#this was on the Wii when I was like thirteen and I never finished it bc I’m not great at games and the controls suck ass on the wii | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

megalony · 4 years

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The Evans boys- Part 2

Here is the second part of my new Chris Evans series, thank you to everyone for the lovely response so quickly, I hope you all like it.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem @butlegendsneverdie @langdonzvoid @jennyggggrrr @rogmeddows @radiob-l-a-hblah @rogertaylorsbitontheside @chlobo6 @rogertaylors-lipgloss @sj-thefan @omgitsearly @luckytrashgooprebel @scarsout @deaky-with-a-c @killer-queen-ofrhye @bluutac @vousmemanqueez @jonesyaddiction @rogahs-drowse @milanosaurus @httpfandxms @saint-hardy @7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls @mrsalwayswritex @rogerina-owns-me @peterquillzsblog

Series taglist: @ihearthockeyy @lizzyclifford13-blog

Series masterlist

Summary: Chris and (Y/n) have four boys together and are finally expecting a girl, but their family is hectic and things get harder when (Y/n) becomes ill.

Enjoy.

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"Mum, can Harry still stay over tonight?" Slowly daring to lift his eyes from looking at his plate, Levi looked across the table to (Y/n). There was apprehension in his voice because he was unsure what the answer to his question would be.

The plan had been for Harry to have a sleepover tonight but with (Y/n) only just coming out of the hospital two days ago since being in for her back, Chris didn't think it was a good idea. (Y/n) had a slipped disc in her spine and it was pressing on a nerve which was causing the pain and aggravation, and the baby wasn't much help either. The only thing (Y/n) could do was take painkillers and try not to move around too much but they still had four boys to look after and Chris couldn't do everything no matter how many times he tried to.

"Sure, what time's he coming round?" (Y/n) pushed her plate away from her which she was now finished with, smiling when she noticed the relief on Levi's features. It was always a bit hit and miss when asking for friends over because their house was hectic as it was and friends didn't normally stay over when Chris wasn't around because it was a bit too much for them all. But Levi loved it when he could have a friend stay over, he could stay up late and play video games or watch tv with someone other than his brothers or his parents.

Leaning back in her seat, (Y/n) slouched as much as she could to try and keep the pain in her back to a minimum. She adjusted the pillow behind her before resting her hands on her stomach, letting her eyes fall from Levi to Chris who was sitting on her left with Milo sat on his lap.

"Sure that's a good idea?" Chris didn't want to be mean, he really didn't but he just thought they were all a bit strained as it was. (Y/n) wasn't sleeping well, both Luca and Milo were now having to share a room which Luca was not happy about but they needed to make Milo's room into a nursery for when their girl was born. Luca didn't like sharing a room and Milo woke up a few times during the night, if Levi had Harry over that definitely meant both of them would be up past midnight too.

"He's coming to see Levi, not me, it'll be fine." Chris kept his eyes on (Y/n) for a moment before he relented and nodded causing Levi to smile, almost jumping in excitement.

"Finished." Charlie moved his plate to show Chris that it was empty, earning a nod from his dad which meant he could leave the table. If any of the boys didn't eat very much they weren't allowed to leave the table, it was a rule that was in place mainly because Levi and Luca never wanted to eat all of their food and they didn't eat enough.

"Me too." Luca held his plate up for Chris to see causing Chris to smile, tipping his head to show that he could leave the table as well.

When Milo was finished, Chris set him down to his feet, watching as he hurried off into the lounge to finish the game he had been playing earlier. A smile pulled at Chris' lips when (Y/n) held her hands out towards him, silently asking for him to pull her up. Leaning down, he held her elbows and she grabbed his forearms, letting him pull her to her feet with ease.

The tablets the doctor had given (Y/n) weren't taking all the pain away but they had made the pain much more bearable. She had been told to rest and slowly try to do things over a period of time because it was going to take a few weeks for the disc to heal. They had just less than three months before the baby was due so (Y/n) knew for the next three or four months she was going to be doing very little, especially now that Chris was home and wasn't working on a new project as of yet.

Chris pressed his lips to (Y/n)'s temple before he watched her disappear down the hall, going into the lounge where Milo was. He could already see that she was walking better now she was on painkillers, when he took her to the hospital it was as if she had been paralysed and learning to walk again.

"Alright, are you washing or drying?" Turning himself around, Chris looked at Levi as he pointed to the sink causing the eldest to roll his eyes playfully before he pushed himself up.

"Drying." It was his turn to help with the washing up and cleaning and washing up was something that Levi couldn't stand. He stood next to Chris at the sink, resting his hips forward against the counter as he waited to be handed a plate to dry. Even though Levi was only thirteen he was tall for his age, he was just short of Ben's shoulder by a few inches and even though he was skinny he looked like Chris' double with the matching hair, eyes and nose.

When a few minutes of silence passed between them, Chris looked over at Levi with narrowed eyes. It wasn't like him not to have anything to say or some funny story or joke to tell Chris, or even just a question that had been running through his head. Levi wasn't one for silence.

"What's up?"

There was a moment of silence between them where Levi looked up at Chris with something that resembled worry in his eyes before he looked back down to the plate in his hands that he was cleaning.

"What's wrong with mum, you never said the other day. It... it's not the baby, is it?" The question sort of surprised Chris but at the same time, he was expecting something along those lines from Levi. He was the eldest, they couldn't brush things off with him or avoid the topics like they could with the other boys. If he knew something was wrong he was likely to sit and dwell on it with worry until someone told him what was going on.

Pursing his lips, Chris brushed the soap and bubbles from another plate before handing it over to Levi, turning his head so he was no longer looking down at the sink but now looking at his boy.

"No, no the baby's fine I promise, it's just her back. There's tissue in the spine and some of it's pushing on a few nerves, it's painful but it goes away after a while. Your mum's gonna be fine, we've just got to look after her right now." Chris passed a few forks over to Levi, watching the relief pool in his blue orbs and flood onto his face. Neither parent had told any of the boys why they had gone to hospital a few days ago and neither of them told Levi what the problem was which made him worry that it was something serious or bad.

"Okay."

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"Dad! Dad come here." Failing to stop a groan from passing through his lips, Levi pushed his left elbow behind him to try and push his brother away who was trying to lean over his shoulder and grab the control from him. "Charlie fuck off." Levi batted his hand behind him, successfully pushing his brother off of him just as Chris stood in the doorway to the games room.

The room wasn't very big but it was where they kept all the video games, the Wii and a few board games and cars and such. There were some beanbags in there too, it was where the boys went if they had friends over to be out the way since it was downstairs next to the dining room.

"Don't swear at your brother, now what's wrong?" Chris rose his brows, knowing that Levi could see his reflection in the tv in front of him. It didn't matter if Charlie was annoying him, he couldn't swear at any of his brothers.

"Tell him to go away." There was a pleading tone to Levi's voice and he briefly turned his head to look at Chris who couldn't help but roll his eyes. He leaned his weight back against the door, pushing Milo a little higher on his hip as the four year old was almost asleep in his arms at this point. Charlie knew he wasn't really supposed to come in here unless he was getting a toy but he wanted to hang around Levi and Harry because it made him feel older and included.

"Charlie come on, they're playing a game let them be in here on their own please." Chris held his hand out to Charlie but the nine year old frowned, he wanted to stay here.

"But I want to play too."

"When you have friends round you don't like your brothers hanging around, come on we're watching a movie." Chris' tone changed ever so slightly, becoming more authoritative to show Charlie that this wasn't a debate or a battle that he was going to win. Levi didn't want him hanging around or getting in the way and Chris understood that because all the boys were the same, when they had friends over it was like they had toys they didn't want to share.

A whine passed through Charlie's lips before he huffed and reached over for Chris' hand, swinging their entwined hands back and forth as he stood by his dad's side, waiting for him to finish talking to Levi.

"You boys can stay in here until nine, then you've got to head upstairs to your room, lights out at ten." Chris knew the pair of them would most likely still be awake and chatting through the night and he didn't mind too much because there was always a point where Levi would just shut down and go to sleep whether he wanted to or not.

"Okay." Levi nodded but his attention was clearly more focused on the game than what Chris was saying.

Chris guided Charlie out of the room and shut the door behind them before heading over to the lounge where (Y/n) and Luca were already settled with a movie just about to start playing. It was best to keep all the boys together tonight or they would be either trying to go and join Levi or messing around somewhere in the house. A movie always helped them settle and wind down ready to go to bed.

Heading into the room, Charlie let go of Chris' hand and grabbed one of the blankets and curling up on the end of the long sofa against the arm. Luca was wedged into the corner of the sofa where it formed an L shape against the corner of the room. (Y/n) was laid next to him, both of them stretched out with a bundle of pillows behind them and a blanket over them both. Walking over, Chris sat down next to (Y/n), propping his feet up on the coffee table as he settled Milo on his lap.

It didn't take long for Milo to fall asleep curled up against Chris but he couldn't bothered to move so he left Milo where he was rather than take him up to bed before the movie finished.

"Mind out, I'll take them both up."

(Y/n) looked at Chris with a bit of scepticism in her eyes but she leaned out of the way when Chris stood to his feet, Milo in one arm with his head on Chris' shoulder. Leaning over (Y/n), Chris reached for Luca who was out for the count and (Y/n) helped support his head and move up up until Chris had a secure hold over him. When he straightened up, he had one boy in each arm and Charlie slowly dragging his feet as he staggered out of the room to go to bed.

When Chris headed upstairs, (Y/n) slowly pushed herself up off the sofa, grabbing the arm of the sofa to steady herself when it felt like her lower back was tingling with numbness that was almost as blinding as it had been the first time around. (Y/n) was in two minds, part of her wanted to stay down here with Chris for a bit longer because the sofa was easier on her back than trying to find a comfy position in bed. But the other half of her was too tired and desired to go to bed and fall asleep there.

"Alright boys, time to go up." (Y/n) spoke quietly when she reached the game room, clinging to the doorframe as she looked at the two boys still playing video games.

"Five more minutes mum, please?"

"No, captain's orders. Come on, we're all going up now anyway, and you've got an hour until lights out." With a huff, Levi turned off the tv and he and Harry trudged out of the room but not before Levi wrapped his arms around (Y/n) in a brief hug before she heard both of them running upstairs.

(Y/n) slowly made her way up the stairs, silently thanking God that they had a downstairs bathroom because with the way her back was and the amount of times she had to go to the bathroom, she wouldn't have made it up and down these stairs in this state.

When (Y/n) reached her and Chris' bedroom, her eyes scanned around the few pillows she had scattered on the bed as she wondered how to lay down to try and sleep. Laying on her back was not something (Y/n) wanted to try again after it resulted in the hospital last time and even though she was on painkillers now, (Y/n) still didn't want to risk laying directly on her back. It applied the kind of pressure she didn't want nor need right now.

Getting into bed, (Y/n) slowly laid on her right side so she was facing the bedside table, pulling her pillow down so she could curl up and pull her legs up to stop her back from being straight. Reaching for some of the spare pillows, (Y/n) placed one between her legs and hugged one to her chest before pulling the cover over herself.

"You look comfy." Chris commented with a smile when he entered the room, quietly closing the door behind him before he walked over to the bed. Stripping from his shirt and joggers, he turned the tv on before climbing into bed, leaning over so he could bury his face in the crook of (Y/n)'s neck.

"Hmm, not as comfy as it looks." (Y/n) responded quietly, closing her eyes but tilting her head so her face brushed against his.

"It'll get easier, doll."

There weren't too many ways that (Y/n) could try to lay to relieve the tension in her back. Without being able to lay on her back or her stomach for obvious reasons, it only left laying on her sides and there weren't too many different ways she could do that and if none of them were comfy, she was stuck. Chris tried his best to help but there was only so much that he could do.

Chris didn't know when he finally fell asleep but when he turned over to lay the other way, he reached his arm out but his eyes slowly opened when his arm simply landed on a pile of scattered pillows. Waiting for his vision to adjust to the darkness around him, he moved his hand but found that other than the six pillows in front of him, he was alone in bed. Grabbing one of the pillows, he propped it up behind his head as he tried not to fall straight back to sleep, wanting to wait for (Y/n) so he knew if she was in pain or not. He felt bad being able to sleep when she couldn't.

After about five minutes passed by, Chris sighed before slowly pushing himself to his feet, taking a moment to rid his mind of the dizziness before he slowly trudged out of the room. He glanced into Levi and Charlie's rooms, knowing Charlie was one for staying up late when he shouldn't and Levi might still be awake talking to Harry, but all three of them were asleep much to Chris' pleasure. He knew he didn't have to check on Luca or Milo, they should be well away by now.

A frown took over Chris' features when he noticed the bathroom was empty which was where he thought (Y/n) would be. Bypassing the bathroom, Chris slowly headed downstairs, wondering if (Y/n) had gone for a drink or for some painkillers if her back was playing up badly.

His confusion grew when he noticed the lights were on in the lounge so he let his curiosity take over and he headed through. A sigh passed through his lips when he entered the lounge to see that (Y/n) was laid on the armchair in a weird position, looking caught between sleeping and crying.

"Oh baby," His voice was quiet but his shoulders slumped as he made his way over to the chair and crouched down beside it.

Chris folded his arms on the arm of the chair, propping his chin up on his arm so he could look up at (Y/n), noticing the tears were no longer welling in her eyes and were dried on her features. Reaching a cautious hand out, Chris gently brushed her hair back from her face, his nerves tingling when she leaned into the touch.

"Doll, you can't sleep down here it'll make you feel worse." He continued to brush his fingers through her hair but (Y/n) shook her head at his words.

"It doesn't hurt as much like this, I can't sleep in bed." (Y/n) tried to keep her voice level but she was so close to crying again. The pain had gotten worse no matter how she tried to lay and she just couldn't sleep. Her last resort had been coming down here but she knew laying on the sofa would be much the same as trying to lay in bed. But in the armchair she was propped up at an angle and it had a footrest that came out so she was sat upright, she was laid up like she was sitting up in bed. Her back was already more at ease sitting at an angle like this.

"No, no baby you can't sleep here." Chris had spent nights sleeping on sofas or in plastic chairs at hospitals or on sets or planes or travelling and it did him no favours and he knew this wouldn't be much help to (Y/n). She couldn't sleep the night in the chair sat upright it wasn't going to be good for her.

When Chris pushed himself to his feet and tried to reach for (Y/n) she shook her head again before tears started to fall from her eyes that she couldn't stop.

"I don't want to move." (Y/n) snapped her eyes closed, unable to stop herself from choking on a sob burning in her throat. It had taken her over five minutes to manage to get from their bedroom down into the living room, there was no way she could make it back up those stairs right now, she doubted she could get off the chair and stand up.

Chris bit down on his lower lip as he winced, unsure what he was meant to do now. He couldn't go back upstairs or go to sleep with (Y/n) down here especially when he knew she was in pain. But he couldn't force her to go back to bed either, especially if it was only going to cause her more pain and aggravation.

Leaning over, he brushed his thumb over her neck as he dipped his head down to kiss her, trying his best to calm her down and show her that it was okay.

"Alright, alright, if you feel better then we'll stay here for a while." He whispered the words quietly against her lips before pulling back, seeing the frown on (Y/n)'s lips at his words before she realised what he meant and what he was doing.

Moving over to the sofa, Chris grabbed one of the blankets still their from earlier on in the evening before he moved back over to the armchair. (Y/n) was sat forward at an angle, leaning on the right arm of the chair which gave Chris the space and chance to climb on the chair behind her. He moved (Y/n) as gently as he could manage until she was sat between his legs and he placed the blanket on her lap for her to rest over them both.

"No, Chris go to bed-"

"If you're staying down here then so am I. Try and lean back against me, it might help." Chris rested his firm hands on her shoulders, slowly guiding (Y/n) to lean back, knowing it was hard with how her back was tensing. When (Y/n) slowly leaned her back against Chris' chest, she slumped down just a little so there was a small ounce of space between them to stop any pressure. Laying flat on her back was not a good idea, but leaning against Chris like this at an angle felt a lot less tense and easier already.

(Y/n) laid the cover over them both before she tilted her head back to look up at Chris who was almost asleep already.

"Thank you." She mumbled quietly, turning her head so she could press a gentle kiss to his bare chest before she attempted to close her eyes, hoping this time that she could get some sleep.

"G'night doll."

#chris evans #chris evans imagine #chris x reader #dad! chris #imagine #captain america

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paramemetual · 6 years

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Get It Together (Part 3)

This is at like chapter 12 on AO3 I’m just lazy here you go lol

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14165397/chapters/32650680

Over the course of their friendship, the Activity Club and the “Jang” merged, hanging out more and more. Izzy, Ed, Isaac, and Max worked to be better influences on Ollie, Stephen, RJ, and Johnny, who in turn tried to cause as much semi-violent chaos as possible.

Near death and near punishable by death situations drew the group closer together, and this was solidified by countless movie nights and trips to the lake. It also clued the groups in on obvious mushy feelings between two of their friends.

“So when exactly are you going to tell him?” Izzy said, plopping her lunch tray down next to Max, who was staring at his food. Johnny managed to get a lunch detention by speaking up when the substitute refused to use they/them pronouns for RJ. He, Max, Stephen, Cody, Izzy, Ed, and Ollie had after school detention for two weeks, but Johnny managed to snag a lunch detention. It left Max oddly lonely, even though all of his other friends were on their way or already at the table they usually sat at.

“What do you mean?” Max asked, crunching on some cafeteria ‘Mashed potatoes’.

“Dude, Johnny has missed thirteen days of school in the past eighteen months, and every time you look like a puppy that was drowned in tears.” Ed materialized behind Izzy.

“So what do you want me to tell him? That we’re friends?”

“I can’t tell if he’s being snarky of if he’s actually that stupid.” Izzy narrowed her eyes.

“I think he’s stupid.” Ed nodded. “That is genuine confusion.”

“What?”

“He’s pining and he doesn’t even know it.”

“What?” Max shrieked, not at all like an eight year old girl. "I am not pining- I-"

“Ed, text Isaac he’s gonna lose it.” Izzy grinned.

“Will do.” Ed whipped out his phone.

“Now, Max, because you’re so emotionally detached, this will be hard to hear.” Izzy began. “But you look at Johnny middlename Jhonny like he hung the moon.”

“He regularly carries you in his arms.”

“You fell asleep on top of him in Spender’s car after we brought him to fight that one metal guy.”

“He caught on fire because you hugged him after we all almost died.”

“You looked like you were going to catch on fire when you took him to the movies that one time.”

“You welded him things.”

“You are both pining so hard. It hurts us.” Isabella finished.

“I- I am not- he- I-” Max spluttered, face burning.

“Max, you’re pining.” Ed told him.

“So when are you gonna tell him?”

“No?” Max tried.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Izzy asked.

“Well saying ‘never would confirm your wild accusations, so No.”

“You literally just confirmed it with that statement.” Ed told Max.

“C’mon, no time like the present?” Izzy asked him as Max put his head onto the table.

“Johnny.”

Ollie and Stephen could not get Johnny to answer, because he was staring aggressively at the wall while occasionally sparking and smoking from his hair and arms. The Jang thought it was flipping sweet that they had bonfire for a friend, but this was getting worrying.

“Johnny?” RJ tried. Emotionally supporting friends is the most metal thing you can ever do. Johnny finally turned eyes narrowed and pointed at the floor in concentration. It was midnight at Ollie’s house.

“Guys.” He said.

“What’s up dude, you okay?” Ollie asked.

“I do believe I’ve got’n myself a code Swingset.” Johnny told him, still staring at the ground.

“Oh yeah, we figured.” Stephen said.

“What ?”

“Johnny you look at Max like he painted the sky.” RJ told him. Metaphors are also metal.

“You regularly carry 'im in your arms.”

“You broke into his house at four in the morning because you missed him.”

“He let you stay even though you broke into his house at four in the morning.”

“You caught on fire when he hugged you.”

“He took you to the movies.”

“You fought four East Hill thugs on your own, because one punched him.”

“You’ve been pining for a while bud, and so has he.” RJ finished.

“I hate that.” Johnny said. “I can’t punch feelings.”

“Well, you can act on em’” Stephen announced. “We’ve got your back you short lovesick fool.”

“I’ll pummel you, ya giant freakazoid.”

“After we help you kiss kiss fall in love.”

“Ollie-”

“OHSHC is a classic Stephen- RJ shut up- you know what I mean!”

Johnny put his head onto the table next to him.

Due to the realized pining, the following meetings between Max and Johnny were awkward, to say the least. Johnny stared a bit too long at him when Max was laughing, and Max kept ducking his head and avoiding eye contact while talking. Their respective friend groups were now dead set on ending the pining and just getting them together.

“And then I tell the guy, no, I ain’t done hangin yer back pack from this tree,” Johnny says, continuing an anecdote form one of his first encounters with an East Hill kid.

“What was he even going to do, I guarantee you they can’t climb a thing in those dumb uniforms” Max said.

“Exactly, so he can’t get me, or ‘is bag.” Johnny nodded. “So I’m thinkin’ I’m free as a bird, but-”

From the bushes nearby, Isaac and RJ watched, waiting for the two to pass. When they finally did, RJ stuck their hand out and grabbed Max’s akle, tripping him.

Max fell, but before he could smack his head on something or even get close enough to the ground to, Johnny caught him.

“You good Mux?” Johnny asked. Max wasn’t one to trip over air.

“I- uh, yeah. hey, th-thanks man.” Max replied as Johnny pulled him upright.

“Never took you ta be so clumsy.” Johnny said.

“I’m usually not and you know it, hothead.” Max told him. “THe sidewalk was probably raised or something.”

“Yeah sure, I think ya might just be losin’ yer touch.” Johnny said. The two continued walking, and Isaac and RJ didn’t miss the fact that they were still holding hands.

Next time the Jang and the Activity club got to work on Operation BullyMagnet was a little trickier. They waited for Max and Johnny to invite everyone somewhere, something that rarely happened, and then they would proceed to “leave” early and end with Max and Johnny alone.

“See ya man, sucks that ya all had ta leave so soon.” Johhny said, clapping Ollie on the back.

“Next time for sure buddy.” Ollie said, the door of the diner shutting behind him.

“Well, that wasn’t weird at all.” Max said.

“Whatcha mean?”

“Everyone just kind of, suspiciously left, and I’m pretty sure that’s Izzy behind the tree outside.” Max replied, chewing on the straw of his soda.

“I think I’m startin’ ta see where you’re comin’ from, but why’d they all leave just to go all missio imposs’ble?” Johnny asked.

“I dunno, but after we eat, you wanna play Mario Kart at your place?”

“Can I be Bowser?”

“Last time you were Bowser you almost broke the wii remote.”

“That’s the point, Muxie.”

“It literally isn’t, but sure, you can be Bowser.”

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dragon-fics · 4 years

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S&H: Ch. 18 Holiday Season

Chapter summary: It’s winter time, so you know what that means....

Notes, Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Ch. 4, Ch. 5, Ch. 6, Ch. 7, Ch. 8, Ch. 9, Ch. 10, Ch. 11, Ch. 12, Ch. 13, Ch. 14, Ch. 15, Ch. 16, Ch. 17, Ch. 18, Ch. 19, Ch. 20, Ch. 21, Ch. 22, Ch. 23, Ch. 24, Ch. 25, Ch. 26, Ch. 27

“Well, the holiday comes from over a thousand years ago when dragons helped most of Roania survive a great famine. Hence the reason it’s called the Feast of Generosity,” Zion explained. He had got Molten to come back over to Roania, just two weeks before his Christmas exams started, to have him join in on the end-of-November Roanian celebration.

“And even after the war, you still celebrate it?” Molten asked as he walked down the stairs to the castle’s dining room. He had dressed up in a black suit and white shirt, though he felt bad for wearing jeans to the feast, seeing as it was so important to his boyfriend and his people.

“Yes,” Zion replied bluntly, unsure of why Molten asked such a question. “Just because we blamed Wyrmia for starting the war—whether or not it was an accident—doesn’t mean we forget about how Wyrmia aided us in the past.”

Molten lifted his chin understandingly. “Riiiight,” he said, accepting that this holiday meant a lot to the people of Roania.

He tugged on the jacket of his suit. “Do I look acceptable?” He asked Zion. Zion took a quick scan of his outfit—he wore a red tailcoat jacket, white shirt, neckerchief and suit trousers. Very formal.

“Eh... Yeah, pretty much.” He stopped by the doors to the dining room. “Ready to join us in this Roanian feast?” He asked, reaching for the handle on the door.

Molten fixed his hair in the reflection of the chequered tiles beneath him.

“You look fine,” Zion insisted. He fixed his jacket a bit and pecked him on the lips. “I promise.”

Molten paused and looked down at Zion. “All right,” he drew in a breath, “I’m ready.”

*-*-*-*

“Just remember, you wanted to see how Wyrmia celebrated Christmas,” Molten said, pulling up outside his parents’ home.

“I still don’t see why I have to wear this though,” Zion complained, pulling down his navy Christmas jumper to inspect it, with its centrepiece white snowman with a red hat and buttons sewn on as, and falling snow in the background.

“It’s part of our tradition,” Molten said. “And it’s for a bit of fun.”

“You say that because you have a reindeer on yours with a bright red pompom. It’s cute... That and you’re used to it,” Zion said, mimicking a posture of a child told that had to do something they didn’t want to.

Molten shook his head. “And I thought I was a big child,” he muttered. “At least help me carry in the presents.”

Zion nodded.

*-*-*-*

“You’re such a sore loser,” Molten said as Zion pouted, having lost another game of table hockey to Molten.

Zion stood on the other side, his arms folded and head high. “Am not.”

Blaze laughed, the sound echoed through warm the basement. Molten placed his puck on the table and walked over to the pool table, taking a sip from his bottle of beer.

“Yeah, yeah.” Molten sat down on one beanbag in front of the old TV, hooked up a Wii console and his Xbox console which he’d brought over. Blaze and CJ had finished a round of Mario Kart.

“Ready to face the champ of this game, CJ?” Called Firestrike, already taking Molten’s spot at the table.

CJ sighed dramatically. “I suppose.”

“Good luck,” Blaze said, handing Molten the other controller.

Zion moved in beside them.

“You’re on,” Molten said, starting up his character.

Gaming with Zion was an interesting experience. He was good but violent; even in a game like Mario Kart. Both of them were determined to win the races they chose. Eventually Molten had to let him win, so they could get down to dinner.

“Ha!” Zion shouted, jumping to his feet. Molten stifled a laugh.

“All right, I admit it, you’re good.”

“You know it, Flarescales.” Molten chuckled and got to his feet, just as Jasmine called them for dinner.

*-*-*-*

“And here he is when he joined secondary school,” Jasmine said, showing the picture of Molten’s first year class to Zion. He was about twelve, maybe thirteen. His fringe wasn’t as long and his build wasn’t as strong. Actually, he was nowhere near as fit as he was now. He was a plump boy, chubby all over. Zion wondered why he had never seen pictures of Molten when he was young. This was the first time he had seen Molten when he was young. Was he embarrassed about it?

It had been a few hours since the Christmas dinner. They had filled the room with music, laughter and the festive spirit all afternoon. The sun was fading now and the Christmas tree shone brightly, lots of gifts still waiting to be unwrapped.

Molten was at the sink, elbow high in suds as he washed the pots and dishes that had been used in the making of the festive meal. Blaze stood beside him, drying said dishes when Molten had finished with them.

“I think Mam is showing him the photo album,” he said, rubbing down the glass tray they had cooked the roast potatoes in.

“Which one?” Asked Molten, lifting out a small pot, not taking his eyes off his work.

“Yours.”

Molten paused for a moment. “Right,” he said, trying to lighten his mood with some humour. “Well, there’s nothing I can hide now, right?” He said, trying to laugh.

Blaze saw his mood drop. Usually, he would have ignored it and moved on with his chore, but he didn’t. After all, he was trying to reinvent himself. With both his siblings now dating their chosen ones, he needed to lure his own. He looked to his damp tea towel, so what better way to lighter his brother’s mood that with a bit of playtime.

He whipped Molten with the tea towel, dampening his light blue shirt. Molten paused, looking at his brother slowly, before hitting him with a mass of suds.

“You’re in for it now, you little prick,” he threatened under his breath. Blaze lifted his arms to shield his eyes from the suds. He hit Molten again with the damp cloth. Molten grabbed another tea towel from the counter and wet it in the water. He whipped Blaze across the chest with it.

“Hey! Mine’s not that wet!” He protested. He dipped his towel into the sink and whipped Molten back. they exchanged wet blows for a few minutes.

“Boys. Boys!” Their dam called. “I’d like to those dishes done soon.” She warned.

Molten sighed, a smile firm on his face, and placed his towel back on the counter. He and Blaze continued their chore. It was another while before they finished, but when they did, they treated themselves to another beer.

And then it was time for presents.

It was a quick ceremony of thank you’s and opening gifts. Within minutes, they covered the carpeted floor of the living room with torn Christmas wrapping paper. Zion sat on the armrest of the couch, leaning against Molten as he unwrapped what his family had given him; thinking about taking a few back home—if he could get his hands on them.

Soon after, most of the family disappeared to their rooms to experiment with the new gadgets. They left Molten and Zion in the living room. He cleaned up the beer bottle and cups strewn around the room. As he was putting some cups in the dishwasher, his favourite Christmas song came on the stereo, Christmas Stuff. he swung his shoulders to the beat and closed up the dishwasher.

Zion opened his mouth to tell him there was more to go into the machine, but Molten took the mugs from him and took his hands in his.

“What are you—?” He was cut off by Molten singing.

"I wanna do Christmas stuff Just like we used to do when we were all little kids and Santa brought toys for me and you."

He spun Zion around and he danced with him at a fast pace. Zion recognised it as a jive, from his ballroom lessons as a teenager.

"I wanna build a snowman Find a tree and hang some lights Wanna get some mistletoe Make it Christmas eve every night Wanna present that no three or four Hang some holly on your door And throw little snow on the ground Just to make it right."

Zion smiled as Molten sang along with their dance. They never lost their rhythm, they just kept going and Molten’s voice was as smooth as ever.

"I wanna do Christmas stuff with you Maybe if we put cookies and milk You’ll never know We just might hear someone say ‘Ho Ho Ho’!"

Molten spun him around again and started the last chorus.

"I wanna do Christmas stuff Just like we used to do When we were all little kids and Santa Brought toys for me and you I wanna believe that just believing is Enough to make every dream come true I wanna do Christmas stuff with you Yeah, I wanna do Christmas stuff with you Yeah, I wanna do Christmas stuff With you."

Molten pulled Zion in close, smiling.

“I love you, Molten,” Zion said, leaning up towards him.

Molten smiled. “I love you, too, Zion.” He pecked him on the lips, getting a kiss in return. “Merry Christmas.”

#Scales and Hooves

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sonodaten · 6 years

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Yesterday was my birthday, and I got to thinking (my immortal enemy)

Under cut for sensitive subjects; check tags for warning

I tried to kill myself for the first time on April 14th, 2008. I was 13 years old.

Money was tight. Mom and Dad were constantly fighting. The economy was crashing, and they were putting even more pressure on me to do well in school so I could got to a good college and get a good job so I could support the family. I was bullied at school for everything I did, and even when I decided to do nothing, I was bullied for that too. I didn’t have many friends, and because of my parents’ belief that I needed to be the one to support the family, the relationship between my siblings and I was strained to an all-time high.

Our parents had decided after getting us the Wii for Christmas that if we wanted any more video games (aimed more at my brother and I than our sister; she never really got into them as much as us), we were going to have to save up for them ourselves. They had also started borrowing money from me to pay for gas, saying that they would pay me back once they got paid. But they didn’t. They were busy, I assumed, and just forgot. They’d remember.

But one day, a new game came out that I really wanted, and was short for when I checked my savings. So I asked my mother for some of the money she said she was going to pay me back. She went ballistic, and she didn’t speak to me for two days after that. Around noon on the third day, she called me into the home office as I was heading upstairs and threw a check for $120 dollars at me and said “Now I don’t owe you anything.” To this day, I still think I have that check stuffed away somewhere. I never cashed it.

That pushed me over the edge. I felt alone. I felt hated. I felt useless. I felt like a burden on everyone, and that their lives would be much better without me. After all, it’s much cheaper to support only two kids instead of three, right? Other kids would get more attention in school if I wasn’t there, right? No friends to miss me because there weren’t any, right? My siblings wouldn’t constantly feel so stupid and neglected by our parents if they weren’t so fixated on me doing well, right?

Nothing could hurt more than this, right?

So I went to the discount store one day, bought some rope, and tried to hang myself. Needless to say, it didn’t work. I laid there for what felt like hours, feeling like the penultimate failure: the one thing I could do to fix everything, and I had managed to fuck up that to. I threw the rope into the trash barrel in the garage and sat in my room and cried. I ate dinner that night and went to school the next day and the next day and the next day running completely on muscle memory. I couldn’t feel anything for months after that. It was like I had died, but my body didn’t know it yet. I finished 7th grade. Finished 8th grade. Started high school.

I graduated as the Salutatorian.

I got into one of the best STEM schools in the country.

I came out.

I fell in love.

I joined a sorority.

I met someone who I’m positive is my other half.

I saved someone’s life.

I studied abroad.

I started seeing a therapist.

I found something I love to do.

I graduated with Distinction with a job already lined up.

I adopted a cat.

I finally got to play Kingdom Hearts III.

I got into a PhD program at an Ivy League school.

Yesterday marks my tenth birthday since I tried to kill myself. I have tried one other time since then (end of sophomore/beginning of junior year of college were rough for me). I’m 24. It’s crazy to say that, when I thought for years I wouldn’t make it to 20. That I could never picture myself growing old or even middle-aged because I thought the world--living in general--just wasn’t something I had. I felt like I just had to go through the motions for everything because I had an expiration date that was quickly approaching.

If you’ve ever been like me, or if you’re going through this now--I know how you feel. I’ve hit rock bottom; I’ve clawed, scratched, and bled to pull myself out; and I’ve fallen plenty of times along the way. There are still days where I can’t get myself out of bed. There are still days where even the bare minimum takes everything out of me. There are still days where I look back on younger me and hate her--hate myself--for what happened. But there are also days where I can wake up and am genuinely happy to be alive (after I go through the seven stages of grief because, you know, AWAKE).

If thirteen year old me could meet twenty-four year old me, could hear everything that I’ve gotten to do, the opportunities I’ve had, I know she’d be surprised, maybe even a little doubtful.

“Twenty-four?” She’d scoff. “I’m never going to be that old.”

“Yes, you will. You’ll live ten years of life, and it’ll have felt like 30 minutes. Ten years worth of moments that will take your breath away. Ten years worth of learning. Ten years worth of lives changed simply because you came into them. Ten years worth of experiences that will change how you see the world forever. Ten years worth of love. They won’t all be good, and some of them will hurt, but the worst is over now. There is nothing braver that I’ll ever do than what you’re doing right now. I know everyone gets hung up on our brain, but believe me when I say that we’re strongest here.” And I’ll point to our heart. “The heart is the strongest weapon of all.”

And then thirteen year old me would viciously drag me for making a Kingdom Hearts reference, but it would all be in good fun.

I think one day I’ll be able to look back on thirteen year old me and not feel some sort of resentment, shame, or anger. I was just a kid in a tough situation, that’s all. You weren’t a bad person, you were just a person in a bad situation. It takes one step at a time, but I think one day we’ll get there.

So, happy twenty-fourth birthday, thirteen year old me.

We made it.

#personal #suicide cw #suicide mention #suicide attempt cw

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randomisedgaming · 8 years

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Castlevania II: Simon's Quest - Review - Vol 20

Format: Nintendo Entertainment System Publisher: Konami Developer: Konami Release year: 1987 Genre: Platformer / RPG

Randomised Gaming reviewed the European Nintendo Entertainment System version of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest on both the original NES at 50hz & the Wii U Virtual Console at 60hz. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest was originally released on the Famicom Disc System in Japan. However, for the western release it was changed to a cartridge game.

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If you ask any uninformed fan of the Castlevania series, known as Akumajo Dracula in Japan “what do you think of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest?”. You will likely get a response along the lines of “that the rubbish one on the NES”. Sadly that's the all to common line you hear on this game, even from some fellow reviewers, many of whom sound like they've played Castlevania II for five minutes and decided that it must be a bad game as it plays differently to the original Castlevania. Giving up on the game after about twenty minutes of play or just throwing the joypad at the wall at the slightest hint of frustration. Although it has to be said in many ways Castlevania II is far less annoying than its predecessor on NES.

In fact this is a good example of how a hardcore fan base can actually damage the design and evolution of a franchise. As they will often cry fowl at the mere hint of change even if that change is for the better. While lapping up identical sequels that take the series backwards in game design and ultimately costing franchise sales in the long run, as everyone gets sick of playing the same game time after time. During the NES era companies were far more willing to make braver design choices (in part due to the much lower cost of games development back then) between games, even if it meant making a game very different from the previous title in the series. Konami did just that with Castlevania II when they released it. As a result Castlevania II, sits alongside games like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Fire Emblem Gaiden, Resident Evil 4 & Final Fantasy XII all of which break the series mould and do something a bit different from the previous games.

Simon's Quest is far from your average Castlevania game

Now these new ideas don't always work and all the above-mentioned games have plenty of flaws, but they also do a lot of things very right and it's fair to say the previous games in all the aforementioned series also have their own sets of problems.

Historically Konami's games tended to have a very arcade feel in design, owing to their arcade heritage. The first Castlevania stayed true to this heritage and is a fast-paced action platformer that sees you fighting across six stages to defeat Dracula. Each stage has its own boss and enemies, the game only uses two buttons one for whip attack and the other for jump. Like any arcade game it can be finished in around an hour and is very easy to pickup and play.

If you are expecting a straight sequel to the original Castlevania you would be solely disappointed. As Castlevania II is clearly heavily inspired by two earlier released Famicom Disk System games in the form of Zelda II & Metroid both of which had been released within the previous year. It's not hard to see why some fans hate Castlevania II as the start is very different than the previous game seeing Simon Belmont arriving in a town and able to talk with the various NPCs who live there. You are also given the choice to freely explore the village and the surrounding areas at your own pace, giving the game a much more RPG feel than its predecessor. The original game on the other hand throws you straight into the first stage of Dracula's castle, knee deep in zombies and other monsters. It's classic arcade game stage design, with an added timer to keep the player moving and the usual boss at the end of every level.

While it may not have as much jumping as previous games there’s still some tricky platform sections in there.

Just because a game is different in a series to previous instalments doesn't mean it should be treated like some possessed monster that's threatening to blow up the world and shunned at parties. If you liked the original Castlevania, then you're more likely to enjoy Castlevania III Dracula's Curse on NES. That said Dracula's Curse is a little bit of a hybrid of both previous NES games and Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania Chronicles & Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth are the closest titles in gameplay and mechanics to the original. Now that I've covered that point, if you're still complaining about the fact it's a bit different from the first game, get lost.

Approaching and playing Castlevania II: Simon's Quest as a game is somewhat different to other titles in the series. This is not a pickup and play game, this is a game that will absorb hours of your life as you wander Transylvania in search of Dracula's body parts. This is an open world, platformer and role playing game hybrid that forces you to interact and explore the world like no other game in the series. To start with you would do well to grab yourself a pen and paper as you're going to need to keep a map of your adventure. Secondly, see that NES box you took the cartridge out of, well inside it is something called a manual and before you do anything open it up and read every page. It's going to teach you a thing or two about the game and the items you will need on your adventure. The 3DS and Wii U version both come with a digital manual so press the Home button then press the button on the right of the screen that you've never touched before, with the word manual on it! If for any reason you don't have a manual then it's going to be a bumpy start.

Amazing the things we had to do in the 80s and 90s video games didn't hold your hand back then. Unlike some of the later towns in the game Jova provides you with some good information to get started. However, the game does have two core problems from the out set that do hinder your progress in the game. First, is the poor quality of the English dialogue from the villages with much of it being random gibberish at best “Don't look into the death star or you will die.” is one catchy piece of dialogue, but a nod to Star Wars isn't going to help anyone. Neither are the lines “Hit Deborah Cliff with your head to make a hole” or “To restore your life, shout in front of the church“ which don't really help anyone. Part of the reason for this is the fact that the Japanese text in the FDS release is also little better than gibberish. The reason for this is the other big bugbear I have with the game and that is that many of the core mechanics are either poorly explained or unexplained in the game entirely.

No true game in the series would be complete without a battle with old fanged tooth himself at the end

One of which the manual hints at, but doesn't fully explain is that each different type of non player character in town has different odds of telling the truth or not. The manual just mentions about the odd town prankster, when in fact the sprite used for the NPC is the key to knowing if what they say is useful or not. Old men NPCs largely give you good advise around 75% of the time, Young men are around 50% and female NPCs both young and old are around 25%. Finally, Gypsies will always offer to sell or give you items that will help you in your journey.

As the previously mentioned three quotes all come from NPCs it's fair to say they are all lies. For example, another NPC from a different village tell you this “You look pale, my son you must rest in the church” so we can tell from this line the other quote is a lie.

Most of the real clues in fact come from the thirteen clue books / tomes that are hidden inside destroyable holy water walls, all over the world. These clues are vital if you plan to finish the game and includes hints such as “Clear a path at Berkeley mansion with a white crystal”, “To replenish earth, kneel by the lake with the blue crystal” & “Wait for a soul with a red crystal on Deborah Cliff”. They're still a little bit cryptic, but they give you a very good idea as to what to do, at certain locations. Some other reviewers mistakenly seem to think that the previously mentioned Deborah Cliff dialogue is a mistranslated hint, it isn't. Rather it is intended as an insult to Simon as it comes from a female NPC who thinks Simon is trying to chat her up, the Japanese text for that NPC is also largely the same. So finding the clue book is vital to working out what the red crystal does. It is fair to say that one or two of the clue books are badly translated, but nothing that's going to hugely spoil your game.

If trying to solve clues and puzzles isn't your thing then this is not a game for you, but as someone who grew up on the Dizzy adventure games it is very much my cup of tea. There's something quite exciting and indeed euphoric the moment you solve a puzzle for the first time, specially if you've been at a loss for the past thirty minutes as to what to do. Ultimately many gamers may decide to use a guide and there's no real shame in that. It really depends on how much time you have to explore the game fully. As finishing the game without a guide will probably take around 10-15 hours and involve throwing a lot of holy water around. In many ways the game has an 80/90s home computer feel in some aspects of its game's design, certainly in the way you have to explore the world to figure out problems.

The thirteen hidden clue books are the key to finishing the game without a guide. Typos and misspelling add to the difficulty of solving them

Combat works just the same as any other Castlevania, outside of the towns various monsters block your paths from Skeletons, Werewolves, Mummies and the series favourite Medusa Heads. Most can be dealt with a few well timed whip strikes, but as this is an open world game, the strength of the enemies grows the closer you get to Dracula's castle. So running off to Deborah Cliffs without an upgraded whip and a few level ups to your name, is just asking for trouble. As with any good Castlevania there's even a few boss fights, but with only three bosses in the game, Death, Carmilla and Dracula. Most of the dungeons in-game are rather anticlimactic with little more than an empty room with an orb in it at the end.

Weapon upgrades and secondary weapons are permanent this time around and you can freely change between them. Only consumable items need to be repurchased, so you only need to keep an eye on how many Laurels & Garlic you are currently carrying. Although you can also only hold one oak stake at any time and this has to be used to obtain a body part of Dracula from each dungeon. Hence, why they are also only ever sold in castles and dungeons.

Collectable hearts once again act as ammunition for sub-weapons, this time round they also act as the local currency and as experience points. Making them a key tool for both trading with Gypsies and for increasing Simon's power. Likely due to a quirk of binary you can only hold 256 hearts at any one time, so if you plan on buying a morning star whip best not to go crazy with the sub-weapons while you're saving up for it. The level up system that goes along with heart collecting is also fairly restrictive, you gain your first level at 100 exp and after that at every fifty to hundred intervals. What's not made clear to the player is that all monsters have their own hidden level stats and once Simon's level is above a monster's level. Hearts dropped by that monster will no longer award experience just currency. It's also fairly easy to reach the maximum level in-game even if it does require a bit of heart farming in the last castle. While levelling up Simon isn't required it does make the game slightly easier due to the increased health, attack & defence you gain.

Neither Death or Carmilla will offer much challenge for series veterans

Death in Castlevania II is nothing to be feared as you can continue from the spot where you died. Removing any gameplay frustration and giving the game a very smooth and balanced difficulty, very much in the same manner as the series golden child Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Which is in direct contrast to Castlevania I & III on the NES, which both make plenty of use of trial and error gameplay, along with trying to knock you into an instance death trap at almost every moment. Both games are not for the quick to angrier as they deliberately used these frustrating gameplay tricks to slow your progress in game, something Castlevania II never does. Instead Simon's Quest encourages you to explore the world. Yes there are the odd cheeky moments like invisible holes in the floor and walls in the odd dungeon, but these tricks aren't overly used and you won't find yourself unceremoniously dumped back at the start of the stage when you lose a continue. Finally, it's best we don't discuss the golden dagger Death drops, as it's the best secondary weapon in the game and can be used to stun lock and quickly finish any enemy in the game including Dracula. So if you want to kill off any remaining challenge just equip it.

While the original Japanese FDS release included a save system this has been replaced with a password system for the NES version. That allows you to continue from the town of Jova with all your collected items and gear intact, this is a much needed feature as you certainly won't be finishing Castlevania II in a single sitting, first time around.

Towns cease being a place of refuge once night falls

Another huge part of the game is the day and night system, at first glance it appears just to act to create a real time world feeling. However, secretly it also affects which of the endings the player will see upon finishing the game. The in-game clock can be checked in the inventory menu and during the hours of 6am to 18pm the world is in daylight. During these hours monsters have reduced health and you can converse with the town folk. When night falls however, the town folk, border up their doors as the towns become overrun with monsters and all world map enemies also get increased health. The night can be a lonely time in this world, as even the church won't allow you to enter preventing you from restoring your health. This clever system make for interesting gameplay as timing when and where to travel is vital if you plan to finish the game within eight days to see the best ending. As the last thing you want is to arrive at a village in the dead of night and have to wait until morning, before you can heal up and trade for essential items. The in-game timer takes around ten minutes to cover a full day. However, the clock remains static inside buildings and dungeons.

One complain that should be mentioned is the lack of a world map both in-game or in the manual. While drawing your own map might be fun it's not what a gamer wants to do and this is in fact an oversight by Konami's North American and European branches. As a map was included in the Japanese manual and it should also have been included in the western one. Without it exploring the world is a bit of a daunting task at first and you also misses a few major location clues as a result, to where certain castles are in-game.

The lost map from the Japanese Famicom Disk System manual, this is the colour version

Despite the complains of some fans Castlevania II mechanics both new and old work together really well. The day and night system encourages players to keep moving and thinking about where they are going. Hidden secrets and a huge open world forces you to explore every nook and cranny. Controls are as tight and rigid as the first game and the jumping is the same pixel perfect weighted feel as well. Weapon collision is also pretty much spot on and every hit you take feels like it's down to your own mistakes. The puzzles and clues also test you too the max, sometimes a little too much.

The game in many ways is perhaps a little too ambitious, there is no question it is a big game and far bigger than the original. That comes at a cost and the graphic and music do suffer as a result as it appears that Konami were getting a bit low on space for some aspects.

The graphics themselves look good for a NES title with some nice bold and well drawn 2D sprites. With all the various monsters looking very different too one another, there's not a huge amount of animation in many of the sprites, but that's part of the course for early NES games, but it's fair to say games like Kirby's Adventure are far more animated in comparison. One thing to note is that some sprites do seem slightly smaller than a few of their counter parts from the original game. The bigger enemies from the first game like the skeleton dragons have been scaled back somewhat. Even Death looks like he's been on a bit of a gaming diet too.

Skeleton dragons are just one of the many undead foes that return from the first game

What does become apparent, is the heavy reuse of some monster sprites, castles & dungeons primarily only use the same four sprites which include Skeletons, knights, gargoyles and slime leeches, the odd bat and spider can be found in a few of the later castles for good measure. What's strange about this is the fact that there are a huge number of different types of monsters on the world map. Wolves, flame men and man eating plants only appear in only one or two scenes each, where as mummies, dragon heads, medusa heads, ravens and zombies are just some of the many monsters that only appear in the open world. It makes for some needlessly bland castles and just leaves you guessing as to why this is?

The level design and background art also suffer from much the same issue. As nice as they look the backgrounds are reused far too much. All the castles use the same title set just in a different colour, the original Castlevania used a different theme for each stage, making you feel as if you were exploring ruined hallways, walking atop the battlements, crawling through dimly lit caves and climbing the rusty cogs of the old clock tower. That's all gone replaced at large with the same forest or dead forest background in the open world. The towns do the same trick as the castles and just largely change colour and the inside of houses all use the same layout format regardless of which town you're in. Castles also use the same type of level design and most follow a square box layout, so don't expect any interesting tower designs like the rather awesome clock tower seen in Castlevania III.

Castle to castle they really don't change that much between them

Another quirk of the level design is the boss rooms as you can walk straight past Death or Carmilla if you want just leaving them floating in the air. Both also re-spawn if you defeat them and re-enter their room straight after. Quite why the game doesn't just lock you in the boss room, until you've defeated them and taken the equipment they drop is a mystery.

Looking at the world layout Castlevania II feels like the developers spent a lot of time on how the open world should play and only at the last minute remembered they needed to add in some castles and bosses. Either that or they knew they were running out of disk space at this point for the game and had to make some cuts to content. Whatever Konami's reasons behind these decisions they do impact and drag down the quality of the game.

The sound effects and music are both top class stuff. The sound design shows that even on a 8bit console you can still achieve great things. Simon's whip has a satisfactory lash sound and there's a clear thud after every jump and there's the standard stuff for killing enemies and picking up power ups and levelling up. A few grunts and shouts from the enemies would have been nice, other than that the sound effects achieve their task for the late 80s.

Much of the early part of Simon's journey will be spent in the forest

On the music front it's worth remembering that Konami altered the music for the NES release, so the music is slightly different in the FDS version. The highlight in this game is the daytime theme of Bloody Tears a series classic and a song directly written for this game. Most gamers will end up rocking their head to its beats, as you venture around Transylvania. There some other great music tracks in there as well and it's a NES game that really tries to deal with the restraints of the console sound hardware. There is one problem, however, and that's the lack of music, as most tunes are heavily repeated. Bloody Tears plays everywhere on the world in daytime and Curse Monster Dance is the same for the night. After about three hours or so of listing to both, you get a bit sick of hearing them and zone out to the music. Towns also use the same themes and only dungeons have a couple of different ones, but again they are repeated at least once. The final battle with Dracula and the ending do at least have their own music, but they aren't until right at the end of the game. Even Death and Carmilla lack their own music when you confront them, killing the atmosphere boss battles in the series traditionally have.

Uneasy mix of new ideas or the mad rants of crazed fans averse to change.

OK, so Castlevania II is not without flaws, but when you reflect and weigh up the pros versus the cons. Castlevania II has plenty more going for it than against, in fact in many areas it blows the first NES game out of the water. Until now this review has kept the mention of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to a minimum and the reason for that is to let readers understand how Simon's Quest works. As a large part of this review text could be dumped straight into a review of Symphony of the Night, as it wholesale borrows almost all of the gameplay mechanics from Castlevania II. Even the ferryman cameo's in both games, Symphony just has the advantage of being a bigger game with more polish and a ton of extra junk to collect. Seriously Alucard would be a walking tombstone by the end of Symphony with all the gear he's carrying by the end, Simon just packed his bags with only the required equipment he needed.

Castlevania II was perhaps a tad ambitious for 1987 game and the lack of cartridge / disk space for the time shows up in some of the design a little, if it had been made in say 1991, when bigger cartridges were available no doubt all the flaws would have been removed. Yet, when you compare it to the original NES Metroid, Simon's Quest hugely improves on the rather messy and almost unplayable Metroid these days. The development team clearly set out to make a better game than Metroid and they did in some style, even Metroid II is a far weaker game than Simon's Quest as both early Metroid games suffer from major copy and paste map design issues. It's fair to say the now coined phrase of Metroidvania, often is mistakenly used for Symphony of the Night being the first Metroid style game in the series. In fact that honour falls to Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.

The curse of the ferryman is just one puzzle that must be overcome, what part of Dracula is he seeking?

While finishing the game without resorting to looking at a guide even once is rather tricky, it's not impossible. Yes the translation isn't great, but most of the problems come from the poorly or unexplained mechanics like the clue books and Konami's oversight in not including and translating the Japanese map.

The rest of the game blends perfectly together to give you an open and enjoyable game. Yes, it isn't a game for everyone, if you like RPGs, puzzle and adventure games or are just a fan of Symphony of the Night then you will no doubt enjoy Simon's Quest. If you want a short arcade game that you can pickup and play straight away, then skip over this instalment of the series.

Of the three Castlevania games on the NES, Simon's Quest is the most well balanced, as the original Castlevania is too short, Castlevania III on the other hand make the difficulty as obtuse and obnoxious as possible to try and increase the game's length to the point where it becomes rather tedious to play on later stages. Spoiling the good design of the early levels, in many ways Simon's Quest is the best of the bunch on NES and certainly the one I had the most fun in playing through. It's also the most forward looking of the series in games design as even the later 16bit games such as Super Castlevania IV and Rondo of Blood for the large part stick with the original Castlevania's gameplay.

The church is the only place Simon can rest and restore health

I'm left feeling that Castlevania II largely gets a bad rap for no good reason, yes it has some problems, but so does just about every good NES game, nothings perfect. I suspect if this had just even been called “Simon's Quest: A Castlevania RPG” the game would have been more fairly treated by many. As it stands, if like me you enjoy a game that takes time to discover its secrets and gets your brain cells working as to where you need to go next, then you will have a lot of fun with this classic. As for that monster that fans ignore at the party, well if you sat down and actually chat with him you might discover he's rather friendly and not as menacing as everyone else makes out. It also turns out he's the father of the super popular kid, as without Simon's Quest there would have been no Symphony of the Night.

Review by Random Gamer Riven.

Twitter: RDGamerRiven

Email: [email protected]

Sources and sites of interest:

Castlevania Crypt fan site which included a great screenshot map of the game and the scans of the Japanese manual: http://www.castlevaniacrypt.com/

Japanese guide site that detailed many of the hidden game mechanics: http://castlevania.jp/a_main/03/index.html#m3

Simon's Quest dissected, a finnish site that details the original game script and the various mistakes and errors in the official translation. Also includes a fan patch for the NES game that addresses many of the problems with the game: http://bisqwit.iki.fi/cv2fin/diff

The video version of this review can be found here:

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