Needlem0use
is an Analog Horror series made by the artist ShutUpJojo. Acting as an adaptation of the Sonic.exe Creepypasta, the story is told via VHS footage of the original Sonic the Hedgehog. However, the copy of the game being recorded houses a vengeful spirit seeking out those who led to their imprisonment thirty long years after the fact.
The series was originally set to be the first instalment of an anthology series that would feature other Creepypasta characters called Loves's Crafts, but the creator's disillusionment with the series after its conclusion would lead to them announcing a reboot with an entire different story as part of the aforementioned Love's Crafts series, titled Speedduo64.
This series provides examples of:
- Adaptational Job Change: Derek Green, the protagonist of Sonic.exe Round 2, was a homicide detective in his source appearance in contrast to his Needlem0use counterpart, who is a news reporter.
- Adaptational Sympathy: Needlemouse Sonic, this series' titular incarnation of Sonic.exe, is actually the ghost of a normal person stuck in the game, rather than a demon using it as a gateway to mess with people. She used to be a girl named Sarah who was killed by one of her friends in a bar fight. She's been forced to inhabit the game for so long she's become fused with the data of Sonic, and seeks to perform the same process on her old friends into the game as well so she can torment them, as well as never have to be alone again. Season 2 also implies that she might not be in full control of her actions, and that she may in fact be being influenced by another, more malicious entity from within the game.
- A God Am I: Just like in the original pasta, Needlemouse Sonic utters multiple lines where she claims to be a god, from the famous "I AM GOD" line, to variations such as "There is no God, only me".
- Ascended Extra: In the original creepypasta, Kyle was The Ghost, only appearing in a letter he sent to Tom begging him to destroy the game. He has a much larger role in Season 2, his and Tom's videos serving as the opener to the season, a brutal onscreen death, and even a dedicated fight sequence between him and Sarah.
- Bittersweet Ending:
- As of "Yourself", while Martin, Michael, and Luther are able to move on and Thomas is able to destroy the disc, Sarah still refuses to move on and Kyle is essentially stuck in purgatory to make sure she doesn’t try to continue her killing spree for all eternity.
- "Atem" and the whole series ends with Sarah finally letting go of her hatred towards her friends and moving on to the afterlife with her adopted son, Kyle. On the bitter side, the world will never know what happened that fateful night at that bar, and Luther, Martin, and Michael's families will continue to mourn the husbands Sarah had ripped away from them. Worse still, Atem's fate is unknown, meaning that if he isn't dead and the game doesn't get destroyed, he's likely waiting for another soul to pick up the game so he can claim them.
- The Cameo:
- NormalCD, an EXE owned by averyavary, makes an appearance in the penultimate question of the April Fool’s QnA, asking Sarah and Luther how to get rid of a Metal Sonic, for good.
- Jonathan Michaels, aka X-Terion, an EXE created by Goji_Boi, is mentioned in the April Fool’s QnA via a question asked by his own creator, where it’s shown that Luther was apparently friends with him before Jonathan’s death.
- According to the acting credits of “Yourself”, the news reporter covering Sarah’s disappearance is Dereck Green (referred to as Reporter D.Green), who, in Sonic.exe Round 2 and Remake, was an investigator for the Sonic.exe killings.
- Connected All Along: Season 2 introduces Tom and Kyle, seemingly just some random kids who find the game as in the original pasta. It is then later revealed that Tom is Luther's son, which is why Sarah is targeting him and Kyle in the first place. "Yourself" also reveals that Kyle is the adopted son of Lily, Sarah's old girlfriend, though Sarah was unaware of this.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: This series pulls no punches in showcasing the rampant homophobia present in 1960's America, and Sarah expresses concern about her and her girlfriend Lily's safety to the point where she asks Luther to watch over them.
- Demoted to Extra: Derek Green, the protagonist of Sonic.exe Round 2, only appears as a voice reporting Sarah’s disappearance.
- Downer Ending: Season 1 ends with Sarah succeeds in her revenge and traps the rest of the fun gang inside her world, making them possess character models and are unable to escape.
- Eye Scream: Martin's destiny was having his eyes gouged out by Needlemouse Sonic and then having his soul stolen.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In "G0t Y0u", before the video shifts to Needlemouse Sonic, Sonic's eyes turn black and red and he gets a disproportionately huge smile for a frame.
- Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: All of the vessels have unnaturally large smiles.
- Man Behind the Man: "Confronting" seems to imply that Sarah isn't fully in control, with some entity assisting her in her fight against Luther so she can get to kill Thomas while he’s distracted and egging her on with her to continue keeping the souls of her ex-friends trapped in the beta comp disk.
- The Most Dangerous Video Game: Even starting up the game allows Needlemouse Sonic to haunt its chosen victims, no playtime necessary. Season 2 takes it up a notch in that despite the game disc being out in the open and not even in a console, it doesn’t stop Sarah from surprise attacking Kyle and killing him.
- Neck Lift: In "SpeedDuo64 Presents:", Needlemouse Sonic does one of this to Luther and then proceeds to throw him away like a ragdoll after he tries to reach out for help.
- Older Than They Look: Considering the multiple typos Kyle makes in "Speedduo 64 Presents: Genesis Sonic Comp Beta!!1!", as well as the fact he looks and dresses younger, you would be shocked to find out he's actually 18-20 years old.
- Offing the Offspring: Kyle Henderson's mother is a woman named Lily. Sarah's last name, which Lily took in her honor after they confessed to eachother, was also Henderson. Sarah's anger-fueled rampage and being gone for thirty years means that she had essentially killed her own son.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: The overall premise of Season 1 involves Sarah’s plans to trap the people that killed her in the game and force them to take the form of other characters within it, ripping them from their lives and families like she had to suffer through thirty years before.
- Purple Is Powerful: Needlemouse Sonic's fur takes on a more purple hue when exerting direct control over things.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The fourth episode of Season 2, “Confronting”, begins with Kyle awakening inside of Mecha Sonic, and immediately realizes his predicament is at the fault of Sarah. What do we see later in the episode? Kyle duking it out with Sarah.
- Samus Is a Girl: Needlemouse Sonic's true identity is that of the ghost of Sarah.
- Shout-Out:
- The scene where Needlemouse Sonic kills Martin in FinAle is similar to how Boozoo dies in Boozoo's Ghosts.
- Two of the final episodes of season 2, “Confronting” and “Yourself”, when put together, read out as “Confronting Yourself”, which shares a name of the “Megalovania” analog for Differentopic, an AU where Sonic and Sonic.exe take the roles of Frisk and Chara respectively.
- Stylistic Suck: The video from "Speedduo 64 Presents: Genesis Sonic Comp Beta!!1!", the only video that we see is made by Kyle, which is made on Windows Movie Maker and has multiple typos.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Luther when he finally fights back against Needlemouse Sonic, chews her out on the fact she never actually reached out to her friends in life or death, citing that she had the ability to do so, but chose to murder and torment others instead.
- The Entity gives one to Luther in "Yourself," tearing apart everything wrong he's done ever since Sarah's death, such as not telling her that Kyle was Lily's son, and keeping everybody else from telling anybody about what happened to Sarah.
- Villain Has a Point: Considering she was (accidentally) killed by one of her friends she trusted, and then her murder was covered up and body was failed to be found to give her loved ones closure while they moved on with their lives, Sarah has every right to be furious with Michael, Martin and Luther.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: The fate of those who get caught by Needlemouse Sonic, with their bodies mutilated, their soul gets stolen and then shoved into Sonic character-looking vessels.
