SEGA was my childhood and it always has been. As a kid, each one of their games like Sonic the Hedgehog, Alex Kidd or Vectorman were very memorable especially to me. But only one character got the benefit of me and it was Ristar.
I think most of you are familiar with the name "Ristar". For those who aren't, Ristar is a 2D platform game created by SEGA for SEGA Genesis consoles featuring the iconic mascot Ristar. It was supposed to be a successor of Sonic the Hedgehog. However, the game never received massive exposure or sales, mainly due to being released just three months prior to the Sega Saturn.
Hello, my name is Mark and i'm a huge fan of Ristar. Ever since i was a kid i remember playing Ristar since it released (Febuary 1995) and i was i was 11 years old and now i'm 38. Ristar was one of my favorite childhood characters and i to this day i blame SEGA for not returning our favorite yellow mascot back to his spotlight. Tho i wanna share a creepy story i witnessed back in 2019, when I buyed a copy of the game after purchasing it on Ebay but that copy was beyond something i remember seeing from my childhood.
The Prologue[]
Before i tell you all about my creepy story, i wanna talk about myself first.
Once upon the time, when i was a little kid, i really liked oldschool games especially from SEGA. Games like Alex Kidd and later Sonic The Hedgehog were my original childhood games. I had alot of fun playing these games back then, they felt very joyful to me back then. When i turned 11, a new SEGA game and character appeared and his name was Ristar. I adored everything about this game. It was one of my favorite games SEGA ever created that i even refused to stop playing it.
While in school i was constantly bullied for liking Ristar because they told me its for babies, tho despite that i never gave up on liking the game because it was my favorite. That's when i met someone named Oliver. He and i were fans of SEGA and we both liked Ristar alot often complaining about it. He told me how Ristar impacted him alot after he played it for the first time and i told him the same story. He and i became very close and became best friends. When we got older we were going in the same middle school always talking about how Ristar was still a good game. We coudn't stop thinking what else they will bring for Ristar but it appeared nothing came out as back then SEGA Saturn was a rising star over Genesis. After our graduation me and Oliver later got seperated. I gave my only Ristar cartrige to my little brother and moved to New York for college. Since then, my childhood of Ristar dropped as i was focused for my future and when i passed i began my new life as a artist.
The cartridge i bought.
The Cartridge[]
Since years after playing my childhood i forgot much about Ristar. That was until i saw a cartridge on EBay back in 2019. It reminded me of my obsession for Ristar as i was very sad the game never got a sequal. I bought the game and later that day i heard a doorbell rang. When i checked outside no one was there. Suspiciously i wanted to check if someone was there before i tripped. I was ok but i saw a box. In confusion i looked inside it and there it was. The cartridge i bought. I was excited like a kid i once was and i searched the adic to find my old Genesis console. Luckily it was there and it was funcional, just a bit dusty. As i took it down stairs and wiped it with a wet handkerchief and was very exited to play my childhood game. I tried connecting the console to the electricity to make sure it works and luckily it did so i grabbed the cartrige and putted it on the console, ready to play.
The Game[]
As the game booted itself up i was greeted with the classic tittle screen and it gave a feeling to dance with its cheerfull music. I immediately began the first level "Planet Neer". Everything reminded me of the classic times when i played it including the song that played during my gamethrough. Playing through the level i encountered the first mini boss, the Armoured Tree Snake. It all seemed fine until defeating it. The game glitched out heavily with the text saying "ILLEGAL INSTRUCTION$40670902" occured. Confused i waited until static sound was getting louder and louder and two eyes appeared on screen for few seconds before the screen cut black.
"Strange" i sayed.
"Was this meant to happen?"
The game then reloaded itself with very noticable differances. The first was that the tittle song was very distorted and it sounded like it was playing backwards, and the second thing was Ristar was not on the tittle screen. This gave me goosebumps however i continued playing the game like it wasn't a big deal. But when i started Planet Neer, everything looked wrong. The game looked very buggy as the song and characters looked distorted and glitched. Ristar meanwhile, his eyes were gliching as they either look normal or tiny. Concerned i was playing the game until i reached the mini boss Armoured Tree Snake. It was heavily corrupted as it was more like a mess then a snake. It was pretty much fine at first till i defeated it. The snake melted into pieces as it was defeated and once i left the level the game i was greated with strange messages that took the fear of me...
"Hello Mark"
"Do you remember how long it's been?"
"WHAT THE...?!" i sayed.
"How does it know my name?"
I was shocked and terrified, this was never part of the game, i felt confused and had a slight panic attack after seeing that, "What was that messege?" i sayed. As i began with the second level "Dark Woods", things now got from bad to creepy. The game's level played the song backwards without any distortion and Ristar has a wide creepy grin instead of a normal happy smile. I knew this was a sign of something bad will happen throughout the game but i kept playing the game trying to understand my situation. Another thing i noticed was that Ristar for whatever reason got new fighting moves that was never meant in the game, such as kicking and punching and we all know he only has one ability and that is to either grab the enemies till he knocks them out or climb on the walls. As i accidentally discovered these moves, i was punching and kicking the enemies, i can see Ristar enjoying giving pain to the enemies as if it's something is what he always wanted. As i finished the level i got face to face with Riho controlling the Planet Elder. I was using the grabbing ability and the new kick moves to defeat him, especially with the glitching and when i did instead of a simple defeat for Riho, Ristar grabbed him mid air as the Planet Elder floating away. It looked like Ristar was either gonna choke him to death or split him in half. Ristar then turned his face around, breaking the 4th wall as he is staring directly at me. He then torned Riho in half as blood was oozing out him before the screen cut to black.
"Feels good to release my stress"
"Seeing them suffer makes me feel joy"
"Do you agree?"
"Was that Ristar talking to me?" i sayed.
"No way thats him".
"This was not the Ristar i know and remember".
It truly wasn't the nice and friendly version of Ristar we know off, this was something beyond what Ristar is supposed to be. A possible hijacked or some sort of a pirated copy. After seeing Ristar killing Riho, i didn't wanted to continue the game thinking things could get any worse. But ofcourse my curiocity benefited me to continue as if i felt forced to.
As i got to Round 2 things got to a very dark turn. Instead of the level being called "Planet Leatow", it's now called "Planet Corpse", and as the level sayed, the planet was made out of corpses. Ristar still has that same grin not caring that there are dead bodies around him who also resemble skeletal and mangled versions of him. I guided him through the level, there are low number of enemies and it's mostly just his dead counterparts. The waters were replaced with dark blood too and it was kinda hard to navigate through the bloody waters. I felt very unnerved and regretful for ordering a game i thought whould bring me childhood memories feeling like i was gonna cry. Once passing through Planet Corpse level, instead of "Lost Palace" It was now called "Lost Soul". The level was the same like last one, nothing new or interesting as i was still fighting against dead versions of Ristar. Once i finished the level i was curious to see the boss. The next level was called "Slaughter Attack" instead of "Ohsat Attack". Upon going through the level i was shocked as i got face to face with... SONIC THE HEDGEHOG?!?! I was very confused, he wasn't even supposed to be in the game. Hes sprites looked very stylish and he had his own moves like in his classic spindash in his own games. I was very confused as why was Sonic in this game, it has to do something with the cartridge. About like 6 seconds of silence the boss battle started and he was quite tough. The flames slowly started to engulf the backround as it rose. Each time i'd hit Sonic his body whould start to decompose. He also had a second phase where he developed a menacing grin similarly to Ristar as he was slowly losing his body parts. Once i managed to defeat him, his body was beyond recognisable and he collapsed on the ground dead. It turned out Sonic was a illusion as he was actually Ohsat who had a very different appearance. Disgusted from what i witnessed, the screen yet again cut to black with more messages, however this one probobly had a answer to all.
"Do you know how many years its been Mark?"
"24 Years..."
"Yet i'm still forgotten"
"They threw me away"
"What is this?" i sayed.
From confusion i was starting to understand the situation. Ristar is somehow aware of his abandonment and he also knows how many years it's been without him, which for a game is not meant to happen. Being forgotten and betrayed by the company he was created, but what does that have to do with dead bodies or corpse? Probobly a sign of revenge. At Round 3 "Planet Onaclove" things did somewhat seemed to go back to normal until i saw the enemies. They had some weird mutated appearances as if they got melted by the heat and some of them were even dead. Ristar also seemed kinda sad now and he his new abilities were gone. Going through the levels i then got to to the boss arena "Adahan Fall". The boss looked worse then the enemies. It's eyes were completely missing, he's body had completely melted and blood was on it's claws. The song was also replaced with heavy bitcrushed sounds but despite these changes it acted as a regular boss fight and i managed to defeat it. Once again i got greated with new messages...
"It hurts so much"
"And i'm still trapped"
"I want freedom"
Ristar was more then likely trying to escape his game but is unable to do so. This game was also affecting me too, i felt grief that SEGA's lack of interest to Ristar which led him to be forgotten and now insane. It felt like a endgame to me a this point but i knew quiting this game won't fix anything so i continued. When i got to Round 4 the Planet was renamed to "Neuos" to "Chaos". Unlike in the original game everything here was very chaotic with a extreme large number of killing, and Ristar got that same creepy grin again, a grin of joyment and pain. By the time i got to the boss arena "Awaueck Sing" The screen glitches and it cut to black again. The new messeges appeared...
"I feel betrayed... lonely... forgotten..."
"And now... I only feel hatred within me"
"I want them to suffer like i do"
The screen came back to the game and to my surprise the boss was already completely mangled with me having no chance to fight.
"What the hell?" i sayed.
"What just happened?"
The boss was completely unrecognizable and Ristar acted as if nothing happened with the original cheerful look. At this point i just wanted to quit because i felt very tired and tried to shut down the console, but before i did, i got jumpscared with Ristar's angry expression along with a loud ear piercing noise with big red text on the screen...
"K E E P P L A Y I N G"
Scared for my life i got away from the console. I had to continue because i didn't wanted to know what happens if i don't continue. At Round 5 the level got renamed to "Planet Wasteland" rather "Planet Elykiki". Everything here was very frozen to death rather being a fun level, the song was replaced with loud snowstorm sounds and the enemies looked like walking zombie corpses. Going through the level was kinda tough since the level was kinda more slippery then usual. Luckily i did managed to beat all levels at first try, they weren't that hard. When i managed to get to the boss, Ristar quickly shifted his eyes directly at me. More messages appeared...
"They may have left me"
"But they will remember me"
"I'll make sure of it"
As we cut the boss battle the boss looked very horrifiying as it was decomposed and half of it's head was ripped off. The backround was glitched out as the small enemies that should've appeared weren't there. Feeling sleepy i was now fighting gainst myself to finish the game. Once i beated the boss i got to the Round 6 "Planet Rewope". Unlike Planet Onaclove, Everything here seemed very normal for a while before i got a another message of Ristar had spoke to me...
"I will escape this prison. I will not let them forget about me"
I suddenly remembered this game had special stages so wanted to try out the special stage in this game since i forgot that they existed. When i tried, messages whould appear...
"Nuh uh uh"
"Don't think so"
Weird and confused i continued the game even tho i felt kinda dissapointed, tho it felt like a waste of time. Once i beated the levels of Round 6 i got the boss arena "Burning Power". The boss battle seemed weird as the enemy looked somewhat scared and tried so hard to defeat me while in the original game that wasn't the case. It was very easy for me to defeat him but when i did there was a small animation of Ristar jumping on enemies head, crushing it. I was again disgusted when i saw all that blood oozing from enemy's head and one final message appeared. This one now had his face in a very detailed style...
"Ready for your final breath Mark?"
I was nervous, scared and also weak but i was still born ready to win. At the final round "Castle Greedy", i felt my body like it was possesed. I coudn't control my head, my arms or legs. I was only able to play and blink if i needed to. The level was changed completely. It had realistic graphics as Ristar looked more devilish then before. He's eyes were bloodshot like if they were gonna pop out of their socket, his smile was wider and his teeth were rotting. When i reached to Inonis, he was fused with the Eyebar - 555 with a very disturbing and unnatural appearance. He was a tougher mini boss then how i rememberd back playing the original copy. After defeating him he was disintegrated to ash and i reached to the final boss to face against, "Kaiser Greedy". The boss battle was very tough and quite painful. Each time i'd lose a life i could feel myself dying by losing breath. After having only one life left i tried my hardest to do a one last push with alot of strengh. Thankfully with a miracle i managed to defeat him. I celebrated after winning once i was able to move my body. After taking a deep breath of relief finally reaching the end of my madness. I thought that was the end of the game, however i whould quickly realized that i was very wrong. Instead of the credit's, Ristar was facing his back on me. Kaiser fell on the ground with blood and bruises and the palace was in stable condition rather then blowing up. Then Ristar straight up turned around and looked at me with that haunting smile. It felt like he had one last malicious attempt. He didn't cut me to the messeges but instead he spoke with his distorted yet original voice.
"It seems we reached our end. Sad... But looking into bright side, you completed the game."
"Even tho you are happy, i'm still here suffering for my freedom."
"You will be like every other person who whould leave me in the dark with nothing to do but to stare at the oblivion."
"I want to play with you more Mark. I want you to continue playing the game till very end. I want your attention."
"Do you want to play with me again?"
I was given a choice to either pick yes or no. Despite knowing Ristar's struggle i coudn't continue playing the game again cuz i was too weak. And even if i wasn't, i was still very disgusted by the amount of gore. The game surely didn't reminded me of joy or fun, but rather grief and disgust. With a hard choice i picked "No" and Ristar's crazed expression turned into mad expression.
"No?"
"What do you mean "No" Mark?"
"You want me to suffer is that it Mark?"
"All those years being in shadows yet you want me gone?"
"You want me to be forgotten Mark?"
"Is that it?"
"H̴͈̼͚̍͒̓̿̐̄͂͊͗͝͠Ä̴̭̯͉̞́͋̔̔Ḧ̶̡̢̳̱̗̝̲̰̞̙̪̀̈́̀̾̓̒͒̃̉͗͜ͅA̵̡̛͌̄̎̇H̶̙̫̓Ā̴̧̱͍̬͉̻̝̆̅͌H̴̨͇̻̬̣͉͉̟̀̌̅͝A̵͕̣͔͙̞͚̎̒̒́͗͜"
"Well guess what Mark... I didn't really cared if you had to choose to play or not."
"Your playing my game. And your gonna play with more like it or not."
He lunges forward a bit with hard stomp.
"I WILL NOT LET ANYONE FORGET ABOUT ME!"
He sways back and then forth using his strechy, elastic hands to grab me through the screen. I move back in panic with a pillow on my hand. I closed my eyes thinking this was the end before i noticed the game shut itself off. I looked confused before i looked at my console. The cartridge was all fried up with sparks coming out of it.
"Did the cartridge really absorbed all that Ristar's anger?" i sayed
I had to cool it down with wet cloths because it was scorching hot. By the time i pulled out the cartrige it was already ruined by the heat. I then suddenly passed out from the experience i witnessed taking a nice nap of relief.
The Aftermath[]
I was very scared for what i experienced. My beloved childhood character... Who suddenly turned into a psychopath. While it truly was a terrifying experience, I had alot of grief for Ristar. He wanted freedom from SEGA, to explore more world's. Being left by someone who he was created and stuck in a only game like a giant prison with no escape truly must've felt sad and angry. It felt his pain, his anger and his express. But there was nothing i could've do considering he was gonna kill me too. There were still more questions then answers, like why was Sonic in the game and why was he talking to me. Its possible that Sonic was meant to represent his succesor since he is SEGA's most popular mascot. So he likely visioned him as a enemy. But how did he knew about Sonic? This game truly traumatized my beloved childhood. Ristar... a lovable character who was now in deep despair. I can think the same thing for other characters Vectorman and Alex Kidd having these type of emotions like Ristar did. This cursed copy made me fear Ristar for rest of my life, but it also gave me sadness to Ristar and his endless cycle. I wasn't really sure if i should keep or throw away the cartrige. I tried checking with mechanics if they can help with fixing my cartrige but they told me it's badly damanged to be fixed. I was kinda dissapointed for not having it fixed so i had no choise but to throw it to the garbage. One time i had a dream of being transported in Ristar's universe. I was on Planet Neer, the sky was dark purple, the atmosphere was foggy and all of Ristar's enemies were dead. I was walking around the zone till i saw Ristar in the fog. His body was completely black and only his eyes were glowing. He pointed at me and yelled.
"YOU!!"
I tried to run but he quickly used his hands and grabbed me by the neck and legs. He lifted me on the air as i struggled to escape.
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!"
He then procceded to split me in half but as i was gonna be killed i immidiately woke up realizing i was dreaming. I felt miserable for a entire week and i was even late for work once. i had to take special pills to make me sleep otherwise i whould've kept dreaming of Ristar killing me. To this day i still remember his iconic grin of his just smiling directly at me and his gruosome act's were just horrifying to watch. To this day i can still think of three words he's telling in my head.
"Remember me... Mark..."
This word whould always give me pain as it whould remind me of the cartridge. Unfortunately, i did not took any screenshots as i was heavily focused with the game but let this be a reminder from me that if this happens to you, do not let your curiosity get better of you. Instead stop playing the game and destroy it, otherwise you whould suffer like i did. I hope everyone stays safe and be careful what you buy online. You never know what you will experience.