Sudo Stalker

I had just moved into my new apartment. As I was unpacking, I discovered my old DS. I figured I’d give it a go, but I guess I didn’t pack any games for it. So, I decided to drive around town, hoping I could find a store that sold some DS games.

I eventually found a local store. It was a small game store with brick walls and a green roof. I decided to check the Pokemon section and managed to find a half off copy of Heart Gold. I felt joyous. I hadn’t played Gen 2 in a very long time, so the thought of getting to play the remakes made me feel good. I bought the game and took it home to play.

When I first booted up the game, I discovered that there was another save file named “Ethan”. He had 4 gym badges, 14 hours of playtime, and a team that consisted of:


 * A Sudowoodo named “Steve”
 * A Furret
 * A Bayleef
 * A Ledyba
 * And a Pikachu named “Bolt”

I ended up wiping the file and making a new file.

The game seemed relatively normal, I got a Totodile, I fought gym leaders. Then I got to Route 36. I sprayed the Sudowoodo, then fought it. However, instead of Sudowoodo, it was named Steve. Huh. I disregarded it(I mean after all, it’s a name), and continued onward. However, I noticed that as I played through the game, a Sudowoodo appeared onscreen, even in the weirdest of places, like Gyms. Of course, it didn’t matter since I already had the squirt bottle, meaning it was little more than some extra XP, but still. Weird.

Nonetheless, I continued playing, and the Sudowoodo kept following me, stalking me if you will. Still, I disregarded it, reacting with no more than a “Huh.”

As I kept playing though, I suddenly came across a cave. It was one panel big, with only 1 entrance/exit. I entered, and suddenly saw that Sudowoodo had blocked the exit. I interacted with the Sudowoodo, and a text box suddenly appeared.

“S3V333!&”

“P0kemm w4nt5 t0 b4ttl3!”

I sent out Totodile, who by this point was now Croconaw, and the fight began.

I noticed P0kemm’s HP bar was glitched. The text was random symbols, and the health bar was red(Like when your pokemon is low on health), yet it was full and stretched off the screen. Yet, I still fought it.

A little fighting later, I managed to deal the final blow, when suddenly the Health Bar turned green and went backwards, into the negatives. Suddenly, the screen cut to black for a few seconds, then cut back to the cave. The Sudowoodo’s colors were now all messed up(No, not bloody, just weird, unfitting colors, like yellow or purple), and a textbox appeared.

“@@@##$rrr113!”

“→Yes   No”

I wasn’t sure what it meant by yes or no. Curious, I decided to pick Yes.

Suddenly, the music for when you pick up an item played, but it was out of tune, and some notes were faster while others were slower. Then, another textbox appeared.

“P0kemm j001ned th3 p4rty!”

I was a bit confused. My entire party was full. Did it replace somebody? I decided to check, and was surprised by what I had seen.

My regular party was still there, but there was now a new slot with the discolored Sudowoodo, who was now named Steve, like that last one. Also, it’s moves were:


 * Tackle
 * Rock Throw
 * Rock Slide
 * Embrace

I decided to check the summary of Embrace, since I had never heard it before.

“EMBRACE: The user 3MBR4C35 them and their master, D0U8L1NG HP but L0W3R1NG all stats.”

Interesting.

Needless to say, I still have the game, and it’s also what got me into ROM Hacks and fangames.

Also, was the experience traumatizing? No. In fact, Like I said, I still have Steve, the game, and I now enjoy ROM Hacks and fangames. Also, I’m now a common customer at the game shop.