Sonic 3 - What Happened to Tails?

One night I decided to play one of my all-time favorite video games: Sonic 3. I must've played through the game a million times by now, so if anything was out of place or slightly different, I usually picked up on it right away. This time I chose to play through the game as both Sonic and Tails. Things started off normally. I cruised through Angel Island Zone and was already almost finished with Hydrocity Zone Act 1.
I'd acquired a Bubble Shield, so I took my sweet time getting through the flooded areas of the level. Obviously Tails doesn't get to cash in on the benefits of such power-ups, but it's all good. If he dies or drowns, he just comes back a few seconds later. Just for fun, I decided to purposely wait around in the water until Tails drowned, knowing that he'd just come swimming or flying back a little while later. I reached the Act 1 mini-boss and killed him with ease. Act 2 begins and I'm zooming through the level like it's second nature. I'm about halfway through this long Act when I notice something not quite right: Tails never came back.
Normally he'd be back by now, but he's been gone since right before I reached Act 2. I found it kinda odd, but I didn't think much of it. Probably just a strange glitch. However, things got a little more weird when I entered the Special Stage. I expected the game to even itself out upon entry, but the Special Stage was mirroring the abnormality of the main game. Sonic was standing alone, waiting for the stage to begin. I thought, what the hell is going on? Did this glitch take Tails out of my current run completely? I figured I'd keep going with the game, if only out of curiosity to see if Tails would show up again at any point. At least this would be an interesting story to share on forums.
I finished the Special Stage and was taken back to Hydrocity Zone Act 2. Just as I expected, Tails was nowhere to be found. Shortly after returning, I noticed the word "TIME" in the upper left hand corner start flashing. I had one minute left to finish the level. But wait, that couldn't be right... There was no more than six minutes on the clock when I went to the Special Stage. I know for damn sure that there is no time penalty for going to the Special Stage and the time taken there has no effect on the clock in the main game. I rushed to finish level, bypassing the longer routes I normally take to pick up extra bonuses. I wasn't fast enough, despite having over 200 rings, the time limit killed Sonic instantly.
If I had any doubt that something wasn't right, it was all about to be put to rest right now. Instead of the normal "Game Over/Time Over" music that plays in Sonic 3, I had the unexpected and unwelcome pleasure of hearing the eerie, disturbing Game Over music from Sonic CD. Not only that, but instead of saying "TIME OVER," the game said "GAME OVER" and the font wasn't its usual white-silver color, it was more goldish yellow. I was still stuck on the fact that it said I had a game over. How could that be right? I had 4 lives left! It even still said so in the corner!
Frustrated, I hit the start button, expecting to be greeted with the SEGA logo. Instead, the title card telling me I was still in Hydrocity Zone Act 2 popped up. It was almost like the game was purposely fucking with me now. No big surprise, Tails was still missing. Except now, I was standing in front of the last lamp post before you encounter Knuckles at the end of the level. I definitely didn't reach this point before I ran out of time before. Oh well. Soon I was at the part where Knuckles sends you down to the area where you fight Robotnik.
However, Knuckles never showed up. Was Knuckles joining in on the glitch fun, too? Even his theme wouldn't play. Instead, I just heard silence. I waited for a few seconds. Looks like I was going to have to reset the game anyway. If the game isn't just briefly hanging and Knuckles never shows up to hit the switch that takes out the bridge, I wasn't going anywhere and I'd die from another Time Over. I really didn't want to deal with that weirdness again. Right as I was about to reset the game, the switch seemed to press down by itself and the bridge gave out beneath me.
I plummeted into the water below like normal. I tried to walk forward, but a wall was now blocking my way. Man, this game just doesn't want me to get out of this level, does it? This wall obviously wasn't supposed to be here. It replaced the normal passageway with the fan that sends you straight into the boss fight with Robotnik. The silence was quickly interrupted by the urgent drowning tune, instantly reminding me that I had lost my Bubble Shield after the Time Over. I had no choice but to let Sonic drown. There was no way out of this pit. After I died and returned to the level, I went searching for a new Bubble Shield. For some reason, all the monitors containing Bubble Shields were already broken. I don't remember ever getting them before and even still, I know that when you come back after dying or from the Special or Bonus Stage, all monitors are restored. More glitches?
I returned to that damn chamber and each time I came to the same chain of events; no Knuckles, no music, no passageway, drowning, dead. I was seriously annoyed, but I kept wasting life after life on this issue, thinking this time would be different. When I lost my last life, the game went silent at the Game Over screen rather than tormenting me with Sonic CD's version. Then again, the silence was just as, if not more, eerie. The game returned to the SEGA logo and then to the title screen. The night was still young and I really wanted to play through the game, so I gave it another go.
Apparently the game felt the same way, because now Sonic was the only selectable character in the Data Select screen. No Tails alone, no Sonic and Tails, just Sonic. I had a few old save files with Tails alone, but Tails' sprite was no longer standing under the level icon. The Chaos Emeralds I acquired were now circling an empty space. When I tried accessing the file, the game gave me that annoying error buzzer sound. The same one you hear when you try to get into the deleted stages in the level select. My current save file now depicted Sonic standing alone under the Hydrocity icon. Now I decided to check a couple things out. I went back to the title screen and watched the skies. No sign of Tails flying the Tornado in the background whatsoever. I waited for the demos to start up, especially the first one. Sure enough, the demo cuts out the Angel Island intro completely and Sonic starts the zone right away.
The other two demos also feature Sonic by himself. This glitch has wiped out any and all traces of Tails from the game completely. I thought, it's as if he had died. That's when it hit me. Tails really did die. Back in Hydrocity Zone. I let him drown and he died for real. It all made sense now. I took Tails for granted, thinking he was immortal within the game and that he'd always come back no matter what. I was wrong. The game killed him off for real and continued on as if he really died and was never coming back. At first I thought this had to be a very convenient glitch, but now I realize I stumbled upon some hack someone made for a reason I'll never know. Even if you reset the game or close it and open it again, Tails is still gone.
The changes made to the game after he dies, such as the fact that all Bubble Shields are gone and the new wall blocking your way to Robotnik which creates the trap that forces you into a neverending drowning loop, are Tails' way of getting revenge on you for taking him for granted and allowing him to die. The whole thing is pretty fucking disturbing and eerie.
Whoever made this hack is good at what they do, making the concept seem so realistic in a sense. I wonder how I managed to get a copy like this. I can't tell you what would happen if you let Tails die in another level or how many "lives" he has before he stops coming back. Once Tails dies, the game never brings him back and you're trapped in the level he died in forever it seems. I don't even know if there are any other copies of this hack out there. What I find most unnerving is that this alteration had been lurking in a copy of the game I had for so long and I was never even aware of it.
Category:Deletion Log Refugees
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Category:Sonic
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