I come out of the creepy subterranean tunnel to a peaceful meadow with a lake and a waterfall. After dispatching an armored frog and some red ants, I head through another passage to Saturn Valley. Again, I’m blown away by the genius-ness of the whole thing. All the text for the Mr. Saturns changes to a crazy script and speak in a goofy but happy style. When you add in the random palm trees, telephones on top of ladders and peanut cheese bars, you end up with the perfect mix of strange and cute.
The next stroke of genius is gaining access to Master Belch’s secret lair. Headed back behind the waterfall, I’m prompted to give a password. The correct action is to stay perfectly still for three minutes – set the controller down, walk away, do nothing for three minutes of real time. Crazy! I remember encountering this for the first time when I was about 12, and, though I had a FAQ, I still had difficulty doing this. After several attempts and figuring out where the prompt was and when to stand still, I got it. This time still made me smile.
I breezed through Master Belch’s factory, was appalled at the enslavement of the Mr. Saturns, made short work of his slime piles and went to face him. It always made me chuckle to fight a boss which was literally a pile of puke that made burping sounds as it talked. He’s a pretty tough boss unless you toss him a Jar of Fly Honey. He chomped down on it for several turns as I blasted him into a pile of… uhh, anyways. Exiting the factory, I sit down for a trippy cup of coffee and say goodbye to the grateful Mr. Saturns, only to plunge my head into a mushroom-infested cave…
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