Dark Pac: Difference between revisions

I was questioned by the police later, but they obviously dismissed me. In fact, nobody else in the arcade was charged. Nobody was found to have a murder weapon, in spite of the fact that the exits were sealed. no windows were shattered, and security cameras showed nobody firing anything. However, a bullet was indeed lodged in the man's skull. However, the real tragedy was the termination of the arcade. I suppose it made logical sense, as I can't imagine a murder scene being an appealing place to visit, but this meant that there was no place in town to play Pac-Man.

But…But... something was off. Instead of reading Midway at the bottom of the screen under the ghosts’ghosts' names, it said “Namco”"Namco". This was bizarre, because, while Namco did develop the game, Midway licensed it for American releases and their company name was always at the bottom. This discrepancy gave me chills. Surely, something was sorely wrong. There’sThere's no way this could cabinet could be of this world. Though I was positively terrified, I suppose curiosity got the best of me. I inserted a quarter and started up the game.

I was immediately caught off guard by the lack of a beginning jingle. If you’veyou've ever played Pac-Man, you know it. However, it wasn’twasn't here. I was starting to tremble a bit by then. I had no idea what other terrors the game had in store. The game started just fine. Even though the jingle didn’tdidn't play earlier, the sound effects came through just fine. My heart pounded with joy at each “wakka”"wakka". I finally remembered why I loved Pac-Man so much.

But things started to change soon after. The “wakka”s"wakka"s got quieter and quieter. The ghosts’ghosts' siren sound was still playing at the same volume, but Pac-Man’sMan's voice followed a decrescendo into just a murmur. Finally, he made no noise. Pac-Man stopped in the middle of the maze, something that can’tcan't be done in regular gameplay. The ghosts’ghosts' siren stopped to. From the cabinet’scabinet's speakers emerged a cough. It started out sounding like a fake cough, the kind kids would use to avoid youth basketball practice in the third grade. However, it developed into violent hacking and wheezing. Was…Was... was Pac-Man sick? I figured that even Pac-Man was immune to common viruses. But the coughing got worse. The sound of vomit came out in between intervals of coughs. And finally, after one awful sounding cough, the Pac-Man sprite spit out blood.

I ran into the bathroom and threw up. I couldn’tcouldn't believe what I just saw. Pac-Man was in some sort of horrible pain. It physically hurt me to even think about that. I didn’tdidn't want to play this game any more. I stumbled back towards the machine, but, without looking at that wretched monolith, I unplugged it from the wall. I turned to the machine. I could see my reflection in its dark glass. Thankfully, the nightmare was over.

Or so I thought. It appeared that this game had a different plan. The screen flickered on again, showing the usual arcade boot-up garbage.

“No"No!”" I shouted, but the game didn’tdidn't listen. It continued booting up and went back to the title screen. Instead of saying “Pac"Pac-Man”Man", it said “Puck"Puck-Man”Man". I couldn’tcouldn't see all of the ghosts’ghosts' names through my tears, but I saw that Pinky and Clyde were renamed to War and Famine. The game was teasing me. But I couldn’tcouldn't play it. Not again. Not after what I witnessed last time. I kicked a hole in the bottom of the cabinet, exposing all of the electrical wiring. With my Swiss Army Knife, I hacked at all the cords, sending sparks flying with each slash. It was like an explorer cutting his way through the jungle of doom. Despite suffering several electrocutions myself, the game was still playing. I reached through the wires and found a DIP switch, but none of my tinkering stopped the game.

Looming over my bed was the arcade cabinet. I screamed. I kicked it over and ran. I couldn’tcouldn't even escape that wretched abomination in my sleep. I had only one choice. I started work on a cryogenic freeze chamber that would keep me in a permanent sleep until unlocked by another person. I took refuge in the fact that the cabinet didn’tdidn't have the fingers to do that. But before I began my eternal slumber, I wrote a sticky note and placed it on the outside of the chamber.<br>