Crow 64: The Lost Nintendo Game ARG

Who doesn't love a brilliantly made lost media mystery? Adam Butcher, creator of Internet Story, delivers the best N64 game you've never heard of with the story of Crow 64.
What Happened to Crow 64?:
• WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64?
Internet Story:
• Internet Story - Offic...
Crow 64 Google Doc:
docs.google.com/document/d/18...
Inside A Mind's Crow 64 Video:
• I Was Messaged About A...
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Night Mind Index:
www.nightmind.info
NM Patreon:
bit.ly/3sI1PUh
NM Facebook:
goo.gl/iPdnq9
----------------
Source music credited to Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

[@NightMind]

As always, I recommend watching the source material before you get going! (And Internet Story, too) What Happened to Crow 64?: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6Ook2yKiJ6se80​ Internet Story: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nV62fWebn9WDb5Y

[@lmpst7915]

first

[@Razlider]

It's a surprise to see you cover this, but a welcome one. ^^

[@foolishgamer99]

man your content is awesome and for sure worth the wait

[@jasonchapman6082]

Oh Nick how we have missed you . welcome to 2021

[@gagegaming7811]

Indeed

[@ShardtheWolf]

Fitting that the monsters in a game about crows are.. scarecrows

[@froggo1088]

lol

[@zomb2765]

how did that only just hit me.

[@seko11yearsago33]

Lol

[@GoldPrince2468]

If anybody has played Yu-Gi-Oh! you know this dude was trying to bring back Thea from his graveyard but couldn't draw Monster Reborn (OCG) before he ran out of Life Points. Dude probably had a Winged Beast deck that was stomped by a Machine deck.

[@localshape]

*sans*

[@hilotakenaka]

I think another thing that makes Catastrophe Crow much more believable than other “haunted video games” is that it’s an original IP rather than an existing one. Sure, a haunted version of Link seems creepy on the surface, but knowing well that the game exists in the real world and other copies AREN’T haunted, it’s much less plausible than this

[@shadowflame68]

This is a great point; the same thing that made us all obsessed with Petscop

[@hilotakenaka]

@@shadowflame68 I completely forgot about Petscop Just like Pyro

[@zubrhero5270]

Too much unnecessary stuff in "Ben Drowned". I love me a good old spooky story, and I love me a good mystery, but straight outta the gates with most of them is some sort of "I was sold this copy of a game by a Chinese guy who also tried selling me a Mogwai... and when I booted it up it already had a save file on it!!!" 0oo-o-o-oo0o0ohhh. Which obviously at the time was a newish concept (no hate on Ben Drowned). But I like how this one presents itself as one dude who just wants to find a copy of an unreleased game for his gaming channel at first.

[@lolmariolink]

@@zubrhero5270 I liked Ben Drowned better when it was supernatural and not sci-fi

[@sarafontanini7051]

what's more it isn't merely a haunted game cartridge found at random. It's a game cartridge for a game that was supposedly never finished or released with its own seperate history told to us, with the only copies of the game being essentially alpha builds people had to actively hunt down online to find.

[@Armund_Wolffe]

I really like the fact that in the "crow language" 'Crow' translates to 'Thea'. It really brings home the fact that the Crow is an insert for Lorenz' daughter.

[@Markiplier2]

To add to that, here is an extract from the document: 'Interestingly, “Thea” encodes to “Crow,” “Crow” encodes to “Nils,” and “Nils” encodes to “Thea” in Crow Language.'

[@Armund_Wolffe]

@@Markiplier2 wow!

[@Markiplier2]

@@Armund_Wolffe Ikr? They probably had to design the cipher based around those names. It's all really clever, and I'd have no idea where to begin with creating any of it.

[@RandomDude236]

And also apparently “Thea” translates to “Nils”, and “Nils” translates to “Crow”

[@Tinlion09]

"You loved to count and sing your name round and round"

[@imploremedia2849]

The scariest part of this game is the fact that they named it catastrophe crow instead of CrowTastrophe

[@usedbelt7362]

That's not even clever

[@imploremedia2849]

Understandable have a nice day

[@edwardclark6731]

@@usedbelt7362 i mean- its funny to me but you keep your opinion, used belt

[@chozogoat]

I kept thinking of that throughout the video, missed opportunity right there

[@christopher.saint.christopher]

Catascrowphe

[@Cricket-byte]

Thea’s death was probably caused by head trauma after falling down a staircase. all the references to heads glitching, “we can’t see into another’s mind”, Thea’s body in her bed being headless, etc

[@Tinlion09]

The drawings on the wall all show Mr. Crow (who clearly represents Thea in-game) with a dark cloud and a lightning bolt over his head. The last three, in order, show Mr. Crow in a wheelchair, Mr. Crow and a human doctor standing next to what is probably an MRI machine, and Mr. Crow being carried on a stretcher.

[@daltongill8677]

it'd also explain the seizure during the stair crash head trauma can often cause seizures

[@Tinlion09]

@@daltongill8677 There's a ton of shit in this world that can cause seizures. You ever notice that? Epilepsy, autism, sleep deprivation, overdosing on certain medications, dosing _correctly_ on certain medications, head trauma, parasite-based diseases, Vitamin B deficiency, having had a stroke at literally any point in the past, low blood sugar, low blood sodium, sometimes you're taking an anticonvulsant because you already have seizures but you build up a tolerance and you suddenly have a _much worse_ seizure than the ones you had before...

[@gizmo7396]

It's also likely that it's Thea's head spinning in the computer monitor. Perhaps ML's note to Martha saying we both tried to do the right thing means he tried to "upload Thea's consciousness" into the game. Hence why her body in her room is headless and her head is in the PC. Might also then relate to the "eternal revival system".

[@dariaradac423]

And during the glitching sequence, you can actually see something that looks like the X-ray of a skull fracture.

[@mimkyodar]

For once, it's one I'm actually aware of PRIOR to Nick covering it.

[@lykann8278]

The other Nick also covered it, so one Nick was ahead.

[@user-jl7cz2pe6d]

@@lykann8278 Did he beat him to this in the nick of time?

[@Krillacreat]

Same.

[@Duvi0]

Petscop was that for me

[@jomarcentermjm]

same

[@glmpimenta]

The little crow having bandages on a wing is a nice way, using only the environmental narrative, to show he can't fly, making the platforming gameplay way more beliavable. That's something you don't see in real great games even today.

[@VuldEdone]

Raziel be like "grmf".

[@glmpimenta]

@@VuldEdone Dude, Soul Reaver is above 'great'

[@VuldEdone]

@@trizzy8267 Actually, and that's very apparent for those did play the fandom-made playable version, MrCrow struggles at jumping, and the wall-jump part seems anything but intuitive. Even the fake magazines point out "clunky controls". Had it been fictionally released, players would have complained endlessly about their Crow not jumping high enough, instead wall-jumping backwards from against the wall they were trying to jump over.

[@VuldEdone]

@@trizzy8267 Majora used the Unity build released by Ulrich Aderman and tampered with it to make it playable in the way Adam experienced. People have been speedrunning that version since. You can find quite a few people playing it on YT. Majora's video on it has the link to the playable executable. Just keep it mind it's fanwork.

[@gluedtogames]

@@VuldEdone Well, to be fair, it technically wasn't ever fictionally finished. So it lacking polish would make sense in the lore I guess?

[@perpetuallyconfusing8290]

unfiction: were gonna gaslight you to the point where you question reality, and youll like it

[@juliehenn]

It's like bdsm but mentally

[@rex2546]

@@juliehenn i- don't think that's a good comparison

[@chloskyskies4399]

@@juliehenn and minus the sex/sexual pleasure (For most anyway, there will always be a few- outliers? Unless that’s a legitimate thing people are into)

[@cupoflean8697]

@@juliehenn mental masscism

[@i.like.tea.spill.it.betch.1527]

@@rex2546 No, no, it's perfect comparison.

[@Makingnewnamesisdumb]

Old School OG ghosts: Boo New age millennial ghosts: Yo, wanna do some morse code and cipher puzzles to find out why I'm fucked up?

[@doubleaabattery7562]

And it’s better that way

[@roobusmcscroobus]

Millennials are killing the haunting industry

[@edwardclark6731]

@YaBoiNissy The Weirdo eW, SOmEone nOt geTTInG a jOkE m (not mad) \j (joke)

[@edwardclark6731]

@YaBoiNissy The Weirdo(satire) AHAHABAHDASHZBDHSGBDCGJBHCGFJMYUHG

[@KraziShadowbear]

This comment is strangely ironic considering the amount of people over the years who have complained about "cheap jumpscares" which "old school OG ghosts" excessively did. Gotta change with the times, man. XD

[@SAINZHALLOW]

The eBay seller could be the son. Considering the seller mentioned he found the game in a box in his cellar. It was kind of like telling the ending of a story before reaching the mystery. Son finds his dad's game. He sells it cheap since he wants to put that part of his life behind him. And in the end, making the whole mystery a tragedy, out of the countless people putting all this effort into solving it, the only person that really matters has no interest in it. I would like that if that were the case. Makes this creepypasta style story interesting.

[@LunykStormdragon]

that was what i thought as soon as NM mentioned the box with the cartridge in it!!

[@ShaboingboingBouncer]

As the house was pretty much long abandoned, I suppose that a very unknowing person had stumbled across it trying to get junk out of his basement, because this actually reveals the death of the family that made this game.

[@LunykStormdragon]

@@ShaboingboingBouncer it only really indicates the deaths of Thea and ML.

[@juliannaquino-torres2742]

Image seeing your dad going insane after your sisters death and making a game that consumes him mentally and maybe literally.

[@TenisJr]

@@ShaboingboingBouncer but the thing is: that person, whoever they were, announced it in German or something. They're probably in Germany. And ML's wife went out of the country months before ML's death so she could have taken Nils with her to Germany... I mean, I guess IRL maybe she couldn't because I heard that moms can't take their kids out of the country without the father's authorization, but I'm not sure if this was still valid then or if that's a law in every country or something... EDIT: Nevermind, just found out (via the doc) that the Lorenz family apparently was set on Germany...

[@TheHealerIzAwesome]

Here's my thinking. Manfred's daughter fell down the stairs in their house and either broke her neck or hit her head. Either way, she fell into a coma and was unable to breathe without the use of a machine. Manfred and Marta argued about whether or not to take her off life support, Manfred wanting to keep his daughter living. I think the call represents his wife calling at work to tell him that she is having the doctors pull the plug on their daughter. The end scene in the bedroom shows him arriving too late to save his daughter...but just in time to see her die. The water might represent a sensation of drowning that he felt in that moment. The moment the player was gone.

[@charondusk5608]

This is exactly what I was thinking, with how the "monsters" that take away the dying crow also replace the images of his wife and son in the family picture and the note saying how the wife "did what she thought was best".

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

The production values are unseen in any other unfiction/ARG project, the scenes that took place in "the 90's" and the "early 2000's" look perfect, not to mention all the props used throughout the project.

[@loekust]

It’s a bit too on the nose for me. I much preferred the presentation of Petscop despite the messy story of that one.

[@rosestewart0]

@@loekust I also liked the presentation of petscop better, but both this and petscop nailed their slightly different presentation styles

[@ElRifrawad]

@@loekust if he followed petscop's style to the dot it wouldnt be as interesting as it is. He reinvented the genre by adding his very own distinct touch for the exact reason that is showcased in your comment; So you wouldnt have a basis of comparison that would diminish its value as a sole work of its own.

[@TuberoseKisser]

It looks like DHMIS levels tbh, good but too familiar.

[@alymatronicdeeare8265]

"Its better to show it than try to describe it" The crow: *ascends*

[@ryebreadthebread]

Game theory, the crow is god /j

[@NFSA678]

that one picture of the arches looks an awful lot like ribs

[@allenbolt]

@@dingledingus same

[@dotjpg7783]

I could really go for some baby back ribs right about now..

[@nathanjohnpalaogaming4872]

Rib bones? Damn, my cat's(AND EVEN DOGS WTF) need this!

[@nathanjohnpalaogaming4872]

(lmao probably no its not bones)

[@aroacefrog]

I am concerned

[@baitzadasuto]

This is an incredibly awesome unfiction piece, but for some reason the part that'll stick out in my mind is the fact if you jump, even if you're in a place that's clearly meant to be haunting, you'll just hear boing.wav

[@XCharizard100]

That just makes it more unique imo

[@inendlesspain4724]

Maybe it's meant to be a placeholder sound, kinda like the cartoon voices they used for Mario during SM64's development.

[@Sparkle8205]

Hehe boing go brrr

[@dracorex426]

If the development cart was put in a box meant for Nils, and the Development Cart was found in an attic and sold on ebay...

[@itzinsanity6447]

*thats* why lorenz thinks its nils

[@jacquelinedelatorre7986]

Im suprised Nick hasnt said anything about that...

[@PeanutForBrains]

I'm curious if anyone tried to find and contact the seller?

[@kolecox3975]

@@PeanutForBrains The seller username doesn't exist in ebay, but I can't help but feel like it's supposed to be some sort of lead...

[@rosebud6116]

Ohh uh..

[@Anophis]

Honestly, I wish more ARGs would have the games actually playable. So many of them look lovely but I'd REALLY like an ARG To allow the file be open and playable and allow people to post about easter eggs on their own as time goes on. I saw this one long ago and the graphics kinda made me think ofc its fake but i love the attempt at a Rare studio style look!

[@alvisyahrin2276]

What's the bold letters on 26:04

[@valkaerie8715]

@@alvisyahrin2276 DEAREST NILS

[@soulreaver6546]

Catghost had playable games

[@LewdnCute]

This will probably be playable when it's over.

[@rosebud6116]

@@LewdnCute Hopefully

[@mattie5111]

"what do we have in the scattered uploads across youtube?" [doordash ad starts playing] "FRENCH FRY. ICED CHAI. PAD THAI-"

[@nukiradio]

Soda pop porkchop!

[@macandfries6765]

i thought it was hentai

[@lizzz1647]

Baked pie, pork chop, soda pop, kebab

[@flamingcowjuice4918]

God I fucking hate those ads

[@daphne1065]

Let’s do that

[@johntaylor5650]

"I was just thinking about you" is the creepiest most positive thing you can say to someone

[@worldcolonyinitiativ]

what about, "I love the way you feel."

[@niftyquirks6880]

"Nervous?"

[@Miumiu0404]

Not if you're a narcissist ❤

[@rambbler]

How about someone you think you've never met in person texting you "your hair smells nice." Or maybe even "I like the nail polish you have on your toes," or just a "you have pretty feet, I envy the ground you walk on."

[@edwardclark6731]

@@rambbler or someone completely random saying "your house is beutiful"

[@user-jl7cz2pe6d]

Here's something interesting that I haven't seen anyone bring up. those models of Scarecrow and Crawler definitely don't fit into this game. And I don't mean because they're too dark, I mean that they are way too detailed. I'm not sure what significance that has. Or if there's any significance to that in the first place. I just thought that it was neat.

[@TemmiePlays]

it;s interesting to ppl unaware of how games are made. they don't fit in, bc they're unity store assets, free ones at that. sao it kinda destroys any inkling of credibility to it being an N64 game, when it's using high polygon count model;s from the unity asset store.

[@ellehopelle]

@@TemmiePlays Except with the number of period-appropriate assets we've seen, there's no reason to use free assets that don't even fit. Using the too detailed models for such a major element was clearly a conscious choice, and considering everything else about this game has hidden details, probably means something. (Perhaps symbolizing how Lorenz's wife and son are presumably still alive, and thus would have reached the era of modern graphics?)

[@inspectorjavert9868]

@@TemmiePlays To be honest the whole file was a unity one to begin with. So it kind of shattered there

[@nathanjohnpalaogaming4872]

Also, when the crow (hostiplitiziad-on-Lorenz's-home) screamed, she got taken away by the same shadow Scarecrow (or Crawler's?), becuase of what looked like the faces of both (shadows, or, something).

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

@@ellehopelle I mean to add to this, considering we have information which pertains to them choosing to jump with the game into the ocean but being fine... is they have made it able to hold a spirit. Given most negative spirits in fictional media that aren't in the game world use overly detailed designs... Combine this with a mask, made to blend in... means those beings have more meaning implying they might naturally not be part of the game or perhaps vessels for something. It is also worth noting the fact the same masks appear on two out of the 4 family members could even imply something like the entities have taken his family from him and trapped them in the game world. Even intentional design wouldn't yield the worlds we see in game... and possibly changes the meaning of some of his pre-death dialogue and makes what he says much worse. To bring back his dead daughter he might've used the game as a "Soul exchange" system to force reincarnate her in his family. He failed on one... and the one forced the other to lose their soul in the same way to become the 2nd monster irl. Truthfully it probably isn't this, but it is neat idea.

[@theletsplayprincess3894]

The scary thing is when I initially watched the Crow 64 video, my brain was having Mandela Effect-type moments where I was going "Oh yeah, I think I DO remember that magazine ad"...it's interesting to see what the mind will make up in the moment to mess with even itself.

[@P0k3rm4s7]

What fucked me up was seeing the name OPUS and thinking "Oh yeah, I think I remember it", then realizing it never really existed. The magazine ads were very well done, I own some old 64 mags and I got totally tricked for a moment into thinking it might have been legit or maybe the project was once real and this new layer was added to be scary on the internet. This was a true masterpiece.

[@zadenhomunculus8652]

Allow me to clear that up. It's a psychological trick. Your brain "remembers" the article because the digital assets of the father crow look extremely similar to the mother penguin from Mario 64, a minor character. The illusion would be broken if it was a more major character like, say, Luigi or Peach. Your brain sees the article with a picture of the father crow, a very familiar-looking bird. Notice that the article uses that crow rather than the injured wing crow that you mostly play as because of the penguin resemblance. The creator knew exactly what he was doing with this memory manipulation.

[@SKCro.]

@@zadenhomunculus8652 The only problem is that the eye textures are remarkably similar to Mario's eye textures, not the mother penguin's.

[@slimeinabox]

The falling down the stairs and the mutilated crow in bed are pretty obvious. “She fell without a sled, and she lost her head.” (Edit: I’m bad a rhyming.)

[@Crawfishness]

That's the vibe I got. The daughter didn't fall ill and waste away, she had an accident. This would also explain the original drawing involving a hospital and a bandaged wing. The crow was always a self-insert character for her, even before the game was a game.

[@juliemassam933]

Yeah, she probably had an accident, maybe she was prone to them, due to the broken wing.

[@fletcherreder6091]

I wonder if the imagery of the perpetually broken arm is a reference to osteogenesis imperfecta, which would make a fall down the stairs all the more likely to be fatal. It's a stretch, I know, but I just can't shake the impression.

[@gryphman]

Adding to that. The ex wife and son being portrayed as monsters. The wife monster takes her away off of the hospital bed. Perhaps the accident put her into a coma. The doctor said she was brain dead, so the wife told him to pull the plug. Regarding the son. Maybe he blames him for the accident. They were playing somewhere they weren't supposed to. Taking that into consideration. The bit about wanting him to play it, and mentioning how they both looked alike. I wonder if he transformed the game into some sort of ritual that would sacrifice the son, to resurrect the daughter. Like putting her mind into his body. The idea behind all the puzzles is to trick him into performing specific actions as part of the ritual.

[@thevioletskull8158]

@@gryphman That's an inserting theory, I think it's messed up that he blames the son though and if this was a true sacrifice the son. The wife thing is iffy to me

[@emicrossingover]

Just finished watching Inside a Mind's breakdown of this game only to see your video pop up. Cannot wait to make some hot chocolate, curl up with the cat and get into some Night Mind.

[@wesisthebest8350]

I am glad to see he is getting more attention Glad for him

[@BigT.Larrity]

I'm gonna drink your coco and steal your cat

[@taxtapyinc.2921]

@@BigT.Larrity *damn*

[@edwardclark6731]

@@BigT.Larrity good luck, i have *7*

[@Evanski]

I really hate how after the unity project and emails, the ARG just died, no new stuff from the creator, and everyone interested left to do other things, what a shame for the ending of an arg that was really interesting and different, so many questions left unanswered

[@CrittingOut]

unity and email basically ruined the project anyways

[@AngelaTheSephira]

Agreed. @@CrittingOut

[@IOrganiseContentUK]

Me: *sees that it says "Crow" literally everywhere* Also Me: "HEY WHAT'S THE PENGUIN DOING NOW??"

[@VuldEdone]

Pingu.

[@nukiradio]

Mario 64 penguin vibes

[@IOrganiseContentUK]

@@nukiradio dude yes! That's why! Thank you!

[@GhettoBagel]

You have no idea how glad I am to hear that it wasn't just me. My brain just kept seeing it as a penguin half the time.

[@williamkelley2263]

The confusion is not helped by the fact that the fictional game company is called Opus Interactive, which subtly primes my brain to think of Opus the Penguin

[@bloodrunsclear]

I think this ARG might actually have been much more compelling without the ghost: just have it be a man driven mad by his art, and that art outliving him

[@Shinyarc]

Definitely.

[@borderlinecrazy6444]

Are we even sure there is a ghost? I mean... Pretty much everything in the game is explainable as just really weird programming choices so far

[@professorhazard]

@@borderlinecrazy6444 I don't recall a ghost being mentioned. It seemed pretty clear to me that he was bringing all the equipment home in order to transfer his brain into the game (and, I guess somehow, he would for his daughter)

[@HorrorCrisisTime]

judging by the egypt iconography "sir-cat" immediately made me think of Serket, the goddess of fertility, nature and animals.

[@rockhistoria2537]

I am holding myself back from making a vriska joke so badly

[@MMumbles]

@@rockhistoria2537 a fellow degenerate, I see. Always nice to be reminded I'm not the only one with a Homestuck phase lol

[@GFireNexus]

Ohhh yeah, when I saw this, I had no idea it was horror fiction until the very end. I had just assumed this was a real game I'd never heard about. Then again, I'm pretty gullible.

[@burritomaster6000]

SAME

[@seiggrainhart4719]

I think the reason why this kind of thing works on so many people is because of the 'medium' they chose to claim the game was on. Because it's generally on some old 'dead' game system, there's an unknown number of lost media games out there. We have no idea how many legitimate games for the N64 didn't make it past Nintendo's Quality Control they had back then. Or even how many games didn't even leave development. Because of that, any number of these "lost media" unfiction/creepy-pastas could in fact, be real.

[@dog-ez2nu]

Do you know it says 'gullible' on your ceiling?

[@seiggrainhart4719]

@@dog-ez2nu The early 2000s called, they want their idiotic joke back.

[@vaclavjebavy5118]

@@seiggrainhart4719 tell them it's on the ceiling

[@rabbitheads6054]

I've been waitin for this special crow game to be covered!

[@WhitekidCvsual]

Sameeee

[@blackheartzerotheundergrou3225]

What I like the most about this ARG is that nothing about it seems to suggest it's haunted in any way. This is just a macabre piece of interactive art, crafted by a mind mentally and emotionally shattered by tragedy. No ghosts, no digitized consciousness- just a sphinx of a game who's riddle we have yet to truly solve

[@-AAA-147]

Nick saying that I've already guessed some these connections is giving my intelligence waaay too much credit.

[@JackEverfree]

What if the sick child had a terminal Illness and this game was made in a way to trap her soul to save her from death. The tragedy comes that she fell down the stairs at home while he was at work. The “monsters” that rush the character after the rag doll down the stairs are not attacking the character, the are rushing to help. Having a brain injury that proved fatal would also explain why the dying crow didn’t have a head. ... now that I think about it them moving her after the fall could have amplified the damage which would explain why the monsters “take” her in the end.

[@SMUDGESEASON]

Thea, the child I think you’re talking about, had something with her head, she also had to go to the hospital for that. But she died during the process, that’s why the game took such a dark turn

[@SMUDGESEASON]

Oops sorry, I didn’t read the whole comment

[@Bamburfix]

The "monsters" are prob the parents as brain damage usually causes hallucinations so they prob the parents. Also this is from manfreds child POV. As for the headless crows, I think the "monsters" that come to get them are doctors or someone else that took them to the grave or something like that. But the reason these are "monsters" is because from manfreds POV is that the people that took his dead daughter were monsters and that's why he made them look like "monsters"

[@Shinyarc]

I don’t know if the game is to trap her soul. But everything else you said has credence. The broken wing and head injury in the original drawing are definitely signs of some kind of chronic illness and moving her after the accident is probably what finished her in. I wonder if the wife and son being monsters is Manfred’s resentment towards not being able to have Thea play the game before she dies, which everyone knew was gonna happen anyway because terminal illness. That would explain why Crow’s grave is empty. Manfred probably blames Thea’s death on his wife and son, leading to him abandoning them after a home life collapse. I would imagine he was probably super resentful to them, and looked like a maniac to people seeing in from the outside. That’s a big part of his decision to kill himself; or did he? I think Manfred is still alive, not in some kind of “oh he’s trapped in the game whoopee doo” shit but like actually still alive, hiding out in secret after his fake suicide where he destroyed the last of this game.

[@ststst981]

The crow saying "I am in hell" could be a reference to the monsters dragging his soul to hell, maybe because he gave up his soul to the devil in order to save his daughter? Or put her soul in the game? But yea maybe she died early and couldn't be put in it in time, making Lorenzo go crazy knowing it was only a matter of time before the devil came for what he was still owed, and maybe put himself into the game as a last ditch effort to save himself?

[@kvarner6886]

I imagine this is obvious, but just in case... The Ebay seller has got to be Nils.

[@zim.is.emo.]

I mean Nils was probably the only person who had the cartridge, so it makes sense

[@heavyswomern]

the scariest parts about this is that the models for the scarecrows are so high quality in a n64 game most n64 models consist of around 100-200 polygons i think but the scarecrows are too high quality and to see the scarecrow on a cross with a low quality n64 model on its head freaks me out even more

[@pillmosbie3688]

The staircase part with the shaking crow sort of gave me an idea. I mean, since the crow we’re playing as is thought to be his daughter, and it’s revealed that she’s sick, my thought was that maybe this represents a real life event that happened. As we see, the crow, along with the entire world around them, begins to distort and break when it gets to the top of the stairs. We then see a very quick shot of the crow seemingly sliding down the stairs before we cut to it shaking and clipping on the ground. So, my initial hypothesis was that this represented the daughter seemingly having a seizure near the top of the stairs, to the point where she eventually lost the strength to stand and fell down the stairs, her seizure getting worse as a resul. As for the scarecrow figures, I don’t know much, but I’m guessing they’re meant to represent Death.

[@ryn3872]

Seizure was my thought too. With the way her room filled with water and the drowning theme, I think it’s a solid guess that she suffocated, possibly on vomit.

[@nickca420]

I can only hope that the "haunted video game" genre becomes more known for things like this and Petscop than it is for SONIC.EXE and "Ben Drowned"

[@columbina5839]

ben drowned was pretty good and way bigger than most people remember it being

[@moody_boos]

Ben drowned was an entire interactive story, which was really cool. Kinda wish people gave credit for the whole thing instead of just “spooky Zelda”

[@moody_boos]

SONIC.EXE, however-

[@Goblinhandler]

@@moody_boos The Godzilla creepypasta is a much better sonic.exe

[@ThePageofCups]

@@Goblinhandler Until the last few chapters of it, anyway. It gets REALLY stupid at the end.

[@ThatOneDudeWhoPostsStuff]

"Something where, in the event you die, your soul remains constant, but the world around you inevitably changes." This sounds like a rogue-like to me ngl.

[@CallMeFreakFujiko]

"The T-Posing scarecrow" sounds kind of redundant. Unless it's dancing or teaching me about context sensitivity I always expect a scarecrow to be in a "T" shape.

[@caldera1134]

For the most part I like this ARG, but I dunno how to feel about the dude just giving people the unity files. I get that it's a way to get people to dig for more clues, but at the same time it also feels like it gets in the way of your suspension of disbelief like the starbucks cup in that game of thrones shot.

[@allypearlman5569]

Its obvious the people behind this are good programers, they could have made an actual n64 game for the watchers to emulate.

[@VuldEdone]

@@allypearlman5569 But could the viewers have manipulated that N64 game? I actually looked what it takes to make an N64 game and while tools do exist for it, it takes quite a fair bit of efforts. Looking at all the pre-existing assets they had to resort to, I assume that was already out of question. But had they done it, while it would have been quite cool... no way players could have perused it. Only a very select few could have enjoyed the ARG from that point on. I still don't know if the Unity project is a backstage gift for the end of the story or if it's part of the ARG but if it's the latter, then I can assume it requires manipulation. Unity in that sense was pretty much unavoidable.

[@CrittingOut]

I also dislike this

[@sictrix]

absolutely love how the game doesnt have skyboxes, it has fucking SKY PYRAMIDS

[@MissionComplete_0906]

Just curled up in bed, in the dark, and got this notification... LETS DO THIS!

[@Kachopper9]

I'd like to point out with the box, I believe that Nils is the person who original sold their copy to the original video

[@chiquitin_o]

i am most definitely not the first person to point it out, seeing as how this ARG was made years ago and i’m not nearly as smart or have as keen of an eye as others. but water does seem to be an important symbolism here. of what i don’t know. the ones i can list off the top of my head is ML’s supposed suicide by drowning. the room that is supposedly Thea’s with the decapitated crow fills up with water before she is taken. a hidden(?) level is filled with water which you cannot cross without the hidden path. the father crow you find in the forest area is floating along the water. the previous game being called “ocean quest”. maybe i’m overthinking it, or maybe i’m not the first. even if there was something, i can’t figure it out

[@thebadshave503]

“If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows” - Henry Ward Beecher

[@Rhinestone812]

Late to the party but I'd like to think that's where Adam (and maybe even the other people who helped with the ARG) got the idea

[@themanlykittenkayden]

I don't know how much it was intentional (NM is great at being spooky without unnecessarily causing anxiety), but the brown textured background is really helpful I've found for putting my anxiety at ease that it's simply a video. I just think about the interesting color and what the texture would feel like and I can very quickly get back to enjoying the spooks

[@shrilleth]

it was soothing, because I kept being anxious, thinking there might be a jumpscare, and the fade back to the brown was nice to sorta say "the clip is over"

[@zim.is.emo.]

Its just his voice- I don’t know how to explain it, its like when you’re watching a scary movie with friends and that one guy says something funny or calming. I’m kinda like that, but i dunno.

[@mollybennett3291]

@@zim.is.emo. yeah I agree, I like to watch some “scary” or “spooky” videos to fall asleep too, but I’ve noticed some of the people have nice voices to relax to well others (reading the same story/type of story) can be much more unnerving.

[@robomix3162]

Its been 2 years sine this video was posted, but in case someone still reads this: 1. 39:56 - This also is very similar to when the player jumps from the archway and collides with the crow with glasses. Thea, the only player of this game in Manfred's mind, and Manfred, the creator of the game. "A leap of faith between Player and Designer." I think this was Manfred trying to somehow LITERALLY put Thea in the game so she wouldn't die. It would make sense as to why Manfred had Thea's IV connected to his computer. But this most likely didn't work. So when 'The Only player' Died, Manfred gave up on making the project an actual game for other people to play, so he took the project and disapeared. 2. I think the holiday spot that Manfred and Nils went to, is the dock that we first saw the crow representing Nils interacting with Manfred in the water. The whole 'Of course i remember you thing' seems (to me) very similar to the E-mail that Manfred responded to. He recognised/remembered Nils. I think the idea was that either the docks scene was telling us what to do or that was it saying that Nils already met Manfred. Just the idea that boats and water is such a prevalent theme in this project: Manfred's supposed suicide, him being in the water at the dock, the picture of him on a boat in real life, his previous game being Ocean Quest, Thea's room flooding before she's taken away, the VERY INSPIRATION of Catastrophe Crow being Thea's drawing of a crow being struck by lightning and the fact most birds have trouble flying in rain.

[@Bl00dyCh33rry]

Also, if you look closely at the bookshelf behind the guy you can see a copy of Majora's Mask. Very nice touch there.

[@zim.is.emo.]

This is very close to ben though. If you think about it

[@RinsMelody]

This is legit the first thing I actually knew about before you covered it

[@maks_____]

Haha same, makes me feel like a total badass lmao

[@AnvilPro100]

37:00 The villain's name is "Sir Cat"? As in "Serket"? The Egyptian Goddess of protection also known as the " *Mother* Goddess"? Something to think about

[@Rhinestone812]

I saw some comments on here and they said that the mom was probably the one who requested to pull Thea's life support (very late ik)

[@LAL7887]

Not sure if it was said already in the video, I paused in the middle to write this down The term "leap of faith" is mentioned A LOT In the article In the response email In the teddy bear swallowing stage (you were too afraid to make the leap) If I'm not wrong it's also said by the father crow when you see him in the dock which is set probably after he jumped from the boat. It could be about the literal leap that the real dad makes from the boat, or also about the leap that you can make as a wounded crow from the arch (having faith that you'll make it despite not being able to fly), that produces a sort of easter egg that I'll have to look again to see what it is. EDIT: it's the falling through several dev textures into the tunnel, in which the daughter eventually meets all of her family. And it's paralleled by a similar scene later on in which the playable character flies upwards through several dev textures until it reaches white light. Also great video! Found your channel from Matpad's video about Dad. Of course you're just a cult member so what do I know...

[@thomaspalazzolo5902]

Nils, Thea, and Marta. Anagrams into The Animal's Art, among other things.

[@beebissUNUSED]

coming back to this video, i realize that catastrophe crow has really good sound design. very calm sounding when the game is going right (or at least as right as it can be), but unsettling or straight up scary when the 'player' in the vids uncovers a new clue or a glitch/strange scene happens.

[@Azrael_Equinox]

This is probably the creepiest thing I've ever found accidently.

[@Azrael_Equinox]

@DeltaGem yeah

[@alameachan]

The thing that breaks the immersion for me is that "Katastrophe Krähe" is broken German at best.

[@MichaelSavidgeStoryteller]

This reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode where a dead grandmother would call her only grandson (and favorite person) on his toy phone from beyond the grave. She was trying to convince her grandson to drown in a pond in the backyard so that they could "always be together..." Just typing that makes me feel uneasy

[@SilentProti]

Ouch, those kind of stories about dead give me the creeps. Like that episode of the x files where a dead twin killed three family members before they exorcised the boy.

[@TheMamaluigi300]

29:10 Ok, I think this *was* supposed creepy and stuff, but I started laughing here 😂 Something about it felt like parody somehow; coupled with the crescendoing glitch tone, I was half expecting it to transition into a Caddicarus-style edit

[@LaPeppercorn]

You know you're either too deep or not deep enough ARGs when you discover the really good ones juuuuuust before Night Mind covers them

[@woos057]

I just cant wait for someone to leak the OST and for anyone from Silvagunner to make a mashup in like 30 minutes afterwards

[@jamerdome]

Legitimately today I was thinking “I haven’t heard about Night Mind lately wonder if he has uploaded anything” Hell yeah

[@aliasmanwithnoname9103]

Did this guy go to the effort of making Space World footage? I’d love to see the behind the scenes for this project, there was so much dedication to it.

[@nimbus997]

Hearing 'NitroRad' in a NightMind video makes me smile so much

[@Templarfreak]

Ooh, this is going to be an interesting video. I haven't really seen anyone do a real actual rundown of this ARG and give it justice yet. Can always count on Night Mind to deliver. :)

[@beckydumar5722]

inside a mind did it and it was pretty good but i will probs like this one more tbh for the sole fact that it is nightmind

[@thelostone2008]

Noir ASCII did a pretty good rundown of it.

[@EMOTIONOGRAPHY]

Both channels did explain some of it, but they both made videos before some events occurred.

[@lolrus5555]

Ha! Cool to see a Nitrorad and Matt shoutout! The former also kinda makes me wish you'd give the Forbidden Siren series a look. That series seems like it'd be right up your alley. I can confidently say it's one of the best survival horror series out there and I'd love to see your thoughts on the first game's fascinating story, as well as your attempts to decipher it the first go around.

[@BloodRedFox2008]

Shame the second game never made it's way to my part of the world (North America, we only got the first game and the episodic PS3 game). For some reason Sony never put the second one as a PS2 Classics download on PS4 either (then again they also never put any Ratchet and Clank or Sly Cooper games on there [though they did put the whole Jak and Daxter series on there], so Nintendo ain't the only company who is weird about making old first party games available again).

[@j897j]

Same, nitro is pretty great and I’m glad more people know about him

[@Terrifyger]

As someone who owns a regular Nintendo, this series does make me want to own a copy of Catastrophe Crow.

[@Sephlock]

Catastrophe Crow, also known as Crow64. Does that mean Superman 64 is Catastrophe Superman? .. it fits.

[@leilaclarridge5807]

When I first watched this, I thought of an idea for a video game ARG of my own. My idea was that, in an alternate world, a company was making a game for the PlayStation similar to the original Spyro the Dragon games. It would have had a fire breathing baby phoenix main character who would have traveled multiple ancient China inspired worlds to rescue the elder phoenixes while collecting treasures, fighting bosses and eventually defeating the evil dragon that imprisoned the phoenixes. Sounds nice and innocent, right? Just a game to cash in on the Spyro hype during the 90's. The thing is that the development studio that was working on the game disappeared. As in, each of the developers all vanished, forcing the studio to be shut down and the game to be canned. After all the hype that was built up around the game from people who wanted more of something similar to Spyro, the game would be quietly forgotten, at least until it is found again. The main character of the ARG is a retro game collector who happens to find a development copy of the game at an estate sale in China, where the game was being made. They would post a video about it on their channel, do research on it based on information that was available to the public at the time, and in general have a fun time with a cancelled video game. Then the collector disappears, along with the dev copy. Thankfully they dumped the ROM online.

[@quiondasjj9293]

Came here from Game Theory, this all seems so interesting and I’m so impressed by how much the community has done already

[@wompastompa3692]

An N64 game running with a stable framerate over 20 fps is an immediate giveaway that something isn't right. The only exception is F-Zero X.

[@Smurgleblurgle]

The lights of the skyscrapers at 28:53 looks like braille, I wonder if that's a code

[@oxfordcommaisthegreatest]

I saw your comment and out of curiosity tried to translate it, but all that came out was gibberish.

[@fricc3824]

this is probably my favorite arg in any recent times. i randomly stumbled across the first video and was like "huh, this seems neat" and got sucked into it immediately

[@tanyoncloke713]

I absolutely love how Nick talks in such a cheerful voice in every video. Always gets everyone in a good mood while in the background you have a nearly dead woman dragging herself back home.

[@perfectly-disfigured]

youtube: there are 13 comments already Me: can I see them? KZbin: no I absolutely love Crow 64! I was wondering when the monster of the night would cover it

[@PaladinGear15]

Gotta love when people give youtube itself a personality xD I was hoping Night Mind would do something with Catastrophe Crow too :p

[@remypeewee9102]

It's sad how a game actually tells a irl story and the father is still alive

[@spoopyweeb326]

I remember watching that "review" i fell for it and thought maybe this game did exist and got scrapped? Nope! I fell deeeeep into a rabbit hole.

[@carolinewheeler77]

This is like the final evolution of the video game creepypasta. Ben drowned is shedding a proud tear. Also Nick! What do you think of wandavision? I think it’s using some arg-like mystery building.

[@DeadFawn]

I'm upset with youtube for not giving me a notification, Someone has to explain internet horror puzzles for me cause I don't understand them, youtube.

[@hdofu]

Catastrophe Crow really does feel like a Creepypasta that could have come out back in the day.

[@Oweblow2]

I like how much Mario 64 assets Catastrophe Crow uses, even down to the eyes, being recoloured Mario eyes from Super Mario 64.

[@yeetleslaw8529]

I watched the source material. They absolutely nailed the documentary part perfectly. But once the gameplay started I quickly realized it was an unity/unreal game. Stuff like, lack of dithering, good consistent frame rate, sound fxs are high quality. I rate it, 9/10 as a fictional work. But gameplay won't fool any nerd that knows the quirks of the era. It's a better story than petscope but petscope looked and played like ps1 game.

[@Biotitan00]

This was really cool. Hope theirs a follow up to this video someday.

[@TakeWalker]

I am very certain now that I got recommended this video by KZbin a while back, watched a few minutes of it, then went to do something else because I didn't actually remember ever having heard about the game before. So the verisimilitude was off the charts!

[@supermom8502]

Hold up, At 35:36, That is a crow 64 game in a box in what look like an attic. In the documentary, Adam says he got the game from a person who found it in their attic in a box. The person who gave Adam Butcher the cartridge is Neils.

[@ned1027]

Mabey you know this due to your connection to the creators of Sara is Missing and Simulacra but they're making a Doctor Who ARG called the Lonely Assassin check it out if you haven't seen the trailer.

[@ivaniniguez2553]

I remember seen this game on a videogame magazine subscription and it had a release date. years pass and I totally forgot about this game wow. Not till this dude on KZbin brought it up and made me remember, wow this games was creepy. Thank God it never came out.

[@alirosekitty]

I have epilepsy and I saw the crow having a fit down the stairs and I thought "That looks like a seizure", and I'm wondering if The daughter (Can't remember her name rn, I'm coming back to this video randomly to type this out) had a seizure while going down the stairs.

[@taz4359]

Over the moon that you and inside a mind covered this amazing ARG! My love for these polygon crows knows no bounds!

[@nintenx1235]

Night mind: uploads Me: *WOOOOOOOOOOO* yeah baby! That’s what I’ve been waiting for! that’s what it’s all about! WOOOO

[@FreakinSweet1987]

One of the noises on the keyboard is the swoosh heard before the "SEGA" logo.

[@grandz125]

Glad to see you cover this! This arg is pretty interesting.

[@miscellaneoof]

This has to be one of the most well-constructed ARGs I’ve ever seen, from the original video and all of the press release material to go alongside it, the gameplay itself and the scattered videos on youtube. Amazing stuff

[@kaminaalbarn]

I think the place Lorenz's boat was found is probably where he vacationed with his family. When he's inviting Nils to join him there, he means do exactly what he did and jump into the water, take the 'leap of faith'.

[@EthanChristensen]

for only a few minutes I get to say my catastrophe crow video has more views than night mind's

[@_lemonaut_]

Imo, this really reminds me of Nanashi no Game (The Nameless Game). SPOILERS: In that game, a company made an jrpg for the TS (the games equivalent to the Nintendo DS) for one of the workers daughter. But the daughter got murdered by someone, which devastated the father. This lead to the downfall of the company (similar to what happened here), mysterious deaths, and the haunting of the game, which became a curse. I know it's a crappy synopsis on the game. Just thought I'd share that little trivia.

[@cogturner8685]

Cool ARG and all but I'm still getting over the fact that NitroRad's big enough for people like Night Mind to casually reference him. He used to be so small when I first started watching him, I'm so happy he's gotten so successful.

[@Dante-ob5mh]

Great video as usual! I love you attention to detail and the sincerity with which you deliver an experience to your viewers. Half of the good content I saw today was on other channels, but you brought me to them with only the intention of me enjoying them. There is no selfishness to your approach and it makes you great as a content creator. I love what you do and know that your big uploads are reliably a good time. Thanks for making yet another awesome piece!

[@pyxenart]

the bopping big N letter is so classic to the old n64 games it only ads to that good good vibe

[@enzito_sdf6978]

imagine if we had a late 90s weird art game like this, sort of like the ps1 lsd game but on steriods. now that i think about it an arg based on a duke nukem 3d or an unreal map would be really cool imo

[@enzito_sdf6978]

@DeltaGem yep, it's a weird ass game. i dont think even japanese speakers understand what the hell is going on lol. also by lsd's devs, eastern mind is a cool point and click windows 3.1 game, it's more linear but still interesting.

[@slappytheclown4]

@DeltaGem It’s just a game based on the creators dream journal. That is the only reason it is so weird, he wanted to capture the strangeness of dreams in a video game. There’s no secret message or lore.

[@thatlycantomboy]

hey, I know that some of us like to just watch these videos instead of the original content (I’m definitely guilty), but Nick’s right: please, please go watch the original video! It’s so good, as is Internet Story! They’re short enough that I watched them in between class periods. just please, I’m begging you, personally, as an internet stranger

[@Arca30]

Thank you for the documentary. I can’t believe how much effort people put into ARGs. Props to them!