YMMV / Needlem0use

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Sarah going after Tom because he's the only one who can end this nightmare? Or is she hunting Tom because he's Luther's son and wants to kill him to spite her former friend and torture him even more? Her dialogue in "Confronting" basically confirms the latter, especially coupled with the fact that Sarah actively doesn't want to leave the game because it gives her control.
• Fridge Horror: "Yourself" reveals Lily adopted Kyle in an effort to move on from Sarah's disappearance. Sarah killing Kyle is thus going to make Lily have to deal with the grief of a missing loved one again.
• Friendly Fandoms: Fans of the series get along pretty well with fans of Sonic Limited Edition: The Lost Cartridge, as both are Analog Horror series that adapt the Sonic.exe Creepypasta.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • During the QnA, Luther mentions that he remembered working with Jonathan Michaels (who became X-Terion in his series) at SEGA before his predicament, mentioning that he missed him deeply.
  • Sarah proposing to Lily is just adorable, it really shows that, despite Sarah not being the best person in life as per Word of God, she really can care about someone and Lily’s genuineness about her feelings is the icing on the cake.
  • Kyle’s speech to Luther to help him move on is bound to put a smile on one’s face.
  • Kyle’s goodbye to Thomas is absolutely this as well heartbreaking, especially with the semi-distorted version of “His World” playing in the background.
  • In the final episode, not only does Sarah refuse to keep going with the torment and finally go to the afterlife, but she doesn't take long to recognise Kyle properly there. And the last shot is of her shedding Tears of Joy. "Together forever" indeed! The cover of "The Suffering" playing during this scene and the closing credits really helps hit home that Sarah has well and truly earned her happy ending.
  • On February 1st 2023, after the series' conclusion, Jojo released a comic on Twitter depicting Sarah and EXE/Faker just having some light-hearted banter. Even with their original shipping long gone now, it's still sweet to see them interact without a fuss.
• I Am Not Shazam: "Needlemouse" refers to the disc and everything inside of it (ie, the Knuckles and Tails residing in the disc would be referred to as Needlemouse Knuckles and Needlemouse Tails), according to ShutUpJojo, not only Sarah and the form she takes.
• It Was His Sled: The Reveal that Needlemouse Sonic is the vengeful spirit of a young woman is now well known by people who have never watched the series.
• Nightmare Fuel: Being an Analogue horror series, this is bound to happen.
  • Kyle's death in "Duo", melting as he screams in agony.
  • Some of the imagery in "Yourself" is this as well, such as the images of Luther, Martin and Michael's corpses and the scene where Luther has a Heroic B So D.
  • "Teaser" ends with a distorted, slowed down rendition of the original title theme from Sonic the Hedgehog, which not only begins with an horrifying scream, but near the end, when the image of Sarah fades into Needlemouse Sonic, some extremely loud screech is heard, sounding like it came from some demonic industrial vacuum cleaner.
• Older Than They Think: Though it is the series's main claim to fame, this is not the first time a Creepypasta character was imported into the Analog Horror format, rewritten into a more sympathetic light, and given more realistic character interactions around them. Neither is the part where it's revealed she isn't in control of herself.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Despite killing her best friends, Sarah's backstory is rather sad, as she used to be very close to them but she ended up getting killed by them when they got into a drunken bar fight and buried afterwards, and after her ghost possessed the Sonic Games due to the fact that a SEGA HQ was built where she was buried, she decided to kill her friends and trap them in the possessed copy.
  • The reveal in "Yourself" that Kyle is Sarah's stepson. Sarah was in such a state of anger she unknowingly killed her own child. Her realization of this in "Atem" would've nearly driven her into a Despair Event Horizon if it weren't for the actions of Del.

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