Beetlejuice (NES)
Guide by psychosailor1119
| Set Difficulty | 10 |
| Approximate time to master | 45 mins-3 hours (skill dependent) |
| Minimum numbers of playthroughs needed | 1 |
| Number of missable achievements | 0 |
| Does difficulty affect achievements? | No |
| Hardest achievement of the set | It's the Showman in Me |
Beetlejuice is a side scrolling action-adventure game developed by Rare and published by LJN for the Nintendo Entertainment System on May 10th, 1991. The game utilizes the laughable and creepy character based off the popular 80’s movie by Tim Burton, Beetlejuice. However, Rare’s (LJN’s) use of the character does not truly reflect the dark comedic nature of which the movie was popular for. Instead, the games use of Beetlejuice is somewhat obtuse and confusing and truly misses the mark on what could have been a decent game should a little more thought have been put into the development. Beetlejuice has only 15 obtainable achievements in the game. The achievements can be broken down into two categories: Obtaining the different scares in the game (easy) and accessing each of the five levels within the game (hard). The gameplay is atrocious and a giant time suck if you’re not inherently good at playing games on the Nintendo Entrainment System. In this guide, I will provide my recommendation of what should be done during the game and what I’m doing in my attempt to master this game.
Understanding the gameplay mechanics is crucial in playing this game. Particularly because sensitivity in a controller can be your worst enemy. I’ve personally had many attempts at playing this game where I would be attempting a jump upwards only to mash the incorrect buttons and fall helplessly to my demise or overshoot/undershoot a platform I was going for. In this section, I would like to outline a few tips to hopefully make you successful in beating this game.
- Modern controllers are an added risk of playing the game because of all the pitfalls that the modern controllers can land you into. By design, the original 4-way d-pad concept would be the most recommended controller to utilize versus the modern 8-way d-pad concepts of today.
- You cannot attack 90% of the enemies in this game. Examples being the giant yellow beetles, red scorpions, hermit crabs, jumping giant frogs. You have a foot stomp attack which is not designed for killing the enemies of a level, it is meant for getting help tickets through stomping tiny beetles that move around like jumping beans. With that being said, avoid these enemies by jumping over them, not on them as they can hurt you.
- Health. In the game, you have a yellow box on your screen with a picture of Beetlejuice. If you get hit 3 times, you die and expend a life. Some enemies and terrain effects can kill you instantly regardless of how many times you were previously hit. To restore your lives to full, stomping on the tiny beetles that give you tokens also restore your life counter so be sure to step on the tiny beetles anytime you get hit by an enemy.
- Yellow Flowers. These flowers grant invincibility for about 15 seconds. Makes going through obstacles a breeze.
- Floors. If you don’t see a horizontal surface on your screen, don’t drop down as its instant death, even though it is just below the screen. The game doesn’t recognize anything that isn’t seen so take your time descending obstacles that must be descended.
- Grinding tiny beetles. I strongly recommend you spend some time in each level grinding tiny beetles. Tips 7 and 8 explain the need to farm these tiny beetles.
- Red beetles = 10
- Blue beetles = 25
- Green beetles = 50
- Yellow beetles = 75
- Scares. Max out your scares. You’re allowed 9 of each scare available to you in the game. I recommend maxing out all the scares available to you in a store, which will be time consuming and require you to farm tiny beetles with your foot stomp attack. Boss fights require the use of scares and once you get into a boss fight, there is no way out to get more scares should run out. You only get a limited number of attacks with a scare before you must reactivate the scare again to get additional attacks. If you get hit by an enemy while using a scare, you lose the scare instantly and must activate it again. This can blow through your stocked scares if you get hit a lot. Below is an idea of how the scares work as of this guide:
- Medusa Scare = 1 attack. Pretty much useless. Gives achievement.
- Birdman Scare = 2 attacks. Pretty much useless. Gives achievement
- Skeleton Scare = 5 attacks. Used for 1st level boss. Gives achievement.
- Two Head Scare = 3-4 attacks. Kills Sandworms, Giant Toads, and Squids in 1 attack. Gives achievement
- Umbrella Head Scare = 9 attacks. High volume attacks for boss fights. Gives achievement.
- Ogre Scare = 4-5 attacks. Use for boss fights or fighting sandworms. Level 4 grave level boss is susceptible to this scare than others. Gives achievement.
- Spook Sheet Scare = ? attacks. Not sure what this does and will have to be updated in the guide once I can successfully use this scare. Gives achievement.
- Snake Scare = 10+ attacks. Not strong attacks but provides the most attacks of any scare in the game. Gives achievement.
- Extra lives. There are extra lives in the game hiding throughout the stages, I’ve managed to only find one in level 2 and one in level 4. However, in level 2 and 4, there are multiple stores throughout the levels that you can purchase extra lives for 1250 tickets. I strongly recommend you farm beetles that you can stomp and max out your lives in these levels. You can have a max of 9 lives and if you blow through them, the game only gives you 3 continues before sending you back to level 1. Maxing out your lives as much as possible on levels 2 and 4 reduces the chances of needing to use a continue by burning through extra lives.
- Boss Fights. The only way to defeat a boss is to hit them to the point that the exit the right side of the screen. The bosses move towards you and the only way to get them to move back is to hit them with a scare. This means you will have to be selecting a scare every few shots to hit them frequently enough to push them back. You can hit them 100 times and they won’t die. They can only die by being pushed to the far-right side of the screen. There are 3 bosses in the game located in levels 1, 2, and 4.
You start out in front of a house with a locked door. If you to the right of the house, you will drop down and find a key sitting on a cloud. Jump on the cloud, get the key, and go back to the locked door. Be cautious after entering the house as everything hurts you. Once inside navigate to the right, you will find a switch at the end of the room that you must hit. If you grab the yellow flower near the switch, you’ll be temporarily impervious to the non-sense obstacles that stand in your way. After hitting the switch go back to the start and jump on the cloud to the 2nd floor. Find the switch on the 2nd floor. Upon finding the switch on the 2nd floor, go right to the next cloud and head to the 3rd floor. Navigate left on the 3rd floor, avoiding the shark fin, jump on to the tub and do a running jump to hit the 3rd floor switch. Once the switch is hit, hop on the cloud to the 4th floor. Above the cauldron at the top of the 4th floor is the Book of the Recently Deceased, it provides a tip for getting scares. Once collected, there are two switches, hit both switches and the exit will appear.
Once outside, avoid the big yellow beetle and head right. You will have to jump on some clouds. There is a fly that you can pounce on like a goomba for 75 points, which can go towards the purchase of your scares. After passing the clouds, you will arrive at your first house. There is a hole in the ground where tiny beetles start popping out of. This is where you can start farming for help credits as described in Tip 6. Once you have enough beetles farmed you can go inside the house. In this house, you can get your first 3 achievements:
Ya Like It? (5) Use the Medusa Head Scare
Birdddddddd Man! (5) Use the Bird Man Scare
Spooky Scary (5) Use the Skeleton Scare
Once you’ve collected enough scares, you will notice a beehive. Use 1 skeleton scare and destroy the beehive. If you get hit by a bee, be sure to kill a beetle so you can restore your health. Once the hive is destroyed, you can move on to the cloud, which will take you down. Avoiding the red scorpion, head right, jump on the cloud, and jump right on to the lower platform, avoiding the yellow beetle. If you get hit by the beetle while jumping, you will most likely plummet to your death. Once on the platform, go up and you will see another house with a beetle hole. Avoid the yellow beetle as its pace is a bit faster and farm the beetle hole to restore your scares by going into the 2nd house. Once you’re done, turn into the skeleton, kill the beehive, and then go to the garage and enter to find the first boss. If you’re still the skeleton, you will have a moment of invulnerability, go to the boss and hit him as far right as possible until he dies. He uses a fumigator spray as his weapon so you will have to jump over it without going on top of the chimney or platform, so he doesn’t close in. If you’re successful, you will get your next achievement.
Sewer Surfin' (10) Reach the Sewer Level
In this level, you start out on a ledge in front of a raft. Jump on the raft. While you are floating, you will come across three flies which you can jump on for 75 tokens each. At the first set of platforms, you can jump off your raft. You will see a gate which you can enter to get scares. The scares available are randomized but you have the potential to earn the following achievements at level 2.
Two Heads Are Better Than One (5) Use the Two Headed Man Scare
Attention K-Mart Shoppers! (5) Use the Umbrella Head Scare
Beetlejuice is Love (5) Use the Ogre Scare
Purchase Additional Life
Once you’ve made your purchases, you can kill the tentacled armed squid with the skeleton scare as each hit is 75 pts of tickets. Once he is dead, jump up several levels. Avoid the giant jumping frog on the top level and the red scorpion moving side to side. To the far left is a free life and another store. There is a beetle hole there so you can farm for beetles but it’s a bit inconvenient due to the fast-moving scorpion. However, it should also sell Purchase Additional Life. If not, grind for a bit and return inside and it should be available. If the scorpion is bothering you on your grind, you can back to raft and head to the next platform that is empty of creatures but has a beetle hole you can farm. If you decided to keep moving, you will come across the last set of platforms which you will want to head up on. At the top is another store, another beetle hole, and a slower scorpion going back and forth. You can farm here for more beetles and purchase additional lives if needed.
If the plan is to keep moving, go to the next platform and kill the tentacles. If you use the skeleton scare, you can get 75 points for each hit you get on the tentacles until its dead. After defeating the tentacles, go up the platforms until you get to the top and then head left. You will come across an unguarded beetle hole, which you can farm to your hearts content without interruption. Once done, go to the next set of platforms, which are occupied by a beetle and a scorpion. If you get hit on your way up, go back to the beetle hole and stomp on as many beetles to restore your life and try again. Once you get to the top, you come across a jumping frog. Get past the jumping frog, select a scare and kill the giant frog in the cavern. Each hit is 75 points until its dead. Be careful because this frog spits at you for damage. Once clear, you can go back to before the jumping frog and enter to the store to restore lives or scares.
After you’re done, navigate right to the next platform and jump up. You will see tentacles that will be blocking your way, you will have to do air attacks to the tentacles to kill it. Don’t try to get on the ledge as he will kill you if he is still there. Once you kill the tentacles, jump on the ledge while avoiding the fast-moving beetle. Past the beetle is another ledge, go to the top and head right. You will have to jump over to the second rock formation while killing the flies and avoiding the beetles (it has a ledge where you will have to descend). Go down the ledge, avoiding the obstacles. Towards the bottom is another giant frog in a cave, spitting at you. Kill that frog. Once he’s dead there is one final store and beetle hole before the boss for level 2. Farm your scares and lives. If extra lives aren’t available, keep farming as the offerings are randomized.
Once you’ve completed your last shopping adventure, go right. Upon going right, you will magically enter the next boss’s lair. It is a football player who kicks footballs at you. Select a high attack scare and attack him as far right in the screen. Once he is all the way to the right, he will be defeated, and you will earn the next achievement.
Turn On The Juice! (10) Reach the House level
Upon arriving at level 3, the mechanics for the game change. You are now in a top-down view of Beetlejuice and your goal is to navigate to the next level by finding keys to open doors. Be very careful in this level to avoid obstacles because you get hit easily and get killed twice as fast. This is where those 9 lives you grinded come into play. It gives you time to learn the mechanics of the level and not blow through all your continues in one shot, ...hopefully.
While navigating the house you, will see white boxes. They all look the same, but some are level 3 version of a scare, a hiding ghost that will hit you and kill you quickly if you get hit, or an obstacle that you can maneuver around to avoid threats or just get in your way. In the first area, there are 3 scares hiding that you can collect. I recommend getting them because the human tiki enemies can be hurt by them. Open the door and head up to the next room while avoiding the bouncing shard. On the upper right corner, there is a white box that is a key to the next door. Acquire the key, go through the door and go up.
The next level is a big room with randomly appearing beetles. These beetles are obstacles, and you should avoid them at all costs. They randomly populate in the room and hit you for damage. Go to the left side of the room and you will see a door, open the door and collect the box, which is actually a key, but don’t go to deep into that section because if you do, you will be transported to Saturn and will have to fight a Sandworm in order to escape. The sandworms are a pain in the butt, however, if you choose the two headed scare and you don’t get hit, you can 1 shot the sandworms. If you don’t have a scare, there is one randomly generated scare that you could collect to use, but they are not always helpful as it takes several shots except for the two headed scare. While you’re in Saturn, you will get the following achievements and 1 scare achievement you didn’t have before:
A Living Hell (1) Sucks to be you!
Damn Sandworms (25) Defeat a Sandworm
We've Come For Your Daughter, Chuck! (5) Use the Snake Scare
Once you’ve defeated the sandworm, you can head to the door. Do not go to the door first and try to escape without fighting the sandworm, as he fiercely defends the door. I’ve not been successful in escaping without defeating the sandworm. As a tip for fighting the sandworm, there are 4 platforms. The third platform with the two full pillars is the best spot I found but you will have to maneuver to get a good shot as the movements of the sandworm vary greatly each time he is roving.
When you’re successful, you will be transported back to the rooms beginning, but can move forward with using the key on the door that you need to move forward. Go up towards the door while avoiding the beetles. There are more white boxes in this room. Three of the boxes are scares which are at the lower parts of the room. The topmost box is an enemy that you can avoid if you don’t touch the box. If you touch the box, press B to activate a scare. Its not a straightforward scare and it creates a ghost that bounces all over the room. It is possible it may not hit the enemy. However, it takes several hits of this crazy ghost to kill the tiki human. You will get hit and maybe die for touching that box but if you’re still alive, go up and exit through the door, avoiding the tiki human.
In the next room, you are in a hallway. All you must do is keep moving. If the screen catches up to you or cuts you off before you can go forward, you will die automatically. Additionally, there is a floating door which will take you back to the Saturn and you will have to defeat the sandworms if you haven’t already. Avoid all floating doors at any cost! Follow the hallways and exit where you can.
Once you get out of the hallway, you will be in the next room. It will be blocked by Barbara Maitland, who will need the Book of the Recently Deceased to move out of the way. The book in another room guarded by tiki humans. It is recommended to save your scares, go to the room at the top and lure the tiki humans into the small room so the scare can get as many hits as possible. Once you kill all the tiki humans, you will be able to open the door to the book. To pick it up, press the Select button. To give the book to Barbara, press the select button in front of her, not to the sides or you will just drop the book.
Once Barbara has the book, she will move out of the way, and you can get to the next room. Go inside the fireplace and you will find a key and 3 scares in white boxes. Avoid the beetles from hitting you. Go back into the fireplace and use the key. Upon entering the next room, you will see moving sculptures and a hammer. Pick up the hammer using the Select button and then use the hammer by using the Select button to smash the sculptures. It bounces back and forth so you can leave it bouncing until they are dead but if you need to go after them because its not hitting the sculptures, you will need to hit the Select button to capture the hammer so you can use it at another part of the room. You are also having to capture the hammer and kill the sculptures while avoiding the Saturn door to the Sandworms level again. Once the sculptures are gone, you will get a key to go through the door to the next room. There will be 3 exits, two of them taking you to Saturn and one is the way out. Use the far-right room to escape to the next part of the house.
Beetlejuice will now have to escape the screen from killing him. Ahead of him, there will be a fork in the road, take the fork to the right side. He will be able to collect a couple scares. At the next fork, go straight and you will enter the next room. Inside this room, there will be more sculptures that can be killed by the hammer. Use the Select button and kill the sculptures. In this room, the door to the left takes you to Saturn and the door at the top takes you to another sculpture with a key to the next room. When completed, head out of the bathroom and then go to the right. There are two doors that can now be unlocked. Go up to the next room.
In this room, there are two running sculptures that will run into you. The hammer does not work on these running legs and will require the use of a scare. Go up to the next room and enter the fireplace. Collect the key and then go back to the beginning of the room. There is an exit to the right of the entrance to the next hallway. In this hallway, you will want to go left as you will face 1 tiki human versus 2 going right. You can use a scare on him or rush through him to the exit before the screen edge catches up to Beetlejuice.
Upon entering the next room, go to the left and grab the fire extinguisher. Then go to the fireplace and hit the Select button many times to douse the fire. Once the fire is doused, go into the fireplace and grab the spray can. Returning to the previous room, you can go to the guy blocking the door and use the spray can on him to move him out of the way. After using the spray can, use the Select button to drop the fire extinguisher as you won’t need it anymore and it prevents you from using the hammer.
The next room is covered in flies. You will need to kill all the flies, while avoiding a floating shard and the Saturn door before moving on to the next room. When all the flies are dead, go into the next room and enter the fireplace. There you will find a duck. Pickup the duck and go back to the fireplace. To the right of the fireplace is Charles and you can give him the duck to move out of the way. In the next room, Beetlejuice will need to kill more flies and avoid the door to Saturn. Once all the flies are dead, use the key to go to the next hallway.
When in this hallway, take the fork to the left and avoid getting screen crushed. The key to the door in this hallway is on the left so avoid going right or you will have to start over from the beginning. After the door is another hallway. Follow the hallway to 3 white boxes, but only collect the first box which is the key. The other two boxes are scares but if you get them, you risk getting screen crushed so just go for the first box.
The next room has Delia Deetz guarding a door. To the right, is another room with a mouse moving fast. Get the mouse and give it to Delia to move her out of the way. After bypassing Delia, you will go into another hallway. At the fork, head right and get to the exit as fast as possible. In this room, avoid or kill the flies, but you will need to enter the fireplace, and upon exiting enter the next fireplace to the right of your exit fireplace. You will enter a room with a ring on the floor. Pick up the ring and then go back to the beginning of the room, where there will be a hall to the right with Lydia standing guard. Give Lydia the ring and there will be a key in a box and a pair of glasses near the bed. Get both and then head for the exit.
Congratulations, you have finished part 1 of the top-down maze and have earned
Ah, Fresh Air! (10) Reach the Grave level
At this point, you resume the normal side scrolling aspect of the game. Just to the right is a beetle hole. I recommend grinding here as some of the stores offer Purchase Extra Life. This gives you an opportunity to build yourself up to 9 lives so you can keep as many of your 3 continues as possible. You will also want to stock up on scares for the next boss as he is a bit more difficult then the last two you faced.
Below the beetle hole is a ledge, at this point you will be going down. Be very careful because if you don’t see the next ledge at the bottom of the screen, you will die. Be slow during this stage. Go down as far as you can then start heading right. Avoid the obstacles such as the jumping frogs, hermit crabs, scorpions, and beetles. Eventually you will start heading in an upward direction until you see a moving cloud. Hop on the cloud to the other side and keep moving right. There is a store, beetle hole, and a fast-moving scorpion. Be careful. If you managed to get in the store, you should be able to get the final scare which is:
Scared Sheetless (5) Use the Spooksheet Scare
or if you missed it in Saturn in the previous stage
We've Come For Your Daughter, Chuck! (5) Use the Snake Scare
After the store, you should be able to go up. Go up until you reach a castle gate. Go inside the castle gate. In there is a box of chalk you will need for the next level so I strongly recommend you get it, but it can be a bit difficult because the torches in there can hurt you and kill you if you hit them enough. There are some yellow flowers in the castle which can help you be invincible for a period of time and allow you to bypass the scorpions located within. Once you get the box of chalk, head to the far right and out the gate.
Once you’re out the gate, go right. Once you see a ledge that you can drop to, start heading down and to the left. You will hit a ledge with a beetle hole and then start going right. Keep going right to the next beetle hole and then start heading up. Once at the top, you will see a store. Fill up more scares or lives and then start going right. You will have to jump on some clouds. Jump on the clouds until you see the next castle. If you look carefully to your left, you will see a cloud very low. Jump down to the low cloud and then you will see another low cloud. Keep going down until you see the castle gate. Enter the gate and face the next boss. Remember that you go to defeat him buy getting him into the wall but you can only hit him in the head with your scare. Watch out for his lightning bolts that can hurt you. Try to get a shot when jumping up and then one shot before you hit the ground. It will be like a double shot and push him back a little further than normal. Once you defeated, you’re almost done!!
You will be back in the house in the top-down view. Here you will see a guy blocking a hall with 3 white boxes. Avoid touching the boxes but you should have the glasses from earlier. Give them to the guy and go into the next room. The next room is a maze of fireplaces. Find your way through the mazes until you get to a room with the tiki humans. You will need to kill them before you can get to the room with the key. Once they are dead, you can get the key and then navigate to the room with the brick wall where you will use the chalk you got in the previous level. Congratulations!!! You made it to the final level, Level 5 and earned:
Take A Number! (10) Reach the Afterlife level
This is the final level. There is no boss, all you must do is find all the numbers, which there are 6 of them. Keep low by keeping on the lower level and when you see you can go lower, do it. Work your way up going right to left, bottom to top gradually. You will eventually find all 6 numbers with #6 being at the top left of the map. Once you find #6, head far right and you will see the exit. Once you get in the exit, you’ve mastered the game. I hope you had a better time mastering the game and wish you luck on future LJN endeavors.