Apple Newton Chapter 1: Happy Apple Farm
Being my age you got the privilege to see the earliest days of the video game industry evolve into what they are now. Yes, I’m a bit of an old fart. I was born in 1975 so I was 10 years old when the original Super Mario Bros. came out on the NES. It was my first console and we got the Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt bundle. From there I collected other such games. Contra, Dr. Mario, Friday the 13th and so much more. I was a teenager when the Super Nintendo was released and have had just as many fond memories with it as well. Discovering the Top Secret Area and how to beat Super Mario World without even completing world 2 made me feel like a total genius.
As time went on I still collected video games. PlayStation, Xbox, Wii, PS4 and the Switch were only just a few to name. It was amazing seeing video games evolve. Going from 2 bits to 8 bits and 16 bits. Then breaking into the 3rd dimension with simple polygons and now being able to replicate reality to the closest it’s ever been. And don’t even get me started on Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality.
But I can’t deny that the classics always drew me back in. It may be just nostalgia but I’m not a big fan of many modern games. Live service games feel like too much of a commitment and I was more of a fan of action rather than the slow cinematics that have become so popular. Thankfully the indie scene does help me scratch that itch with some retro inspired titles. Super Meat Boy, Shovel Knight, Pizza Tower and Freedom Planet send me back in a fresh new way.
I occasionally like to go to retro game stores to see if there are any classics I may have missed out on. But it really seems like all that’s like is standard sports titles. Most of which I already own. And the ones that weren’t were way too expensive for me to even consider grabbing. Sometimes retro game stores love to rank up prices either based on the popularity of franchises or if a popular YouTuber reviewed a game they just so happen to have. Trust me the second is way more common than you’d like to think.
Thankfully antique stores can sometimes have retro games. Even if the quality and quantity may be smaller they are at least far cheaper than most retro game stores. So even if they don’t work I’m not losing as much as I would with an overpriced retro game store.
My collection is still ever growing to this day. Think like the set of Angry Video Game Nerd but split in half. Just look at my NES collection. Super Mario Bros. 3, Jaws, Ghostbusters 2, Donkey Kong collection, Castlevania and…hello? What is this?
I may be almost 50 but you’d think I’d remember getting a game like this. It was near the beginning of my collection as I put everything in alphabetical order. It was an NES game with a white side label that had the words Apple Newton written in sharpie. I pulled the game out and the front cover was the same. I thought maybe someone had covered the real game with a blank piece of paper but no, this label was glued on like the rest.
I had never heard of a game called Apple Newton before. So I decided to do a quick Google search. The only things I could find were a discontinued PDA from Apple called the Newton, a PBS show called “Newton’s Apple” that ran from the 80’s to the late 90’s and a mid-2000’s board game called Newton’s Apple Gravity Strategy Game. I thought maybe this was some licensed game based on the PBS show and someone had mistaken the title as Apple Newton.
Without anything better to do I decided to try this one out. My childhood NES was barely working any more so I decided to pull out the Retron 3. It was this unofficial console that was able to play NES, SNES and SEGA Genesis cartridges. All I had to do was put the game in the right slot and turn the lower nob to NES. It took me a few tries to get the game working but after cleaning the game with a cotton swab I was able to finally get it on.
The title screen was very standard for an NES title. The logo was blocky in the color red with a green shadow. And yes, it did indeed read Apple Newton. So it wasn’t a typo. But now it made me even more curious. What was this game all about? There were two options on screen. Start Game and Password that were able to be selected by a cursor that was shaped like a leaf. Oh, how cute. Of course, this was one of the games that made you use the select button to navigate the menu. There was no information on this game online so I had to press Start Game.
This game seemed pretty competent. It even had cutscenes similar to what you’d see in games like Ninja Gaiden. But unlike Tecmo’s classic, these were only still images. There was no text or any fade in, the images just popped back and forth. Kind of lazy but still presentable enough. Maybe I got my hands on a game that was a game that was never completed. Perhaps this was an early version used for testing before whatever company produced this title had canceled it. Cancelling games that are near completion wasn’t uncommon. Thrill Kill, Penn & Teller’s Smoke And Mirrors and Starfox 2 were such games that also were completed but never released. Well, Starfox 2 did on the Switch’s online service. But I guess that will only be the case until that service shuts down. Then it’s back to being lost.
Anyway, I’m getting side tracked here. The cutscenes showed an apple falling from a tree. The second shot shows this apple growing limbs and a face after bouncing off the ground. They looked ecstatic to be alive with a huge open smile and all of his limbs pointed outward to a celebratory pose. The last shot sees them running to the distance.
Then the game finally starts. The text “Happy Apple Farm” came on screen. The level is loaded and Apple Newton runs from the side of the screen and stops to do a pose with a quick jingle.
The level looks like a giant farm land with numerous trees all with apples in them. The perspective seems to be as if Newton is the size of a real apple as everything around him was huge. And the world seemed huge too as in the distance I would see the silhouette of a mountain. I moved them to the right where I could see a wooden sign take up most of the screen. The sign was telling me how to control Apple Newton. The controls were as so.
-Press left and right on the D-Pad to move.
-Press down to crouch
-Press A to jump
-Press B to open to mouth
-Press B again to release held object
-Hold B while moving to run
-Press down while running to roll
-Press down in the air to do a ground pound
Pretty complex for an NES platformer honestly. I don’t remember that many games from this era having a ground pound or a roll. Sure there was Kirby after he got the wheel ability. But it really wasn’t as common as it is now.
I tested out all of their abilities and moved forward. I wasn’t sure what the “open mouth” ability was for until I saw a large seed. I decided to use this ability on it and Apple Newton put the scene in his mouth. This made him double in size and despite how awkward it looked for him to move he was still able to use all of his abilities just fine. All that was different was his size and both his running speed and jumping height were slightly reduced. But his ground pound and roll seemed to be even stronger than before. An enemy was approaching me. A banana with cartoonish sharp teeth. Pressing the B button again caused the seed to shoot out and kill the banana. He flickered away like most game enemies would but the seed still remained. It seems like they designed this game around both sizes of Apple Newton and the seed. It makes me wonder how successful this game would’ve been if it did release.
I faced a few other enemies like a rolling orange with one eye on its side. Speaking of Kirby’s wheel ability, it did bear a striking resemblance to Wheelie from Kirby’s Adventure with an orange color instead of black. It almost looked like they just got the same sprite and recolored it. Maybe it was a placeholder? The second enemy was a grape with a simple angry expression. It would bounce around the stage towards me and even change direction if I were to pass it. Most of these enemies were easily killed by jumping on them. But using the seed was much easier. Especially against the bananas as if I were to jump on them I would stick to it while performing a slipping motion. Sliding uncontrollably in the direction I was facing. I could still jump but I kept the momentum and still took a hit of damage. I could see speedrunners doing some fun things with this game. Don’t worry about the damage though. There was a meter on the top right of the screen. The more I progressed through the stage and the more enemies I’d kill the more the meter would fill. Once completely filled the screen would freeze and flash for a short bit as it would regenerate one hit I may have lost. That’s actually a really cool system. I tried moving backwards through the stage but the meter wouldn’t budge. So it would only fill if I continued through the stage. I had never seen a game do that before. Also this game seems to be generous with its health because I had a total of 5 hits I could take before dying. There was the number 15 under my health bar. Wow, that’s a lot of lives to start with.
Right at the end of the stage was a new sprite. It seemed like the banana enemy but laying down, motionless. It looked to be almost completely brown. I wasn’t sure what this was but jumping on them caused the same effect as jumping on the moving bananas. So I suppose this was like a bear trap variation of the moving banana.
After beating the first stage I was brought to a map and given a password to come back to this stage when needed. The password was B ! r + H. The map moved horizontally with numbers over each stage counting upward. There seemed to be 4 stages per world. Most of the stages used the same enemies and patterns. Well, there was one stage where I was climbing the inside of a tree. The background would move giving the impression that I was rotating around the inside of the tree. You could see holes that I guess were supposed to show the outside but instead of the blue sky it was completely black. I guess they didn’t complete this visual in time. As I progressed through these stages the grape enemies became more and more common. Along with these new raisin variations. They slouched over and only walked across the stage. Much like a Goomba in most Mario games. These were easier to deal with than the regular Grapes. I thought it was done with the variations but then came the new version of the orange. It looked deflated and its eyes gave an angry look. At least I think it was angry. The position of the eyebrow made it difficult to tell. It seemed to move like the raisin but instead of moving forward it would pace back and forth. Occasionally gaining speed as it would squint while doing so but it would always slow back down. Still harder to deal with in comparison to the grapes though.
When I got to the 4th stage I was brought to the boss. So I suppose each world has 3 levels and a boss. The boss was a batch of grapes all connected to a green tree-like formation. All of them have the same angry expressions as their brethren. Then a text box would rise from the bottom of the screen showing white text.
“That’s it! We’re gonna hurt you a BUNCH!” The word bunch was capitalized by the way. I lifted an eyebrow and made a sarcastic chuckle.
How this boss would play is that each grape would shoot itself out in a straight horizontal line and boomerang back to its spot. It kind of reminded me of the Yellow Devil boss from Mega Man. Man, I really gotta stop comparing this game to others.
I could only hurt them when they were disconnected from the roots. So one by one I defeated all of the grapes. Except for the one on top. They did nothing but stare at me. Then, all of a sudden the game flashed like I had just filled the level progress meter. But it wasn’t full. Not only this but instead of gaining health, I lost some instead. I lost one hit from my health bar. And I don’t mean that it caused me damage. I mean that as in my healthbars max went from 5 to 4. Then the number under it had changed to 30.
Then I noticed the boss’s appearance had changed. He instead looked sad and there was a bit more detail in his face. A few more pixels that I have no idea what they were supposed to mean? Apple Newton also got that same detail around his eyes as well. And his eyes looked a tiny bit smaller.
The text box rose from the bottom of the screen again. It read “Do you remember that?”
Chapter 2: Full Carton City
Returning to the world map I was allowed to move on to the next area. Full Carton City. This presented itself as a massive city. But the buildings had round tops instead of squares. The password for this world was @ q i # g. I went into the first stage where I was immediately confronted by a new character. An Egg that looked like an old woman. A text box rose from below.
“Oh my Yolks! Bandits have stolen my truck! It was filled with all sorts of ingredients. Without it how will I continue my business? What? You’ll chase after those expired ones? Thank you! I’ll be sure to bake you my specialty as a reward. Pumpkin pie!”
The screen went to black and now I’m on the stage. Apple Newton was walking in the middle of the street as stopped vehicles in a traffic jam were the platforms.
What’s strange was that Apple Newton’s appearance was just like how it was after beating the grape bunch. Smaller eyes and extra detail. And my health was still reduced to 4 hits and the mysterious number under it was still 30.
But now there were changes in gameplay. Now there was a sprint meter. In the first world I was able to run for as long as I liked. But now I can only run for as long as the meter would allow. But still it seemed to be generous with how much sprint it gave me and it recharges rather quickly. All I had to do to recharge it was stop sprinting. I would run and jump and it would still charge.
The first enemy and most likely the cause of this traffic jam presented itself. An egg in a robber’s outfit. The only thing you could see were his eyes and mouth. His limbs were black lines. Perhaps a style choice or an unfinished sprite sheet?
There were a few variations of the bandits. Some had guns, others had shields and guns while there were also a few that relied on brute force as they would try to hit me with punches and dives.
For the bandits that had a shield and gun I couldn’t use the seed on them so I had to jump upon their heads instead. But this is when I realized that Apple Newton’s jump was also reduced in height. Perhaps I was simply imagining things as these were the largest enemies I have encountered yet.
I was moving across the stage, jumping over trucks and convertibles all while fighting bandits, when I got careless and allowed myself to be shot by one of them. The screen flashed white for a moment and when I returned everything was gone. All of the bandits, all of the vehicles and all of the people were no more. The background changed as well. Windows were broken, doors were boarded up, litter was everywhere and while I had said that all of the cars disappeared there still seemed to be a few in the background. They too were abandoned as their hoods would be bent and their windows shattered. All of the music was absent. This city turned into a ghost town.
All I could do was walk forward. This was easier said than done considering that my run was now limited but I pushed on.
I was beginning to wonder what this game’s deal was. What was it trying to convey? This must’ve been some really ambitious project before it got scrapped. Makes me wish it was released to the public.
On my walk the buildings began to crumble more and more. Vegetation began to take over and eventually all signs of city life were gone and what was left were just a few broken relics completely covered up by nature. It was at this point when Newton stopped in his tracks. I didn’t tell him to do that and none of my inputs would work. He just stood there for a few moments. Then the screen flashed white again and I was back at the world map. The first stage was complete.
I still don’t know what happened back there. I definitely wasn’t a glitch as if it was the location I’d be sent to would either reuse assets like Minus World in Super Mario Bros. or be a mess of visuals as the game would soon crash afterwards.
This was clearly by design. Perhaps the devs had a story to tell. Most games would make their goal obvious from the beginning but I guess this one is taking a different approach.
The second level took me to…oh god, of course. A sewer level. For those who don’t know sewer levels were a common trope in many NES games. Batman, Mega Man 4, TMNT and the entirety of Mario Bros. all had sewer levels. Some were good but some were bad. It was a hit or miss but still an annoying trope nonetheless. The most you’d ever see these days is a sewer in some horror game or a modern Ninja Turtles title.
Despite this, seeing the sewers made me a bit nostalgic. Even though they were an overused trope they still symbolized the NES to some capacity. I guess the saying is true, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.
The bandits were more active in this stage but it was easier to avoid them as the sewers had far less obstacles to deal with minus the occasional gaps of water I had to jump over.
There were some bandits driving jet skis in the water in the foreground. The splash would cause damage if it were to hit Newton but there was no way to kill them so they seemed to be the only real obstacle.
At the end of the stage I saw a track with egg bandits trying to empty it. When they noticed me they attacked but I was already used to dealing with them at this point. More eggs would jump out of the truck to attack but when I beat the last one the truck began to drive off.
The third stage took me to the rooftops. Well, sort of. Like I said the buildings had round tops so what I was walking on was the rim that separated the round stop from the square bottom of the rest of the building. I guess I was chasing after the truck from up high. There was no music and the sky was a gloomy grey and a dark silhouette of a mountain could be seen.
A few bombs would be thrown my way and some bandits climbed up to face Newton but this was the worst the level had to offer. As I would continue through the stage I swore I could’ve seen something in the sky. A white line perhaps? It was only there for a fraction of a second so I could pass it as some graphical glitch or even my imagination.
As the stage went on there were less eggs climbing up and soon the bombs became absent. And now I know it wasn’t my imagination as more white lines would slowly start climbing up the screen into the grey sky. At this point there were no more egg bandits chasing me and the stage was just as empty as the city before.
Then just when I thought the stage was over I saw a new face. This one was also an egg but it wasn’t wearing the burglar outfit but it also wasn’t the old lady I met at the beginning of the world. They weren’t wearing anything and also had the same extra detail as Apple Newton had gained. He was looking around confused. He didn’t seem to know where he was or what he was doing. When I was on the same platform as him he didn’t seem to notice or even care. It was almost as if I didn’t exist to him. Walking into him wouldn’t cause any damage either. But I could still jump on him. This was the only character like this throughout the entire stage as it ended soon after. I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to be feeling right now. So I kept playing hoping to find some kind of answer.
And now we’re at the boss. I was in front of a bakery called “Aunt Egg’s Sweet Treats” So that was the old lady I had met earlier. The sign would show a larger graphic of Aunt Egg holding a plate with the logo inside. The truck was being driven by another egg with a curly mustache. The text box rose up once more. “Nyehehe! Now I will finally figure out Aunt Egg’s secret! You won’t SCRAMBLE my plans!” Ok, he was dying just for that joke.
He would continuously try to run me over but thanks to the additional platform in the center of the stage I was able to jump over. I was a bit confused on how I would defeat this guy until I got frustrated and spat my seed into his windshield. This caused him to get out and yell at me. This was the only time I could actually damage him. All I had to do was wait until he stopped, destroy his windshield and jump on his head while he’s shouting at me. I repeated this up to 5 times and the truck broke down. Just like most other games, a few explosion effects covered the trucks until the tires popped off and jumped out of the destroyed vehicle and got on his hands and knees pleading for mercy.
But before anything else could’ve happened the screen flashes white once more and now the scene has changed. I lost another point of health. Now I’m down to 3 and the number with an unknown purpose now read 45. Apple Newton lost his cheery demeanor and now looked tired with even more detail in his face.
The egg boss was standing in front of me. He too had an extra amount of detail on his face but his mustache was lighter in color and he was standing with a cane. Aunt Egg’s Sweet Treats was completely abandoned. The sign was covered in grime and the door was boarded up shut. A text box appeared that read “They used to taste so good. I never figured out her secret.”
Chapter 3: Frozen Good Health
I finally figured out what was happening to Apple Newton. He was getting older. Those details on his face were wrinkles. I’m assuming that’s what that number under his health bar represents. It’s his age. He was now 45 years old. Almost as old as me. This might also be why his health was going down and why he needed a sprint meter.
I’m not sure how to feel about all of this. It’s getting a little too real for me honestly. It was making me a little depressed. I can relate to Newton as now my body isn’t what it used to be. And just like Aunt Egg’s Sweet Treats I too missed some closed down establishments I used to enjoy. The local arcade that’s now an insurance company, the Blockbuster that’s now a Dunkin Donuts and how my local mall is living on its last legs with barely a few stores left. A Spencers, Bed Bath and Beyond and an antique store.
Perhaps this is what the devs were trying to convey as they were probably going through the same thing as well. I had never seen a game back then tell a story like this. Some modern titles yes but not any on the NES. It was either save the princess, stop the alien invasion or save the world. Not face the existential dread of aging.
I wanted to keep playing. Just because I wanted to hope that there was some kind of happy ending. A light at the end of the tunnel. something to salvage this depression adventure.
The new password was D y ! n q. The world I was in now was called Frozen Good Health. Now we’re at our ice level. A cliché that still persists to this day.
Newton was in a snow covered forest at night time. The stars up above blinked in and out every now and then and the soundtrack attempted to have a jolly feel to it. As jolly as the NES’s soundchip would allow anyway.
Before I could take my first step a polar bear jumped out at me. This polar bear was covered in chocolate syrup, had a banana on its back topped with a scoop of strawberry ice cream, sprinkles and a cherry. But obviously they had some issues with the colors due to the NES’s color limitation. For those who don’t know, an NES sprite had a limit of 4 colors. So the cherry was the same color as the strawberry ice cream.
This beast charged at me and I instinctively jumped over. I had just barely graved over the bear as I had noticed that my jump was reduced again. It also seemed like Newton would freeze as soon as he landed. As if he had to take in the impact of his own jump. Anyone remember that country song with the lyric “When your legs don’t work like they used to before?” Those who do may understand what Apple Newton could be going through.
I tried to summon and hold my seed but as soon as I inhaled it the screen flash white for one moment as the sound that plays when taking damage played but was drawn out and louder than ever before. Apple Newton was standing by himself in a black void as his cheek was torn wide open. The large seed was sitting beside him as he had a shocked expression on his face. His pupils were small and his eyes were almost as wide as they were when the game started. And a greenish liquid was oozing from him as he was standing in a puddle of it.
The screen froze as the tone you would hear when an NES game crashes played through my Television. I was afraid that my time with this game was over. I was conflicted on how I should feel about it. Should I take this as a sign to leave before I get even more depressed or try again to see if there is some sort of happy ending? I reset the console and put in the password.
But instead of spawning in the first stage I moved on to the second. I was in a hospital as a chocolate bar nurse was staring at Apple. He stood up and he was wrapped from head to toe with bandages. I guess he couldn’t see because his input was reversed. What was worse was that my health was reduced again to 2 hits. I didn’t even get to really utilize the 3 hits before that happened.
When the nurse saw this she ran towards me and as soon as she touched me the screen reset. There was no death animation, no level name coming on screen again, the screen just flashed and I was back in bed.
I had to avoid the nurses by either jumping over them or avoid their gaze if possible. While navigating the hospital I went by multiple large doorways. These doors were massive so I was able to see the entire room they represented. I saw some familiar faces in each one. First the banana, it was the brown version from the end of the first stage. Then the raisin, then the droopy orange and the stem of the grape bunch. But the head was still by himself and now he appeared as a raisin himself. I understand now. These other variations were simply the same characters just feeling the effects of aging. Like Newton was. Like I am.
I noticed a flight of stairs and went down to the next level. There I was moving to the left instead, still avoiding ice cream cone nurses and gumdrop doctors. On this floor I saw the characters of the second world. First the egg bandit, it was the same confused one I saw on the rooftops of Full Carton City. He still looked confused and scared, looking back and forth as if he didn’t know where he was. I saw a few other eggs and the boss too. He was in terrible condition, his mustache was much smaller and lighter in color and he himself seemed a bit discolored as well.
The last room shocked me the most. It was Aunt Egg but I couldn’t see her face as her blanket was put over her body but I knew it was her because a pumpkin pie was left by her bed. She was dead. And just to act as a conformation a white sphere left her body and flew upwards outside of the screen. She lived her life but came to the end like all of these other characters are about it.
I went down the last flight of stares and went through one last hoard of doctors and nurses. As soon as I went through the exit on the right the screen black and white text came on the screen. “Please, You’ve done so much. let us remember you for the hero you were.”
The screen faded back in and I was outside. Apple Newton’s seed was sitting on the ground near the building. I couldn’t open my mouth to inhale it so I had no choice but to leave it behind.
Stage 3. Apple couldn’t see where he was going so when he stood on an ice platform it began to slide down hill. I didn’t have to move that much. All I had to do was jump at the right time to avoid one coming debris and to move from one sliding platform to the other if one began to sink too far into the snow.
It was a hectic stage that changed the tone for a bit but it was short lived. The stages seem to be getting shorter and shorter.
I was at the boss stage and I wasn’t sure how this was going to go since I had no way to defend myself. The polar bear had returned but he appeared to be skeletally thin. The banana on his back had turned to mush, the strawberry ice cream scoop melted and is now mixing with the chocolate syrup and the cherry on top was gone. He slowly crawled towards me and no matter what I did Apple Newton wouldn’t move. The monster inched closer and closer but it never was able to reach Newton as the screen flashed again and what was left behind was the skeleton of the monster covered in pink and brown melting bits.
The sun was rising, turning the sky into a purplish color with an orange light in the distant horizon. But the light was obscured by the mountain I kept seeing in the background, The orange light would almost appear as an outline for it. I was closer than ever before to it. My health was now reduced to 1 single hit and the number under it, Apple Newton’s age, was now 60.
The screen faded to black and I was brought to the final world.
Chapter 4: Finished Plate Plains
As I entered the world map for the final world the bridge the connected itself to the worlds prior had disappeared. I was at the end game I was hoping that there would be something that would at least bring my mood up at the end. But what I saw next would do the exact opposite.
The world I was in was called the Finished Plate Plains. It was a great world full of white dots and spheres that would rise upward. Each varied in size and if they rose far enough they would pick up speed and become a white line that would fly into the grey sky. Just like what I saw in Full Carton City. The music was this slow beat that would stay on any consistent rhythm. I would be fast at one point, slow the next and try to speed up only to fall back down in tempo. It was a line an AI was trying to make a theme but it was never told what the tone should be. The password is 3 n D N g. There was only 1 level in this world. On a single dot that would be in front of the mountain. The same mountain I kept seeing throughout almost every stage as a backdrop. And now I was finally about to climb it.
I entered the stage and the state that Apple Newton was in was shocking. His body looked as if it had deflated. The extra detail one his face were now black lines that wrapped all around his body and even connected to his eyes and mouth which too were black as he gave off a sad tired expression. On the left side of his head where his cheek exploded was a large black line that almost appeared as the root of the decay. He was almost no more. The sprint meter was completely gone as he could no longer run or jump, his walking speed was reduced to a snail’s pace and all of his abilities were unusable. Time was not so kind to Newton.
The first stage was a long grey wasteland with almost nothing for miles. There were pits that led to darkness but as my jumping was disabled I could only go over them by walking on the platforms that moved left and right over top of them. I suppose the theme of this stage was timing.
All I could do was walk and wait for platforms to take me to the next part of the stage. There were platforms rotating in circles, some that would act as temporary walls as they moved vertically and ones that would fall if I didn’t walk off them fast enough. At first the plain was flat but then the platforms would begin to help me up the mountain. There was a white and gold platform with gems all around it. It was being held up with 2 black lines. One on each side as it would be connected to a diagonal line that went up the mountain. It was like some royal Gondola lift. I stepped on the platform as it began its ascend.
As I scaled up the mountain further and further Apple Newton’s age had changed again. He was now 70 years old But I could not tell if his appearance had changed as he was facing away from the screen. And I could see certain familiar structures in the distance as silhouettes like how I saw the mountain from there.
First I was a large tree and a farm house representing the Happy Apple Farm. Except now the tree was dead and the farm house building was boarded up. It was leaning to the side as the roof was caving in.
Now I noticed something on the mountain. strange structures that would pass by the lift. Gravestones. Each one had a grey sprite of a character I encountered throughout my journey, all of which were in their prime. Their names would also appear on screen telling me that this was the ending of my adventure.
Banana Slips, Grape Goons, Orange Peelers and The Ghastly Grape Bunch.
The screen faded. Age 80. I saw the next location. Full Carton City. It appeared like the post apocalyptic version I was walking through when the game changed on me after getting shot by one of the egg grunts.
Aunt Egg, Egg Bandit, Egg Blaster, Egg Barrier, Jet Ski Egg and Johnny “Hard Boiled” Yolkini.
Age 90. I knew what place was coming next. Frozen Good Health. But it didn’t appear as I expected it to. It was still standing and the yellow squares throughout told me that they were still in business. But something was different about it now. It didn’t seem to be a hospital any more as it had the word Hero’s Museum written on it with blocky pixelated text. And next to it was a tall tree that was larger than the building itself. The tree itself looked nothing like the pine trees in the forest but instead a tree similar to what was at the Happy Apple Farm. I can’t say for sure but if I had to guess it would seem as though that tree was at the same spot as where I left my seed after leaving the hospital.
The graves were of the nurses and doctors whose names were Cocoa Bar Nurse, Mrs. Neopolitan and Dr. Small Drop. Even the polar bear had his own grave; Sunday Surprise Attack.
The music at this point changed. It seemed like it finally decided on what it had wanted to be. It was a slow theme that felt a bit sad but something about it seemed hopeful.
The lift finally made it to the top of the mountain. There all of the 3 worlds could be seen in the distance and more as well. Some I never got the chance to explore. Perhaps they were built later in Newton’s life as they did seem more populated than where he was from. Apple Newton was now 100 years old and he was still facing away from me. I was no longer in control of him as he walked slowly to the center of the mountain. There he stood, taking in everything. I could not tell how he felt as I still couldn’t see his face. After a while he had collapsed and there he laid as a white sphere left his body and rose up with the rest. I waited for the screen to fade but it never did. After a few minutes of taking everything myself and waiting for something else to happen I finally decided to turn off the console.
A few days have passed and as silly as it sounds I think the game really changed me. Something about that experience stuck with me. It made me appreciate the life I had. Sure, I may be old and my body doesn’t work as well as it once did but I’m still alive. And I may be for many years to come. I used to be existential in the end. Fearing my own age and dreading the changes in my body but now I think I have learned to embrace them.
We may all die one day as most of us will at least grow old. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the time we have and do something with ourselves. To make an impact on the world that may even remain after we pass on. Many may say that there is no point because of how insignificant we are. But it’s not about defying significance. Significance doesn’t care about us and time despises us. So why should we care what they think when we could be enjoying what we have now.
I still keep the cartridge in my collection but I haven’t played it again since that day. I might one day get footage of it to show everyone else. But that’s when I learn how to use capture cards and when I feel like going through Newton’s life again. Thank you, Apple Newton.