When I buy old Pokémon games, I typically don't care too much about authenticity. Most of my games are reproduction units made by some Chinese company. Have you even SEEN the prices of the original carts? So tickle me god damn pink when I found what was supposedly an OG cart of Pokémon Gold for only about 5 bones.
This was the image used on the listing. I didn't mind that it didn't have a label, I could print one out at my library for about as much as the cartridge (fucking expensive ass paper). Just as long as there were no glitches with the audio after saving like some of my games were. I never really cared for the 2nd generation, but wanted to complete my collection. The package for some reason came in a box rather than a pouch of some sort like my other games did. I thought 'maybe that's all they had' because it did come from Fuckknowswhere, Missouri. Not only that, it was all taped up, even shit that didn't need to be. Corners, sides, and all, and it was layered. It was like some fuckin schizo packaged it. After getting through all the unnecessary amount of tape, there was not only the cart, but a note that what I assumed read "your problem now" because the handwriting was all types of fucked. All I could guess was that this guy really hated the game and just wanted rid of it.
I put the game in my game boy player just to see how far he got in. However, upon booting up the game, it was just a picture of haunter with the text “SAVE 1” below. Now I was more intrigued than ever. I absolutely adore Chinese bootleg games, and assumed this was that. The music didn’t seem too out of the ordinary, but I don’t know since I never really played this generation of Pokémon. There was no option start a new game, so I went on his file just to see what made him spaz out so badly just to get rid of it. The game starts and I’m in what appears to be some sort of maze. I get it, mazes are tough sometimes, but he was literally just around the corner. Sitting right there was a lone Pikachu. However, upon approaching it, the game stops and makes a low humming noise, similar to what a crashing Wii sounds like. I restart the game, but this time there is no starting screen and I’m right where I was when everything crashed. Except this time, there is no Pikachu. After walking right for a bit, there’s a pause, and then a screen transition out of the maze to a town. The town had the names of shops that existed in the real world. All of which were in an order that I recognized. It was my town. By this point I was ready to turn off the console and just break the game, but curiosity got to me and I also just didn’t want to waste $5 like that. Contacting the seller was off the table because I would either get no response or some crazed all caps unintelligible rant.
Recognizing the layout if the town, I walked over to my house. When I did this, a video played. This wasn’t like an incredibly compressed video that would play on a Game Boy. It took over my entire screen, even the Game Boy player borders. It was a video of me sleeping. This is where I was mortified and took the game out. Despite this, the video kept on playing. The camera then pans to the rest of my room, other parts of my house, and even my back yard. Another video then played of me through my window. I then just turned off the TV and called the police saying someone was recording me. I was enraged when I heard they couldn’t do anything about it because I had no way to retrieve the video files, or maybe I did. I have a bunch of stuff for transferring retro cartridge ROMs and save files to my computer. This is to avoid piracy like the good little angel I am. I inserted the game to the Game Boy ROM transfer thing and plugged it into my computer. Instead of file explorer showing up, another video plays which is just me at my computer. With no way out of it, I sit there for about 2 minutes with basically nothing happening. That was until I adjusted my chair. With some delay, I was being streamed in real time. As soon as I notice this, I rush to my window, where something ran off. I pick up a gun and rush outside in the direction this person was headed. Upon going outside, I see no evidence of anyone being there at all. Until I see a black van parked across the street. Motherfucker it is 5pm, how are you going to think I don’t notice that when I’m basically the only one on my street. I go up to the van because that’s how smart I am, and I see 3 people in the back all on different laptops. They look back at me with their “oh shit” looking faces. In the back of this van is a bunch of video cameras and screens with radars and blinking dots, that’s how I think they found me. From what I’m guessing the game is probably chipped and they tracked me. They probably also had the package number; how else did they get into my house while I was asleep? They all yell at the guy who’s been recording me to just book it and not come to the van, informing them that I have a weapon. I point the gun at them as for them to stay put while I dial up the police. When the police arrived, they took the 3 men and called for more squad card to take all the equipment to the station.
It’s been about 4 weeks since then. I didn’t hear much about the situation since the day of their arrest. An article popped up about them the other day and that’s why I decided to write this. The article gave all the details of their motives and why they did what they did. It took a long time to get any word out of them because for about 2 weeks they all used their 5th Amendment. In short, they were just looking for an interesting way to capture and kill people while also putting fear into them. I’m so thankful I had the wherefore all unlike other people to contact authorities and I hope I don’t get into a scooby doo ass situation like this ever again.