The Collectio Gaming Company: "Save Tails"

''Please take note that this is not the story of a haunted video game - I will try not to spoil the story here, but I will say that the video game was only a message.  My story….my test, it goes beyond this game.''

(SEVERAL NAMES OMITTED TO PROTECT THE IDENTITIES OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS)

I hated watching my Sega and Nintendo games suffer from old age, I was watching my childhood die out to make way for newer games and better technology.

I work full time in downtown Boston, I’m in my twenties and my life is going exactly where one would hope.  It’s in these moments that I begin to reminisce and think about how great it is that I succeeded, and that I can reflect on my life and look back, way back at the nostalgic things that shaped me as a person.  These things were elements of everyday life that act as beacons to the past, and if I wanted to remember the past, I’d go to them first.

What excited me about these particular things was my personal relationship with them - I feel, to this day, that you wouldn’t know me unless you understood these particular films, played these particular video games and tasted these particular foods.  Movies like Wayne’s World and Encino Man (I was young, I didn’t know any better), pizza when there was just cheese on it, Sonic, Toejam and Earl, Legos, the Angry Beavers and listening to 90’s alternative on the radio of our family jeep act as those beacons - and if they were ever referenced today, mentioned, parodied or remembered by any means, I’d feel happy that society remembers them too, and that we’re all connected through something simple, something lovable.

My circumstances, however, have brought me here - to this particular subject.

I played Sonic, and I played it a lot.  I grew an attachment to him, as well as Tails, his trusted sidekick!  They had an influence on me as a child, and yet I would stop playing around the age of 13 for more than a decade thereafter.

I am 26 years old.  Very recently, I went home to visit my mother, and went through my closet to take a look at the past.  Buried under boxes, but safely stored in a plastic container was the whole set: sega, controller, and Sonic & Knuckles - waiting indefinitely for its master’s return.  I felt melancholy over having been reunited with the delicate fabric of my childhood, and without delay, carried the entire set to my car and went straight back to my apartment.  The goal was to attempt to play this old game, with the hope that its aged condition hadn’t worn it out.  I’d actually planned to invest my Friday evening in this endeavor, in lieu of the rainy forecast for that first weekend of August.

Friday evening started somewhat early as I’d left work around 3pm, and wasted no time getting home to that system.  Somewhere in the world, especially in the United States, I expected someone to possess the technology necessary to, I don’t know, refurbish these old games, right?  Whether it was a matter of reprogramming them or brushing the dust off the inside - how difficult would it be to put these in good working shape again?  I was asking myself this because, I’d expected that plugging in the system and attempting to run the game would go unsuccessfully.

Wouldn’t you know it - I was right, it failed exactly in that manner nine times, never getting past:

[[File:SEGAOpeningMessage.png|frame|Remember this guy??]]

After an hour or two passed with me attempting to play any one of the handful of games I’d brought home, I sent out a few texts to friends of mine asking if they’d known of any good gaming stores that refurbish outdated technology, and a few of them recommended a place in Alston, and another one in Framingham (these are towns near Boston, MA).  This had been sufficient information for me to go to bed and worry about it the next day, it was 2:30AM and I had hopes of solving this problem by Saturday’s end.

The walk to my bed was interrupted by my phone vibrating.  Assuming it was my friends providing additional input, I thought to ignore it until the morning.  But I instinctively pulled it out of my pocket and saw the following message:

“Need a game replaced?  We can help!

Collectio Gaming
[numbers omitted] Lincoln St.
[town omitted], MA”

The cell number was restricted, and I’d never heard of Collectio Gaming, I would try to learn more in the morning.  Chances are that I’ll just mail my game to one of the more trusted companies, which was legit one of their services.  I don’t even have to leave my apartment complex!

...

12:15PM, and I was going to mail my game cartridge to a refurbishing/repair company nearby, one which was recommended by a friend of mine.  Walking it to my building’s security desk for outgoing packages, I couldn’t help myself...I gave my game a little kiss and told it, “I’ll see you soon, Sonic.  Knuckles, look after him, OK?  I love you both.”

Upon requesting a box for outgoing mail, I was told that I received a package which was subsequently handed to me by the guard at the desk.  The return address, weirdly enough, was: “Collectio Gaming, [numbers omitted] Lincoln St., [word omitted], MA.”  This Collectio company had sent me something, what kind of spam mail is this?  Regardless of my suspicions, and how much I fucking HATE spam mail, I signed for it and mailed my video game off to be fixed.

I headed back upstairs to start my leisurely day which, so far, consisted of finding “collectio gaming” information online, followed by the unveiling of their bizarre package.

Absolutely nothing, its profile and existence in the professional gaming world was completely dark.

The only thing I could find was a Q&A board where someone was asking about old video game forums, or something along those lines.  The subject of his question was sort of vague, and no one seemed to have an answer, but he was generous enough to provide his email.

I took the liberty of emailing this guy, [internet user], telling him that I received a package from Collectio Gaming and asking if he’d share any information he found on the company.  It’s the best I can do for now….but it didn’t curb my curiosity.

I hoped for a fast reply.

I had no reason or resolve to open that package, it made me uncomfortable...and it was cold to the touch for reasons I hadn’t understood.  However, I wasn’t going to solve my dilemma by wondering what to do, so I opened it.

Opening the package revealed a Sonic & Knuckles game!!!  The only people I’d told about this game were my friends, did they arrange some kind of gift for me?  I had to clarify that they were behind this, so I sent them all a text asking if/why they’d gotten me this gift and about the company that sent it - the game looked in perfect condition, and I felt ecstatic and relieved about having what looks to be a working cartridge!  That is, until I noticed what seemed to be a modification to the cartridge’s face.

On the top front of the cartridge, the title said, “SAVE TAILS.”

The game, in my hands, felt cold to the touch.  Underneath the cartridge in the gamebox, in a creepish child-like manner, someone had written “Please share, don’t be greedy,” in poor handwriting with a white marker.

--------
Message from [friend 1] of 20 years replied to my text:

“Never heard of em”

The first of three of my friends to respond to my inquiry about Collectio Gaming.
--------

A sigh of relief - the game started as it normally should.  The logos introduced, and then the opening start menu appeared - typically, this is where Sonic and Knuckles greet the player, who would select which of the two to control.

But in this game, in my game, Knuckles wasn’t available.

Knuckles’ 3D animation that greets you at the start menu was absent.  Sonic stood in his normal spot waving his finger as he should, unnoticing of the absence of his ally and the vacancy Knuckles had left on the screen.  Ok then, I thought, only one option.  Selecting Sonic was the only way for me to start the game, apparently you need him to find Tails.

I looked at him, and felt strangely concerned - Sonic was looking back at the player intently, staring very wide eyed in a manner that was...disconcerting.

He didn’t look like his normal self, he was altered in some way.  “Why he is he looking at me?  Where is Knuckles?” I thought.  “Have I stumbled across some sort of debugged gem?”

The start screen faded out to black, kind of slowly, leaving the game in a blank, dark state for a moment.  The first level opened as it should, but when the text hit the screen, instead of reading the level’s title, “Mushroom Hill Zone,” I was a bit surprised to read yet the same message as was written in the game box (see image).

[[File:TheMessage.png|right]]

Please understand that this is not my grammatical error, I am writing it exactly as I saw it in my new game.

My tremendous gaming skills having gone unfaded, Sonic flew through the forest of giant mushrooms under my control, collecting rings and smashing open those boxes filled with shoes and other miscellaneous objects.

I was flying through the first level for a solid thirty seconds before I noticed that my pursuance of the goal was not interfered; there were no enemies in the entire first portion of the level.

No robotic animals or cyborg creatures looking to stop me; the entire first level was vacant of life.  In no time at all, and even less effort, I was running the final stretch.

As I began running down a slope to approach the position of the first miniboss, the music cut out.  When the slope straightened out, no boss music kicked back up.

The miniboss arrived, and he was doing his usual vibrant shaking….but quickly….very, very quickly.  His shoulders were bobbing up and down in a state of panic, and without warning, he started hacking down the trees launching those obnoxious logs all over the place.

Through its violently aggressive behavior, I managed to pull off a single hit.  After having made contact with the robo-lumberjack, it immediately, immediately retreated.

It left more quickly than it arrived, and I didn’t see it again - it lost its will to fight before we’d even met.  I didn’t bother waiting around, so I guided Sonic forward, vacating this lifeless zone.

Zone 2 began.  But it wasn’t called Zone 2, the same message came up (see image).

[[File:2ndMessage.png|right]]

This zone was as vacant as the first, only the tree life and vegetation was dying out.  Greenery was not green, it was dim and grey, as if cold weather set in and killed the once animated and cartoonish environment.

As I expected, no creatures, not even the butterflies were present.  I was running through a desolate wasteland, a tundra that life forgot.

Some of you may remember the first thing that happens in this second zone, when you approach the first obstacle - and Knuckles diverts your path.

Knuckles wasn’t at his levered switch to send Sonic off course - the wall was completely gone, and just past it was a series of ledges on which I could leap to continue upward.  Past the rear wall of this cave, the level didn’t continue - it just dropped off.

I reached the top in only a few seconds and continued onward.

The entire game, thus far, was simply lacking elements, from a missing Knuckles, to no enemies, and finally music that seemed to skip every 25 seconds.  It seemed so simple, like a new adventure that’s easy to pursue!  But nothing is as simple as it might seem at first...I wish I shut the game off.

Remember those annoying jack pulleys that you had to pull down in order to elevate yourself and the mechanism?  I had to ride one of those upwards, and upon finishing, I lept to the ground to continue running - then I saw something.

The music flickered, and every color in the background flashed red - something changed in the game, I immediately thought to myself.  At some point I entered a low doorway leading into a sort of cave.  A ledge ahead required me to leap over it and into a short chasm on the otherside.  On this ledge before the chasm were three rings.

There it was.  A red ring, dead in the center of them.

It was just floating in the middle of the three rings, it had a slower rotation and just penetrated the tv with its deep, burning red color.  My intuition of video games says this: every character, in these old games especially, is collecting some form of currency/life force.  Sometimes (not all the time, but every now and again) that currency may appear in a different form (i.e. different color) and cause you to lose quantity from that very collection you try to protect.  It was my assumption that collecting such a misfigured ring would cause me to lose rings, as though it were a trap planted by Dr. Robotnik, that sneaky fat bastard.

After standing around for a bit (Sonic usually taps his foot when you stop moving for a while, which he didn’t do) I moved forward, leaping over the red ring.  I moved out of the cave and ran over an uneven terrain (nothing unusual about that), gradually picking up speed.

Soon after leaving that cave, I encountered another red ring.

It was at the beginning of a running loop, right in front of a line of rings through the obstacle.  I jumped over it and continued, music flickering more often than before, maybe every 15-20 seconds.

I encountered three more red rings throughout this level, none of which I touched, avoiding until the near end of the level.  Finally, approaching the end, I ran to engage Dr. Robotnik, or whatever would have taken his place.

No one.

The music died, no boss music started, Dr. Robotnik didn’t show up.

I actually missed him, I didn’t want to be alone in this game.  Dr. Robotnik was familiar, he reminded me that this was just a game.

I unnoticingly kept sprinting through the level’s end and past the playable panning view, and after a few seconds, everything faded to black.  The screen remained dark for only a moment, and then the next level began…..or seemingly, the first level started over.

I’m serious, the game opened back up to zone 2 of the first level I’d just finished!  I was being made to play Mushroom Hill Zone over and I have no idea why - which I unwillingly did again.

All of the rings I collected on the first run through were no longer there, and any sort of mechanism that was activated for me to progress through the level had been reset, so that I may go through a second time.

Then I approached that ledge - the red ring waiting.

I became very nervous, as though I was being watched.  Someone or something in the game planted this ring, it wasn’t a programming error, and I was being tested.  Too concerned for my well being, I jumped over it again.

As I jumped down the chasm and ran out of the cave, I was concerned that I’d made a mistake by avoiding it - the game may never continue if I don’t pick it up.  Of course, while I was thinking about this, I didn’t pay attention to Sonic sprinting over the uneven terrain - and he ran right into the second red ring.

(I would describe the sound of him gathering the red ring as the Resident Evil sound of selecting which item to use in your inventory, a sort of bubbly, electric blip)

The music skipped badly and cut out, the screen went black and this message flashed up (see image).

[[File:TheCollection.png|right]]

I panicked for a moment, actually afraid of what was to happen.  Less than a second after it popped up, the message vanished, coming back to Sonic at a standstill….nothing else happened in that moment.  The game didn’t shut down or explode, it continued on.  I ran onward, pursuing the adventure.

--------
Second message from [friend 2], who lived in the same place as [friend 1]:

“No but Lincoln st is near here.”

He was referring to their 4-bedroom apartment, which I remembered was off of Lincoln st.
--------

I collected the other red rings.  Simple as that, I snagged all of them along the way, each indicating my reception by the blip sound.  I should also mention that my ring count reflected only red rings - which was up to 4.  Of course, I’d forgotten the first one.

I finished the level again, and of course, the screen faded to black (yet again, Robotnik was absent), but didn’t return to the beginning of the level, not straight away.

The screen hung in silent darkness for about 30 seconds...then I could hear it.

Breathing.  It sounded as though it were a small, feeble creature whose lungs were charred, and it was breathing slowly, painfully.  I knew it was there, I could feel...the cold.

For a moment I questioned if the game was ever going to leave this morbid darkness, and I began to worry for my own safety.  My face felt a coldness in the air in waves….I’d feel the chill for a second, then it’d stop, then come back.

I am not typically one to indulge fantastical occurrences as likely or realistic, however by this time I was beginning to believe that I was welcoming something into my environment.  I know that sounds ridiculous, but this game was enabling a sort of….presence that I can’t explain.

Finally, the level opened back up for a third time, and I was greeted by the same message, but altered (see image).

[[File:MyMessage.png|frame|What did I do?]]

I thought I was stuck in a loop, but it was a downward spiral.  I had to collect the last red ring.  It was intended, and I had a very strong feeling that this ridiculousness wouldn’t end until I pursued that ring...I can’t believe how wrong I was.

I gunned through the level, thought only about collecting that red ring.  The music was skipping again and again, and I could see the background flickering red - then I was able to hear something else beneath the warped music.

It was...I guess....a cross between distant cries and quiet, whispered hissing; like a stadium full of screaming people from a half a mile away.  I was petrified in my seat...I couldn’t move, or take my eyes off the screen.

When I reached the section at which Sonic is sent upward by Knuckles, a wall covered the entrance of the cave, and the entire game stopped - dead silence, no skipping music or distant screams, only Sonic standing still and staring ahead.

--------
Third message from [friend 3], same place:

“Dude, that’s the abandoned building.”

I remembered seeing a massive structure on Lincoln St that was abandoned three years ago.  One Friday I was walking by, and whatever business was in there was bustling with workers, security guards and fine suits.  Early the following week, I was walking to the guys’ place to play board games, and the entire structure had been fenced off and abandoned with a “NO TRESPASSING” sign out front - the whole thing was empty and completely dark.
--------

Now, in my living room playing this twisted game, I looked up.

Red in the eyes and completely zombified, Tails slowly walked into view from the right side, stopped on the other side of the wall and stared back.

He stood behind the wall not moving, and finally, the poorly generated sound of his voice came through as Tails spoke to Sonic.  I am not sure what he said through the bad quality, but I managed to decipher only a few of the words he muttered through his poorly generated childlike voice:

“ '''-------- shouldn’t --- the collection''' ”

[Tails may have in fact said, ‘the Collectio’, in that last part, I really cannot say for sure.]

Then he pulled the switch.  I panicked--but nothing extreme happened, Sonic was blown upwards, and continued the level as he should have.  So I did the only thing I could think to do - I ran forward.

The music didn’t come back, and the sound effects were heavily silenced….all I could hear was the screaming.  The morbid, painful, miserable cries in the distant were getting closer, and I was able to hear what people were saying in their suffering.  What I was able to make out must’ve been the following…

“THIRSTY….
SORRY….
THE COLLECTIO[N]....
PLEASE…”

At this point I could sense something was coming for me….or Sonic.  Within feet of the red ring, I lunged for it.

The screen cut to a message that appeared for not even a moment, but immediately disappeared as a blood curdling and real scream was unleashed from the game, through the tv’s speakers and directly into my ears as though, whoever it was that was suffering, was sitting next to me.

The screen hung in blackness...or, what seemed like blackness at first.  On close inspection, it was a deep, deep red which was flowing downward in a thick, viscous fluid-like manner.

This was blood.  It was aged blood, thickened from timely exposure to the atmosphere, and it was flowing downward in ways I can’t explain, and it was deepening in color until it went purple….I could hear that distant screaming in the background again.

They….so much misery...the pain, I….could hear it.

After a few minutes of seeing viscous, dark blood flowing downward, this corrupted version of my favorite childhood game displayed something that changed my life forever.

On the screen, barely viewable but decipherable, was a black and white image of me, only 13 years old - I was visibly suffering, my eyes were expressing deep morbid pain through black and red tears.

I felt like my stomach was being grabbed by someone and squeezed.  I actually felt sickened by what I was seeing.  The color of that thick blood, the sound of 100,000 people crying out, I could feel suffering…and my own face, my own childhood was being destroyed in front of me.

That’s when the horrid image of my on the screen changed - my face contorted into an unnatural, psychotic smile, and the image melted off the screen seconds later.

That message that followed the game cutting out, by the way, was this:

[[File:TheLastMessage.png|right]]

I threw up.  This game was not haunted, it was designed this way, to make someone sick….to harm them….I don’t know who designed it, what Collectio is, or what exactly he collects.

It’s too late to stop playing.

--------

There existed a small forum online where gamers discussed forgotten games and characters, and apparently “Collectio” was a villain created by the USA branch of the SEGA corporation who attempts to steal Sonic’s rings.  Some time ago, they attempted to design a game where Tails is taken and Sonic must collect enough rings to buy him back - an obviously very dark twist on the Sonic games which resulted in controversy, legal issues and the USA branch closing one of its offices.

That’s about as much official information as the forum had to offer.  The forum also debated rumors of what happened when the former employees started ‘Collectio Gaming’ in [town omitted], Massachusetts.  Apparently they tried to continue the project that they never finished through SEGA by hacking a Sonic & Knuckles game.

Why they chose Sonic & Knuckles instead of Sonic 1 or 2 is not known, nor is it understood why Knuckles was removed from the game (from the beginning, as far as we know).  Because of the fact that using Sonic 1 or 2 would have been simpler, it is believed that S&K was chosen specifically to use Knuckles for something.

Despite their progress, efforts in planning/design and early success, development of the game stopped completely.

A week into testing, several of the game testers committed suicide in the office during late hours, after they sent out a company wide email that they had to, “complete the collection.”

What’s even more disturbing is that they were found the next morning, throats ripped open, collapsed in a circle in the center of the office.  The way the copious, unnatural amount of blood spilled onto the floor suggests that they were standing in a circle, facing inward - no knives were found.

The manager looked into what they were working on, and brought it to the attention of the CEO, both of whom took a copy of the hacked game home to view its contents.  After the police were unable to contact them for questioning, they went to their respective homes to learn more.

Both the manager and CEO killed themselves after cutting all the way around their necks and through their throats, taking their families with them - it has not yet been determined if and how these men killed their families after mutilating their own necks.

Collectio Gaming closed its doors three years ago, no one has gone in the building since.  With all the effort put into locking up the building, chains and locks were thrown over all the entrances, exits and windows as an added safety measure - on the outside.

Apparently, this was done for our protection.

I should have known, we all should have known, they couldn’t wait to close the structure….they had to get out after it all happened….they had to fence us away from something.

A few brave souls have gone as far as to jump the fence and come close to the structure, but turned back after experiencing what felt like frigid, arctic air entering their lungs, making it difficult to breath.

The last thing they’d remember seeing before turning to head back to the haven of the sidewalk, those who have managed to peer through the dense, entrapped darkness of the building, were large red rings painted on the walls…..red, purple, and black rings in thick coatings.

Some of them saw movement on the inside.

Something is still in there, still working.

The chains are keeping it in.

________________________________

''Thank you for reading!  I am hoping to write a part 2 in good time, please let me know if that would be desirable.  If not, I’m still going to write it.  Again, I don’t want this to be taken as a random, haunted video game pasta, this game was a message to me from something, or someone...I’m not really sure.''