NES Godzilla: Round 2

A Godzilla fanfiction

By H.R.C. Stanley

Inspired by the NES Godzilla creepypasta by CosbyDaf


Chapter Three: Zeus


Zeus was a mirror-flip of Jupiter in terms of layout, plus the board was a bright crimson-red rather than green. This time, all the usual level icons were replaced by either a yellow lighting bolt or some sort of dark teal diamond shape. The map music started out low and quiet, more so than the other "songs" so far in the game. But every half a minutes or so, the pace started to pick up and it got slightly louder and quicker, then it slowed down a bit, rinse and repeat. It was like the same melody was continuously playing at different tempos and volumes.

I checked the other side of the board to see the new monsters: Bagan and Asuka Fortress. I had heard of the name Bagan, apparently it was a monster that folks at Toho came up with for many Godzilla films, but never saw the light of day. I assumed the "Asuka Fortress" probably was as well, though I haven't heard any mention of it before so I may be incorrect on that.

Anyway, I moved Anguirus over to one of the many lightning bolt icons that had replaced the jungle icons and started the level. The ground resembled a range of clouds with a small dark blue planet in the "sky", possibly a moon. The clouds had a sort of puffy, marshmallowy, and almost cartoonish look to them. Much like the Moon, there weren't much enemies or obstacles as far I saw, if even at all. The music was a plucky organ of sorts, randomly playing notes without any proper rhythm or beat to it, almost like an improvisation.

Just then, about a minute into the level, I jumped back out of my brief doze as a bolt of lightning flashed up from the cloudy ground, right in front of and taller than Anguirus, with the 8-bit thunder clash sound to go along with it. I presumed that was an obstacle in this particular stage; avoid the upside-down lightning bolts should they touch/damage you. This wasn't exactly easy, since they popped without any warning or pattern.

The level went on for about four minutes, and despite taking a hit or two, I was able to finish it very quickly. I tried another level or two of the same type to see if any actual enemies or obstacles would show up, but there was still nothing more aside from the aforementioned thunderbolts. I couldn't find much else to see or say of the thundercloud levels, so I tried the other stage type.

I started one of the teal diamond levels, and fittingly enough, the background consisted of thick, sharp, cyan-coloured shards of crystals sticking from both ground and the ceiling, so this must've been in a cavern of some sort. The only enemies here were the little firebirds from the original game, but this time the little buggers were everywhere. The music certainly didn't help, with high-pitched notes that sounded like twangy pieces of glass being tapped and felt like my ears were getting pierced in and out. After making it through one level of these, I made sure to avoid another of its type whenever I could.

Over half an hour went by into this world and I was already about to face the new monsters, starting off with Bagan. He was a red and black demonic-looking beast creature with dragon-like wings on his arms and a big horn protruding from his forehead. He attacked by slashing with his winged arms, spinning an attack with his tail like Godzilla, and even had an beam that fired from the horn.

Soon enough, I defeated this devilish creature, and after another thundercloud level or two, I was about to fight the other boss of the map.

The Asuka Fortress is essentially a mecha, somewhat similar to Jet Jaguar in terms of design but entirely steel-grey and a glowing red visor, but it was still something of a challenge nonetheless. It would march and jump back and forth at a slow pace, constantly firing a straight laser from its visor as well as kicking and swinging its fists at me, making it hard to get close. I managed to defeat it by constantly using the power breaths and tail whips.

With both bosses slain, I was able to make it to the base at the end. However, on the last thundercloud level, something unexpected popped up, and that might be saying something. As soon as I was reaching the end, a giant humanoid appeared before Anguirus and let out I could describe as an 8-bit shriek. Upon a bit of research, it turned out to be the Frankenstein monster (Yes, Toho did make a Frankenstein film once).

he was pretty basic, no beams or breaths or anything that special, just a variety of punches and kicks. However, occasionally, a tank or a jet would pop up from either side of the screen to attack both of us. Most often than not, he would pick it up and chuck it at me. In one brief instance, Frankenstein tried to grab Anguirus by the neck and strangle him. I managed to fight him off with ease, but it was still interesting.

Much easier than Bagan or the Asuka Fortress, it only took about two or three minutes at most. But when the miniboss was gone, I was able to walk to the end of the level and it faded, it didn't go back to the map as usual, but instead a low-res picture of a rather familiar kaiju was shown, and beneath it were the following words:

New Monster Unlocked:

Baragon, Guardian of Fire and Earth

I assumed that's what the Frankenstein miniboss was there for, but was something like that even possible an old game of this era? I know later Godzilla games like Save the Earth and Unleashed have something to this, but I never thought there could be the possibility of unlockable monsters in the original NES game, let alone in a strange and infamous copy of it.

And speaking of strange, as it got back to the map screen, there was no music playing, at all, just dead silence. But beyond that, nothing else seemed to have significantly changed, even the new monster I unlocked hadn't appeared yet. In spite of this, I moved Anguirus to the base and began the level.

Unlike the previous end levels that were packed with turrets, guns, doors and all sorts that got in the way, this one was devoid of any of them. The planets and stars that usually filled the background were nowhere to be seen, just an unsettling pitch black sky, if I could even call it that. The place looked dim, abandoned, desolate, and derelict, as if something or someone already wrecked it all up first before me. The only "music" here was in the form of a slow, quiet and very compressed rising and falling loop, sounded like breathing.

Within me, a sense of paranoia was developing. With caution, I slowly stepped through the level, expecting some kind of jumpscare, like the lightning bolts in the thunderclouds, but there was nothing. I honestly didn't know what to prepare for, if even anything at all. I genuinely something to at least show up; the mere lack of a threat was enough to put me on edge.

I even paused the game for a bit and walked out to get a drink of water. All the while doing so, my mind was racing around with thoughts, what if the game were to somehow unpause it and something were happen and turn up when I wasn't looking or paying attention. But as soon as I returned, the game was still the same as I left it, still paused and still nothing. I should've been relieved, but part of me wasn't so sure about it. So sitting back down and putting the glass of water on a table, I unpaused it and carried on, as unnerved as I was.

After another three or four minutes, I finally made it to the end, and that was that. No big fights or chases or anything like that. As soon as it went back to the map screen, my mouth hung slightly open and my brow furrowed as I was left briefly and utterly stunned. It almost felt like a big waste of time, and I was only about third into the game.

And even then I still had to beat that same level with Rodan. But while I was entranced for a bit, more feelings such as confusion came on top of my fears. Has something like this happened before? Would the rest of the game be like this? Or would it be different entirely every time? I only had to get Rodan through that end level and then onto the next map as "normal".

But when I moved Rodan to the base level, it was somehow registered as me beating the level. My relief definitely grew then, and I hoped to keep it up while still remaining cautious when the name for the next world was revealed...

CRONUS


To be continued...