Crash Bandicoot: Carnival Nightmare

I dunno about you guys, but... It'll take me a while to get my mojo up and running again.

Let me start things off. My name's Stacy Gillans. Even though I'm a girl, I'm a total video game junky. Especially when I was little. My first gaming console would have to be the Nintendo 64. But I also had a Playstation that time. The only reason WHY I got a Playstation was to play some games that I had interest in. Like Parappa the Rapper, or some decent RPG's. But my favorite PS1 title series would have to be Crash Bandicoot.

My personal favorite Crash game would hafta be Crash Bash. When you choose your favorite character and challenge it out in crazy and toony mini games. Of course, that fun only lasted a few months. When my baby brother got a hold of it, he broke the CD.

I was sad when he destroyed my CD. But I put that past me. A few years later (I got glasses now), I just stayed at my laptop, watching gameplay videos of Crash Bandicoot games on YouTube. So then, it hit me. Why don't I try and find the Crash Bash game again? I mean, I have a PS2, and I still have my old ps1 memory card! I thought I would try and find a good copy online, but I decided not to.

I've read a lot of creepypastas online, and read ridiculous stories on people buying from someone on eBay, and the seller was gone after that. Lame, if you ask me. I talked to my mother about it, and she suggested that I should try Game Stop. I did, but no luck.

My last resort was my local flea market. Like ALL the creepypastas I've read, this is where ALL the story tellers get THEIR haunted crappy games. In creepypastas, flea markets is the writer's best friend! But I digress on that.

Well, haunted, glitched, pirated or not, I still wanted to relive my childhood days. I drove to my local flea market, and strolled around until I spotted a young woman with a cigarette in her mouth, selling something on her table. I looked and to my surprise, there was some Playstation cases. I skimmed through them until I found one with a yellow paper in it.

It said, "CrAsh BandICOOt CarNival BasH". If I remember correctly, my friend told me that Crash Bash's title in the Japanese version is "Crash Bandicoot Carnival". Maybe this is the Japanese version MIXED with the English version? I dunno if my PS2 is able to play this...

"Ma'am?" I said, calmly, "How much do you want for this game?"

She looked at the case, accidentally blowing some cigarette smoke near me.

"Tch. I'll give it to ya for six dollars." she said in a gruff voice.

I dunno if I was doing the right thing. My mom ALWAYS told me NOT to buy video games at flea markets. Not because they may be HAUNTED or something like that, but they don't come with a warranty if you lose or break it by accident. ... But at this point, I really didn't care. I mean, it's a Crash game. My childhood. I gave the woman the money, she gave me the game. I ran off, hoping to find some time to play this awesome game.

When I got home, I called my boyfriend, Ricky, and my best friend, Nancy, about what I bought, and asked if they wanted to come over and try it out. They agreed with me. I was excited, because I ALWAYS liked playing 2-4 player games with them. They're gamers like me!

After they arrived, we made some popcorn, I inserted my old Ps1 memory card, and popped the CD in the PS2.

The old "Sony Computer Entertainment" title card showed up as I remember it. But then, something odd happened. Not scary, but... ODD. There was some Japanese voices saying the logo. If I remember correctly, I've seen gameplay of the Japanese version, and the intros in that language as well.

After all the other company logos popped up, the Crash Bandicoot Carnival Japanese title came in instead of the English logo! And the Japanese theme music instead of the English music played as well!

I was quite stunned! But... the loading screen with the word "Loading" was... ENTIRELY in English! As was everything else! Nothing changed. All the text were entirely in English. Crash didn't change either. He was still floating on that space thing, doing a jump, or his usual taunt.

I thought that maybe this was some sorta hack, mixing the Japanese elements with the American version! I thought that was pretty neat! Who ever did this hack must've put a LOT of effort in translating the Japanese version!

I asked Ricky and Nancy if they wanna do some multi-player matches, but they told me they wanna see the story and gameplay. I wanted to beat them in multiplayer, but I didn't argue with them.

When I selected Crash, he sounded like from the Japanese version.

The intro played, but it was entirely in Japanese. But I played the game when I was younger a million times, so I understand the plot.

But then... something felt... off.

After the loading screen ended, and I was transported to the first warp room, Crash looked... different. Surprisingly I was playing as not Crash... but FAKE CRASH. If I remembered correctly, you can play as Fake Crash by using a cheat code, ONLY in the Japan port, but you can't play as him in the adventure more. And for whatever reason, you can't play as him in the USA version.

I was quite surprised, but decided to keep on going. I chose my favorite level "Jungle Bash". The music and the background looked as good as I remembered it. In the background was Crash- I mean, Fake Crash, Cortex, Kong, and Rilla Roo. Then, a male Japanese voice counted down, and the word "GO!" appeared as I remember it! But... No one else except me moved.

I was the only one jumping, moving,and spinning. At first, I thought I accidentally plugged in some extra controllers in my PS2, but when my eyes turned to my system... MY controller was the only one plugged in. I ran over to Cortex to spin into him. I always liked torturing that mad scientist after what he did to Crash. But when I spun into him, there was a realistic punch sound effect. Not one from a game, but it sounded real. I was dumbfounded, but I ignored it and continued.

The other rivals never moved, no matter how much I spun into them. To speed this up because I was running out of time in the match, I took a TNT crate and threw it at Rilla Roo, but when it impacted him, Rilla Roo's health bar was instantly depleted when the TNT blew into him, and he did his usual flop to the floor movement whenever he lost all health. Ricky laughed at that... but stopped laughing when we all noticed that... he didn't turn into an angel ball and float away... He just... laid there on the ground. ... As if he was dead.

Even when I kept spinning Cotrex until his health bar was empty, he laid on the ground, motionless as well! Same goes for Kong as well! It wasn't until that the game started to take control of it's own! Fake Crash started moving on his own to a TNT! He spun into it, and his health bar instantly depleted! The word "TIE" appeared with the Japanese voice saying it in that foreign language.

And for whatever reason, the screen fade out, with the music along with it. The screen stayed black for a good six seconds until some sentence appeared in red text. But it was in Japanese, so neither of us could understand it. There was a yes or no option. I thought maybe it was a different kind of save option, so I chose yes, and the text faded out.

It faded in to a different stage. except there was something different. The floor looked like a checker board, and surrounding all around it was nothing but lava. Fake Crash was still player one, but... Coco, Crash's sister was player 2, Dingodile was player 3, and Tiny Tiger was player 4. This stage looked like another Crate Crush round, with Papu Papu's music.

Except it was reversed. When the round started, None of the rivals started moving, but Fake Crash started running around the stage on his own! I wasn't moving him with the controller! I couldn't control him! Ricky, Nancy and me were getting freaked out.

Was this some kind of sick joke by some guy?! I couldn't answer that now. Fake Crash kept spinning into the other rivals until all their health bars were extremely low. Fake Crash then stood still in the center as the music started becoming slower and more creepier. He then looked straight at the screen as if he was looking at us!

A Nitro box then popped out from the ground. I don't think Nitros were supposed to be placed in Crate Crush stages (with the exception of the Crystal Challenge in the first level). Fake Crash turned around and... he PICKED up, and I mean, PICKED up the Nitro as if it was a regular crate! As he approached Dingodile first, that's when things REALLY started going wrong. Dingodile looked as if he was about to be attacked, holding out his hand, and shaking his head.

Fake Crash threw the Nitro box at him until it exploded onto Dingodile. He then, did a horrifying screech that I've never heard before as he flopped onto the ground, not moving anymore. He didn't turn into an angel and float away either. Fake Crash then approached Tiny. Tiny looked as if he was begging for mercy. Fake Crash then spun into Tiny, and Tiny then looked as if he was melting into the lava.

Then, for some apparent reason, the two icons of Dingodile and Tiny were then replaced with a picture of Dr. Brio, and Crash. The REAL Crash. Tiny was still floating in the lava, while Dingodile's body still laid to the floor.

Bio ran up to Fake Crash, attempting to at least hit him with his blaster, but Fake Crash's spin attack instantly killed him. Brio just laid on the ground. Fake Crash then turned to Coco. She did an unusual animation of stepping back in fear as she was getting closer to the edge. Fake Crash slowly approached her as if he was running in slow motion. At this point, the music started becoming slow and more morbid. Fake Crash then spun into Coco and she fell off and plotted into the lava! Her body just laid there.

Crash did a new animation as if he was crying, but his cheery face didn't change. Fake Crash then approached him. As soon as he stopped in front of Crash, the music stopped. ... There was dead silence. Nancy was breathing fast, and I cling to Ricky, hoping that something will come out and he'll protect me.

The camera zoomed in as it would do if one character one a round. We heard Fake Crash's laugh (When you play as him and you win a round). But it sounded more in a lower tone. It almost sounded like that Kafka laugh from Final Fantasy or something. A nitro box appeared behind Fake Crash again. He picked it up, and LUNGED it into Crash! The screen went black as an explosion sound effect was heard.

The screen stayed black for at least a good ten seconds. Just then, more text appeared on screen in red again. But this time, it was in English.

"Thank you for making this so much fun, who ever is playing this."

At this point, I wanted to stop the game and destroy it, but something told me to hold back... The text continued as some static appeared on screen.

"I hope we get to play again REAL soon..."

After the static appeared again, Fake Crash appeared all alone in the stage where he was before. He turned around and looked at us. At the point, he started laughing. But not his usual laugh, it sounded like a new laugh track from him. He then jumped and lunged toward the screen, laughing more eviller and louder! His scary and evil face got close up to the screen as his extremely loud laughter burst through the speakers!

We all covered our ears as our hearts were racing like crazy! Ricky then found the courage to take the CD out from my PS2. The game turned off. We all tried to calm down from this horrible experience. Nancy was sweating like crazy. Ricky looked as if he was about to throw up. And I felt like I wet myself in fear. Ricky looked at the back of this disc, and saw that it was HORRIBLY scratched. Scratched so bad that it looks like it's unplayable now. At this point, I had enough. I wanted to know who made that game, and why.

We then drove back to the flea market where I got the game, tried to find the woman who sold those games, and try and at least demand an explanation. I remembered the spot where I saw the woman. The table was there... but she wasn't. Neither were all the old PS1 cases.

I was so confused. I asked a nearby salesperson if he knew that lady. He said he did knew her, but didn't know her name. Yet he had no idea where she had gone.

The next morning as I was getting dressed, my dad was watching the news. They then showed a picture of a woman on the TV. ... And to my surprise... it was the EXACT same woman who sold me that game. The news reporter stated that the woman's name was "Jennifer Potzer" and was found dead this morning near her house in a car accident. They said something about her being a heavy smoker, and also high.

They said she was having a fight with her son, a young seventeen year old, about him wanting his mother to change. She then killed him by stabbing him with a knife, and stuffed him in her closet. She then took resort to sell his old games. She was later found dead after her car crashed into another.

I felt completely pale, but what puzzles me is that HOW did that weird Crash Bash game get into that boy's possession? Not entirely sure myself... When I got home from school, I managed to find the cursed disc again and managed to snap it half with my hand's strength. After that, everything was pretty much the same as it always has in everyday life. But still, I learned my lesson from mom for real this time. NEVER buy games from flea markets, or from passersbys, or from pawnshops that aren't official. You'll never know messed up things you'll find...