Rapunzel

Rapunzel Gameplay

Rapunzel is the in-game arcade machine in the Stray Sheep which mimics the gameplay of Catherine itself. There are 128 levels in total (64 levels in each mode), and you are given three credits per night.

Once you finish the Golden Playhouse, "Free Play" will be unlocked on all your save files where you can play for an unlimited time. Rapunzel's progress is also saved independently from your save files, so it carries on between games.

There are three Achievements related to beating the first 64 stages, unlocking the Extra stages, and fully completing all 128 stages and finding all the hidden items.

There is also an entire transcript of the story told in Rapunzel.

Origin

The backstory of the game is revealed in Catherine: The Mysterious Tale of Rapunzel. It is revealed that the original game was created by Freddie McGoohan, in order for men to play the game and create favorable relationships with women so they would get their happy ending, and free them from the nightmares.

However, Boss obtained the code and turned it into the current version, inserting subliminal messages into it in order to trance the players. Although, it is also likely that Boss uses the game in order to train the victims of the nightmare so that he could find a worthy man someday - someone who could overcome The Great Trials.

In the Freedom endings, Boss describes the game as a machine to make it easier for men to become trapped in his nightmares. Most of the chosen men (Orlando, Jonny, Justin, Todd) had a fixation for playing the game. Toby, the only one who didn't have nightmares, couldn't see what was so interesting about it.

Gameplay

Vincent starts the game Rapunzel.

Rapunzel differs from the main gameplay in that there is no time limit to complete the stages. However, you are limited in the amount of moves you can make, making it more strategy-based than the Nightmare levels.

Only some block types in the main game are in Rapunzel. These include White Blocks, Immovable Blocks, Cracked Blocks, Ice Blocks and Black Hole Blocks, the last of which are only in Extra Mode.

Scoring

The final score in Rapunzel is made up of three things: items obtained, moves remaining (Power Bonus), and current stage (Grade Bonus).

There are items scattered around in the levels of Rapunzel which will boost your score as follows:

Ribbon - 300 points

Corsage - 600 points

Wreath - 1000 points

Tiara - 5000 points

Each item you pick up adds the points immediately to your score.

Power Bonus gives you 50 points for every unit of power you have left after completing the stage. So if you had 15 units left, you would get a power bonus of 750.

Grade Bonus is a set score you get for beating the level. This starts out at 1000 points on level 1, and increases by 200 every 4 levels, topping out at 4000 points for stages 61-64.

So on the first level, if you pick up the Ribbon and complete it in only 4 moves (leaving 6 moves left), your score would be 1600 (300 (Ribbon) + 1000 (Grade) + 300 (Power; 6*50))

Keep in mind if you're going for a high score, your score resets each time you lose a credit.

Rosaries (normal mode)

In order to access the secret 64 stages of Rapunzel and work towards the True Ending, you must collect all four Rosaries located on the following levels:

Stage 52

Stage 56

Stage 60

Stage 64

To actually see the True Ending, you need to collect another four Rosaries in the same levels as above in "Extra Mode." In this mode, you must first pick up the Genie Lamp to uncover the Rosaries.

Story of Rapunzel

The story of Rapunzel is told through cutscenes: one displays after every fourth stage, told exclusively in rhyme (transcript available here).

The main story follows the fairy tale Rapunzel fairly closely. A witch owns a garden, which Rapunzel's parents steal from. As punishment for this, the witch takes their first-born and names her Rapunzel, after one of the flowers they stole.

At the age of 12, the witch locks Rapunzel up in a tall door-less tower and refuses to let her see anyone else. As years go by, Rapunzel develops an amazing singing voice (learning from birds), and an incredibly long head of blonde hair that the witch forced her to grow as a means of accessing the tower. One day, a Prince happens upon the tower and sees how the witch can climb her hair. The Prince calls down to her, and she lets down her hair, thinking it's the witch.

Thus begins the game, when the Prince has become smitten with Rapunzel, and they hatch a plan where he brings her 8 threads of silk each night for 8 nights, for 64 total threads (stages), so she can craft a ladder and escape. In the game, the Prince must climb a set of block towers before reaching Rapunzel's hair.

Normal Mode Story

As the game goes on, the Prince asks Rapunzel about her past, her parents, and the witch. She grows to like him, and is excited about the prospect of running away. Towards the end of the game (Stage 48) Rapunzel begins to have horrific nightmares, and she becomes terrified the witch has found out about their affair. Though the Prince calms her, she asks him to find four rosaries for her fingers, to drive away the nightmares.

Catherine Rapunzel Normal Mode Cutscenes (Good True Ending)

Though the Prince gathers the rosaries in the last stages, she is continually beset by nightmares: the witch cutting off her hair, abandoning her in the desert, or luring the Prince with her severed hair and killing him. (These are all actual endings to the real Rapunzel fairy tale).

Normal Mode: True Ending

After the end of Stage 64, the Prince brings Rapunzel the last silk thread, so she can finish her ladder. As they are about to leave, the witch arrives in a rage and threatens them both. As she is casting her spell, the four rosaries the Prince collected form a barrier, reflecting the spell back onto the witch and knocking her out the window. The Prince and Rapunzel live happily ever after.

Normal Mode: Bad Ending

After the end of Stage 64, the Prince brings Rapunzel the last silk thread, so she can finish her ladder. As he does so, she begins to contort and cackle, and shows her true form as the witch. She explains she had been taking Rapunzel's form for quite some time, who she calls "impure." The witch then casts a spell on the Prince, who has no protection, and is thrown out the tower window. He lands in the rose thorns below, which gouge his eyes out and blind him.

Extra Mode Story

The story structure of Extra Mode is exactly the same as Normal Mode, though the details change. The opening is the same until the witch speaks in the introduction. Instead of issuing a warning about her tower, she states, "Surely you won't sing your song for just a man."

The Prince hatches his plan to bring her silk to build her rope ladder, and promises to save her. As he continues visiting her, she warns him of the witch, and he begins to question himself as to why he is so in love with Rapunzel. He grows more and more passionate and committed to her, and just as confused why he feels that way.

On Stage 12, the Prince asks Rapunzel to sing a song. The story told in this song is what each cutscene is about until Stage 64, the end. The song, "A Song of a Foreign Land to the South," is a retelling of the real-world myth of "Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld." It's about a glorious queen who lived in the lands to the south and wielded great magic. She went out on an epic quest to seek the Queen of the Dead in order to test her abilities. She set off on her journey with all her magical accessories, and came to a set of seven gates to the Underworld that barred the way to the Dark Queen. The guardian of the gates stopped her, and explained a sacrifice was needed to pass. The Queen decided to sacrifice her royal jester, and sent him to his death.

She passed through each of the seven gates, in each one losing one of her accessories that granted her magical power. By the end, she had nothing and no power left, which is when the Dark Queen struck, and plagued her with countless diseases. As she was dying, she then got strung her up by hair and hung to death.

Catherine- Rapunzel Extra Mode Cutscenes (True Ending)(Messy Audio)

Back in the Queen's southern homeland, her advisers were at a loss for what to do about her disappearance. They finally decide on a plan: to send a young, charming male rogue down into the Underworld to seduce the Dark Queen and get their own Queen back. The young rogue is sent on his way, and he makes the journey, meets the Dark Queen, and succeeds in winning her heart.

The Dark Queen, completely in love with him, offers him any wish he desires. He tells her he wants the "Water of Life", which she gives to him. He takes this to the dead queen and resurrects her. This infuriates the Dark Queen, who curses the rogue to an eternity in this prison, never to return to his home. The Queen however, is able to strike a deal with the Dark Queen in return for her freedom.

The Queen escapes back through each of the seven gates, regaining her accessories and power as she passes through each one, until she finally arrives back at her castle. She finds her husband at her throne, abusing his new rule and sleeping with several women. She reveals what her pact with the Dark Queen was: she would sacrifice her own husband to the Underworld, so that she might live. So the woman and the man are traded, living and dead, "when the singing ends." Rapunzel ends the song here, explaining that it holds great power to those who understand it, and can provoke a change somewhere.

Extra Mode: True Ending

In the end, the Prince gives Rapunzel the last of the silk threads to make her ladder. As he does, she laments that the song has faded, and that means "the witch and the girl will then be traded." Rapunzel changes form into the witch, who sneers that all men want Rapunzel's beauty, and all are dragged here by their lust. She explains Rapunzel is cursed, and now is condemned as the witch switches places with her, and takes possession of her body with the following chant: "IO NA-RA-AM ISHTAR. IO NA-RA-AM ISHTAR..." (NOTE: NA-RA-AM means "Beloved", see gallery)

The transformation complete, she proposes to the Prince. The game ends with the text: "The curse of a great lady, that brings misery upon the world of men!"

Extra Mode: Bad Ending

The same ending as the Normal Mode: Bad Ending plays out, but all the text during the cutscene is completely garbled and unreadable.

Significant plot details end here.

Levels

Each level's page includes power and item information, a map, and a walkthrough video showing near perfect runs by XCVii007r1.

You can switch between Regular and Extra Stages by inputting a code at the Rapunzel title screen, which you obtain by beating the first 64 levels: Up, Down, Down, Up, Up, Up, Down, Down, Down, Down, Right. This only works if you have beaten the first 64 stages on that save file first (the Rapunzel logo will show a heart in the upper right corner). If you input it correctly, the screen's color will change to purple and you'll hear a chime.

KRIOS Co. Ltd.

If you notice the game has its own publisher on the "Press Button to Start" screen that calls itself KRIOS. Krios (also spelled Crius) was a Greek Titan god of the constellation Aries, also known as the ram.

Letters and Symbols

The designs of several levels include letters or symbols visible to the player. Most notably, the name "Rapunzel" is spelled out as an anagram in the Extra Stages. X46: R, X37: A, X14: P, X31: U, X5: N, X53: Z, X21: E, X59: L. The letter N is not as clear as the other seven, but it can be reasonably inferred that the letter is intended because without it, PEUARZL has no meaningful anagrams.

In addition to RAPUNZEL, there are a few additional near-letters in the Extra Stages. X3: ~H, X22: ~O (or a wreath), X48: ~C.

There are also visual symbols and objects in several designs. At least two are present in the Regular Stages. R48: swirl, R52: $. Several more are present in the Extra Stages. X7: face, X9: horned demon head, X28: heart, X30: double swirl, X34: key, X38: hourglass (or X), X40: tombstone with inlaid cross, X51: bow and arrow, X55: falling star (somewhat unclear), X58: double swirl, X61: upright human figure, X64: upside down human figure.

These letters and symbols are visible in the level maps on each stage's page.

References

NA-RA-MA means "Beloved"