Solstice FAQ by Joshua Harring (harring@student.umass.edu) Table of Contents I. Intro II. Techniques and Potions III. Walkthrough I. Intro Hello! Welcome to my FAQ for this great NES game. It is one of the most challenging, but enchanting ones that I have played. In this FAQ, there is a walkthrough for getting through the entire game, and also an explanation of the various techniques that you must use in order to solve the puzzles. Enjoy! II. Techniques and Potions Kind of a strange heading for this section, but that's what's in here. Solstice is a game filled with puzzles, and just figuring out the solution is not enough. You have to actually execute the solution. That can be the difficult part. Many of the puzzles involve using blocks, and there are various techniques that you can use with these blocks to help you achieve success. 1. Jump (press A) - Pretty simple. Shadax jumps. He can jump one "block" high. You'll notice that each block and platform in this game has a certain height. I am using the height of blocks as the unit measurement. When Shadax gets the Magic Boots, he can jump two blocks high. Many puzzles become difficult/impossible without these boots. 2. Repeated Jump (hold A) - A nice technique is being able to jump repeatedly by holding down A. This is VERY useful. It allows Shadax to jump quickly across disappearing platforms, stay in the same place on a conveyor belt, bound up stairs, and dozens of other uses. 3. Pick Up Block (press B) - When Shadax is standing on a block, he can pick it up. The block is then in his possession. Shadax can only carry one at a time, and he cannot take them from room to room. Shadax can pick up a block anytime he is standing on one, even in mid-air. 4. Drop Block (press B) - If Shadax has a block in his possession, he will drop it by pressing B. He drops it directly underneath him, so he ends up standing on it. This is true even in mid-air, and the air Drop Block technique is often useful for jumping large gaps. Shadax can also drop a block onto pyramid spikes. The block will not disappear, and Shadax can stand on it. You'll find this technique to be useful as well. You can even drop a block onto a monster's head! (Note: You can't drop blocks onto the needle spikes that line the floor. They will disappear.) 5. Jump and Grab (press A and B) - It's even possible to jump off a block and pick it up at the same time. Press A and B while standing on a block. Shadax will jump off it like normal, but he will also take it with him. This is an important technique that you MUST learn. Practice. 6. Drop and Jump (press B, then A) - In mid-air, you press B to drop the block, and then immediately press A to jump off of it. Often times you will combine the Jump and Grab with the Drop and Jump to reach really high places or jump really long gaps. Remember that Shadax drops a block directly underneath him, and so gains a little height. Many times that little height will be just enough. Practice this too. Shadax also has four Potions at his disposal. He begins the game with two doses of each, and when he finds a potion lying around, he gains two more doses of the particular color he picks up. Here is a description of each of them: Invincibility (blue) - Just like the name says, it makes Shadax invincible. Not TOTALLY invincible, however. He will still be killed by spikes. But he can use this potion to touch monsters without harm, even jumping on their heads. Sometimes this is necessary to complete a puzzle. Like all potions, it only lasts for the room you use it in. Destruction (purple) - This potion will destroy all monsters (and blocks!) in a room. If you're faced with a particularly difficult set of enemies, then this is the way to go. However, sometimes the monsters or the blocks in a room are a necessary solution, so be wise in your use of this potion. Also, if you use it, leave, and come back, the monsters and blocks will have returned. Time freeze (yellow) - This will freeze all of the monsters and moving blocks in a room. Shadax will still be killed if he touches a monster, however. This is useful only when you are faced with very fast enemies that you have difficulty with. See hidden (green) - This potion will allow you to see any hidden blocks/platfroms in the room. Sometimes, if you think you are faced with an impossible jump, use of this potion will clue you in on how to jump. Note that a hidden platform will appear if you touch it, but there is no way of knowing where it is unless through experience, trial-and-error, or this potion. Many of the enemies in the game have distinct patterns, but some home in directly on Shadax. It is important to know how your enemies move in order to find the best way around them. Most enemies can be avoided without using a potion; the only time you should use one is when consistently dying from them. The castle is non-linear, but there is a sequence of events that will allow you to get through the game as quickly as possible. Sometimes you can't go somewhere without finding a key. There are four different keys to find, and they each have a specific purpose (e.g. making blocks appear in a room, or creating an exit somewhere). You don't have to `use' a key; it does its thing automatically. You will find credits and hats scattered throughout. Hats are extra lives. Credits are continues. If you die and continue, you start where you picked up your most recent credit, with the items you had at that particular time. So for example, if you had 2 keys, picked up a credit, went on to get another key, and died and continued without picking up another credit, you'd start back where you picked up the credit with only 2 keys. The map you see by pressing Select is invaluable. It will show you all exits in a room, even if you can't see them. If you see an exit on the map, but not on the screen, chances are you need a key. Also, if a room is outlined in white on the map, there is another room above and/or below the room you're in now. Even with this map, you still should draw your own. The rooms are made up of `squares', so simple graph paper is useful. You should mark down important things when you find them, like where keys and items are, what rooms have the white outline, and so forth. Sometimes, your map won't line up EXACTLY right. That's okay...I bet it was bad cartography on the part of the programmers. As long as your map is reasonably accurate, you'll be fine. The main goal is to find and collect the six Staff Pieces so that you can save Princess Eleanor. Generally, a Staff Piece is difficult to get to, and will often involve some pretty high physical dexterity to complete the puzzle and get it. Practice. A big problem in this game is depth perception. Because of the isometric 3D view, and the fact that no objects have shadows, it can be difficult to tell exactly where something is. Sometimes it's easier to tell the path of a moving object by watching its entire flight. I will try to explain the rooms as best as possible, because this game is hard enough already. Also because of the isometric view, everything is at a diagonal, including the controls. I will refer to north-east as north, south-east as east, south-west as south, and north-west as west, in order to remain consistent with the directional pad. And now, THE WALKTHROUGH 1. You'll see Princess Eleanor spirited away by the evil wizard Morbius, and then you drop into his castle. Take the west exit. 2. This is pretty simple - just walk onto the green moving platform as it approaches. Ride across to the other side and jump off. Take the west exit. 3. Jump onto the raised platform in the center to avoid the two trolls wandering the perimeter. Take the south exit. 4. There's nothing in this room except these two blocks. If you want to practice your techniques, you can do so here. Take the south exit here, and in the next room as well. 5. Your first key! Repeated Jump up the sinking blocks to reach it. Collect it, then backtrack to the entrance room again. Take the south exit when you get back there. 6. Two blocks fall into this room. This is a result of the key you just got. Stack the two blocks on top of each other so you can reach the east exit. 7. And here's your first credit! You'll also notice that you can't walk in certain places. The reason for this is that there is a hidden platform in your way. Simply jump on top of it to make it appear. Take the east exit, then the north exit in the next room. 8. Now here's your first puzzle. Pick up the block, then jump up the stairs to the top. Drop the block, and when the troll walks by, push it onto his head. If you mess up, the block will fall onto the needle spikes and disappear. No problem. Just exit and reenter the room again. Once it's on his head, wait for him to come by again, then jump on top of the block on top of his head. He'll walk you over to the conveyor belt, which you jump on and then quickly jump off onto the platform with the Magic Boots. Hooray! You won't lose these boots, even if you die. You can jump back to the ground from here, and then leave the room. Return to the entrance room yet again. Take the north exit this time, then the west exit in the next room. 9. Quickly enter the north exit to avoid the trolls walking around. In the next room, avoid the blob by jumping on the platform with the east exit. Take that exit. 10. Here you have to run underneath a spikeball. This can be deceptively difficult. You have to run underneath it when it's at its high point. If you're off by a little bit, you'll probably die. If you're really having a hard time with this, use a blue or purple potion. Take the east exit. 11. See that glass ball? When you push it, it goes straight in one direction until it hits something, then stops. Pick up the block (while avoiding the troll), then push the ball so it goes north. It will hit the raised platform. Jump on top of the ball, then onto the platform. Now, drop the block, and then jump east onto the higher platform so you can reach the east exit. Take that exit. 12. There's a bunch of creatures running around in this room. Quickly run to the northwest corner and jump to the platform. You're safe here. You then have to run for the south exit while avoiding the creatures. If you don't trust your ability to do so, use a potion. But try not to. Take the south exit. 13. There are three spikeballs here. One is in the northwest corner, and one is in the southwest. You don't have to worry about them. The one you have to worry about is the purple one in the middle of the west wall. This room is difficult to do without a potion, so you might as well use a purple and destroy them. If you don't want to, you have to time it so that you fall into the little pit under the spikeball and jump out before it moves down. Chances are, you'll fail. Take the south exit, and also in the next room. 14. Aha! A Staff Piece. And you're probably guessing that you'll need to use the block and troll's head to get to it. Well, you're right. But the technique is slightly different. What will happen is this: if you push the block onto the troll's head from the highest platform, when he comes around again, the block will run into that platform and fall, and you won't be able to ride it over to the other side. So you have to do this: Stand on the highest platform. As the troll comes by, fall off it and immediately press B to drop the block. You have to time this correctly; too early or too late and you'll miss him and fall onto the spikes (ouch). Anyway, once you get the block on his head and are riding it over, jump onto the easternmost platform on the south wall when you reach it. Then jump across the conveyors to reach the Staff Piece. Okay, but now I said the block will hit the platform and fall, so now the troll has no block on his head. Right. So how do you get back? You have to use a blue potion to make yourself invincible. Then you fall onto the troll's head as he comes by again and ride him back over to the original side. Welcome to the wonderful world of Solstice puzzles. Leave the room once you're successful, and head all the way back to the room with the blob in it (you might have to use some more potions to get past the obstacles again). 15. Now go south, east, and south. You're back in the entrance room. Go south and west. The three blobs can't get you as long as you're on a platform, and the easiest way to get over to the western exit is to jump straight towards it, making sure no blobs are in your way. Take that exit. 16. We now get to use some of the techniques that you'll need to be adept at in this game. We have two blocks, and a southern exit that appears to be too high. (Actually, it looks like one block and one bowl or something, but let's just uniformly call them blocks.) Here's how to get up to that exit. Take one of the blocks and put it down next to the platform in front of the northern exit. Get the other block and jump back on top of that platform, using the block you put down as a stepping stone. Now, jump south off of the platform, and in mid-air, use the Drop and Jump technique. Try not to rush it, there's no penalty if you mess it up, except that you just need to try again. By jumping off of the block in mid-air, you'll have enough leap to get atop that high platform. Take the southern exit. 17. Right next to you is a Green Potion. Pick it up. Stand on the square in front of the door, and jump south to land on the ledge below. Take the southern exit. 18. Now what? Guess what, this room has hidden platforms in it. You can use a Green Potion to see them, which is not a bad idea for your first time in the room. If you're going to be brave (stupid?) and not use the Potion, here's how to get over to the east exit. From the block you're on, jump south two squares, i.e. pretending to jump over a one-square gap. You'll land on a hidden platform, which will appear. Now jump east two squares, landing on another hidden platform, and then finally to the platform in front of the eastern exit. Take that exit. 19. Goody. Another hidden platform room. First, jump north two squares, in other words, towards the northwest corner. Then jump east two squares, and east two squares again. From here, it's easy to jump to the platform in front of the east exit. Take that exit. 20. Jump on the hovering block, but jump off to the opposite ledge quickly before the block sinks too far. Take the east exit. 21. That green block moving up and down is just east of the last block on the path, and it takes you up into the next room above you. Hop on it. When you get up to the next room, you'll be standing on a platform, and you'll notice two blocks fall and disappear. Jump up the "stairs" to the western side of the room, and on the highest platform, jump up. You'll land on a disappearing platform and then fall back to this platform. No problem. Jump up again, but this time Repeated Jump to the east so that you can land on the ledge in the above room. Now, jump into the space where the second disappearing platform was. You'll land in the room below, on top of the block that falls onto the conveyor belt. Quickly grab it and jump to a solid platform. Stand on the second highest step, put the block down, then perform a Jump and Grab to the north, followed by a Drop and Jump. If you don't think you can do it at first, try the techniques in place a few times before attempting to jump the long gap. If you screw it up, you'll fall down to the first room, but make sure you land on the ledge instead of the spikes. Once you finally make it across the gap, take the north exit. Congratulations! Here's your second Staff Piece. Notice how you can't see the northwest corner of the room (it's obscured by the tall platform the Staff Piece is on). There is a gap there which leads to rooms below. Fall down that gap. On the second screen down, you'll land on a hat, which lands on a platform. Get it and then continue to fall. 22. You'll land in the castle basement. It consists mostly of many small rooms, which are easy to get lost in if you aren't mapping. Follow my directions carefully. From the room you land in, walk west three rooms, south one, west two, south two, east one, south one, and west two. Here's a Blue Potion. 23. Now walk east one, south one, east one, and south two. A hat! Yay! 24. Go north two, east two, and north two. This is a teleporter. Stand in it and press B to be transported to a different teleporter. From where you end up, walk east two, south one, west two and south one. Get the Purple Potion. 25. Now go north one, east two, north three, and east one. All right, another credit! 26. Then travel south four, west one, south two, west one, and south one. Whoa! A Staff Piece! Yes, this is the easiest one to get. 27. Now go north one, east one, north two, east one, north one, east one, south one, east one, and north one. The two trolls here are slow and easily avoided. If you need another Blue Potion (remember the maximum is 4 doses), jump down into the room below at the exact center. You'll land on a platform with it, amongst a pit of spikes. From there, jump to the perimeter of the room, and take the Lift Block back up. Take the east exit. 28. You will immediately start being pulled by conveyor belts so Repeated Jump to counteract the effect. Jump carefully across them over to the north exit. Be careful, because one of them disappears when you touch it. Take the north exit. 29. You'll see three spikeballs moving up and down over three holes. You can't jump down these holes without using a Purple Potion to destroy the spikeballs first, however. Do that, and jump down a hole (doesn't matter which). 30. You'll land in a room with a funny-looking object in the northwest corner. Jump up the platforms over to it. When you jump on it, your weight will press down on it, causing an explosion. Fortunately, that explosion takes place in another room. :) Yes, this is a detonator, which blew up a bomb somewhere. Take the west exit. 31. Jump up the stairs before the skeleton finds you. When you reach the top step, jump up and west to make it up to the room above you. Three blocks will fall into this room. Put one of them next to the bed of pyramid spikes for leverage. Then, grab another, jump on top of the block you put down, then jump out over the spikes, and drop the block and land on it. It doesn't have to be a Drop and Jump, because remember that a block doesn't disappear from pyramid spikes. From the block, jump to the north and land safely. Take the north exit. 32. See this north exit? It's only there because we blew up the bomb in step 30. If we hadn't blown up the bomb, we would be STUCK. The one block isn't enough to jump up to the ledge, and we can't get back across the bed of spikes in the previous room. Luckily, we did blow up the bomb, so all is good. :) Take the north exit. 33. Jump up the stairs, then carefully over each spikeball (when it reaches its lowest point). When you make it over to the other side, jump up. You'll appear on the ledge in the room above you. And here's two free hats! Jump onto the Lift Block to be taken up to the next room, where there's two MORE free hats, and a Yellow Potion! Take the south exit. Fall down to the room below, but be careful of the worms down there. Take the west exit (jump over the worms if necessary). 34. Walk across the ledge over to the west exit. Take it. Jump these spikeballs carefully. Don't worry, even though the platforms look like the disappearing ones, these do not disappear. Reach the west exit and take it. 35. This is simple timing. Jump up the stairs when the enemy moves by. Take the west exit. 36. We're now back in the room that you fell in when you first got into the castle basement. Walk west three rooms, south one, west two, south two, and west one. Here's your second key. Take the west exit. 37. Again, simple timing past the monsters. In the next room, there's a hidden platform in the center of the room to jump to. From there, jump to the opposite conveyor belts and into the west exit. In the next room, jump to the next block when it is lower than you. Then jump into the west exit. Bound up the stairs and jump up to reach a new area. 38. I like to call this area the Forest because there's lots of trees and such. Take the west exit, and again in the next room. 39. Run IMMEDIATELY north without stopping so the skeletons dropping in the room will pass under you. Take the north exit. 40. We want to get up to the north exit in this room. The moving platform is not high enough, though. Jump to the platform immediately to your west and grab the block on it. Jump to the next platform to your west and land on top of the block there. Then, put the block you're carrying down, and then perform a Jump and Grab followed by a Drop and Jump to be able to get up to the ledge in front of the west exit. Once you're up there, jump over to the ledge in front of the north exit and take it. 41. Repeated Jump on the conveyors and maneuver your way over to the west exit. Again, be careful because some of the conveyors and platforms disappear when touched. 42. Don't worry about the hat falling down. Jump up the stairs on the south side, walk on the moving platform, and jump into the west exit. 43. Do a Jump and Grab with a Drop and Jump with the one block here to get up to the high ledge. Take the north exit. 44. Fall down to the ground and take the west exit. In the next room, avoid the monsters, but step on the top step of the pyramid to make it disappear. Fall into the space and press B to get a hidden hat. Jump out and take the south exit. 45. Use a Purple potion to destroy that spikeball hovering over the gap. Then jump over to the west exit. In the next room, run over to the west exit when you have an opening. The spikeball is actually in the center of the room and won't bother you. 46. Jump on the lift block when it comes down to your level. Ride it up to the ledge above you. From here jump south and land on the stack of disappearing platforms, letting them all disappear. Jump to the next platform west and land on top of the block there. Do a Jump and Grab followed QUICKLY by dropping the block on the pyramid spikes. Then jump west again and land on the block there. Pick it up, then do a Drop and Jump to get over to the high ledge. Take the west exit. 47. The two moving platforms are both moving along the south wall; one is just higher than the other. Jump on the lower one when it comes near, then as you're riding on that one, jump straight up onto the higher one as it passes. Ride that platform over to the west wall, then jump onto the ledge with the key. Take the north exit. 48. This is a bit tricky; try to jump the next moving platform when it's not exactly in sync with you. It's easier that way. Make it over to the north exit. 49. You'll notice an impassable wall here, but there's a credit on your side. Pick it up. Then go back to the room with the key. Jump from the key ledge back to the ledge on the east wall, and take the east exit. 50. Jump south onto the corner ledge with the block on it. Stand on the block, then perform a Jump and Grab followed by dropping the block on the spikes. Stand on top of the block on the next platform, then jump onto the stack of disappearing platforms, again letting them all disappear. Then jump north onto the next platform, and take the east exit. 51. Run to the south exit when you have an opening, making sure that you're taking the same path as the monsters do. Take the east exit in the next room (ignoring everything else). 52. Getting down the stairs is easy. Just stand next to one of the walls and drop down to the next stair when the worm is on the other side. Take the south exit. 53. The blobs will all converge against this high platform you're on, so you have nothing to worry about when you jump to the east exit. 54. This part is slightly tricky but not really. Quickly jump up onto the second stair, then as the troll gets near, jump east and turn north in mid-air to land on the ledge. You'll have jumped behind him. Take the east exit. 55. This room should look familiar; simply jump over to the ledge north and take the north exit. In the next room, Repeated Jump on the conveyors again, but this time take the north exit. 56. Here, run to the west exit when you have an opening. The only reason that exit is there is because you picked up the third key. It leads to a small room with a teleporter. Use that. 57. You're now on the side of a wall that's only accessible through this teleporter. Take the south exit. Ta-daah! A Staff Piece! Now take the east exit and grab the Purple Potion before going back to the teleporter again. 58. Back in the room with the monsters, run over to the east exit this time. In the next room, wait for the troll to make the hat on his head run into the platform, then jump down and grab it, and then take the east exit. Note: the only reason that exit is there is because you picked up the second key. 59. Jump off the stairs and run to the east exit. You're now back in the castle again. Yay. Grab the credit here and take the east exit. 60. In here, jump onto the disappearing platforms and quickly enter the north exit. In the next room, fall to the ground and take the north exit, and again in the following room. 61. You can use that lift block to get up to the rooms above and get a Blue Potion, but since you have a full supply of Blue Potion (right?), you don't need to. Take the east exit. 62. This room's a bit difficult; it's best just to use a Purple potion (which you should also have a full supply of) and take the east exit. 63. You're now back in the room with the first blob you encountered. Get over to the north exit, spending as little time on the floor as possible. 64. In this room, wait for the skeletons to reach the ledge you're on, then jump over them and run to the opposite ledge, and take the north exit. 65. First thing to do in this room is take the east exit and use the detonator. It blows up an important bomb (aren't they all). Then come back. Grab the block sitting on the ledge, then walk over to the small set of stairs. Stand next to them so that you're lined up with the west exit. Put the block down, then perform a Jump and Grab, then a Drop and Jump so that you can reach the west exit. 66. In this room, quickly jump south onto the ledge so the monsters can't reach you. Then jump over their heads and run to the ledge in the northwest corner. Fall into the space and grab the partially obscured block. Jump out and stand on the ledge, next to the north wall. Put the block down, then do a Jump and Grab with a Drop and Jump to get up to the high ledge. Take the north exit. 67. Pick up the block on the ledge you're on, then jump out over the pyramid spikes and drop the block on them. Jump over to the opposite ledge and pick up the block there. Jump, then do a Drop and Jump to get up to the high ledge, and take the west exit, then take the north exit in the next room, followed by the north exit again. 68. The lift block is on the northwest side of the pit...try not to fall down that pit if you can help it. Ride the block all the way up to the room with the hat. You have to make a tricky jump from the block to the conveyor then to the ledge. If you mess up, make sure you fall on the perimeter of the room so that you don't fall down that pit on the ground floor. You actually have to jump to the lower platform next to the hat. Pick up the hat and take the south exit. You'll fall, but steer towards the northwest corner so you can land on a hat falling with you, then maneuver yourself back to the middle of the north wall so you land on a platform. Take the east exit when you land. 69. Take the north exit to get back to the pit room and then take the east exit there. Pick up the block here, then jump out over the pyramid spikes and drop the block on them. Then jump to the ledge on the eastern wall and take the east exit. 70. There's a credit here. Take the south exit. In the next room, hop on the moving platform and get off at the ledge with the east exit. Take that exit. If you want the yellow potion, you can use the block to get up to it, but yellow potions aren't all that necessary. 71. Quickly run through the two monsters and over to the east exit. Take it. In the next room, walk on the orange moving platform. Step onto the pink one when they meet, and from there jump to the ledge. Take the north exit. 72. Jump straight up onto the moving platform when it comes to your side. Don't fall down the pit yet. Ride the platform to the opposite side and take the north exit. 73. The best way to dash through this room is to run all the way to the east wall, then straight north to the corner and finally entering the north exit. The monsters should not get you that way. Take the west exit in the room beyond this. 74. Jump onto the purple moving platform, then carefully leap onto the pink one when you near it. Then jump onto the platform and take the south exit. 75. The block here is falling down disappearing platforms so you must quickly jump on it and over to the opposite ledge. Take the south exit. 76. The platform in the center of this room will disappear as soon as you touch it. Be careful. Take the west exit. 77. You'll see a block fall onto spikes. Go over to the west exit, take it, then re-enter this room. The block will be back. You must carefully time your jump so that you jump on it and then off it onto the ledge. If you're too early, you'll run into the block instead of jumping on it and fall onto the spikes. If you're too late, you won't have enough height to get up to the ledge and will fall onto the spikes. Once you finally get up there, take the north exit. 78. Stand on top of the block, then Jump and Grab out over the spikes, dropping the block on them after you jump. Jump over to the opposite side and take the north exit. 79. You'll see a block fall onto a disappearing platform and then onto spikes. You'll also see a Staff Piece be pulled by a conveyor underneath a platform. What you have to do is jump onto the block as it falls, then grab it out of mid-air and land on a solid platform. Once you've done that, jump onto the ledge with the conveyors if you're not already there. Put the block down, then Jump and Grab and get up to the higher conveyors. Make sure you don't get pulled by them onto the lower ledge. Put the block down while you're standing on the high conveyors. It will be pulled by them onto the lower conveyors, where it will then be pulled so that it pushes the Staff Piece out where you can get it. Make sure you STAY on the high conveyors until it does that. Then fall and get the Staff Piece, and then go back to the south exit and take it. 80. Do the same technique to get past this room again and take the south exit. Jump from this ledge back to the main one and take the west exit. This is the room that had the credit in it. Now you need to get back to the room with the pit I told you not to fall down (go south, east, east, and north). Make sure you've got 5 staff pieces and 3 keys. Fall down the pit now. 81. You will land in a new part of the castle. Take the south exit. In this room, we have a giant pit of spikes and one glass ball. First, push the glass ball WEST. It will hit the slightly raised ledge and stop. Then push it south, but also hop on it before it goes too far. You'll travel to the isolated raised platform. Take the south exit. 82. Run through the trolls the FIRST time they separate, then run to the east exit. If you messed up, go out and come in again. The reason why you have to run through them so quickly is because the third troll will get you if you take any longer. 83. Walk down this pathway and take the east exit. Walk down the pathway in this room, but be wary of the floor in the center of the room. It will disappear if you touch it. Jump over it and take the south exit. 84. Quickly run to the west exit before the monsters get you. In the next room, go south and west and into the south exit before the monster roaming gets you. 85. Jump onto the block on top of the blob. When it moves over to the raised platform, jump up there and take the east exit. Grab the credit and take the east exit. 86. Jump from this raised platform south onto the other one. Be careful not to fall down. Then quickly jump to the south exit when the monster looks the other way. Jump up the stairs in this room and then jump up to reach the next room above. Take the south exit in that room. 87. Wait for the spider to go away, then run to the south exit. Now you have to make a difficult series of jumps over a long stretch of pyramid spikes. Here's how to do it. Get the block and put it down next to the spikes. Then Jump and Grab out over the spikes, and drop the block and land on it. However, the jump is still too far, so you have to Jump and Grab AGAIN, then land on the block again. After this jump, you should be able to reach the floor on the east side and take the east exit. 88. Follow the way the trolls are going and get to the east exit and take it. In the next room, hop onto the purple platform, then when you approach the southern ledge, jump off onto that. Take the south exit. In the next room, quickly run and jump over the pursuing blobs and take the south exit. 89. Whatever you do, don't fall down or it'll take you about 15 minutes to get back up here. Stand on the southern edge of the block you're on. From here, jump directly east to land on the northern edge of the eastern ledge. Take the east exit. 90. You have to use these trolls to get up to the high ledge, so use an invincibility potion. Then stand on the platform and jump on top of their heads. You can't jump on their heads from the floor, though. You can actually jump up to the north exit from the second troll's head, so don't bother with the third one. 91. In this room, there is a block falling down disappearing platforms in the northwest corner. Yes, you have to jump on that one. Jump from the moving platform to the conveyor to the ledge. Don't jump immediately to the block though...there's a certain timing to it. You have to jump to it the instant it touches the last disappearing platform. Any earlier, and you'll run into it; any later and it will have touched the spikes and disappeared. So Repeated Jump to the block at the right time and then onto the ledge to the east. It may take a few tries. Then jump onto the conveyor and onto the yellow moving platform so you can enter the east exit. 92. Use these blocks to get up to the south exit. Note: These blocks are ONLY here because you have all 5 Staff Pieces. If you don't have them all, these blocks DO NOT appear. I found this out the hard way. *sigh* Anyway, take the south exit. 93. Run and jump over the worms to get to the east exit. In this room, it might look like you need to use the ball to get the key, but you don't. Just jump into the moving platform from the side to screw up its flight and make the key fall. Don't jump into it from directly below, though, or you'll push it up with your head out of reach. Get the key and take the east exit. Then take the south exit in the next room (this is a result of the key). 94. Hitch a ride on the purple moving platform and get over to the west exit. Don't worry about the yellow potion. 95. More trickiness. You have to grab the block falling out of mid-air before it lands on the spikes. Use the ball as leverage so you have more time to grab the block and land on a safe ledge. Even so, you have to do it immediately. Land on something solid (if it's the moving platform, even better). Get on the moving platform if you're not there already and put the block down while you're riding it. You don't need to jump to the teleporter. Instead you should jump to the ledge on the eastern wall so you can go down the stairs to the teleporter. When the moving platform approaches that ledge, do a Jump and Grab followed quickly by a Drop and Jump and land on the ledge. Then simply go down the stairs and enter the teleporter. Take the north exit when you re-materialize. 96. The first thing you're going to say when you enter this room is "you've got to be kidding me". Nope. They aren't kidding you. And guess what else. There are no hidden platforms either. Although this looks very impossible, it's not. Jump to the ledge east of you and pick up the block. Stand on the northeast corner of this ledge and put the block down. Then, surprise, you must perform a Jump and Grab followed by a Drop and Jump. Try to hold off on the Drop and Jump part as long as possible because you need the distance. If you do it too soon you won't have enough to make it over to the northeast corner. When you make it over that gap, you have to do the SAME thing to jump from the northeast corner to the northwest corner (the Princess better appreciate this...). Once you make it through this ordeal, take the west exit. 97. Grab the credit (yay!). Don't mess around with these spikeballs; just use a Purple Potion and be on your way through the west exit. 98. Time for more fun. You can't use the blue platform to get across to the other side; it's not high enough. This is the way I did it - use a Blue Potion to make yourself invincible. Then jump on top of the spikeball (it's right next to you). From there, jump to the yellow moving platform. It's quite a tricky jump, so try hard to make it. If you miss and die, you're out one dose of a Blue Potion and you only have so many. Concentrate. Once you land on the yellow platform, ride it over to the west exit. 99. In this room, you can't just jump across all three blocks to the north exit - they disappear too quickly. You have to jump to the first block, Jump and Grab off of it, land on the second block, quickly jump north off of that, then Drop and Jump and get over to the ledge. The things they make us heroes do. Take the north exit once you get over. 100. The good news: this is the LAST puzzle!!! The bad news: it's also the hardest. It has multiple parts, and if you mess up one part you have to start over again. I was about ready to throw my Solstice cart out the window (I live on the 22nd floor of my dorm) before I finally did this right. Fortunately, you probably won't die if you happen to mess it up. Probably. Anyway, here's what you have to do. Jump on the lift block and ride it up to the next room. In this room, notice the disappearing platforms on the other side. Continue riding up into the 3rd room. The block will reach a peak next to this ledge and then start going down again. When the block is at its highest point, jump east off of it, aiming to land on the disappearing platform in the southeast corner of the 2nd room. Repeated Jump north off of it and land on the stairs. Stand on the west edge of the top stair and jump up and north to land on the ledge in the 3rd room. Now you're guessing that you will have to use the ball to get over to the lift block. And you're right. But you have to push the ball at a certain time. Why? Because you have to make it so that the lift block also pushes the ball up with you! If you're not also standing on the ball when riding the lift block, you won't have enough height to get up to the 4th room. So, watch the lift block. When it reaches its highest point and starts coming down, push the ball west and hop on. If you did it right, the block will be underneath you when you reach it and it will push you up. When it stops pushing you, jump up and east off of the ball to reach the 4th room. Now comes a real bitch. There is a block falling in this room in the northwest corner of the pit in this room, two squares east of the ball. You have to grab it by jumping on it as it falls, picking it up, and landing on solid ground. If you mess up and don't grab it (easy to do), you will have to fall back down again. Hesitate a FRACTION of a second, then jump south on top of the block, grab it, then land on a ledge. It's ridiculously hard and will take you quite a few tries. When you mess up (notice I said when and not if), if you didn't fall, go to the northeast corner and fall there so that you can land on the ledge with the ball back in the 3rd room. Then use it to get back up here. If you did fall, try to angle towards the east wall so you can try to land on a platform instead of falling all the way back to the ground again. Keep trying and you'll eventually grab the block. Got it? Good. The rest is simple. Push the ball east so it goes over to the east wall. Then go over there and push it south while hopping on to go to the corner. Then jump west over to the ledge and go up the stairs. Put the block down, then Jump and Grab off it to get up to the high ledge. Put it down, then jump up and north off it to get up to the 5th room. Just jump up the stairs in that room and get the 6th Staff Piece! HOORAY!!!! It makes you permanently invincible. All you have to do now is fall back down to the ground floor and enter the exit which will have appeared. You then defeat the evil wizard, save the Princess, yadda yadda yadda, and they lived happily ever after. Note that you don't have to explore every room to save the Princess; in fact, my completion percentage at the end of the game was 70.11% (189 rooms). I don't know if there is a special ending or some other bonus for getting 100%. If anyone out there does, feel free to email me. This FAQ was written me, Joshua Harring (harring@student.umass.edu). It may not be used for promotional or money-making purposes. If you wish to post it on a website or homepage, please print it in its entirety, including this disclaimer. Thanks to CJayC of www.gamefaqs.com for posting this.