This game begins after Ail and Anne have gone back into space with the Makaiju. My main guess as to why the game starts at that point is that Ail and Anne were not in the manga - only in the anime. In any case, a cute intro to the game begins with ChibiUsa falling from the sky and into Usagi's life, much to her dismay. Luna, Kenji, Ikuko, and Shingo also appear in this intro, as do Esmeraude, Saffiru, Rubeus, and Prince Demando, who will be the bosses you face in this game(in that same order, but no Wiseman is in it). The options on the menu are as follows, from top left to bottom right: start game as a senshi, start game as ChibiUsa, options, and 1-on-1 mode.
In the senshi mode, you can select 1 or 2 players and each player picks their favorite senshi to fight. If you're a bit of the cheating sort, you might want to try playing as ChibiUsa. She's not a senshi yet, but she's so small that almost every blow goes right over her head. This is, however, a 1 player game only unless you use a code which I will reveal below. In 1-on-1 mode, 2 players each pick a senshi and fight each other in a best 2 out of 3 match. It's far from Street fighter, though - frankly, I don't see what it's doing there since the fighting engine is so flawed. In any case, a list of each senshi's special move(yes, each one has only one special move) can be found on the Sailor Moon R FAQ page compiled by Major Tom.
Every senshi has their own basic style of fighting, but the buttons are universal for every senshi. Each senshi has an attack button(Y), a jump button(B), a side-to-side attack button(A), and a super power move button(X). The side-to-side attack hits enemies on both sides, but drains your energy every time you use it. The super power move is an attack each senshi had in this season of the anime. Each senshi's super power move is different and there is a limit to how many times it can be done. However, your super power moves will be restored at the end of the level, feel free to unload on the bosses with all the super power moves you have when you reach them - though if there are minions around, which more often than not there will be, you would be better off using the super power move when they are around so you can take care of 2 bird with one stone. However, here is a list of times when you should never use super power moves: when Esmeraude is in the corner after you have weakened her, or when Rubeus or Prince Demando is floating. The reason you should not use the moves at these times is because the respective bosses are invincible during these times, and you would only waste your power, which is definitely not good. If you find a bow in the levels, it will give you one more super power move. The food heals damage done to you in your fights and some crystals may yield an extra life. Now that those basics are out of the way, let's get to the level by level rundown.
In level 1, it's a good idea to learn quickly how to grab and attack your enemies. If you find yourself cornered while attacking an enemy, throw him or her into the other enemy(ies). Try not to use the side-to-side attack unless you really have to. However, if you feel the need to use it, just hit B and Y together, or just hit A. If you're playing this game via emulator, consult your emulator controls to figure out which keys you will use. Since I have the cartridge, I do not have this info but your emulator should have it somewhere. This level has 2 parts before the fight against Esmeraude. She's not very tough - just approach her from an angle, grab and attack her, throwing her into her flunkies when need be. At one point, she will dash at you from the corner too quickly to be grabbed. Use your super power move to stop her and take a nice chunk out of her life line. Once you beat Esmeraude, you'll be rewarded with a nice colorful picture of Tuxedo Kamen on a shiny background. ChibiUsa will also give you a grade on a scale of A-E based on your performance in the level. Shoot for the A!
In level 2, you go through a forest - more of the usual stuff. In this level, one of the first real troublemakers makes his first appearance - a big(round) daimon who rolls into a ball and tries to bowl you over. By themselves, they're only slightly challenging, but more than 1 can really ruin your day, especially in hard difficulty. The best way to handle these nuisances is to jump kick them or use whatever airborne attack your senshi has to come down on them. If many of them are around at one, which happens a lot in the last 2 levels(especially the last, when 4 attacking at once is commonplace - and a major pain), a side to side attack or 2 might get you in the clear. Try to save your super power move unless you absolutely need it - these will be essential in your fights with Rubeus in Demando, especially the agile Demando, who can avoid you easily should you be forced to walk after him. In any case, once you get through the forest, you will find yourself in part 2 of this level, which first takes place on a raft. Here, you can easily kill your enemies by knocking or throwing them off the raft. Just try not to get knocked in yourself - it won't kill you instantly, but you lose a nice chunk of energy. Once the raft docks, you will fight Saffiru, who is in my opinion, the weakest boss in the game. Like with Esmeraude, just approach him from an angle and attack and throw him. But don't approach him directly or you'll either get a rapid punch or he'll throw you. You don't even need a super power move to beat Saffiru.
In level 3, you step inside Sailor Pluto's time gate and walk the streets of Crystal Tokyo. Once again, just attack most enemies like normal, but this time watch out for the women made of brandy(or whatever Calaveras was drinking that formed them in that episode). It might be safer to charge the Y button and use your less powerful senshi power. It gets a full screen length of attack distance, but not much power. When you make it to Rubeus, he will be floating while brandy women attack you. You have no choice but to fight the brandy women if you want Rubeus to come down. Use your jump kick or whatever move the senshi you use does when she jumps in addition to your charge move. Try to save your super power moves at least until Rubeus jumps down. Then attack him using a grab and attack/throw strategy, but avoid being directly in front of him or he will rushing punch you or zap you with a dark energy beam. Rubeus is by far your toughest opponent yet at this point.
In level 4, you fight on the outside of the Negamoon, the space base of the Black Moon family. Just face your foes like you did in the past, then go after Demando. Like Rubeus, he lets his underlings attack you before coming to fight you himself. When Demando does come down and fight, he fights much like Rubeus, except Demando is much more agile, doing flips across the screen and similar jazz. Use the same basic strategy as you do for Rubeus and you should win. Remember - don't spare your super power moves.
With that level completed, you're treated to the ending. The ending seems to differ slightly depending on the difficulty level, and possibly even the character you use to win and the grades you get for each level. Each time I have seen the ending, Tuxedo Kamen stands in the shaking ship probably telling the senshi to get the heck out as it's about to blow. Then we see ChibiUsa holding the time key high to take her back home to Crystal Tokyo, where Neo Queen Serenity gives her personal thanks to you, the player, for kickin' butt this time around. In hard mode, Sailor Pluto also appears in the ending, standing next to Neo Queen Serenity. In normal difficulty, the last to pop up is ChibiUsa, who waves good-bye to you. Very kawaii(cute in Japanese). ChibiUsa did not appear in hard mode, and I suspect that she may never appear in the hard mode ending and only in normal. In any case, seeing Sailor Pluto was cool. Though there is a bonus if you use Sailor Moon in the first game, there is none this time around - this game's ending is determined by difficulty, whereas the first game's is determined by the use of Sailor Moon or lack thereof. I hope to be able to answer these questions in the future. If any of you know the answers to any of these, I would appreciate it if you could clear it up for me and everyone else. Thank you.
Now, here are the codes I promised. When you select a 2 player game as the senshi or the 1-on-1 mode, hold L & R to allow both players to use the same senshi. Get the cursor next to the ChibiUsa game and do the same thing to get a new menu where the first 2 items allow you to play a 2 player game where both players use ChibiUsa and the third item gives you a 2 player game with one player using ChibiUsa and one player using a senshi of his or her choice. Good luck and happy hunting!
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Sailor Moon R for Super Famicom is manufactured by Bandai. All character names, etc. are copyrighted by their respective companies.