Sonic 3: The Unknown Transformation
It was a Friday when it happened. When "the incident" happened. Words cannot describe the horror that I felt and witnessed on that day.
It was a bright October day when I had turned 18. My high school graduation was the same day also. Since I now moving on to college, it was time for me to pack my things. I decided to go through our basement to see if there was anything from my childhood that I would want to bring with me. When rummaging through the dusty and old boxes, I came across what looked like another door in the ground, covered by a mountain of boxes.
After moving all the boxes out of the way, I lifted the door up and climbed down the stairs. It was dark and dank, with a single candle lighting the brick room. In the very back corner of the room, I saw a large box. It was covered in cobwebs and was incredibly dusty, and on the box was "Please do not open" written crudely in black sharpie. In fact, the writing was so poor I could hardly make out what it said, as if the person was rushing to leave the box behind, plus the word "open" looked somewhat unfinished, with the e and the n scratched on.
The box was also heavily covered in duct tape and seemed very ruined and beaten. At first I was reluctant to even touch the box due to the odd message written on it and the weird location it was in, but I decided to open it anyway, thinking that there might be a memento of my childhood in the box. I took my packing knife and cut off the excessive amount of duct tape covering the box, and opened the dusty flaps. Inside the box were two things.
They were an old, worn and dusty Sega Genesis and a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 cartridge.
I brought the items to my brother to see if he knew anything about it, but when I showed him, he became incredibly frightened and begged me to get it away from him. Confused, I took it away from him immediately. Interested my brother became so scared, I brought it with me to college. I also brought along my copy of Sonic and Knuckles to utilize the lock-on capability.
After settling in my dorm, and meeting my roommate, I decided to see what was so wrong with the game and Genesis once my roommate had left. What a major mistake that was.
I connected the Genesis, placed the cartridges into the system, and powered it on. Everything was completely normal, except for one thing. There was no music and Sonic wasn't in the title emblem. Also all the text was missing except for the menu select, however the menu was weird too. Instead of saying "1 Player" and "Competition" it said, "End It" and "Leave now." Beside those things, the rest of the title screen was fine. When I went into the save select menu, it only had one save file, and that's it.
There was no "No Save" or "Delete", just one lone save file that was played up to Death Egg Zone, which means whoever played this last had gotten close to finishing, but why did they stop? Plus there wasn't a background, it was just solid black. Not only that, but Tails was the only selectable character. No Sonic or Knuckles, no Sonic and Tails, just Tails alone, although his sprite was very odd. Instead of his signature smiling pose, he had a look of desperation and worry on his face. His fur was also a paler shade of yellow and his eyes looked bloodshot.
Now by this time, a smart person would've stopped playing the game and thrown it out, but my curiosity (or should I say stupidity) got the best of me and I chose the file and started the game.
I started the game at Death Egg zone and many things were off about the game. Sounds were switched around with each other, the music sounded switched and played backwards, and the controls were reversed as well. Plus all the monitors, enemies, and background pieces looked glitched. I played through to act 3 and came across Sonic with the Chaos Emeralds.
Having beaten the game many times I knew what happened in the stage, and this was all new to me, and I was incredibly confused and a little bit paranoid. Neither Tails nor Sonic moved at all for nearly a minute, then Sonic transformed into Super Sonic, but he looked different. His eyes were red spirals, and his teeth were razor sharp like a wolf, and he looked incredibly demonic. Then he turned around and started chasing Tails around until Sonic finally caught him, then the screen cut to black and sounds of hacking and slashing came from the television.
After the sounds had stopped, Sonic had appeared on screen. His was his normal blue self rather than his super form, except his eyes were still red spirals and he had a large, evil grin on his face. There was also text at the bottom of the screen that read "This is your second warning, now leave!" Sonic was positively evil, and was staring me dead in the eyes.
Then suddenly, he started talking in Japanese. Having taken a year of Japanese in my junior year of high school, I could decipher most of what he said. I made out "From the world of darkness, I did loose demons and devils in the power of scorpions to torment." It was a quote from famous serial killer, Charles Manson, which scared me even more. After he stopped talking, a loud, blood-curdling scream came from the television and the power had cut off for about a minute.
Once the power came back on, I just sat there. I was shocked at what I had just witnessed. Mouth agape, I had nothing to say, and had no idea what to think. Now again, a sensible person would've long gotten rid of the game by now, but I was an idiot and decided to continue, just to figure out why the game would show such horrifying imagery.
I cut the game back on again, but this time, something was completely off. The title screen had no emblem and no background. It was pitch black except for a single menu option, that read "You're dead" In dark red letters. I selected the option, and it brought me to the Death Egg Zone again, without any save menu or title card. This time, the title card read "Nac Llits Uoy Elihw Epasce." It didn't take me long to realize what it said. This time around, it showed Sonic in his Super Form, looking just as evil as he did last time, dragging three bodies behind him. Knuckles, Robotnik, and Amy were all there, although she was never in the game. They didn't look dead, just unconscious, because all of their sprites looked as if they were literally breathing, like they had extra animations created and placed into the game, but how?
Super Sonic brought the bodies to a dark room, and then secured the bodies by their hands to chains hanging from the ceiling of the room. Next to the chains, you could see Tails strung up by chains as well, except he was dismembered and bleeding. After the three victims regained consciousness, it was already too late. Super Sonic got a large smile on his face, and the screen cut to black, and the sounds of hacking and slashing returned one final time.
Like before, Sonic came into the television screen, just as he was, only he was in his super form, and he was coated in blood, red, yellow, and pink fur, cartilage, and brown hair as well as human skin. It was a horrifying sight to see. The text at the bottom this time read:
"I tried to warn you, and now you will pay the price for your foolishness."
He started talking again, only he was speaking in English rather than Japanese, and said, in a low demonic voice, "Time to put an end to your worthless existence. May you rot in hell with me for all eternity!"
This time, his mouth opened wide, to the point where I could see all of his teeth, which looked almost like a shark's set of teeth, and let out another loud, ear-piercing scream, only this time, he screamed out my name multiple times, and he came closer and closer to the screen as time went on, and the closer he got, the louder the scream would become. It was unbearable and it wouldn't stop.
The scream rang throughout the entire building, and everyone evacuated immediately, unfortunately, I couldn't leave the room because the door wouldn't open. I disconnected the Genesis and the television but it continued, and I couldn't get close enough to the television to turn out the television because it was so overwhelmingly loud, and the remote refused to work. As a last resort, I decided to take my baseball bat and smash in the television screen.
After I smashed the television in, I decided to do what I could to get the cartridge as far away me as possible. I drove out to the docks, put the game inside of a briefcase, and tossed it into the ocean. After the incident I was never the same. The final scream was so loud, that I went into the doctor, and was diagnosed with chronic tinnitus, which is a horrible, constant ringing of the ears.
I am unable to hear, and the doctor said that it was permanent. I'm also incredibly paranoid and suicidal. I suffer from constant anxiety. I was checked into a mental hospital yesterday. He always comes back. Sonic's horrifying image comes back to haunt me in my dreams for months on end, constantly screaming my name to me in my head. I couldn't take it anymore. It would never end, and I knew that he will always come back.
He refuses to leave me alone. I am in constant pain. I have constant nightmares and horrible insomnia.
I'm sorry to anyone who will be hurt, but I can't go on anymore. It has gotten to the point where I cannot take it anymore.
To my brother, my mother, father, girlfriend, all my family and friends, I'm sorry. I truly am sorry.
This is goodbye, forever.
- Daniel
Credited to Delta hedgehog
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