Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World

The Sphinx is the boss of Round 6, and in order to get this achievement, you must fight him. You can't skip this battle by answering the question correctly.

The question itself tends to vary, but you generally have a two in three shot of fighting him anyway (Saving at the question is a good idea anyway).

As for the fight itself, you'll need to do a little preparing in order to make this fight less of a stressful experience, as he can be very tricky to defeat. Using the joystick shake trick up to this point, you will be able to drastically increase the gold you earn in the hidden money spots (each successful one gives you 60-69 gold instead of 1-9 or 11-20ish) and be able to afford the Legendary Boots, Shield and Armour. These will let you last much longer against his attacks. It's also highly advisable that you have the Great Sword (the level 3 weapon you get by defeating both Vampire Bat and the hidden Giant Kong boss (found in Round 5)) and if you are lucky enough to have it, get some Gauntlets too. These will boost the damage you deal to the Sphinx.

If possible, try to get at least one extra heart. Two is preferable though. To get extra hearts, you need to rack up a pretty high score (which means no dying).

Final bit of preparation (one I didn't do admittedly, which made the fight more frustrating) is to get some spells such as Fireball and possibly Windspout. Something with a bit of range, since this guy loves teleporting if you get too close.

Now for the battle. With the Legendary gear, your major enemy will be time, as if you take too long (just over 30 seconds I believe), the hourglass will flip and you will lose a heart. Pair that with Sphinx's fast attacks and penchant for teleporting into you, you'll be losing health very quickly if you aren't careful.

Sphinx will teleport away if you get too close to him, however if you can avoid his bolt attack and quickly strike him before he gets out of his "cooldown" phase, he'll take damage and leap back. Dodging the attack takes a bit of practise, especially to do it quickly, but if you jump as soon as he is about to use his attack, you should be descending just before the bolt is released. If done right, the attack will fly over your head and if you have the momentum (and the distance worked into the jump... wouldn't do to collide into him) you'll score a hit. If you are quick, you can repeat the process and get another clean hit. Beware that once he is backed into the wall, he will teleport immediately, so watch for where he goes to.

Using ranged attacks will make the fight a bit easier, but you will need to attack when his attack isn't being flung at you, just in case. That way, your shield can take the hit, and you'd get knocked back, rather than you get knocked back and lose some health.

The main thing to watch out for is the Sphinx teleporting into you. Unless you have insane reflexes, it's a good bet you will take damage if he does, and as he immediately attacks, he'd send you away. Since you'd be in your damage animation, it'll disrupt your rhythm and eat more time, which will in turn eat more health.

Eventually, you'll defeat him and you'll hear the sound of this achievement popping. Congrats!

You encounter the Sphinx as a boss at the end of Round 6. He'll ask you a question, and if you get it right, you'll be allowed to pass without a fight...

But to get this achievement, you have to fight him. He;ll ask you what he had for dinner last night, and give you the choices Beef, Chicken, and Sarad (Note, this is not a typo, it's exactly what the text says in English. Poor translation, I know...). The 3rd one is the correct answer - don't pick this one if you want to fight him for the achievement.

Choose either Beef or Chicken and he'll start attacking. How it works is he;ll fling lightning bolts at you until you get close enough to him and then he'll teleport to a different spot, either close to you or far form you. Wait until he flings a bolt at you, jump over it and hit him once with your sword. Rinse and repeat, and save often.

EDIT: Actually, the question the Sphinx will ask you is random, but if you save right before he asks you the question, you can reload it if you get it right by accident/purpose. Thanks to bendomino for pointing this out to me.