When each stage starts, Tamagon will be inside a green egg. Press any direction on to hatch Tamagon out of his egg and start playing the stage. Tamagon is not vulnerable to enemies or walls while he is still in his egg.

Once you have hatched Tamagon from his egg, you must guide him through the scrolling labyrinth and collect all of the Boa-Boa dots in order to clear the stage. You can only collect Boa-Boa dots if you are carrying a cross.

If you are carrying a cross, you can also spew flames at your enemies by pressing or . After a certain period of time, the cross you are carrying will blink for a short time before disappearing, so be careful!

Note: If the egg is on top of a wall or is not in the playable area between the moving walls, you cannot hatch Tamagon out of his egg with . In this case, you must wait until the screen scrolls and the egg is in a playable position.