*Click*
A bluescreen comes to life, we hear the familiar sound of someone blowing into a cartridge. Then we hear a couple more clicks then the screen goes back before the screen displays the Pretendo Logo. Switching then to the Demo Screen of a small Yellow Puffball type character with nubby legs and tiny arms as it opens wide inhaling everything around it and as it does the Logo for the game is prominently displayed, “Jirby” as we see the little thing morph based upon what he breathes in. We hear the voice of Nox’s narration in the background.
“I’ve seen you. You stood at Lambs to the Slaughter, ate almost everything and everyone thrown at you, and stood up smiling just like our little ravenous friend here.”
The screen switches to level one, and we watch the Little Smiling “Jirby” as it inhales and consumes everything morphing to adapt to the enemies around him. Before he comes to a crossroads, a high road paved with coins or a low road with twisted carnival monsters and freaks in the way.
“Now, why does this look familiar? Do we take the high road where you’ll be fed a world of riches and become someone who not just chases money but needs it to exist? Or do we take the low road where you’ll become nothing but an attraction, an oddity, a freak dancing to someone else’s calliope music? Which road is best for you, eh, Jackdaw?”
As the little “Jirby” stands there a plume of gas appears in front of it and the little yellow blob opens wide and breathes it in. When he does this ”Jirby” begins flashing as it then is allowed to warp through the paths before him. As the warp ability dies down the screen darkens and what appears to be a glass chamber surrounds the titular character while a green-tinted gas cloud fills the chamber.
“But you know what your choices are, and we know how they’ll shape you. But what you don’t have a choice in is meeting me.”
Appearing on the screen is a creature that seems to be an empty, soulless, hazmat suit moving effortlessly through the green gas that now consumes the screen. As the Gasman strikes a pose the health bar for the “Jirby” begins steadily drain.
“What happens when you come up against something you can’t just consume, something that will eat you alive? What will you become then? As your life force is slowly sapped from you and it dawns on you that your original perception that you were on equal footing with this boss, that would be your biggest mistake because we are not equals.”
The “Jirby” attempts to open its maw and inhale the gas that surrounds it, but it quickly reverts into a puddle on the ground.
“Will they want you after this week, Jackdaw? Will they want the puddle left behind, think about that and breathe it in.”
The screen now sits stagnant flashing two words, “Game Over”.
-Cut-