It was a Thursday when I decided never to play that whimsical game ever again. There is something definitely wrong with it, but I don't want to be that guy that gets rid of the most popular game at Litwak's arcade. Can you imagine the hatred I'd get from my friends if they found out I was the one to deem it out of order?
The sad thing is that I was really excited to play it before what happened.
Like I said, it was a Thursday when it happened. I was one of the first to run in the arcade when Mr. Litwak opened his doors. Naturally I sprinted to the most popular game—or in this case the most retro.
Fix-it Felix, Jr. was on one heck of a roller-coaster ride in the past few weeks. I don't want to go into too much detail because I want to get to what happened to me pretty soon, but I feel I have to explain what happened prior to me to fully get my own story out. You see, it was my sister who first noticed something was wrong. The wrecker guy, as my sister still calls him, wouldn't show up to destroy the building she was trying to fix.
So there she was, playing around with Felix and an untarnished apartment building. His controls seemed to work, she had told my family at dinner, but then it seemed like he was controlling himself. The joystick jerked out of her hand. That's when she decided to get Mr. Litwak… before the craziness finally did crescendo. All she said was that everyone in the game went crazy.
Out of order. Lucky for everyone that it was fine the next day.
Now back to my disturbing experience. I already said that I was first to get to this now cursed cabinet. I wish I never did, but I'm getting ahead of myself. It started out as an ordinary game of Fix-it Felix, Jr. The normal intro screen was illuminated. The short backstory of the game played. Ralph screamed, "I'M GONNA WRECK IT!" like he always does whether he's present or not. That one guy flew across the screen, courtesy of Ralph. Finally, after all was said and done, it was my time to control Felix.
I won't lie when I brag about how good I was at that game. I'd say I was wrecking the game, but that's not my character's job; I'll say instead I was schooling in Fixing 101. So sue me, I can't think of a better pun that describes how good I was. This particular game was especially no challenge for me. Pies were being placed everywhere, the ducks were oddly scarce, and the damage done to the building was easy to get to.
The game progressed, I achieved the new bonus levels, and before I knew it, I was finally at the final level. This was an especially tricky level since Felix is so close to the top of the building—practically underneath Ralph. It started when he broke open one of the biggest windows. When I guided Felix to go fix what had just been broken, I thought I saw something that didn't belong inside. I paid whatever it was no mind since I mashed the 'Fix' button before I could even make out what it was.
If I were to guess, it was some sort of pixilated red ribbon.
"Yoohoo!" one of the characters called out. I immediately saw the pie and maneuvered Felix over to it. With that, he zoomed across the screen and fixed the remaining damage. It was over. I won. Or so I thought…
The standard victory scene played, revealing a shiny medal from behind the clouds. It placed itself on Felix's neck, the superintendent beaming with pride while the tenants cheered for him. They then ganged up on Ralph and threw him off the side of the building and into the mud. No big deal, it's supposed to happen.
What happened next wasn't.
While the victory theme still played on, my focus was taken off of it by a sudden cry. I'll never forget its childlike quality, how the voice seemed to be on the brink of tears. And because there was no speech bubble announcing a new piece of dialogue, it's safe to say that I was as scared as she (it sounded like a girl) was.
It was only one word. A cry of anguish that I say I've dismissed but can never truly forget.
"RALPH!?"
I just stared at the screen in utter disbelief. Was I hearing things? No, that was a distinct, shrill scream. Was I imagining things? I don't know. My only evidence that something may have happened is the faded memory of two cream coloured pixels poking out of the wall of the apartment building where a window might be. After a few moments of moving the joystick around to see if there was anything I missed, I realized that a line was forming behind me. That's when I figured I'd stay around this game all day to see if it would repeat.
To save you and me a lot of time, it didn't.
Why was it only me? I could even expand this question to my sister, as she was the one to find most of the odd Easter eggs around the arcade. She boasts being the one to find the scared soldier in Hero's Duty before claiming the game was a rip-off, and she found the super secret character in Sugar Rush (who's now her favourite). Come to think of it, our father was the one playing that one infamous racing game before some character called Turbo glitched and ruined it for him.
Why is TobiKomi after my family? A better question is why is Litwak's Arcade after us? Did something happen that's making these events centre on us? Are these supposed to be taken literally or symbolically? I know I can be a jerk to my little sister sometimes—I once booted her away from that candy themed racing game to try and play all the random characters in a day—but does the Fix-it game have to be so dramatic to make me realize that I have to stop being such a jerk to her?
In that moment after Ralph fell into the mud, and when the voice made its plea, I realized that life is a precious thing. This lasting memory has improved my relationship with my sister, and even still I have yet to return to that creepy arcade. I can't bear the thought of what other weird thing might happen to me if I go back.
And do you want to know what the most disturbing thing about this is? I decimated the high score that run.