Index of walkthroughs

Here's my first walkthrough, for the new medal game Cave of Wonders. Since most of the medals are based on gameplay rather than on doing things in interesting ways, this walkthrough is going to take you through the game medal by medal, with advice on what to do at each stage.

Also, before we start, the secret medal isn't where you think it is. Just saying.

The first thing you need to do is pick up your wooden sword and your double-jump coin. You need both in order to trigger Luis, so the game lets you run around as much as you like while you're getting them.

If you're concerned about speed, you can actually get both of them by jumping up from the floor underneath if you time it right, and pressing A twice will get you past the text bubble. Time spent on text bubbles counts toward your gametime, so if you're after the speed medal be sure to mash the A key when you know there's text coming up. Time spent paused does not influence your playtime.

Once you've broken all 4 fluid containers, Luis in his first form appears. I find the fastest order in which to break the containers is the bottom left one first by swinging on the ground, then the top left one by doing a jump-spin-attack, then the bottom right by swinging on the ground, then the top right by doing a jump-spin-attack.

Black Coffin
All you have to do for this one is die. I'm sure it will happen on its own at least a couple times, but if you want to get it out of the way just stand still at this point and don't do anything, and the sweet embrace of death will take you.

Rude Awakening
Luis in his first form has a very simple attack pattern. He starts off with a large local-area attack, then shoots three green missiles at you which each travel progressively lower down the screen. Stand between the platform in the middle and the one on the other side of the screen from Luis, and as soon as the second missile clears you do a double-jump to get over the third one. As soon as you land, run toward him swinging, going all the way past him and then turning around to face him from behind. He'll then rage and run to the other side, and then the pattern will repeat. This strategy should have him down by the third round of attack.

If you're brave and want to save some time, you can approach him while he's firing the missiles and attack him during that attack. Enough hits like this and you may be able to take him down after 2 rounds of attacks instead of 3, but expect to take some damage. This is a nice trick if you're looking to shave time off a speedrun to get the 200 seconds medal.

Of note for this and all other medals is that you do more damage by attacking on the ground than you do attacking in the air. On the ground you do 3 damage per swing, in the air you only do 1, so whenever possible try to attack on the ground.

Tighty Whitey Power
After this, Luis transforms in to his second form, which is Luis in underpants. Swing at him immediately and until he turns in to a green ball, at which point your swings will be ineffective. Dodge him and his lollipops as he bounces around the screen, then when he lands start swinging again. You should be able to take him down by his third round. He always has to walk back to the centre of the screen in order to laugh at you, so if you're lucky and he lands toward one of the screen's edges you may be able to take him down in 2 rounds.

Stack The Deck
Now the platforms vanish and Luis shrinks back down to normal size and hops in a little hovercraft. He'll stay at the top of the screen dropping bricks and rockets. The rockets will slowly pursue you, and the bricks will stack in order to allow you to get close enough to him to hit him (the medal's called Stack The Deck, get it?).

He'll start at the middle of the screen, so you want to be under the visual peak just right of center to make the rocket take a little longer to reach you. While evading the rocket, try to get the boxes stacked 3 high as soon as possible. Once you have that, you can jump on top of the third and then do a double-jump to hit him. If you can get them stacked 5 high, then you're within single-jump attack range and can do more damage faster (thanks Wylo). Each time you hit him his craft lowers, so if the boxes are stacked high enough and you get him down low enough you'll actually be able to do standing attacks on him. As long as you manage to evade the rockets this shouldn't be too hard.

Abyss-mal and Grape Crush
Once Luis is dead, he'll trigger a collapse of the cave, and the race to the finish is on! You get Abyss-mal by falling in a hole, and you get Grape Crush by letting the falling rock kill you. Each one gives you a different death animation.

As of the most recent update (Sept 10, 2009), you now have 3 lives, and a series of checkpoints you automatically collect as you pass them. What that means is that during the fights with Luis, if you die you pick up where you left off, and if you die while you're making a break for it you pick up at the last checkpoint you passed. To get the Abyss-mal or Grape Crush medals, you must die in that manner on your last life. Lives are carried over from the Luis fights, so if you die twice fighting him, you only have a single run at escaping the cave.

Flee Powder
So you've decided to live. Good for you. Time to run! To get past the first obstacle, do a double-jump and let your automatic air attack do its job to get you to the top. Double-jump forward from the top to get over the first pit, and you're on your way.

The next obstacle is a zigzag, which can be tricky. To get to the level above you, stand just outside the edge of the platform and do a double-jump. Wait until you're at the top of the jump, and then hit the sideways arrow key to advance.

From this point on it's basically obstacles in a specific order for you to overcome. Rather than give you step-by-step instructions, here are the things you'll need to know about the various obstacles:

Floating platforms: Resist the temptation to always do double-jumps, as they will slow you down. Take a look at how far apart they are, and use that to judge whether to do a single- or double-jump

Giant bricks: They take 10 damage to get rid of, so be on the ground, hold the right arrow button, and swing away. 4 hits to a brick. For the sets of bricks that are hollow in the middle, you can do a double-jump to attack and end up inside the middle, which will shave some time off your run. (that last tip courtesy EggSaladSandwich)

Red crushers: Each set runs on a fixed timing. Just be patient, and make a break for it at the first opportunity.

Jumping acid: Rather than jumping from the ground, do a double-jump from the top of the wall. It will get you over the acid even if it's at its maximum height. If the acid hits you you will be wounded, but you'll survive. It will also raise you up a bit, so if you hit it after doing a jump that wouldn't have gotten you across the pit, you may make it now. This can come in handy when you hit the jump key a little too late and your double-jump is triggered early.

Final wall: Just double-jump against it and hold on to that right arrow button, and you're out!

Lou Lou Zoom
So you've decided to take on the speedrun, have you? It's actually not that hard. Practice, but don't panic. You don't need a perfect run to get this medal, and once you reach the exit there's a timer in the bottom right corner that tells you how long you took. That number has to be under 200 seconds; 200 seconds exactly isn't going to cut it.

Real Ultimate Power
Once you've gotten the 9 other medals, this one will check itself off for you too. If you then continue to play, you'll pick up a gold sword instead of a wood sword when you go for your weapon. The gold sword does 3 damage in the air and 5 on the ground, and you can actually take out Luis in his second form before he even turns in to a green ball once. The time in the picture below was achieved on a sloppy run with the gold sword (my best is 127, optimal run is probably in the 114-116 area), and a sloppy run with the wood sword got me the Lou Lou Zoom medal in 181 seconds (my best is 160, but I know 145 has been done). Remember though, you need the secret medal to get this too, so get hunting!

Good luck!