DEAD - A Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Cartridge Story

Alright, if I correctly concur, It was 3 years ago, around my birthday. I had recently dug out my old Nintendo 64, and decided to go on a nostalgia trip, playing one of what I did consider the best games ever, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. So I dug the Nintendo 64 out of my closet, but couldn't find Ocarina of Time, or any of my games for that matter.

I looked everywhere, but I had no luck whatsoever.

After a few days of searching for the cartridge, I was talking to some of my friends at the nearby park, where we usually went to hang out, and it just so happened that Jeremy, one of my friends, said that he might have a copy of the game. I was really happy to hear this. I was thinking that I might actually have a chance to play my game again, since there was no gaming store in that old town, and the nearest one was about two hours away. On top of that, we really didn't travel that often. I asked him about it, but I was a bit disappointed at what he said. He said that the cartridge was in his bedroom a couple days before, but it had went missing and he really hadn't looked for it. He told me that he would look for it that night, and if he found it, he would drop by my house the next day. I obviously agreed, and couldn't wait for the coming day.

The next day, I heard the doorbell ring about twelve o'clock and I ran down stairs, hoping it was Jeremy. My parents weren't home, so I went ahead and looked through the window, and my hopes were correct. He did seem a bit under the weather so to speak when I opened the door; He seemed pretty pale and looked sick. I asked him what was wrong, but he just replied that he couldn't sleep the night before. I could tell there was something worse wrong with him than that, but I just ignored it and took the game from him. "Adam... I don't want you to play the game... Please.." He said, sounding like he was hiding something. I asked why first of all, but got no reply from him, instead, he just walked away, heading towards his house. I was already getting unnerved, but I decided to head back inside and ignore it. It did bother me that it may have been the game that caused whatever was wrong with him, but I contemplated it, and it didn't really make much sense how it would be possible. I figured I should stop worrying about things like that, but now I realize that I should have gone with my gut feeling. I pushed open my bedroom door and made sure my Nintendo 64 was hooked up before plopping the cartridge into my Nintendo 64, anxious to begin playing the wonderful game again. However, it didn't work. I was getting worried, then I remembered to blow out the cartridge, as well as the system to get the game playing. I began to blow out the cartridge when I noticed something. The inside of the cartridge was covered in some black crusty stuff. I really couldn't explain it, but in reality, it didn't bother me that bad. I grabbed a wash-cloth and managed to get rid of the substance, hoping that I didn't damage the game by doing so. I then proceeded to blow out the cartridge, then the console it's self. I was so happy when I flipped on the switch to the old system and the game started, and I was glad to finally play it after all of these years.

The Nintendo logo came up as usual, but here's where it started getting eerie. The sky was an odd, reddish color, and was very badly glitched, and the logo was a bit distorted, and large portions of the logo as a whole were missing. The scenery was also glitched a bit, none of the land around link and Epona had color, it was just a lifeless grey color. Aside from all of that, the "press start" notification showed up fine. I pressed start, convincing myself the whole thing was just a texture glitch, and that I could live with it. I then saw that there was one account saved on the cartridge. The name was really unnerving, especially after the sky glitch. The profile's name was DEAD. I then decided I should delete the account, considering it was probably just some prank cooked up by my friend. I pressed the "Delete" button, to delete the account, but nothing happened, and the same thing occurred when I picked the option to make a new account, or copy the DEAD account for that matter. I finally realized that it must be some hacked cartridge or something, but I didn't mind it. I went ahead and opened up the account window against my better judgement. The window showed that he had all of the medallions, max health, etc. He had already beaten the game. Without much other option, I clicked the button to start the game using "DEAD".

It was really weird what happened. The screen faded to black, then relight to find glitched Navi already at Link's bedside to wake him up, as if the game had restarted from the beginning, skipping the intro. Her dialog was normal, other than the fact that she referred to me by my real name, Adam, which was odd because the account was clearly called DEAD.

Oh well, creepy or not, I wanted a new game, the textures damaged or not.... Maybe Jeremy was just trying to be an ass? I never knew him to do anything like this, or know anyone who could, so I didn't really believe that was the case. I remembered that he told me not to play it, and it really bothered me at this point.

I left Link's house only to find something really odd. The forest was completely empty of anything I could interact with, besides the houses, which were still there. The houses all had a door blocking the entrances. There was also no background music playing, not even the crowing and such that would play if it was night. When I approached all of the doors and pressed "A" it said: "..." and wouldn't open. I tried this on all of the houses, but every one of them did the same exact thing. I finally ventured up to the forest exit, which was blocked by the indestructable bolders that you encounter later on in the game. I then checked my inventory to find it filled full of the lens of truth. There was a copy of the item filling each spot in my inventory. I tried activating them, but it just played the "Incorrect Sound" and did nothing. After rechecking everything, I walked to the Great Deku Tree's grotto without much of a choice... but what I found was pretty weird.

There was no Great Deku Tree, the tree's sapling was also gone. In the center of the grove, where the tree stands, there was a clone of link, except his tunic was completely black, as if leading in an endless void. I approached to find the situation get graver. His complexion was completely white. his eyes were voids, and he was dismembered, only having one arm, and one leg. I didn't know what to do. I ran around it, but it's gaze never left me. I finally talked to it and a text box appeared. "Hello DANIEL... I'm DEAD... I will show you to places beyond this place, would you like that?" After it asked, the answer prompt came up, and said "Yes", but where "No" was supposed to be, there was a glitched text symbol that I couldn't make out. I clicked the glitched symbol multiple times, every time it played the "incorrect" sound. I finally clicked "yes".

The screen then stood still for about 5 seconds, I thought the game crashed, but as I was about to turn off the console, my Link turned void black, then glitched into pixels. Directly after that, the game went to black.

When it relight, I was in the grotto where you first meet Zelda. However, I was more than shocked at what was seeing. Child Zelda was lying down in the center of the grotto, resting on a pool of blood, keeping the Zelda style though. The music playing was that of when you first meet Zelda, but in reverse, and slightly higher in pitch if I remember right. I then checked my inventory again, to find it completely empty besides what looked like Zelda's Note. I equipped it to a C button and then used it, which caused link not to lift it up in the air as usual, but to look as if he was reading it, holding it in front of him. The text box typed out slowly: "T O O L.ATE" The message then disappeared from my C button, and when I checked my inventory, it wasn't there either. Finally, I approached Zelda, and pressed "A". The text-box then came up and said "..." once again.

The screen then faded to a solid red screen. For a split second, the screen showed DEAD's Link and played a really loud, high pitched screech. It liked to have given me a heart attack. Then, the screen came back up and I was back in the Grotto where you meet Zelda. Now, however, where Zelda was lying, the blood was now a really dark red and a Zelda in the same style as DEAD's Link was standing on top of it. There was also no music playing whatsoever now. I was pretty shocked at this point, I really wanted to get rid of the cartridge, which now seemed like nothing more than a sick joke. I tried doing everything besides going up to the beast. I tried saving and quitting to the main menu, but nothing worked. I found that it traced my every movement, just like DEAD did. I finally talked to it. It said "...You're at the gate. would you like to enter H. E L.L?" It prompted me again with the Yes/No options like earlier, and the No was still screwed up. I didn't stop pressing the No button until finally my controller lost complete control. It chose "Yes" very slowly, without my control. I remember shouting at my TV as the screen faded to black. The next part was horrible.

It stayed at a black screen, but it was still playing audio. I heard Link's startled sound, then I heard something that sounded like the impact of a blunt object on a body, and I heard Link screaming like nothing ever before. I know it wasn't in the game... It was a horrible yelling, that sounded of pure suffering as I kept hearing the beating sound. then finally, the screaming stopped. then a sound that sounded like crying from Link was heard. he kept crying for about 10 seconds. It was disturbing me by far at this point.... It was terrible. Finally, I heard what sounded like the master sword unsheathing. the last thing I heard was Link starting to begin a scream, but stopping suddenly along with a sound that sounded like a sword impaling flesh. I remember I was very well in horror and sadness as my favorite hero... was murdered.

I remember the same audio track that had played in the first grotto with Zelda had been playing through the whole scene, and all of a sudden, the music stopped. DEAD link's face popped up out of nowhere and said "I'm DEAD... and now you are too." Then I heard an ear-piercing loud screech that seemed as if it was going to deafen me. My TV went to static as I unhooked my N64. I took the cartridge and threw it down the stairs as hard as I could, wanting to get the thing as far away from me as possible. I remember laying in my bed horrified after turning off my TV. I finally got up to store the console back in its place, once and for all.

This is what happened overall. I don't know the reasoning of this thing... I got Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS this year, and hopefully I will be able to play it with no more horrid content. Going back, Jeremy was nowhere to be found the day after he gave me the cartridge. His parents didn't know where he was either, and he wound up missing entirely. About a month later, I received a letter in the mail from his parent's address, dated exactly a week after he went missing. It talked about how if I hadn't already played the game, I really shouldn't, and he actually explained the cartridge. He apparently lent it to his friend who was supposed to mod it with a gameshark. However, his friend apparently entered an incorrect increment in the code, and it unlocked something that was locked away and hidden within the cartridge. He told me about something that would happen if you did one thing that I didn't do, but I don't think I'll put it here, just in case it could still trigger what happened to my friend. He apologized that he had forgot about the cartridge, as he never played it after his friend warned him not to. When he found it, he said he wanted to play through it before giving it to me, only to find the DEAD version, and whatever the horrible glitch was. He mentioned something about it doesn't trigger unless what he called the "DEAD Version" was unlocked, which it was apparently. I still don't think it would be a good idea to post it here, as someone may once again unlock the DEAD version of the game. I'm really sorry for anyone who may find this "secret version" or whatever it is... I feel even more pity if you figure out the way to trigger... whatever caused my friend's "illness."

I searched for the cartridge after storing the N64 in what I think will be its final resting place. I couldn't bear to play another Nintendo 64 game, and on top of that my games were still missing. I still to this day don't know where that cartridge went, we moved from that house right after Christmas that year. I hope you readers out there never find the DEAD Version... furthermore, I hope you never find anything to do with it in any game. I don't know how many cartridges the "Version" as I can barely stand to call it, is programmed in, but never try to find it... I beg of you. If you do find it... Don't play the game. I fear for your sanity... and your life if you don't heed this warning. As for me, I'm living a normal life, but the cartridge has been lately haunting me in my dreams... I'm having strange nightmares, and I can't sleep at night. I'm just not sure... and I'm hoping I can get rid of it by posting this story... Goodbye... and may you never meet the curse known as DEAD.

Credited to ShiningQueen