Power Dolls Walkthrough

Power Dolls FX, by Kogado Studios, is a strategy game for the NEC PC-FX. This company has produced many Power Dolls games on various platforms. This one is based off of their original NEC PC98 computer game titled simply, Power Dolls. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because this is an easy game to pickup and play, even if you don't read Japanese.

By Neo Fan

It's a very basic strategy game that's ideal for someone who always wanted to try this genre or for someone who wants an easy FX game to kill some time with. The bad is, that it IS a very basic strategy game on a system that actually has some very good (and much more detailed) strategy games. There are only 10 levels to the game. Most are easy if you know what the mission goal is. There are a couple of levels that are quite difficult. The game does allow you to save at any point (but with just one save state), so you can retry your turn if you make a wrong move.

There is a good amount of variety with your different DOLL units and weapons, considering there are only 6 characters and 10 levels (some weapons do not become available until the later levels). I found the different weapon types and upgrades to be very useful and had fun trying the levels multiple times with different weapon/DOLL combinations to beat it quicker than before.

You only have to deal with 6 mechanized assault loaders, or DOLLS (stands for Detachment Of Limited Line Service). They are all piloted by attractive females. There are units that serve as scouts, units that serve as tanks and units that serve with a repair/reload function. If any DOLL's hit points reach zero it is destroyed and cannot be used again until the next mission. Most strategies rely on you keeping at least 5 DOLLS alive, so the "save" function should be used liberally before each turn. Most levels start with around 15-20 enemy units, each needing more than one attack against it to be destroyed. To quickly beat a mission, it's often easiest to split up into 2 groups of 3 DOLLS and attack different areas at once. If you do get too many casualties, it's OK. You do have a limited number of times you can fail a mission and still progress thru to the next mission. You do have to beat mission 9 to proceed to mission 10 though.

Mission 1 Walkthru:

Mission Map-Plan B

Difficulty: Very Easy

Enemy units at start: 15

Enemy Reinforcements: From the NW portion of the map

Mission Clear: After 3 explosives are set on the bridge, DoLLS do not have to exit map

Mission Objective and Hints: Travel to each of the three green squares on the bridge, and set explosives to prevent enemy reinforcements from getting to the East bank of the river. If you choose mission plan "A", your DoLL units will start in the SE corner of the map, too far away from the mission points to be quickly effective. Instead, choose mission plan "B", and the DoLLS start just a couple of moves away from the bridge. Start with units with high hit points, you will be taking damage. Also, start with one repair unit DoLL (X4R), if you are nervous about this mission. You should really be able to just start the mission "as-is", without changing any of the weapons or DoLLS for this map. On this level the enemy continues to send reinforcements each turn, so the goal isn't to attack the enemy head-on, it's to get to the bridge ASAP. Take out enemy units that are in range of your DoLLS, but don't spread out to go seek them. Often, the enemy units will NOT fire on you, even if they are in range. This is a good thing, since 2-3 hits on any DoLL destroys them. If you have a scout unit, one that can move 6 spaces per turn, send them out to the front of the group and to reach the leftmost green square on the map (on the bridge). have a repair unit follow behind them to heal if she takes damage along the way. Continue moving the DoLLS to the green squares on the bridge. Place a DoLL on the map grid where the left and right green squares are. Instead of attacking, once you land on a green green square, use the "mission objective" choice from the menu to set a TX48 explosive device. You have to set charges on the left and right green squares first, then finally the middle green square. This is one of the few missions where you do not have to evacuate the map with all the DoLLS or destroy every enemy unit. As soon as the middle charge is placed, the mission is completed and ends.

Suggested Mission Tactics:

Turn 1: Move twords the bridge and attack the one enemy unit dierctly in front of the bridge with the DoLLS furthest away from the bridge. Move the DoLLS below or above the trees, if possible, moving through them takes up 2 moves. Once the enemy unit blocking a direct route to the bridge is gone, move the DoLL closest to the bridge forward. If she has rockets armed, you can attack the first unit on the bridge. Keep this unit safe, she will be the one to rush to the furthest left green square on the map. You should be able to destroy the two top enemy units this turn, if your shots hit their mark..

Turn 2: Continue to move all the DoLLS twords the bridge. You will be able to finish off the two enemy units directly on the bridge this turn. Play follow-the-leader, lining up all the DoLLS to cross the bridge to land on a green square on the bridge.

Turn 3: Finish off any of the units you can reach on the bridge if you didn't in turn 2. Move all DoLLS forward, in a row, across the bridge. Skip setting any explosives until there are DoLLS in place on each of the 3 green squares. You should be able to take out one of the units to the south, on the East bank of the river. Here is a pic of your DoLL placement after turn 3.

Turn 4: Where the closest tank is at the end of turn 3, is where you need to move a DoLL. Do NOT attack that tank with your closest unit, her turn will be over and you cannot move another unit past it, the path will be blocked and more enemy units will move forward. Move one DoLL two spaces north of the bridge and move as far west as you can. You will be able to attack enemy units from here advancing onto the bridge. You are setting yourself up this move for the big finish in turn 5. Move the DoLLS forward, attacking the enemy units that remain on the bridge first, to the West of the bridge (if you can reach them) second, and the enemy units to the south of the bridge on the East bank of the river last. The final unit you move should be the DoLL furthest down the bridge and onto the leftmost green square on your map. Here's a pic.

Turn 5: This is it. If you were able to destroy the units on the bridge quickly enough, you should now be in place to move a DoLL onto all 3 green squares for your objective. It doesn't matter which bomb is set first, just remember that you cannot move THROUGH a DoLL after they have completed their turn, the path over the bridge will be blocked. Just make sure a DoLL is at the leftmost green square FIRST, then the middle, and finally the rightmost green objective (green) square on the map. When the first unit has moved into place, choose the SECOND option from the action menu (or if the DoLL has started the turn on the correct space, move the cursor to her spot and hit the "I" button to open the action menu.

This opens up your mission objectives menu. selecting the FIRST option will let you know what your objective is and how close you are to success (for example, this screen shows you need to set 3 charges on the bridge and have done 1 so far)

Selecting the THIRD option from this mission objectives menu will actually set the explosive. Doing so will complete that DoLLS turn, and can only happen if they finish their movement on one of the green squares. Move a DoLL onto each of the correct squares and set the explosives. If you have followed this guide, you will see the following screen...

If it takes longer than 5 turns to destroy the enemy units and move the DoLLS into place, that's OK. Continue to push the DoLLS across the bridge, attacking the enemy with the DoLLS you are NOT trying to set an explosive with.

Mission 2 Walkthru:

Mission Map-Plan A

Difficulty: Easy

Enemy units at start: 9

Enemy Reinforcements: From the NW portion of the map and top of screen along road

Mission Clear: Mission ends at 1350 if at least 1 DoLL remains and less than 10 enemy units escape along the Southern exit of the road, DoLLS do not have to exit the map to clear the mission.

Mission Objective and Hints: This mission has you keep the enemy units from retreating along the Southern part of the map thru the road along the West bank of the river. The mission ends at 1350, just press button "II" anytime on your turn to see the mission clock. You definately need to have at least one repair unit (or two) for this mission. You will engage with the enemy units every turn, they send reinforcements to the field every turn from two points on the map. You will quickly loose hit points and ammo fighting this mission. Like in mission 1, the enemy in this turn is not very aggressive. If you get familiar with each DoLLs movement range, you can stay far enough away from them so they won't attack a single DoLL multiple times in one turn. Once it is your turn, you can move close enough with a group of DoLLs to destroy the enemy, leaving the next wave of enemy units a few spaces away, and not in a threatening position. There is a rediculous amount of space to the NE part of the map. One try on this map, I was down to just one DoLL and not enough ammo to survive. I just ran to the far edge of the NE part of the map looking for an exit. There is no exit on this level, but once the mission timer reaches 1350, regardless of how badly you are doing, as long as fewer than 10 enemy units have escaped, you clear this stage. To check how many enemy units have escaped, go to mission objectives in the menus (same as in stage 1 to see how many bombs had been set).

In this case, the higher the number, the worse off you are. It was actually pretty hard for me to loose this level, even before I could figure out the level. While there are tons of enemy units coming onto the map, they really don't "try" to leave the map. And while there are some heavy-duty 80 hit-point tanks in this level, they don't get very aggressive and try to eliminate the DoLLs. At this stage, your DoLLs take 3 hits to take out anything that has 80 hit points. Likewise, these tanks only need to hit a DoLL about 3 times before they are destroyed. Definately attack them with 3 DoLLs and take them out in one turn. I'm not going to go into turn-by-turn mission tactics for this level. Like I said earlier, it is REALLY hard to loose this mission if you choose the correct DoLLs, and don't run out of ammo. Remember, if you do run out of ammo, or loose your repair-unit DoLLS, you can run like a little girl to the far NE edge of the map and hope the time runs out before 10 enemy units escape.

Mission 3 Walkthru:

Mission Map-Plan A

Difficulty: Medium

Enemy units at start: 12

Enemy Reinforcements: Along all three roadside entrances

Mission Clear: Rescue prisioner, then meet at the rendevouz point by the time selected. After that, exit the map by moving the DoLLs to the NW roadside exit.

Mission Objective and Hints: Rescue the prisioner by traveling to the green squares on the mission map in theNW corner of the level. Destroy the 6 enemy units grouped at that building and pickup the prisioner by selecting the "mission objectives" option from your menu (after you move your DoLL, select the second option, then the bottom option). This only works if you finish moving a DoLL onto the correct square, and after you pickup the prisoner, the turn for that DoLL ends. The pickup point for the prisoner is going to be at the other green squares on the map, the ones near the SE portion of the map.

Suggested Mission Tactics:

I would suggest 2 repair-unit DoLLs (X4R's) and 4 attack-type DoLLs (X4). The scout-type DoLLs (X4C's) weren't the best option for me. After you pickup the prisoner, there is no scouting or moving along the map that needs to happen away from the main group of DoLLs. You definately need the extra firepower the X4 units carry, you will be fighting the enemy every turn. Arm the X4 units with DRu25 shoulder rockets and a MC105 cannon.

Rescue the prisoner by moving one DoLL to the green squares on top of the building near the NW corner of the map. SAVE YOUR GAME BEFORE YOU ARE IN PLACE TO MOVE ONTO THE GREEN SQUARES! The prisoner is hidden on one of these squares RANDOMLY. Move to one of the green squares, choose the 2nd option (mission objective option). Then choose the 3rd option. If the prisoner is hidden in this part of the building, you will see a small pic of a blond-haired guy and you can move to the rendezvous point (the second set of green squares). If you only see a warning message and NO pic of a blond guy, reset the game and choose a different green square to search. Up to 3 enemy units appear each turn very close to that building, so even taking a few extra turns searching is a very bad idea. Remember there is a short time limit on this mission. See pic below.

Once you have the prisoner, start moving your group south along the road and east twords the next set of green squares on the map. There are a number of new enemy units appearing each turn. The goal is to get to the next set of green squares quickly, attacking enemy units in front of your group, not the units behind the group. Make sure the DoLL that has the prisoner is safe, but move the group down the map as fast as you can.

Now, move to the next set of green squares on the map, along the road going SE. When the mission timer gets to the selected time (ex, 1520 for mission D), the subs arrive at the rendezvous point (second set of green squares).

Once the prisoner gets on the sub and you see the picture of it going back under the water, move the DoLLs West again and North to exit the map thru the road as quickly as you can. Again, do not worry about attacking enemy units in back of you, just advance as quickly as you can to the North roadside exit.

Good Luck!

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