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Level 2 - The Overworld
This is where Angel Land starts to get a little "trippy"... |
Moving onto Level 2, you'll find yourself in the Overworld. This part of the game is somewhat more subdued than the rest. For one thing, it scrolls horizontally, instead of vertically, so there's less chance of you taking a fall. However, there are lots of enemies that will get in your way, and many of them are quite tough. Hopefully, you powered up a bit in Level 1. I have to wonder a bit about the color scheme in the first two areas of this Level. That is the worst shade of blue I have ever seen used for the sky. Enemies are going to fall on your head, pop up from the ground, zoom at you from across the screen, and prance back and forth on ledges that you need to jump to. Those ever-persistent snakes will appear out of pots that are hanging upside down in the sky. Luckily, you will not encounter the Grim Reaper in any of these levels, though. Your instinct may be to just keep moving forward and avoiding everything, but you'll still want to fight as many enemies as possible, and build up your hearts and points. |
| There are some places in the Overworld where you're given a choice of two paths: an upper path or a lower one. Usually, one has a chalice to restore your life, and the other leads to a doorway. The choice is yours to make. If you're low on power, go for the chalice, but if not, then take the path to the doorway, instead. If you find something behind a doorway that looks like quicksand, get in it and stand still until it refills all your energy. (It looks like lava, only it's yellow instead of red.) Watch out for a little pink guy that leaps at you in large packs from the right side of the screen! You cannot kill this guy and if he touches you, he'll steal one of your special weapons that you earned from Zeus's training! If this happens, you'll either have to buy it back at the Black Market, or win another one from Zeus. There isn't too much else to say about the Overworld, since it's pretty straightforward. The areas are very long. They're longer than the sidescrolling levels in a lot of other NES games. | 
In the world of Angel Land, quicksand restores your life...or maybe that's a sponge cake? |
This enemy steals weapons and cannot be killed!! Hey...give that back! |
Is it just me, or does Angel Land start looking really trippy at this stage of the game? Palm trees, stuff floating in mid-air, weird plants, bizarre statue heads in the middle of nowhere, etc. Are those clouds in the sky, or a floating mountaintop? This game has some really strange graphics...Angel Land is also rather bleak and gloomy. I expect the Underworld to look that way, but the Overworld is just as bad. The first area is all parched and desert. The second is all bleak and icy. The third area is dark and eerie. Sheesh. I can only hope that Angel Land became this way when Medusa's minions took over. Otherwise, who would want to live here? And why would you want to live here, anyway? You fall off a platform and you die. Shops charge way too much for a drink. You have wings, but you can't fly. This place sucks! |
| A word of caution: Do not duck down on the icy platforms or the moving platforms, because you will fall through! The Overworld does have some tricky jumps across these types of platforms, but it should not be too difficult to master, as long as you take your time. (Having a feather in your inventory won't hurt, either.) There's plenty of enemies here to earn hearts. I've earned up to 999 on the Overworld, alone. Also, Pit will have less traction on the ice, and he will slide around, so be careful not to slide off! | 
Things are getting a little icy here... |
Looks like Nintendo forgot to censor those crosses...Sheesh, a graveyard? In Angel Land? |
Here's a neat trick you can do at the beginning of Level 2-2. (This is also in the Codes section.) Jump onto the top of the first doorway (the one that's right in front of you as you begin the area.) Now, from there leap to the top of the first lion head statue. From there, try to leap face-first into the second lion head statue. If you do it just right, Pit will go right through the wall! The screen will scroll to the right slightly, and Pit will reappear from the right side of the screen! Useless, but a fun trick to try out! Incidentally, once you reach the graveyard in area 2-3, you're getting close to the Fortress. That graveyard sure looks depressing. It looks more like a scene out of a Castlevania game than a Nintendo game... |
Dammit!! Eggplanted again! This gives all new meaning to the term, "Egghead". |
2-4
MAP
NOTE: This is not a complete map of the fortress. It shows the direct route to the boss. S = Start Point, G = Goal |
Hewdraw is the boss. He's only vulnerable on his head, but he's tough to hit and dodge. |
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