Disclaimer[]
Sonic names and trademarks are owned by Sega.
This has been given a few looks over and there may be a few kinks i missed. criticism will be greatly appreciated.
Note - I must stress that this fic is in no way intended to attack anyone i profusely apologize if it does come off on that way and i am currently doing my best to slightly revise it to soften up any potential offense
Story[]
I am what you call a very loyal gamer towards the classic franchises such as Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, and especially Sonic, while many modern gamers scorn at such titles; in favor of more graphic and violent games such as Call of Duty and Dark Souls.
Ive always been pretty stuck to childhood classics.
As a huge Sonic fan, I look forward to playing every new release good or bad, despite the reviews of the public who usually dub a Sonic game terrible, because it did not meet up to their expectations.
I usually had little expectation to save any potential disappointment upon going into a new title and liked the games for what they are worth, however I feel that I can agree with some people that the franchise should cease and move on, and not just because I feel it's lacking, not at all, It is because of something I witnessed and came to understand two days ago.
I was sitting at my laptop adjusting my Yu-Gi-Oh cards for a club I go to on monday's whilst watching a few videos on Youtube. Until I came across the official teaser for Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice.
While I played Shattered Crystal and was up to speed on the cartoon. I had little knowledge on the Wii U version due to lacking such a console, only the opinions of others filled me in, telling me that the game was worse than Sonic 2006,
I couldn't help but feel people were over exaggerating as usual, after all I am a part of the fanbase and know how my "kin" act.
Feeling intrigued by the teaser I wanted to play a Sonic game, since it's been quite a while due to my more busy life, I hardly ever get to play games nowadays and went to get a Genesis emulator and Rom of the original game, while I was able to get the emulator easy getting a rom for the original Sonic 1 was a task in itself due to many rom sites I went too were shut down due to copyright infringement which is a growing issue to play games at present.
Site after site I eventually began to become frustrated cursing under my breath until I soon came across a site that seemed a bit shady.
Knowing full well about malware and viruses from sites like this I hesitated until I came to acknowledge that my Anti Virus would handle any attempts of infection, I clicked the site...
Nothing wrong so far, my Anti Virus didn't notify me and instantly block the site so I shrugged it off and attempted to download the rom, same result as my Antivirus did not reject the download "It's probably safe" I thought to myself as I extracted the file and started up my emulator.
The game started up normally with the usual Sega logo and Sonic team text, When it reached the Title screen no music played, "A glitch" I thought whilst dreading the idea I would need to try to find a better working rom until Sonic appeared out of the title ring, his expression wasn't the usual smug and cocky persona he usually showed.. No it was depressed and lacking in energy.
I got angry and cursed loudly at the fact I got a hack instead of the original game but I swallowed my pride and decided to try it out, hoping for a good trade off.
As I pressed start the game instantly threw me into the the first level with the title card saying "No More".."No more what?" I asked myself as the title card moved revealing the stage and to my surprise I saw Green Hill Zone in a different light.
Green Hill Zone was dead and lifeless, No it wasn't filled with blood or gore like some crappy ghost story, It was lifeless in a sense that nothing or nobody was living there to the point the hill was abandoned, the level was silent and lacked any BGM period.
I drew my gaze to Sonic.
Sonic himself stood quietly looking at the ground almost like he didn't have any vigor, just like in the title screen, I noted how bizarre this hack was and proceeded to move Sonic realising he didn't pick up any speed and only hobbled forward, at that point i noticed i was on zero lives which was impossible normally because the original Sonic game was one of those early games that would end if your life counter hit zero, instead of giving you one last chance.
The Zone itself was empty lacking any Badniks, rings or obstacles, the plant life was very still and had a colour palette to potentially imply they rotted away from neglect.
As I moved Sonic through the abandoned Green hill which was a time killer due to how slow he was moving i eventually came across my first trail of rings which were positioned in such a way they made out letters, words even.
"LET IT END"
I read this sentence and sat in thought to if there was some symbolism involved in this hack trying to give a message across, I moved Sonic past the trail to another set of rings forming a word.
"I CANT TAKE IT"
Who was leaving this trail besides the hacker who made this game, Was this another one of those horror story fan games? Was it one of the other characters with a death wish? I really didn't know and had to keep moving to find out.
Suddenly I jumped as Sonic turned to look at me, I noted that this hack was acting like it was aware.. All though a part of me wondered if the game and its titular character was indeed trying to tell me something.
I gulped and continued to move Sonic to the next formation of Rings fearing what they will say next.
"THEY HATE ME"
This concerned me to whom was saying these sentences and was half expecting a jumpscare at this point, only for the game to continue in its own definition of "Normal" I moved Sonic to the next ring sentence.
"THEY RUINED ME"
I started to get a big idea on who was saying all these messages, Sonic.. I knew that the series hasn't been doing terrifically well since Sonic Adventure 2, in some cases Sega were trying too hard to make the next best game but only to miss the fan's opinions, but was this just some trolls idea of a funny yet depressing bash or was it Sonic trying to send a message?..
As I proceed to move Sonic across the "Stage" the ring line up the messages became more and more depressing, the rings were forming sentences such as "I DON'T WANT THIS" and "LET MY LEGACY REST" to "NO MORE GAMES".
It was apparent that this was the cries of Sega's once fully successful and beloved mascot wanting his adventures to end so that people's memories of him would not become tarnished by every game that was to be poorly received due to high expectations that wouldn't be met and in the case of some of the games such as Sonic 06 and what i've heard about Rise of Lyric, poorly optimised games that were rushed for the sake of christmas sales.
I was starting to feel depressed and kept trying to tell myself that this was a sick prank made by someone who looked down on the franchise and its fans, but alas my feeble mind believed in the paranormal.
Eventually I reached the supposed end of the stage that looked just like the Boss location for Green Hill, yet there was no sign of Doctor Robotnik/Eggman who would of course show up to challenge Sonic every end of the zone.
Yet why didn't he show up this time?.. Could the Doctor have also abandoned the Green Hill like every other living creatures to leave Sonic all alone?
Sonic slowly sat down in the dead center of the screen and slowly began to sob. He sobbed for a good minute or so until he got up, he looked at me once more before running to the right which led to a bottomless pit, He then jumped into the pit and did the usual death animation, nothing gory or demonic, just the little sound effect with Sonic's dazed yet surprised face as he shot up and down.
The game then alerted me that it was a game over, But instead of the words Game over it said "Please be over" before cutting into a blinding mix of colours occasionally flickering through images of Sonic's decline over the years be it game titles, concepts or certain characters.
After all this it cut to black and displayed Sonic falling from the top of the screen before hitting the ground, while he would normally have survived such a fall he hit it with a crunch not unlike the usual tile breaking sound.
As i sat here wondering what will occur next in this bizarre symbolistic rom hack i jumped in surprise as the words "Gold influences the selfish" appeared on screen in the same text font for the "Try again" text in the game's bad ending.
The screen before the game reset..
the game reset through the exact same logos and when it went to the title screen Sonic looked even sadder than before as if he had gone through this exact same sequence over and over again.
Curious i played again going through the same sequence three or four times each time the game returned to the title screen Sonic looked more and more depressed even with a few bruises mixed in on his face.
After seeing this i hastily shut down the game and sat in horror after it clicked in my head to what this was all meant to mean.
Sonic was trapped... Trapped in this eternal cycle game after game, Forced as Sega's little marketing gimmick to fill their pockets with cash.
The concept if you think about it deeply is sickening if you consider this an all too real interaction to reach out to a fan, akin to that of a defenseless bear forced by some sick bastard to perform for their own gain.
All that happened. The empty green hill, the messages, the suicide attempt, the images, All symbolism to what Sonic wants but cannot have due to the fact that He is still alive because Sega wants him to be for monetary value.
I didn't tell anyone else this story because I knew no one would believe me if i tried, yet when i see a new Sonic Game or other media I sit and think about what I saw through that game and hope that Sonic would rest one day...
The End