Hello. My name is Michael, and I will be recounting my experiences with an old Sega Genesis classic, that was called, Sonic The Hedgehog. I hope you enjoy the story. Nonetheless, let us begin.
How It All Began / Day 1[]
This all happened a while back in the 90's. A new game was in development. Yuji Naka had no name for the main character. At the time, he wasn't known as sonic, but as a bunny character. The design was scrapped, and the idea for a hedgehog character was born. It was up to me to name the little hedgehog at the time, but after I forgot, Yuji Naka already came up with one. I wanted to play the game, so I could get some inspiration for a name, but whenever I tried to ask, he would cut me off, and even if it did get through, everyone in the room would just stare at me, with a terrified expression. I always wondered why they did this until today.
Recently in the mail, I was sent a supposed Prototype version of the game. I had no idea who sent it to me, as I didn't even buy it. All I knew was I got an early build of Sonic 1 for free. After sticking the game into the genesis, I was greeted with a very weird error screen. It simply said, "We are sorry, but Yuji Naka won't allow you to access this build of the game. It's for your own good. DB082.bin Caused an illegal action. Please try again.
What? Something HAD to be wrong with the genesis. Surely he wouldn't just lock us out of his own game, right? After blowing into the cartridge, it still came up with the same screen as before. I knew something in the cartridge was wrong, so I disassembled it, and got all of the files stored inside of the memory chip, into the PC. I was greeted with multiple files, but the one I was looking for was DB082.bin. I finally found it after digging through the, "PROTECTION" folder. Weird name.
Anyway, after launching the game, the classic, "SEGA!" jingle sounded, but it sounded a bit off. It would go all the way to "SE-" but when the next 2 letters were said, it was replaced with loud static. Maybe it was just something wrong with my genesis. The thing was old anyway. After going to the title screen, I finally knew what was up. What he was hiding. He was hiding his past from us...
The title screen featured sonic, but he wasn't happy, he was crying. He even had a black eye, and looked like he was in pain. I felt so bad for the little hedgehog. A part of his ear looked like it was cut off. It was even bleeding. not realistically, but in the title screen art style. The background looked like it was taking place in a sunset. The clouds were gone too. This was a bit eerie. Was Yuji Naka abused as a child? Was THIS the reason why they were hiding this from me? I'm not sure. The rabbit hole went deeper than this though, but i'll save that for tomorrow. I'm a little tired after writing this.
Deeper Into The Rabbit Hole / Day 2[]
I pressed start, and it landed me into a new zone. INNOCENCE - Act 1. The music began. It was a weird mix of notes, that sounded like labryinth zone, but was in reverse. The only thing that stood out besides that was Sonic himself. He looked WAY different, his color palette was all screwed up, and was a grey-ish color. His eyes and gloves were entirely yellow, and his pupils and nose were red. His skin was also a purple-ish color, similar to sonic's black eye on the title screen. The zone looked like Hydrocity Zone from Sonic 3, but the water looked green, almost as if it was toxic waste. I made tried to him go right. He didn't take a single step. I tried again. This time, sonic just looked at the screen. He looked at me with a grim on his face. The music went slower. I made him move left, and he went off screen. He never came back. I kept hearing multiple pixelated scream sounds, which I think was supposed to be from sonic, but i'm not sure. I waited for about an hour, and the screaming continued, but it was getting louder. Sonic suddenly came back, but he looked like he was beaten, and his head was ripped off. WHAT WAS IN THEIR HEADS WHEN THEY WERE MAKING THIS!?!? Anyway, I pressed start, and the game showed me an image of Yuji Naka, but his parents were beating him... I felt so bad for him, and I felt bad for whoever had to design this. I hope he's safe. And I hope YOU, yes YOU, the person reading this, is safe too. Please, don't play this game NO MATTER WHAT. Thank you. - Michael Tommore
