Gabriel Garza on the PlayStation was one of my favorite Gabriel games of all time since I'm a huge Gabriel fan. I remember it back in the day beating the crap out of the game and got an 100%. But there is ONE thing that haunts me back...
One day, I was watching some Gabriel videos on YouTube, until I got a message from a user I don't know, saying "download gabriel garza ps1 iso here!!!!!!"
I was a bit curious, and clicked on it. It took me to the Mediafire website. The file was called "GabPS.iso" so I began to download the file and it took 10 minutes to download. There was no time to scan for viruses, this was Excalibur I was looking at. After that, I opened ePSXe (a PS1 emulator) to load the game.
There were no opening logos. It just sent me to the title screen. Instead of showing the Gabriel Garza logo with Gabriel on it, it was red. JUST RED. I thought it was just a glitch or something. It only had two options: Play and Quit. I was a little bit confused. If this game was released on a console, why would there be a Quit option since this was not a PC game? However, I pressed the Play option to began the game.
There was no cutscene nor hub world. It took me right to Mountaingreen Hills, the first level of the game. I'd figured the ROM was either poorly copied or my emulator had compatibility issues with it, not uncommon, of course, but I just shrugged that off and began playing.
The level seemed normal. Everything was how I remembered it. I thought I could finally enjoy my favorite childhood game. But until I was almost at the middle, I saw someone.
Vio.
I was absolutely shocked. He was never in a level of this game. In fact, he was only a final boss in this game. However, I also noticed that there's no music. Just dead silence. Also, Vio was in pieces. No blood, just in pieces scattered about the level. Vio's head seemed to try to communicate, but only made an eerie gasping noise. I sat in a very confused state for a moment, and then decided to press on.
A text box appeared, saying, "And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the path to dusty death. Out! Out! Brief candle! Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, and signifies nothing." Vio's eyes closed after the text box closed.
So, I realized it wasn't glitchy, but hacked.
I kept playing the whole level, but however, when I reached to the very end of the level... it froze on a black screen. A disturbing picture of a hanged Claire immediately popped up. Gabriel fell to his knees and sobbed because of the loss of his girlfriend for roughly 2 minutes. He was crying in a realistic child voice, "Why? Why did you do this to me...." After that, the screen faded to black and it took me to a level I never seen before. It was called:
"DON'T TURN BACK 666"
When the level loaded, Gabriel was now standing in the middle of what appeared to be a dark, insane asylum, with bloody red letters saying "THERE'S NO ESCAPE" appearing on one of the walls. Some music plays, it sounds like something in Silent Hill. I noticed Gabriel's face was all distorted and he had bloodshot eyes. I wanted to shut off the game, but I wanted to start walking through the asylum to see what happens next.
As Gabriel kept walking, I saw what I was in shock...
It was Roge, Leno, Cole, all hanging above the ceiling. A noose wrap around their necks as they dangled while blood dripped from slits all over their face and onto the floor. I was sobbing softly while seeing this horrible sight. I reached the end of the asylum and I saw Vio, but something was different. He had hyper-realistic eyes and there was blood all over him. Another text box appeared, saying, "I've killed all your dumbass friends, Gabriel. And now it's your turn to die."
I tried to defeat Vio, but there was no way to damage it, so I had no choice but to let the young boy take damage. When Gabriel lost all his health, it cuts to black with a loud, ear-piercing, high-pitched shriek is heard. It was so damn loud that it made my ears bleed so I had to turn the volume down from my computer speakers. It also made me jump. Then after that, it shows a image that haunts me forever.
"gabriel.png"
It was Gabriel... he had soulless black eyes and he was in black and white. His glasses and mouth are completely gone. There is a Japanese message below him, which was translated into "Dead Gabriel is following you." I snagged another screenshot of it, imported it to Paint.NET and saved it to my computer. I still have the file, called it "gabriel.png".
This went on for 5 minutes before cutting to black. Then it took me right to the title screen, but this time, the music sounded like a toddler was banging the piano. The Play option is gone and it now only had one option: Quit, stupid as I am, I pressed the Quit option, I wish I did not do that.
The game cuts off to a bloody red sky with a dark, demonic voice saying "GAME OVER" before it shows the same Gabriel from before. Vio's laugh played on a loop in the background as children mockingly chanted "You couldn't save them!". Then it showed Gabriel and his friends laying on the ground dead with blood all over them with a scream of a young girl is heard.
Then it cuts to black and text appears in red, saying "dEatH wiLL bE upOn yOU." Then ePSXe crashed.
I was scared at this point. I deleted the "GabPS.iso" file from my computer. Be careful, if you ever see a message from an unknown user telling you to download a ROM of one of your favorite games that is hacked and messed up, don't download it, whatever you do. If you do play it, delete it. It's for your own good.