The Legendary Axe (PC Engine)

When jumping from one rope to another, make sure that they are in sync, both swinging left and right simultaneously. Not intuitive, but it works.

On the GAME OVER screen, before the number of continues is listed, Hold Select+I (rightmost/jump button) and mash D-pad left to add more continues. Turbo should not be enabled, this is incorrectly stated on GameFAQs.
I think this cheat can only be activated once.

 ZONE.4C
          P        P
 ''OOOOOO'''OOOOOO'''O:O:OO  '' longer road with dudes ''
                     O O OO
                       x
              armadillos, spider (axe powerup, health)
 
  P  P                    P   P    P
 ''O:O:OO  '''road with dudes''O:O:OO  '' road with 4 dudes
   O O OO                      O O OO
     x                           x
   MONKEYS!                    MONKEYS!
   avoid at all cost           avoid at all cost

ZONE.5 Top area:
Sliding attack from right, left, right, right, left (at column), left.

ZONE.5E: Go down the well to go to 5I. Avoid wells from then on until 5P.

I think this is a great game, and I'm thinking about what design decisions that makes it work so well. Here are a few observations:
- Enemies don't respawn: This allows you to strategically reposition yourself on safe ground and fight them there.
- Precision attacks: Your attack strength is maximized if you don't spam the attack button. Getting precision hits that do lots of damage makes the basic combat more engaging that e.g. Castlevania.
- Few, difficult enemies The enemies are difficult, but relatively few, and are reused in different combinations. Every enemy is tricky, but you get to fully learn their patterns and exploit their weaknesses.
- Powerful upgrades: Your weapon upgrades make a big difference, and since the enemies are reused a lot, it feels great to kill an enemy in fewer hits than earlier in the game.