Mario.exe

This is a fictional authorial text, created using as a basis several internet creepypastas and with the sole purpose of generating entertainment and testing a new style of writing. I hope you enjoyed...

I've always been fanatical about old games, from the MS-DOS era, and I think I've played most of them, if not practically all of them. Of course, after a while, the “original” games start to run out, and only fanmade games are left, like Mario.exe, an MS-DOS game developed by a fan of the Mario franchise. The game's visuals were even nicer than the original Super Mario Bros., but with some bugs in the controls. It was pretty fun, for a game from the 90s.

Of course, after formatting my old computer, I had to download several games again, so I lost a huge chunk of my collection, but nothing a Google search couldn't fix. For games like Doom, Warcraft and others, it was kind of easy, but Nintendo had managed to get a lot of fan-made games off the internet, so I was having a hard time finding the fanmade Mario game from the 90s. .After going through some forums, I decided that the simplest way to do this would be to ask some idle person on the internet for help. I joined several different forums about old games and wrote something like the following:

   Hey guys I ended up losing a Nintendo Mario MS-DOS game made by fans and I'm having a little trouble finding it on the internet, can you help me?

When I joined one of the forums (I think it was something like “freeoldgames”), the response was almost immediate:

Hello, julio I have this game, and it is, personally, one of my favorites: [link]    I hope you have fun    L.

I downloaded the game right away, and opened it right away.

As soon as I open it, I see that, unlike the original, this one has a menu screen. It used models similar to the original, but with a menu design similar to the one in Super Mario Bros. There were three options:

• 1.       Start   

• 2.       Settings   

• 3.       Exit

I pressed “start”. For a fraction of a second, the screen flickered with the characters in a palette composed of black and various shades of red, but I thought it was just a bug (a very common thing in fanmade games). I decided to ignore it.

Upon opening the game, things started to get weird. The color palette looked darker, and the colors on Mario's jumpsuit were reversed. It was clear that something was wrong, but I was so curious about what was coming next that I couldn't stop playing.

The first phase started happening normally, with everything working as it should, but when I killed the first koopa, things started to get weird. Mario's gloves and eyes turned red, and the controls became unresponsive for a few seconds. I took a leap away from the computer, watching the character walk for a few seconds until the colors returned to normal, and waited until my heart stopped pounding with fright to go back to playing. As I started to get halfway through the first stage, the turtles started to freeze, and the palette started to change again, showing red water against the orange sky and dark gray clouds. The animals, once the enemies of the setting, were now crushed, dyed a dark red, and their flesh gray. Even the pixelated effect became more detailed, allowing you to recognize skulls and bones as part of the scenery.” All I could think was “what the fuck is this” as I continued walking through the completely lifeless crimson and orange-tinged scenery.

Upon reaching the end of the first stage and descending to the second stage through the plumbing, the traditional sound of traditional phase change was replaced by a high-pitched scream, followed by a black screen and groans of pain from many men and women. I just couldn't take this shit anymore; it was sick, even for a fan game.

Upon reaching the end of the first stage and descending to the second stage through the plumbing, the traditional sound of traditional phase change was replaced by a high-pitched scream, followed by a black screen and groans of pain from many men and women. I just couldn't take this shit anymore; it was sick, even for a fan game.

I pressed ESC and ended the game, getting ready to write a huge text cursing the miserable bastard who gave me that crap, but the forum had ceased to exist. I decided it was past bedtime, right-clicked on the file and deleted it right before turning off the computer. And that's when things started to get weird.

A dialog box opened on the computer, written “you deleted me and now I will delete you”. The screen started to flicker, all the furniture started to shake, and suddenly, everything went black.

I woke up on a purple lawn, looking up at the dark orange sky. The smell of congealed blood filled my nostrils as I stood up and looked at the bushes and trees withered with the bones of various animals scattered in random patterns on the ground.

I started walking along the path on the violet lawn as I saw the scenery that stretched for several miles while seeing the complete absence of animals and living plants, with the only exception being the peculiarly colored grasses. Occasionally, a small stream of viscous scarlet liquid appeared, visually resembling blood in the midst of the clotting process, but with a strong smell of vinegar and smoke.

After walking for a few kilometers, I came across a river of strange red material, decorated with a stone bridge and several stone carvings of different shades of gray and brown. I couldn't take it all anymore, I couldn't take it anymore at all, not because of the weakened psychological, nor because of the physical exhaustion caused by the walk. As I was looking for a place to sit, it appeared…It was a man with a blue shirt contrasting with the red jumpsuit. On his head, a blue cap with the letter “L” in bright red, and, adorning his face, was a mustache, the iconic mustache that had marked my childhood, with the tips stained with blood. I couldn't see his eyes, in their place there was only the purest darkness…It looked at me, and smiled, sporting two rows of pointed yellowish teeth, as if admiring the depths of my soul, and said:

“So, julio, did you like my world?”“

This… what the fuck is this, man?

”“You know, it's pretty boring to be down there, just with your grandparents, uncles, politicians, idols for company… I thought it would be nice to be able to disturb the living too…”

Some bones with recognizable pieces of rotten meat start to creep towards me, while the man continues to make fun of my face:

"Consider this as a beta version of what you and the rest of these disgusting humans are going to have to face for the rest of eternity" - the man approached slowly, as it pulled out a small, thin dagger from inside his red jumpsuit, which he used to cross. my lungs over and over again

After succumbing to pain and being covered in the bones of dead creatures, the man bent down and looked me in the eye. I could feel the pleasure he felt seeing me being torn apart by the creatures, and I could feel his contempt as he humiliated me one last time:

“Come on, boy, you can't be that stupid, and you must already suspect who I am. Come on, say, speak, just once”

"Lu… Lucifer…"

I woke up in front of the computer. There was no longer any game or website or anything like that, just an open text file that read:

    I hope you enjoyed the experience of one of the demos of the future releases of SATAN LTDA, here we fight for you, the customer, to be our greatest and eternal heritage

    On your right hand, you can find the company seal, which guarantees a 90% discount on the purchase of any product from SATAN LTDA for personal use and 66,666% discount for any product you want to give as a gift to friends   

See you soon, Ethan

    L.

As I lifted my right hand, I could see a tattoo on her back. In a discreet gray tone, there was a pentagram, with the letters SATAN spread between the points of the figure, along with the word “BETA” at the foot of the star

.I'm really not sure how real this experience was, or even what it really means, but, trust me, if you find some weird game on the internet, by an unknown author, just ignore it… You never know when you can become a beta tester…