How to play

Controls

Sega Master System
Direction pad	moves the character or attacks enemies by running into them
Button A	goes to the subscreen where you can change equipment or use items
Button B	picks up items underfoot, and also waits for time to pass
Start button	when pressed, toggles fast/slow animation

Sega Game Gear
Direction pad	moves the character or attacks enemies by running into them
Button 1	goes to the subscreen where you can change equipment or use items
Button 2	picks up items underfoot, and also waits for time to pass
Start button	while held down, makes slow animation fast

	Subscreen Press Button 1/A to toggle the subscreen. Here you can see the basic character parameters (floor, rank, HP, PW, AC, money) and use items. See Stats for details on parameters. There is one submenu for each item type: Swords, Armor, Scrolls (SMS) or Books (GG), Rods, Potions and Rings. Press button 2 to choose items and commands. Swords, Armor, and Rings are worn with the Equip command and change the character parameters. Sometimes equipment is cursed, and is impossible to take off without a Bless scoll/book. Cursed weapons and armor give no bonus to PW or AC, and cursed rings have other nasty effects. There is no way to tell a cursed weapon or armor without first equipping it. Scrolls/Books, Rods and Potions are consumed by the Use command. These are support items and perform such functions as healing and upgrading equipment. Some items have undesirable effects though. See Items for details. All items can also be dropped (provided there's room at the feet) or thrown. Throwing things at monsters either does a small amount of damage or has some other effect, such as "boggling" them. Thrown items sometimes miss the target. In any case, thrown items are always lost, and dropped items are always preserved. All items other than weapons and armor start out unidentified. They will have unhelpful descriptions such as "Mauve Potion." These labels will be different every game. There are two ways to find out what they are. The riskier way is to use them. The less risky way is to throw them. The thrown item doesn't actually have to hit anything. In any case, any item of the same type that is encountered again will be identified.
Time Time is divided into increments known as ticks. Moving, attacking, picking up items and using items all take one tick. During this time, monsters move and attack, food is consumed and natural healing occurs. Status ailments other than Sluggishness wear off over time. Changing equipment and dropping items takes no time, however. You can choose to do nothing and let time pass by pressing button 2/B. There are several reasons to do this: You can try to get monsters to move into a position where you can shoot them with rods or throw things at them; you can wait repeatedly in front of a wall to search for a hidden passage; Or you can wait for a dangerous ailment to wear off before proceeding.
	Food and eating You need food to survive. Pick up bread for about 20 food units and meat for about 40. The maximum that can be carried is 99. Once every 10 ticks a unit of food is consumed, and once every 8 ticks HP is restored by an amount equal to the current level. These values can be changed by equipping certain rings. If you run out of food, healing stops and HP is consumed instead of food, eventually resulting in starvation.
Dying and continuing If you get killed, you will be shown a summary of your performance and may have the opportunity to continue, provided you have enough money. When you continue you lose all items except the equipped weapon and armor. The character's level and other parameters are unchanged, except for the gold paid to continue. Identified items stay identified. You may continue up to three times, for a total of four lives.
	Objective Your goal on floors 1-29 is to find the exit to the next floor. This is always located in the vertical wall of a room, often at a corner. It's never on the edge of the map though. On floor 30 there is no exit. Instead you need to find and pick up the crystal ball. Picking it up ends the game. Your final goal will be easier if you prepare by clearing out each floor fully, getting all the treasure and slaying all the monsters for experience.