#ki simpson

[crappierpasta]

Super Mario 128

Mario has been a gaming icon for decades and has been in more games than can be counted. Although no year in recent memory has gone without some type of Mario game being released, series fans will remember the nearly decade long drought of original Mario platformers. From 1997-2005, there was only one new Mario platformer released: Super Mario Sunshine. During the second part of this drought (after Sunshine's release), the mysterious Super Mario 128 was the main focus of the fanbase.

No concret information was given on the game. Eventually, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto claimed it had simply been a series of test concepts that were never intended to be an actual game. The mystery faded from memory as the Mario drought finally ended. Most people forgot about the "game" that had once been the center of every Mario fan's imagination.

The Mario drought corresponded with a bad era for Nintendo, in terms of console sales. The Nintendo 64 and Gamecube did not have the financial success of the earlier Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, or the later Nintendo Wii. For a very proud company that relied solely on video games to make money, this was quite upsetting for the higher ranking employees attached to the company, and felt its success or failure reflected on them personally.

Nintendo started working on a sequel to the 1996 game Super Mario 64 shortly after it released, but during the late 90s it became clear that Nintendo wasn't winning the console war. The sequel was restarted from scratch, since the company believed it was not a substantial enough improvement over the original to turn the tides of the market battle.

Seeing the generally more realistic and violent games on Sony's Playstation (the market leader), Nintendo considered making a game that was closer in tone to what the public seemed to want. There was quite a bit of internal conflict over how far to go with this new direction, and the new Mario was clearly not going to be ready until Nintendo's next console, the Gamecube, released. The only hint of this that was released to the public was a comment by Miyamoto that he thought Mario and Luigi should "act more like grown ups" in their games for the (then unreleased) Gamecube.

The new game was ultimately split into two games: Luigi's Mansion, which reflected the darker tone many felt the series should turn to (though it was toned down quite a bit compared to what some wanted), and Super Mario Sunshine, wich went in the opposite direction. Both were released within a year of the Gamecube and Nintendo felt confident their new system and Mario games would return them to their former glory as market leader.

As those familiar with gaming history, they didn't. The Gamecube did even worse in market share than the Nintendo 64. The mass market's tastes shifted even more toward violent, realistic games. During this period, the somber mood at Nintendo intensified and the darker Mario project was revived. It was code named "Super Mario 128." It isn't clear what happened at Nintendo during this period. As we know, nothing called Super Mario 128 was ever released or publicly shown.

The source that revealed the internal strife at Nintendo during the later portion of the Nintendo 64's era refused to discuss what was happening during the time of the Gamecube's failure, but released a prototype of the game online that can be played on the Wii's Homebrew Channel. The following is a recollection of my time playing it.

It was clearly an early beta. The title screen was nothing but white text saying "Super Mario 128" against a black background. There was no options menu or save file selection. After the title screen, the game started. Bowser's laugh from Super Mario 64 looped in the background as a plain white text box displayed some dialogue.

Mario, I have taken Princess Peach. She will not live to see the sun rise unless you take her place. You know what to do and where to go. Do not try to stop me unless you want to hasten her death.

The game certainly had the darker tone they were going for. I was thrust right into the game. The first thing I noticed was Mario. His body was as detailed as he was in Super Mario Galaxy (though with more realistic proportions), but his head was taken directly from Super Mario 64. Obviously, his design wasn't finished yet.

The setting was a sky level. There were simple platforms floating in the air, and the rest of the area was a plain blue sky with several clouds scrolling in the background. The clouds seemed somewhat more realistic than the usual cartoony puffs seen in Mario games. They were quite impressive to watch. There was no music or full voice samples from Mario, but there were sound effects when he jumped. The jumping was actually more subdued. Mario didn't jump as high as he usually did, and had little control over his movement in the air. The different types of jumps seen in every 3D Mario up to this point weren't present.

I played through the level. There was nothing especially notable about the gameplay. I didn't even see any enemies (I don't think they were added yet). I just jumped from platform to platform - it wasn't very challenging. As I played, I noticed the graphics gradually changing. The sky became more and more cloudy until I couldn't see past the clouds. Even those began turning a dark grey. At some point, it began to rain. I reached a small platform with a Toad on it. It looked like the same model from Super Mario Galaxy. When I landed, a dialogue box appeared.

We don't want you any more, Mario. You don't belong here. Just give Bowser what he wants. Die.

After the box disappeared, I no longer had control of Mario. He stood there for a moment, turned around, and walked off the platform. His body appeared to ragdoll a little as he fell. Eventually, a realistic, modern city faded into view. The buildings looked a bit neglected, but there were people walking around on the street. Mario hit the ground with a realistic-sounding thud, but didn't explode or show any visible wounds. He laid there. The people in the city kept walking by, ignoring him. I swear I saw a few glance over with a cold, almost angry expression. This went on for a few moments and people gradually stopped appearing. Mario got up - I was back in control - but he couldn't jump and hada reduced walking speed.

The large buildings didn't appear to be interactive, so I kept walking down the street. Eventually, I found a small house that seemed out of place among the skyscrapers. When I approached the door, Mario opened it. The screen faded to white and some black text appeared. It looked kind of like the level select screen from Super Mario 64.

House of Torn Memories

It looked like a level title. When I pressed a button, the screen faded back in. Mario was inside what appeared to be the house form before, but everything seemed bigger than it should have. It wasn't gigantic, like Big-Tiny World from Mario 64, but seemed more like it was scaled in a way to make Mario the size of a small child. The house was filled with average household objects, covered in dust and showing signs of neglect. There were no people on the ground floor, only things like broken lamps and rotted food. I found a door that opened to a set of stairs going down, leading to a basement.

In the basement, I found a dilapidated couch and a broken-looking TV. However, what really caught my attention was what resided on the couch: two skeletons, around the size of children. Due to the scale of the house, they were still larger than Mario. I was disturbed by now. How had a Mario game containing stuff like this been programmed to this extent?

I went up to the skeletons and tried pressing buttons to interact with them or the TV, but nothing happened. I went to turn around and look elsewhere, but a loud crash came from the game and nearly scared me to death. What could have been Bowser broke through the floor from below and landed in front of Mario. I say "what could have been" because this thing only vaguely looked like Bowser. The reptilian monster had Bowser's basic color scheme, but looked far more threatening than any iteration of the character I'd seen before.

It was not proportioned like the Bowser I knew. Its arms and legs were far longer in relation to its body, and ended in razor-sharp claws. The green shell didn't look like it had spikes glued on - they were more jagged and organic-looking, with the same dark green color the rest of the shell had. The face had small but intense black eyes, and a mouth full of jagged teeth that took up far more of the face than it should have. Mario cowered in fear from this thing. A dialogue box appeared, too.

You've kept me waiting long enough, Mario. I will taste flesh soon. Will you finally surrender, or does Princess Peach have to die?

I didn't have control anymore. Mario stood there, shivering for several seconds before nodding his head. Bowser impaled him with his claws. There was no blood, but it was clear from the animation and sound effects that the sharp digits of Bowser's hands had gone through Mario's body. In one swift motion, Bowser dragged Mario up to his face and bit his head off. Again, there was no blood or graphic detail left on Mario's neck - just Mario's character model being destroyed. The screen faded to black. In white text, another "level" name appeared.

Mario's Eternal Home

Mario's character model was whole again when the level started. It was the only thing on-screen aside from a black background. He was floating, as if in space. I could somewhat control it, but it felt more like I was deciding the general direction in which Mario would tumble than fully controlling him. As I drifted toward no apparent destination, voices faded in. They were echoing, deep voices telling Mario he was worthless. That the world no longer had use for him and everyone would be better off if he was dead.

High-pitched crying was layered on top of the voices after a bit. It sounded like it was supposed to be Mario's cries. This really disturbed me - I found myself fighting back tears. For reasons I couldn't understand, this was affecting me on an emotional level. The voices and aimless wandering went on for several minutes, until I spotted a light grey speck in the distance. I moved toward it. It took a long time to reach, growing closer at a much slower rate than I thought it should have.

When I was close enough to make it out, I saw it was a tombstone. It was plain, with cracks in several places. when I got right next to it, I could see writing. I turned off the system after reading it. I'm not going to play the beta or hack, or whatever this was, again. There was a single word on the tombstone.

Innocence

Written by KI Simpson.

[jojilovesninjas]

I’ve reread the ‘Dead Bart’ Creepy pasta recently and the Futurama sequel to it ‘Not Long Enough’ and I know they are not true but I find it funny the idea that Matt Groening just makes dark fucked up fanfiction of his own work sometimes. Like the dead Bart one implies that the Matt’s Co-writers are scared of the lost episode and that Matt Groening wrote it all himself like he was the only one in the writers room that acted like an edgy 14 year old for a day while writing the episode which is another reason why Creeptpasta’s are unintentionally hilarious.

[in-defense-of-the-horror]

Lightless City

Original Story by KI Simpson

A good ritualpasta a little different from the normal ones, interesting to read through. This is one of the few that I haven’t personally tried yet, but I’m afraid I don’t really meet the qualifications.

If you’d rather listen to it, check out the following video: Lightless City narrated by MrCreepyPasta

Disclaimer: I do not own nor wish to take credit for the story, narration, or the image. The image is currently uncredited because I’m not sure who does own it, but will happy to add a credit if/when I find out.

Do you have someone you hate? Someone you would do anything to hurt, pay any price for vengeance? If so, you may want to consider visiting Lightless City.

To get there, go to any decent sized city and find a deserted alleyway at night. Go into it, and close your eyes as tightly as you can. Whisper “Lightless City”, and concentrate on the darkness. You’ve probably noticed that there are faint colors and abstract shapes you can make out if you try to focus your eyes when they’re closed, watch those images go by. After a few minutes, the images should start to get clearer and brighter.

When this happens, they’ll start taking on detailed forms, images of violent murders, deformed animals, and similar things. No matter what you see, keep your eyes closed. You’ll start to lose track of time, but eventually the images will stop, and you’ll see pure darkness, nothing but deep black, no colors or shapes. When you’re certain that you see pure darkness, open your eyes.

You will now be in a very dark city; there won’t be a single light or star in the sky. You should be able to see a faint dark blue outline of the tall buildings surrounding you. Make your way out of the alley, and walk as quietly as you can down the sidewalk, in any direction.

If you hear any movement, RUN, as quickly as you can, away from the noise. There are animals in Lightless City. It’s too dark to make out the details, but they’re the size of large, wild felines and will kill any human they catch. Keep moving until you reach an area with smaller buildings, the edge of the city.

A child will approach you, his face dully glowing, letting you see that he is eyeless.

He will ask “Will you share your light with me?”

Say yes, the child will reach for your face and rip out your right eye. It will be painful, but there shouldn’t be any bleeding or open wound. The child will thank you and leave. Keep walking, and a tall man will appear before you.

“Whose light do you wish to have taken away?”

Speak the name of the person you hate, and as soon as you say their name, they will go completely and irreversibly blind.

“Is your hatred satisfied?” the man will ask. If it is, say yes, and you will awaken in the alley. If not, say no, and the man will disappear. Keep walking. You will come across another eyeless child.

“Will you share your light with me?”

Say yes, and your left eye will be torn out, leaving you blind. Keep walking, and the tall man will appear again, although you of course will have to rely on his voice.

“Whose life do you wish for the darkness to claim?”

Say the name of the one you hate, and they will die. You will not be asked if your hatred is satisfied this time, and you will not be able to return to the alley. I told you to make sure you really hated someone before doing this, you will spend the rest of your life wandering around Lightless City, blind, with only your hatred to keep you warm.

For some people, that’s enough.

[bigbrotherw]

TOM AND JERRY LOST CARTOON

Written by KI Simpson Narrated by MrCreepyPasta

KI Simpson and I knew one another from a forum that is very much based on video games. A long time ago, we use to communicate with one another on AIM/AOL. I'm doing this because we're long lost online buddies from way back and it's good to see him still kicking and alive.

=======================

EXCERPT

The thirteen Tom and Jerry shorts made by the Czechoslovakian director Gene Deitch are infamous for their poor quality and rather disturbing nature, featuring badly done sound effects and animation and having a more realistic feel to the violence.

Some have speculated that Deitch didn't like the concept behind Tom and Jerry and was pressured into making them, and wanted to make the people who watched his take on it feel bad for liking the concept. What many people don't know is that Deitch was originally signed on to make more than the thirteen episodes the public has access to. Desperate to get out of his contract, Deitch made one more Tom and Jerry short that few have ever seen.

The short was called "Tom's Basement." It opened with Tom in a typical Tom and Jerry house. His owner was the fat, angry guy from other Deitch shorts. Tom's owner seemed even angrier than in his other appearances; the first scene is him stomping on Tom's tail in a very realistic and painful looking way because Tom is sleeping by the basement door.

The owner yells at Tom to never go down there. Tom is clearly terrified and runs away to another room. Our view stays in the room by the basement door and we see Jerry come out of a mouse hole. He looks truly grotesque, far more off-model than in the other Deitch shorts. He gets an evil look on his face and follows Tom into the next room.

The next few minutes are fairly formulaic. Jerry repeatedly manages to trick Tom into chasing him to the basement door a few times, but each time the owner catches Tom he inflicts a painful looking injury on him, which stay with Tom even after the scene ends. After three beatings, Tom is bruised all over, bleeding in a few places, and limping on a broken leg.

After this, Tom starts to literally beg Jerry not to bother him any more; he's not really talking, but he's crying and mumbling, and you can tell what he's doing by his body language. Jerry just laughs at him and pushes him back to the basement door.

The owner catches Tom again and goes ballistic. The camera zooms in on his face - it changes color and distorts as he yells at Tom in a much louder voice than any other sound in the cartoon. I can't post most of what he said on here, but it's definitely vicious and furious.

It seems like Jerry has finally decided to take pity on Tom, though. Jerry picks up a knife that was lying around and stabs the owner in the leg, quite graphically.

Tom opens the basement door and they carry the owner's body down the stairs. There are dozens of other bodies down there, decaying and showing signs of their violent deaths. Tom and Jerry shake hands and it seems like they've triumphed over the serial killer... But Jerry gets an evil look in his face again and Tom says, in that ghostly, deep voice...

"DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT!"

Jerry stabs Tom, killing him, and throws his body into the pile. The last shot is Jerry putting up a 'For Sale' sign on the yard of the house, laughing, clearly planning to do it all again.

=======================

[crappierpasta]

A creepypasta-esque book written by KI Simpson, which he then submitted here so everyone would know about it.

The first chapter can be read on that page. If it's any indication to how good it is, I really wish I had some money right now.

[please-wakeup]

Super Mario 128

Mario has been a gaming icon for decades and has been in more games than can be counted. Although no year in recent memory has gone past without some type of Mario game being released, series fans will remember the nearly decade long drought of original Mario platformers.

From 1997-2005, there was only one new Mario platformer released: Super Mario Sunshine. During the second part of this drought (after Sunshine's release), the mysterious Super Mario 128 was the main focus of the fanbase.

No concrete information was given on the game and, eventually, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto claimed it had simply been a series of test concepts that were never intended to be an actual game.

The mystery faded from memory as the Mario drought finally ended and most people forgot about the game that had once been the center of every Mario fan's imagination.

For a very proud company that relied solely on video games to make money, this was quite upsetting for the higher ranking employees that were attached to the company and felt its success or failure reflected on them personally.

Nintendo started working on a sequel to the 1996 Super Mario 64 shortly after the game was released, but during the late 90s it became clear that Nintendo was not winning the console war. The Super Mario 64 sequel was restarted from scratch, since the company believed that it was not a substantial enough improvement over the original to turn the tides of the market battle.

Seeing the generally more realistic and violent games on Sony's Playstation, the market leader, Nintendo considered making a Mario that was closer in tone to what the public seemed to want. There was quite a bit of internal ocnflict over how far to go with this new direction and the new mario was clearly not going to be ready until Nintendo's next console, the GameCube.

The only hint of this that was released to the public was a comment by Miyamoto that he thought Mario and Luigi should act "more like grown ups" in their games for the (then soon to be released) GameCube.

The new Mario project was ultimately split into two games: Luigi's Mansion, which reflected the darker tone that many felt the series should turn to (although it was still toned down quite a bit compared to what some Nintendo executives and developers wanted), and Super Mario Sunshine, which went in the completely opposite direction.

Both were released within a year of the GameCube and Nintendo felt confident that their new system and Mario games would return them to their former glory as market leader.

As those familiar with gaming history know, they didn't. The GameCube did even worse in market share than the Ninendo 64 and the mass market's taste shifted even more toward violent, realistic games.

During this period, the somber mood at Nintendo intensified and the darker Mario project was revived, this time code named "Super Mario 128." It isn't clear exactly what happened at Nintendo during this period. As we know, nothing called Super Mario 128 was ever released or publically shown.

The source that revealed the internal strife at Nintendo during the later N64 era refused to discuss what was happening during the time of the GameCube's failure, but released a prototype of Super Mario 128 online that can be played on the Wii homebrew channel.

The following is a recollection of my time playing it.

The game was clearly an early beta; the title screen was nothing but white text saying "Super Mario 128" against a black background. There was no options menu or save file selection, either. After the title screen, the game started. Bowser's laugh from Super Mario 64 looped in the background while a plain text box displayed this dialogue:

Mario, I have taken Princess Peach and she will not live to see the sun rise tomorrow unless you take her place. You know what to do and where to go. Do not try to stop me unless you want to hasten her death.

The game certainly was going for a darker tone. After I made the text box go away, I was thrust right into gameplay. The first thing I noticed was Mario's character model. His body was as detailed as in Super Mario Galaxy (although a little more realistically proportioned), but his head was taken from his SM64 character model. Obviously his design wasn't finished yet.

The setting was a sky level. There were some simple platforms floating in the air. The rest of the area was just blue sky with several clouds scrolling in the background. The clouds seemed more realistic than the usual cartoony puffs in Mario games. They were quite graphically impressive.

There was no music or full voice samples from Mario, but there were sound effect/grunts when he jumped. The jumping was more subdued than in other Mario games. Mario didn't jump as high as he usually did and had little control over his movement in the air. The different types of jumps in every 3D Mario weren't present.

I played through the level. There was nothing especially notable about the gameplay - enemies didn't seem to have been added yet. I just jumped from platform to platform and it wasn't very challenging.

As I went through the level, I noticed the graphics gradually changing. The sky became more and more cloudy until it was entirely composed of clouds, and the cloud background gradually turned to a dark gray.

After this, it started to rain. I reached a small platform with a Toad on it. It looked like the Super Mario Galaxy model. When I landed on his platform, dialogue appeared.

We don't want you any more, Mario. You don't belong here. Just give Bowser what he wants. Die.

After the text box went away, I no longer had control of Mario. Mario just stood there for a while, then turned around and walked off the platform. His body seemed to go limp as he fell.

Eventually, it was revealed that there was a realistic, modern city under the sky. The buildings looked neglected, but there were people on the street.

Mario hit the ground with a realistic-sounding thud, but he didn't explode or show any visible wounds. He just lay there. The people in the city just kept walking by, ignoring Mario, although I thought I saw a few glance at him with cold, somewhat angry expressions.

This went on for a few minutes and eventually, people stopped appearing. Mario got up - I was back in control - but he couldn't jump at all and had a reduced walking speed.

The large buildings of the city didn't appear to be interactive, so I just kept walking down the street for a while. Eventually, I found a small house that seemed out of place among the larger buildings.

When I approached the door, Mario opened it. The screen went white and some black text appeared.

House of Torn Memories

This seemed to be the level title. When I pressed a button, the screen faded back to Mario. He was inside the house from before. Everything seemed bigger than it should. It wasn't gigantic, but scaled as if Mario was a very small child.

The house was filled with normal object covered in dust and signs of neglect. There were no people on the ground floor, just things like broken lamps and rotting food. I found a door that opened to a set of stairs going down, leading to a basement.

In the basement, I found a dilapidated couch and a broken TV. However, what really caught my attention was what was on the couch: two skeletons that appeared to be children, judging by their size. Due to the scale of the house, they were still larger than Mario.

I was starting to get really disturbed by now. How had a Mario game containing this been programmed to this extent?

I went up to the skeletons and tried pressing buttons to interact with them or the TV, but nothing seemed to happen. I was about to turn around and look elsewhere when i was nearly scared to death by a deafeningly loud crash coming from the game.

What appeared to be Bowser seemed to have broken through the floor from below and landed in front of Mario. I say "appeared to be" because this was nothing like the way Bowser is usually rendered.

The reptilian monster in the game had Bowser's basic brownish-yellow and green color pattern, but looked far more threatening than any Bowser model I had seem before.

It was not proportioned like the Bowser I knew. Its arms and legs were far longer in relation to its body and ended in razor-sharp claws. The green shell didn't look like it had spikes glued on; they were more jagged and organic looking with the same dark green color the rest of the shell had.

The face had small but intense pur black eyes and a mouth full of jagged teeth that took up far more of the face than it should have. Mario was cowering in fear from this thing. A dialogue box appeared.

You've kept me waiting long enough, Mario. I will taste flesh soon. Will you finally surrender, or does Peach have to die?

I still didn't have control. Mario just stood there, shivering for several seconds before nodding his head. Bowser impaled Mario with his claws. There was no blood, but it was clear from the animation and sound effects that the sharp digits of Bowser's hands had gone through Mario's body.

In one swift motion, Bowser dragged Mario up to his face and bit his head off. Again, there was no blood or graphic details left behind on Mario's neck - just Mario's character model being destroyed.

The screen faded to black. In white text, another level name appeared.

Mario's Eternal Home

Mario's character model was whole again when the level started. It was the only thing on the screen besides the black background. It was floating, as if in space. I could somewhat control it, but it felt more like I was deciding the general direction in which Mario would tumble than fully controlling him.

As I drifted towards no apparent destination, voices faded in. They were echoing, deep voices telling Mario that he was worthless...that the world no longer had any use for him and everyone would be better off if he was dead.

High pitched crying was layered onto the voices after a bit. It sounded like it was supposed to be Mario's cries. This really disturbed me and I found myself fighting back tears. For reasons I couldn't understand, this was effecting me on an emotional level.

The voices and aimless wandering went on for several minutes until I spotted a light grey speck in the distance. I moved towards it. It took a very long time to reach, and grew closer at a much slower rate than it should have.

When I was close enough to make it out, I saw that it was a tombstone. It was a very plain one with cracks in several places. When I got right next to the tombstone, I could see writing on it.

I turned off the system right after reading it. I'm not going to play the beta or hack or whatever this was again.There was a single word written on the tombstone.

Innocence

[inunah]

Genocide City (Update)

It had been about two weeks since I had played the Sonic 2 beta. I kept dreaming about it every night, and the dreams were getting worse. I was waking up from them covered in sweat and I couldn't get back to sleep; additionally, I was too tired to function during the day. I knew I had to try my Sonic 2 cart...it was the only way I could move past this.

I was too afraid to try it by myself, so I invited a friend over. Not wanting him to think I was crazy, I casually suggested playing Sonic 2. I turned on my Genesis, heard that familiar "SEGA!" jingle, and watched as the title screen came up.

Tails wasn't in it. I screamed at the top of my lungs. My friend was understandably startled and asked what was wrong. Barely holding back tears, I blurted out the whole story in a barely coherent babble. When I finished, my friend stared at me for a few seconds before speaking.

"What are you talking about? Tails was on the title screen, just like he always is."

I wasn't able to respond. Somehow, this made things seem even worse. I wasn're sure if it really was some kind of curse of if I had gone crazy. I sat in complete silence for a few minutes before my friend made up some excuse about having to be somewhere. He left. I can't blame him.

After the initial shock wore off, I actually tried to play the game. Tails wasn't there and the bonus round was, as I predicted, impossible. After losing, a new message popped up: "You can't run from your failures."

I had absolutely no idea what to do at this point. I considered checking myself into a mental institution, but that last message made me afraid to ignore the game. Thinking about it, I decided I only had one option: even if nothing good was likely to come of it, I had to play through the game again.

I decided to do the next playthrough on my Genesis, holding a controller. Being in front of a TV and using a system from my childhood made me feel safter than playing the beta on my computer.

At this point, I wasn't surprised when Dust Hill came up after Chemical Plant. After going a few screens into the level, I saw something new in the background: Tails, hanging from a noose on one of those Old West-style stands you see in the movies and in the game Hangman. This image would repeat itself in the background every time it looped around.

When I finally reached the place I had fought the boss before, there was another image of Tails being hanged in the background. Robotnik wasn't in his special boss vehicle, just the generic Sonic 2 floating vehicle he made his escapes on. He laughed and flew away. There was no victory screen; it just faded out and went to Aquatic Ruins.

The zones that are in the final game are normal, but there was another change in Wood Zone. Textures in the wood that looked like faces on my first two playthroughs were much clearer. They looked like Tails' face, frozen in a twisted scream. These were carved everywhere in the level, even in the background of the boss' lair.

Again, Robotnik laughed and left, causing the screen to fade out. Mystic Cave and Oil Ocean were pretty much normal, but then I reached Hidden Palace...it had changed a lot more than Dust Hill and Wood Zone. There was no music or enemies. I walked through two empty levels.

I reached the part where Robotnik had killed Tails. Nothing was there. Not the Master Emerald, not Tails...not even Robotnik. Sonic did his despairing animation (the one he did when Tails was killed) and stayed like that for around thirty seconds as the screen faded to white.

Genocide City loaded. It, too, was very different. It was filled with enemies - demon-shaped robots covered in fire. There was no way to kill them, but the level still lacked rings. There were also lava spouts shooting from the bottom the screen and fireballs falling from the sky. It was one of the hardest platforming levels I had ever played.

After several deaths, I made it to the goal sign. It still had the floor gap next to it. Instead of doing things as I did last time, I did the trick that lets you conrol sonic during the end-of-level score tally. It worked. Sonic didn't run into the pit this time. The victory message, however, was in that familiar black text.

"It won't bring him back."

The screen faded and Genocide City Act 2 appeared. The graphics were different here: the fire had burned out and was replaced by ashes and soot-covered ruins in the background. Again, there were no enemies; the corpses of the animals that became Badniks had returned, but this time they all lay in piles of ash. Like my first visit to the zone, the only obstacles were some small gaps in the floor. This time, however, they looked like holes that had been burned through the floor.

I reached the end of the zone. Robotnik was in his vehicle at the right end of the screen, but was on about the same level as Sonic. He didn't move, so I attacked him. He made the usual flashing animation that accompanies damage, so I kept on. After eight hits, he still hadn't reacted or been defeated. However, the black text appeared again.

"What do you hope to accomplish?"

Not sure what else to do, I kept attacking Robotnik. After a few more hits, more messages appeared. They changed after every few hits. I'll post them in the order they appeared.

"Killing him won't bring your friend back." "You let him die. That will never change." "Revenge won't soothe you forever." "Like the past, he is lost forever." "You can't get your innocence back." "Your enemy's blood can't wash away your mistakes." "You have no one to blame but yourself." "Take responsibility for your failure." "You are attacking the wrong person."

After getting all of these messages, I got an idea of what the game wanted me to do. Instead of attacking Robotnik, I walked into him. It caused Sonic to take damage and die. Afterward, one final message came up: "You have paid the only acceptable price."

The game reset to the title screen. This time, Sonic wasn't there. All that was left was an empty circle. I started the game and the screen the common beta sends you to when you select Genocide City loaded. There was no timer and Sonic wasn't falling to his death.

I turned the system on and off and tried again. The same thing happened over and over. I tried the beta on my computer and it was more of the same. I tried another Sonic game, but nothing had changed. It was like everything in the series had erased him.

I haven't tried to play a Sonic game in quite a while now. I'm too afraid to try again, too afraid to see what would happen if I were to see the same thing happen in another Sonic game. This experience has scarred me...so much so that I see that one screen every time I close my eyes.

This story is credited to a person called KI Simpson.

[inunah]

Genocide City

Deleted levels in video games have always been a source of fascination for gamers. One of the best-known examples is the four deleted zones in Sonic 2: Hidden Palace, Wood Zone, Dust Hill, and Genocide City. However, they're all listed on the level select screen of a publicly available Sonic 2 beta. Hidden Palace and Wood Zone can be partially played, and there is an old preview picture of what is believed to be Dust Hill.

However, Genocide City is a mystery. Selecting it in the beta will simply load a blank screen where  Sonic instantly falls to his death. The lack of information and the excessively threatening name have made this zone one of the biggest mysteries in gaming.

Recently, I came across what was claimed to be a more complete beta of Sonic 2 that had all of the missing zones intact and fully playable. I was skeptical that such a thing would exist, since most deleted levels are cut because they were never finished, but the description on the download page claimed every zone had been completed and removed for an unexplained reason.

I started playing the beta. Aside from Tails not being present in-game (he was on the title screen), the game initially seemed identical to the final version. After completing Green Hill and Chemical Plant Zone, however, I ended up in Dust Hill. It was similar to the lone screenshot of it: a standard desert-themed level. The oddly slow banjo music in the background was a little unsettling, but overall it felt like a normal Sonic 2 zone. The Robotnik boss was his standard vehicle with robotic arms holding six shooter guns that fired the standard energy bullets.

After Dust Hill, I went through Aquatic Ruins, Casino Night, and Hill Top Zone with no differences from the ones in the final game. After Hill Top, I entered Wood Zone. Like Dust Hill, this fit in perfectly, with the exception of some odd textures on carved wood platforms (they looked almost like faces). The music had a tribal feel to it. Robotnik was fought on a few floating platforms above a spiked pit; he used an axe attachment to his vehicle to eliminate platforms and attack you.

In Mystic Cave Zone, I noticed the first difference from the final version besides the added levels: after collecting the seventh Chaos Emerald, I didn't get any message about Super Sonic. All there was was a "Sonic got them all!" message. I couldn't turn into Super Sonic, either.After completing Oil Ocean, I went to Hidden Palace Zone. It was pretty much like the version in the well-known beta; there was nothing unusual to it...until I got to the end of the second act. Tails was tied to the Master Emerald, Robotnik hovering above him and laughing. Sonic turned into Super Sonic and ran past the Master Emerald, grabbing Tails right before Robotnik fired a gigantic beam at the emerald, shattering it. The message "Sonic saved Tails!" appeared and the screen faded out.

Metropolis Zone started afterward and with fifty rings, I could change into Super Sonic. Tails was following me, as well. The rest of the game was like the released version. Genocide City never showed up.

Confused about Genocide City's absense, I looked around online, trying to find information about the version I had just played. I couldn't find anything, so I decided to replay the game without collecting any Chaos Emeralds.

Everything was the same as it was before until I reached the end of Hidden Palace. Tails was still tied to the emerald and Robotnik was still above him. Sonic ran to the emerald to try and save Tails, but Robotnik fired an energy beam diagonally, knocking Sonic back. Another huge beam was fired, this time at the Master Emerald. Tails was hit.

I heard a loud, high-pitched shriek, which I guess was supposed to be a voice sample from Tails. When the beam went away, Tails and the Master Emerald were both gone without a trace. Robotnik laughed and flew away. Sonic did an animation I had never seen before, where he fell to the ground and just laid there. The words "You couldn't save him." appeared on the screen and the level faded out. The next zone, as I had expected, was Genocide City. When it loaded, all there was was a blank screen just like in the well-known beta. Sonic fell to the bottom and died. I had fourteen lives when I reached the level, so this falling sequence repeated itself thirteen times. When I was down to one life, the level finally loaded.

The best way I can describe the graphics is that they're a combination of Chemical Plant and Metropolis Zone with many objects in the background on fire. The music seemed like a remix of the title screen music, except played with nothing but deep bass tones. There didn't seem to be any rings in the zone so, being down to my last life, I proceeded with caution. However, there didn't seem to be any enemies in the zone, either. In their place were the sprites for the animals you free from Badniks, lying on the ground motionless.

More and more animals appeared as I went deeper into the level. Soon, the floors were covered with them. The only challenges in the level were some simple platforming sequences; I had to jump over gaps in the floor that lead to a burning fire at the bottom of the screen. After going through what felt like a normal Sonic 2 level in length, I reached the goal sign. There was a small gap in the floor before the sign, but I jumped over it easily. After touching the sign, Sonic turned around and looked in the direction of the gap for about 30 seconds before running into it and falling to his death.

The game over screen appeared. I had forgotten I had earned a couple of continues earlier in the game, but was happy about it. I selected 'yes', but an ear-splitting buzzing noise played. It was the kind of noise games use to tell you when you're not allowed to select a certain menu option. I tried a couple more times, but the game clearly wasn't going to let me continue. Finally, I chose 'no' and got a game over screen similar to the bad ending of Sonic 1. Instead of juggling emeralds, however, Robotnik was juggling the bodies of the animals you free from Badniks. I had to reset the game to get away from that screen.

I was disturbed by what I had just seen. This certainly explained why Genocide City had been removed from the game, but I couldn't imaging what made Sega even consider making something like this. Even though I had already played the game and gotten the good ending, I felt like I had to do it again. I couldn't leave the game the way my second playthrough had ended. For the third time in one day, I started the Sonic 2 beta.

The first oddity was the title screen. Tails was gone and Sonic didn't seem to notice. There was a bit of empty space in the circle both of them usually come out of. I started the game and it seemed normal until I collected fifty rings and entered the first bonus stage. Instead of rings coming at me, wave after wave of bombs appeared. I dodged them for as long as I could, but finally got hit. Instead of doing his ring-losing animation, the 3D Sonic model did a death animation. The bonus stage ended after that. The results screen listed zero for every stat, but the message at the top was different. Solid black text said, "You can't bring back the dead."

Getting really scared at this point, I collected another fifty rings as quickly as I could. The bonus stage I entered was identical and ended with the same message. I deleted the beta from my computer and redownloaded it so I could try again. I nearly screamed when I saw the title screen without Tails on it and, as I feared, I got the impossible bonus stage again. This time, however, the message that appeared when I lost was different:

"You can't reverse your mistakes."

I was terrified and clinging to the irrational belief that if I could just get the good ending again, everything would be better. I went on a different computer, downloaded the beta, and got the same title screen. Acting on baseless instinct by this point, I went to the bonus stage again. The message said, this time, "You have to accept your mistakes."

I deleted the beta from this computer, as well. I realized the computers were sharing an internet source; there was a possibility this was some kind of trick or virus. I went to my trusty Sega Genesis and took out the Sonic 2 cart I had for seventeen years. If I could just see Tails in it, I new everything would be okay.

I still haven't mustered the courage to risk it. Every rational part of me knows the beta couldn't possibly affect my cartridge, but I'm too afraid of what will happen if I see the title screen without Tails in it. I dream about it every night, but I know that it could get so much worse.

This story is credited to a person called KI Simpson.