HALLOWEEN TOWN - THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

Town, that is: Welcome to the scariest - ok maybe just 'coolest' might suffice - place in Tim Buron's imagination. Designed after the movie _The Nightmare Before Christmas_, Squaresoft and Disney actually took up this cult classic and made perhaps the most detailed world in the whole KH game. It was a huge hit in Japan. Rahal could go on and on about the beauty of this film, and I agree it's an amazing movie. If you haven't seen it, stop playing and go watch it now! Just kidding. Really though, if you couldn't tell, Rahal and I really do like this world. Back to the game! There's some new things that show up in this world. For one, Sora, Donald and Goofy get some really cool costumes (none of this silly witch hat and bedsheet ghost stuff!) You'll only get to see the trio like this in this world. You will also be getting a new Keyblade, as well as new equipment and if you didn't go to Olympus Coliseum to beat the Phil cup yet, you'll get the Gravity spell. If you already finished Phil Cup, you get an upgrade to Gravira instead.

What about Ariel?: So why not go to Atlantica first, which is easier than this world? Well you could. If you go to Atlantica (the bottom world choice after you've met Monstro), you get to swim with the fishes. Eeh, but working off the same concept as going to Deep Jungle before visiting the Olympus Coliseum, we first went to Halloween Town for the vast amount of experience and leveling up you'll get, as well as the Pumpkinhead Keyblade, which is actually one of the more useful Keyblades (battling wise) for Sora. The enemies of Halloween Town are tougher, but by the time you finish Halloween Town, you'll be more than ready to take on Atlantica. And personally, I believe Atlantica's theme music will drive you batty after awhile. Halloween. Batty. Haha. OK, moving on!

GUILLOTINE SQUARE - THE PUMPKIN KING

Jack is Back: Samurai Jack reference aside, the first thing you get upon entering Halloween Town is a Save Point. Use it, and head through the gates into Guillotine Square. When you get in there, BOOM baby, there's an explosion. You'll see a bunch of those nasty Search Ghosts from Monstro waiting in platoon fashion in the middle of the square. They're a little strange, though, and you'll see soon. Those Search Ghosts aren't going to attack you, so head towards the guillotine. What's a guillotine? It's that apparatus that cuts people's heads off, thanks to the brilliant (and slightly insane) minds of European medieval executioners. It's on your right as you head in from the gates. The Mayor of Halloween Town will then introduce the one and only Jack Skellington, The (Pumpkin) King. Once you're done watching the elaborate detail of the town, head after Jack to go see Dr. Finkelstein. Turn left from the guillotine, go up the wide stairs and then right along the gate. Against the wall will be the Lab Entryway door that leads to the Research Lab.

RESEARCH LAB - WHAT MAKES A HEART?

I'm not crazy!: Well I'm not, but Dr. Finkelstein is a little mad. As in scientist. Jack's got some ideas of how to make the Heartless really scary, but the experiments haven't been working. Because, Jack thinks, the Heartless need a heart. The 'heart' is actually a fairly anatomically correct heart with a lock on it (ooh, ahh.) Sora's going to unlock this thing for them. He wants to see the Heartless dance, of all things. The unlocked heart still doesn't work, though, and it's up to you to find the final ingredient of the experiment - Memory. From here, you can switch Jack into your party to continue on with the game. You don't have to, but Jack himself is just cool to watch. Also, look around the lab bookshelf to find a Torn Page for Merlin's old book.

GRAVEYARD - STILL IN STITCHES

Trigger Happy: When you leave the lab, you'll be attacked by the Heartless. It seems something finally triggered them to be aggressive (gee, I wonder what?) Here there are just Search Ghosts and Shadows, so take them out. You can wander around the square to search out some of the various treasure chests, and once you're done head towards the Graveyard exit. The entrance is a little nook on your left when you exit the Lab Entryway, past the entrance to Jack's House.

New Enemies: Upon entering the Graveyard, you'll encounter the Heartless that have inhabited Halloween Town. Don't underestimate them, especially in Expert Mode.

Wight Knight: Ugh, these mummies are not pansies. In Expert (or even Basic) mode, they appear in groups of at least 3 at a time, and are pretty difficult to hit because of their attacking limbs. Three attacks for these guys. The first attack is the simple forward claw - they smack you with their bandaged hands. The second attack is the most devastating, as they'll jump to avoid your attack and try to land behind you with a slashing hit. Dodge Roll a good way to avoid being hit the first time, but when these guys are in their packs they can really kill you. The third annoying manuever they can do it spin their limbs around their bodies, making it for a brief moment impossible to hit them and if you get too close, you'll get smacked. Overall, the suggestion to beat these guys is to take them one at a time and run or Dodge Roll away when necessary to regroup and heal. Remember though, these guys jump pretty far and they remain fairly scattered when attacking, so you'll have to watch yourself.

Gargoyle: These flying purple heart eaters aren't as big a pain as the Wight Knights. They aren't as difficult to hit, and usually you should be able to kill them within a few combos. Their two attacks are: divebombing you, and shooting out miniature dark energy balls (think of the Darkside's attack, or those homing light beams from the Cave of Wonders in Agrabah) that will try to hit you. The other thing these guys can do is turn into a ball of dark matter and move around so you can't hit them until they reappear, a la the Search Ghosts.

Flower Power: Once you've defeated all the Heartless in the Graveyard area, Zero appears. Jack sics the ghost dog on Sally, and you see her appear behind the huge stone coffin. She hands Jack (you) the 'Forget-Me-Not' flower, which in this case serves as Memory. I'm not the only one with bad puns around here! Mwahaha. So now that you have the flower, head back towards Finkelstein's lab through the Graveyard entrance. You'll get to see a bunch of cutscenes after doing this, but your next task is running around on another errand. At least after this, you know that Oogie Boogie is the 'bad guy' of Halloween Town.

GRAVEYARD - WE'RE TALKING TOMBSTONE

That’s Doctorate, not Physician: You’re still Finkelstein’s errand boy when he sends you off to find the next ingredient, “Surprise.” The mayor has what you want, and you can find him by going through the Graveyard. Go back to the large coffin where you found Sally. As you examine the coffin, you’ll find that you can enter it. Go through and you’re sent into the next section of the Graveyard, where you will see a giant pumpkin and giant cat statue decorated tomb. Pass these by for now, and go to the back of the area where the Mayor awaits. Talk to him, and you receive a challenge to play a game.

Supplies! Er, I Mean, Surprise!: This part is easy. After you get the challenge, turn yourself (and the camera) so that you can see all the tombstones. You watch the ghosts as they appear out of the tombstones, and then examine them in the same order in which they appeared. If you don’t get it right, it’s ok - however, you will have to start the game over until you do. Once you get the order right, the giant pumpkin you passed by explodes in a splatter of squash, and inside is the chest that holds your Jack-in-the-Box. If you don’t know how a Jack-in-the-Box relates to surprise, then, ah, I guess you aren’t really understanding the jokes I make either.

MOONLIGHT HILL - HE STOLE MY HEART AWAY

The Troublesome Trio: As you bring the Jack-in-the-Box back to Finkelstein in the Research Lab, Barrel suddenly snatches the makeshift heart before you get to see the Heartless dance! Argh! Well, this sounds like a job for... Zero. That’s right, it’s the ghost dog who will find those brats for you, and he’ll point you toward the Graveyard. Head back thataway, and jump into the giant coffin to go back to the section where you found the Mayor. Here, where the giant pumpkin was, you will see a door off to the left that you can go through. This door leads to Moonlight Hill, where you’ll see a brief scene of the kids going over the uncurling hill in their walking bathtub.

Mystery Uncurled: When you are in this area, try not to run around too quickly. There’s a veritable flood of enemies in this area, and you’d do not to have too many on your tail or else you’ll find yourself with way too many Wight Knights to fight, and your minions out like lights in this world of shadows. If you’re in this area for the fighting experience, systematically go around and fight all the enemies until they’re all gone. If you want to move on with the story, then you have to clear the enemies around the back of the base of the hilltop. There, you’ll see a small tombstone that you can examine when you’re not on Attack mode, and that will take you over the hill in the direction that Lock, Shock and Barrel went.

OOGIE’S MANOR - BOOGIE TO THE TOP

Bridge Boogie: The next area you’ll see is the bridge heading to Boogie’s manor. This area is also full of Heartless. Looks like Oogie Boogie has lots of help guarding his manor, right? Well, if you want to avoid all the fighting, try to run your way all the way across the bridge without falling off into the moat. If you slip down, you’ll have to fight your way to the stairs, to get back up onto the hill and try to cross the bridge again. If by chance you slip into the moat, don’t slip all the way through back through the shortcut cave that takes you back to Guillotine Square. One thing to note is that the chest on the red platform has a Defense Up, which if you can get to it, will help raise your defense. We’d recommend just bypassing it and coming back to get the chest when you’ve got the Glide ability.

Climbing Mt. Manor: The next step of following the kids is the rather difficult scaling of Oogie’s Manor. This is probably the hardest part of the world, really, as you have a slim bridge and path to climb and Wight Knights, Gargoyles and Search Ghosts all appear to try and knock you off. If you get knocked off, you’ll find yourself at the base of the manor. In order to get back up, you will have to climb into the walking bathtub that circles the manor’s bottom. The thing is, in order to get in, you’ll have to make sure no enemies are going to appear before you can hit that bottom command. Once you work your way back up, enter the small round room where you’ll see a Save Point. Huzzah! Save that game lest you want to do all this over again from the beginning. Then, switch your party around to Donald and Goofy, because there’s a Red Trinity on a set of doors here that you must activate before you beat Oogie Boogie. If you don’t get it now, you’ll probably forget it and because of a mistake this version of Kingdom Hearts has, that Red Trinity will be gone, and then you’ll have one missing Trinity on that perfect record of yours. Gasp. Afterwards, you can switch Jack back, or leave your party as is. Lock onto the platform in the center of the room, and cast Fira to activate it. Jump on, and take the ride up. Jump off the platform onto the path above. Fight all the way to the top without falling off here. Then, when you’re in, enter the Evil Playroom.

EVIL PLAYROOM - NURSERY OF NIGHTMARES

Boss Battle - Lock, Shock & Barrel: HP: 150, 120, 180. EXP: 180, 120, 240. The most difficult thing about these kids is that there are three of them. Really... have you ever tried to fight a horde of children? Ever tried to beat kids off with a stick? Well, I know I haven’t but imagining it makes me feel for Sora and the gang here. Since the EXP you receive from the children varies according to the order you beat them in, in order to get the most experience, you should beat them in the same order that they keep presenting themselves in: Lock, Shock and lastly Barrel. They’ll run around, jump around, and namely smack you around until you discipline these children. The basic spiel is to lock onto the one you want to beat first, and then run after the kid. However, don’t get too caught up in beating them in the right order or else you’ll find yourself out of HP and without enough MP to Cure yourself. Be sure to cast Aero the first chance you get to protect yourself from the three-pronged assault.

Not Under the Bed: Once you’ve put the children in their places, talk to them to find out what to do next. Or, you can read here what’s next, heh. The main thing is to locate the lever in the Evil Playroom, lock onto it and hit it once. Don’t forget to do that, either, since it’s the next step to finding where Oogie Boogie is.

TORTURE CHAMBER - RUSH INTO ROULETTE

Spiralling Down: After you Save and make any tweaks you need, head back the way you came down the spiral path. Now there’s two ways to find the door that Oogie’s behind. One, you can do it the guidebook way of making your way down the path until you see a cage that has been lowered (as a result of hitting the lever in the Evil Playroom). You’ll see a chest in this cage. Jump from the path into the cage, but be careful or you’ll fall off - which actually isn’t too bad. From there, next to the cage is a door. Examine it, and that will take you down to the large green door with Oogie’s mug on it. The other way of getting to this green door is to just fall, and try to make it so that you fall near the beginning of this path, where those ribs and the Red Trinity were. From there, drop to the left (but do so with care) and you’ll be in the same spot right in front of Oogie’s door. Regardless, once you’re in front of that door, go on in to face the Boogie-man.

Boss Battle - Oogie Boogie: HP: 450, EXP: 2500. In this giant gambling wheel, you’ll face off with Oogie Boogie’s chancey challenge. You don’t have to cast Aero immediately, but if you’re not careful enough to dodge things then you’re best off casting it first. The challenge lies in how well you can dodge Oogie’s machine of spinning bladed death. Oogie’s pattern is that he’ll throw dice (a la craps) and depending on the number, you’ll get three different things: one, a series of spinning buzz saws that cut you up, a spinning bladed machine that circles around and at times bounces while spinning, and the appearance of Gargoyles for you to fight. The easiest way to avoid most of these attacking machines is to Dodge Roll, or jump. Jump over the blades that are low. The easier way of avoiding the bouncing blades is to run in the same direction as the blades, and Dodge Roll back underneath them when they’re lifted up. The buzz saws are the hardest to avoid, and your minions are never going to dodge those so don’t mind them as usual. After the chance section is over, the buttons near the center of the wheel light up. Oogie Boogie dances around unreachably at the top. Try to follow him around, and when you get the chance, step on the button of the same section. This will stop Oogie, and spiked gates will spring up to block off the area as well as raising the section. Jump onto the platform that Oogie Boogie is on quickly, and smack him with the Keyblade. Magic doesn’t hurt him, so you’re better off hitting him with the Keyblade. After a few combos, jump off before the explosion knocks you back down onto the wheel. Avoid the dice again, and repeat this pattern until you beat Oogie Boogie. If you want to, summon Genie and use Genie to attack Oogie Boogie. Genie can attack Oogie even if you’re not on the same level, but summoning takes a lot of MP that could be better off used as Cure or Aero spells. Once you’ve beaten Oogie Boogie, you get Ansem’s Report 7 and the Holy Circlet.

Boss Battle - Oogie’s Manor: HP: 90, EXP: 2500. When you defeat Oogie in the roulette wheel, he is possessed by the power of darkness (ooh, ahh) and transforms into a giant Oogie Boogie, with purple orbs of darkness similar to what happened with the Cave of Wonders. There are 8 orbs to destroy, and they are hidden around Oogie’s body. In addition to destroying these orbs, you’ll be attacked by Gargoyles, as well as fireballs that shoot out from the two lanterns Oogie is holding. You can destroy these lanterns for EXP, but it’s faster to just hunt out the purple orbs and destroy them. This battle isn’t difficult, but finding the orbs is a little challenging. For beating this battle, you will receive the Gravity spell, or if you have already beaten Phil Cup in the Coliseum tournaments, then you will have an upgrade from Gravity to Gravira.

GUILLOTINE SQUARE - MAYBE NEXT YEAR

The Red Trinity: Hopefully you remembered to get that Red Trinity from before, because as you will definitely notice now, the manor is gone. That is the mistake of the game designers for this lone trinity, because with the rest of the trinities you can go back to all the worlds and activate them. This one, however, will be forever gone if you didn’t get it before. If you forgot about it, don't worry - you don't need to find all the Trinities to see the secret special ending of Kingdom Hearts.

Conclusion: Once you beat Oogie's Manor, you're left staring at the empty hole that was actually a pretty interesting house. Make your way back to Guillotine Square. You can go back through the areas to get the things and treasure chests you missed before, or you can take two different shortcuts. The first shortcut is in the large base area former with Oogie's Manor. You'll see a small waterway off in the distance, which you can drop into and run into the exit that says Guillotine Square. Or, you can make your way back over the bridge where you'd first entered Oogie's Manor, and drop into the moat area (remember where we'd said not to drop into and get sucked back into the Square?) to return to the center fountain area in Guillotine Square. Once you're back you go to the Research Lab to once lock the heart of the world again since Sora unlocked it in the first place, and that is it for this year's Halloween. At the close of this world, Jack will give you the Pumpkinhead keychain, giving you a new (and useful) upgrade to the Keyblade. After this, head out to the next world - depending on whether you finished Atlantica or not, you’ll move on to Atlantica or Neverland.

End: Halloween Town.