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What's important to say is that even though I say I don't recommend it, for those who love challenge and hardcore this is a good choice. But this level is still very hard, so tread carefully.

Short version:

This newly added final stage is a great level and you should definitely play it, but... But it's actually decently difficult and really puts up a hard, but FAIR challenge.

It's perfectly doable as long as you are a decent player who actually has understood and mastered all the gameplay mechanics.

Long version: *final level spoilers*

First of all, there are absolutely no new elements in this final level. Every mechanic is well known and all new enemies, despite looking new, actually just are old enemies with a new graphic sprite and more hit points (double HP in most cases) - including the Negaduck boss.

As long as you walk slowly and carefully enough, you should be perfectly able to deal with a lot of the level's challenges whereas the rest needs some quick reflexes, though. And as long as you also memorize the level properly, you should be able to make steadily progress.

Also, this level tests your skills in using your special gas weapon. Unless you bring in some other gas from previous levels, thunder gas is your only choice. A few places are especially designed for the diagonal thunder gas shot, so it's your task to decide when to use it and when to spare ammo instead.

Thunder or alternatively arrow gas especially is super helpful against the most annoying enemy type - that is, the homing Thunderquack flyers. Thunder gas hits them from below whereas arrow gas can one-shot them. They have 2 HP - nothing too outstanding. (These annoying squirrels with brushes under their feet which constantly chased you in Megavolt's stage also had 2 HP, so it's nothing which didn't exist in some similar form earlier.)

With proper gas usage it's really not that hard to do the level without taking any damage at all. It's also possible without gas, but then there are quite a few situations which require a lot of precision. However, it's definitely not that difficult that it's unbeatable unless you use save states. It's easier if you bring in lots of lives and your preferred gas from the levels before, but it really is perfectly beatable even after getting game over - if you just practice enough, learn and memorize the level and therefore get better at it.

Yes, there is no checkpoint in the level and I see why that may be a questionable design decision. But honestly, the level is not THAT long. It's twice as long than the distance you previously had to do without checkpoint, but that's it. (If you actually go for the hidden bonus rooms, the second one is exactly where you expect it to be. That is, where restarting the whole stage hurts you the most. Have fun! :) Or better just skip it.)

Now, about the boss: Negaduck!

Actually, it's just a wolf in a duck's clothing. It's Wolfduck with the surrounding arena being the only difference. Therefore, you should quickly realize when he's invincible and when he's vulnerable. Due to the different arena his movement can be a little bit harder to predict as he can jump to two different spots (instead of only one), but other than that it's the same as Wolfduck. You need quite some precision in order to come out damageless in every situation, but hey, it's the final boss. Besides, most of the time he's just running around the screen doing nothing, open for quite a few hits from your side. So even if you cannot figure out how to avoid anything, you nevertheless have a decent chance at still winning despite getting hit sometimes, too.

Is the level flawless? No.

There's one spot I definitely don't like. That is, the very first homing Thunderquack flyer. I definitely would have placed it at a position not that high so that you can hit it easier. Especially considering that's your introduction to that type of enemy in that stage. (The enemy may be known from the Steelbeak battle, but nevertheless this is the very spot where you learn that you have to deal with that stuff in this stage as well.) Also, after a game over you might not have already refilled your gas ammo this early in the stage.

Edit: However, what I didn't get when writing the review was that the supposed solution without using gas probably is to retreat and then attack the enemy from the high ground when it respawns. So, there really went a lot of thought into the level design.

Conclusion:

There are quite a few rough situations both in the stage and in the boss battle, but it definitely is nothing ridiculously unfair. It's definitely an improvement over the original, especially if you're a Darkwing Duck fan as four of the earlier bosses mostly work under Negaduck instead of Steelbeak. The stage puts your skills and knowledge of the game to a great final test. Just don't expect to clear it without having to put up quite some effort from your side...!

I agree with all the comments below. It is hardcore, there is no SAVE POINT, the levels seem longer, the boss with a fuzzy plan of movements. I agree, there are such shortcomings. How - secret level - looks good, solid and unusual. It was interesting for me to pass it, the music is interesting... But Yes, the authors went too far with the complexity.

If you want a simpler version, then the author on his official website - updated this hack, weakened some enemies. Here - it is better not to take. Save your nerves and gamepads.

I don't recommend the version here. If you want a more honest one, go here...

http://raregame.ru/text/nes_darkwing_duck_advance.html

Until now - do not download here until you are updated

(Note: this is NOT an AD. This is just for people who are disappointed or will be disappointed by what is here)

I would like to preface this review by saying that although I agree with the other review's issues with the hack, it's quite difficult to read, and referring to the creator as a "13-year-old" falls a bit too far into the realm of the inflammatory for my tastes. Here's my take on the situation at hand.

Starting off, the concept of a "true final level" after the original final level that's more difficult and features new enemies as well as a fight against Negaduck is spectacular, even as a non-Darkwing Duck fan. The stage looks good, it has a great, sinister atmosphere, and the brand-new music track that plays in it compliments it very nicely. The creator was probably going for the same vibe as the Special Stage in Mega Man 9. Unfortunately, this is where the problems into a more clear view.

For starters, the stage is FAR too long. It's easily twice as long as any of the original game's stages and then some, if not three times as long. It's only made even longer by the fact that there is not a single checkpoint in this stage. None. The only semblance of a checkpoint there is is once you get to Negaduck himself, but you're still running on limited ammo, health, and lives, not that they matter unless you actually reach him. The new enemies introduced only add to the frustration, as both the spider and the homing robotic duck head have baffling amounts of health. It's a little telling when the strongest weapon in the game, the Arrow Gun, still feels like a pea-shooter in comparison to your opposition. The aforementioned duck head also constantly homes in on your position and fires projectiles, so even if you successfully manage to squeeze past it (which is a rarity given the level's highly malevolent architecture, with more pits and spikes than you can shake several sticks at), you're still susceptible to open fire.

In the rare instance (without save states/rewind, at least) that you DO manage to reach Negaduck, the headache's not over, as not only does Negaduck spend most of his time completely invulnerable thanks to his cape shield, but his fast running speed and his Arrow Gun projectiles are very difficult to dodge on their own (the only chance you get to attack him are while he's firing at you), and there are spikes to watch out for in the arena too! And of course, if you run out of lives, it's back to the beginning of the long, treacherous journey to try again... or give up, if you value your time. Overly punishing repetition like this wouldn't even be acceptable in any Mega Man game, where you have much larger amounts of health and weapons at your disposal.

In summation, as great as the concept is, the Herculean amounts of player-unfriendly design prevent me from being able to recommend it. Maybe if you're some sort of world record speedrunner/no-damage runner of the original game, or you're okay with tool-assisting your way through, you could make a case for it, but in its current state (and said state seemingly won't change considering that this has never been updated in the eight years it's been out), there's not much else to say other than that it's not worth the trouble.

short explanetion of added level: image design: cool black + cool orange, only cool colours, cool spiders, cool bats, i cant figure out what was wrong with in-game enemies enemies: all have doubled-tripled health - "HARDCORE!!!", you cant pass without taking damage, you never have to think or understand what to do - all enemies have 100ms window to get hit, so save,load,die,load,die,load,die,load,move,save

level: most jumps pixel precision

boss battle: 20-30 hits by low jump we used at the beginning against round-ducks, also boss havent any patterns - so if he desided to jump to you, you get hit, so you cant miss your glitch shots, pixel precision jump over spikes, and hope that he make random jump to you not more then 3 times

also he corrupted ROM so much that you ever cant use level editor to fix this moder not understand conception of game, level design, it is just hate letter to players