty Dunes Desert to Summers - Once in the traffic jam, go upgrade your equipment at the store. I wouldn't spend the money on a new weapon for Paula, as she sucks at hitting things, but I would purchase the Coin of Slumber for Ness, as he needs the defense BAD at this point. Don't worry about the presents in the desert, just hug the south rocks to skip most enemies, and pick up the best present here anyways, a BBR, along the way. Once you are back at the road, backtrack down the road (which is now for some reason totally devoid of life right after a traffic jam) until you see the "Desert" sign, then go up to get $1000 in a present. I say walk down the road because you can't get sunstroke walking down the road, since i guess it TECHNICALLY isn't the desert, so use it. After, head to Fourside, Runaway Five, return to the shack in the desert. Bring a few Refreshing Herbs, since you will likely get poisoned, and you won't learn PSI Healing Beta until you defeat the 4th mole, at which point poison status won't be quite as lame. Save and enter the cave. - You can make this 5 trips if you want, since the Exit Mice are easily obtained, and perfectly abusable. I did it in two, but use your own discretion. Either way, head to the exit mice and then head straight down. Be sure not to encounter the snakes, they poison quite often. The fight you want is a Nooseman or two some Mad Ducks, since you kill off all but one Mad Duck, who can't hurt you at all, and run. The ants can be paralyzed, but they do have PSI Magnet, which I suppose is just more annoying than anything. Head down because there is a Platinum Band behind this mole, and that is the best armour you are going to find for quite a while. There are lots of juts and jags to lose enemies on in here, so go back and fourth a lot. Master your avoision skills! All enemies are gone once the 5 moles are defeated, so collect all missed treasure after, then heal and head back to Fourside. - Runaway Five, blah blah, head to the Dept Store and upgrade Jeff's weapon. Buy a few BBRs, since you can now buy them. Give Jeff the Franklin Badge, and save before Paula gets kidnapped. Also give the Platinum Band over to Jeff before you let Paula go, it will help. Once she is gone, head to the top of the mall. Now, it gets a little random. All of the enemies move in straight lines. They home in on you, wait for a second, then home in again for another straight line approach. You can exploit this a bit, but it takes some skill. Once you reach the Dept Store Spook, let loose one BBR, then wait for Ness to fall. Heal Jeff with Ness until he falls, then loose one more BBR to defeat him. Revive Ness, heal and save, then head to Jackie's Cafe. - I assume you are familiar with how to progress Moonside... but either way... obtain all treasures and get to the Evil Mani Mani. Right before you face him, get into a random encounter and have Ness killed off, as EMM is hardly able to do it himself. Be sure to have Jeff equiped with a Great Charm or Travel Charm for this fight, as EMM does use PSI Paralysis a lot, and that will totally screw Jeff over. Once ready, just BBR him twice, and he should go down, but you may have to hit him once or twice more if you are not getting over 450 per BBR hit. Once down, head to the monkey cave, bringing a Skip Sandwich, Picnic Lunch, and the Pencil Eraser with you, just to make it a little easier. Finish the cave, and learn Teleport. You can go get a T-Rex's Bat now if you want, not that Ness is going to be hitting much for a long time. Also, make sure you have at least 2 Skip Sandwiches, preferably DXs, before heading to Monotoli's. Once ready, save in the lobby and head upstairs. - A quick side note here, as there are two ways to defeat the next boss, but one of them requires Ness to have Sunstroke upon entering the Monotoli building. Refer to the boss section for the two strategies, and decide which you will use before entering. - Now this part is a real pain... Once you reach the 48th floor, head to the first door. There is a Sentry Bot on the other side, and it is not easy to make it past him to the first door. So, before you head through to try, use a Skip Sandwich and you should be able to just get past him. You may want to try going in and out of the first door until he seems far enough away for you to make it, as he can randomly appear within a certain range every time you enter the room. Head out the left door, and run to the next door in the main room, avoiding yet another Sentry Bot. In this room, there is a bot in the middle of 4 desks. Go around all the desks to the left, and you can get by the top left desk along the wall, but it may take a few tries, just go up and down until it lets you by. Now there is only one bot left to dodge, and once you reach him, go back through the door you entered, use your other Skip Sandwich, and bolt past him to the near door on the right. Collect all treasures, er, the two treasures, after you, er, the Runaway Five defeat Clumsy Robot. Take the free ride to Threed and reequip Paula before heading to Winters via the Sky Runner. - Once back in Winters, prepare for what could be a very annoying boss fight. Since Paula is quite behind in xp, you want only her to survive Shrooom!. This is much easier said than done, so make sure Paula is equiped with the Flame Pendant and all your best armor. Leave the guys bare of all but weapons. Throw a few healing items on Paula and your Bag of Dragonite for some extra insurance. Once you defeat him, head back and take the Sky Runner to Summers. Get the Stoic Club number, and go dig in to some Magic Cake. Once you have Poo, go and grab a Diamond Band for Paula from the super expensive store, and anything else you think you can afford. I wait until Scaraba to buy a second Platinum Band for a fraction of the cost here, and it is only 10 defense less than the Diamond Band. Ness' Big League Bat is also a third the cost in Scaraba. Head to Toto, and give Poo the Flame Pendant and Franklin Badge before you save and head out to fight the Kraken. It should only take an attempt or two to get only Poo to survive. 3.5 - Kraken to Dungeon Man - So now you've reached Scaraba, but we have a few other things to take care of first. Purchase anything else you need here, and if you have used your IQ Capsules on Jeff, then he may have JUST enough IQ to fix the Broken Cannon, 32. Either way, get your stuff and go back to Summers, to the Museum. Bring a Skip Sandwich with you and you can avoid one of the Shattered Men. Just run right to the hieroglyphs, and one will attack you. Just have Ness toast by the end of it, read the hieroglyphs, and bolt out of the room. Easy! Head to Fourside and prep for the sewers. - Get the Signed Banana, and head for the sewers. Walk all the way there through the water, if it can even be called that, as I find that fewer enemies appear there. If Ness is damaged in an escape, don't heal him unless he is critical, as you want him with only around 100 HP for the boss, so he can be taken down in one hit. Just blast away with BBRs and high level PSI Freezes, as that is the way to take down most bosses. Collect the treasure on the way out, and head to Dalaam to confront Thunder and Storm. - Upon entering, you can go for the Bracer of Kings right away and fight your way to it, or just pick it up on the way out. It's not crutial for the boss or anything, so I just wait until after. This is a short one, to be sure, and the few other treasures are on the way. Do beware the Thunder Mites though, as if you are unlucky enough to have his thunder rebound off of the Franklin Badge two or three times, he will die, forcing you to reset. More annoying than anything else, but something to watch out for. Make your way to the boss, not healing Ness unless he's getting thrashed, as you need him alive to confront the boss. Damage him for about 1000, then wait for Ness to fall, and then finish the job with a healthy dose of PSI Freeze as usual. Once done, make sure you picked up the Bracer of Kings, and head to Scaraba and prep for the Pyramid. - Ok, we will be making 2 trips through the Pyramid, one to defeat the boss, and the second to exit the other side. First off, be sure you have an Exit Mouse with you to easily escape after defeating the Guardian General. Main reason is, you want only Jeff to survive the boss, because he will need more xp to be par level with the others, so he can take this one for the team. Proceed in, grab all treasures, and head down to Guardian General. Don't heal anyone other than Jeff on the way unless they are critical, so they can be downed easier by the boss. Just throw a few Shields of Light on Jeff and wait for the others to die. Exit Mouse out, revive Poo, and teleport to Saturn Valley to heal for free. Head back to Scaraba, and do it all again, but this time proceeding out the other side. As for battles, I find that the Guardian Hieroglyphs are the least damaging and the easiest to flee from. Once out, purchase the French Fry Pan and grab an MBR if you can afford it. You should have a Platinum Band to sell since you got another Diamond Band in the Pyramid. If not, you can always pick a few up in Deep Darkness. Grab the tower key and head to Dungeon Man. - Once inside, heal and head to the top, collecting most treasure (I skip the wet towel). Drop out, and try to head to the trees and get Dungeon Man stuck ASAP, as even if you try to run, he will still attack, and could potentially win the battle for you. You don't want that. Get him stuck, and get your submarine, and plunge into Deep Darkness. 3.6 - Deep Darkness to Lumine Hall - So, now we have arrived at Deep Darkness. Grab that last Diamond Band unless you've alrealy got 3, and buy a Charm Coin for Ness, since Paula has the Talisman Ribbon and Jeff SHOULD have your Mr Saturn Coin. Do not proceed into Deep Darkness without at least one MBR, as that will lay Master Barf low in just one shot. Most enemies should not be too tough to dodge, or avoid completely, but you may get surprised by a few you can't see behind the trees. Just muddle your way through, though the Eels can be especially annoying, since only one person can be protected from lightning. Don't heal Ness unless you are still in the early going. Do have him fall before confronting Master Barf though, so you can just MBR him to death and be done with it. Head to the Tenda Village, complete scenario, the head to Winters one you are ready for StoneHenge Base. - Grab the Eraser Eraser, and head into StoneHenge Base. This place is quite intense, and you will take a buttload of damage from pretty much everything. However, this is the first and only time you will encounter the teleport movement style Starman and Starman Super. You can thoroughly abuse this movement style, and it's really too bad that this is the only dungeon that you can take advantage of this. Once you get close to them, they will teleport a short distance, then stop for about a second. Use this time to encounter them yourself, but only aproach from the front or sides. This will pretty much guarantee a first strike, which in turn, is a guaranteed escape. Skip all treasures that are out of the way, as all enemies will disappear once StarMan DX is down. You can stick around in a few fights to Spy the Starman Supers, with an iota of a chance of obtaining a Sword of Kings, but it's totally not worth it. Just sayin' that you can, not trying to encourage you to do so or anything. Proceed all the way to the boss. Throw up a PSI Shield Sigma ASAP, so you don't get absolutely murdered by PSI StarStorm. Erase his psychic power shield, then pound away. Don't worry if he calls for help, as long as you don't actually kill the help he calls, it will disappear when you defeat him and not gain you any extra xp. Took me 4 tries to kill him without him calling for help, and the xp I received was the same, but I needed to confirm this fact, so you're welcome lol. Sweep all the treasure and be sure to obtain the Saturn Ribbon on you way out. Oh, and don't forget to talk to Apple Kid as well. - Grab the Shyness Book (Onett Library, first room), and prepare for Lumine Hall. I wouldn't bother with the shop here, 7 Horns of Life is FAR too much for his meager offerings. Plus you can buy better stuff than his just after the Hall, so be patient. Head into the Hall, and head all the way to the left, then take the ladder down, and go down to the next ladder up. To the right of the top of this ladder is the Diadem of Kings, something you really want. Backtrack past the two ladders, then go up and to the right. This will loop around down and to the left a bit to another ladder. Take it down, then head down and left, then up a bit until you reach another ladder. Head right from here a bit and pick up the DX Water, then head back to the ladder. Go up, then to the left a bit and grab the Lifenoodles, then drop down the hole. From there head right and grab the Luxury Jerky and keep heading right, towards the ladder. Up this ladder will likely be a host of Fobbys, but the boss is just to your left. Grab and equip the Rabbit's Foot just down and to the left of the boss, then go at him. As for battles in here, avoid the Uncontrollable Spheres at all costs, and try to aim for Fobby battles, as they are easy to kill down to one and escape from. Also, be sure to use Poo as your healer, because it is quite easy to encounter a large group of Fobbys, then PSI Magnet Omega the crap out of them. As long as the group has 4-6 of them, you should recover 20-30 PP per magnet. This helps a lot, since Poo may be forced to use PSI Healing Gamma a lot if you die often. The Conducting Spirits are also especially annoying, with their constant barrages of PSI Thunders and Flashes. All in all, it shouldn't be too tough to reach Electro Specter with the above directions. Once he is down, go collect any treasure you missed, if you want to, and head down to the Lost Underworld. 3.7 - Lost Underworld to Onett - Wow, I really hate how slow you move, but you just have to deal with it. Grab the few treasures you can before you "leave" the dinosaur cage. Upgrade your equipment here, then ready yourself for the Fire Spring. I'd make sure you have an abundance of DX Water for Poo, so you can heal as much as you want, for this is the most efficiant way to heal. Grab last few treasures on the way, save and head into Fire Spring. - Most treasure here is fairly easy to collect on the way through, but you can leave some for the way out, because you will be actually leaving manually since we haven't KO'd Mondo Mole yet. Now the enemies here are all like the Moonside enemies in movement, but the more constricted environment forces them to teleport more often. Mostly they will loop in one direction, then teleport a little ways back of their path, then keep doing that unless they notice you. Hit them as they are moving away from you and you can obtain a first strike fairly easily. Again, turning abrubtly as they touch you can also produce a first strike, but could also lead to an ambush, so be careful. Make your way to Carbon Dog. This fight can be quite a handful, as he has a ton of HP and some nasty attacks. You will want Ness down for the end of the battle, but it will be a long battle, so wait for a bit before letting him fall. A healthy dose of PSI Freeze and any BRs is of course the key, but don't use BRs if his Power Shield is up, as you'll take half the damage back. Once defeated, make your way out, grabbing anything you missed, and head back to Twoson, and back to Happy Happy Village, as we will now take care of that now insignificant Mondo Mole. - Before you engage Mondo Mole, make sure to have at least 3 Sudden Guts Pills and a Brainfood Lunch or two either on Ness or in storage. Also give Ness the Sea Pendant, Souvenir Coin, and Franklin Badge. Once Mondo Mole is down, you will proceed immediately to Magicant. - Buy one Earth Pendant and give it to your sister. Retrieve any items you need from her, then go and get your decoy, I mean Flying Man. Be sure to save before attempting to go on, it gets real nasty from here on in, especially with a pathetically leveled Ness. The Loaded Dice are absolute turds, but you can get away. Always paralyze them before you run, because that will render them unable to call for help. Also paralyze any Carefree Bombs you come across, as they will devestate you with their constant bomb barrages. This part can be difficult, and I can say with a fair bit of certainty, that you WILL die a few times, but you can make it. Once at the Sea of Eden, employ all of your avoision skills to get past the Krakens. The first one is the hardest, but if he gets too far in, then just walk back a bit more and his position will reset. You can lure the second one over to the right, then go back down and around to the left to get past him. The third, you should try to lure up to the stalactite, then go all the way up and to the left, then down and around to Ness' Nightmare. This fight can be a pain, but it's not overly difficult. May take a few tries, and the lamest part is having to dodge the Krakens again. Beat his arse and head back to reality. - Once you regain control, do anything else you might need to do in Onett before talking to Dr Andonuts. Talk to him, try the Phase Disorder, then head to Onett to retrieve a Meteorite Piece. In Onett, be sure to have Paula equiped with the Rabbit's Foot, so she can be super fast. The Ghosts of Starman enemies use PSI Starstorm in the first round EVERY time, so you need Paula to be tossing up PSI Shield Sigma every battle in the first round, as you want it up before you get starstormed. Take a few Skip Sandwich DXs with you, so once you finish a battle, you can use it to take off, and once your aren't flashing, run into any enemy you see, and you will likely get a first strike, from which you can flee right away. Keep doing this all the way to the top. Grab the Meteorite Piece, then you can use Teleport Beta just to the right and down of the Meteorite, so blast back to Saturn Valley. 3.8 - Final Preperations and the Final Battle - Ok, there isn't much that you really need to do here, but do go and buy a buttload of BrainFood Lunches, as they are the best buyable item to recover PP. A couple of Jars of Delisauce wouldn't hurt, as they triple the BFL's recovery. You can grab a few MBRs if you want, but they aren't that effective for Giygas. Do grab a few Skip Sandwich DXs though, they will help you make it to Giygas a lot easier. Also fix the Broken Bazooka if you meet the required IQ with Jeff, 45. Bring any leftover Cups of Lifenoodles that you may have, or grab a Horn of Life or two, then get ready to go. I still had over $25000 left after all was said and done, and that included purchasing the crap house in Onett for $7500, just to get the picture there lol. These are my final equip listings. - Ness lv44 - Paula - Jeff - Poo - Weapon - Magicant Bat - Holy Fry Pan - Moon Beam Gun - (Nothing) - Body - Earth Pendant - Rabbit's Foot - Rain Pendant - Cloak of Kings - Arms - Pixie's Bracelet - Goddess Band - Cherub's Ribbon - Bracer of Kings - Other - Shiny Coin - Saturn Ribbon - Souvenir Coin - Diadem of Kings - So once ready, (and I mean READY) proceed to the past, and get ready for the final dodgeball game of the game. You can use the same method you used to get to the meteroite here, by using a Skip Sandiwch DX right after a successful escape to blast through swiftly, then encountering an enemy once you are not flashing to get another first strike and easily continue on. Keep the Rabbit's Foot on Paula until you reach Giygas, so she is still able to toss up PSI Shield Sigmas ASAP, this place is crawling with Ghosts of Starmen and Final Starmen. Once you get to him, switch Paula back to the Sea Pendant so she has optimal protection for the final battle. - I used to think this battle was difficult, a long time ago. It really isn't that hard at all. Once down, proceed to the end of the game. (sorry, I couldn't resist. Refer to the boss section for strategy on Giygas. I'm out). 4 - Boss Strategies 4.01 - StarMan Jr - Ness lv1 - lv3 - Let Buzz Buzz do his thing, you can't lose. Starman Jr is only in here for completion's sake. 4.02 - Frank and Frankystien Mark II - Ness lv5 - Should only take 4 hits or so for Frank, heal if you fall below 25 HP. - Frankystein Mark II attacks every second round, so defend if he did not hit you in the previous round. Rarely, instead of throwing a punch, he will tear into you, which does over 30 damage. Hopefully you won't have to deal with this attack, but always make sure your HP is over 30. 4.03 - Titanic Ant - Ness lv8 - Use PSI Rockin for the first 2 turns, then just bash away, as you don't have much choice. He will likely drain your PP quickly, so use it up right away. That way his PSI Magnet will be a wasted turn. Heal with a Hamburger if you need to, but if he uses PSI LifeUp a few times, you are likely toast. May take a few tries, but not too bad. Try beating him at lv5 for a TRUE llg, that is a hair puller for sure. 4.04 - Onett Police Force - Ness lv9 - Each of the 4 officers should only take 3 hits to down, but if they persist with crushing chops, this can be a real pain. Hope you win a few Hamburgers from them on the way and you should be ok. - Just lace Strong with PSI Rockin a few times and he will fall like a ton of bricks. He only has 140 HP, so even one will do with a few bashes. He likes to lose his temper more than anything, which doesn't hurt you at all, though his submission hold will devastate you, so finish this quickly. 4.05 - Everdred - This boss can be easily skipped, just don't approach him. When you return with Paula, he won't fight you. 4.06 - Carpainter - Ness lv11 - Just let him blast himself away, and bash a few times. Heal if he paint attacks you a few times, but otherwise this is a simple fight. The Franklin Badge will win it for you. 4.07 - Bogey Tent - Ness lv13, Paula lv1, Jeff lv1 - Ok, you had better hope you still have a Teddy Bear, because that will help out large in this fight. Just BR away with Jeff, and Shield of Light with Ness on both of your helpless lv1 characters. Turtle with Paula, as she can't do anything worth risking an undefended hit. If you have any less than 5 BRs, you will likely run out, so throw a few PSI Rockins in with Ness to close the deal. This will probably take a few tries if he attacks a lot, but I find a lot of the time that is not the case. 4.08 - Mini Barf - Ness lv14, Paula lv9, Jeff lv11 - Mini Barf doesn't have many attacks that actually damage you, so this is actually pretty easy. Just blast with PSI Rockin and PSI Fire, and let off your BRs. The BRs actually miss a lot of the time, but it is still your best option, as you will likely be uncontrolably crying early in this fight. Should go down after 4 or 5 rounds. 4.09 - Master Belch - Ness lv15, Paula lv12, Jeff lv14 - Just use the Fly Honey, and blast away, for it will totally distract Master Belch. You won't have enough attack power to even dent him, so just blast away with PSI Rockin and PSI Freeze Beta. He has less than 700HP, and should fall in a few rounds. 4.10 - Trillionage Sprout - Ness lv17, Paula lv15, Jeff lv17 - Okay, this bugger is pretty tough. For the first round, use PSI Rockin, PSI Fire, and throw a Bomb with Jeff. That should eliminate the other two enemies that accompany TS. After, use your BBR, designate Ness as the healer, and it's really your choice between PSI Freeze and PSI Fire. You will have freeze beta by now, but it does cost 9PP. Fire is 6, but freeze alpha is only 4, and does only 10 - 20 damage less than fire, and all freeze moves have the chance to solidify the enemy for a turn. This is something, regardless of enemy weakness, that we will be exploiting for the entire game in boss fights. Unless the boss is totally resistant to freeze, it's almost ALWAYS worth it. Aside from that, the BBR should do near to half his HP in damage, then just plug away with the PSI of your choosing. Ness should remain the healer, don't bother chancing a PSI Rockin with him, as TS hits hard and often. A shield of light could also be used, but is not totally necessary. Again, it's getting to him intact that is the much harder part. 4.11 - Guardian Digger x5 - Ness lv20, Paula lv18, Jeff lv21 - Ness lv21, Paula lv19, Jeff lv22 - Ness lv22, Paula lv21, Jeff lv22 - Ness lv23, Paula lv22, Jeff lv23 - Ness lv24, Paula lv22, Jeff lv24 - Just defend with Ness and Jeff and PSI Freeze Beta twice. That will destroy each one with ease. 4.12 - Dept Store Spook - Ness lv25, Jeff lv25 - Fire one BBR at him, and wait for him to kill Ness off. Just keep healing Jeff with Ness until he falls, then fire a second BBR to finish him off. If you're not killing Ness off, just blast him with 2 BBRs right away while healing with Ness, DSS will dole out tons of damage and quickly. 4.13 - Evil Mani Mani - Ness lv25, Jeff lv27 - Unfortunately, Evil Mani Mani does not dole out the damage, so you want to enter this fight with Ness already down. 2 BBRs should make short work of him, but not every time. Be sure to have a Great Charm equiped to Jeff, or even the Travel Charm if you have it on you, as EMM does like to use PSI Paralysis, and that is the only thing he does that will totally screw Jeff over. If not killing Ness off, just blast away with BBRs and PSI Rockin. 4.14 - Clumsy Robot - Ness lv25, Jeff lv29 - There are two ways to do this, so both will be listed in detail. - 1 - Defend until he finally decides to throw a missile at you. When he does, have Jeff heal himself and Ness use PSI Paralysis before his rolling lifebar expires. This may not work right away, making this the more luck-fueled of the two methods, but it can still work. If PSI Paralysis fails, you are likely screwed and will have to do it again. If it does work, just beat down the helpless bugger until the Runaway Five appear. - 2 - This method involves Ness having a Sunstroke upon entering the Monotoli building. Once at the room before Clumsy Robot, wait for Ness to take sunstroke damage until he has about 40 HP left, then confront him. Use PSI Paralysis right away, until it works. Once he is paralyzed, just wait for Ness to fall, then beat him down with Jeff until the Runaway Five show up. Done like dinner. - 3 - Yeah, I know, I said two, but if you are not killing Ness off for this fight, (and I only do to average the levels in the end), then just paralyze him right away and proceed to beat down. It's really that easy. 4.15 - Shroooom!!! - Ness lv25, Paula lv23, Jeff lv31 - Ok, for this fight, your goal is to have only Paula survive, since she is 2 bosses behind in xp. That will bring her right up to lv31 with Jeff. Now, to do this is another matter entirely. There are a lot of ways this fight can go for you to accomplish the Paula win, and a ton of it is all luck. Before engaging, be sure that Paula is equiped with the Flame Pendant, and that you have removed most of the guys' armor. Have a few HP recovery items on Paula, as well as your Bag of Dragonite, in case she needs a trump finisher. Start off by throwing one BBR at him with Jeff, and toss a Shield of Light or two on Paula. Just have Paula defend for now, until someone gets Mashroomized. Shrooom! does not physically attack often, so you will have to depend on yourself to kill yourself off, as weird as that sounds. If Ness or Jeff gets shroomed first, then defend with the others and attack with the confused one until one of the guys falls or Paula gets shroomed. Once she is, defend with any other survivors and proceed to PSI Fire at will. Eventually she will toss a few back at you, which should make short work of the guys, while she is totally protected. She may run out of PP before they're dead, but she can steal some back from Shrooom, or even Ness if she misfires. Once they are down, just blast away with PSI Fire as much as you can, and if that is not enough, just toss that Bag of Dragonite. I had it do nearly 1000 damage, which is plenty more than you should need to kill him, but it is a last resort, just-in-case type item. Then again, once the guys are down, you could probably slay him with the dragonite in one blow, but that's up to you. This should take a few attempts to complete with the desired results, so don't worry if you horribly fail. Like I said, getting this battle to go your way is mostly luck, so just keep at it. - If not killing any party members off, blast him hard and fast with BBRs, PSI Fire Beta and PSI Rockin Beta. If a character gets shroomed, it's up to you whether or not to risk an attack. 4.16 - Kraken - Ness lv25, Paula lv31, Jeff lv31, Poo lv18 - Well, now that you finally have Poo, time to catch him up in level. Equip him with the Flame Pendant and give him the Franklin Badge, and enter the fray. Poo will be invincible to all but Kraken generating a tornado, but Poo can easily PSI LifeUp himself before falling. In case you haven't caught it yet, you want only Poo to survive. Throw a few blast with the others for a round or two, and wait for them all to fall. Once they are down, throw a few cheap PSI Freezes off with Poo and heal if he tornadoes. Use a few bottles of water on Poo if you have to heal often, cause Kraken can get tornado happy sometimes. All in all, it should not be too tough to win with just Poo. - If not downing the others, then blast him hard right away with your highest level PSI Freezes, so he spends most of the battle solidified, and toss a few BBRs. Make Ness your healer, and blast full force with the others. Hopefully you can solidify him a few times, because any blast of fire or tornado will mean serious trouble for you, you just have to get a little lucky. 4.17 Shattered Man - Ness lv25, Paula lv31, Jeff lv31, Poo lv30 - Make sure to unequip Ness before this fight, and just defend with the others while attacking with Ness until he falls. You can use Shield of Light on the others for some added protection, but this guy isn't that tough at all. On the other hand, you could get Ness sunstroke before hand and kill him off before you engage, but it's not too hard to get him to down Ness for you. 4.18 - Plague Rat of Doom - Ness lv25, Paula lv32, Jeff lv31, Poo lv31 - Hopefully Ness is near critical HP when you reach him. Just throw up Shields of Light of the other 3 and wait for Ness to fall. You can throw a few attacks in the mean time, just watch your damage, so you don't accidentally kill him. A BBR should do, then once Ness falls, loose another BBR and PSI Freeze him to death. Keep Poo on standby as a healer, since PRoD can dole out the damage. If not killing Ness off, then just go full force right away with any BRs and all the PSI Freeze he can handle. I know he is weak to PSI Fire, but Freeze can, as you should know, solidify him sometimes, and does the same damage as fire for the most part. 4.19 - Thunder and Storm - Ness lv25, Paula lv34, Jeff lv33, Poo lv33 - Hopefully Ness is around 100 HP for the start, but blast Thunder and Storm a bit right away, for around 1000 or so. PSI Freeze and a BBR should get things moving, but the HP Sucker can also work quite well, sometimes exceeding 200 damage. Just wait for Ness to fall, and finish the job. It should not take too long for Ness to take a blast of lightning or something. If he saves up for the next assault, defend with everyone, as the attack will likely mortally wound whoever it connects with, so be ready with a PSI Lifeup (unless he hits Ness of course!). Also throw up some Shields of Light as a backup if you want, they're not manditory or anything. Do also beware of his PSI Flash Beta, as it does have a chance of downing anyone who is not equiped with the Night Pendant. If not downing Ness, just go at him full power right away. Keep Ness on standby as a healer so you can double blast the PSI Freeze, and have him solidified for most of the fight. 4.20 - Guardian General - Ness lv25, Paula lv36, Jeff lv35, Poo lv35 - The goal for this fight is to have only Jeff survive. Jeff and Paula should be within 10000 xp of eachother, with Poo around 50000 xp behind. But, for the levels we will reach by the end, Jeff requires about 85000 more xp to be par level with Paula and Poo, so this one is all for him. As for strategy, you should have let the others take some damage in escapes before you reached him. Just use a few Shields of Light on Jeff and attack with the others, as they can't even scratch Guardian General. Damage him for a few hundred, then wait for the others to fall. After, a BBR, MAYBE two, should finish him. Having a few HP recovery items on Jeff can help, if GG is being stubborn. If not downing the others, just go at him full force. He only has 850 HP or so, should only take a round or two. 4.21 - Master Barf, Puke, whatever! - Ness lv25, Paula lv36, Jeff lv38, (Poo lv35) - Be sure to have Ness down again, he just doesn't like xp. Just throw a MBR to force Poo to swoop down and show off to end the battle. If not killing Ness off, just have him alive to start and MBR him. It's really that simple. If, by some minute chance your MBR misses him, just PSI Freeze and Rockin him to death. Not much more to say, he doesn't even have 1500 HP... 4.22 - StarMan Deluxe - Ness lv25, Paula lv38, Jeff lv39, Poo lv37 - Now, for the first time in long time, we're going to let Ness survive this battle. Since he is so far behind now, he can get a few xp to level him out with the others in the end. Start off by immediately using PSI Shield Sigma with Paula, and try to nix his psychic power shield with PSI Thunder from Poo and the Shield Killer with Jeff. Once it's down, blast away with the standard PSI Freeze and any BRs you have. I didn't have any for this fight, and it was still fairly easy. You can Brainshock him to help stymie his attacks a bit. Keep your shields up in case he gets StarStorm happy, and just stay alive. If he calls for help, just focus on StarMan DX and ignore them, as they will disappear once you defeat him, and they won't hinder your efforts with extra xp. 4.23 - Electro Spectre - Ness lv29, Paula lv39, Jeff lv40, Poo lv39 - Once again, have Ness survive this battle, as it will ensure near equal levels by the end. Deal with his psychic power shield first with the standard PSI Thunders and Shield Killer. Also barrage him with PSI Hypnosis and PSI Brainshock, as he is vulnerable to both. Just bring down his shield then PSI Freeze Gamma him to death. I know it is tempting to use PSI StarStorm, but between 2 shots of freeze a round, he will likely be solidified for most rounds posthence. Between that, Hypnosis, and Brainshock, he should barely be able to touch you at all. Use any BRs you have, or the Hungry HP Sucker, as it can be quite effective as well. The only risk of dying is if once of his electrical attacks strikes the same person consecutively, but you should be able to recover quick enough before they fall. All in all, he's not so tough, just plentiful in the max HP department, as it will take over 3000 damage to defeat him. 4.24 - Carbon Dog/Diamond Dog - Ness lv33, Paula lv41, Jeff lv41, Poo lv41 - So, you will want Ness down for the end of this one, but that doesn't mean he has to fall right away. This will be a long battle, no matter what, so blast him hard right away with PSI Freeze Gamma, BRs, and keep Ness on standby as a healer. You want him to transform ASAP, as his fire breathing is devestating to anyone without fire protection. Once he transforms to Diamond Dog, get those shields of light up quick, as his attack is killer. Diamond Dog has just over 3000 HP, so this is a gruelling fight. Keep up the Freeze barrage, and if you run out of PP, just PSI Magnet it back from DD, I'm pretty sure he has a few to spare. If you are going to fire off any BRs, make sure his power shield is down first, and also be aware of the fact that he can recast it. The Hungry HP Sucker can again be usefull, doing anywhere from 250-450 damage if it connects. If not killing Ness off, your strategy is pretty much the same, but you'll have to keep his arse alive now too. Shouldn't be too tough, since you don't have to take needless damage waiting for him to fall. 4.25 - Mondo Mole - Ness lv33, Paula lv45, Jeff lv44, Poo lv44 - Just trounce him and move on. This late in the game, he will have no adverse effects on your levels at all, you just need him out of the way. Have fun. 4.26 - Ness' Nightmare - Ness lv33 - Use all of the Sudden Guts Pills you brought to bring your guts up to over 200, so you can SMASH! the crap out of him. That is really your only hope. You don't even have 100 PP yet, and your regular attack does only 20-30 damage, but a smash hit will do near to 300 damage. He will mortally damage you with PSI Rockin Omega often, but use your rolling lifebar to squeeze an extra attack or two in before you heal. He has 999 PP, but PSI Rockin Omega costs him 98 to use, so once he is below 100 PP, it becomes a wasted turn. With the Sea Pendant equiped, he can't diamondize you, that is a wasted turn on his part as well. Just keep bashing away and healing when needed. Your only real danger here is if you run out of PP to heal with before he is not able to use PSI Rockin Omega anymore, but as long as you still have at least one BrainFood Lunch, you should be able to outlast him, even with his PSI Lifeup Beta. One very important note though, whenever you use PSI Lifeup Beta to recover from a mortal attack, don't start the next turn until your lifebar has rolled back to full, to maximize your time between healings. It shouldn't take more than a few attempts to destroy him, and the harder part is making it past the 3 Krakens again if you lose. Bash him to oblivion to save your soul! 4.27 - Giygas w/Heavily Armed Pokey - Ness lv44, Paula lv45, Jeff lv44, Poo lv44 - So this is it, the big hurrah. The final fight, the showdown of showdowns... I tried to amp it up a little, but it's really much easier than it should be, if you know what you are doing. There will be several stages to this fight, but you already knew that since you've beaten the game before, right? - For the first stage, Giygas is invulnerable to everything, so you will want to blast Pokey hard to advance the battle. You will need to toss up PSI Shield Sigma yet again, as Giygas only attacks with PSI Rockin Alpha and Beta. Use Brainshock on Pokey to help keep him at bay, as he can tear into you for upwards of 300 damage. Just blast at him with PSI Freeze Gamma and the Heavy Bazooka, as MBRs are not really effective. Keep Ness on standby as your designated healer for this entire battle, he won't be of much use other than that. Beat down Pokey until he turns off the Devil's Machine. - Oh my gawd, it's soooooo scary! I'm fighting the background! I was always a little disappointed this, never actually getting to see Giygas as more than a distorted red face in the background, but this game is still awesome. Now, Giygas has a variety of attacks. He can use what is the equivalent of PSI Thunder Beta, a high level Flash attack, and a hit-all Freeze attack. So, you may be a little conflicted as to which pendants to use, just be sure that Paula has the Sea Pendant for full protection. Giving an Earth Pendant works the best for Ness so he is half protected from Freeze and protected from Flash, as he has the HP to take some hits, but I left Jeff with a Rain Pendant to reduce damage. Poo's kinda on his own here, with no protection, but he will be fine. Be sure to use Brainshock on Giygas, so he will attack himself half the time. You only have to blast him for around 2500 damage to advance the battle, so keep up the PSI Freeze Gamma. You can throw in a few Starstorms if you want, but Freeze does always carry with it the chance of solidification, even on Giygas, and that is a priceless fact that we have been abusing all game. Refrain from physical attacks here so you don't knock some sense into him by removing his confusion, but I'd still blast with the Heavy Bazooka for some added damage. Once you damage him enough, Pokey will show up and taunt you to call for help, enter stage 3. - Just keep everyone alive (not that it matters, you gain no xp lol), and make sure that Paula pulls off a Pray every round. Trust me, with how this fight goes, now is the time for turtle power! Oh, but do keep him Brainshocked, I do enjoy watching him strike himself with his own lightning occasionally. Just make sure Paula pulls off the 9 or so Prays it takes, and just like that, you've beat the game! And at some quite ridiculously low levels to boot! 5 - Final Thoughts - Really, it is that easy. This game at low level is not about defeating the boss, its about GETTING to that boss with enough juice left to survive. Well, once you get through a bit of the game of course, as it is the earlier bosses who are truely difficult, because you don't have as much time, er, HP, to heal yourself after a mortal attack. That's just the thing though, it's not like you have HP, it's more like TP, "time to heal before you fall down points". The real challenge is surviving normal enemies with your pathetic defense and HP totals. - Well, I hope you found this guide useful is some capacity, it may not be a perfect llg, but I thoroughly enjoy playing EarthBound this way, as I enjoyed writing this guide. I know this game has been out for well over 15 years, but looking at the boards, I'm clearly not the only person still playing it, and I saw that there was no llg guide, so I took up the task. - Special thanks to Lvthn from the boards, he didn't directly contribute, but he did inform me of a few things I was not aware of in the game, as well as a few strategies for early parts of the game. - If you have any questions on specific parts of the guide, you can email me at Sir_Piccolo@hotmail.com, but I am not the most vigilant at checking my email. You can PM over Gamefaqs.com, as I probably check gamefaqs more than my email. FIN