The Guardian Legend Cheats & Cheat Codes

The Guardian Legend is a hybrid action adventure and shoot-em-up game released for the NES in 1988. Following the golden age of arcade machines, shoot-em-ups were very common. Many of the greatest entries in this genre still hold up today. Games like Galaga and Gradius are held up as classics of the industry, and nostalgic fans enjoy them to this day. The Guardian Legend took a unique approach to standing out amongst industry greats like this. The game combines aspects of the shoot-em-up genre with action-adventure titles like the wildly successful Legend of Zelda. To that end, you shift between exploring on foot and taking to the skies to gun down opponents.

The Guardian Legend Premise

In The Guardian Legend, you control the titular Guardian, a powerful robot tasked with defending Earth. The Guardian is a transforming gynoid, who can shift between a humanoid form and an aerial attack vessel. Both these forms are vital to her mission. When aliens launch a massive, planet-sized entity known as Naju at the planet Earth in an attempt to destroy it, the Guardian must intervene. The objective of the game is to locate and activate ten safety devices scattered throughout Naju to trigger the entity’s self-destruct mechanism. Along the way, the Guardian must contend with five warring tribes who are each trying to take control of Naju for themselves.

Gameplay in The Guardian Legend is split between action-adventure sequences and aerial shoot-em-up sections. The Guardian must explore the surface of Naju, an area otherwise known as the Labyrinth, on foot. Like the Legend of Zelda, the Labyrinth portion is controlled from a top-down perspective. Furthermore, it also features a maze of screens for you to navigate. As you explore the Labyrinth, you’ll find special corridors that lead you into the Dungeon, which is contained within the interior of Naju. The Dungeon serves as the game’s shoot-em-up section. The Guardian shifts into her aerial form in these areas, and you must shoot your way through waves of enemies to reach the end and continue your explorations.

The Guardian Legend Main Characters

There aren’t many characters in The Guardian Legend. Like many of its contemporaries, this is a largely action-focused game, and there’s not much in the way of story or character development to speak of. The only character you’ll get to know throughout the game is the Guardian herself. As mentioned before, she is a powerful robot, built to protect Earth from extraterrestrial threats. In both of her forms, the Guardian has powerful weaponry at her disposal, including a rapid-fire gun with unlimited ammo. By exploring the Labyrinth, she can upgrade her capabilities still further, enhancing her arsenal and upgrading her health and ammo. While she doesn’t undergo much of a character arc throughout the game, she remains a formidable fighting force and a powerful ally for humankind.

There aren’t any other named characters in The Guardian Legend, but there are several strange creatures to encounter. The labyrinthine halls and perilous tunnels of Nuja are rife with strange and otherworldly foes. As the truth of this ominous planetoid comes to light, the Guardian will face strange creatures, from draconic monsters to titanic sea monsters, as well as threats more alien than she can imagine.

The Guardian Legend Titles in the Series

It’s a little-known fact that The Guardian Legend isn’t a standalone game. While the plot is entirely self-contained, the game was in fact developed as a sequel. Its predecessor, Guardic, came out for the MSX in 1986, two years before its sequel. This puts it in the same year as all-time legends like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid, which would in turn influence the design of The Guardian Legend two years later.

Guardic did not benefit from this inspiration, interestingly enough. The predecessor was exclusively a 2D shooter, completely divorced from The Guardian Legend and its transforming protagonist. In Guardic you simply control a starfighter in a top-down shooter environment. Unlike most shooters, which feature a scrolling field populated with enemies, Guardic has you navigate a series of rooms filled with foes. This element of exploration would of course be expanded by The Guardian Legend in 1988. With these humble origins in mind, here’s the full series history for The Guardian Legend.

• Guardic (1986)
• The Guardian Legend (1988)

The Guardian Legend Cheat Codes

Luckily for aspiring game breakers, The Guardian Legend has a decently hefty list of cheat codes for you to try out. With the exception of two minor codes, most of these cheats are accessed through the password screen. Like many games of its era, The Guardian Legend uses a password system to save progress. By putting in a specific code as your password, you can unlock a bunch of secret bonuses. Here are some particularly helpful codes for The Guardian Legend from GameFAQs. It should be noted that the passwords are very long, so if you want to take advantage of this system, you’ll need patience. The overly complicated password system is something that garnered criticism back when the game came out.

• Access Sound Test: Hold down A and B, then hit the Reset button.
• View Storyline: After finishing the first flying level, hold down the Select button and press B repeatedly.
• Arcade Mode: Enter TGL on the password screen to skip the Labyrinth and play through the flying stages exclusively.
• Get to point (25, 0): Enter jGn9 dqK7 ?Wm5 xO64 c5xg aRam QlJg Kmbg on the password screen.
• Area 1 Password: BcvH a8EH 7QRE Z2RF ARwF SARS bIEA AiMB
• Area 3 Password: flLQ AVgP 3J6N 5UvO pNGL wADU xtEN 2hjJ
• Area 6 Password: AyxW eeh? ANG8 eCGi xMf? CgYA G4R! Jm2e
• Area 8 Password: AE8s gBot 1f8R Kd2I Nm9T 8ETe aR4! KoZI
• Area 9 Password: 073z !lN4 dLaZ g1qK jfb0 Xpur Y5e7 bD?B
• Second Quest Password: T G L
• Minus World: Enter a password exclusively consisting of uppercase Js in order to enter a high-level area with low health and high-level weaponry.
• Start at Final Area with Maximum Abilities: jYSJ gMeI dACE dL!4 gXqZ jfiE vpH9 xDpC
• Start New Game with Maximum Abilities: hRyY eFGY b5hU 2pVV iaKK lmCV xwfp zWES

The Guardian Legend Cheats FAQ

How long does it take to beat The Guardian Legend? Like many other games of its time, The Guardian Legend is considerably shorter than most video game fans will be used to today. It clocks in at roughly five hours start to finish. Of course, as with any title, that will vary from fan to fan. Older games like The Guardian Legend do have a reputation for difficulty, after all, and depending on your skill level you might end up taking more or even less time to destroy the sinister alien world of Nuja and save Earth from devastation.

Can you still play The Guardian Legend? Unfortunately, The Guardian Legend was never rereleased in an official capacity. Developer Compile Corporation, better known for games like Puyo Puyo, fell apart in 2003, leaving the rights to The Guardian Legend up in the air. If you really want to try this unique hybrid game for yourself, you can try emulating it from unofficial sources. This is a dubious way to experience any game, but if you trust your source, you should be able to find a reliable ROM of the game.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Title screen from The Guardian Legend.