I'm a big fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, like most people these days. I don't mind the modern games, but my favorites are the classic games, especially the SEGASonic lineup from back when SEGA JP were still working on the real ins and outs of their mascot. There is one game from that era that I don't like. Well, at least not anymore...

It all started on a relaxing fall evening. I was playing through Sonic 2 (My favorite game, I just love Aquatic Ruin) on my DS, when I got an email. I checked it on my phone and read it. It was from my friend, Jake, who I hadn't heard from for a while. It looked poorly typed, like he wrote it in a hurry or under pressure. Or like he wasn't writing it in general. I'll copy-paste it here:

hey , dan. iv e been playin gthis really coollg ame recently

i th ink you would love it

itss rightupyouralley

tr y it o ut

I was... worried, to say the least. My friend hadn't talked to me in forever, then he randomly sent me an email in garbled text about some weird game he found? It was just the strangest situation. Then I looked to the bottom of the email. There was this file attached to it. It read, "eggman.zip".

At first, I turned off my phone and kept playing Sonic 2. "Nope, nope nope!" I thought, "That is DEFINITELY a virus!". But, eventually, curiosity got to me. What was that game? I had to know! I finished up Mystic Cave, and grabbed my PC. I opened the email on it, and, cautiously, downloaded the file.

When it was done downloading, and I opened it, I was met with a surprise. It was SEGASonic the Hedgehog, the old arcade game! I was shocked! I mean, I had heard of the game, but I thought it was locked onto the cabinets it was on! How did he even get this?! However, my surprise was replaced with confusion when I looked at the heroes on the title screen. Their expressions were... different. Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel (Two of the more obscure characters in the Sonic mythos, this game was their first introduction) both had wide frowns. Mighty looking angry, Ray looking more sad. Sonic's look really irked me, though. His confident face had faltered, the cocky smirk usually plastered on his face reduced to a nervous smile.

I didn't ponder on that for very long, though. I found the start button and began the game. I decided to choose Ray. The game went as normal; The character chosen gets captured, breaks out, and goes through Volcanic Vault. I had two things to note that were off about the game. Ray and Eggman's voices sounded a little different, and the game was very strange to control without a trackball. Something happened during the intro for Icy Isle, though. Eggman just kind of stood, staring at the screen. I thought to myself that his animation must've frozen, an emulation complication. But then he turned around. Slowly. Once I had a good look at him, I had quite a few things to note, including but not limited to:

His moustache being slightly more messy, his clothes being crumpled and wrinkly, his glasses being black, the way he was staring at me, and when he finally cracked his classic smile, I saw blood starting to drip from beneath his glasses. But then, he laughed. And it wasn't his normal laugh. It was a strained, diabolical cackle that I heard as I advanced to the next level.