DNG-9905 - The Pixelated Phantom

At first glance, The Pixelated Phantom seems like any other 8-bit arcade game from the early '80s. A simple platformer with basic mechanics and pixelated graphics. But after it was found in an abandoned arcade, it quickly became clear that this game was anything but ordinary. In fact, it doesn’t just predict death—it seems to cause it.

What makes it so chilling? The game seems to know exactly how you'll die, sometimes right down to the smallest detail. The arcade it was found in, ████'s Retro Arcade, closed abruptly after its owner, Jasper "████" Kline, was found dead under mysterious circumstances that mirrored one of the game’s final boss encounters.

Item Details

Title: The Pixelated Phantom
Manufacturer: Unknown
Model: Custom build, one-of-a-kind
Serial Number: Untraceable; attempts to find any data about its origins have been met with corrupted files.
Original Arcade Location: ████’s Retro Arcade, ██████, Colorado

The Game Before the Incident

When The Pixelated Phantom first appeared at ████’s arcade, it was just another 8-bit game. Players controlled a ghost-like figure, navigating through platformer levels and avoiding enemies—basic stuff. The final levels had you face off against the game’s antagonist, the Pixelated Phantom, a large, ominous figure. But what seemed like a typical game started to take a strange turn as players reached the end.

First Signs of Anomaly

For the first while, The Pixelated Phantom was no different from any other game, offering a standard arcade experience. But as players advanced, strange things started happening:

The Sudden Warning: At a certain level—different for each player—the game would flash a cryptic message:
“The Phantom waits for you.”
This wasn’t in the original code, and it certainly wasn’t part of any other arcade game at the time.
Death Predictions: Those who saw the warning soon experienced unsettling coincidences. After receiving the message, they would die—sometimes hours, sometimes days later—in situations that mirrored the game’s final boss battle. The deaths weren’t just similar; they were identical, down to the exact sequence of events.

The Death of ████ Kline

The connection between the game and death became undeniable after ████ Kline, the owner of the arcade, was found dead under suspicious circumstances. ████ had always laughed off the rumors about the game’s eerie nature, but just days before his death, he was seen playing The Pixelated Phantom late into the night. A former employee reported that ████ had reached the final level, and the game displayed the warning:
“Your time is near.”

Then, shortly after, ████ was found dead in his home. The cause? He was crushed by a massive arcade cabinet—a death eerily similar to the game’s final level, where the character is killed by a giant object falling on top of them. The way the cabinet was positioned in his home matched the final scene from the game.

The Investigation

After the arcade shut down, The Pixelated Phantom was brought in for investigation. Here’s what we uncovered:

Inconsistent Record Keeping: The game’s serial number couldn’t be traced. It appeared to be a custom build, but who made it? And why was there no record of its creation?
Electromagnetic Disturbance: Technicians who checked the arcade machine after Kline’s death found unusual electromagnetic readings—far higher than what you'd typically see in older machines.
Autopsy Findings: ████'s autopsy revealed internal hemorrhaging, a result of blunt force trauma. But there was no sign of the physical injuries you’d expect from something like being crushed.
Ghostly Video Logs: A security camera in the arcade—still working even after the building was abandoned—caught strange flashes of a ghostly figure near the game just before Kline’s death. The figure only appeared briefly in grainy footage, but it definitely resembled a distorted, shadowy presence.

Current Status

Since the arcade’s closure, The Pixelated Phantom has been kept in our collection, and its strange behavior continues. The game’s code is still locked away, with no one able to get anything useful from the corrupted files. Even now, years later, the game still gives off an unsettling vibe.

We’ve avoided playing it again, but the eerie warnings still hang in the air. The last message remains, just as haunting as before:
“The Phantom waits for you.”