I am a huge gamer. I’m mostly a Nintendo fan, but I still like the Sonic series nonetheless. Anyways, I was browsing EBay for a new Sonic 1 copy (since mine broke a few weeks ago) and found someone selling a CD-ROM version of the game for 5 dollars.
Seeing as I collected a lot of rare video game-related items, I bought it. 2 weeks later and I received a package. Inside it was a CD case with a disc inside. On the disc was the words, “SONIC.EXE”, written in sharpie marker.
I went upstairs and to my room, where I put the disc into my laptop. After installing the program titled Sonic.exe onto my computer, it showed a loading pop up with an empty, thin rectangular bar slowly filling up with blue and the words, “LOADING...”, above it in red.
After it finished loading, the game began with the normal “SEGA!” jingle and then the title screen came up. Right off the bat, I noticed something very strange. The water was blood red and very real-looking. The sky had darkened and the title emblem was rusted and ruined. The Sega 1991 was now Sega 666. Sonic popped out of the logo, not phased by his surrounding. He had a very wide smile on his face.
I was a bit weirded out by all of this, but just assumed it was some sort of joke hack of some sort. I pressed start, but before it cut to black, Sonic’s eyes turned black with tiny glowing red dots and blood trickling down them.
“What the hell?” I whispered in disbelief. “Was that my eyes playing tricks on me or was that really an evil Sonic on my screen?”
It then showed the save file select screen from Sonic 3. The background was the red cloudy Stardust Speedway level from Sonic CD and the music playing was the creepy Sonic CD US boss music.
The boxes above all of the files (where you would usually see the level you’re on) were just static screens.
“Hmm, interesting...” I thought to myself.
On three of the save files were Mighty, Scourge, and Blaze. I was very surprised that Scourge from the Sonic comics was in a game. Anyways, I selected Mighty and the game suddenly froze. A creepy laugh that sounded like Kefka from Final Fantasy played before the screen cut to black.
The first zone titled “CHASE HIM” loaded up and revealed I was in the Green Hill Zone from Sonic 1. I began to make Mighty run and noticed that it was a bit different from the normal game. It was just a straight path with nothing but trees and flowers.
Then, I saw someone.
It was Tails, just standing there with his back to Mighty. As soon as I reached him, he turned around and saw Mighty, then began to run away. I began to make Mighty chase after him.
As I was making Mighty chase him, the level began to change. The grass became a dark orange with the brown checkered floor becoming gray and the sky became black. I suddenly reached a bridge with Tails on the other side, looking at Mighty with an evil grin.
All of a sudden, Tails started to change. His orange fur became black and his eyes darkened with small red dots, like Sonic’s on the title screen. The bridge Mighty was standing on broke and he began to fall. He landed on spikes and they pierced him with blood splattering everywhere.
The screen then began to become static, as that Kefka sounding laugh played again. It cut to black for 5 minutes, before it cut back to the save file select and Mighty was now in the static box above the save file.
His normal red and black skin was now a sickly pink and grey. His eyes were now black, like Sonic and Tails’. He had wounds from the sharp spikes with blood dripping out of them and had the saddest look on his face.
I was very disturbed, but still wanted to see how the game ended, so I selected Scourge. The game froze with the Kefka laugh playing and it then cut to black once again. The next level was titled “FIRE HELL” and looked like a mix of Lava Reef Zone from Sonic & Knuckles and Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic 2. I began to run. Suddenly, I ran into Knuckles above me on a platform with a button next to him (like the one he had in one of the cutscenes in Sonic 3). He silently laughed before jumping on it, sending Scourge falling.
As soon as Scourge got up, I noticed a wall of fire right behind him and I began to make him run away from it. I noticed the ground I was on stopped going on longer and there was two floating platforms I had to jump on to get to the next. I platformed my way up and continued on, hoping I could help Scourge survive, but suddenly the exit was blocked by the evil Sonic from the title screen, who laughed and jumped on a button, shutting it.
The fire began to burn Scourge as he began to scream in agony. It wasn’t even a 16-bit sound clip like what the Sega Genesis usually handles. It was a fucking real scream of pain. I couldn’t believe it. What the fuck kind of game was this? Whoever made this is a real sick fuck who needs to be put into a mental hospital. That static came again with that fucking god awful Kefka laugh before cutting to black. It went back to the save file select and now Scourge was changed. His green fur was now an ugly light green. His red glasses and black jacket were melted and burnt. And he now had those bleeding, black eyes with a look of pure sadness.
I honestly needed to stop and think. What I’ve just witnessed was a WHOLE lot to process. The character transformations, the deaths, and the detail. What the fuck was this? SEGA wouldn’t make this at all, but what kind of sane man would design and program something like this?
After a bit of thinking, I finally chose Blaze. The screen froze along with that fucking laugh and then cut to black. This level was titled “YOUR DEMISE AWAITS” and was the Death Egg Zone from Sonic 2, but everything looked destroyed and decaying. I walked into the room, where you normally face Silver Sonic, but instead it was that demonic Sonic creature, just standing there with his back to Blaze.
The Sonic creature turned around and looked at Blaze, then laughed. The Sonic 3 boss music began to play, although it was slowed down and distorted. The evil Sonic began to charge a spindash and then launched toward Blaze, as I made her jump out of the way. All the while, I noticed a pale version of Eggman looking out at the battle, like he would in the Sonic 2 Silver Sonic boss fight, but he was just continually laughing as if to mock my attempts to save Blaze. I tried to hit the Sonic thing, but it just teleported away in a cloud of smoke and that god awful Kefka laugh played. I kept trying a few more times and suddenly Blaze fell to her knees with her hands clutching her head. I couldn’t control her anymore. Sonic began to charge a spindash and sliced Blaze in half with blood and organs flying everywhere.
It uncurled from the attack and began to laugh with that motherfucking laugh looping over and over again. The level started to go to static and then cut to black. It suddenly faded in, showing Sonic, Sally, and Blaze, as well as other corrupted characters, like Tails and Knuckles. Blaze's fur had darkened and she looked as if her body was crudely stitched back together again, with the stitches starting from her forehead and going down to her pelvic area.
Then, the fucking strangest thing happened. The Sonic creature... started to talk to me.
"Hello Derek," It said in a demonic and distorted voice that sounded like Sonic. "I had a fun time playing with you. But now, it's time for you to join us."
"Yes... join us..." Blaze said.
Then, all of the fucking characters started to chant "Join us... join us... join us..." over and over again. I screamed at the top of my lungs and grabbed a baseball bat, then got the disc out and smashed it to bits and pieces. I heard the Sonic creature say "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! NOOOOOOOO!!!" in a glitchy voice. My computer then closed down and I let out a sigh of relief, knowing that it was finally over.
I'm now writing this as a warning to all of you Sonic fans. If you find a disc reading "SONIC.EXE" in black sharpie, don't play it for God's sake! You don't know what trouble you're getting yourself into!
Anyways, that's all. Goodbye and thank you for reading.