Part 1 (November 21, 2012)
Super Mario had always been a favorite of mine during my childhood. My first real gaming experience was a GameBoy Advance SP, and that was enough to get me hooked. Eventually I received a GameCube for Christmas, and at my next birthday I was given a copy of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. The ambitious curiosity of a child paired with my already present adoration for the Mario series made my GameCube controller something I was not going to put down.
Needless to say, I finished the game relatively quickly. The endgame of PM2 is something I really enjoy; the fact that you can roam around and do all of the troubles, make recipes, and find badges forever made the experience that much better. However, after doing everything I could in the game and starting new files to try to relive the game, I eventually stopped playing it and moved on to other games.
It wasn't until this afternoon (November 21st) that I decided to pick up the game again. It wasn't where my other GameCube and Wii games were, I had to go looking around for it. I checked everywhere - every game case, box, closet, and cabinet around my entire house. With much frustration I walked back down to my basement, and on top of my TV I found none other than the tiny game disc...how it got there I have no idea. I specifically remember checking there. It didn't make sense but I decided I'd take it, eager to relive some of my childhood.
I put the game into the GameCube and turned it on. The usual bouncy logo popped up on the screen followed by all of the trademarks before the opening credits. Seeing all of this brought back so many memories, especially when the book with the star on it slowly eased itself in to begin to tell me a story.
Though I had seen the contents of the book so many times, I decided to watch the scenes again. When it got about halfway through I decided I couldn't wait any longer to start playing, so I tried to continue to the title screen. The most peculiar thing happened - it wouldn't let me leave. I had to watch the entire opening, so I spaced out a little bit as I waited for it to be over. One thing I did notice was that it loaded very slowly and the GameCube occasionally would chug as if it was loading a large amount of data (what it could be loading at that point I don't really know). After it was done I heard somewhat of a popping noise before it went to the main title screen. I took this with a grain of salt - I just wanted to play my game.
As I proceeded to the file creation/select screen, I noticed all of my old files were still there. One spot was open, so I picked the spot and watched the intro boat scene. I could've sworn I heard the popping sound once or twice again, but what happened at the beginning Rogueport scene is what made me start to get concerned. As the boat pulled in, I got off and started walking around. I could hear the sound effects of the boat moving, my own walking, and hitting the save block. They were all at normal volume, but the cheery Rogueport music seemed like it was turned down. I could still hear it, but it's like it had dimmed as if I was supposed to be talking to someone. At that point I decided to reset the console. After all of the developer logos appeared it immediately faded into exactly where I reset the game, right as I had left it, as if the game had known where I hit reset because it wasn't right under a save block. This was getting really messed up for me, and I turned the power off and went upstairs.
I'm going to get the game out tomorrow and continue to play through it; I'll try to update as soon as possible.
Part 2 (November 22, 2012)
Hey guys. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Luckily I slept through the night, so I got up and went to church. It wasn't until about 11:30 AM that I got home, but when I did I immediately went downstairs to play more of the game. My curiosity took over my fear, I guess. As per usual, eh?
I can't say I was surprised when I turned on the GameCube and it brought me directly to where I left off. The last time I played, I hadn't really let the Rogueport area sink in yet, but it didn't look like anything had changed. The music was still dimmed as if I was talking to someone. Upon further investigation I noticed there were a lot less people in the harbor area, in fact there was actually only one. He was an orange-headed Toad that was pressed up against the wall next to the save block. He had a horrified expression on his face - something I can't remember ever seeing in this game before. I tried talking to him, and all he managed to say was "Lord Crump...came through...took..." before the game closed the message bubble on its own. Remembering how Mario gets his first partner, I walked over to where Lord Crump usually is found picking on Goombella.
This was where I first started to think that something could be seriously wrong. Instead of seeing Lord Crump and Goombella standing in the center waiting for me to intervene, Goombella's sprite was just lying there on the ground. What was unsettling was that her eyes were wide open, and upon watching her for a little bit every once in a while her eyes would flicker towards the camera. I don't remember ever seeing something like this in...any game for that matter. I tried talking to her, but the only thing she would say was "..." before the game again closed the message bubble. Before moving on into the main square of town, I took a walk around the rest of the Harbor area. Nothing else was particularly unusual, besides the eeriness of what was already there.
I walked up the steps and into Rogueport Square, and everything was pretty much the same from an appearance standpoint as the previous area. The music was still dimmed but there were a few more people in this area. However, they all had that same horrified expression on their faces. Most of them only said "..." when I tried to talk to them, but one Goomba with a green hat said "They...speak of only...four chances". The game was starting to become a bit sadistic, so instead of taking my time I started to move quickly. My first thought was to go into the eastern area and find Professor Frankly, but when I opened the door and went inside his office he was nowhere to be found. Neither was Merlon, I checked his house too. Because there was no Frankly then that meant I couldn't use the pipe to get into the sewers. Without anything to do and with the desire to not stand around, I figured it was a good idea to go and fight Gus.
Those who've played this game obviously know that he gives you to choices when you talk to him, one being to pay every time you want to get through and the other to just fight him. But, I wasn't given any choices this time and something was very wrong with Gus. He looked like he was very afraid of something. When I talked to him he started to say "Oh...uh, to get through you have to" but the game cut immediately to battle. This surprised me; the game completely interrupted whatever Gus was trying to tell me. When we entered the stage to face eachother it was my turn to start, but before I was given my fighting options I saw Gus look around timidly as if not aware of what just happened. I selected my hammer from the menu and started to walk over to use it, but as I got about halfway Gus quickly backed up OFF the stage and the camera followed him into the background behind the curtains. This was the scariest thing I had ever seen in this game, it was like Gus was running out of the battle but it also seemed like he was running away from me. As he ran backwards behind the stage all you could really see was the side of the curtain and a lot of darkness. The screen faded to black.
I was greeted with a purple speech bubble that said "Mmmmmmm..." which was only seen at the end when you are talking to the Shadow Queen. Why it was being shown here I didn't know. I was bounced back to Rogueport Harbor, where the screen faded in to the same area that I had seen earlier. I immediately went up the stairs into the main square, which triggered a cutscene showing the green-hatted Goomba. "One...has been wasted..." he said, and at first I was confused but I remembered what he said earlier about four chances. It's apparent the game didn't want me to go fight Gus, and doing so booted me back out to the Harbor and I had wasted one of my "chances". What the rest of this means I don't know, but I'm begging for your guys' help on this.
Part 3 (November 24, 2012)
I had to take a day off from this game. Half of the stuff I've been seeing I have NO recollection of from when I played this as a kid. And also, I spent some of the day yesterday reading over your replies and was curious as to if anyone noticed that my posts were delayed by a day. It's funny - I know for a fact I posted them earlier.
I turned on the game again and it brought me back to Rogueport Square, so I took your advice and decided to go find Zess T. She was standing outside, looking for her contact lens, but as soon as I stepped near her I heard the "crunch" sound. Expecting her to tell me off for hindering her vision like normal, she instead said this in her message bubble:
"SnVzdCB3aGF0IGRvIHlvdSB0aGluayB5b3UncmUgZG9pbmc/"
What this could mean beats the heck out of me, but this time the game did let me have control over when the message bubble was closed. Maybe the game wanted me to see this? I took advantage and copied it down on a sheet of paper, and that's how I'm getting it to you now. After closing the bubble, Zess T went and blocked the entrance to the west side of town. I found a bit of assurance in this - at least it was close to what happens in the game. I tried talking to her, but she gave me "..." as a response. The game closed the window.
It was at this point that I was very creeped out by this game. It also occurred to me that I hadn't thought of using the pause screen ever, so I pressed START just to see if I could find something new. I had no partners yet, but it did say I had all of my paper moves (boat, paper thin, etc.). I couldn't find much use for these beyond the boat tile by the Trouble Center, and that didn't get you anywhere. As I walked into the eastern area by Frankly's house, I noticed that the fence door to the pipe was now open. I decided to take the plunge; I had nowhere else to go, right? As I got down there, everything seemed normal-ish at least for this game; the music was dimmed, and I also noticed an absence of NPCs. Not even the "Spiky" Goombas, as Frankly mistakenly calls them, were there to fight when I crossed through the nearby pit. I made my way over to where Blooper usually is, but he wasn't there. The game was acting as if I'd defeated him already, and the path to the other side was wide open. I stood on top of the Petal Meadows pipe, deciding whether or not it was a good idea. I've been starting to feel personally threatened by this game (whatever it is at this point), as silly as that sounds. I suppose I've been letting it get to me. But don't I have good reason for that?
The game hadn't stopped me anywhere yet, so I assumed this way was the way I had to go. I would've turned back but I didn't want to risk wasting another one of my "chances" or whatever. I don't even know if they exist.
Going down the Petal Meadows pipe yielded something beyond what I could've thought of. The game kept me in that area and instead sent me to the pipe in the background. You know, the green background area stuff of Rogueport Sewers. This path led me to the one house, and it wouldn't let me go back down the pipe. I walked over and entered the house, and the screen faded to black. A normal blue message box asked me if I wanted to save my progress, so out of habit I picked yes. The GameCube began to chug again, and after about 6 seconds I heard the "pop" sound that I had heard a few days ago. Another blue box came up saying "An error has occurred..." as if something wrong had gone with the save. This stayed on the screen for about 3 seconds until it immediately (with another "pop") switched to the purple Shadow Queen box saying "Mmmmmmm..." or whatever. It was at this point that I powered the game off and went upstairs, I've had enough of this. Whatever this game is trying to tell me is filling me with a large amount of fear and dread; I'll revisit it tomorrow because I'm beginning to think it wants to tell me something. Wants to tell ME something. It's trying to TALK to me. Something is wrong, I'll keep you guys posted.
Part 4 (November 26, 2012)
This is getting ridiculous. I didn't get home until late last night, but I went immediately downstairs to start playing again. What happened last night and today is something I don't want to have to remember, but for my own sake I think you all need to know.
I turned on the GameCube, and after the normal stuff it gave me a black screen for about 10 seconds. A normal speech bubble appeared, the one that the green bob-omb from Fahr Outpost says once the Shadow Queen is awoken: "What...was that? Something terrible has happened". The game faded into the hallway in the Palace of Shadows right before you get into the Shadow Queen's tomb room - I did what you guys said and looked to see if I had any hammer powers and whatnot, and I had everything. I think I've always had it too, all the stuff you'd normally have after beating the game. I walked into the Shadow Queen's room and was greeted by the dark candles that Grodus would normally create. Not only were Grodus and the others not there, but the Shadow Queen was already awoken. I was able to walk around the room, and she just stayed there staring blankly the entire time. I've never felt more creeped out in my life, and my sense of security was crumbling all because of a game. With nothing else to do, I walked over to the Shadow Queen and upon touching her a battle was initiated.
The music was almost the worst part - it was the theme from when you fight the Shadow Queen after she transforms from Possessed Peach and you can't do any damage at all. This was the exact same situation, I couldn't do any damage at all. But after every attack I dealt, she decided to not attack at all. Instead, a purple speech bubble would come up. It had about three variations every time: "Fools..." was the most common, but sometimes it would say "Just what do you think you're doing?" or "Your efforts aren't doing much". The creepiest part of this entire battle was that every time a speech bubble would come up, the camera would zoom in just the slightest bit towards Mario (for whatever reason I never had any partners throughout all of this). The bubbles also didn't have any tails, so it didn't look like the Shadow Queen was actually saying anything. I couldn't quit or die or anything, so my only choice was to turn off the GameCube. I'd had enough for the night, it was all starting to get to me.
I walked upstairs and went to sleep. My mom came in to say goodnight, and asked me if everything was okay. I told her everything was fine but that I'd been on edge lately. She responded with "Maybe you should just go play the game," and walked away. At that point whatever was left of my overall stability was gone. Why would she say something like that? What does she know about the game?
I got up and went to school today, and everything seemed normal. I got home with a desire to finish what I'd started and end this for good. I turned my GameCube on and it brought me back to the fight with the Shadow Queen, but this time there was no music (I can't decide which was creepier anyway). My attacks did nothing as I expected but this time every speech bubble said "Mmmmmmm..." like it had earlier in the game. This continued, but after a few more rounds I got a purple dialog box saying "Put an end to the misery?" with yes/no options. I selected no the first time, and it brought me back to the fight. Now, in between every turn, the same dialog box would appear. Why it didn't occur to me sooner that my attacks weren't doing anything I don't know, I guess there was just a sense of accomplishment in hitting her with no damage a million times. Eventually I gave in, selecting yes. The battle ended and I was brought back out to the tomb room.
The Shadow Queen was still facing the same direction, and suddenly a force picked me up off the ground. Mario didn't do some sort of falling animation either, he just stayed as if he was standing. I was slowly moved and dropped inside the tomb, and fell into what looked like a warped area of the Shadow Tower. It was a spiral staircase that instead was gray, and surrounded by a gray wall. The only direction I could go was down, and it felt like ages until I found a set of doors. I opened them, and Mario went inside. The screen, with another "pop", went black. The GameCube started chugging, and a purple box came up saying "...But they may be of use. If you become my faithful servants, I will not harm you". This is what Possessed Peach says right before batting Mario. Normally an option comes up saying "Become her servant" or "Fight the demon!" or something, but this time it was a purple message box with only yes/no options. The game wouldn't let me choose "No".
For a split second, a few frames of Bonetail roaring at Mario came up on the screen.
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...?
"Shar, wake up... Wake up... Please..."