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What Kids See (Pokemon Snap) by Pasta Master and Carrot

I haven’t told anyone about this until today because I didn’t think anyone would believe me. But....well...here it is. When I was a kid...I think I was around 10. I played the game “Pokemon Snap” a lot. I mean A LOT. I had the greatest scores possible for every photographable Pokemon in the game, unlocked all the items and tools, been through every course a hundred thousand times. (I’m exaggerating that last bit but you get the idea. I played it a lot.)

I often invited my friends over so we could take turns playing since it was only a one player game. I played a lot more than anyone else though. I played other Pokemon games but Pokemon snap seemed to be the only one to hold my interest despite having done everything there was to do.

That’s really nothing to write about. But this is where it gets a little weird. One day while playing, I chose the first course: Beach. It was my favorite level. It began the opening cutscene where Todd came out through the portal and landed on the track. I instantly began expertly snapping Pidgeys as I do every time when I noticed something...disturbing. The second I snapped a picture, the Pidgey would fall out of the air and land on the ground. As they lay on the ground, they acted as if they were sick or hurt and making frantic wheezing sounds. I hear stories all the time about strange glitches doing weird things in games. But this was too deliberate to be a glitch.

One of the affected Pidgeys was directly in my path and it made the Zero-One vehicle stop. I was left with nothing to do but either use an item to try to knock it out of the way or restart the level to see if it changes anything. I decided to restart the whole game. This wasn’t right and maybe restarting the game would fix it.

I got back into the game. And when I did and got to where I saw Professor Oak in the lab, he didn’t look happy. His arms were folded and he looked like he was angry with me for some reason. Professor Oak only had a couple of phrases he would say out loud like “Welcome back!” and the rest would be in text at the bottom of the screen. However there wasn’t any text. Oak was talking to me aloud. And it was nothing he normally said.

“This is not good!” He said. “You have made the Pokemon sick! There is no telling if it will spread or not. I have to get those Pidgeys into the lab now and run a series of tests. This is all your fault!”

I had no idea what was going on here. All I did was what I always did. I don’t see how taking pictures of the Pokemon would make them sick....but this was a game. I chose not to question it. I was to go back to the Beach course and bring back the sick Pidgey’s. I don’t know how I was to do that because you can’t leave the vehicle on the track. You have a preset path you can’t deviate from.

I went back to the course I had apparently fouled up. I looked for they Pokemon I made sick. They were there but....they were mostly rotted corpses now. There were bits of flesh hanging off bird skeletons with flies buzzing around filling my TV speakers with their buzzing. What was going on?!? This had never happened in this game before!

There was now an action command when I approached a Pidgey corpse: “Grab” assigned to the A button. I reluctantly pushed A. My character picked up the nearest Pidgey, making a slimey crunching sound has he did so, like it had been melted to the ground for months. I had to do this several more times, putting each in the vehicle with me. Now the Zero-One moved on through the course. I chose not to take any more pictures. I would just let myself go on to the end and see what happened.

I got to the part with the Pikachu and the surfboard. This wasn’t what I expected at all. Pikachu looked severely depressed. He was sighing loudly and kept putting his head in his hands like he didn’t know what to do with himself. I threw an apple to see what he’d do. He went over to the apple, held it for a moment and then fitfully threw it to the ground and began sobbing. I couldn’t watch this anymore. I turned around to view something else. As I was turning, I thought I saw something. It happened to quick to see what it was. I turned back and there was nothing. Just the ocean outstretched as far as one could see with the fog.

I pressed on to see Butterfree laying in the patch of flowers, wings tattered. A Doduo was preparing itself to try to eat it. I couldn’t bear to watch that. I threw a Pester Ball to make it go away. It got angry and charged the vehicle. I used the Dash Engine to go faster and possibly get away. It stopped before it got to me. I was relieved at that.

Suddenly something flashed past my field of vision again. Something I knew wasn’t in this game. But then again, none of this was normal. It looked like a person. But every time I go back and look, it’s gone.

I was beginning to think things were normal for the rest of the track. Everything seemed alright. Except the Pokemon were all acting oddly. Snorlax being picked at by Pidgey. But I could get past that. But then. I got to the part where Meowth calls at you from the top of that rock. I became sick at what I saw. Meowth had been killed and plastered to the side of that rock and above him in blood were the words “No more pictures!”

Horrified, I hit the Dash Engine again to speed up and get this course over with. I turned around to see what was going to happen with the Eevee and as I turned I caught yet another glimpse of that person. He was standing only a few yards right in front of me. And just like before, he was gone as soon as I saw him. I was now getting worried. What did this person want?

I didn’t have time to think more about it. Because floating in the last body of water to my left, right before the portal was Lapras floating right side-up gutted with the water beginning to turn crimson from its gaping wound. I was near tears by this point.

The t.v slowly began to degrade and static began to drown out the bouncy theme song of the level. However, one thing remained the same. It was the dark figure again but this time he was at the center of the screen and slowly moving towards me in the fog where I began to make out his face, but at this point I was becoming hysterical and ran to turn off the console before I could see it. I had had enough of this. This game was not the joyful game that I remembered. It had become a nightmare.

After that incident, I didn’t touch my N64 again. I stored it in the attic where I didn’t have to look at it. Maybe after some time I’d get over this and play it again someday. I threw away the Pokemon Snap cartridge to ensure it would never scare me again. It had to be corrupted. That was the only reasonable explanation. But how could corruption cause such specific changes? I preferred not to think about it.

Ten years had passed before I saw my N64 again. My son who was interested in Pokemon and liked classic games from my era, wanted a copy of Pokemon Snap which was easy to find now in any second hand game store. I thought back to that horrible night but a new cartridge couldn’t hurt, could it?

I went out and bought a copy from a shop down the street and put it in the console. When I turned it on, the first thing that popped up was not the usual N64 logo with the Pikachu sound effect but professor Oak, so close to the screen I could see the pixilation in his face. He began speaking in a harsh and morbid tone:

“When you add a dash of reality to that childhood innocence you once had, the world becomes a very scary place. Innocence is the perfect ignorance, isn't it? To know that nothing is wrong in this world and yet you lose it in one instant when you realize that the world is not so fun anymore. And you have become corrupted.”

As he spoke, I worried for my son but the more I watched him, the more I realized....he couldn’t hear it. He was playing the game as if none of this was going on. Was it possible that I was the only one who could hear and see this? I asked him, “Did you hear what professor Oak said?”

“Yes, dad” he said. “He just gave me the Zero-one vehicle and he wants me to take pictures of lots of Pokemon!” I couldn’t believe my ears. Was it possible Oak was only talking to me?

I decided to just let it go and let him play the game the way I had all those years ago. Now I could finally see why my parents couldn’t see the appeal in Pokemon when I was a kid. They just couldn’t see what I saw for their childhood innocence had been long gone. Now I see what they saw. I had become corrupted, just like they were.

We all must come to terms with how horrible the world is, but........ I want to give him a little more time in his innocent little world. Just a little more of true happiness.

Description
What Kids See (Pokemon Snap) by Pasta Master and Carrot

I haven’t told anyone about this until today because I didn’t think anyone would believe me. But....well...here it is. When I was a kid...I think I was around 10. I played the game “Pokemon Snap” a lot. I mean A LOT. I had the greatest scores possible for every photographable Pokemon in the game, unlocked all the items and tools, been through every course a hundred thousand times. (I’m exaggerating that last bit but you get the idea. I played it a lot.)

I often invited my friends over so we could take turns playing since it was only a one player game. I played a lot more than anyone else though. I played other Pokemon games but Pokemon snap seemed to be the only one to hold my interest despite having done everything there was to do.

That’s really nothing to write about. But this is where it gets a little weird. One day while playing, I chose the first course: Beach. It was my favorite level. It began the opening cutscene where Todd came out through the portal and landed on the track. I instantly began expertly snapping Pidgeys as I do every time when I noticed something...disturbing. The second I snapped a picture, the Pidgey would fall out of the air and land on the ground. As they lay on the ground, they acted as if they were sick or hurt and making frantic wheezing sounds. I hear stories all the time about strange glitches doing weird things in games. But this was too deliberate to be a glitch.

One of the affected Pidgeys was directly in my path and it made the Zero-One vehicle stop. I was left with nothing to do but either use an item to try to knock it out of the way or restart the level to see if it changes anything. I decided to restart the whole game. This wasn’t right and maybe restarting the game would fix it.

I got back into the game. And when I did and got to where I saw Professor Oak in the lab, he didn’t look happy. His arms were folded and he looked like he was angry with me for some reason. Professor Oak only had a couple of phrases he would say out loud like “Welcome back!” and the rest would be in text at the bottom of the screen. However there wasn’t any text. Oak was talking to me aloud. And it was nothing he normally said.

“This is not good!” He said. “You have made the Pokemon sick! There is no telling if it will spread or not. I have to get those Pidgeys into the lab now and run a series of tests. This is all your fault!”

I had no idea what was going on here. All I did was what I always did. I don’t see how taking pictures of the Pokemon would make them sick....but this was a game. I chose not to question it. I was to go back to the Beach course and bring back the sick Pidgey’s. I don’t know how I was to do that because you can’t leave the vehicle on the track. You have a preset path you can’t deviate from.

I went back to the course I had apparently fouled up. I looked for they Pokemon I made sick. They were there but....they were mostly rotted corpses now. There were bits of flesh hanging off bird skeletons with flies buzzing around filling my TV speakers with their buzzing. What was going on?!? This had never happened in this game before!

There was now an action command when I approached a Pidgey corpse: “Grab” assigned to the A button. I reluctantly pushed A. My character picked up the nearest Pidgey, making a slimey crunching sound has he did so, like it had been melted to the ground for months. I had to do this several more times, putting each in the vehicle with me. Now the Zero-One moved on through the course. I chose not to take any more pictures. I would just let myself go on to the end and see what happened.

I got to the part with the Pikachu and the surfboard. This wasn’t what I expected at all. Pikachu looked severely depressed. He was sighing loudly and kept putting his head in his hands like he didn’t know what to do with himself. I threw an apple to see what he’d do. He went over to the apple, held it for a moment and then fitfully threw it to the ground and began sobbing. I couldn’t watch this anymore. I turned around to view something else. As I was turning, I thought I saw something. It happened to quick to see what it was. I turned back and there was nothing. Just the ocean outstretched as far as one could see with the fog.

I pressed on to see Butterfree laying in the patch of flowers, wings tattered. A Doduo was preparing itself to try to eat it. I couldn’t bear to watch that. I threw a Pester Ball to make it go away. It got angry and charged the vehicle. I used the Dash Engine to go faster and possibly get away. It stopped before it got to me. I was relieved at that.

Suddenly something flashed past my field of vision again. Something I knew wasn’t in this game. But then again, none of this was normal. It looked like a person. But every time I go back and look, it’s gone.

I was beginning to think things were normal for the rest of the track. Everything seemed alright. Except the Pokemon were all acting oddly. Snorlax being picked at by Pidgey. But I could get past that. But then. I got to the part where Meowth calls at you from the top of that rock. I became sick at what I saw. Meowth had been killed and plastered to the side of that rock and above him in blood were the words “No more pictures!”

Horrified, I hit the Dash Engine again to speed up and get this course over with. I turned around to see what was going to happen with the Eevee and as I turned I caught yet another glimpse of that person. He was standing only a few yards right in front of me. And just like before, he was gone as soon as I saw him. I was now getting worried. What did this person want?

I didn’t have time to think more about it. Because floating in the last body of water to my left, right before the portal was Lapras floating right side-up gutted with the water beginning to turn crimson from its gaping wound. I was near tears by this point.

The t.v slowly began to degrade and static began to drown out the bouncy theme song of the level. However, one thing remained the same. It was the dark figure again but this time he was at the center of the screen and slowly moving towards me in the fog where I began to make out his face, but at this point I was becoming hysterical and ran to turn off the console before I could see it. I had had enough of this. This game was not the joyful game that I remembered. It had become a nightmare.

After that incident, I didn’t touch my N64 again. I stored it in the attic where I didn’t have to look at it. Maybe after some time I’d get over this and play it again someday. I threw away the Pokemon Snap cartridge to ensure it would never scare me again. It had to be corrupted. That was the only reasonable explanation. But how could corruption cause such specific changes? I preferred not to think about it.

Ten years had passed before I saw my N64 again. My son who was interested in Pokemon and liked classic games from my era, wanted a copy of Pokemon Snap which was easy to find now in any second hand game store. I thought back to that horrible night but a new cartridge couldn’t hurt, could it?

I went out and bought a copy from a shop down the street and put it in the console. When I turned it on, the first thing that popped up was not the usual N64 logo with the Pikachu sound effect but professor Oak, so close to the screen I could see the pixilation in his face. He began speaking in a harsh and morbid tone:

“When you add a dash of reality to that childhood innocence you once had, the world becomes a very scary place. Innocence is the perfect ignorance, isn't it? To know that nothing is wrong in this world and yet you lose it in one instant when you realize that the world is not so fun anymore. And you have become corrupted.”

As he spoke, I worried for my son but the more I watched him, the more I realized....he couldn’t hear it. He was playing the game as if none of this was going on. Was it possible that I was the only one who could hear and see this? I asked him, “Did you hear what professor Oak said?”

“Yes, dad” he said. “He just gave me the Zero-one vehicle and he wants me to take pictures of lots of Pokemon!” I couldn’t believe my ears. Was it possible Oak was only talking to me?

I decided to just let it go and let him play the game the way I had all those years ago. Now I could finally see why my parents couldn’t see the appeal in Pokemon when I was a kid. They just couldn’t see what I saw for their childhood innocence had been long gone. Now I see what they saw. I had become corrupted, just like they were.

We all must come to terms with how horrible the world is, but........ I want to give him a little more time in his innocent little world. Just a little more of true happiness.