Note that the NES version and the Saturn version (which was found on Falcom Classics 2) differ very slightly - sometimes in map structure, sometimes in gameplay� Where I have recognised a difference, I have written down what it is, but usually the differences do not affect the game much.

The most significant difference I have seen is the Underground. Both NES and Saturn versions have very different map structures indeed, and this is worth noting. Also, monsters (especially the bosses) are tougher in the Saturn version.

You start off in the town. Head to the southernmost house, and go inside. Banoa will tell you of her daughter, Lilia, and her disease. She asks you to find Flair, the doctor, to help her. She gives you 300 Gold, which you can spend on equipment, namely a shortsword and either chainmail or a wood shield. When you buy these, Gido tells you that he needs some Iron Ore, and to bring him some if you find any.

Outside, other people will tell you certain things, such as someone has been trapped in the mines. In her house, the Elder tells you that she needs to give permission to allow people into the underground.

Leave Lance Village, and head to the north-east of the Ruins. At the top-right, you will find a chest that contains the stone slab. Take this back to the Elder, and she will allow you to get into the Underground.

Back in the Ruins, head west. In the forest, you can find a Roda nut. Continue north and speak to Regs, a witch. She asks you to get whatever is inside a chest protected by two Golems. When you are strong enough (around Level 3), walk into the two Golems. They will start to move, and you can open the chest. Inside is the Abyss Staff. Take it back to Regs, and she will tell you to use it on the Goddess Statue. Do this and you will be able to use Magic.

Go back to the east. You will find a woman guarding a doorway. She lets you in, and you can enter the Underground, where you must find the 6 Priest statues that are associated with each of the Books of Ys. The first is in this passage - follow it along, and enter the second doorway. Walk up to the statue, and it will talk to you. You will regain any lost HP and MP when you do this, so remember to visit them often. Leave, and head east into the last doorway.

This is the Underground proper. Four more of the Priests are situated here so find each of them. Near one, you can also find the Clenia ring. Once you have found the mattock, search for a wall that looks different from the rest of the area. Use the mattock on the wall, and it will collapse. Inside is Flair, the doctor, who was trapped by the cave-in. Speak to him twice. The second time you will give him Banoa�s letter, and he will ask you to find two objects - the Roda Nut (which you should already have), and the Selseta Flower which is rare, but grows by water.

Once you have done this, and found the Fire Magic in a chest by a body of water, there will be a room, which consists of a bridge over more water, with a monster that looks like a flower on the other side. Cross it, and kill the Flower. In the room above is the first boss. Make sure you are about level 7, and have the Longsword and Fire Magic equipped. Go inside and move to the top-left corner. He will fire four times, but not hit you. Run to the bottom-right corner when he lands and get as close to him as possible, shooting with the Fire Magic. Do this again, and he will die quickly. The door to the north opens up.

Go through the entire underground region, finding all the chests. Also make sure that you pick up the Selseta flower by the pond, and don�t miss any of the secret passageways to the south (use the Light Magic). You should leave with the iron ore, Evil Bell, Light Magic and the Selseta flower. There is nothing else to do.

Go back to Lance Village, and speak to Flair. He will make the cure for Lilia, so take this to Banoa and she will heal her daughter. She will now heal you whenever you go and speak to her.

Go to Jira�s house, and say you will go downstairs. Use the Evil Bell, and the wall will open up.

• NES - Go through the hole, and find the doorway leading to the final Priest.
  
• Saturn - A large amount of Demons will pour through the hole. It is very good for building up experience. Then, do as NES.

The final Priest will send you on your way to the Ice Caverns of Noltia, by opening up a doorway somewhere. Go back to the entrance to Underground I, and the first doorway that you see, which was closed, will now be open.

First of all, head to the south-west, where you will find a chest containing the Ice Orb. Then, head up to the north east, where you will be able to reach the highest ledge. Go west, and enter the doorway. Inside, head west again, and where you see a protrusion from the ice, use the Ice Orb to generate a bridge. Go across it and into Noltia 1b.

Follow the linear route to the next doorway, which will take you directly to Noltia 3. Make your way around, and you will eventually find a slide to the west. Slide down it, and you will land on a ledge where there is a chest containing the Hawk Idol. Fall down the next slide, and you will soon come to a doorway.

Inside you will find another bridge, but there are large ice cubes on it. Once you reach level 10, and have the Talwar, you will be strong enough to break these with Fire Magic. Carry on, and in Noltia 4 you will find somewhere a chest containing the Stone Shoes. You will also find the Telepathy Magic.

If you return to Priest Fact, he gives you a Scroll. Take this to the Goddess Statue in Noltia, and she will give you a hint regarding the next puzzle.

Go back to Noltia 1, and down just slightly west of where you found the Ice Orb. Use the Stone Shoes, and walk up the two slides. Here you will find the Illusion Mirror. Finally, go back to Noltia 3, up the slide to the west, and you will come across a doorway. However, this is an illusion - use the Illusion Mirror, and it will disappear, but another doorway will appear beside it. Enter this to fight the second Boss.

This Boss is incredibly easy. It shoots ice crystals out in 8 compass directions whenever it shakes, so avoid it then. Otherwise, get as close as possible and fire loads of Fire Magic into it. It will die quickly. Do not be tempted to use the Hawk Idol, as the further away from the enemy you are, the longer it takes to shoot Fireballs.

Once it is dead, head through the door to the north.

Here, head along a passage and out that door. Take the Roda leaf on the floor in the corner just by the door. In this room, there are two other doorways - go in the doorway to the right, about halfway up. Follow the rooms, and eventually you will reach the Village of Lava. This is a new location that you can teleport to, using Return Magic. Here, you will find out that the Bridge guard, Ruba, is acting strangely. He says that the Demons broke the bridge. Use the Telepathy Magic, and he will tell you that he knows he is not supposed to let you pass, and asks if his son is ok.

Take off the Telepathy Magic, and speak to him again. He realises it was you, and tells you the truth - the Demons took away his son and will harm him if he lets you pass. He asks you to find his son, and gives you the Whisper Earrings.

Head west, back to the room with two doors. Head north and west, and through that door, and then continue going west. You will eventually reach a passage, after about 3 more rooms, that has poison gas in it, which will kill you almost instantly. Make sure you have the Roda Leaf selected and then walk through it - you will be unharmed.

This leads to another room with two other doors. Head first to the one in the south-west corner. Continue along and eventually you will reach another passage, with a chest and the Black Pearl inside. Take this back to the three-door room, and now go to the door in the north east-side. Continue along, and you will eventually reach a passage that leads to a wall, with a blocked hole. Stand in the bottom corner, and select the Whisper Earrings. Tarf, Ruba�s son, will speak to you, and ask you to get him the Black Pearl. You already have it, so speak to him again, and he will take it and free himself, and a friendly Demon who was with him.

Head back to Ruba and he will thank you and lower the bridge. Continue along, and you will eventually come to the Boss, a large flying skull. It is possible to beat with the Talwar at level 13, but very easy at level 14. Stand at the bottom, and avoid him hitting you with the fireballs or touching you. When he�s moving, he�s invulnerable, but when he stops, shoot him as much as you can with the Fire Magic. It won�t be long before he dies.

Continue on, past two more passages.

In the second house here, a man called Hadat tells you that his son, Sada, has taken a sword into the shrine to save a girl called Maria. You will find Maria�s mother also hanging around. Go up and speak to the Guard, Goat, and he will tell you to speak with Hadat again. Hadat asks you to save his son, and gives you the Riru Shell to help you. Speak to Goat again, and he will let you into the Shrine.

By this time, you should be able to afford the Reflex Armour and the Hyper-Cutter. Once you have these, head on back to Lance, and speak to Banoa. She will tell you that her daughter has gone looking for you, and that she wants you to find her.

Back in Solomon Shrine, use Telepathy Magic to speak to the Demon Guards. They will think you have killed Adol, and let you into the Shrine. Go to the east, and you will change screens (NES). Follow the passages and paths, and eventually you should get to a room, which is probably the room you were supposed to find Zaba in. A Mage informs you that he has instead gone to the North Meeting Room, and gives you a permit.

Head back towards the start of Solomon Shrine, and you should see a mesh gateway on the 2nd floor. Head there, and speak to the Mage Guard using Telepathy Magic. He will let you through. Go north and again it will change screens (NES). Inside, you will eventually find a room with a door in the middle. Go up to the door and, rather than being told it is closed, you will be informed that you cannot hear anything. Equip Telepathy Magic and select the Whisper Earrings and you will overhear a conversation.

You discover that the subjects for the sacrifice have escaped with the Shrine Key, and that if you find it, you can open all the locked doors. Leave this room, and head north again. You will enter a series of connected rooms, and in one of the last you will find a chest containing the Peace Ring.

Head back to the fist section of Solomon Shrine, and now head west. In the first section you will come across another grid gate. Use Telepathy Magic and speak to the guard robot, who will let you pass if you know the ID code. Head west again, twice. In this section (west 3), you should find two chests, one containing Time Stop Magic, and the other the Iron Shield. Both are indoors. Head east to Solomon Shrine west 1, and down to the south-east corner. On floor 1, there is a large building. Go inside, and there is a Wizard standing there. Using Telepathy Magic, speak to him, and he will warn you to leave. Try and go through the door to the north, and he will permanently turn you into a demon. Note that whilst like this, you cannot speak to other demons.

Head north through the doorway, and you will enter Solomon Canals 1. In the south-west corner, you will find the Hideout, which will be added to your locations on Return Magic. Try and get in the door, but the kids will stop you, and tell you that you will need the holy cup to be able to change back into human form.

So, leave and go back to Solomon Shrine west 3, and to the building on the third floor in the north-west corner. Inside, the walls should look different to all the other rooms. Use the Light Magic to make a chest appear. Inside is the holy cup. Take it to Regs in Ramia Village, and he will transform you back into human form.

Teleport to the Hideout, and they will let you in. Find Lilia and speak to her, and she will give you the Shrine Key. However, someone turns everybody into stone. Leave, and head to Solomon Shrine north. In one of the rooms near the north-east, there is a locked door. Use the key to open this, and inside you will gain access to Solomon Canals 2. In the bottom west corner is a strange statue, and in the top west corner is a chest containing the Silver Pendant.

Now, go to the big building in the entrance to Solomon Shrine, where there is another locked door, leading to Dolga�s room. Open it and go in. You have to fight another boss who is, coincidentally, Dolga himself. If you are level 16, with all the current equipment, it�s an absolute doddle. He will disappear, and a bird will fly at the top shooting at you. Avoid these, but run around at the bottom. When he appears, he will flash for a while but be invulnerable while doing this. Take this chance to get as close to him as you can, and when he stops flashing, fire as many fireballs as you can into him. Don�t bother avoiding the bird�s attacks, they won�t hurt you too much. You should only need to do this just the once for him to die, and you get all your health back anyway.

Now, go through the door to the north of Dolga�s room, and select the Silver Pendant. Touch the Goddess statue, and you will be teleported to Solomon Shrine 2. When you leave the first building, you will be called by Hadat on the Riru Shell. He will tell you that Tarf has arrived and wants to speak to you. If you go and see him, he will tell you that a robed man was asking questions, and went into the Shrine.

Go back to Shrine 2, and work your way along eastwards. Eventually, you will find yourself back in the canals. In the north-east corner, Keith the demon is hiding. Find him, and he will give you the Canal Key. Take this back to the Dragon door in Canals 1, and you will be able to get in. Use the machine at the top, and the water will flood out. You can now get into the bottom of the canals. In Canals 1 and 3, there are some hidden chests that are now accessible, containing the Battle Sword and Battle Armour.

In Canals 3, Keith is in the bottom right corner. Speak to him, and he tells you that a sacrifice is about to begin. Go through the doorway into Solomon Inner Shrine.

In the top-left corner, there is a building, with a spirit inside. She tells you that Magic needs to be broken, and you need to go to the Bell Tower. Note that if you go to the middle of the room, you will be healed, and also this building is added to your teleport locations. Go to the Bell Tower(it is directly to the east of this building), and there is another boss.

With him out of the way, head through the door to the north. You will see Maria behind a magical barrier, so you cannot get to her. Instead, work your way up to the top of the Bell Tower. Halfway up, you will find a room with a chest, but you cannot get that yet either. Continue on, and as you do, th ebell will toll four times. Once you finally reach the top, you will see the Wizard Dalles by the bell. Laughing at you, he rings it the final time, signalling for the sacrifice to begin. He disappears, so leave. Head down to the bottom, not forgetting to pick up the Dream Idol from the chest. At the bottom, you will see Maria's body. You cannot help her, so leave.

Take the Dream Idol to the Spirit's room. She will tell you that it only has one eye - in order for the Magic to work, it must have the Black Pearl inserted into it's other socket. If you spoke to Talf, he will say that he had the Black Pearl with him, but it fell out of his pocket when he was talking. No matter. Go and speak to Goat (the guard by the entrance to Solomon Shrine), and then head into the Shrine. Go to the meeting room, which was previously locked. Now, you can get the Pearl from a chest inside. Leave, and teleport to the Spirit's room. She will put the Pearl into the Dream Idol. She says that the Priests are preparing for the final battle in the Core, and suggest you take it to the top of the Bell Tower. Do so, and once you reach the bell, use the Dream Idol. It will flash, and the magic holding the people in the Canals will be broken.

Now, return to the Hideout in the Canals, and everybody will be restored. Speak to the kids to find out what they know. One tells you that, whilst they were in the Bell Tower, a pigeon brought him a pendant and a letter from Flair. He will give you the Golden Pendant. Another tells you that the evil came from the Core, deep beneath the Canals. If you remember, there was another statue in the Canals, holding a sword. Go there (Canals 2) and you will find Sada, who ventured out from Ramia to save the children himself. Thanking you, he gives you the Cleria Sword, the most powerful weapon in the game. He says he also has the armour at home, so return to Ramia and head off to Hadat's house. He will give you the Cleria Armour, and although he wants to give you the Cleria Shield as well, he informs you that it's on Earth.

All that is left to do now is go to the Core. Return to Solomon Shrine, and the statue of the Goddess behind Dolga's room. This time, use the Golden Pendant, and you will be taken to another part of the Shrine. Leave this room, and you will find yourself in Solomon Canals, where you can access a part that you could not before. Continue on, and you will return to the Shrine. You will come across another boss - as you enter, Dalles appears. He tells you it is time for him to fight you, and that he will seal your Magic.

• NES - Dalles disappears, and reappears to throw another fireball at you. Walk into fireballs to take damage, but make them disappear. When he appears, walk into him to hurt him - Magic won't harm him at all. He is quite easy with your new equipment.
  
• Saturn - Dalles surrounds himself with fireballs, and disappears and reappears all over the place. Just walk into him, avoiding the fireballs.

With Dalles dead, head onwards and you will find yourself in some caves. This is the beginning of the Core. In the Saturn version, you will find the Shield Magic in a chest here. Talf is here, and tells you that everybody else is awaiting you further on.

Carry on, and you will find Maria! She tells you that Keith found her and brought her here, after saving her by using a bracelet he found next to her body. Continue onwards, past a discolouration in the wall and into a dead end. Come back, and you will hear a voice saying "Over here!". The wall is broken down by the discolouration, and Keith is behind it. He tells you that the Goddess' are ahead, and you should speak with Goat. When you reach him, he will be next to another magical wall - he tells you that he can't break it, but carry on along the tunnel. A couple of times ahead, you will be told that you see someone moving round the corner.

You wil eventually reach Lilia. She tells you that she hasn't seen any Demons here. She also says that a ring helped her, and it was given to her by 2 girls at the ruins - undoubtedly the Goddesses. Indeed, she gives you the ring, which is a Goddess Ring. Go back and use it on the Magical wall next to Goat to dispel it. Carry on, and you will find the Goddesses, although they are held by magical barriers. Try and speak into them, and when you do that to the one on the left, you will hear a voice.

The voice says that, with the Goddesses out of the way, he is unstoppable. 700 years ago, they sealed him away before he reached his full power. Now his time has come, and he will take over the world. A "familiar voice" then shouts "No you won't, Devil!". Goban and Luta Gemma both arrive. Goban tells you that Ys has landed, and gives you a Harmonica. Luta Gemma now gives you the Cleria Shield. Use the harmonica, to break the seals on the Goddesses.

The left Goddess, Lair, tells you that they sealed the metal, Cleria, with the Devil. It was later discovered to be silver. She goes on to say that you defeated Dark Fact at Darm Tower (Ys Book 1), and that he was a descendant of the Priests. He tried to use the Cleria's magic to unseal the Devil, but now you must fight the Devil. She gives you a ring to help you, and places the power of Ys into your sword.

Feena, on the other hand, apologises for not saying she was a Goddess (she was the Spirit in the Inner Solomon Shrine). She says that even if the Devil is sealed, there will be no peace until the magic is gone. You must destroy the Black Pearl, the root of all magic. She gives you Shield Magic (in the NES version). Go through the door, and you will reach another door. This is where the Devil is, and he tells you that the Goddesses can't help you now - Demons are born from the magic, and he will show you strong they are!

Even with the best equipment, and your stats maxed out, the Devil is incredibly tough. Make sure you have an elixir. His fireballs do a lot of damage. Just take your time, and stay near the bottom where the ledge is thickest. Run around, avoiding the fireballs until he appears near you. Hit him, and he will disappear, revealing the Black Pearl which you hit more times to do damage. Do NOT take chances! Just one fireball will do more damage than you could deal to him in one go. In all my attempts, it takes me using all of the Shield Magic, and then two full bars of health to kill him. Good luck! Once you've done it, go bak to the Goddesses, and enjoy the ending.