Adventure Island II (NES): The Most Thrilling Adventure

Adventure Island II has always been a rather special game to me. You see, as a child I’d never personally owned the game; the only opportunities I go to play it was when I went to my cousin’s house. He, of course, owned an NES, as well as a huge library of games to support it. Back then I never had an NES; I grew up more on the GameCube, and he, in turn, hadn’t owned that until much later, but despite our differences in consoles, we are both still huge gaming nerds.

Despite my upbringing with more modern, 3-D games, I’ve always had an appreciation for retro games, even as a kid. Some of my fondest memories are of me heading over to my cousin’s house, firing up the NES, and spending hours at a time playing videogames together. The games were simplistic, but, when you get down to it, they were fun, and, really, that was more than enough to satisfy me. Among the games we liked the most was, of course, Adventure Island II. Often, this was the game we would spend most of our time on, and, looking back on it, it’s not hard to reason why. Combined with the energetic and breathtaking level designs, fluid controls, an absolutely amazing soundtrack, and a difficulty level that was frustrating but fair…simply put, it was awesome, and especially as curious, energetic youths, it captivated our attention and heightened our imagination – our sense of adventure. I know it may sound silly to say that, but truly, I feel like no matter how much I try to praise the game, it would be of no use. To me, the game holds a special place in my heart; it’s something I don’t think could ever be truly understandable by anyone else.

As I’ve grew older, I’ve maintained my fascination for videogames. But unfortunately, as any adult can tell you, as you get older, Life tends to get in the way of things. As you get older, you get busier and busier, and after a while, you may only have a couple hours a day, if that, to have some fun. I discovered this in perhaps the most direct way possible: University. I’m currently a freshman in University, majoring in chemistry and minoring in environmental science. I like the courses and the, well, “college experience” overall, but as I said, often, the work is so grueling that it scarcely leaves me any time of the day to myself. The only time I have to myself is during the weekends, and it was during one of these weekends that this story takes place.

One day, after I completed my homework and desired not to laze about for the rest of the day, I decided to take a stroll in a nearby town. Walking through the streets, I gazed around at the scenery. It was all the standard stuff: some boutiques, restaurants, and even a few bookstores, but nothing that really caught my attention – that was until I stumbled upon a videogame store. It was nothing big or special, but based on its lack of corporate postage, it appeared to be a sort of “mom and pop” store. These sorts of stores always intrigued me, and this one in particular, for some reason, really spoke to me. Perhaps it was its humbleness, compared to the majority of the stores that were in the area. Whereas all the other stores were huge with countless ads strewn about the walls, this one simply had a little neon-lit sign on one of the windows that said “OPEN”. In the end, I decided to head in.

The store was about what I expected. It was small, but quaint, and, indeed, there was a variety of games, strewn about the walls and aisles. The store was owned by an elderly couple. They were nice, and they greeted me with sincerity when I first entered, the old man, in particular, being extremely gregarious. We had a small conversation, and then I took the chance to look at the games. They had games of all sorts, from old to new and from peaceful to violent. It didn’t take long until I happened upon the “Retro Games” section, and upon entering, it didn’t take long for me to discover the NES games.

Upon entering the area, the first thing that caught my attention was that in addition to the games they were selling, they were also selling, atop the apogee of one of the sides of an aisle, an NES – the actual console! This surprised me, and so I headed over to take a look at it. After examining it, I determined that it was a used model, yet it appeared to still be in fair condition. I took a look at the price; it was fifty dollars. I was a little disappointed, as I had not brought nearly enough money to afford that, and I was definitely determined to buy the model if it was at a fair price. Alas, it wasn’t, and so I fancied to take a look at the games thereabout, just for the hell of it.

There weren’t too many NES titles they had at their disposal, but a lot of them were actually pretty recognizable. They even had classic games like Contra, Excitebike, and Super Mario Bros. I kept sifting through the games, but upon coming to the cartridge at the very bottom of the pile, I stopped. My heart began to race. At first, I thought it’d been a trick of the eye, but after getting a good look at it, I knew immediately what the game was – and my eyes widened in awe. After all, how could I not recognize its nostalgic teal color? How could I not recognize its epic front cover artwork, of a man riding a pterodactyl, together braving through a treacherous, prehistoric forest? How could I not recognize, in the corner, the faintest decoration of the Hudson bee buzzing about? Yes, by some twist of fate, it was Adventure Island II.

At this, a strange feeling began to emerge from within me. I grabbed hold of the cartridge, and I stared intently at it for some time. I was happy, there was no doubt, but there seemed to be something more to it. It seemed as though the cartridge itself radiated a strange aura, one that, at the time, I couldn’t exactly determine. But I disregarded it, as I couldn’t help but be happy; it felt great to finally view the game that my cousin and I had bonded for hours over as children. Of course, I had never owned Adventure Island II, but even so, the cartridge singularly brought forth a slew of memories from my childhood – happy, joyous memories of adventures aplenty. Memories of clashing through hordes of evil enemies, discovering hidden secrets, braving through the deserts and forests, and, overall, having an adventure. Simply put, with this game I had had fun, and in that regard, I suppose, it was like looking at an old friend. And so, I smiled.

I decided right then and there that I had to buy it. I felt like it wasn’t just a simple “want,” I felt like I needed to play the game. Soon, however, the frustrating realization made itself apparent: I hadn’t a console to play it on.

Just then, the old man, the same as the one I’d assumed to be the co-owner of the store, came up to me. I guess he’d noticed my attentiveness to the game, because he soon inquired me as to why I seemed so fascinated by it. I told him my story, and after hearing it, he looked to me, smiled, and patted me on my shoulder. I suppose I said something that really struck a chord with him, because he seemed to sympathize with me a great bit, so much so that, in an act of generosity that still astounds me to this day, he offered to cut the price of the NES in half.

Twenty-five dollars was far more agreeable with my budget, and so, thanking him profusely, I proceeded to buy it, as well as the game. The games themselves were supremely cheap (only about one to two dollars each), so I also bought a couple others. Before leaving, I made sure to thank the old couple a final time. They were so nice that it hurt, and for a moment I felt bad not giving them as high of a profit, but I ultimately decided to just go with it.

On the way back to my dorm, I could scarcely restrain my excitement. I couldn’t wait to relive all those memories again, but at the same time I was looking forward to making some new ones. Little had I suspected that within the confines of that very game, there lurked a far more sinister force, one that, had I known what it was at the time, would’ve explained the aura it had before impressed upon me and would’ve encouraged me to pass it by.

*****

When I got back, I set up the NES and turned it on. As expected, it worked, and, excited, I proceeded to put in the game. It took a couple tries, but after a while it complied. In the same moment the title flashed on the screen, I simultaneously turned off all the lights in my room, not wanting to concentrate on anything else but the game. I then sat on the floor, legs crossed and controller in my lap, and in that moment the title track began to play, and soon I was humming along with it, smiling all the way. When it ended, I was left with but a single option, evidenced by the big, capital letters at the bottom of the screen that read, “START”. And start it, I did.

I was greeted with the normal map screen, showcasing all the islands that the main character, Master Higgins, was to venture through, and as Higgins sailed his way to the first island, I knew that my adventure, too, was about to begin. His raft rested along the coast, and from there I was brought to the map of Fern Island, Higgins’s sprite dancing about the first level icon, a tropical-themed stage. Eagerly, I pressed START, and so the first level began.

There was a moment of silence as the screen faded to black, but in the next moment the colors returned, as well as the music, full-blast and as energetic as ever. I moved Higgins to the right, collecting some fruit along the way to refill his “fruit bar” at the top of the screen and killing some snails and birds once I had acquired the axe. I was blasting through the stage with ease, my heartrate increasing and my childish wonder returning to me bit by bit. It was so satisfying to jump, kill enemies, collect fruit, and even ride around on the skateboard once I had acquired that too. It was all great, but, above all, there was something I was looking forward to reuniting with even more: The dinosaurs. The dinosaur-buddies have always been my favorite addition to the game; they’re all so cute, and they all have unique and interesting abilities; I rarely entered a stage without one, so long as I had one available. Just as that thought crossed my mind, an egg appeared, in the rightmost corner of the screen, and, if memory served me correct, I knew the blue dinosaur was in there. I hastily jumped upon the egg. Its shell traveled in the air in an arc before it collided with the ground.

But nothing came out.

The screen suddenly flashed in a fit of spasms, random colors beaming across as the music continued to play. I thought the game was experiencing a glitch, so I reached for the power button, preparing to turn it off and try again. Suddenly, the flashing stopped, and it was replaced by a single, bright yellow color, bathing my otherwise dark room in its hue. I paused, looked at the screen, and, in a way I can’t fully explain, I began to fall into a sort of trance. I shouldn’t say that the color was unordinary or peculiar; it was just a normal shade of yellow, but something about it, for some reason, intrigued me. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, it went away.

The screen returned to the normal level, as did the music. I was snapped out of my daze, and I returned my attention to the game. I opted to not reset the console; I reasoned that the glitch was over with, and that the game would likely continue normally from there, evidenced further as, despite all that had happened, Higgins was, in fact, now riding atop the blue dinosaur.

Indeed, as I progressed through the level, I discovered that the game had returned to its original vitality. With my newly found dinosaur-buddy, I continued to the right, killing a few birds here and there with his tail-whip. Finally, after maybe a minute or so more, I finished the level. The ending fanfare played, and upon hearing it my confidence began to rejuvenate. The theme gave me a sense of accomplishment – that I had completed a level, and I was soon to progress to the next stage. After collecting an egg from the “choose an egg” section, as is common at the end of every level, I was brought back to the island map screen.

Before I continue, I must explain that in Adventure Island II, after Higgins completes a level, he moves to another section of the island, its theme representing the type of level it’s to be. In the case of level one of Fern Island, he’s supposed to move either to the volcano level or the forest level, depending on which egg is chosen at the end of the previous stage, and this, understandably, was what I expected him to do here.

Instead, defying all logic, he proceeded to move straight to the island boss stage, in the rightmost corner, within a poisonous swamp. Seeing him move straight from the first level of the island to the last, and in such an oddly calm way, evoked a bit of surprise in me. I actually chuckled a little bit; it was kind of funny to see him just blaze through all the other levels of the island, as though they didn’t exist. It confused me as to why he did this, certainly, but such an event was, as far as my knowledge went at the time, not out of the realm of possibility. I’d remembered a couple times as a child of Higgins’s, at times, rather random way in which he moves about the island. In this case, I regarded it as a fluke, but I decided to continue with the level anyway.

The level loaded up as usual. As before, I moved Higgins to the right, now accompanied by the blue dinosaur-buddy. I collected the few fruits strewn about the map, jumping between trees and trying my best to avoid the poison below and occasional bonfire. The track playing was correctly pitched and rhythmed, and so taking that into my consideration, as well as my somewhat hazy but overall vivid memory of the stage, I assumed that the game had, in fact, returned to normal.

As I continued, however, I began to get the sense that something wasn’t right. It seemed as though the level was missing something. Just for fun, I decided to play around a little with the dinosaur’s tail-whip attack, but in so doing, the realization finally dawned upon me. Upon hearing the dinosaur’s tail-whip, I realized that, in this level, I hadn’t yet been required to use it, as a means of clearing an obstacle. I hadn’t yet seen a single enemy.

By this point, I was well over half-way through the level. Whether glitched or not, I knew that not encountering any enemies from the beginning to beyond the half-way mark of any level was highly unusual. If this was a glitch, it was extraordinarily peculiar, for I had never before seen a glitch that had eliminated such a necessary and consistent part of the game as enemy placement. This was where I began to suspect that something was more wrong with the game than I had anticipated. Well, I say “suspect,” but the extrapolation soon graduated into a certainty upon coming to the end of the level.

When I completed the level, the ending fanfare played as usual, I went inside the cave, and the screen faded to black. The screen was brought back almost instantly after; I was now in the first-world boss room. I was really looking forward to hearing the boss music again, because at this point I just wanted the game to regain its normality, to give me a preclusion that the game was functioning properly, and that, despite all the peculiarities that had thus far ensued, I would still be permitted to continue my adventure. Hearing the boss music would certainly help in this regard, as it was, in my opinion, one of the most epic tracks in the game, and, especially as a kid, one of my favorites.

But there was no music. The game laid silent, and my room became swallowed up with an obscenely oppressive emptiness, and in that moment I began to get a twinge of uneasiness. Something was definitely not right with this game.

I moved Higgins over to the right, and I was greeted with the first world boss, the same as on the normal game. I moved to the right as far as the screen would allow me before, suddenly, and to my utter astonishment, a dialogue sequence commenced:

Boss: ARE YOU TWO HAVING FUN? IS THIS NOT THE MOST THRILLING ADVENTURE?

Higgins: …

Boss: DO NOT THREAT. THEIR TIME HAD SIMPLY COME, ALBEIT SOMEWHAT PREMATURLEY. IT HAPPENS TO EVERYONE EVENTUALLY, DOES IT NOT? EVEN TO YOU. EVEN TO YOUR COMPANIONS.

Higgins: …GET OUT OF MY WAY.

(Note: the capitalization of the text here shown does not necessarily imply that the two were yelling or undergoing a certain stress; it was simply the font that was used at the time, as was standard of many NES games, and so I tried to replicate it here).

Needless to say, I was scatterbrained. Never mind the fact that dialogue isn’t normally supposed to show up there; I couldn’t even comprehend what it was trying to tell me. Before I was given too much time to think about it, though, the battle suddenly started, and the boss music finally kicked in. Thankfully, the boss was no more difficult than on the normal game and, considering that it was intended to be the first boss, it was easy. After about a minute of dodging the creature’s slow-moving projectiles and continuously mashing the B button, I eventually succeeded. The boss exploded, the screen froze, and Higgins and the dinosaur began to flicker. In the next moment, I was teleported out of the room, the “boss defeated” fanfare played, and the screen faded to black.

I momentarily settled to recollect and reason out what I had thus far seen. I didn’t know what to think with this game. It wasn’t like anything too extreme had happened in it so far, but it was most certainly not normal. It had been tampered with, I was sure of it. Hacked. I was disappointed, in that I didn’t get the game I was expecting. I simply wanted to relive my childhood again, and in substitution I had gotten this. It saddened me, but it intrigued me at the same time. I mean, how often do games like this get into the possession of others? I could potentially experience something new here, with a game I had played obsessively as a child. I could see a unique take on it, with the game’s template as a guide. I was disturbed, but I was intrigued, and so I decided to continue on. But before the screen returned to its normal color, and before I was allowed to continue my quest in this mysterious realm, I was given one final hint of dialogue:

???: IT IS UPON A MOST PRECARIOUS ROAD YOU TRAVEL, MASTER HIGGINS. BUT, PLEASE, I IMPLORE YOU TO ENTERTAIN US.

*****

After that, I was expecting the screen to return to the world map, accompanied by the appropriate music. In this, the music continued to play, but the screen remained black. I hit a few buttons here and there on the controller in an act to fix it, until eventually a sprite of Higgins appeared, in the lower-left corner of the screen, dancing his usual dance as he always did over an island stage. I say that his sprite appeared, but in reality it was only his sprite that appeared; everything else in the map remained black. At this point, I was expecting abnormal things to occur, so I didn’t question it too much, but it nevertheless seemed weird to me that the hacker would have wanted to redesign the entire island map in such a dull, empty color as black. Regardless, seeing Higgins’s sprite active allowed me to hypothesize that I could now enter a stage, and upon hitting START, my suspicions were confirmed.

Now, I hadn’t before felt obligated to mention this, as it seemed superfluous to say at the time, but before Higgins enters a stage the player is shown an “item selection” screen, in which the player may choose to bring with them any one of the four dinosaur-buddies they have collected along the way, as well as an axe if they died beforehand. This is all on the left side of the screen. On the right, you are shown the name of the island (ex. FERN ISLAND) and below that a sprite of Higgins’s idle animation in a basic overview of what the stage is to look like. I mention this now because, unlike the previous stages, this one’s “item selection” screen had been altered.

Instead of an island name, the words were changed to a random series of characters and numbers, and the picture below showed an environment akin to a cave-themed level. The left side of the screen was the same, though, and for a few seconds I thought it had been only the “island name” section and picture that had been changed, but out of the corner of my eye, I began to see something. It took me a while to see it, but eventually I realized that in the left-most corner of the picture, there appeared to be a faint hint of red, amongst the otherwise dark-blue rock. Once I saw it, it arrested my attention, and my curiosity began to take over once more. It wasn’t just a simple red dot; there seemed to be a strange anatomy to it; its sprite spiraled in a hypnotic countenance, and it gave me the preclusion, horrifying as it may be, that it was only part of a much larger entity. I began to shiver. It wasn’t so much out of fear, necessarily, it was more in that the sprite held an air of unknowingness to it. The unknown, after all, is sometimes infinitely more terrifying than what is known. Though, to be fair, sometimes the opposite is true. Regardless, I pressed START.

Higgins spawned in a cave, the rocks decorated in a dark shade of blue and the music appropriate. There were no enemies upon initial load-up, but there was a great open space to the right of the screen, indicating the direction Higgins was intended to go.

As I began to trek through the caves, my initial thought was, in terms of stage design, the level wasn’t anything groundbreaking. It was merely a straight path; there were few obstacles or jumps that permitted me to do anything but run forward. It remained this way for a little less than a minute, but eventually I came across some lava pits, with fireballs bursting out of them every couple of seconds. It surprised me at first, as I had momentarily grown accustomed to the mundanity of the level beforehand, but even so, these newer obstacles, while more exciting, elicited no more effort than a simple timed jump. Once the first lava pit appeared, there appeared several more from thereon, each pit separated by a about a television screen’s length of stable ground.

Perhaps I haven’t done a good job at explaining it by now, but the level, so far, I must stress, was incredibly lonely – completely void of animalistic life other than Higgins and his dinosaur. I felt this was odd for a cave level. I could understand that the hacker would’ve wanted to give the illusion of loneliness in the poisonous swamp; practically no animals could survive in an environment like that, realistically, but caves, on the other hand, were often thriving with life. It seemed odd to me that there was nothing there aside from the lava, and, looking at its terrifying, blazing mass, I began to wish that there was something else in the cave, just to give me company, and thankfully, after about a minute more of jumping over lava pits, my wish was granted.

The stalactites at the top of the cave suddenly became swarmed with bat enemies. They barely had any animation at all, though. The only assurance I got that they were alive was that all of them flapped their wings just slightly every now and then. My face lit up when I saw them; I was thankful that I was no longer alone in the caves, and for a moment I felt reassured. The more time that progressed, however, and the more bats that appeared at the top of the screen – only at the top of the screen – the more I began to wonder why there weren’t any on lower ground.

This question was answered almost immediately after it flashed across my mind – with a low, ominous growl. The growl was 8-bit, undeniably, but it nevertheless shocked and terrified me. It was like a tiger’s growl, but it was warped, as if horridly thick saliva had been coating its larynx when it was uttered, producing a pitch that was much lower and much more intimidating. The bats, too, seemed to share my discomfort, as upon utterance all the bats trembled, their feeble bodies convulsing with violent spasms.

Then, in the left-most corner of the screen, I saw it. Red. A flash of red, its anatomy contorting in horrid angles and unparalleled geometry. Just at the same time it appeared, the otherwise happy music ceased to be, and I was left, once again, in an empty silence. It was that thing, I was sure of it.

I was correct in my assumption that the sprite belonged to an entity, because, as more time progressed, I began to see a thick, black, dog-like body to the left of the red, the red light hanging off the creature like an angler fish’s phosphorescence, but while prey to that fish may be attracted to such light, and while I can’t deny that I was somewhat intrigued with the creature that was now behind me, it disturbed me more than anything. I can’t fully explain why, but I felt as though the creature itself was evil. I felt an overwhelming need to run away from it. I felt like, had it caught up to me, I would be subjected to unspeakable terrors.

And so, I ran – as fast as I could. The creature began to give chase, pursuing me with terrifying determination. Thankfully, the only real obstacles were the lava pits and fireballs, and they were easy enough to avoid, but every now and then I would come across an erratically-patterned fireball, and often, to avoid being burned, I would have to wait for an opening. I hated when this happened, because during those moments the creature would get nearer, ever nearer, its horrible growl chilling me ever more, and, at times, causing me to panic.

I can’t stress enough it enough – the last thing I wanted to do was get caught by that thing. So much so that even when I came across a lone bat enemy, crawling about on the ground with its wings damaged, I regret to say I felt more grateful than sorrowful; I could use it as bait. I passed by the bat, and the screen soon after faded to black, but just before the screen became completely obscured, I saw, and heard, the beast tear into the bat’s weakened body, accompanied by a sickening crunch. During the screen transition that followed, the only sound that was playing was the savage clashing of teeth as the creature devoured the helpless bat.

When the screen came back, I realized I could no longer control Higgins’s movements; a cutscene had begun. Higgins and his dinosaur neared the edge of a cliff, below which held a pool of water. Higgins jumped off his dinosaur and looked over the edge. He then looked to his dinosaur friend, a saddened expression on the man’s face. I remembered that only the Elasmosaurus, the purple dinosaur, was the only one with the ability to swim in water.

Just then, another terrifying, lowly growl emerged. Higgins looked to his dinosaur again. His saddened, worried expression gave me the interpretation that Higgins didn’t want to leave without his dinosaur-buddy. Higgins was determined to remain there, but when another growl echoed across the cave, and when a faint red light once again appeared at the opposite side of the screen, his friend decided to take action. Master Higgins couldn’t die. It wouldn’t allow him to.

The blue dinosaur suddenly and swiftly pushed Higgins off the edge of the cliff. There was a brief cry before Higgins’s voice became gurgled in the mixing of bubbles, as he crashed into the water. The last thing I saw before the screen faded to black was the creature lunging at the blue dinosaur, its mouth agape with rows of sharpened teeth.

After that, the game showed Higgins slowly descending into the incrementally darker depths of the water, a somber expression on his face. He exited from the bottom of the screen, and only seconds after, the surface of the water was attacked by countless droplets of blood, to which it then mixed into the water, coating the upper layers in an ungodly red. Then, once more, the screen slowly faded to black. I was left then, in my room, with an overpowering darkness, the only illumination emanating from the bright-red light of the NES.

To say that I was unnerved would be an understatement. I was horrified. I’d even go as far to say I was momentarily paralyzed. What the hell was that thing? Who in their right mind would want to make a hack like this? It didn’t matter if the hacker had a personal connection to the game or not. This was messed up, no matter how you put it. Perhaps most people out there can’t fully relate to the game as I can, but to me, watching the horrid events that had just unfolded, it was very much like watching a part of my childhood die. It was as though all the happy memories that had before inundated me had all at once begun to warp, to twist and deteriorate, to the point that, looking at it now, it was hardly recognizable.

I didn’t want to play anymore. I reached for the power button, preparing to turn off the system, but once again, just as it had before, another short hint of dialogue appeared on the screen:

???: DO YOU SEE NOW? TO ATTAIN WHAT YOU DESIRE, YOU MUST MAKE SACRIFICES. IF WHAT YOU DESIRE IS SO PRECIOUS, THEN YOU MUST COME TO TERMS WITH THIS. ALTERNATIVELY, IF YOU HAVE NO DESIRE TO SAVE HER, THEN THAT IS ALSO ACCEPTABLE. WE CAN HAVE INFINITELY MORE ADVENTURES IN YOUR STEAD…

I didn’t want to continue, I truly didn’t, and I began to get the sense that Higgins didn’t want to either. But, in a bizarre way, I felt as though we were obligated to do so. Higgins clearly had a mission before him, and if I didn’t take control, he would never be able to see it through. Clearly, something dire was at stake, something so dire that even one of his friends would be willing to sacrifice itself for it. We had to continue, I knew we did. And so, sighing to myself, I picked up the controller once more, and I waited to see what would happen next.

*****

The screen came back with a shot of the Elasmosaurus, asleep atop a rock at what I assumed to be the bottom of the ocean. Higgins appeared at the top of the screen, his expression the same as it was before, and he continued to descend until he gently landed upon the purple dinosaur. The Elasmosaurus awakened, and it looked to Higgins, and Higgins looked back. That simple look was enough to tell the Elasmosaurus of what had just happened, what Higgins, as he believed, allowed to happen, and so, to ease him of his apprehensions, even if just slightly, the Elasmosaurus delivered a soft lick to the man’s face. It took a few seconds, but Higgins’s frown soon formed into a smile, though his face overall still held an air of guilt. Without dialogue, the Elasmosaurus convinced him that it would be able to guide him through the oceans, and that it would be more than happy to accompany him throughout the duration of his mission. Higgins reluctantly nodded, and soon he and his friend began to glide through the ocean depths.

They exited from an underwater cave, and I resumed control. The level was very clearly underwater-themed, and the overall layout and design of the grounds, environments, and textures were all basically the same as on the normal game, but what truly caught my attention was the music. All the songs that I had thus far been presented with were tracks from the original game, but the one in this stage was entirely original. It wasn’t anything extraordinary, but it nevertheless caught me off guard. It sounded as though one were gently and meticulously strumming the strings of a harp, with a slow, rhythmic harmonization of a flute in the background, creating a melody that, unlike most other songs in the game, was rather soothing. It was still 8-bit, sure, but it was still very pleasing to the ear.

But this was not the only alteration, as I would soon find out. Only a short time after beginning the level, I was met with a school of red fish, headed toward me. It was a brand-new enemy design, not like anything seen in the original game. The school was massive, and I immediately sought to maneuver around it, but the sudden appearance of it had caught me off guard; I was not prepared. I thought I was going to lose the Elasmosaurus, but upon contact, the school of fish merely swam around me. I had actually clenched my teeth when I thought I was going to get hit, but upon looking at their sprites, their innocent, carefree sprites swim so gracefully around Higgins and his friend, I realized that they were harmless, and I sighed in great relief. In fact, looking once more at their happy sprites, and combined with the soothing music in the background, a newfound feeling of hope began to burrow within me. Here, I thought, life could begin anew; our adventure could be reborn. But, of course, none of it could be experienced if I didn’t take control.

In comparison to the previous level, this one was a breeze. The only “enemies” I ever encountered were more schools of fish, and, much to my astonishment, all the schools had different colors. Some were red, some were blue, some were green, but they all behaved the same way; they were all very peaceful. And so, in that regard, I didn’t have to worry about taking damage.

In terms of platforming, the stage was also rather simplistic. There were a few spikes on the some of the ceilings here and there, but aside from that there was basically nothing that could touch me – there weren’t even any bottomless pits. In terms of the stage design itself, it was mostly a straight path, though occasionally I did have to swim over an underwater hill or descend below a ceiling of spikes, but overall the design was very basic.

Once again, though, I must stress the serenity given off by the music. It was indescribably soothing, like a lullaby being played by a mothed to her child, in hopes of calming the child and hushing them to sleep. It was very nice, there was no doubt, and I was astonished that the hacker had been able to construct such a wondrous melody, let alone construct an original game sprite. Clearly this hack was not just a throw-away little experiment; there was some sort of message that the hacker wanted to get across to me, and I was very intrigued to find out what it was. Yet, only now I realize how easily I had been led, how quickly all my worries became resolved. Of course, the madness had not yet ceased.

The level eventually ended, of course, but instead of the two exiting through an underwater cave, they were instead met with a gradually-ascending patch of sand from the right side of the screen; it seemed to lead out of the water and onto land. As the two slowly climbed up its gentle slope, the ending fanfare played, and the screen soon thereafter faded to black. Instead of being presented with the “choose an egg” section or the island map screen, however, it simply cut to the “item selection” screen for the next level.

The picture showed that this next level was to be desert-themed, and, as with last time, the “island name” section had been replaced by a series of garbled letters and numbers. Considering the previous levels, I didn’t think it too odd, but considering that the Elasmosaurus wasn’t designed around non-water levels, I fancied to place him in the inventory for the moment. When I pressed B to do so, however, I was met with a buzzing sound, the same as if one were to try to select an item one didn’t have. The game wouldn’t allow me to put the Elasmosaurus in the inventory!

It frustrated me at first, but then I thought back to what the Elasmosaurus had eluded to earlier, how it had convinced Higgins that it could guide him through the oceans and even beyond, all throughout the duration of the mission. When I thought of that, and although I still felt like it would be tedious to use it in a non-water level, I also couldn’t bring myself to turn it down at the same time. I thought to myself that as long as it was willing to help, and as long as I hadn’t goofed up too much on the control, then all would be fine. And so, I pressed START.

Just as with the previous stage, the textures, grounds, and overall level design was very similar to the appropriate environment on the original game, but, just as before, what had initially caught my attention was the music. In this case, though, I don’t mean that in a pleasant way. Whereas the previous level’s music was joyous and soothing, this one’s was what I could only describe as, well, empty. I suppose to call it “music” would be a bit of a misnomer, because, in reality, there was no music – merely oscillating volumes of light static. Wind.

I was already somewhat disturbed by this, but as I gradually began to ease myself into the desert environment, I soon came to the understanding that like the music itself, the animalistic biodiversity was practically nonexistent. Through all the hills, pockets of quicksand, and all the cacti, there appeared not a semblance animalistic life to be found. It was surreally eerie, as if one were to venture through a town that had recently been hit by a Hydrogen bomb. Completely desolate. But, just as how radioactivity in that scenario can cause odd mutations, so too I eventually came across some anomalies of my own.

After about two minutes of trekking through the desert, I eventually came across a scorpion, the same sprite as on the original game. Like the bats from the cave level, I was at first relieved to see it, to see that life had, in fact, prevailed in some of the otherwise desolate areas. I moved over to it, but as the screen scrolled further to the right, I was eventually able to see that, in reality, it was not merely one scorpion, but several numbers of them. They were all crowded around a certain point, their bodies shifting and entangling one another in grotesque forms.

I’ve always been extremely unnerved around crowds or large congregations, especially if they’re organized like funnels, concentrating all the bodies into one small point like cattle. So, when I saw them, their unnaturally large, arachnid-like bodies crowding about each other with no mercy, I sought to break them apart. I threw a few axes at them, and they began to drop down like flies. It struck me as odd that, despite the fact I was killing their supposed allies, they seemed to have no desire to attack me, but as I continued on, killing more and more of them, I began to make out a form unlike all the other scorpions, and after I killed the final one, it all became clear – and I wretched. There, in the sand, laid the remnants of a bird, its bones protruding out at odd angles and its remaining flesh melting off its sides, its skull faced skyward with its jaws askew, as though it were crying for help.

I don’t think I need to tell you I was disturbed, but I was unfortunately not given much time to think about it, for after the bird’s corpse was revealed, another short cutscene began to play, as Higgins and the Elasmosaurus wearily moved around the body and exited from the right side of the screen.

The screen obscured to a dark yellow, and several sprites of sand began to quickly glide across the screen in, what I presumed to be, an attempted illusion of a sandstorm. A black, featureless sprite appeared from the left side of the screen, and it slowly began to lumber over to the opposite side. It was Higgins and the Elasmosaurus. Dialogue popped up, but it showed merely ellipses, as the two continued to trek through the desert. All the while, the unnaturally empty sound of static continued to play. The screen faded to black, and it came back not two seconds later.

Another cutscene. This one was much the same, but now I could begin to see that their sprites moved slower, more painstakingly than before, and the sandstorm had evidently since become more violent. Whereas before they took only about, I’d estimate, ten seconds to reach the opposite side of the screen, this time they took a good thirty seconds. But still, they trudged on, but I could just feel the weight they carried with them. The screen faded to black again, and it came back just the same.

The screen had now become almost completely filled with pixels of sand, and the wind’s volume had increased tremendously. By now, it was nearly impossible to make out anything, but through it all, I now began to see a faint glow of orange-red on the right side of the screen, with the faint sound of crackling wood in the background. Higgins and the Elasmosaurus appeared from the left side of the screen, but now they could barely move at all. Clearly, a great amount of time had passed in-between cutscenes, and they had grown weak and starved of sustenance.

Upon reaching the middle of the screen, the two suddenly stopped, the Elasmosaurus collapsed into the sand, and Higgins rolled over on its side. The sprites were obscured, but I was able to see that Higgins, after being abruptly dismounted, began to glide his hands over the dinosaur’s body, as though searching for a pulse. But the sprite remained quiescent; the Elasmosaurus had evidently collapsed from exhaustion. It was dead.

It was then that I began to hear a faint, gurgled sound from the speakers, as though one were sobbing. The sound was not necessarily what I would describe as “realistic,” but it saddened me nonetheless, and I too began to share Higgins’s sorrow. This lasted for an uncomfortably long time, and through it all the sandstorm became ever more merciless, and I began to think that Higgins would soon perish as well. But it was then that the crackling of wood from the perceived bonfire, its volume, that is, began to increase. Higgins’s sobs seemed to escalate as he then began to drag the Elasmosaurus’s body over to the orange glow on the opposite side.

“WHY?” Higgins spoke. “THIS ISN’T FAIR…”

Higgins then set the body next to the fire, held aloft his axe, and he prepared to strike its edge into the poor Elasmosaurus’s body. The screen suddenly cut to black, and a low, sickening squelching erupted, as Higgins’s horrible dissection commenced.

“What the hell…” I said. It was my first vocal outburst since the beginning of the game. This was messed up. It was one thing for one of Higgins’s friends to sacrifice itself for him, but to actually be forced to consume the body of one to continue life? It was self-defeating. It was horrible. But, just as before, the damned voice came back, as more white text appeared in the now blackened screen, as the crackling of the bonfire continued on in the background:

???: AND YET YOU CRY. WHY IS THAT? WOULD NOT ONE USE THE BODY OF ANOTHER TO ATTAIN PROSPERITY? DO YOU NOT WISH TO REUNITE WITH YOUR BELOVED? IT IS, AFTER ALL, FOR SUCH RELATIONSHIPS THAT ONE WOULD DO EVEN THE MOST NEFARIOUS OF THINGS.

???: BUT, I MUST CONFESS, I GROW RATHER BORED. I BEGIN TO QUESTION HOW WE SHALL PROCEED FROM HEREON. I SHALL REMEDY THAT. WE SHALL VENTURE INTO THE VERY FOUNTAIN FROM WHICH ADVENTURE IS HEWN, AND THERE OUR ADVENTURE WILL BEGIN ANEW.

The text disappeared, the sounds ceased, and I was left, once again, in the utter darkness of my room. Empty, it truly was. Empty, it truly is. I sought to resolve the emptiness with light, with hope, with any semblance of vitality I could come across. I couldn’t allow such emptiness to overwhelm me. What had happened was terrible, true, and, yes, I was somewhat responsible for letting it happen, but I promised myself, and Higgins, that the darkness would be vanquished. All I needed was light, just a mere semblance of hope. Such a light eventually radiated out as pixels on the screen, in the otherwise dark, oppressive environment in which the light laid. There, amongst the vortex of darkness, stood Master Higgins. But even then, this light still showed signs of fading, for Higgins’s expression was no longer in existence; he had no face.

*****

Higgins’s idle animation was now gone as well; he simply stood in the darkness as though he were on stable ground, standing as normally as one could imagine. His attire was still the same, but he no longer had any weapon with which to attack, and the Elasmosaurus was no longer with him. He was alone; not even any sound nor environment to entertain him or myself. I know that, in reality, he was just a bunch of pixels on a screen, but it still disheartened me that he didn’t realize that I was there, trying to help him out – that he was not entirely alone, and similarly, neither was I. It was then that I began to suspect that, in this stage at least, Higgins was not as he appeared on the screen. It may be the sprite of Master Higgins that was there, but considering his expressionlessness, it felt as though he was more of an empty shell than anything, and that I, with my control, was to personally experience his adventures first-hand, in his place. With my controller, I had the ability to do so. And so, I began to run to the right.

The ground, although invisible, appeared to be straightforward, not dipping up or down, never any pockets of water or spikes or lava, simply a straight path. The environment in which I trekked was very much like a vacuum, as close to an analogy of outer space as you can get, without, of course, any stars, matter, or certain laws of physics that would otherwise accompany it. This continued for a good three minutes or so, and as time went on, the inevitability of emptiness began to permeate – and I grew angry. Irrational anger, yes, but anger nevertheless. I had taken all I could of this mad hacker’s game and, even though he was the one who had clearly developed the world (and in that sense, was omnipotent), I desired still to smother him to the ground and carve my own path to righteousness. I was already there, one symbol of hope, but one was not enough. How could I take on an entire army by myself? I needed allies.

Suddenly, there was a great explosion in the background. Bolts of flashing colors darted across the screen, and the environment in which I walked began to get more and more distinguishable. I was now running through a meadow, a meadow of supreme beauty. I could now see, in the background, way off in the distance, the meandering of water as great rivers curved about mountains. The mountains were massive, reaching almost as high as the clouds, and they were filled, like the grounds strewn about me, with luscious, healthy varieties of flowers. Trees were commonplace, and although their leaves were small, they showed potential of blossoming, of growing and developing into something that a poet could view and relate its inner beauty to the complexity of life itself. And that was just it: Life. Life, Hope, Light – it was all here. I was happy, of course, but I still felt a little uneasy about it, for although a symbol of hope had now appeared, its creation had not been catalyzed by my hands. Something else had been responsible, and so, in a sense, I was not individually at the control. It made me feel somewhat helpless. I held my breath, grasping the controller ever tighter, awaiting to see what would happen next.

There came another explosion, as further random colors flashed across the screen, and when it ceased, the meadow all of a sudden became inundated with wildlife. The meadow also, at the same time, became flooded with an array of naturalistic sounds, which had before been entirely absent. Birds now gently glided from tree to tree, their small chirps echoing across the landscape, as they sung to the heavens. A pair of squirrels laid snug in the branches of a tree, their noses gently touching, and their eyes closed, an aura of serenity hung about them. And finally, there were the butterflies. These insects were now practically as common as the numerous petals on the surrounding flowers, and they flew so gracefully around me, seemingly beckoning me to join them in their adventurous endeavors. It made me sad. Their carefreeness and joviality as they interacted with one another reminded me of the schools of fish I had before encountered, and that, for all I knew, and considering what this being had been responsible for thus far, those same fish could very well now be dead, if the being so wished it. If that were the case, would it also happen to these creatures? Was there anything I could do to stop it? I must confess, here I grew to become slightly insane, and I began to question everything around me. In any other case, I would have accepted the situation wholeheartedly and made the most of it; I would have lived. I would have looked at their carefree sprites as charming, but now I couldn’t see it as anything else but frightening. I thought to myself: What’s wrong with me?

???: I CANNOT DENY THE BEAUTY OF THE SCENERY HERE SHOWN. I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY ONE COULD VIEW A LANDSCAPE AS THIS AND SIMULTANEOUSLY ALLEVIATE HIS APPREHENSIONS. ONE COULD VIEW SUCH A SCENE AND LEARN TO FORGIVE, LEARN TO LOVE, AND LEARN TO LIVE.

???: BUT IS IT NOT RATHER MUNDANE? IS THIS THE TRUE FEELING THAT ONE WOULD CONSTANTLY WANT TO FEEL? NAY, IT IS FAR MORE INTERESTING FOR THERE TO OCCUR CATASTROPHES, FOR HOW COULD ONE VIEW SOMETHING AS BEAUTIFUL IF HE HAS NOTHING TO COMPARE IT TO?

???: WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF, PERHAPS, THERE WAS A STORM?

And, just like that, there came a storm. Layers of heavy rain mercilessly pelted the ground, violent winds now rushed along the landscape, and the skies were now a deep, dark blue. Lightning bolted sporadically out of the several clouds hung aloft in the background, and the mountains had now become dampened, unable to withstand the pressure of the constant erosion. The butterflies were now all gone, and the birds, what few of them there were, were now all cooped up in their nests in the trees, mother birds using their wings to shield their children from the weather. I desired so dearly to help out the birds, to use my body itself to shield them from the rain, but no matter how hard I tried to get up there, they were simply too far out of reach. I knew deep down that I was just as helpless as them, but if I could at least give them the illusion of momentary security, I would feel accomplished. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t even do that. Depressed, angry, afraid, I reluctantly continued on.

For the next two minutes or so, the scenery was much the same, but eventually, after much scrutiny, I came across a pair of squirrels, hung in the branches one of the trees. Their noses were no longer touching, but they still very clearly showed affection for one another. They were certainly a couple, and unlike the families of birds I had before encountered, these creatures, although somewhat visibly afraid, held an air of overall bravado. It was as if they were saying that together, they could accomplish anything. It was as if they were saying that they, by themselves, were indeed pathetic, but so long as they had each other, their strength was amplified, to the point that they could brave through any storm, any hurricane, any earthquake, and still survive to live many happy years together. A simple storm certainly couldn’t deter them from this. I encouraged them to think so. I encouraged them to fight on, for these two showed a similar disposition as me – to fight for what was right, and to look beyond the horrors at the current moment. Our exact stories may not be the same, but we nevertheless shared a bond. My worries momentarily subsided, and I was brought, like so many times before, a sense of hope. But, I now begin to wonder, was it genuine?

It certainly felt as much at the time, so much so that when I began to see a rapid flashing of white just in the clouds above them, with the crackling of thunder bursting out of the speakers, I instantly felt dread, and my heart dropped. Simultaneously, as the scene played out, text scrolled on the bottom of the screen:

???: WHEN A BOND IS SHARED AS STRONGLY AS THIS, IT IS CERTAINLY A MOST TERRIBLE TRAGEDY FOR IT TO BE BROKEN. BUT, ONE MUST ADMIT, IT WOULD MAKE FOR AN INTERESTING STORY.

Lighting bolted fiercely down upon the male squirrel. His charred body fell from the tree, and in the next moment, the squirrel was no more.

???: HOW EXCITING! I WONDER HOW THE PARTNER WILL REACT TO THIS. A VARIETY OF SCENARIOS ARE POSSIBLE. PERHAPS SHE WILL BITE THROUGH THE PAIN OF HER LOSS AND VENTURE OUT ON A QUEST TO FIND A DEEPER MEANING IN LIFE. PERHAPS SHE WILL FALL INTO A DEPRESSION – NOT ALTOGETHER UNINTERSTING, AS WE COULD THEN ANALYZE HER PSYCHOLOGY. YES, YES…SO MANY SCENARIOS ARE POSSIBLE. I WONDER WHICH ONE WILL ENSUE…

The female squirrel seemed to at first not register the full weight of the calamity that had just befell her. Trembling, she peered over the edge of the tree branch, and her gaze fell upon the now charred, smoking corpse of her partner. She reached out for him, her arm quivering slightly, but once she fully realized that the male squirrel was gone, she all of a sudden broke into a fit of sobs. Sparkled tears flowed excessively from her eyes, as I could begin to hear a faint sobbing coming from the speakers.

I remained silent through it all, too stunned to speak. I had only met the squirrels just a few moments ago, yet those few moments were enough to form a bond. I seemed to understand their story, and I presume that they seemed to understand mine. It seemed as though we had known each other much longer, but then, in the flash of a second, our fellowship was abruptly dismantled. One of us was now dead, all because of this thing.

It was certainly a tragedy, and I tried to reason with the female squirrel that all would be well – that although her partner was gone, she was still alive, and she could still live a fulfilled life if she could get through this. I prayed to God that this was what she would do.

The female squirrel continued to sob for several more seconds. Once her tears had somewhat quelled, she used her left paw to wipe away the tears on her face, and she looked once again to her partner’s corpse.

She then looked to her right, at the left-most side of the screen. There was another tree a small distance from the one she was currently on, and the branches were not a far distance away, though the tree itself appeared to be somewhat more worn out and roughened around the edges. Then, suddenly, she looked directly at the screen, at me, and she allowed a single tear to roll down her cheek.

Squirrel: I’M SORRY…I CAN’T…

I yelled at her to elaborate. What was she intending to do?! But, much to my frustration, she didn’t respond. She simply looked back to the left side of the screen, and she breathed a heavy sigh. In the next moment, she jumped full-speed at the neighboring tree. She threw her body at the point of the tree’s roughened, sharp branch, puncturing her torso. She sputtered, coughing up blood as she began to slide down the branch. In just a few moments, she was gone, her blood, her life essence, dripping down from the tree rhythmically, like a twisted metronome.

Several lighting blots flashed across the screen in rapid succession. Each time one flashed, the entire screen became inundated with a powerful white. This happened a few more times before, suddenly, the screen once again cut to black, accompanied with white text appearing the center:

???: …WELL THAT IS NOT VERY INTERESTING. SHE SIMPLY ENDED HER OWN LIFE. THOUGH, TO BE FAIR, THERE IS A STRANGE MYSTIQUE TO THE ACT OF ENDING ONE’S OWN LIFE, SO, IN THAT SENSE, PERHAPS THE RESULT IS NOT SO UNINTERSTING AFTER ALL. YES, YES…CERTAINLY.

I was furious, and through my uncontrolled rage I demanded from the being, as though it were actually in the room with me, to identify and explain itself. Before I continue, I should make it clear that before this point, I had assumed, logically, that the game had been constructed by a hacker. There seemed to be no other alternative. What he said here, however, changed everything.

???: I AM CALLED MAXIMUS. ENTERTAINMENT IS WHAT I SEEK. THIS WORLD IS A GREAT PLAY, AND I AM THE DIRECTOR, AND YOU, TREVOR, ARE BUT AN ACTOR. TO BE FAIR, YOU OCCASIONALLY HAVE THE FREEDOM TO OFFER CREATIVE INPUT, BUT IF YOUR DESIRES DO NOT CO-EXIST WITH MINE, WELL, WE WILL SIMPLY STICK TO SCRIPT.

Maximus: BUT, OCCASIONALLY, I TOO GROW TIRED OF PRE-DESTINED LAYOUTS, AND SO I SIMPLY CHANGE THEM TO MAKE THINGS MORE INTERESTING. BUT, THOUGH I CAN CREATE, I MUST ALSO, LIKE ANY GREAT ARTIST, ACQUIRE INSPIRATION.

Maximus: NOW THAT I HAVE ACQUIRED SUCH INSPIRATION, I BELIEVE WE ARE READY TO RETURN TO THE REALM FROM WHERE THIS “MASTER HIGGINS” HAILS, AND THERE THE CLIMAX SHALL ENSUE. AH, I GROW ECSTATIC JUST THINKING ABOUT IT!

The text slowly faded into obscurity. My room became swallowed up in blackness once more. Cold. Dark. But now I was no longer alone, though, in this case, I wished I was. I shuddered. This thing cognitively and willingly responded to me. It knew my name. It seemingly knew everything. It became clear then, at that moment, that I was not dealing with the product of some crazy hacker’s imagination; I was dealing with a supernatural being, one that had the ability to alter the courses of this game to whatever he pleased.

There were so many more questions that I had yet to get answered. Why this game? Why any game? Was the being confined to this cartridge, or had it the ability to escape and wreak havoc elsewhere? I didn’t know, but in the heat of the moment, the thing I wanted to do more than anything else was liquidate him. Even if there was nothing I could do to alter the courses, in reality, it would be better to try and fail than to never have tried at all, or at least that was how I reasoned it. I couldn’t quit. If the “climax” was indeed soon to be at hand, then I still had one more shot to right the wrongs that this thing had been responsible for.

And so, I continued.

*****

The screen remained black for an obscenely long time. I waited and waited for the screen to return to some semblance of color, but no matter how long I waited, blackness permeated still, but through it all, I was still able to make out a faint sound coming from the speakers. It perplexed me as to what was responsible for the sound, for the sound itself, without a picture to go along with it, was ambiguous. Eventually, though, after much time passed, the screen’s color finally came back, and I was simultaneously offered an answer. It was the churning of lava.

There were yet no characters on screen, but I was able to determine that this final “scene” was to take place in a cave-themed level, though now with a dark-red tint as opposed to a blue one, and much of the rocky environment plagued with cracks and signs of erosion and ware. The lava, as previously mentioned, filled up the entire bottom quarter of the screen, the upper portion being the normal background and, on the ceiling, stalactites. The only “music” was simply the churning of the lava below.

The screen remained motionless as I examined the area, but suddenly it slowly started to scroll to the left, and after a couple seconds, I was at last able to make out some ground, albeit worn and unstable ground, and atop the it, at the edge of a cliff, stood Higgins, his body facing the left side of the screen. I nodded determinedly, and I was going to encourage Higgins to follow suit, to assist me in taking down this “Maximus,” but as the screen scrolled just a few more inches to the left, and as I was able to make out more of Higgins’s form, my heart sank yet deeper. He was tied to a wooden poll. His eyes were closed, as though he wasn’t conscious, and his expression, which by now had returned, nevertheless disheartened me as it looked as though he was worn, nearly on the verge of collapse.

I wondered to myself what had happened in Higgins’s world during the time I was transported to the meadow. For him to now suddenly be in a cave perplexed me, considering he was not too long ago in a desert. What had happened during that time? Had Higgins gotten kidnapped, or had Maximus simply bounded him simultaneously as he was communicating with me?

Slowly, his eyes began to flutter open, and upon raising his head to be parallel with the ground upon which he stood, his jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. There was no audible scream, but I presumed that that was what he was doing, for as the screen then began to scroll ever more to the left, I was at last able to make out the full ground. At the far-left corner was another poll, and tied to the poll was the red Camptosaurus, and beside it was a dog-like body, with a persistent red light atop its head. It was feasting upon the red dinosaur. The Camptosaurus’s ribs were exposed and several organs were oozing from its torso, the entire ground surrounding the dinosaur’s body slickened with a thick coating of blood. The abruptness of this caught me totally off guard, and I was hit with a wave of different emotions and confusion.

It was that damn thing. It was back. It had killed the blue Camptosaurus, and now it had killed the red one. It had killed Higgins’s friends – my friends. I hadn’t even been given a chance to save them. I felt so foolish, so entirely worthless once the situation set in, and seemingly all the bravado I had before held vanished. And then, as the thing suddenly seemed to become aware of Higgins’s presence, it ceased its feasting of the red dinosaur and slowly turned its body around to face Higgins, growling excessively low, like a tiger, but now its larynx no longer covered in saliva, but with another more disgusting substance. It began to lumber over to Master Higgins.

Higgins struggled valiantly, thrashing about at his restraints, and screaming to the heavens as tears began to roll down his cheeks. I panicked, and I tried my best to help him out. I mashed every button combination possible on the controller, but the thing effortlessly continued its trek. It was a slap in the face, as though it was saying, “Go on, continue your fruitless efforts, for it will only fuel my hunger.”

It was now halfway over to Higgins, and each step it took, Higgins’s struggles escalated, proving that his rope was indeed tremendously taut. He was trapped, and, in a sense, so was I. It was a level of hopelessness I had never felt before.

Then the creature assumed an attacking position, and with a mighty roar it lunged at Higgins. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the inevitable, tears raining down his cheeks.

Higgins: TINA…

Suddenly, an overwhelmingly loud cacophony burst through the speakers, and simultaneously there appeared a hole amongst the stalactites above. Sunlight immediately began to pour into the area in which Higgins and the creature stood, and not even a second later I began to make out a shadow. It got bigger and bigger, ever more distinguishable, until at last the body to which the shadow belonged revealed itself: It was the Pterodactyl.

Without wasting any time, the dinosaur immediately dove at the dog-like creature, and they began to wrestle each other, rolling on the ground excessively violently, kicking up numerous particles of dust and pebbles, their teeth clashing with one another in an attempt to attain superiority.

This lasted for a good minute, their melee escalating every second that went by, occasionally biting at each other’s throats and using their claws in an attempt to scratch at each other’s eyes, and through it all, as more time went by, they got bloodier and bloodier, their battle scars plaguing the both of them in grotesque forms. Simultaneously, as their battle intensified, the ground upon which they stood upon grew less and less stable, until eventually the ground could no longer support their feuding.

The floor suddenly cracked in two, like a battle ship being hit with a torpedo, both ends reaching out separately toward the heavens. This shocked the dog-like creature, and so the Pterodactyl, using this as an advantage, immediately seized its body and plunged it into the newly-created crevice, into the molten lava below. Then, working expertly quickly, the Pterodactyl moved posthaste to Higgins’s position, used its teeth to swiftly cut through the rope, and forced him to get onto its back, so that they could fly away. Higgins did so without any restraint but also without any real desire. It seemed he was still too shocked to fully comprehend the situation.

Nevertheless, the Pterodactyl, with Higgins riding on its back, immediately then took flight, as it exited from the right side of the screen. As it fled, there erupted a painfully loud scream from the speakers, as the dog-like creature began to melt from the unforgiving lava in which it bathed. It screamed and screamed, its cries reverberating across my room. Eventually, though, a mercy was granted, as a precariously-hung stalactite suddenly plummeted from the ceiling down upon the creature’s now unrecognizable form, sealing its fate and burying it amongst the molten lava strewn about. The screen was just about to fade to black once more, but just before it did, the lifeless body of the Camptosaurus slipped helplessly into the lava, as the ground had become too unstable to hold the dinosaur’s weight, and its flesh began to dissolve rapidly. For just a fraction of a second, before its remaining flesh melted from its face, I could see its expression change from pained and terrified to something I could only describe as relaxing, as though it could rest easy with the hope that it would soon be avenged.

I still didn’t know exactly what that dog-like creature was, but I knew now for certain that it was dead. I knew, however, that it was not this supposed, “Maximus.” I knew it couldn’t be that easy. Indeed, as the screen then faded to black, and as the colors came back not two seconds later, and as I was once again able to resume control, I knew that I still had one final trial ahead of me. One final level – one final attempt to make things right. I wasn’t even sure at the time if I felt confident, and true, I personally didn’t have much to lose if I failed, but I also knew I couldn’t let down Higgins and his final dinosaur buddy. They had supplied me with numerous happy adventures from my childhood, and now, looking at the horror that we had witnessed, I felt obligated to repay them.

This was indeed my true desire, and this will of mine soon solidified once I heard the song that was to go with this final stage, and for the first time in a long time, it felt appropriate. It was the final stage theme. I nodded determinedly.

“Let’s do this,” I said.

*****

It certainly helped that I had a genuine will to help them out, because as I would soon find out, I was going to need it. It started off hard right off the bat with a flurry of fireballs from below, and I had reacted just barely in time to avoid that, but before I could even get out a sigh of relief, I was bombarded with a family of bats from the stalactites above, and again it caught me off guard, and I had just barely managed to avoid them as well. After that, I regret to say, I cannot recall the specific placement of the rest of the obstacles, but rest assured that throughout the duration there were numerous fireballs, bats, fire-skulls, and occasionally, when there was a patch of ground, even poisonous frogs.

The level itself was yet again straightforward in its design, and there were no tunnels in which I had to fly up or down, but considering that I had full range of the screen to move thanks to the Pterodactyl, it wasn’t necessarily a linear route at the same time, especially considering the abundance of enemies and obstacles.

The design of the level was not what was on my mind when I was playing it, though, for I was too busy with the enemies that were trying to kill me. They were abundant in numbers, and considering the previous levels had been rather easy in comparison, this one totally caught me off guard, and I focused all my energy into making sure that I didn’t make even a single wrong move, for I knew if I did it was into the lava for Higgins and the Pterodactyl.

I actually began to sweat – not altogether from exhaustion, more from what the scene itself represented. It was obviously the final stage, and yes, it was a final chance to redeem myself, but something hit me home harder than that, and it was that for the first time in a while, it felt like I was playing the normal game. Obviously, the level I was now playing was not in the original game, but the enemies were the actual sprites that had been used in the original game – the same enemies I had time and time again thwarted heroically as a child. And, what was more, it had a song from the original game, but not just any song; it was the final stage theme. I had only managed to reach the final stage a handful of times as a kid, but every time I did it was always sort of surreal, for its design and music was highly unique and intense compared to the rest.

It was strange, but, in a small way, even through all of this, it still felt like I was playing Adventure Island II. In the previous levels, although I had taken control of Master Higgins, and although I had seen some spots of the game here and there that were taken from the original game, it always felt somewhat off. During some moments, it was hard to believe that I had even injected a copy of Adventure Island II into the NES, albeit a tampered copy. In this case, however, this level felt like it could have been originally part of the game, perhaps as a beta level or testing grounds. The feeling was minimal, sure, but there was very clearly still a hint of charm about the level design, enemy placement, and music, and in a sort of twisted concoction, it seemed to flow together surprisingly well. Once again, don’t misunderstand: I was still very much on-edge, but there was also a part of me that wanted to go exploring, to go adventuring in this strange yet wondrous cave.

But I continued to remain steadfast. At that moment, I knew I couldn’t lose, not only for the sake of Higgins and the Pterodactyl, but for myself. If I lost, I would never be able to forgive myself, for I would have let down a game – no, a world – that had given me numerous, unspeakable joys that have lasted even as I speak as an adult. For that reason, I knew, I couldn’t give up. It strengthened me, and by such thought I managed to fight on through the stage with difficulty but undeniable determination, and eventually, after what seemed like hours, I finally made it to the end. As a final spark of nostalgia, when I completed the stage, it played the “course clear” theme, and I grew happy. It gave me a sense of accomplishment – that I had completed the level, and that I would soon bring an end to this horrific nightmare. I couldn’t lose. I wouldn’t lose.

The screen faded to black once more, and when it came back, Higgins, still riding atop the Pterodactyl, emerged from the left side of the screen. They had entered a room consisting of four walls: a ceiling, a physical wall to the right, a floor of lava, and an implied wall on the left, constructed by the television border itself. There was a platform in the center, about half the size of the television screen, and sitting upon this platform I could see a lone, featureless, blackened humanoid figure, its legs hanging freely over the edge. It had initially had its nose pointed toward the right, but once it became aware of Higgins’s presence, it turned its head swiftly toward his direction. Its eyelids, or at least, what I presumed to be his eyelids, remained closed, and its expression remained ambiguous. It only seemed appropriate to infer that this thing was Maximus. A dialogue popped up:

Maximus: AH! SO YOU HAVE ARRIVED! THANK GOODNESS; I WAS JUST STARTING TO GET BORED.

The figure slowly and calmly rose its body into a standing position, his nose still pointed toward Higgins’s direction.

Maximus: YOU MUST INDEED BE QUITE SKILLED TO HAVE MADE IT THIS FAR, NOT TO MENTION HAVING BEEN ABLE TO DESTROY MY DEAR CERBERUS. SPEAKING OF, I MUST ASK YOU, MASTER HIGGINS, DID MY PET ENTERTAIN YOU WELL?

Higgins: …

Maximus: WELL, YOURS HAVE CERTAINLY ENTERTAINED ME, AND FOR THAT, MASTER HIGGINS, I THANK YOU WITH THE UTMOST SINCERITY.

Higgins: SHUT UP! WHERE’S TINA?!

Maximus: OH, WORRY NOT, DEAR HIGGINS. YOUR BELOVED IS ALIVE AND WELL. HOWEVER…

Its eyelids finally parted, and a bright yellow light burst through. It glared brightly, and although I could not see its expression, it was very much clear that it held an air of excitement around it.

Maximus: I MUST FIRST DETERMINE IF YOUR WILL IS AS STRONG AS YOU SAY IT IS. I WISH TO EXPERIENCE YOUR FIGHTING SKILLS FIRST-HAND. COME, MASTER HIGGINS, LET US DUEL. SHOULD YOU WIN, I WILL GLADLY SEND YOUR BELOVED TINA BACK TO YOUR SIDE.

Higgins reluctantly nodded.

Maximus: GREAT! THEN LET US BEGIN!

Maximus, to my utter astonishment, began to slowly levitate upwards from the platform. Just as soon as that happened, he disappeared, and the boss music began to slowly creep in.

*****

What followed next was undoubtedly, no exaggeration, one of the most difficult boss fights I have ever seen. As eluded to earlier, Maximus had the ability to teleport and fly around, making him a difficult target to even hit. That was bad enough, but in addition to his evasion and swiftness, his offense was also insurmountably effective. He would often shoot lasers from his eyes and balls of energy from his hands, and unlike the bosses from the original game, Maximus had no determinable pattern; one second he’d be in the lower left corner, blasting away some energy balls, and the next he’d teleport directly in front of me.

At one particular instance, this was very much the case, and I had accidentally taken a hit, having been caught completely off guard. I cursed when this happened, but, much to my surprise, Higgins remained alive. I took a look at the “fruit bar” at the top of the screen and saw that I had only lost two points. Upon closer examination, it also appeared that the “fruit bar” was not slowly deteriorating as it normally would, and as a result I determined that the bar was to now act as Higgins’s health meter. Of course, in the original game, if you got hit once you died no matter what (unless you had a dinosaur or skateboard), but at this point I didn’t really care. I was just grateful that I was still alive, though it also disturbed me, for I reasoned that if Maximus was truly as omnipotent as he claimed, he could have easily made it so Higgins would die in one hit, but clearly he wanted to prolong the experience.

Is it possible to kill a God? I wondered.

Naively, perhaps, I continued to think I could. It seemed impossible for there to be any other alternative ending to this nightmare. Evil, as I had been conditioned to believe, may occasionally rise up every now and then, but its time is not eternal, and justice would eventually come along to vanquish it. I desired so greatly to administer such justice, and so I fought on, and even though during some moments I began to sweat profusely and even breathe heavily, I continued on regardless. I couldn’t lose, not after all that had happened.

And so I learned how to go about the boss fight. While it was true that Maximus’s pattern was erratic, he was still only able to do the two attacks as mentioned before, and although they were not necessarily slow-moving, they weren’t necessarily fast-moving either. In addition, while it was true he would occasionally teleport in front of me, he would never teleport directly on top of me. As long as I was able to swiftly and cognitively stop and shoot whenever he did this, I could manage to take down a considerable amount of his health. Such weaknesses were regrettably the only ones I could exploit, but just as with any being, so long as there exists a weakness, there is a way to kill it, and even though he only had a few, I exploited them to the absolute peak, and it was by such maneuvering that, eventually, after countless minutes of dodging the ubiquitous projectiles, I was somehow able to succeed.

With one final attack from the Pterodactyl, Maximus’s sprite exploded. The screen froze; there was no music. Then, in the next moment, Maximus disappeared. He was gone.

I breathed a heavy, relieved sigh. My heart must have been racing at one hundred miles an hour. I took a look at Higgins’s health. I had been so caught up previously in the boss fight that I hadn’t even taken a moment to look at it. I had but three pieces of health left. I breathed another sigh, and I was in ecstasy. I had done it. We had done it. We had done the impossible; we had defeated Maximus! I wondered, then, if Maximus’s hold on Tina would have similarly dissipated – if he would have kept his word. This inquiry was quickly answered with another cutscene.

Higgins and the Pterodactyl flew onto the platform. Higgins dismounted, and from the center of the platform, near the bottom of the stalactites, there emitted a white glow. After about three seconds, a shadow began to emerge from it, and as its features slowly began to get more and more distinguishable, I was soon able to relax – to rejoice – in knowing that Tina was safe. She emerged entirely from the glow, the glow disappeared, and she slowly began to float down onto the platform. Higgins didn’t even wait for her to land.

Higgins: TINA!

He raced over to her, held out his arms, and she softly landed in his loving embrace. He kneeled down as he cradled her body.

Higgins: TINA…I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE SAFE.

Tina: HIGGINS, I…I…

He hugged her tightly, as joyous tears began to roll down his cheeks.

Higgins: I’M SO SORRY, TINA. I PROMISE I WILL NEVER LET ANYONE TAKE YOU AWAY EVER AGAIN. I’M SO SORRY, TINA; PLEASE FORGIVE ME.

Tina: …HIGGINS…

She too began to sob, and her grip on him tightened.

Tina: …I WAS SO SCARED. I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT THING WAS. IT WAS…TERRIFYING…

Higgins: I KNOW, TINA, AND I’M SO SORRY. BUT NOW HE IS DEAD. YOU’RE SAFE, AND THE STORM IS GONE. PLEASE, CAN YOU FORGIVE ME?

Tina: …HIGGINS, I…I LOVE YOU, SO MUCH.

Higgins: I LOVE YOU TOO, TINA.

The Pterodactyl, too, could scarcely hold back its relief, as it then began to softly nuzzle with the both of them, a soft purr reverberating through the trio and surrounding them in an air of tranquility. Higgins wiped away his tears, and he smiled.

Higgins: COME ON, EVERYONE. LET’S GO HOME.

The three looked to each other, and, as if their brainwaves were synchronized, they nodded simultaneously, and wide smiles began to form on their faces. They knew they had won. They knew they would be okay.

Forgive me if I begin to stray from the narrative for a moment, but let me just say that as that very scene was happening, I felt a connection with the characters I had never before felt – a far stronger connection than I had ever felt with them as a kid. We had together survived an atrocity, and I do not hesitate to word such a sentence in such a way. It was because of this that I hesitate to tell you what happened next. Believe me, I would love to tell you that after the dialogue, Higgins and Tina seated themselves upon the Pterodactyl, safely escaped from the cave, and went on to live happily for the rest of their days. I would love to say that and end the story here, I truly would, but I’d be deceiving you if I did.

Maximus: HA HA HA HA…

His words no longer showed up as text in a dialogue. Henceforth, everything he spoke he spoke auditorily, from the speakers.

Maximus: AH, THAT WAS QUITE THE EXHILERATING EXPERIENCE! THANK YOU, MASTER HIGGINS.

His voice was disturbingly low, yet he spoke calmly and coherently. Higgins, Tina, and the Pterodactyl worriedly began to scan the room.

Maximus: BUT I CANNOT LET YOU LEAVE.

A large stone wall all of a sudden fell from the ceiling on the left side of the screen, effectively sealing the three comrades.

Maximus: YES, YES, I AM CERTAIN OF IT NOW. I WISH TO HAVE MORE ADVENTURES WITH YOU, MASTER HIGGINS, AND YOUR COMPANIONS WOULD DO EXCELLENT TO ENRICH THE EXPERIENCE.

Higgins began to yell out for the being to let them go, as the Pterodactyl began to claw and fight feverishly at the walls of the room. The Pterodactyl even tried to break through the stalactites as it had been able to before, but some unknown barricade disallowed him from doing so.

Maximus: THIS HAS CERTAINLY BEEN A MOST THRILLING ADVENTURE. I GROW EXCITED AT THE THOUGHT OF THE THOUSANDS MORE WE SHALL HAVE IN THE FUTURE…

Suddenly, the lava began to rise. Higgins and Tina immediately got on the Pterodactyl, and the three flew as high as they could, but it was not far considering the ceiling of stalactites above them. They rapidly began to cry, beg, and scream, and the Pterodactyl continued its best to crack through the roughened stone above. The lava continued to rise, ever higher.

Maximus: DO NOT THREAT. YOU SHALL NOT DIE; MERELY BE REBORN. I MUST CONFESS, THOUGH, THAT WHILE THIS PARTICULAR ADVENTURE HAS BEEN RATHER INTRIGUING, I BELIEVE IT COULD HAVE BEEN A LITTLE BIT BETTER…

Maximus: AH! PERHAPS NEXT TIME THEY COULD VENTURE THROUGH AN ICE-CAVE, AND MAYBE THE RED ONE CAN DIE THERE, FROM THE OBSCENE COLD. OR MAYBE AFTER DEFEATING A BIG, IMPOSING ADVERSARY, THE PTERODACTYL COULD BE TRAGICALLY KNOCKED OUT OF THE SKY AND PLUNGED INTO A VOLCANO, BUT NOT BEFORE IT KNOCKS MASTER HIGGINS OFF ITS BACK TO SAVE HIM, OF COURSE…

The lava was now at the base of the stalactites. Their tears weren’t even visible; the heat had cleaned their faces dry. They screamed a final scream before all three of them became enveloped in the overwhelmingly hot molten rock, instantaneously searing their flesh and reducing all of them to piles of bones in a matter of seconds. The lava eventually filled up the rest of the screen in a putrid orange, and the screen soon thereafter faded to black. “GAME OVER” scrolled out in the center of the screen, in big, capital, yellow letters.

Maximus: BUT NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, I WILL ENSURE IT WILL BE MOST INTERESTING. OF COURSE, NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE IF IT WERE NOT FOR YOU, TREVOR. THANK YOU.

Blinded with rage, I dove for the NES, yanked out the cartridge, and threw it will all my might against the wall. The fragile plastic casing cracked upon contact, as well as the hardware, and the game ceased to work. In my haze of anger, I struggled for several minutes to comprehend what I had just experienced, but when my anger eventually subsided, a feeling of regret and sadness began to envelope me.

I felt around for the game’s remnants, and when I eventually found it I buried my hands in the plastic casing. I cried.

*****

I regret to say that that is all I can tell you about this story, but before signing off, allow me to share with you a few of my closing remarks.

First off, you must understand that I’ve always viewed videogaming as more than just a simply past-time or hobby. To me, videogaming is more enriching than what any other medium of entertainment can possibly allow. Videogames combine all the elements that are great about literature, animation, and music, and combine it into one glorious mixture, and unlike film, you, yourself, are given control of the main character, and if the game is constructed well, it can leave an everlasting impact, the likes of which sometimes simply cannot be attained in other mediums. Adventure Island II, in particular, has always held a special place in my heart. For a part of my childhood as precious as this to have become as horrifically warped as this was undeniably vexing and painful to me. My reactions to what happened in the game, then, I hope, may seem a bit more understandable.

I have no explanation as to who this “Maximus” was. As I said previously, the game is no longer functioning, and I have since thrown it away, and so I have no way to find out any more information about him. In addition, as I was playing the game, it had never occurred to me to record or take pictures of the game, and for this I apologize. It was because of this that I had to simply recall what had been said in the dialogues, but of course I did not remember all the dialogues word-for-word, so some of the dialogues, I regret to say, are worded myself, but rest assured the same kind of message was still there for all of them. Also, I have no doubt in my mind that the old couple who had originally sold me the game were as unaware of its horrific nature as I was, and so I do not blame them.

On the whole, I’d say that, while not being the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen, this game still nevertheless has disheartened and disturbed me. It seemed very much impossible for the events to have occurred in the game as they did, but I assure you that they did.

I have since come into possession of a proper copy of Adventure Island II, and I have since been able to play through the game normally, and I can admit that as I played through it, I did feel overall joviality and nostalgia, which was what I had initially sought in the first place. However, even now, and even many years in the future, I know that whenever I play Adventure Island II, I won’t be able to see it the same way ever again.