Colour Blind (Pokemon)

Colour Blind
============

Endless stories seem to present themselves of hacked games and such. Some more believable than others, some leave you questioning who would go out of their way to edit their own version of a game, just to spook a few unfortunate victims who happen to come to possess one. I've never made an attempt to acquire one myself, however what I am about to tell you all is the story of how one game, managed to find it's way into my hands.

I had decided to purchase one of the original Blue/Red/Yellow cartridges to play purely for the Nostalgic side of pleasure, so I made my way to the city, and found myself at the closest game shop I could find, Toy World.

Toy World outlets aren't dedicated to selling gaming merchandise, but I did recall seeing them sell games in the past. After a good browse of the shop, I found nothing, leaving with nothing in hand but some minor information which I acquired from one of the Shop clerks, who informed me that I would have better luck finding older games at GameTraders.

So I made my way there, obvious patience in my stride, I was feeling confident that I would find what I so desired with every step. I arrived at GameTraders, a very small shop in comparison to Toy World, for that I found myself feeling grateful. I felt excitement kick in when I spotted a Pokémon cartridge case, only to find out it was a copy of Silver, with no other Pokémon related GameBoy Colour cartridges in sight. My search spanned over most of the day, being informed one way, only to be sent another.

Patience wore thin, til I decided to head home with no spoils of hard searching. I arrived home, disappointed after all the effort, so I gave in to online purchasing. I lucked out with finding a copy of Yellow being sold 3 blocks away from my home. I got hold of the owner, who was a girl who sounded no older than myself, 17-18. I practically ran out the door, hopped on my pushbike and made haste to the address.

When I arrived, I knocked on the door, to be answered by a relatively attractive girl,her only flaws seemed to be her unkept appearance. Bed hair, with clothes that crossed the borderline of being considered home-comfort to homeless rags, but it did not matter. I gave her the money, she gave me the game. Something felt eerie from how silent she was, vocally and physically. As I walked away after giving thanks, she mumbled out "You won't save him". I paused, confused at her implication, then left with another praise of thanks.

I arrived home, still curious as to what she meant by "You won't save him", it made me feel uneasy. But, nonetheless, I immediately started up Yellow on my trusty GameBoy Advance SP. That's when things got interesting. Normal titles appeared in their very nostalgic order, but the intro did not play. It went straight to the menu, which simply had the Games title, with no Pikachu in sight, only a boy with black hair, crouched with his arms extended, face hidden in shadow, facial features unable to be made out.

I instantly found disappointment. A hacked game, presumably one made to creep the victim out. But, I had gained no other copy of the game, I paid for this, and I was curious as to how this version was laid out. Hitting start, the basic title came up, except continue was the only available option of gameplay. Naturally, I hit continue. The game faded in to the lead characters bedroom, where the trainer was seated, staring amongst paintings and a map on the wall.

I decided to check out this playthrough's spoils of gameplay, so I brought up the start menu, and noticed the name. "Dain". A nice name, I admit, not a cliched name such as Red, or Yellow in this case. Moving on, I checked my trainer card, starting trainer cash, zero badges, everything seemed at norm, except for the portrait of the trainer.

As mentioned earlier on, a black hair boy, a very defined Japanese hairstyle, swept over to a side, all spiky and awesome, I found it to be in my favor. He was expressionless. No smile, a bare featured face, with dark eyes, and a stare that left you curious to his story. I found myself wanting to play through this hack, wanting to explore the unexplored, based in a childhood game.

I proceeded to check my Pokémon team, naturally finding a level 5 Pikachu, nicknamed "Ladie". I found that interesting, but she was a standard, level 5 Pikachu. After I was downstairs, I spotted my mother, who had a different hairstyle to the preset version, but seemed all the same, with dialogue etc. etc. I left the house, which was the house on the left, and Pallet town seemed to be normal. So I explored, my rivals house first, which was set-up as a normal NPC house, no rival sign out the front, but after speaking with the mother, it seemed Dain was a friend to the girl who lived here, named "Delia". I went upstairs, walked over and started a conversation with Delia. She seemed glad to see Dain, ranting on about how cute Ladie was.

She then prompted me a question, "Do you think I should get a Pokemon too? Become traveling partners, wouldn't it be fun?"

I chose yes, then shortly after her immediate ecstatic reaction, SNAP! The power turns off on the GameBoy. Frustration and confusion hit me at the same time, but I stubbornly turned the game back on. It jumped directly to the menu screen, with the title, and Dain standing with Delia, showing a small smile upon his face, which in turn made me smile. It seemed I lucked out on a hacked game with a luring progressive character storyline! I knew this game had me, I was hooked, I spent hours over the next few days traveling and collecting badges, all the while with Delia as company!

The storyline was laid out exactly the same as the default storyline, however fame of Dains battling efforts seemed to grow. Every NPC seemed to recognize him! I loved that Dain would occasionally speak, a rare feat in Pokémon games, almost a childhood dream in fact. He progressively got happier as I pushed him through the game, the occasional change of face on his trainer card, and his relationship with Delia seemed to grow more in depth after every gym. I made Ladie strong. She was by all rights my main,and was ahead the rest of my party, which only featured the obtainable free Charmander/Bulbasaur/Squirtle through the game.

I continued on, pushing through, until I arrived at Victory Road, where Delia asked to meet up later, as she wished to visit a friend in Viridian. I decided to see what would happen if I said no, so no I said. She seemed down at the reply, and asked if I wished to go with her. So I did, I wanted to get more in depth with Delia's storyline as well as Dain's. So we arrived at the house with basic NPC's, which made no special dialogue with me, so I left, and decided to give Viridian gym a look around, seeing as it was the final gym I had yet to conquer, and noticeably the one I had to forgot to challenge in my haste to the Elite Four.

That's when I was prompted by a caretaker of the Gym. "Do you wish to hold a strong position in Viridian? Possibly as Viridians Gym Leader? Viridian City lost it's previous Gym leader several years ago, he passed on, may he rest in peace. But nonetheless we require a new Gym Leader. You have grown renown Dain, word of your strength has reached nearly all of Kanto. It is only natural that the title of Viridian Gym Leader be given to someone of your attire?"

I said yes. Good God I said yes, I had never felt excited as I did at that moment. I had always wondered what being a Gym Leader would be like in one of these games. Ignoring all remarks I've heard over the years that all you would do is stand aimlessly waiting for the odd trainer to challenge you. Then, without warning, SNAP! Off went the power once more. Seeming less surprised than the first time it had happened, I turned on the console, and was directed to the menu.

There stood Dain, in a completely new attire, a dark grey outfit, suited to the Gym of Ground of course, I liked the look of it. Dain was also surrounded by a new party. Rhydon, Graveller, Kangaskhan, a very fitting party. However Ladie remained there, by Dains leg. But she looked...sullen. Sad, perhaps sad to the change? By then it dawned on me that Delia was missing from the image. In fact Dain's expression showed a weak smile. Something must have happened between the two when I accepted the role as a Gym Leader, so I hastily clicked continue. It faded in to the Gym, Dain standing there in all his glory, however I had no control over him. Then I realized this was a cinematic. It faded in, and out of countless battles, seemingly depressing 8-bit music playing in the meanwhile. Eventually, it faded to a black screen altogether, and a "One year later" appeared on the screen.

Then, vision of the game faded in, to nothing more than Lavender Towns Pokémon Tower, where Dain stood in front of a tombstone, Delia standing behind him, a step to the right. "I am so sorry Dain... she must've been everything to you.."

It was then it hit me. "Her". I think I knew exactly who had died in the passing year. Subsequent to the change of life, it would only make sense. I was give control once more, and I hesitantly clicked on the tombstone. "Here lies Ladie. Kanto's little flash of yellow, loved by all, fathered by Dain. Rest in peace". I was so in depth in the game at that moment that it was the soaked screen that snapped me out of it. I was crying, crying so hard over the loss over the Pokémon I had trained from the start. It was my fault it had died, I made those stupid decisions to completely change Ladie's life by becoming a Gym Leader, knowing that Ladie wouldn't be fit for the Gym. Guilt-written, I turned off the game, hoping to find a possible way to alter the storyline.

I arrived at the menu once more. No Pokémon stood with me. No Delia to comfort the loneliness. Just Dain, standing there. In all his.. "Glory". Tears had begun to run dry by this point, looking upon Dain's face, only to find an even more ominous shadowed face than when I first began. I clicked Continue, to instantly be shown a cinematic between Dain and Delia. Delia was crying, Dain arguing. It seemed Delia decided to comfort Dain with her presence after Ladie died, as he had given up on everything.

Then she left. With nothing but "I thought I could save you". I couldn't believe it. The previous owner of this game's warning entered my head. She warned me. Even now I brushed it off. I had just ruined Dain's last chance of friendship, all of it, my fault. I gained control once more, and I decided to check my menu. No Pokémon. Then, the trainer card. There it was. The original crouched position Dain was in when I first started. I wanted to strangle the person who made this by now, searching for an excuse that all this wasn't my fault.

Dialogue broke me out of the menu, surprising to say the least.

Dain: Ladie... gone. Delia... I'm sorry..

SNAP!

Ominous silence crept into the fray of my room. I felt continued disappointment. I sullenly paused at restarting the game. Asking myself if it was worth it. I might as well, I don't think I could get any more depressed at my vain efforts of getting Dain back on track, so I turned it back on. Usual lack of intro, but this time it went straight to the save file. Dain was standing out the front of his house, speaking to Delia. I almost yelped in delight there and then. Things possibly might have gone back on track. But the dialogue that followed, proved that hope wrong.

Dain: Keep the house, Mum would've liked you to have it anyway.

Delia: .. and where will you go? Don't do this Dain, you'll be a father soon..

Dain: I'd make a bad father anyway, I've already lost one child. She was all I had.

A father? That I was not expecting. This story was so intriguing. The implied child was obviously Ladie. But I was moreso interested that Delia would be staying in Dain's house, and where would he be going? The cinematic came to a fade, leaving Dain departing from Pallet. Dain appeared in Viridian City, standing outside the Gym. He silently trodded off, at half pace. Dialogue kicked in.

Dain: ... I know Ladie can't come back. Nor will any Pokémon fill the gap she left. But that won't stop me from acquiring one..

This world is cruel, undeserving of such Pokemon.

A villainous plot. How predictable and cliched. I didn't complain though, I moved on, and continued on. I gained control over Dain, and did the usual check of his status. A ground type party. The original party I was given when I accepted the role as a Gym Leader. Interesting. I check the trainer card. Dain is wearing a striped suit. His facial features much more defined and mature, Dain looked an adult now. I exited the menu, and instantly lost control, as Dain started a long journey through Kanto.

He walked, through Pewter, to Celadon, through Saffron, until he arrives in Lavender. Of course, a final farewell to Ladie before he sets off to a new life. He entered the Pokémon Tower, made his way to Ladie's tombstone, and gave me control to interact with it.

Dain: Here lies Ladie. My little flash of Yellow. You were my love to Delia, my Ladie.

I will never find another you, but a Pikachu I will find. I have lost strength to travel Kanto again, so I will form an organization to purge Kanto for me. I came in here as Dain, but I will leave as another, to start anew. As in depth as I was at this point, it was obviously noticeable of the layout of "Delia" and "Ladie". Same letters, spelt out differently. It seemed Ladie was Dain's way of showing his compassion to Delia in physical form. His love and strength, dedicated to a single person through his beloved Pokémon. Dain began walking amongst the other tombstones. Curiously, I attempted to press A, which started a minor dialogue.

Dain: I must find a name appropriate to depart with...Then he stopped at one. A tombstone singled out from the rest. I clicked on it, nerves settling in from what was about to appear.

"Here lies Giovanni."

---

Polybius

POLYBIUS
========

Polybius is an urban legend about a rare arcade game released in 1981. The game was created by a mysterious company called Sinneslöschen (German for "Sense Deletion") and was a puzzle/shoot-'em-up somewhat like Tempest. It was only released in a few suburbs of Portland, Oregon. It was supposedly very popular, with people forming long lines to play it. However, players reported strange things about the game, such as hearing a woman crying and seeing grotesque faces out of the corner of their eyes. Players would also have nightmares or even develop amnesia. Some even committed suicide. Others stopped playing video games altogether and at least one became an anti-video game activist.

According to one owner of an arcade, men wearing black suits would often come to collect "records" from the game. They did not take any money, simply data on gameplay. Because of this, the leading theory is that it was some sort of government experiment using subliminal messages. The game remains in obscurity as around one month after its release, all of the cabinets suddenly disappeared. One cabinet reappeared in an arcade 1998, but quickly disappeared again. While some have tried to recreate the game, no one has ever found the original ROM.

Pokemon Death Snap

POKEMON DEATH SNAP
===================

Ahh, the 90s. Life was so simple back then, for my generation. There was the Game Boy, the Nintendo 64, Animaniacs, Freakazoid....these things were all the highlights of my day, especially if I was doing them with a friend. I wasn't really into computers at the time; my family had dial-up and a shitty Windows 95, which made everything so frustrating. No, my farthest exploits into the digital world involved me and my Nintendo 64. Super Smash Bros., Super Mario 64, Starfox 64, Mario Kart 64, and Pokemon Snap were my favorites.

After I had thoroughly rooted out every secret in these games, the only one that kept my attention was Pokemon Snap. I constantly went through every level trying to get the best possible shot of all the Pokemon featured in that game. What intrigued me was the realism in that game. In all other Pokemon games, everything was synthetic. You couldn't walk amongst the Pokemon and see how they interacted; you could only have them in a ball or following you around. One could argue that Hey You, Pikachu! was more interactive, but in the whole, only certain words are recognized and the scripted non-realistic events gave that game a disgustingly synthetic feel. The first-person 3D view of Pokemon present in Pokemon Sap gave everyone who grew up in the 90s something they could only dream of: a chance to live in a realistic Pokemon world.

So, eventually, we moved to a new house and got a PS2, DSL, and a computer that could run Half-Life, and I moved on the bigger and better things, but would often look back fondly at the simplicity of my childhood. My N64 and all the games were put in a forgotten corner of the basement. This brings my story to more recent events. About a week ago, I was at my friend's house. He is one of those people who are well-equipped and has many things: Wi-Fi, several computers, iPods, a Mac, a drum set, a piano, a Widescreen HDTV, surround-sound, guitars, a PS3, and whatnot. He was one of the people I liked to whoop in Super Smash Bros. back in the day. Anyway, we were hanging out and he had something he wanted to show me. He powered up his Wii and one of the channels was Pokemon Snap, which he proceeded to load. He had recently downloaded it from the Virtual Console. As soon as I heard the fast theme song and camera flashes, I was overcome with an intense wave of nostalgia - something I rarely feel these days - and really wanted to play that game. My friend loaded it up and selected continue.

For everyone unfamiliar with Pokemon Snap, the premise is that Professor Oak needs someone to photograph all the Pokemon on some island with many different environments. As you get more pictures and higher scores, new tools and levels become available to you, such as the apple, which acts as bait, the pester ball, which irritates Pokemon, and the Pokeflute, which wakes sleeping Pokemon. The player controls Todd, a character from the anime, who is riding in a buggy on a set track. The buggy moves at a constant speed, and it is from this buggy that you must take pictures. There are 63 of the original 151 Pokemon in Pokemon Snap. The levels, or 'courses' as Oak calls them, range from a beach to a volcano to caves and rivers. The island is a very diverse place, but even with my extensive playing, the darkest parts had eluded me...until recently, that is.

So, Professor Oak said "welcome" in his very creeper-ish voice recording. I always found it funny how the game had about one word of pre-recorded voice per two or three sentences the text box showed. Reliving our childhoods, we took turns playing a level and seeing who could get the best score. Soon, I had to go home, but I really did not want to stop playing Pokemon Snap.

When I got home, I went down into my basement and dug out the old N64, along with a musty-smelling cardboard box full of all the old cartridges, controllers, memory cards, and rumble packs. God, I missed this system. I hooked the RF cables up to the TV in my room, popped in Pokemon Snap, and shifted the Pokeball into the on position. A little more back-story here: when I got my N64, the Hey, You Pikachu! model was massively on sale at Toys R Us, and my mom decided to get it, as it came with the game. When you turn it on with the Pokeball switch, the Pikachu's cheeks light up, also, his foot acts as the reset switch. It's pretty cool. Anyways, when I turned the console on, the screen remained static. I pulled out the cartridge and checked the chip. Sure enough, it was covered in this black gunk. I spent half an hour getting that nasty stuff off. It was at this point I first noticed something strange: after the substance was removed, the chip was red with black rectangles along the surface, which I assumed were meant to be contacts. None of my other games had this black stuff, and their chips were light brown with the gold-ish contacts.

There were other oddities with this particular cartridge. There was no Official Seal of Nintendo on the label or anywhere on the cartridge. These are on all N64 carts, and most other Nintendo products from this era. Another thing was that there was no black label on the back that usually contains the typical "DON'T PLAY YOU'LL GET SEIZURES," kind of thing. The front label was also slightly off-center. These should have been red flags, but I am a pretty lax guy that just takes things in stride so I didn't really care. At this point, I thought the game was ruined by the goo and discoloration, but  I put it back in for the hell of it. To my surprise, the Nintendo logo popped on the screen. We were back in business.

So, the load screen came up and the upbeat theme song and camera flashes were playing just as they did earlier at my friend's house. It was then I noticed several visual distortions, which I thought were due to cart damage. There were three purple vertical streaks a few inches wide that went all the way down the screen, one on each edge and one down the middle. They were darker in the middle of the streaks, but you could see past them somewhat. I didn't mind that much; it was minor inconvenience.

Next, I pressed start and to my surprise, I found that there was no continue option. I guess my saves had been deleted by battery failure. All of those hours and hours of hard work and completion were gone. Oh well, I probably would have started a new file anyway.

I started the new game and more strange things began to occur. I found myself in Oak's lab. His features were changed. His eyes were black with no pupils and he had a stern look on his face. That, coupled with the purple distortion that ran along his left half, made him very disturbing. All the text dialogue was normal, but the pre-recorded voice  bits I mentioned earlier were distorted. They came out slowly at low pitch. I was reminded of the demon voices from early shooters like Doom...but other than these things I attributed to cart damage, the game play was normal...or so I thought. All of this was starting to make me a bit uneasy, but I was a man of science. I didn't believe in ghosts or God or Hell, and prided myself in overcoming the irrational fears that many suffered from. Oh, to be young again.

I went to the first course, the beach. There were more visual distortions. All Pokemon had no pupils, just pure black eyes. Also, on the ground underneath where the Pokemon sprites were, there was a purple ring. It appeared even under the flying Pidgeys. The other distortion here was that the sky was a light green and there were no clouds or sun.

The movements of the Pokemon seemed unnatural and cold, like they were afraid of something. I played through the course, but as I took pictures, the Pokemon that were in the frame disappeared. Slightly concerned by this, I didn't take pictures of Pokemon that wouldn't count until later, such as Snorlax or Chansey. As I approached the exit gate, I turned around and saw one of the circles that indicated that a Pokemon was there following me, but there was no sprite. I snapped a picture and was taken back to the lab.

I selected all the pictures for the Pokemon Report, but, strangely, the last picture I took was not there. The rating process went as normal, but at the end, Oak said, "Nice work harvesting." There was a brief pause, and then he said, "......you let it in didn't you? Well, you know what this means....go to the tunnel."

I assumed that he was referring to the Tunnel Course, so I went to the map and it was now available. As I entered the course, I noticed that I now had all the tools: the apple, pester ball, and Pokeflute. I went through the course and found that it had the same visual distortion as the beach. At the end, I tossed an apple at the Electrode by the rocks and the path to the volcano opened up. The electrode looked like it was in extreme agony, not like the comical explosions seen before. It seemed to be begging for help.

As the traveling cutscene took place, I saw the purple ring with no sprite again. It followed me. Strangely, there was no cut back to the lab after discovering the course like it was supposed to. It just took me straight to the volcano level. A quick survey of the area showed that the visual distortions were getting worse. As I moved forward, the Ponytas and Rapidashes were running, then jumped into the lava and gave off low-pitched screams. All the Pokemon did this as I approached. I finally reached the egg, which blocked the path. You are supposed to throw an apple at it so you can proceed, but I found that my tools were gone. This was problematic, and I took this opportunity to get some dinner. I didn't pause the game because there was no need to. When I got back, I saw the purple ring again. It was in place, motionless, behind me. I also saw something else coming from the distance. It was an Electrode from the tunnel rolling down the path. This Electrode must have been the one I blew up, as it had a look of anger and revenge in its eyes. I could do nothing to get away, so I sat and watched. As soon as it hit me, it exploded, which caused my buggy to flip on its side and go top down into the lava. A travel-like cutscene played, but it was slow with distorted audio. The low-pitched screams of the flailing, burning Todd were heard.

I was back in the lab and Oak looked angry. He said, " You let it get to you, didn't you? Well, you only have yourself to blame." The screen faded to black and the course selection screen came up. Oak was standing alone, and the only option on the screen was "HELLL," which was spelled with three L's. The go back option was gone, so I had no choice but to click on it.

The camera zoomed in on the charred corpse of Todd that's bottom half was under the upside-down buggy. Everything was ultra-realistic, and this was on a pedestal of stone in an endless sea of fire and lava. All of the Pokemon I had taken pictures of and made disappear were floating in the lava, screaming in low-pitched voices. Suddenly, there was a camera flash. The screen swung to a demonic figure with a camera taking pictures of the corpse. After he had a few pictures, he curb-stomped Todd's head and took more pictures. Then, a low-pitched demonic, "Say cheeeeeese," came out of the speakers and my whole room lit up for a second. That scared the shit out of me, and when it was over the screen was dead black and the system was shut off.

I hit reset, because I knew it was just a game and it couldn't hurt me. That stuff was pretty sick, but I had seen worse on the internet. I wanted to see what happened next. As it came on the screen, the menu came up and the only option was to view the album. I hit A and immediately wished I hadn't. The album was filled with hundreds of photos, all of horrific torture and mutilation scenes. Many of these pictures involved children. These photos were not in 64-bit, but appeared to be authentic, scanned photos. At this point, I was overcome with nausea, but it got worse. The game force-scrolled to the end and zoomed to the final picture. It was the picture I had taken of the purple ring without a sprite....only now there was something above it. It was a picture of my dead body floating a foot off the ground. The sickest part was that there was a camera jammed through my head.

The screen faded to black. I was so terrified by the whole event that I broke the cartridge in two and ditched it in two different dumpsters behind restaurants on opposite ends of town. A few days later, I asked my mom if she had done something to my Pokemon Snap game. "Oh, yes..." she said. "When we moved here, I was carrying that box down to the basement and that game fell out and broke. When I went to pick it up, I found that it had fallen into a crack in the crawlspace. I couldn't find it. I'm sorry about not telling you, but I thought you had outgrown that anyway." A lock of shock must have come to my face, because my mom asked what was wrong. "Nothing," I said. "I'm fine." I decided not to tell her.

A week has passed and I am bringing my story to the internet in the hopes that it may help someone else, or at least entertain. I do apologize for the length, but I feel that the details are necessary. What scares me the most is not the photographs of the mutilation or my dead self. What scares me the most is whatever the hell is in my basement that can make a broken game into something so gruesome. Thank God I'm moving out soon.

92% (Bloodshot/Battle Frenzy)

92%
===

There was an old game me and my older brother loved to play together on Sega Genesis (on Sega Channel, and if you don’t know what that is, I feel sorry for you that you missed an awesome time). Years went by - it was so long ago - but I could remember the look of the levels and all the noises so clearly. I finally typed in "first person shooter for Sega" in Google over the weekend and found it within minutes. It was called Bloodshot. The following story is true, and you can even look up the game to see it is real (unlike many others claimed to be seen).

It was a boring night at home; I lived with two of my brothers and my father. I was home alone; dad worked late, brothers over friend’s place, so yeah. I decided to check out a bunch of old Sega Genesis games with an emulator on my brother’s computer. It was good memories, but no game lasted me more than five minutes. I then remembered Bloodshot, and frowned when I saw it wasn’t in my brother’s game folder. It took a while, but I found a download link for it, but it stopped at 92%. I was frustrated, waiting for an hour without it moving. I then noticed the file itself was in the game folder, where I told it to download to...so I tried loading it anyway without waiting any longer.

I was relieved it worked. The familiar graphics came upon the screen and the well known little sounds filled my ears. It took a while controlling it with a keyboard, but I managed the buttons. Things got a little strange when I opened the door to enter the first level, and I saw another avatar already running and picking up all the special guns even though I was playing alone, and not even on 2 player mode. And this game is basically a fossil; it wasn’t an online game.

I thought it was a computer controlled entity, although I don't remember one being there before...and it was doing all the work for me. I followed behind getting bored as he blasted all the enemies, and then the boss of the level, and we ran back (after the boss dies, you have to run to the start before the place explodes). The second level, we stood in front of the first door. This is when I felt awkward around the other guy, he turned to me, and then the door as if waiting for me to open it. So I did, and we ran off. Eventually, I realized I was almost dead and have been fighting alone. I turned around to see my mysterious ally was running along the walls, and eventually found a hidden door with a special gun.

That did it, this guy was acting like a human player, and not a computer controlled entity. We went ahead into the level, and I noticed some glitches out textures on the walls. Curiously, when I ran into one, the game froze...so I reloaded the game and found myself alone in the first two levels. As I entered the third level, the countdown was already commencing and I saw my mysterious ally running towards me to exit the exploding level. We come to level four and it seemed the higher the level, the more glitched textures appear. Before entering the door into the forth level though, he shot me a few times, and then faced forward and waited for me to open the door. It was as if he was cursing me for abandoning him the first time around. When I shot at him, it did nothing.

After we defeated the fourth boss, the countdown didn't start. Confused, I followed the other player behind the dead boss and he opened a hidden door. Behind it was a avatar of a human (rather than looking like a robot like everyone else). It walked into me, startling me a bit and the screened flashed red as if I died, but the game froze. It was late, so I went to bed and shrugged it off.

The next day, the game wouldn’t load and came up with an error. I was interested to load the game up, but gave in after an hour and finished the download quite quickly. The game was normal however, there was no other player. I reached the fourth level, and after the boss, the countdown commenced. I went behind him and opened the door, and inside was the human avatar as well as another player texture. They walked into me, and the game flashed red, I died but the game didn’t freeze. I respawned in a huge level, but came across no enemies, weapons, or mines..but there is a strange buzzing noise. I am still walking through the level and trying to find out what the hell this is all for.

I left my computer on, but the game paused, it keeps unpausing itself in the middle of the night and I hear the noises of the game (as I leave my speakers turned up. Whenever I sit down to pause it again, I see something run around the corner at the last second, but can never catch to see what it is. I keep feeling like something is watching me as I sleep.