Today we go into World 5. The Gate has 7 slots on it, so this is the halfway point.

The board is a dark bluish color, 3 level types;

TOP

SWAMP

FOG

“TOP” takes place on the top of a mountain range. You can’t see in the screencaps, but this area has very strong winds. I’m going to need to pay attention so I don’t plummet while moving.

There’s an eerie feeling to this place. Rather low-tone music, but it’s hard to hear over the sounds of howling wind.

There are 2 kinds of gross bug enemies, they seem to be related. Both of them try to stab me with the face spikes. I’m starting to see body parts flying across the screen when the wind picks up…

I’m running into these odd lump-things with holes all over them. The bugs hover around it, sticking their spikes into the holes, and they attack me whenever I get close. So I have to destroy all of them before I can get across. It’s getting difficult to avoid these things.

I can see the bodies that had been flying past earlier – they’re covered in circular holes, likely stabbed to death by the bugs. There are also pink eggs bound to the mountains by a sticky web-like substance. Small larval bugs leap from the eggs and drain health, but I’ve also seen them emerge on their own to feed on the bodies.

I’ve gotten to a clearing that seems mostly free of bugs. And look who shows up – Usol!

Oh god. That’s terrible to hear.

Wait, what is that thing?

That hairy asshole grabbed Usol and disappeared!  And I liked the little guy, so this pisses me off. I hope I can get him back.

Huh? There’s a new monster on the board. I didn’t unlock one in the level. I guess it’s just the game being weird, who knows. I’ll try him out in the swamp level.

The name is “King Caesar”. He’s some sort of dog monster, might be made of rock. The swamp is like a combination of the forest and ruin levels. Don’t know about the water but I’m staying it out of it. I’d rather not take my chances, and I don’t think a rock dog is going to be a good swimmer.

The music has a primordial sound, it’s like a slow knocking on wood. Lot of background noise, gurgling and whistling sounds.

The lump things are here, but the other enemies are different. One is a long necked creature with spikes that tries to stab me from the water, the others are toads that jump everywhere. They aren’t strong and they give health when defeated, but they show up frequently.

King Caesar is fairly conventional for a playable monster, though jumping is weird. He falls slower than Godzilla, and seems light on his feet. But that’s a not big issue. One thing I really like is that he can aim his beam up and down, which should come in handy.

A tree with syringe needles coming out of the branches? I’m just going to jump over it.

What the hell?

I got hit by one of the needles, and  it looks like it’s injected Caesar with psychedelic drugs. Everything’s wobbling rapidly and changing colors, and the music has messed up. I can’t play the game like this, have to wait for this to wear off.

Ugh, this is making me dizzy.

Alright, 2 minutes and it wears off. Definitely avoiding these trees.

Going through the swamp, encountering more of the same.

I think we’re at a boss.

Definitely a boss.

The Giant Toad is trying to eat Caesar, and his tongue is both his primary weapon and his weak point. Striking it just gets me stuck to it, so I have to use the beam. Though it’s arsenal is limited, the toad can birth many smaller toads out of the holes in it’s back.

After taking enough damage, the Giant Toad retreats momentarily to let it’s spawn wail on me. They come at a constant rate, but by unrelentingly beating the hell out of them, it’s a good way to gain health before the big one resurfaces. After doing this about 3 times..

And the Giant Toad goes kaboom. Look at those fireworks!

King Caesar is quite effective, though these levels seem a bit easy. I was expecting things to get harder by this point.

“Megaguirus” is a monster dragonfly. You might notice it starts out with an empty power meter, which had me confused at first.

It turns out that Megaguirus gains energy by draining yours, and then uses your own beam against you.

An annoying trick, but Megaguirus lacks in real strength. So it’s just a matter of getting enough hits in.

“FOG” is another ruined temple. This one is somehow floating in the sky, along with several large rocks. This area has less gravity than normal. There’s music playing that sounds like a whistle, but it’s hard to hear over the wind.

Having some trouble with these lizard-esque enemies. They stab with their tongues and will chase me around until I get rid of them.

And here’s where the level gets it’s name from; every now and then the fog rises up from the bottom to obscure the view. Which is the last thing I need when I’m trying to jump across flying rocks. I have to fend off enemies while waiting for the fog to go back down. And some of the lizard things can fly.

Thankfully this level is rather short. At the end there is this thing, which blocks me from getting through. It’s not much of a mini-boss, all it can do is wave it’s tentacles and call other enemies.

I met another denizen here and- wait what is he doing

Huh? Well, whatever.

Anyway, time for the boss…?

What the hell? The world boss icon has moved to another part of the screen? How does that happen?

Going back through some of the levels again, not taking more screencaps because it’s the same stuff. I got through to where the icon had moved and…

It moved again.

Something is wrong here.

*break*

Alright, I thought it over for a while. I think the cause of this is King Caesar. He wasn’t unlocked like the others, he just showed up. It could be that his inclusion was a trick.

I’m going to try getting rid of him and seeing if that solves the problem. I’m going to feel like a real dumbass if I’m wrong, but I don’t know what else to do. Here goes…

That did it! I knew something was off about him. I’ll use Rodan to go up against the boss now.

It resembles one of the lizard creatures from the fog level, except much larger. The first thing I notice is that it moves very fast, faster than any of the previous bosses.

This boss has numerous tricks up it’s (her?) sleeve; lashing out a tongue that drains health, tornado blasts form the wings, and heading offscreen to let the kids have a turn.  It’s proving to be a hard battle.

Salaac hits Rodan with the tongue again and health is going into critical lows. But now we’re close enough that I can lay on the damage and prevent it from flying off.

It’s a very close match, but I succeed.

And I thought it would end there, but it doesn’t. It takes me back to the map again.

King Caesar is back, where the Boss Icon was. I think he’s mad about that “dropping him into an abyss” thing.

Fortunately he only has as much life as he did when I got rid of him. This should be easy.

“That’s what you get for working for that grey bastard!”

Uh-oh.

Shit, I didn’t even think I’d be fighting him now, I wasn’t prepared for this! This might be as far as I get, but I’m going down fighting.

This guy is tough. Very tough. Godzilla is the strongest monster I have, and I’m just barely holding him off.

We’re both getting low on health, and he’s getting serious – now he’s destroying the mountaintops so I have less places to stand!

He absorbed my heat beam! He’s gaining a lot of power, better duck!

This is it! Gonna blast him with all I have left-

And “Warlock” floats away again. So he can regain his health and prepare for another attack, no doubt. And he knows about the journal? What exactly is he?

Do I even want to know?

Guh. Well, I’m physically and mentally exhausted now. This game threw a lot at me that I wasn’t ready for. I don’t think it’s going to get any easier from here, but I can’t quit now. Not until I find Usol.

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