I'm not telling this story as a warning of what can happen when you download suspicious stuff. I won't tell this because that would help me to unburden myself. This isn't meant to be an example which should make people learn about this and be more careful in the future. I just think this experience is worth of sharing.
Probably it's the best if I start by telling about myself. I'm a Finnish student girl living in a single apartment and I've loved games all the way from my childhood. During the time of this story I was going to start to make walkthrough videos, but I had problems with choosing my first walkthrough game. I wanted to choose a game I'd known for a long time, maybe since my childhood, and which would be easy start for my walkthrough gaming.
And Jumpstart 3rd Grade was just like that. But there was the point of the problem: my own game had broken up years ago and I wasn't able to find a new one from anywhere. Of course there was the English version on internet, but I wanted to find the Finnish version, like the one I had when I was just a kid.
(But no worries, I've translated everything in English while writing this, so a language barrier won't be a problem.)
I did my best with trying to get the Finnish version of the game. I checked all probable download links and torrents, I explored all internet auctions I knew, I searched with every possible keywords. In the end I left announcements on some forums and told about my situation. I also told that I was ready to buy the Finnish version of the game if someone did happen to have it and wanted to sell it for me.
But then I finally had a stroke of luck: about month later in one of the forums some user left an answer to my announcement. The answer contained nothing but a torrent link. The name of torrent was just a lot of numbers and I doubted if it was the real one, but it totally was.
Soon after I had downloaded the game, the forum deleted the topic pleading for the illegality of torrents. But I didn't care about that anymore. I finally had the game I had been looking for so long.
I hardly managed to wait to get to record my first gaming video. When I was done with all initializations and I had turned the screencasting program on and set the microphone well, I started the game. I felt shivers all around me when I heard the nostalgic opening music and I couldn't help grinning when a familiar game screen showep up. In the foreground was a strange school building and in the background was seen the Mystery mountain which was the actual setting of the story.
I started to speak out loud for the walkthrough: I introduced myself, clicked my way inside the school and mentioned about some details on the classroom before I quieted down and let the first cutscene begin. A bluish-colored robot Botley, the mascot of the game, showed up and introduced himself and then explained what was going on and how he needed player's help to rescue his twenty-five robot friends. The scene changed and we moved to the front door of the mountain where the villain of the game, young girl named Polly, was releaved. She had a little conversation with Botley and then she left us to solve the first puzzle of the game. After working that out quickly we finally got inside to the mountain.
So far I had been speaking almost incessantly whenever Botley had quieted down. I was just explaining about some details I had loved as a kid and it took a moment before I noticed the game didn't move on. Usually when the player gets into the hallway, Botley starts to give instructions about searching the first quiz disc (which is waiting on the right lower corner of the screen) and putting it into the transquizzer which player had already got in the beginning of the game. But I noticed that Botley did nothing but stood still silently. I thought the game had frozen, but when I moved the mouse, I realized that I was able to go back outside. So I headed back to front door and I solved the puzzle again. I was little confused about that odd freezing moment but when I got back to the hallway, the game started to work normally and I began to speak again more relaxedly on the microphone. I was also little excited because I was pretty sure no-one else hadn't uploaded a glitch like this from this game on internet yet.
I continued playing and started to collect the clues I needed for saving the first robot. The game ran normally and I got all first four clues without any problems. But when I went to the third floor, pretty general glitch happened: Botley was just about to jump on the center of the room when he got stuck between two frames of the jumping animation and trembled at the one place while the sound effect of jumping frozen and repeated a split second of the sound, making the situation seem anything but normal. The glitch lasted less than second but made me laugh out loud. I calmed down fast and continued to the mission control room but I couldn't help wondering how many glitches there might be on the game if I had already met two. They had been pretty insignificant but I had heard about bugs which could make it impossible to pass the game. Hopefully this one didn't have those problems because this was my only version of the Finnish game and I wouldn't have a chance to replace a broken game with any other version.
I solved the wheel of invention quickly and continued my way to the time machine. Soon I had saved the first robot and we moved to the robot roost where all the robots would go to their own places as I'd save them. I took the transquizzer and choosed a new mission. Then a little TV-screen came down from the ceiling so Polly could tell about the next mission and its clues. But the TV-screen didn't show up like it should have: usually you can see on the screen quick signal waves as a visual effect of television getting connection to Polly's computer before Polly's face pops up. But now the signal waves stayed on the screen, anyhow Polly's self-satisfied voice started to read her lines like it was meant to. Anyway, Polly didn't get to speak to the end but her voice quieted down suddenly and the TV-screen started to move away back to the ceiling. It didn't reach the ceiling before the moving animation was cut out like Polly's voice had been. I tried to work out to microphone some joke about this whole thing but now I was really worried. It started to seem like the game was full of glitches.
Finally I finished my commentary and shut the game. But when I came back to desktop, I noticed right away that everything wasn't all right. The shortcut of screencasting program had disappeared from taskbar - in other words the program hadn't been on at all and hadn't recorded my gameplaying. I was angry for myself for not to remember to put the program on but then I noticed that web browser on background had closed too. I realized that the game had shut up all the background programs. It seemed impossible but I didn't find any other reason for this so I decided to try it in practice. I opened the browser and some other programs and started the game - only to face a new shock.
When I opened the name list where I should find my game saving, the list was completely empty. The game should have saved automatically because there wasn't any manual way to do it. I stared at the computer screen incredulously before I let my frustration burst out as strong cursing. I didn't manage to get the record of gameplay AND I had lost my save. There was a possibility that it was some computer's internal error but the game downloaded by torrent gave a reason to believe that the source of problems were on the game itself. In other words, the game was completely useless.
Or was it? If I wasn't able to save my game, maybe I could try to play it all at once? I knew that the game was pretty long and it would be hard to play it without any breaks. And I might not get any material stored or even the walkthrough done. But the game had woken my interest up and the glitches seemed like a challenge offered by the game - the challenge about passing the whole game with its lurking bugs. I had always felt some kind of interest on glitches: they were purposeless, they were unpredictable and they could show up as any form. If I wouldn't try to win this game, I would regret my decision for the rest of my life.
I shut the game only to find out that the programs on the background had been closed like I had expected. I decided to leave my thoughts about the game for another day and planned to do some other things on computer but when I opened my music gallery, the game reminded of itself once again. The shortcut of the game was found on the desktop and on the start menu - but now also in here. All the horror stories and creepypastas about the games leapt to my mind and I got shivers before I commanded myself in my mind to get a grip. With a quick browsing I found out that the game had made its shortcuts on all the folders computer already had, like music-, video- and library-folders, so it hadn't touched on my personal folders like my school folder on the desktop. It was easy to delete the unnecessary shortcuts but I wasn't able to shake off the unpleasant feeling which bothered me for the rest of night.
Gameplay: Part One[]
It had been a couple of days since the last time I had touched the Jumpstart 3rd Grade. Since I wasn't able to record my gameplay, I decided to collect material in other ways: I had made some notes about my first gameplay and listed all the glitches I had met so far. I had also fished the pocket camera from the depths of my closet so I could take some pictures of the computer screen when needed. I had also considered about using the video camera or at least tape recorder but I didn't happen to have either of them and wasn't able to borrow them from anyone so I had to get by with what I had.
I placed the notebook, writing materials and the camera on table, put the headphones on and prepared mentally for a multihour gameplay experience. I opened the game and started to watch the opening scenes as fast as I could. I didn't notice that I had turn from a walkthrough gamer into the speedrun gamer.
(From now on I'll copy quotes from my notes and add them on italic along the text. The original notes are in Finnish but I've translated them in English.)
In this time I met my first glitch on the biosphere. I controlled the little rocket on a loose maze and answered to Polly's question to move on. I was just about to dash towards the next door when I lost my control of the rocket.
"The rocket on the biosphere didn't work. I lost controls for a moment and started to think I had just imagined the whole thing but then I lost my controls completely and the rocket drop on the ground and exploded."
The rocket started to pour down no matter how hard I tried to press the arrow buttons. First it was uncontrollable for a few seconds and got back to normal but then it started to move again however it wanted. I wasn't able to do anything but watch in frustration how the rocket hit on the bottom of the maze and exploded into a thousand pieces. The second try went smoothly but I was prepared for the worst. The glitches had seem laughable at first sight, but now they started to get on my nerves.
"Botley bugged again, got stuck on the second floor."
When I was leaving from second floor to the first one, Botley got stuck again but was freed from it as fast as the first time. However, this brought out a worry on me. What if Botley would get stick completely sometime? And if so, would the whole game freeze up? I happened to think about the possibility of the situation where I would have been playing many hours and then I would have to start the whole thing again because of lagging game. I got frustrated while just thinking about it but I tried to not to care about my worry and focused to move ahead quickly on the game.
The glitch on the music hall were a real nuisance.
"The music of the music hall didn't work. I had to guess all the notes of the melody because the music was nothing but incoherent noises."
Maestro, the robot on the music hall, should has been playing one certain melody so I could place the notes on the right places by listening. But when Maestro started to play his instrument, I probably got a little heart attack because I could hear nothing but a unrecognizable hodgepodge of different noises. After listening this "melody" a few times I realized that Maestro played all the notes he has in this mission. I didn't ask help from him anymore and I moved the notes from place to place until I got randomly the right order.
The glitches of this game had got more and more wild. I was excited and fearful at the same time: prepared to find different bugs but also paranoid about the glitches taking the victory of my journey through the game.
And I wasn't paranoid for nothing.
When I tried to enter to the observatory, the game finally got completely frozen. Nothing in the screen moved and it was totally soundless. Soon I had to close the game bitterly after receiving a crash report. But I swore that I wouldn't give up so easily and I prepared to reserve my next weekend only for playing the game through no matter what it would take.
Gameplay: Part Two[]
An exams on the school had been distracting me away from Jumpstart 3rd Grade for a couple of days, but after getting rid of them I had returned right back at solving the game.
I had used last two days for gathering all kind of information from internet about the game and its glitches. But my research hadn't seem to bear fruit: only things mentioned about game's problems were lagging and freezing up. I had also tried to get a contact with the forum user who had sent the torrent link but the user had been deleted or had left the forum. I didn't find any information about the torrent either. When I looked up to the torrent page from my web browser's history, the page didn't work anymore - it seemed like the whole torrent had been deleted.
Even if my research didn't make things any clearer, I didn't let myself get discouraged - rather vice versa, besides my curiosity and adventurous I was propelled to continue by the sense of duty too. Because no-one else had met things like these on the game - or at least hadn't brought them up on internet - I felt responsibility to explore this game as much as I could when I had the chance.
So I sat down once again on my computer prepared for anything. It was Friday afternoon and I had one weekend to beat the game. I put the headphones on, started the game and put my back into it.
I was welcomed by sticked Botley who was like an advance warning of what the game might serve more. Botley was totally stuck but when I clicked my way to the kitchen's door, the camera moved on there and Botley walked in like usually.
I saved a few robots. For some time I met only previously familiar glitches like the sticked Botley and I forgot to write some of them down because of their commonness. On the biosphere I lost control of the rocket again but it luckily lasted just a few seconds. But Polly's voice disappeared from time to time and even if I was able to see her talking, I didn't hear her question. Earlier Polly hadn't shown up and now her voice clip didn't work. I wondered if the whole Polly might disappear at some point.
Finally I got to see a new kind of glitch in the shrinking machine room.
"In the shrinking machine room Egbert froze up. He was floating through the air around the room when he got stuck on the middle of his moving animation. His speech was heard but when Botley shrank, Egbert still didn't move. What the fuck is wrong with this game!?"
Now Botley and Egbert both had got stuck somewhere. I stared surprisedly Egbert who had stopped on the side of the room. After I had borrowed his analyzer, I had problems with giving it back to him until I realized to click with it to the place where Egbert usually hovered. Even if this wasn't so different compared to Botley's glitch, it made me feel more uncomfortable than any other glitch before.
I had saved around ten robots and I was getting closer to halfway of the game. Some common glitches had appeared and now Egbert froze up right away as I entered to the shrinking machine room. It was evening and it had been over eight hours from my last meal. Since the game hadn't shown any glitches for a moment, I thought I could leave it by itself for a minute as long as I wouldn't shut the game. So I visited on the kitchen of our single apartment and grabbed enough food to manage over oncoming night.
When I came back at computer, I sighed with relief as I saw the game hadn't frozen up or glitched any other way. Before I noticed something.
"...Botley had moved from the third floor back to the first one. This really isn't funny anymore. Oh fuck."
I had left Botley to the third floor but he had moved on his own to the first floor while I had been elsewhere. I just stood for a moment on there and stared on the computer screen taken aback, and for the first time during the gameplay, I was actually scared. When I sat down I noticed of having a goose bumps on my arms and I had some unpleasant feeling on my knees. What had actually happened while I was gone? Had the view simply changed from floor to floor or had something happened between them? This made me increasingly convinced about that I shouldn't leave the game alone any more than I had to.
I saved another two robots. Glitches seemed pretty usual, but considerably more of them started to appear. Botley got stuck four times and once I had to exit from the shrinking machine room to get him work normally. In the observatory I probably held my breath for a minute when it seemed like the whole game frozen, but it lasted only for a little while before the game started to work.
When I was getting closer to twentieth robot, the gliches started to make playing difficult. The music hall almost never worked and I had to put the notes every time randomly to create the right melody. Both Botley and Egbert got stuck in the shrinking machine room. Also the time machine started to act oddly: the scenes from the past didn't appeared on the screen.
"The screen of the time machine was black but I heard the sounds. Happens sometimes more often."
I was saving the twenty-first robot - I remember this detail because the clock were 02:10 a.m. at that moment. Again a new different glitch appeared.
"I was on the second floor and I was heading to the third floor. Botley threw his hand towards the mine car which takes the player to the third floor when he froze up. I heard the voice clip where Botley told about the mission and I realized that the clip was from the shrinking machine room. What the heck is going on."
Botley released from his stuck a little bit earlier before the wrong voice clip had ended. When we entered to the third floor, the voice clip was still going on. I was able to end the bug when I clicked my way to the observatory and the whole game got quiet before Botley started to talk about the observatory like usually.
I left Botley stand for a moment in the observatory without touching the mouse. I felt really tired and it wasn't just because I had been at the computer almost round the clock. The game was long and asked some persistence to play it nonstop all the way - the game was even normally quite challenging. But now, when the glitches were making things more difficult, finishing the game started to feel like impossibility. If there would have been the chance of saving the game and leave it for some time, the situation would have been totally different. But I wasn't going to shut the game because then I would have worked hard in vain. I had decided that I wouldn't give up but I knew I needed some rest. So I thought I'll just get the clue from the observatory and then go to have a snooze.
I still hope that I would have headed to sleep before visiting on the observatory.
I gathered the parts of the hint from rotating around the black hole and moved at the decoder to build up the right sentences. What happened next on the screen, I wasn't able to expect in any way.
"BOTLEY'S HEAD DISAPPEARED."
It happened in a blink of an eye. He just started to speak and suddenly there wasn't his head anywhere, just the rest of robot body. I was frightened. I was tired, frustrated, powerless, but most of all, frightened. It felt like my whole body had frozen and I wasn't able to do anything but stare at the headless Botley. Soon the view angle changed and Botley disappeared from the screen like he was mean to, but the picture of headless Botley had stuck on my mind and made me feel very uneasy.
"Probably because the character is animated somehow in different layers and when Botley talks, only his head is actually moving... But I mean Botley's head disappeared!? I'm scared."
"I'm scared" was pretty light expression but I didn't bother to describe it any other way at that moment. I had noticed that when characters moved or talked, only the parts needed for animation like head or arms were moving and the rest of the character stayed still. But I began to think about it later. The headless Botley was nothing but body without head: no blood, no cutted neck, only unfinished picture of the character. Still it had made me upset.
I didn't finish the mission on the observatory but I exited back on the third floor. I wasn't able to think anything, I just knew that I needed some sleep. I left the game on, of course, but muted the sounds so they wouldn't disturb my sleeping.
I don't remember getting out from the computer. But I awoke suddenly on my own bed to the fact that I remembered how I had seen on my dream the headless Botley waiting me far away.
Gameplay: Part Three[]
I sacked out for about three hours. After that I lied on my bed for another hour but I wasn't able to fall asleep anymore. I tried to think anything but Jumpstart 3rd Grade while that but my thoughts wandered always back to the game and its glitches no matter what I tried to think. I had slept very restlessly and it hadn't feel like helping very much. If I would cut off the gameplay and leave it as uncompleted, would I have sleepless nights for some time? I didn't believe so, but I didn't want to take that risk either.
I got up, had a breakfast and visited shortly out on the yard. The game was waiting for me and I knew it, and I felt nervousness for being so long away from it, but I hadn't continued it for four hours - a few minutes didn't make a big difference at this point anymore. I roamed on the yard about ten minutes and when I got back inside I felt appreciably perkier, although still not very well-rested.
I sat down at my computer and moved the mouse so the black screensaver would vanish away. But then I happened to wonder if the screensaver even went on while the game was on the fullscreen. A slight relaxedness I had reached during the morning was gone right away. I tried to wait patiently and counted seconds but the screen stayed dark. I started to click continuously and shake the mouse fiercely at the same time, and I shouted at the computer thoughtlessly something I can't remember anymore. I was panicking if the game had shut itself off and swept everything I had dedicate on it. The terror strangled my throat and I was almost ready to shake the computer instead of mouse when the screen finally brightened.
Botley was again on the first floor even if I had left him on the third floor. This didn't surprise me anymore, but something else on the screen startled me: colors were totally distorted. I knew that old games may have compatibility issues with newer computers which may cause for example color distortions. But here the problems had appeared just now. I wasn't sure if it was a glitch or something else but it made me feel little more uneasier in the same way I had felt at last night before going to sleep.
When I moved to the second floor, the colors got back to normal and I sighed with relief. This game and its hiding glitches nervoused me more than I had expected beforehand and even more than I would like to admit. If I would have faced some of the glitches separately, maybe on some different game and as a surprise, I would probably have reacted with laughing or irritation. But this game and this whole glitch collection as one big picture made me nervous in a way I hadn't experienced for a while.
I had made my way on observatory to finish my latest mission when I noticed that the game was completely silent. I remembered that I had muted the sounds so I turned them back on but it didn't make any difference - excpet that now I was able to hear Botley's step. And when he started to explain about the mission on the observatory I heard his words clearly. I realized that only the background musics were gone. I visited on some other rooms too but it was all the same. They had disappeared while I had been away or a moment ago when colors started to act oddly - or then the colors had turned weird while my pause. This made me very confused but I decided to let it be and just keep playing.
I continued back to the observatory's decoder where I had quited the mission on previous time. Botley acted normally until I went to the star chart.
"Botley's head disappeared in the observatory on the place where he explains about the star chart. Also the hand disappears when Botley waves at the star chart."
(I noticed later that I used two different grammatical tenses on my notes but I didn't fix it because I wanted to show them as I wrote them during the time of this story.)
When Botley started to speak, his head disappeared again. He lost his hand as well when he pointed at the star chart. But I wasn't scared about this glitch anymore - maybe unexpectedness was the reason why it had startled me so badly. Anyway, now I was able to wait for it and I had kept the camera ready so I managed to get a picture of headless Botley.
After this I met again some usual glitches like stuck characters, Polly's lagging television and empty screen inside the time machine.
"Botley's spiral stairs' sliding animation freezed. Botley was sliding down when he got stuck in stairs and then just suddenly appeared on his regular place. Botley's antenna's beeping jammed on."
The beeping didn't seem to end at all and I had to take headphones off until I entered to the art gallery where the sound finally stopped. Now also Mrs. Beasley, robot of the art gallery, got stuck. After that I visited on the kitchen and met again some distorted colors.
"Colors acted oddly again on the kitchen. The music haven't got back."
I decided to try to get soundtracks back by running from floor the floor quickly. I was pretty sure it wouldn't work but I wanted to at least try because the silence made me slightly nervous. But when I had entered back and forth on different floors, I got finally some result - but it wasn't about the soundtracks.
Botley was sliding down back to the first floor and suddenly every single frame of his sliding animation got stuck on visible. The final result of this was the army of Botleys in long line across the screen. I wasn't able to expect this to happen and I burst out laughing so hard I had troubles with using my camera to take a picture of the glitch. I forgot to write about it on my notes but it wasn't just because my laughter: I was very tired and had little problems with focusing on staying organized. Anyway, it felt very soothing to laugh first time for a while.
Even if a certain question had been sneaking on my mind lately, I happened to think about it just now. How only one game happened to contain so many glitches? I had linked them right away on the fact that I had used a torrent to get the game but now I started to wonder if there was other reason for glitches. What if someone had coded glitches on the game purposely? On the other hand, why would anyone have such a bother to do that on so unknown game, and furthermore, on the Finnish version of it?
But if the game was modified, I might end up in facing anything in principle. I had already got upset by meeting headless Botley, whether it was meant to be the glitch or not. I felt a chill when I imagined what there could be waiting ahead but then I pulled myself together and continued playing. I had only two robots left: then the game would be over.
After I realized how close I was to the end, it felt like saving last robots took forever. I began to startle every single glitch and waited for the game freeze completely so my long journey throught the game would be wasted. Just the usual sticking Botley made me hold my breath until he got free. I bit the bullet while gazing the TV-screen which didn't leave after Polly had finished her speech. I sweared and prayed for mercy when the whole shrinking machine room froze up and it seemed like I wouldn't be able to leave the room.
But after all I finally entered to the time machine to finish the last mission. When the twenty-fifth robot took its place on the robot roost, I couldn't help but laugh with relief. I noticed that my hands were shaking slightly when I moved my notes aside. I felt so proud of myself after beating that glitchy mountain.
The epilogue started. Polly explained how she planned to send Botley back in time to get rid of him. I knew that professor Spark, Polly's father, would come to prevent his daughter from succeeding on her plan so I wasn't worried. But I noticed very soon that things weren't going like I had expected, once again.
The game had left its greatest surprise for ultimately.
"An epilogue. Was different. I DUNNO WHAT TO SAY. The epilogue wasn't like usually. It seemed unfinished, or I mean early version. Like story board or what they're called."
Polly was just explaining about her evil plan when suddenly colors disappeared, finished pixel graphics turned into rough pencil drawings and there wasn't any animation. It took a few seconds for me to realize that I was watching pencil sketches instead of the real epilogue. Like it was the story board used on making the game.
Was that some kind of joke? Why somebody had replaced the end with some pencil drawings?
Or were these REAL story board pictures? As far as I knew, there hadn't ever, EVER been any background process material of Jumpstart 3rd Grade on internet. I wasn't sure what to think about this. Of course it would be uniquely amazing if I would be one of the first bystanders who had seen any material used on work progress of the game.
But I started to think this afterwards because now I just focused on watching the screen in amazement.
Oh. My. Gosh.
The Finnish dubbing had changed into English voice acting which was understandable because if this was really a part of story board, it had been voice acted only in the original language. The pencil sketches showed how Botley was protesting against Polly's scheme. Suddenly the screen faded into black and a new scene started inside the time machine.
Meanwhile the screen had faded, I realized that I should get some pictures. I still regret that I didn't use the camera right at the beginning of the epilogue but luckily I managed to get at least something. It may sound stupid to miss an opportunity to get material like this, and it is, but if you would have been in my position, you would notice how badly a surprise like that can paralyze you.
"The ending was different."
Now Polly had appeared into the same room with Botley. The sketches showed how Polly thrust Botley towards the platform where saved robots usually appeared from the past. This was the first time Polly had ever touched on Botley during the game and even if the act wasn't very violent, it felt like a hit on my stomach.
Polly ran in the place where Botley usually stood while traveling in time. She pronounced excitedly, like a plausible villain does, that she would finally get a rid of that robot. Botley, fallen on the platform, yelled Polly to not to do that. I was recovering from my surprise and starting to wait to find out what kind of appearance professor Spark would make.
That's when Polly pushed the time machine's button.
Botley burst into a scream which still haunts me sometimes.
I wasn't shocked about the next scene just because it was so unexpected and different. Botley is a very dear character for me from my childhood and I would never want to see anything like this to happen to him.
Even if the sketches were rough black and white pencil drawings, I noticed easily what was going on - but the sounds took the situation into totally new level. It seemed like some kind of electric charge surrounded Botley and he bent over and started to scream with a voice I hadn't ever heard. It sounded like the voice actor was really in pain.
Botley was shown as a black silhouette in the bright current but his eyes were totally white; I could imagine how his eyes would have been glowing if the animation would have been finished. Obviously terrified robot tried to straighten himself but it seemed like he wasn't able to prevent the course of events. As his voice rose and turned more suffering, it felt strangling feeling on my throat and I felt like I wasn't able to control my body. To be honest, I thought awhile I would pass out.
" Polly was on the verge of sending Botley back in time but failed. BUT BOTLEY BROKE UP!! Into pieces. A part of him WENT back in time."
I think the scene didn't last longer than five seconds but I already hoped it would end as soon as possible. Botley's voice lowered a bit and I thought I could finally breath. But it wasn't over yet. Sketch by sketch it was shown how Botley's silhouette's left hand started to scatter little by little like it was tore into parts of metal plate and cords. Botley had sounded like a human so far - but now his screaming got sharply higher and got a new metallic tone. Instead of Botley's English voice, I was suddenly listening mechanical metallic shrieking. I guess I started to cry hysterically at that moment without noticing it because after the situation I realized I was shaking uncontrollably and my cheeks were all over wet.
Afterwards I regretted for a while I hadn't owned tape recorder but when I started to think about it, I felt better to be sure I wouldn't have to hear it again.
The situation ended as fast as it had started. The electric charge disappeared and partly broken Botley slumped on the floor. The time machine's door opened and finally professor Spark entered in.
Professor Spark had been able to cause a short circuit for the time machine and thanks to him, only a part of Botley had been sended back in time. He had lost his whole left arm and there was some sputtering cords sticking out from his shoulder. His stomach plate was slightly twisted and also his left leg was little damaged but he was still able to stand. He seemed like himself and didn't seem to suffer anymore but his earlier metallic screaming were still echoing on my mind.
Professor Spark insisted Polly to apologize Botley which Polly did very reluctantly and she didn't seem to mean what she said. Characters had on their conversation the foreshadowing about Polly's oncoming responsibility of getting over the exam once again - this was similar to the conversation they had on the finished game's ending. There was also mentioned that Botley would be fixed soon.
Botley turned towards the screen and thanked the player who had saved him and all other robots. Then the computer screen faded on black and the end credits showed up.
"Was this some kind of cencored ending or what? I don't get it. I have no power to think about it. What a fucking game. Oh Jesus. I don't know what to say or what to do. This is so confusing."
If this was coded by some fan, the final result were totally convincing. But now, after seeing the game's ending, I wasn't able to tell if it was some earlier version of the game after all. If it was the truth, it could explain the number of glitches. But the alternative ending was still bothering me. Why it had been deleted? Because it would have scared the children? Because of some budget problems? Because of too tight schedule? Or was it amount of many reasons? I doubt if I'll ever get the real answer for this.
I sat for a moment just staring on the screen and trying to get myself calmed down. My hysterical crying had subsided and I was shivering only slightly but I didn't feel myself relieved as the same way before watching the ending scene when I already had thought I had beated the whole game. I made quickly the last markings on my notes (but when I read them afterwards, I found that I had written them little hasty and they were little defective - but I'm not mad at myself because of my situation back there). After this I shut the computer. When the humming of computer stopped, I felt like the tension of my body flowed away along. Not until now I was totally sure that I had passed through this strange game experience.
I surely had deserved good night sleep - although it was already forenoon - and I fell asleep as soon as I dropped on my bed.
I slept first little restlessly and woke up from a nightmare full of metallic screaming. But when I realized that my computer wasn't on and the game wasn't waiting for me, I zoned back to dreams and nothing bothered me for the rest of my sleep. After all I slept almost round the clock.
When I woke up later at the evening, I sat on my computer and wrote this text nonstop. I had some slight feelings as I described my experiences about the game and I was on the verge of sharing tears when I wrote the moment where Polly tried to send Botley back in time. But now after getting this done I feel more unburdened. I can't say whether I'm glad that I got this game played. I'm not sure if this is going to bother me at some nights or something like that. But now I've told everything I can and know about this. I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience. If you have any similar gaming stories, I'd really like to hear about them!
EDIT: 12.1.2014
I lost this text on my computer (and school and some other things took fully my time) and just found it again, I had totally forgot this! It's totally my fault I didn't publish this earlier and I'm very sorry. It took me a moment to translate this into English but now I'm finally done.
After finishing the game I showed the Finnish version of this text to my friend and they wanted absolutely to try the game. But then I noticed I wasn't able to copy the game. The game didn't start either anymore: when I tried so, the game crashed. Practically my game had became useless.
I told about this for my friend and was going to delete the game but I only got the error window. Neither the shortcut on desktop was possible to be deleted. I surely didn't want to remember all the memories related to that game everytime I'd turn the computer on so I collected all the important stuff on my computer - also this text - and I restored the computer with the backup copy I had made earlier. Therefore I'm not sure if the game can be found anymore, as the original torrent have also disappeared like I mentioned in the beginning.
I haven't had any nightmares or beared any other problems related to that game afterwards. After all I find it awesome to get to witness such a game experience. If you're interested to play it, I'm sorry I can't offer the game to you. But I recommend you to keep your eyes open: maybe that game will appear once again on internet, ready to surprise someone else as it surprised me.
