Devil's Crush FAQ
by the Slateman (slateman@planettonyhawk.com)


---GAME DETAILS---

Game:        Devil's Crush
Platform:    Turbo Grafx-16 / PC Engine
Format:      HU Card
Developer:   Naxatsoft
-------------------------------------------------

---Version Details---

Version:   1.0
Updated:   8th August, 2001
Notes:     This likely won't get updated all too much - unless I receive some
information that
           is useful and interesting.  This FAQ doesn't quite cover everything,
but I've yet to
           come across another FAQ.  Enjoy!
-------------------------------------------------

This game certainly has survived the test of time.

Having played it to death back in the early 90's on my friend's TG-16, I
finally got my hands on another copy, 10 years later.  Immediately I was sucked
back into the addictive gameplay and multitude of options.  When scouring the
net for information about this game, I came up empty handed (not uncommon when
talking about PCE/TG16 games).

So, I've decided to write up a guide to the game.  Since the game is 10 years
old, there's no real rush on updates, and so they'll appear as I come across
them.  Some of the things I've encountered were just as I remembered them,
while others surprised me a bit.  In any event, I'll offer some tips on getting
points, bonus levels, and all the little secrets in the game.

I'm not a huge Pinball fan...this game is just that good!  For this reason, I
may be a little ignorant when it comes to pinball lingo!  Sorry about that!

==========



## -- Controls:
-------------------

The controls are simple...

D-Pad     -- Controls Left Flippers
I Button  -- Controls Right Flippers
II Button -- Tilts Table

Use the tilt to sway the ball your way, or if it gets stuck.  I have
experienced a time when the ball was stuck that even tilt couldn't fix.  In
this case, you're out of luck.  Might have to restart!

Obviously, don't tilt too much....


==========



## -- Key:
------------

The game consists of 3 screens essentially, each containing a flipper set at
the bottom.  Screen 2 means the middle screen....easy enough!

There's a bunch of different things crawling across the board, and so I may
refer to these guys again.  Here's a key of what's what!



**--Patrolling    The 'things' that move around the stage--


---Blobs---
These are the blob-ish things above the woman's head after launching.


---Big Guards---
In screen 2, the upper left hand side - bust open the door and 6 (?) big guards
await.


---Guards---
In screen 2, 5 of these guys come out of the 2 openings on either side time and
do their rounds.


---Magicians---
Rounding the big circle atop the board, 8 of these tip the 8 sided star.



**-- Stationary   The larger things that don't move around--


---Woman's Face---
Kinda hard to miss, this is the huge woman's face in the middle of the 2nd
screen

---Dragon's Head---
The left hand side of screen 1.  Crush all the eggs to let out some bird-like
beasts.  Doing something will open the Dragon's Mouth where he'll breathe fire.
 Get the ball in for a bonus level.

---Huge Skull---
I suppose I might refer to this simply as the Skull...either way, you can't
miss this either.

---Castle---
In screen 1, this castle looking thing w/ eyes, very useful!

---Caskets---
Are these caskets?  I don't know, but they're your rails at the bottom of the
level.  Smash them a few times to let out some little monsters.


=========


## -- Multipliers:
-----------------

It's all about points...and in Devil's Crush, it's all about the multipliers. 
Unfortunately, I don't really know for certain how everything works just yet! 
The board shows your multiplier, and atop the board is your BP - Bonus Points. 
When it's time to tally up your points, it uses both of these.

For now, here's what I DO know.


---Tally Time---

The game will automatically take your bonus points and multipliers when your
game ends.  However, it will do this on a few other occasions as well.  The
first way is to lose your ball down the right or left hand lane at the bottom
of the first screen.  Another way is to get the ball in the Skull's mouth. 
Finally, on the left of screen 2 is a star behind a wall.  By breaking this
wall, this becomes exposed.  I believe you get a bonus round by getting in
here, only your points will be tallied.

In these instances it will tally up your points, so beware.  By doing this you
drop to zero and have to start again.  I avoid the Skull's mouth at all costs!

Why is this a big deal?  Well, consider the multiplier on the board.  Say it's
25 and your BP are 2000.  Both won't max out until 9900 and 99 (I believe)
respectively.  The easiest way to get MAJOR points is to max out this
multiplier and your BP total.  Then you can tally your points.  Tallying them
too early makes you miss out on a lot and can ruin your run at your personal
high score!



---Blue Ball---

Beat any one of the bonus levels and you'll get a boatload of points.  That's
not all though.  On top of that you get the awesome bonus, the blue ball.  This
one will offer you double points, so if you can, try to get back into another
bonus stage.  This is the best way to get an absurd amount of points!
The ball will revert back after a minute or so, so do what you can to max out
your points.  It's best to have a high multiplier already (board lights)



---4x Ball---

I don't know if this is my memory playing w/ me or not, but iirc, by beating a
bonus stage w/ a blue ball, the ball will change once more (no more after this)
which will give you the 4x ball.  I haven't gotten a chance to verify this, but
obviously this is the way to go to get major points.




=========

## -- Bonus Levels:
------------------

There's 6 [?] bonus levels that you can get and there's 11 total openings to
get to them.  Some I think give you a random level, while others will always
give you a specific bonus stage.

Below is a description on how to get into these bonus levels, here's a
description of which is which:

---Bonus Stage #1
---Bonus Stage #2
---Bonus Stage #3


---Bonus Stage #4
The fourth bonus stage is a pair of big white skulls.  They'll spit out some
bubbles filled with smaller skulls, surrounded by red circles.  These are a
pain, as they all take a few hits to destroy.  Good luck!


---Bonus Stage #5
Number 5 has some awesome music, if you can last long enough that is.  This
stage has 3 skeleton guards with shields.  Break their shields with a few hits,
then you can make them crumble w/ a few more, but they'll regenerate soon. 
Break all the pots that lay behind them, which will take a few hits each to
beat this one.

---Bonus Stage #6




**** -=Screen 1=- ****


---Big Skull---

Crush all the Dragon eggs to open the Skull's mouth.  If you get the ball in
the skull's mouth, it will count up your multipliers and reset you to zero...I
try to avoid this.  If you lose your ball, the skull's mouth will close.


---Dragon's Mouth---

Hit the Dragon [?] times to have him open his mouth and breathe out fireballs. 
If you can get the ball in the dragon's mouth after he opens it, you'll head
off to bonus stage # [?]


---Red Castle---

By getting the ball through the small castle opening, you'll get the blocker
below your bottom set of flippers.  Get the ball through here 5 times w/out
interruption (losing a ball, getting into a bonus level) and the castle will
turn reddish-orange.  Get the ball through here a 6th time and get bonus stage
#5 [consistent?]


**** -=Screen 2=- ****


---Woman's Face---

One of the cooler aspects of the game is the huge woman's face in screen #2. 
You'll have to wake her up first.  Just get the ball into the top of her head
and she'll gain color in her face.  After that, use the 2 star portals where
the guards come out from to change her face.  There's 6 different levels, she
gets progressively angrier until she becomes some sort of evil demon thing. 
After the 6th time, this demon will open it's mouth.  Get the ball in the
demon's mouth and proceed onto bonus level #4. [consistent]


---Smash the Wall---

To the left of the woman's face is another star portal type deal.  Hit the wall
[?] times to break it open.  Get inside to proceed to bonus level # ?




**** -=Screen 3=- ****

---The other 7---

The topmost screen is home to 7 different bonus level openings.  Atop this, in
the center is a demon type skull w/ a jewel on it's head.  To the left and
right of this demon are a pair of skulls.  Break all 4 to stop the lights from
spinning, which opens up one of the 7 to become a bonus level.  For more fun,
smash 2 of the skulls on one side and then wait until they regenerate.  Once
they do, smash them again and everything will speed up!



=========

## -- Bonus Items:
------------------------

Here's the fun stuff.

**Special Point**

       When launching the ball for the first time, land it in the woman's head
(w/out hitting the blobs) for an extraordinary bonus!  You'll get  *Special
Point - 2,000,000 points!  Not too bad!

---Blob Barrier---

In screen 3, you can get the 3 blobs to form a barrier underneath your
flippers.  This will help you stay on the top level and rack up points.  You
can do this 2 ways.  If you break the door to the left on the 2nd screen and
kill all the Big Guards in that tunnel, you can launch your ball up the left
path and all around the top.  Another method is to get the Triple Star (see
below)


---3 Red Blobs---

Each time you hit one of the blobs, it changes color.  I think this may affect
your scoring, though I'm not positive.  In any event, by making all 3 blobs
red, you'll gain an extra ball!


---Triple Star---

I think if you lose 2 balls under ??? points (definitely over 350,000) you get
the triple set of stars just above the bottom flippers.  I suppose they feel
bad for you if you're doing so poorly, so they give you this.  If you get the
ball inside this, it'll transport you to the top level.  This will also give
you the blob barrier (see above) to help you out.





=========
## -- Codes:
-----------


***Sound Test:
   ----------

Pause the game, hit select to bring up the high score list.  Then, press Up,
Down, Left, Right, I.

This will bring up the Sound Test option.  Press I to play a track, II to stop.

Please note that all these codes work, even the ones you wouldn't expect.  I'm
sorry that I'm posting expletives in this FAQ, however, these codes actually do
work, to my disbelief.


***1 Player Codes:
   --------------

AAAAAAHAAA:     Infinite balls, 734,003,200 points
NAXATSOFTI:     Infinite balls, 206,633,300 points
DEVILSATAN:     Infinite balls, 955,719,100 points
ASSHOLEFUK:     68 balls, 497,438,600 points
DAVIDWHITE:     Beat the game- Launch the ball and once you hit something, the
game will end.
FFFFFFFEEE:     --same as above--
THECRUSHEL:     --same as above--


***2 Player Codes:
   --------------

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAABCE:   Player 1- Infinite balls, Player 2- 32 Balls



=========
## -- Legal:
-----------

This document is an original work and is copyright (c) 2001 Trevor Esposito
(slateman).

Feel free to distribute this document, but in no way alter or edit it.  If you
do distribute it,
credit for its creation should be given.
