Ellen's Secret Castle

The player controls Ellen by running, jumping and shooting bubbles. The player starts out at the bottom floor of a four-story castle, named Castle Garland, and he must work his way upwards, searching the three main stories, the well, two side towers and the very top. If the player stays too long outside of the castle, lightning bolts fall off from the sky.

Each room the castle contains many enemies and hidden items. Ellen's bubbles are both a tool and a weapon; throwing bubbles at soft blocks causes them to break apart and either create additional routes, reveal hidden shops, or expose specific items. The bubbles can also destroy the demons that inhabit the given rooms, though they will come back to life after several seconds.

Each story can only be reached by defeating the first boss. Although seemingly basic, the only way the bosses can even be reached is by discovering a host of secrets, some of which require sheer luck or a helpful manual. This is because there is no visual difference between these "soft blocks" hiding the secrets and the "hard blocks" which are just walls and sometimes you have to be extremely specific about where you have to shoot at.

Sometimes after you uncover the spot where the item is, you are even required to waste your time walking around the level before an important item like the key appears. These bosses are much larger than the regular demons and take many bubbles to defeat. They attack by leaping back and forth, spitting out fireballs that take a lot of life off. When a demon-monster dies it stays dead and releases a crystal ball and, at times, make Ellen's bubbles larger and make them fly out farther. The demon-monster's room can then be used to get to the next story of the castle.

Throughout the entire game the player is only given one life. When one life is lost, the game is over and the player must start over. However, if the player holds left on the control pad while pressing the Start button at the title screen, he or she can start where they left off. This command does not work before collecting the first crystal.

Along the way, Ellen will come across various items found in shops; some shops are in plain sight, some are hidden in the differing rooms or outside the castle, and some can be found after Ellen defeats a certain demon-monster boss. All of the items augment Ellen in one specific way or another, though not all of them are found in shops.