Chapter Four: Cronus

I was still pretty shook up from the last level when I started "Cronus". The map was an emerald-coloured mirror flip of the Saturn map in the original game. The map music didn't exactly help in easing the tension either. As for how to describe it, have you ever heard the theme from Videodrome? That's the closest thing I can think of it to compare it to.

Looking ahead, I spotted two new bosses, each one tucked and waiting in either direction, they were named Deutalios and Sasori. However, there was one other icon right at the very start of the map, a blank white face or a mask. I was a bit nervous what it was exactly, but still curious nonetheless. I moved Anguirus over to it, just to see for myself. It led not into a level, but some kind of chatbot system.

There was what seemed to be a dialogue box on the top half of the screen and a virtual computer keyboard on the bottom half. There were two all-cap words in the dialogue box: 'YOU' and 'HER'. HER seems to be the CPU in the game, and YOU seems to be me, the player; Pretty simple and obvious enough.

HER and I just mostly asked each other questions. even if they started to get a little... weird to say the least. You'll see what I mean by that later. Occasionally, we'd talk about ourselves and the game itself. There didn't seem to be any time limit, nor any right or wrong answers, as far as I know at least.

As far as I know, these conversations seemed to have minimal effect on the game, if even at all, nor did they follow some coherent pattern of sorts. HER rarely, if ever, stayed on the same subject for more than two or three lines. Early on, there were occasions that made me think HER was building up to something, only to then say some random trivia or nonsense.

I also happened to have my notebook and a pen about. I sometimes have issues remembering things, so I'd often carry one around to jot things down, and sometimes I doodle in it when I'm bored. So when the first quiz started I thought I'd record what happened. I'm glad I did.

Here's a recollection of the first conversation that happened me and HER:

HER: Hello
YOU: Hi
HER: How are you?
YOU: Okay
HER: Are you enjoying the game so far?
YOU: Yea
HER: Are you boy or girl?
YOU: Girl
HER: How old are you?
YOU: Rather not tell
HER: Why not?
YOU: Bit personal
HER: Do you like birds?
YOU: Sure
HER: Is the Moon hot or cold?
YOU: Dunno
HER: Did you know that Titanus Solomon has always been the best since at least 1973?
YOU: I did not
HER: Now you know
YOU: Cheers
HER: And knowing is half the game
YOU: Uhhuh
HER: How is your prime minister?
YOU: Fine I guess
HER: Good luck with game

After that was done with for now, it went back to the map as if nothing, or anything for that matter, happened at all. I moved Baragon the new silver temple icon first, and boy was it a weird level. Across the level was statues of people in various poses, some more suggestive than others, as well as strange-looking creatures, and abstract shapes and objects. It was mostly lit by what seemed to be flame sconces. The music itself had a bit of an 80s trancy synth vibe to it.

There were a few new enemies in this level: small dragonflies with scorpion tails, and what resembled floating video cameras. They showed up in random numbers, but I was luck enough to fight them off. During this, I learnt a few things about Baragon. He had a standard fire breath of course, but he could also switch between a crouching mode and a bipedal mode, albeit still hunched over, by pressing either up or down on the controller. This would prove to be helpful whenever I came across any floating impenetrable tiles and obstacles. On top of that, whenever the level got more dim and dark, Baragon's horn would automatically light up and illuminate the area. I had to admit, that was quite useful as well.

Then I proceeded to a thundercloud level with Anguirus, expecting another seemingly calm yet still tricky stroll. I took my time walking through, and was completely taken by surprise when Mogu showed up from above the screen, dropping down me. It only took me two minutes to kill it without having to worry about a time limit, but the boss monsters NEVER showed up in the scrolling levels in the normal game. I was worried as to what other rules the game would break.

After another cloud level, it was time to fight Deutalios, some sort of weird rat-fish hybrid. I used Baragon to fight this thing, and it honestly wasn't all that tricky. The rat-fish attacked by biting and clawing, and occasionally swinging its tail and firing some lighting balls from its horn and tusks. Honestly, this was one of more easier bosses of the game, but when I defeated the freakish thing, what happened next wasn't what I expected.

Instead of sinking to the bottom of the screen, Deutalios remained there for a second or two before Godzilla of all things came in from behind it, and devoured the creature. While this was going on, I wasn't able to move Anguirus at all. I also couldn't recall how long exactly it took, must've been about two or three minutes before Godzilla had finished eating whatever was left of the fish-rat and then turned back and walked away off-screen.

I looked and watched on with squinted eyes and furrowed brows, confused if not a bit unsettled. Never recalled Godzilla eating anything, certainly not in this game, or in any of the movies for that matter. After that, I carried on with the level until I reached the next boss, Sasori, a yellow weird-looking mutant scorpion-like kaiju.

Possibly the source of the scorpion-fly things, Sasori was definitely challenging as it was weird. It would also temporarily stun my monster with its stinger tail, then nab at me with its teeth and claws, while emitting an annoying clicky sound. Even with this, I was able to dodge most of the attacks and eventually defeat the freakish thing with both Anguirus and Baragon. Unlike last time, Godzilla didn't show up to eat Sasori, the monster just rotted away to nothingess.

Once that annoyance was over with, I was sent back to the map, where I noticed the music had ceased to be, as with the previous map. I carried on and went through a silver statue level to kill some enemies to restore my health. Afterwards, I soon made my way to the base level at the end with Baragon, readying myself and preparing for the same as last time. And it indeed was the same as last time, at first.

Roughly about halfway through the level, a huge wall of dark dirt appeared before me. For a while, I feared that I may be blocked off and unable to actually finish the game. However, when I moved Baragon right up against the wall, he proceeded to dig through the dirt and rock. It surprised and and impressed me to be honest, I knew Baragon was already associated with burrowing underground, but I'd never thought it'd be cleverly programmed and incorporated into this game, let alone a particular version of it.

Soon enough, I eventually made it to the other side and, luck would have it, the end was just there and I completed it. I then moved Anguirus and eventually Rodan as well to the end as well. Luckily, neither had to dig through as well.

On to the next world...

CAELUS

To be continued...