Boss Fights (Advanced Mode)

*This guide will feature anything to help with boss fights. This can be just normal strats and how to approach the fight itself, or in some cases manipulations or safe spots. Feel free to message me if you have anything else to add to the guide!*

**Note:** This is just meant to showcase the fight and the differences in Advanced Mode. I won't go into detail about the strats and whatnot, if you want that check my Normal Mode guide instead: https://www.speedrun.com/shining_soul/guide/vz2uu

***Disclaimer:*** *This is all done with Dragonute who is obviously way lower level and worse geared than in an actual speedrun, but the idea should still be the same regardless. Hopefully everything listed in this guide applies across all different classes.*

*All of these videos can also be found in my playlist here:*
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIu4Xm07NlVuVg-N2oM-s1N98eIH2dncY

[section=**1st Boss - Beast King**]
Basically the Ball Phase is super fast, so you're probably better of waiting for the boss to return to the top to hit him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrsMHOhO40M

[section=**2nd Boss - Colossus**]
Same as with the first boss, the Ball Phase here is also much faster this time around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivlO08yKi3A

[section=**3rd Boss - Bulzome**]
All the projectiles are super fast, which makes getting a hit on the boss a bit more annoying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsHaZshpsfA

[section=**4th Boss - Mishaela**]
Now this boss fight is a mean one! The spells are so fast that it's hard to get out attacks in time. I'm quite low level so health shouldn't be an issue with an actually prepared character. I'm sure there's a more optimal spot to get the boss trapped at so you don't take so many hits and get interrupted all the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkT9aPvbGa4

[section=**5th Boss - Iom**]
While the projectiles are much faster, it doesn't affect us since we can just safe spot the boss, just as we would do on Normal Mode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQQmKITOpXA

[section=**6th Boss - Zeon**]
As always with this boss it's an annoying fight to deal with. Now he's even faster so getting hitting him isn't that easy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asxJRzS13fs

[section=**7th Boss - Darksol**]
Honestly it's not really that noticable of a difference fighting this boss. Just that you're most likely not going to get any big charge attacks started. He's still as simple as ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ6NvjPbUvM

[section=**8th Boss - Dark Dragon**]
This boss is super tough to beat! You only have 10s after killing one of the heads before it respawns again! But sadly I was only level 46 and am no way near strong enough to finish this fight. You probably need to be incredibly prepared and high level in order to take down this bad boy. Or perhaps you could weaken all of the heads and use a strong Soul Summon to take all down at the same time or something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttGmr6cf0no

Boss Fights (Normal Mode)

*This guide will feature anything to help with boss fights. This can be just normal strats and how to approach the fight itself, or in some cases manipulations or safe spots. Feel free to message me if you have anything else to add to the guide!*

***Disclaimer:*** *This is all done with Dragonute who might be a bit higher level and better geared than in an actual speedrun, but the idea should still be the same regardless. Hopefully everything listed in this guide applies across all different classes. I'm still not sure if Advanced Mode differs, but we'll see when I get there in the future.*

*All of these videos can also be found in my playlist here:*
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIu4Xm07NlVtNurU1kTSUU3BFgqHJ0AEo

[section=**1st Boss - Beast King Strats (1 or 2 Cycles)**]
**Ball Pattern:**
1. Bottom - **Hit**
2. Top Right - **Hit**
3. Left
4. Top Left
5. Bottom Right - **Hit**
6. Middle - **Hit**
7. Top - **Hit**
8. Transforms back to standing state
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMZG7l9W5Mo
At the start just go up to the boss and stand outside his AOE range and keep attacking. After 4 AOE's he will transform into a ball and follow the following cycle below. This isn't a perfect fight, just meant to showcase the pattern and where you should try to hit the boss at. Keep in mind this is the Homing Missile RNG, which will easily give you time to get 1 cycle on the boss. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWsqq1GsrCI
This is the worst RNG, because as previously mentioned the boss will turn into a ball after 4 AOE's, which isn't enough time to 1 cycle him. It might be possible if you don't miss your attacks and some crits, but generally speaking you will probably get a 2 cycle.

[section=**2nd Boss - Colossus Strats**]
This boss is very simple. Just stand top left and keep attacking the boss. You will take one guaranteed hit from the hand, but after that you shouldn't take any more damage if you stand far enough to the corner. Because if you stand to close to the eye, you might get hit by the laser. The 2nd phase you can probably face straight to the boss and hit the ball earlier, but the idea is the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayvcm1adViA

[section=**3rd Boss - Bulzome Strats**]
As far as I can tell the boss follows a set pattern, albeit quite long so I won't list every single step. The ones below should be well enough for you to have time to kill it. I also included 2 extra steps after where the boss normally would die, just in case you mess something up and need to know the pattern.

**Boss Pattern**
1. Top (Fire)
2. Left (Laser)
3. Right (Homing Missiles)
4. Left (Laser)
5. Top (Fire)
6. 2x Right (Homing Missiles) - **Boss should die here**
7. Bottom (Fire)
8. Right (Laser)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGD-mvihFDI

[section=**4th Boss - Mishaela Manipulation**]
This boss fight is super tricky to fight do normally, so with a clever manipulation of the boss pathing, we can get her to the right side and easily win the fight. The idea is that the boss will go into the opposite direction that you are walking in, thus we can get her stuck at the side of the map. From here you can just attack her while healing up. It's essential that you stack up plenty of healing items since you will take plenty of damage doing this strat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l-I6JlyjDw

[section=**5th Boss - Iom Safe Spot**]
The boss will spawn 2 enemies coming right towards you, so by going a long the right side you can get them stuck if you quickly go around the corner behind the boss. From here you need to find the perfect safe spot to avoid getting hit by the shockwave from the boss, as well as the enemies just around the corner. It might take a few tries and hits before you find the spot, but with plenty of healing items you don't need to worry about taking damage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9p1jmNMvG0

[section=**6th Boss - Zeon Strats**]
I don't think there's any faster way of defeating this boss than just sitting in the middle of 4 spots and reacting to when he pops up. Also make sure to bring plenty of Healing Drops!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfjvAUUgxJU

[section=**7th Boss - Darksol Strats**]
There's honestly nothing you really can do to speed up this fight. It's just all about attacking the boss, tanking the hits and healing up each time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKdnyfOAZk0

[section=**8th Boss - Dark Dragon Strats**]
This seems to be a pretty simple and consistent strat. This fight isn't that great since I messed up on the Lightning Head and I killed the Ice Head instead. The idea is to go for: Fire - Lightning - Ice. I think however my strat might be a bit slow and too safe. There should be plenty of time to try hit the other heads in between waiting when possible.

**Remember:** if you're too slow with killing all the heads, the heads will start to respawn again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMDP3YnClpw

Normal Mode vs Advanced Mode

*This guide is meant to try and show the difference introduce into the Advanced Mode. Feel free to message me if you have anything else to add to the guide!*

[section=**Revamp Of Enemies & Colors**]
* Mosts sprites in the game have way different colors, not just limited to enemies as even ground color is sometimes changed.
* Harder and higher level enemies
* Selection of enemies are more varied and late game enemies in Normal Mode start to appear already in the first area

You can find a detailed list of stats and colors here: 
* http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/gba/shiningsoul/areas.shtml
* http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/gba/shiningsoul/badvance.shtml

[section=**Boss Fights Are Faster**]
I think the only thing that is different (outside the obvious colors and damage, hp, etc) is that the movement on certain phases are way faster. Most notably the Ball Phases on the 1st and 2nd boss: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrsMHOhO40M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivlO08yKi3A

[section=**No Kagemaru (Ninja)**]
As it turns out, our friendly neighbourhood ninja is no longer here. So sadly no more free items.

[section=**Shops Won't Upgrade Their Stocks**]
It turns out that after Area 7 in Normal Mode the shops are already maxed out with what they will sell you. And so it continues into Advanced Mode and stays that way with those maxed out stocks. Therefore you must farm your gear from various Areas in the game in order to gear up.

Secret Dungeon + Darksol 2nd Fight (Advanced Mode)

**Disclaimer:** *This wasn't found by me. I read about it from "Chodamon" on the GameFAQ's forum found here:* 

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gba/537260-shining-soul/cheats
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
When playing on Advanced Mode, hover over Dark Castle and hold L+R and then select it. This will bring you to a secret dungeon that holds a total of 18 levels!! At the end you will fight Darksol for a 2nd time as well as getting a bit of new dialogue from Otrant after defeating him.

This is a very neat place to grind levels and also getting a bit more story in regards to Darksol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6ajxM2Rs0k

Tips & Tricks

*This is a compilation of various useful tips and tricks for this game. Feel free to message me if you have other to add to the guide!*

*All of these videos can also be found in my playlist here:* 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIu4Xm07NlVu5T5MPbb3Om40uOIkFqfJQ
[section=**Names for Bonus Stats or Items**]
*The English names only works on the USA and European versions, while the Japanese names are obviously only for the Japanese version. Also note that the names are case sensitive, so write them exactly as shown.*

**Bonus Stats**
* Warrior + Max (マックス) = +10 Str
* Wizard + Anri (アンリ)= +10 Int
* Archer + Hans (ハンス) = +10 Vit
* Dragonute + Bleu (バリュウ) = +10 Dex

**Items**
* Warrior + イヨクMAN = Manly Loincloth (3 Def / +2 Str) - **Note: Translating the Japanese name to English doesn't seem to work. It might be exclusively Japanese or another name I can't seem to figure out.**
* Wizard + Yoshi (ヨッシー) = Tighty Whities (3 Def / +3 Int)
* Archer + NomuNomu (ノムノム) = Leaf Briefs (3 Def / + 5 Dex)
* Dragonute + Isson (いっそーん) = Dragon Pants (3 Def / +3 Vit)
* Dragonute + Segata (せがた) = Judo Uniform (3 Def / +5 Str)
* Shining (シャイニング) = 2x Herbs
* Force (フォース) = 2x Valuing Scrolls
* Soul (ンウル) = 1x Healing Drop
* AiAi (アイアイ) = Monkey Doll **(Useless)**
* Salamander (サラマンダー) = Painter's Soul **(Useless)**

[section=**Shop Resell Glitch (Infinite Gold)**]
**To initiate the glitch:**
* Press R while on the SELL space (No items required)

**Fastest Method:**
1. Grab any items in your inventory
2. Press R two times
3. Press B to put the grabbed item back
4. Grab an item from the shop, drag it onto your inventory and press R to put it into the sell slot and then you can sell it.

**Note:**
* You must have enough gold to purchase the shop item in order to resell it
* Resell rate is 12,5%
* Pressing R while the shop item is still held inside the shop window will cancel the glitch. 
* This works on all version of the game: USA, Europe and Japan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnUxXuoKNOA

[section=**Kagemaru (Ninja) - Free Items After Area Completions**]
Each time you complete an area in Normal Mode, he will appear in the town where you need to find him for him to give you the item. It can be a bit tricky sometimes so use this helpful guide here: http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/gba/shiningsoul/kagemaru.shtml

**IMPORTANT!:** You must talk to him each time in order for it to progress to the next step. You can't skip talking to him after one area and get it on the next one for a specific item. So if you want the 3 Shinobi pieces later on, you have to talk to him after each area prior, meaning you can't skip any.

**Note:** You don't need to have enough space for the item he gives you, as long as you talk to him and make him go *poof*, then that's enough to make him progress.

* Area 1: Beast Mountain = Herb
* Area 2: Labyrnith of Death = Healing Drop
* Area 3: Equal Dungeon = Valuing Scroll
* Area 4: Otherworldly Forest = Sushi (Recovers 50HP)
* Area 5: Glaybull Temple = Shinobi Cap (21 Def / +10 Dex)
* Area 6: Deol Waterway = Shinobi Outfit (28 Def / +10 Dex)
* Area 7: Dark Tower = Shinobi Bracelet (+20 Dex)

[section=**Some Enemies Don't Move Offscreen**]
Just wanted to document and show that enemies don't move if they're enough offscreen. I thought it could prove useful to know this, more information is always better!

**Note:** This seems to not be the case for all enemies however, just specific ones. I can't give a complete list, but just know that this is possible for some enemies but not all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIBcdlEnmAE

[section=**Charging While Moving + Cancelling Charged Attacks**]
Normally you would press A and hold to charge your attacks, the issues with this is you will obviously perform a normal attack before actually charging. This isn't a problem when fighting enemies, since doing normal attacks into charging is just fine. However when on the move you might want to prepare and charge up for the upcoming fights, with this trick you can do that without having to stop and attack and then charge. 

**How To Charge:**
1. Switch to an empty slot
2. Hold A
3. Switch to desired weapon and you will begin charging

The same applies when you have a full charge but want to get rid of it because you are going to enter a teleporter, or advanced to the next floor. Normally you would just release and then enter, but that will waste some time, so you can get around this with the same concept I talked about before.

**How To Cancel:**
1. Switch to empty slot
2. Release A
3. Switch to desired weapon and you will now have gotten rid of the charged up attack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbWpOWhk2sA

[section=**Only 5 Enemies Can Be Spawned At A Time**]
The game will only spawn a maximum of 5 enemies at the same time, regardless if onscreen or offscreen. This is important to know since you might wonder why you can't get any enemies to spawn sometimes. Well the answer is probably that you forgot to kill some previous enemies somewhere in the level. So makes sure to always kill the enemies or new ones won't spawn!

[section=**Equip Any Item on R Slot (Useless)**]
1. Put any usable items on any of the R slots
2. Go to the bank and switch an item from the bank with your R slot item. This will store the "equipped" item on the R slot in the bank, thus the game thinks the new item is also on the R slot.

This is as for now completelly useless, but still an interesting thing to know. Who knows, maybe it can prove useful in the future with some other glitch?

**Note: **
* If you have several usable items (such as 20x Healing Drops) on your R slot, you must replace the one that was initially used when adding it to the R slot. Meaning that you can't take any of the Healing Drop and expect the glitch to work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvYaMQjXKvg

Useful Links

*This is just a compilation of all useful links you could need for this game. Feel free to message me if you have other to add to the guide!*

[section=**RPGClassics**]
This website is an incredible source of information! You can see exactly all enemies in each level, which one to kill to progress, all items, and much more!. This will be very useful when routing the game.

http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/gba/shiningsoul/index.shtml

[section=**(TAS) Shining Soul - Any% Archer (Normal) in 49:46 by DarkKobold**]
Use this video in addition to his submission notes found here: http://tasvideos.org/2683S.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-EMGV_d-Es

[section=**Oxn.free.fr - Loot Tables + Tons of useful information**]
Original: http://oxn.free.fr/
Google Translate: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Foxn.free.fr%2F

This site is insanely valuable! You can check various information, but most importantly the loot table! You can see what drops in specific areas by enemy drops, chests and boss chests. All then split between all 4 classes for more precision too. So if you want to know how to get a specific item as well as the change for it to drop, then use this site!

[section=**Shining Force Central - List of Forging Items & Rare/Unique Equipment**]
This could be useful for preparing Advance Mode characters. So knowing which ores gives which items as well as over nice tidbits is always useful.

https://forums.shiningforcecentral.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=27102&sid=f76fc967d76ab0a0b2af2bbc1f6e63df

[section=**GameFAQs**]
I'm not sure if there's anything really useful here, but it's worth noting just in case.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gba/537260-shining-soul/faqs

Name	Author
Boss Fights (Advanced Mode)	Nordanix 5 years ago
Boss Fights (Normal Mode)	Nordanix 5 years ago
Normal Mode vs Advanced Mode	Nordanix 5 years ago
Secret Dungeon + Darksol 2nd Fight (Advanced Mode)	Nordanix 5 years ago
Tips & Tricks	Nordanix 5 years ago
Useful Links	Nordanix 5 years ago