...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Copy Protection
- 604 statements
- 113 feature instances
- 217 referencing feature instances
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When a player purchases a video game, how does the developer prevent them from simply making an illicit copy of the software and giving it away to a friend? Unlike physical merchandise (such as books), video games exist as electronic data, which is quite easy to make perfect copies of. This has been a concern for game makers even from the start, so throughout the years they've come up with a variety of ways to verify that whoever is playing their game has fronted the proper cash for that privilege. A few examples: "Key disc" method: The game prompts the user to insert their authentic installation or game disc, checking for some kind of identifying signature that they've carefully hidden in the disc format itself, in a way that would not (generally) be preserved when the player simply makes an electronic copy of the software code and files. "The Dongle": A variant of the "Key Disc" method mostly found on professional and enterprise level software, although it's starting to see use in consumer games as well (e.g. Steel Beasts Pro PE and the DJMax Trilogy). Software that uses this method will only run if said dongle is present, and presents an error message followed by immediately quitting if the dongle is absent. Another variant of this is that the software is tied down to a particular piece of hardware and will not run if the hardware is absent (e.g. copies of Nero Burning ROM Professional bundled with certain CD writers). Dongles are currently usually stuck into an USB port, previously they were stuck into the serial or parallel port. Their greatest strength is being almost impossible to hack, since their construction is usually very much tamper-proof and hacking one would require extremely sophisticated equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, if the dongle fails or you ever lose it and the company has went out of business, you can kiss your software good-bye. Passphrase method: The game prompts a user to input a word or phrase from a specified page of the game's manual, trusting that only legal owners have a copy of that. Another form is a "code wheel": a set of physical cardboard or plastic wheels that have to be dialed to the specified settings (somewhat like a combination lock or a decoder ring) to reveal the answer that the game wants. This method may make many older games unplayable today even when the text from the manual is preserved word for word. In many abandonware packages, the text from the game manual is reproduced as a text file without any of the line or page formatting of the manual. However, if the manual is converted to PDF, this may make the game file playable again. Puzzle method: As a more subtle, elaborate version of the above, the player encounters an in-game puzzle that is generally not solvable without supplementary clues and information included either in the game's manual or its Feelies. Activation: The software key is registered and paired with your computer's hardware somehow. On first install, information about your computer is sent back to the developers, and on subsequent installs the information is checked and you're blocked from proceeding if the information doesn't add up. Privacy concerns aside, this method is gaining ground on every single piece of software in the market, from Operating Systems (infamously, Windows' activation) to productivity (much of Adobe's, AutoDesk's and Microsoft's wares use it) to even consumer games (the download version of all of PopCap Games' titles). Account-based: An evolution of the abovementioned Activation system, especially on software-as-a-service platforms. The software is tied to your account, necessitating login to verify your purchased software. Those with limited online connection or suffering network downtimes may be able to use the software in offline mode after installing and logging in with the game or the client, usually with limited functionality. Steam (by Valve) is infamous for this for the majority of their games, as well as its follow-ups such as Ubisoft's Uplay and Epic Games' Epic Store. Likewise, Microsoft, Autodesk and Adobe offers a monthly or annual payment plan that uses account based authentication instead of activation, but the difference being that you will always have access to the latest version of the software. Unfortunately, all of the above methods are beatable (sometimes trivially), slightly intrusive on the end user, and if they malfunction they can even lock a legitimate player out of their own game. Instruction manuals can be photocopied (despite efforts to make this difficult) or just plain lost, physical game discs age and eventually go bad (making perfectly-legal archival/personal backup copies won't help if the game uses a key-disc method), and so on. Sometimes, a method becomes viewed as so intrusive that the player may simply choose to avoid running the game at all... or decide "screw it" and download a cracked, pirate version, thus leading to the exact opposite of what the publisher intended. This has resulted in something of a vicious cycle between game publishers and unlicensed copying ("piracy"), where when one copy-protection system is cracked or beaten, the publisher must switch to (or create) another, stronger method, which is itself beaten (sometimes quickly), and so on. Where does it end? In the early days, the physical game media itself (game cartridges, CD-ROM) was sufficient to ensure that it was a legal copy, on the grounds that the equipment to produce them was difficult (if not impossible) for the general public to obtain. This is no longer the case these days, especially with the Internet where it's fairly easy to find not just downloadable copies (legal or otherwise) of the software itself, but any and all of the pass phrases, manual clues, or the entire solution to a copy-protection puzzle. The Internet itself has brought the latest version of copy protection: Client-server verification, where the player is the "client" and their legal right to play the game is recorded on a central server database. The server is the central authority on who is (and by extension, is not) allowed to play the game, and can easily verify this with any given client, either during the game's initial installation or first time startup, or sometimes every time the game is run. While this comes naturally to certain genres (MMORPGs in particular), it can be a problem for others; for example, even if the game doesn't have any online features, it may still refuse to run without an Internet connection or if the central servers are down. It also has the issue of possibly leaving legitimate users with an unplayable legal copy if the parent company closes or decides to discontinue support on their end and hasn't planned for anyone else to take over. And again leading to vicious cycles, this can lead to instances where the protection is so restrictive to legitimate users that they might decide to pirate the game even when they intended to buy in the first place just to play a version that bypasses the whole thing. See also Digital Piracy Is Evil, DRM and the useful notes page. |
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Copy Protection / int_108cd205 | type |
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Wizardry II has a small booklet of "spells" composed of four-letter nonsense words. The player at times has to consult this booklet and enter the third word of a spell. Unfortunately, the booklet was black text on dark red paper, making it difficult even for those with proper eyesight to read. | |
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The PC version of Batman: Arkham Asylum has one of these in the form of a deliberate glitch which disables Batman's cape glide ability, rendering the game Unwinnable. A famous incident involved a user on Rocksteady's official message board complaining that he couldn't use the (pirated) game because of the aforementioned "game bug", to which the developers responded: | |
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Robopon has an unintentional example. Since emulators can't emulate the TV remote interface and IR signals, opening all of the game's treasure chests and saving Princess Darcy become impossible. | |
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Darkstar One features an extra protection. In improperly cracked versions, the star map will "shiver" making it hard as hell to read or select anything. The price of items and upgrades are also multiplied by 100 and the sale price of everything is dropped to 0, making it impossible to make money. As a result, the player is effectively stuck in the first system forever. | |
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The Elder Scrolls: Arena, the first game of the series, requires you to answer questions about spells in the known Spellbook part of the manual before leaving the first dungeon. Later on, Bethesda allowed the game to be downloaded for free, and while they did not remove the copy protection, the official download includes all the required information in a text file. | |
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Dark Sun Shattered Lands has your party accosted at the end of the first dungeon (the Absurdly-Spacious Sewer) by the mental projection of a dragon, who wants to know the words on on a page in the manual. Failing will crash you out of the game. | |
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The Starforce copy protection on Cold Fear was so bad that it locked up a large percentage of legitimate copies, and Ubisoft had to distribute a scene no-CD crack for paying customers to be able to play the game. They released their own no-CD patch later, but it was essentially the same as the scene patch. | |
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Lumpy Touch's "Pokémon Red Anti-Piracy Screen", an fictional anti-piracy measure, is claimed to have planted by Nintendo to reduce piracy. At the very beginning of the game (as the player is about to start the game after setting up names for the main character and the rival character Gary), Professor Oak started to suspect the player has been acting kind of "sus" lately. When Oak brings the player to his laboratory, he refuses to give the player the Pokéball, and the real player's character is revealed to be tied up in his basement (according to Officer Jenny), and Oak makes Among Us references while speaking about an impostor among them, revealing the player's character to be a Ditto in disguise all along, who tied up the real person. Angered by this, Oak then says that stealing the identity of a human is an unforgivable crime and brings out a special Pokéball (with a keyhole and the word "JAIL" on it) to seal Ditto permanently, as he thinks that this is the only thing he can do with naughty Pokémons (like the disguised Ditto). Then the game soft-locks as a message says the usual "It's a serious crime" and "report the stolen software immediately" message but not before announcing that the player's Pokémon adventure ends and tells the player that he's a fake rather than a real Pokémon trainer. | |
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Lumpy Touch (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_19652363 | type |
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A Mind Forever Voyaging uses a code wheel authentication system. | |
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A Mind Forever Voyaging (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Done particularly elegantly by Star Trek: 25th Anniversary. Whenever it's time to go to warp, you're told quite clearly what system you need to go to. However, your navigational map is unlabeled. The manual has a copy of the map, with the labels added this time. Amusingly, warping to the wrong system gets you attacked by Romulans, Klingons, or pirates — but it's a fair fight. Players who want to ignore the plot and just keep on having starship battles have been known to intentionally warp wrong. |
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The original Railroad Tycoon has you identify a railway engine (seen in the manual) at the start of the game. If you choose the wrong name, the game will confiscate all but two of your trains and make you unable to run more normally (though - perhaps due to a bug - clicking at the bottom of the train list actually allows you to view the lost train and buy it back by replacing its engine). Railfans barely need the handbook because they already know at least some of the locomotives, and after playing the game for a while, they'll get to know the few they don't. Those who happen to be in possession of Brian Hollingsworth and Arthur Cook's Great Book of Trains have a good chance of knowing all locomotives in the game because they are all picked from this book, livery and all. | |
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Railroad Tycoon (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_1ad4fe9a | type |
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Might and Magic fans had a bit of a fun time, too, with Might and Magic Heroes VI. Ubisoft's copy protection came in the form of the Dynasty system, which rewarded players with leveling items and buffs as they progressed through the game. The kicker: Dynasty progress is stored in the online "Conflux". There's an offline mode, but games saved to the Conflux obviously can't be loaded offline. Players with a steady internet connection naturally figured they might as well take advantage of the Dynasty bonuses... and were treated to a series of Conflux outages during prime play-times (including a few weekends and the week after Christmas) for a while after the game's release. | |
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Might and Magic (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_1bbccd89 | type |
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Copy Protection / int_1bbccd89 | comment |
Pathways into Darkness includes some copy protection near the very end of the game. Your mission is to detonate a nuclear device at the bottom of an ancient temple that will bury an Elder God in debris for a few thousand years. When you can finally arm the device, it asks for a launch code - which can only be found in the manual containing your briefing. Future distributions of the game leave this part out. But both versions have your fellow squadmates changing part of the launch code because they thought you'd been compromised - if you don't ask them for the new code, you're still screwed! To start the game, at least in older versions, you also have to enter a code found on a randomly given page of the manual. | |
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Pathways into Darkness (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Hollywood Hijinx includes vital information on the back of a photo of Uncle Buddy. | |
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HollywoodHijinx | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_1f40d0b4 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_1f40d0b4 | comment |
Ni no Kuni comes with the spellbook the character uses in the game, which it makes you use to get through the challenges. | |
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Ni no Kuni (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_213c8091 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_213c8091 | comment |
The arcade version of Primal Rage causes the game to not work properly if it detects to be an illegitimate copy. Unlike other examples where the measures have been overcome with hacked copy protection or digital recreations of Feelies, this method was so good that it hasn't been cracked to this day. Unfortunately the team who made the encryption refused to help when it came to home console ports, so all the versions of Primal Rage found on arcade compilations have been corrupted. It's still playable, but it remains to be a case of Porting Disaster. | |
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Primal Rage (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_26698c5a | type |
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Copy Protection / int_26698c5a | comment |
La AbadÃa del Crimen, a 1987 adventure game by Spanish publisher Opera Soft, based on Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, requires the player to assist the daily matins. In the original game, a recorded version of Ave MarÃa would will play during these sequences. However, if the game detects a pirate copy is running, the song is replaced by an echoing, growling voice saying "Pirata, Pirata, Pirata..." and locking up the computer. | |
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The Name of the Rose | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_2acb12c5 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_2acb12c5 | comment |
X3: Reunion shipped with StarForce. The players and the developers both hated it, and it was removed with the 2.0 Patch (along with instructions on how to completely eradicate StarForce from one's system). The standalone expansion X3: Terran Conflict shipped with a different DRM package, Tagès, but it was also ditched in a patch. Egosoft's position is they hate copy protection, but their publishing contract with Deep Silver required them to use it, and it was one of the main reasons Egosoft broke up with their former publisher for their latest games. | |
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X (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_310b3174 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_310b3174 | comment |
Operation Flashpoint was notable for being the first game to use the FADE copyright system, which slowly degraded the quality of gameplay (for example, decreasing the accuracy of the player's weapons) if piracy was detected. The same applied to ARMA : Armed Assault, its spiritual successor. The best copy protection for ARMA was of course the fact that it didn't run under Vista. FADE also appeared on ARMA II. Your accuracy slowly gets worse until you can't shoot the broad side of a barn, it impedes your movement, blurs your screen, and it eventually turns you into an animal. Here's a video. |
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Operation Flashpoint (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_34e0e9fc | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_34e0e9fc | comment |
In Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: 8-Bit is Enough, one puzzle involves Strong Bad opening the way to the world of the adventure game Peasant's Quest using a giant code wheel, to satisfy the voice of the "copy protector" who wants him to use the manual and special red cellophane glasses with said wheel in order to solve his "riddle" (a random trivia question). Strong Bad has neither, so he's forced to solve the problem in a slightly different fashion. | |
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Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_35240328 | type |
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Suspended includes a map of the base and tokens for tracking the robots. Because the player has a map, the game does not always list all the exits out of a room. | |
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Copy Protection / int_35f0d56a | type |
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Copy Protection / int_35f0d56a | comment |
Sid Meier's Pirates! (the original '80s version) allowed you to start the game even if you failed the manual-based question. However, winning the "intro duel" was extremely difficult. Still, even if you lost, you could still continue playing the game from a difficult starting point. | |
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Sid Meier's Pirates! (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_3af1288c | type |
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SiN (1998) encrypted the music files, to prevent them from being played outside of the game. | |
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SiN (1998) (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_3caeeb6f | comment |
SimCity came with a four-page code sheet with codes to enter after starting or loading a city. If you don't enter the correct code, the town will be destroyed by permanent disasters. The sheet was dark red paper with a darker red print; back in those days, it was near-impossible to duplicate it because drawing all the codes by hand was tedious as they were so many (although it didn't stop some people from trying anyway), and the old black-and-white facsimile machines failed at copying dark-red-on-dark-red. Mind you, this was before easy access to scanners and color printers. | |
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SimCity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_3ea5e105 | type |
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In Elvira II: Jaws of Cerberus, opening the main building door and each of the studio doors requires a keypad code obtained via a code wheel. You need to line up three symbols or words and type in a code visible in the proper box. Here's an interactive online version of the codewheel. | |
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ElviraGames | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_3ed9bbbc | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_3ed9bbbc | comment |
Microsoft's Office 2000 CD stores more information than a regular CD could hold (using a pressed "overburn") that any attempt to clone the CD using commercial CD-copying tools will result in a coasternote slang for an unusable disc resulting from a failed burn unless the destination disc is rewritable, in which case it can be erased. However, it can be still worked around with a bit of know-how. Then DVD burners and blank DVDs appeared, completely defeating the protection. This is the reason Microsoft moved towards the "Activation" DRM with Windows XP and Office XP onwards... Similar schemes have been used in certain games of the era. Commandos for one relied on this, but as stated earlier this has since become a non-issue once larger-capacity media became popular and CD copying tools are able to detect such protection methods. | |
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Commandos (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_43dc6ac0 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_43dc6ac0 | comment |
The developers of Game Dev Tycoon purposely released a cracked version of their game via torrent in addition to a "legal" paid version. Both versions of the game are the same, except the cracked version has virtual pirates ruin the player's company financially after playing for a while. Cue those players asking how to prevent their company from going under and the developer noting the irony. You can read more about their findings here. | |
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Game Dev Tycoon (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Copy Protection / int_44b8c0a8 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_44b8c0a8 | comment |
Mario Party DS Anti Piracy, a series of videos documenting the (fictional) copy protection measures of Mario Party DS. The videos all end with an image of the characters in a cage (from the game's intro) with the message "POWER OFF NOW" on the bottom screen, an anti-piracy message on the top screen ("PIRACY IS NO PARTY!"), and some unique music not found in the real game, sometimes preceded by having characters calling out the player and attacking their character. One video shows the system connecting to Wi-Fi to call 911 and orders the player to read a confession. A Bilingual Bonus reveals that these measures were being added without Hudson Soft's approval. | |
Copy Protection / int_44b8c0a8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_44b8c0a8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mario Party DS Anti Piracy (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_44b8c0a8 | |
Copy Protection / int_45501b8c | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_45501b8c | comment |
Trying to use a Save Data modifier Game Genie code for Super Metroid on an actual SNES will cause a Error screen to show up saying it is a serious crime to copy video games. | |
Copy Protection / int_45501b8c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_45501b8c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Super Metroid (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_45501b8c | |
Copy Protection / int_4e936006 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_4e936006 | comment |
Myst III: Exile's copy protection system (SafeDisc) required the player to insert Disc One at least once per run (either when starting a new game, or loading an old one), then pressed an error right into the disc that made that disc uncopyable. Unfortunately, all the forcing of the drive to read a bad sector can't be good for the lens... | |
Copy Protection / int_4e936006 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_4e936006 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Myst III: Exile (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_4e936006 | |
Copy Protection / int_50621681 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_50621681 | comment |
The original Prince of Persia has manual-based copy protection which set several apparent vials of poison over which hover several different letters; a variant of the "Page/Line/Word" index. Drinking the wrong one three times in a row results in death; drinking the right one causes the door to the next level to open. The second game has you select a symbol from a certain page of the manual between levels. | |
Copy Protection / int_50621681 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_50621681 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
PrinceOfPersia | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_50621681 | |
Copy Protection / int_507dfb6a | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_507dfb6a | comment |
The game also featured a "save file erasure" element similar to EarthBound, although in a more subtle manner. Instead of taking you back to an empty "select your save file" screen, it just stops the boss battle against the Sorceress and then a travel-between-worlds Saving-Loading Screen appears, and after it, you return back to the Sunrise Spring Home with your hot air balloon, with the only difference being that your save file has been written with a new status - namely, a fat zero over everything you can collect. To sum it up, instead of erasing your save file, the game resets it back to the beginning. There is also a "software terminated" Kill Screen which is triggered by anti-mod detection, that is if you're playing it on a modified console or attempting to use a Gameshark add-on, but it's much more overt: right before you get the chance to press start at the title screen it will cut to the kill screen instead. | |
Copy Protection / int_507dfb6a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_507dfb6a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
EarthBound (1994) (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_507dfb6a | |
Copy Protection / int_51b6ba6c | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_51b6ba6c | comment |
Wolfenstein 3-D threatens to erase the user's hard drive if the user got his/her copy through illicit means in the exit message of the full registered version of the game. It's an empty threat (as noted in the disclaimer at the bottom of the message), but it does effectively get its message across. | |
Copy Protection / int_51b6ba6c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_51b6ba6c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Wolfenstein 3-D (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_51b6ba6c | |
Copy Protection / int_56fa0ea4 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_56fa0ea4 | comment |
In the first Civilization game, there are be two instances in the early parts of the game where you have to look up a civilization advance in the manual: you are shown a picture of a random one, then given a large set of multiple-choice answers of which two advances are its direct prerequisites. (The in-game justification is that "A usurper claims you are not the rightful king!") If you're wrong, you lose all the military units you had outside of your cities. Ironically, all the advances are also documented in the in-game "Civilopedia" (though it is, of course, inaccessible during the challenge), and even if you don't read that, the answers can often be worked out logically anyway. | |
Copy Protection / int_56fa0ea4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_56fa0ea4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Civilization (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_56fa0ea4 | |
Copy Protection / int_59151283 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_59151283 | comment |
Metal Gear has always featured copy protection measures: The NES Metal Gear has some rooms that can't be completed without the game manual, unless you use a bug to skip parts of the game. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake uses "P23 tap codes" at certain points in the game, and the Colonel will instruct you to look at the manual for information on how to interpret tap codes. This is a frequency you need to continue, and while brute-forcing it is possible, it's far more annoying than brute-forcing Meryl's frequency in the sequel due to the MSX's criminal slowdown and Snake's insistence on starting every conversation with "THIS IS SOLID SNAKE. YOUR REPLY, PLEASE...". Even more annoyingly, the version included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (the first release of the game in English) doesn't come with tap codes in the manual. Konami eventually provided a downloadable online manual with the tap code chart in. The European version of the Subsistence manual also omits the tap code chart, but does tell you the frequency, albeit without any context as to when it's required. Metal Gear Solid has a character, early in the game, who "forgets" a vital communication frequency and mentions that "it's on the back of the CD case," referring to one of the images on the back of the game's plastic case. If you rented the game, moving beyond that point was impossible. Better yet, Snake has a CD case in his in-game inventory. Many, many gamers tried to figure out how they were supposed to look at the back of that case. When they couldn't figure out the solution to the "puzzle", they turned to GameFAQs. However, this ends up being negated when the player can still receive the frequency by contacting Campbell enough times - even though he still ends up telling you to check the non-existent case, the frequency ends up added to the list either way. The remake The Twin Snakes eliminates this altogether by having the character say that the code is on the back of "the package", since there's no package item. The only other option for players is to hail every radio frequency in sequential order until they reach the correct one. It's well worth mentioning that, although these serve as copy protection, it's entirely possible they were also added by Hideo Kojima to add more fourth wall shenanigans to the series, especially considering how non-chalantly Snake is told to check the back of the CD case. |
|
Copy Protection / int_59151283 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_59151283 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Metal Gear (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_59151283 | |
Copy Protection / int_594706c6 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_594706c6 | comment |
SimEarth took the manual bit a step further: it contains an almanac of planetary facts that is larger than many game boxes, and the player has to look a different one of these up when starting the game.Example Density of Mars (water=1) The number has to be entered exactly as listed, too, making it harder to look up from other sources. (And some of these figures have changed since the game was published.) | |
Copy Protection / int_594706c6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_594706c6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SimEarth (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_594706c6 | |
Copy Protection / int_6185255a | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_6185255a | comment |
Infogrames' original Alone in the Dark series has this, and notably ratcheted it up in the second game. The first requires two objects from the game to be entered, which is already saying something given the large number of one-use clutter. The second, however, is a bit more complex. When you enter the first screen, it has a message something along the lines of "Protection Ace of Hearts over Three of Clubs First Hole". This can be disregarded, and if one tries to enter the hedge maze without inputting a code with the F keys, the game will say "YOU DIDN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION" and smite you. It turns out the manual tells what the question is, and the game came with a number of hole-punched playing cards. Only by correctly laying the cards over each other and examining a hole can you figure out the required code to get on with it. | |
Copy Protection / int_6185255a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_6185255a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Alone in the Dark (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_6185255a | |
Copy Protection / int_62624eee | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_62624eee | comment |
If someone attempts to play a pirated copy of Croteam's Serious Sam 3, they will (almost immediately) run into an immortal Adult Arachnoid (normally a boss monster, a giant scorpion beast with machine guns for claws) scaled down to Sam's size and moving at lightning speed. While some players may be able to continue on in the game while avoiding the Scorpion, it's near-impossible for most people. See for yourself. There was also a second layer of DRM that caused Sam to constantly look straight up while spinning if the game was installed in the wrong directory. The second copy protection may produce false positives for old-fashioned gamers who'd prefer that games be installed to C:\Games rather than C:\Program Files, however. Worse still, those who use a SSD and need the game installed to a second (mechanical) drive due to space constraints or to prolong the lifespan of the drive- SSDs are not cheap. |
|
Copy Protection / int_62624eee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_62624eee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Serious Sam (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_62624eee | |
Copy Protection / int_6336da47 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_6336da47 | comment |
There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension shows a copy protection screen in the middle of a evil monologue in act two. Conveniently, the required code wheel is fixed to the in game monitor. Less conveniently, there are only the digits one to four in the onscreen keyboard, with all codes requiring the use of higher digits.note Flip the number two to double as a five. Oh, and the shown symbols never have a matching code that can be entered.note Go to the backside of the monitor and select different symbols. | |
Copy Protection / int_6336da47 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_6336da47 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_6336da47 | |
Copy Protection / int_64c728b6 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_64c728b6 | comment |
In The Bard's Tale Trilogy: In the original game, the actual spells you cast use magic words that you have to type in, and are present only in the manual and never given in the game (you will see only the 'thematic' name of the spell in-game, not the magic word used to order your characters to cast it.) This makes playing the game without the manual extremely difficult. Most ports of the games make the spells selectable by menu, eliminating this issue. Also in the original game, whenever you level up, the Review Board will ask you to name a street in the city. The map that came with the game has the streets misspelled — the Grand Plaza is labeled "GRAN PLAZ", and Hawk Scabard is labeled "HAWK SCABBARD". You have to use the map's spelling to pass; if you don't have the map, you can never get past the first level. The third game of the trilogy, Thief Of Fate, has dimension-hopping as a crucial plot point. In order to travel from the main world to one of the seven other dimensions, the player has to not only cast the correct spell, but then input the correct number from a three-layer card stock disc included with the game. |
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Copy Protection / int_64c728b6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_64c728b6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Bard's Tale Trilogy (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_64c728b6 | |
Copy Protection / int_670b5c21 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_670b5c21 | comment |
Robot Odyssey, an Electrical-Engineering-based adventure game by The Learning Company, utilized copy protection by checking the 5.25" disk for a "flaky bit". If the bit was not found, the player's ability to solder connections in the robots of the main game was disabled, rendering the game unwinnable. However, the copy protection was never disclosed in the manual and the flaky bit had a tendency to "settle" over time, meaning that many users found their legitimate games impossible to play past the third level. | |
Copy Protection / int_670b5c21 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_670b5c21 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Robot Odyssey (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_670b5c21 | |
Copy Protection / int_67d10c54 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_67d10c54 | comment |
The DOS game Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse features copy-protection in the form of a question whose answer you need to look up on a page in the manual in order to start playing. Not only does it give you the page of the manual and what number word it is, it also gives you the heading of that section of the manual and the first letter of the word. Unfortunately, one of the copy-protection questions uses an answer that is directly related to the heading and extremely easy to guess: "On page 19, under the heading Sound, enter the ninth word: (first letter is m)" (unsurprisingly, the answer is "music"). If you answer the question wrong, it will simply let you try again with a different question as many times as you want, so even if you lost the manual it was easy to just cycle through the questions until you got one you knew or could figure out the answer to (not to mention having the first letter of the words made brute force guesswork much easier). Interplay games also have this form of copy protection, albeit less forgiving (it only bluntly tells you to look at the manual page and word number, with no other hints, and you only get three tries before it drops you back to the DOS command prompt). Interplay's DOS port of The Lion King and Aladdin are among the offenders. |
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Copy Protection / int_67d10c54 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_67d10c54 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_67d10c54 | |
Copy Protection / int_6c1d09b3 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_6c1d09b3 | comment |
Bethesda were forced to include CD keys with copies of Fallout 3. However, the copy protection only denies you from running the Fallout Launcher; you can still launch the game from the game's directory. Fallout 3 also uses Games For Windows Live as a secondary copy protection method and before Steam, one of the way to purchase DLC (the key is checked against GFWL to ensure that it is being used with the account that is registered with the key). Games For Windows Live has since ceased operation, causing unpatched versions issues ranging from not being able to load a save game to failing to run at all. Since then though, workaround exists to disable GFWL integration in the game. Fallout 3 was then released in GOG with the GFWL integration being removed out of the box, along with making the game Large Address Aware for greater stability with mods, something must be added manually for the Steam version. Though, downloading the game via Steam is still highly discouraged (Steam will still force you to install GFWL, which at best it'll spit error about ordinal, indicating incompatibility, and refusing to run, or at worst, brick Windows 10's network stack, forcing restore operations, regardless when you try to run the game). This also means those who had already bought the Steam version, had uninstall it, then upgraded to Windows 10, and now want to reinstall it are practically forced to buy it again. |
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Copy Protection / int_6c1d09b3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_6c1d09b3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Fallout 3 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_6c1d09b3 | |
Copy Protection / int_6c4e5e0c | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_6c4e5e0c | comment |
The Lurking Horror deserves special mention of its copy protection. Getting anywhere in the game requires you to log into an in-game computer; the necessary information is included with the Feelies. However, while the password is clearly marked, the login is not (and, to complicate matters, is not on the same page as the password). | |
Copy Protection / int_6c4e5e0c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_6c4e5e0c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Lurking Horror (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_6c4e5e0c | |
Copy Protection / int_6e61cc38 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_6e61cc38 | comment |
The first movie that to have a home video released to be copy-protected by Macrovision is The Cotton Club. | |
Copy Protection / int_6e61cc38 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_6e61cc38 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Cotton Club | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_6e61cc38 | |
Copy Protection / int_6e61e418 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_6e61e418 | comment |
FADE also appeared on ARMA II. Your accuracy slowly gets worse until you can't shoot the broad side of a barn, it impedes your movement, blurs your screen, and it eventually turns you into an animal. Here's a video. | |
Copy Protection / int_6e61e418 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_6e61e418 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
ARMA (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_6e61e418 | |
Copy Protection / int_6ee28fa8 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_6ee28fa8 | comment |
Commander Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Babysitter requires you to identify a random enemy by name before you can play it. The enemies are never identified in-game, requiring you to have an instruction manual on-hand. | |
Copy Protection / int_6ee28fa8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_6ee28fa8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Commander Keen (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_6ee28fa8 | |
Copy Protection / int_6ef57be4 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_6ef57be4 | comment |
On pirated copies of Michael Jackson: The Experience for the Nintendo DS (an Elite Beat Agents clone), the notes don't appear, and it plays vuvuzelas over the music. | |
Copy Protection / int_6ef57be4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_6ef57be4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Elite Beat Agents (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_6ef57be4 | |
Copy Protection / int_6f0288b5 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_6f0288b5 | comment |
StarTropics includes several feelies in the box, one of which happens to be important. About halfway through the game, you are asked a question about a letter which is actually a physical prop included in the box with the game. You are asked to dip it in water in order to find a code to use in the game itself. Nonetheless, it is only a three-digit decimal code; the most bored of NES players could eventually brute-force it even if they didn't know how to look it up. | |
Copy Protection / int_6f0288b5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_6f0288b5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
StarTropics (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_6f0288b5 | |
Copy Protection / int_7343211 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_7343211 | comment |
The ef - a fairy tale of the two. duology from Minori is one of the few visual novels with any sort of copy protection. The game uses a serial key encryption, but also begins extracting files to the user's computer while encrypting them at the same time. The copy protection was supposed to prevent people outside of Japan from being able to play either of the games. In addition to the encryption and the fact that the computer clock must be set to Japanese Standard Time, a Japanese version of Windows XP or above is required to even get the game to run at all. When the Fan Translation group No Name Losers was working on an English localization of both games, they decided to do a combined stand-alone release that is run using a modified version of the demo's exe. | |
Copy Protection / int_7343211 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_7343211 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
ef - a fairy tale of the two. (Visual Novel) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_7343211 | |
Copy Protection / int_73cc073b | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_73cc073b | comment |
In Leather Goddesses of Phobos, the copy protection feelie is the map through the obligatory maze. This got rather irritating when the map was invariably lost, considering that the maze will kill you instantly if you don't do the right things in the right places. The comic book also includes unguessable clues (such as what actions you have to take while splashing through the maze, and the key to a cipher message). | |
Copy Protection / int_73cc073b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_73cc073b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Leather Goddesses of Phobos (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_73cc073b | |
Copy Protection / int_74f1eb4c | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_74f1eb4c | comment |
In a bit of a twist, the "copy protection" is designed to protect something else: on the game CD, there is a zip file that is ominously labeled and password protected. The readme provides a cryptic hint as to the password. As it turns out, entering the codes on the copy protection sheet as hexadecimal and then converting to normal provides the password to the zip file (TOOMANYSECRETS), which is the dev diary for the game. | |
Copy Protection / int_74f1eb4c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_74f1eb4c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Sneakers | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_74f1eb4c | |
Copy Protection / int_755b343f | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_755b343f | comment |
During the 2000s, most games with multiplayer, or at least some form of online component that use serial keys, like for instance Halo, Need for Speed games back in the mid to late 2000s, and The Sims 3, scan for the game's CD/DVD key whenever the player tries to access the game's online mode. The game will run in single player as with legitimate copies, but will not allow the player to connect at all if the serial is found to be illegally generated. It is however possible to connect to a server that bypasses the serial requirement, but such servers are quite rare, so good luck with trying to find a suitable Unreal Tournament server that works on your pirated copy. After the rise of Steam, serial keys were abolished in exchange for identifying client ID associated with the store (in this case, usually Steam) client. Since around 2009, most retail PC games are the launch version of the game files, the CD key to add the game to your account, and a Steam installer (or the associated launcher at the publisher's whim). |
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Copy Protection / int_755b343f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_755b343f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Halo (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_755b343f | |
Copy Protection / int_770a7f90 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_770a7f90 | comment |
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon had copy protection which caused the game to boot up and then go into Cabela's Big Game Hunter. | |
Copy Protection / int_770a7f90 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_770a7f90 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_770a7f90 | |
Copy Protection / int_7870fd09 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_7870fd09 | comment |
Zork Zero contains more copy protection than actual puzzles. The manual and accompanying history are required to identify the items that need to be collected, to know what to do with them, to find multiple secret locations and to solve multiple puzzles. The most notable of these is Double Fanucci, a fully implemented graphical card game - which is actually completely random and can only be won by following a very specific sequence of moves described in the history book. When the source code leaked, it was revealed that Double Fanucci has more code than any other single part of the game! | |
Copy Protection / int_7870fd09 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_7870fd09 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Zork Zero (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_7870fd09 | |
Copy Protection / int_7a7102f5 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_7a7102f5 | comment |
The Windows version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was discovered to have implemented an EarthBound-esque form of crack-deterrent which aimed to frustrate those who pirated the game. Merely bypassing copy protection causes the other failsafes to kick in, such as permanently stormy weather (which has a 25 percent chance of happening in the base game) and removing pedestrians & most vehicles, making carjackings significantly harder as the player would have to find a parked car in the city. You can still play the game, but good luck trying to save it after forty minutes — the game will crash due to an unhandled exception, and your saved games will have the permanent rain and other nasties intact. To top it all off, sniper rifles would no longer dish out damage on targets, garages are disabled, and the radar is screwed, rendering the game difficult if not impossible to complete. Rockstar continued this practice with Grand Theft Auto IV, whose protection is more publicized. Besides having a release date check on installation, cracked copies end up with a so-called "drunk camera" where the camera goes wobbly as if the player is intoxicated, and cars have their engines break down and sometimes accelerate without warning. however... It's a good thing that the hackers managed to get to the bottom of things, though, because the main trigger for copy protection hinges on Games For Windows Live. This means that, not only is it impossible to save if you happen to live in a country where Microsoft doesn't offer the service, since Microsoft shut down Games For Windows Live, the game is now rendered downright unplayable if you don't download the patch to remove the requirement (located here).. Fortunately Rockstar did revisit the game long after it's demise and offered one final patch that made it play nice with Windows 10 machines out of the box... along with removing a metric ton of music that was in the game. |
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Copy Protection / int_7a7102f5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_7a7102f5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_7a7102f5 | |
Copy Protection / int_7c063ba4 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_7c063ba4 | comment |
The Oregon Trail II activates by loading the oregon.dat file from the CD drive, but this can be easily circumvented by copying the file to the hard drive and instructing the INI to load it from there. In some cases, editing the registry and copying certain files besides the main assets was required to bypass the CD requirement. This is actually true for most if not all Edutainment Games. Their reasoning being the customer base (mostly schools and libraries, as well as parents, who're buying the game for students) needs a way to make a backup of the game, seeing that the media will be mostly handled by kids, and that priority outweighs the risk of being pirated (edutainment games are by no means excluded). |
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Copy Protection / int_7c063ba4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_7c063ba4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Oregon Trail (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_7c063ba4 | |
Copy Protection / int_7fc78282 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_7fc78282 | comment |
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth contains a rather unique form of anti-piracy. About ten minutes in, if the game decides your copy is pirated, your entire army will self destruct, resulting in a game over. This caused some problems because bugs resulted in the game doing this to even legal copies sometimes. | |
Copy Protection / int_7fc78282 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_7fc78282 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Lord of the Rings | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_7fc78282 | |
Copy Protection / int_7fcddc41 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_7fcddc41 | comment |
The Journeyman Project, at three points in the game, asks you to enter a code from the "Temporal Protectorate Handbook" (aka manual). Unfortunately, if you got the game bundled with a new computer, it most likely didn't come with the manual, and unless you were clever and looked up the codes on the Internet, you would have to brute-force the code to continue. Fortunately, if you remember what type of code it is (a numeric sequence), it's actually pretty easy to brute-force, since the game automatically stops you the moment you input an incorrect character, meaning you only have to go through around 90 sequences (tops) before getting at the correct code, as opposed to over a million. On pack-in editions of the game, the necessary codes are actually printed on the disc's artwork. They're printed just as small as the boilerplate copyright notice, with no indicator of their importance, and you're going to have to copy them down before you begin playing, unless you have a glass-topped external CD-ROM drive and can either read a spinning disc or have enough patience to wait for the drive to spin down to save power... Fortunately, the remake Pegasus Prime removed the Copy Protection entirely. |
|
Copy Protection / int_7fcddc41 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_7fcddc41 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Journeyman Project (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_7fcddc41 | |
Copy Protection / int_80cbf238 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_80cbf238 | comment |
Trinity includes a map of Trinity site, along with a comic book and sundial that combine to give a partial map of the otherworld. | |
Copy Protection / int_80cbf238 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_80cbf238 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Trinity (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_80cbf238 | |
Copy Protection / int_8601c91f | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_8601c91f | comment |
In response, several companies like id Software, Playdead, Tequila Works and Two Point Studios who initially used it to protect their games (Doom (2016), INSIDE (2016), RiME, and Two Point Hospital, respectively) eventually dropped it, while most AAA developers chose to stick to it. | |
Copy Protection / int_8601c91f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_8601c91f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Doom (2016) (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_8601c91f | |
Copy Protection / int_87056d17 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_87056d17 | comment |
The PC version of Sonic Adventure DX released in Europe had an absurd copy protection system which, each time you ran the game, required you to insert both of the two discs the game shipped on (you normally just have to insert the second disk), and then performed a full, intensive scan of every file on the disc. On systems that were new at the time this would take about a minute for the entire process, but if you were using a system which only just met the minimum requirements, it could take ten minutes. | |
Copy Protection / int_87056d17 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_87056d17 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Sonic Adventure (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_87056d17 | |
Copy Protection / int_90e2f673 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_90e2f673 | comment |
The BattleTech PC game, The Crescent Hawks' Inception, has two series of copy protection: one early on in the game, when you have to look up (or memorize) different Battlemech components to continue training at the Academy in your ersatz Doomed Hometown, and one very near the end, where you have to look up some stuff on a star chart in order to get your father's Phoenix Hawk Land-Air Mech (AKA VF-1J Valkyrie, but that's another trope). Woe betide you if you lost the physical copy of the star chart. | |
Copy Protection / int_90e2f673 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_90e2f673 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
BattleTech (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_90e2f673 | |
Copy Protection / int_910aa49e | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_910aa49e | comment |
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box comes with a train ticket needed to find the location of where the last half of the game takes place. It requires a code to be deciphered and the answer has to be inputted into the game. The ticket is also shown in the game when it got to that puzzle. The puzzle requires folding it, so it's a bit of a pain to envision how it folds from just the picture and without the physical ticket, but by no means impossible. "A true gentleman" without the physical ticket simply brings up the note drawing thing implemented in this game and carefully draws the top and bottom parts of the numbers in the ticket to figure out the answer, or just grabs a piece of paper, copies the numbers, and folds it. Which makes that puzzle even more of a puzzle. |
|
Copy Protection / int_910aa49e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_910aa49e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_910aa49e | |
Copy Protection / int_95fcf890 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_95fcf890 | comment |
The Spellcasting Series uses various methods of feelies throughout the trilogy, including inputting information from included registration forms, or maps that are required for navigation in certain areas. The most inspired method is in 201, which includes a set of sheet music you need to play the moodhorn properly. | |
Copy Protection / int_95fcf890 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_95fcf890 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Spellcasting Series (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_95fcf890 | |
Copy Protection / int_9bdcbfc3 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_9bdcbfc3 | comment |
The first Happiness Visual Novel (not the sequel Happiness! Re:Lucks) uses a variant of StarForce that requires entering an encryption key. It is the only Visual Novel to use StarForce to date. | |
Copy Protection / int_9bdcbfc3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_9bdcbfc3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Happiness (Visual Novel) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_9bdcbfc3 | |
Copy Protection / int_a0b025d2 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_a0b025d2 | comment |
In the PC version of Ghostbusters: The Video Game, the developers chose an interesting method of copy-protection, by making the Candleabra Crawler monsters, destroyable ghosts in the very first level, invincible. The Crawlers come at the player in swarms and will follow you relentlessly. If the player does defeat the Death Crawlers - which you have to be pretty pro to do and practically playing on Easy - the very last level glitches so that Ray stands there slimegunning a wall and refuses to follow you, rendering you unable to continue. That's right- it lets you play the whole game, except the ending. The game is Unwinnable if you have a pirate copy or a false-positive legit copy. | |
Copy Protection / int_a0b025d2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_a0b025d2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_a0b025d2 | |
Copy Protection / int_a1c3bdf | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_a1c3bdf | comment |
Centurion: Defender of Rome came with a map of Ancient Rome, necessary to answer the questions that pop up after running the game. ("What is the capital in the province of [name]?") | |
Copy Protection / int_a1c3bdf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_a1c3bdf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Centurion: Defender of Rome (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_a1c3bdf | |
Copy Protection / int_a796bde8 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_a796bde8 | comment |
Metal Gear Solid has a character, early in the game, who "forgets" a vital communication frequency and mentions that "it's on the back of the CD case," referring to one of the images on the back of the game's plastic case. If you rented the game, moving beyond that point was impossible. Better yet, Snake has a CD case in his in-game inventory. Many, many gamers tried to figure out how they were supposed to look at the back of that case. When they couldn't figure out the solution to the "puzzle", they turned to GameFAQs. However, this ends up being negated when the player can still receive the frequency by contacting Campbell enough times - even though he still ends up telling you to check the non-existent case, the frequency ends up added to the list either way. The remake The Twin Snakes eliminates this altogether by having the character say that the code is on the back of "the package", since there's no package item. The only other option for players is to hail every radio frequency in sequential order until they reach the correct one. | |
Copy Protection / int_a796bde8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_a796bde8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Metal Gear Solid (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_a796bde8 | |
Copy Protection / int_a8c6fdb | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_a8c6fdb | comment |
The Witness includes a matchbook with a phone number. Notably, it was a real matchbook, which meant some users who smoked used the matches and threw away the matchbook... | |
Copy Protection / int_a8c6fdb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_a8c6fdb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Witness (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_a8c6fdb | |
Copy Protection / int_ac6b386d | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_ac6b386d | comment |
A pirated version of Skullgirls Encore is fully playable, but with the odd addition that finishing story mode would display a message box asking "What is the square root of a fish? Now I'm sad.". The intention was to confuse pirates into asking the developers what the message meant, which would expose them as pirates. It worked on at least one player. | |
Copy Protection / int_ac6b386d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_ac6b386d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Skullgirls (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_ac6b386d | |
Copy Protection / int_ade4304c | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_ade4304c | comment |
A Nightmare on Elm Street (PC) has Freddy stop the game and say, "It’s quiz time, kids!" once you pass a certain level. He then asks you to identify one of the words in the instruction manual. Fortunately, it’s a multiple choice question, so you could potentially guess and get it right. | |
Copy Protection / int_ade4304c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_ade4304c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
A Nightmare on Elm Street (PC) (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_ade4304c | |
Copy Protection / int_af154987 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_af154987 | comment |
Beginning in late 2012, games by Konami with eAMUSEMENT compatibility, such as Quiz Magic Academy and the BEMANI franchise, require that the game be connected to Konami's eAMUSEMENT network or else the game will refuse to start, in order to allow only authorized arcades to play the game. This is part of Konami's eAMUSEMENT Participaton program, in which arcades register with Konami and then rent out their machines rather than outright purchasing them; Konami then takes 30% of each player's credit. Since the games are released only in Eastern Asia and parts of Southeast Asia, this poses a problem to foreign players who want to play. Some overseas fans made a workaround in the form of private servers, but those were soon C&D'd. It was found that Konami actually made versions of these games that didn't need a connection to the eAMUSEMENT network that were meant to be sold only in Mainland China, probably because the country's Great Firewall is blocking access to Konami's eAM servers, and to fight off the ripoffs like Magic Cube and eMagic. Needless to say, grey market sales sprung up around these machines instead, never mind that this version is usually censored to meet the Chinese government's tastes. |
|
Copy Protection / int_af154987 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_af154987 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Quiz Magic Academy (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_af154987 | |
Copy Protection / int_afb7c3d8 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_afb7c3d8 | comment |
Legitimate copies of Rogue Trooper used Starforce protection, which made the game absurdly prone to false positives, but the publishers/developers never bothered to fix the problem because not enough people bought the game for them to care anyway. | |
Copy Protection / int_afb7c3d8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_afb7c3d8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Rogue Trooper (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_afb7c3d8 | |
Copy Protection / int_b0bd1e3d | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_b0bd1e3d | comment |
Lemmings 2 has a sly example; when installed off non-original floppies, all seems to proceed okay, but you won't be able to advance past the first level for any of the tribes. | |
Copy Protection / int_b0bd1e3d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_b0bd1e3d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Lemmings (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_b0bd1e3d | |
Copy Protection / int_bcc90295 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_bcc90295 | comment |
The Amiga game The Killing Game Show. This game was broken and copied early in its life, but the original protected disk alters the system timing during bootup. The broken copy does not alter the timing, resulting in a game that becomes Unwinnable without removing the "timer". | |
Copy Protection / int_bcc90295 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_bcc90295 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Killing Game Show (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_bcc90295 | |
Copy Protection / int_bf3e83b | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_bf3e83b | comment |
The German game Drakensang (Das Schwarze Auge / The Dark Eye) has at least three instances of copy protection, and you are punished for then buying the original because you have to start anew, as the problems are saved in the save games. First, you have to go to a NPC that doesn't spawn. This can be corrected by using an SQL editor. Then there is a vital door that's just not clickable. And last but not least, there is supposed to be a door that usually leads to another vital part of the game, but in the case of a pirated version, it leads into a cell with no exit. | |
Copy Protection / int_bf3e83b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_bf3e83b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Drakensang (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_bf3e83b | |
Copy Protection / int_c0d295c4 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_c0d295c4 | comment |
Valve also announced (but not contractually) that if they are in danger of going under, the last update sent out for the games on the Steam platform will include something so that they won't have to contact Steam servers in order to play the games. How this is going to work with things like Team Fortress 2 and its unlockables is another story entirely. | |
Copy Protection / int_c0d295c4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_c0d295c4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Team Fortress 2 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_c0d295c4 | |
Copy Protection / int_c43df4d8 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_c43df4d8 | comment |
The Doctor Who adventure games are free via the BBC website to UK residents. Everybody else is required to pay. In order to prevent unauthorized users, they use two forms of "protection". First, the BBC website will check whether your IP is local before allowing you to download the game - and even if you manage to get around this via a proxy (or have someone else send you the game), it will "phone home" when you attempt to install it to check it again. | |
Copy Protection / int_c43df4d8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_c43df4d8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Doctor Who | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_c43df4d8 | |
Copy Protection / int_c604e596 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_c604e596 | comment |
In the same vein, the author of a trivia compilation once sued the publisher of Trivial Pursuit for including a fake fact they lifted from his book to use in the game. | |
Copy Protection / int_c604e596 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_c604e596 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Trivial Pursuit (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_c604e596 | |
Copy Protection / int_c65f6f9b | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_c65f6f9b | comment |
Bureaucracy includes Popular Paranoia magazine, which the player needs to provide information from. | |
Copy Protection / int_c65f6f9b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_c65f6f9b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Bureaucracy (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_c65f6f9b | |
Copy Protection / int_c72021c5 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_c72021c5 | comment |
Deus Ex has unintentional copy protection caused by a scene transition triggered by a certain audio clip. Pirated versions would often leave out much of the audio to save space, making the scene transition never take place, and making it impossible to continue the game. Additionally, there was also a batch of defective disks with corrupted audio files. Thanks, Ion Storm! | |
Copy Protection / int_c72021c5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_c72021c5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Deus Ex (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_c72021c5 | |
Copy Protection / int_c7c06b71 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_c7c06b71 | comment |
Playing a cracked copy of The Lion King that you found somewhere on some abandonware sites? Either your roar meter won't refill or the health and roar meter upgrade bugs won't do a thing. | |
Copy Protection / int_c7c06b71 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_c7c06b71 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Lion King (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_c7c06b71 | |
Copy Protection / int_c7fe36fb | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_c7fe36fb | comment |
Dune II. You are asked for a piece of information (the in-game justification is that a spy is on the loose, and everyone is being interrogated to prove their innocence) that you have to look up in the game's manual, such as "What type of structure is this? [picture of a Wind Trap]" (answer: it's a Power Plant). | |
Copy Protection / int_c7fe36fb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_c7fe36fb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dune II (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_c7fe36fb | |
Copy Protection / int_c83c892a | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_c83c892a | comment |
If you're playing a copied version of the second Captain Comic, at one point (quite some time into the game) when you try teleporting to the next level you instead end up in an unescapable room where a native chides you with the following: "Captain, I'm afraid you have made a terrible mistake. You failed to obtain a certain object you should have had from the start of your adventure. Since this object is not very expensive, you should go and obtain it before you venture any further." | |
Copy Protection / int_c83c892a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_c83c892a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Captain Comic (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_c83c892a | |
Copy Protection / int_c98d3e0e | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_c98d3e0e | comment |
The NES Metal Gear has some rooms that can't be completed without the game manual, unless you use a bug to skip parts of the game. | |
Copy Protection / int_c98d3e0e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_c98d3e0e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Metal Gear (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_c98d3e0e | |
Copy Protection / int_cc218dd8 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_cc218dd8 | comment |
The old Gold Box Dungeons & Dragons computer games by SSI require the use of the included a thick manual not only to log into the game ("In the manual section on page 45, paragraph 2, line 10 - what is word 6?"), but also to understand the plot (you have to refer to the journal part). In a brilliant move by the company for its Anniversary set, they included the spin wheels for some of the games' copy-protection, but forgot to put in the manuals for Gateway and Treasure of the Savage Frontier, rendering those two games unplayable. | |
Copy Protection / int_cc218dd8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_cc218dd8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Gold Box (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_cc218dd8 | |
Copy Protection / int_cc50f8c4 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_cc50f8c4 | comment |
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake uses "P23 tap codes" at certain points in the game, and the Colonel will instruct you to look at the manual for information on how to interpret tap codes. This is a frequency you need to continue, and while brute-forcing it is possible, it's far more annoying than brute-forcing Meryl's frequency in the sequel due to the MSX's criminal slowdown and Snake's insistence on starting every conversation with "THIS IS SOLID SNAKE. YOUR REPLY, PLEASE...". Even more annoyingly, the version included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (the first release of the game in English) doesn't come with tap codes in the manual. Konami eventually provided a downloadable online manual with the tap code chart in. The European version of the Subsistence manual also omits the tap code chart, but does tell you the frequency, albeit without any context as to when it's required. | |
Copy Protection / int_cc50f8c4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_cc50f8c4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_cc50f8c4 | |
Copy Protection / int_cc9f0389 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_cc9f0389 | comment |
Titan Quest has "mysterious" crashes on bootleg copies due to properly working sneaky copy protection, which led to a lot of people hitting the fourm complaining about bugs only they could experience. | |
Copy Protection / int_cc9f0389 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_cc9f0389 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Titan Quest (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_cc9f0389 | |
Copy Protection / int_d09aed3f | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_d09aed3f | comment |
Love Plus+ makes it impossible to get past the first part of the game IN ADDITION to making it impossible to gain hearts in the main part of the game, effectively making the game unplayable on flashcarts. Apparently, if you're too cheap to pay for your virtual girlfriends, they will dump you. | |
Copy Protection / int_d09aed3f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_d09aed3f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Love Plus (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_d09aed3f | |
Copy Protection / int_d2a88553 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_d2a88553 | comment |
It is not enough that Persona 3 Reload is DRM'd with Denuvo (see "Denuvo Anti-Tamper" above), but Atlus/Sega made the baffling decision of locking the downloadable soundtrack for those that bought them digitally behind an EXE file which is actually just another "game" (it is a music player made in Unreal Engine, also DRM'd of course). Because it is treated as another game, opening any other application (or just unfocusing its window) will pause it, losing the point of having the soundtrack in the first place. There is also the obvious fact that it is not compatible on any platform other than PC, so fans that wanted to listen on the go would be better off ripping the soundtrack from the game itself or grab the fan uploads from YouTube. | |
Copy Protection / int_d2a88553 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_d2a88553 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Persona 3 Reload (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_d2a88553 | |
Copy Protection / int_d4d31eeb | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_d4d31eeb | comment |
DJMAX Trilogy came with a USB dongle that must be plugged into your computer to run the game. It also contains your profile, which has your usernames, unlocks, etc., so a fortunate side effect is that you can carry your unlocks across multiple machines. On the downside, lose the dongle (or accidentally damage it) and you're screwed. The arcade version of the game, running on PC hardware, also has a security dongle to ensure the game can't be easily bootlegged. | |
Copy Protection / int_d4d31eeb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_d4d31eeb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
DJMAX (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_d4d31eeb | |
Copy Protection / int_d5a9a1a7 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_d5a9a1a7 | comment |
Rogue: If you're playing a pirated copy, the monsters do six times more damage than normal, and when you die (as you almost certainly will before the third level), the tombstone says "Rest in Peace: Software Pirate, killed by Copy Protection Mafia". This can even happen on legal copies, possibly due to bit rot. Or if you copied the game from the 5.25-inch floppy disk to your hard drive. That floppy would succumb to bit rot fairly quickly. | |
Copy Protection / int_d5a9a1a7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_d5a9a1a7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Rogue (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_d5a9a1a7 | |
Copy Protection / int_d5dda4a3 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_d5dda4a3 | comment |
In Vette!, you are a given a question whose answer is in the manual. If you incorrectly answer three times, the game allows you to play, but with severely crippled gameplay (e.g. you can't go above 80 mph), and after a certain time, it ends with the message "You are driving a stolen Vette". | |
Copy Protection / int_d5dda4a3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_d5dda4a3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Vette! (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_d5dda4a3 | |
Copy Protection / int_d5f03f8d | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_d5f03f8d | comment |
Worms came with a code sheet printed in glossy black ink on matte black paper, to prevent photocopying. | |
Copy Protection / int_d5f03f8d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_d5f03f8d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Worms (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_d5f03f8d | |
Copy Protection / int_d90bdb6a | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_d90bdb6a | comment |
Earthbound (1983): You can only talk to people if you use their names. The names can only be found in the manual. | |
Copy Protection / int_d90bdb6a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_d90bdb6a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Earthbound (1983) (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_d90bdb6a | |
Copy Protection / int_e1ec0e62 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_e1ec0e62 | comment |
Rockstar continued this practice with Grand Theft Auto IV, whose protection is more publicized. Besides having a release date check on installation, cracked copies end up with a so-called "drunk camera" where the camera goes wobbly as if the player is intoxicated, and cars have their engines break down and sometimes accelerate without warning. however... It's a good thing that the hackers managed to get to the bottom of things, though, because the main trigger for copy protection hinges on Games For Windows Live. This means that, not only is it impossible to save if you happen to live in a country where Microsoft doesn't offer the service, since Microsoft shut down Games For Windows Live, the game is now rendered downright unplayable if you don't download the patch to remove the requirement (located here).. Fortunately Rockstar did revisit the game long after it's demise and offered one final patch that made it play nice with Windows 10 machines out of the box... along with removing a metric ton of music that was in the game. | |
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Copy Protection / int_e1ec0e62 | featureConfidence |
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Copy Protection / int_e1ec0e62 | |
Copy Protection / int_e3f9004b | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_e3f9004b | comment |
People who attempted to crack Dragon's Lair: Escape From Singe's Castle on Amiga were greeted with this message: | |
Copy Protection / int_e3f9004b | featureApplicability |
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Copy Protection / int_e3f9004b | featureConfidence |
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Copy Protection / int_e3f9004b | |
Copy Protection / int_e48493b3 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_e48493b3 | comment |
The Ultima games are particularly prone to this, forcing players to look up the Feelies for information from "Beyond the Portal" before being granted the right to save, leave the starting town, and so on. | |
Copy Protection / int_e48493b3 | featureApplicability |
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Copy Protection / int_e48493b3 | featureConfidence |
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Copy Protection / int_e48493b3 | |
Copy Protection / int_e4b94ee8 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_e4b94ee8 | comment |
Introversion Software's Uplink featured a code table printed in glossy black ink on black card, which can generally only be read where the light reflects off the ink. However, this was also turned on its head when the developers later admitted it was designed to be a nostalgic nod to old-school games, and it is admittedly useless as copy protection (seeing as the game was massively profitable anyway). They later posted a PDF containing the entire table on their site, saying it was not intended as a means of copy protection. In a bit of a twist, the "copy protection" is designed to protect something else: on the game CD, there is a zip file that is ominously labeled and password protected. The readme provides a cryptic hint as to the password. As it turns out, entering the codes on the copy protection sheet as hexadecimal and then converting to normal provides the password to the zip file (TOOMANYSECRETS), which is the dev diary for the game. |
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Copy Protection / int_e4b94ee8 | featureApplicability |
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Copy Protection / int_e4b94ee8 | featureConfidence |
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Uplink / Videogame | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_e4b94ee8 | |
Copy Protection / int_e68decb8 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_e68decb8 | comment |
The original Star Control requires players to answer questions with the help of a copy of Professor Zorg's Guide to Alien Etiquette. The answers are located on a code wheel which shipped with the game. This code wheel requires the alignment of three alien words, some of which became actual alien races in the sequel. Subsequent software releases have disabled this copy protection, but only if played with the CD in the drive. Star Control II has the Starmap Trivia Quiz. The answers are located on a physical star map included with the game. |
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Copy Protection / int_e68decb8 | featureApplicability |
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Copy Protection / int_e68decb8 | featureConfidence |
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Copy Protection / int_e68decb8 | |
Copy Protection / int_ea377bc0 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_ea377bc0 | comment |
The diskette version of the original System Shock stored more data on disk number one than normal copying tools would allow it to hold; attempting a basic clone would fail. It was still quite easy to copy once you worked it out. | |
Copy Protection / int_ea377bc0 | featureApplicability |
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Copy Protection / int_ea377bc0 | featureConfidence |
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System Shock (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_ea377bc0 | |
Copy Protection / int_ec02633a | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_ec02633a | comment |
Parodied in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in a particular quest, where Geralt is hired to investigate a mysterious tower that appeared out of nowhere and brought with it a constant storm. In the tower he finds a wizard trapped behind a magical barrier. Apparently the wizard bought the tower at an auction but didn't realize it came with a "Defensive Regulatory Magicon" or DRM for short. When he entered the tower mistook him for an intruder and trapped the hapless mage. He then tasks the player with finding "Gottfried's Omni-opening Grimoire" note GOG.com, who is notable for originally selling only DRM-free games in order to deactivate the DRM. | |
Copy Protection / int_ec02633a | featureApplicability |
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Copy Protection / int_ec02633a | featureConfidence |
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_ec02633a | |
Copy Protection / int_ec33fb07 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_ec33fb07 | comment |
Parodied in one trailer for the HD Remix of The Stanley Parable, where the Lemony Narrator claims that this version will start deleting stuff off your hard drive because there's a possibility that you downloaded the game illegally. | |
Copy Protection / int_ec33fb07 | featureApplicability |
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Copy Protection / int_ec33fb07 | featureConfidence |
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The Stanley Parable (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_ec33fb07 | |
Copy Protection / int_ecccafaa | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_ecccafaa | comment |
Pirated copies of Spyro: Year of the Dragon will have Zoe the Fairy appear at the latter part of Sunrise Spring telling players that the copy is hacked and as such will lead to "problems" you would not experience on a legal copy. Continuing to play led to bizarre effects that got worse over time, and were designed to make the game incredibly frustrating to play. The main problem was that the player's progress would be deleted behind the scenes, requiring them to replay certain levels over and over. Other effects included gems disappearing from levels, random crashes, Cash Gates reactivating, level portals leading to the wrong place, the pause button refusing to work, the language changing at random, maximum health being lowered, AI being set to maximum difficulty, and more. The game also featured a "save file erasure" element similar to EarthBound, although in a more subtle manner. Instead of taking you back to an empty "select your save file" screen, it just stops the boss battle against the Sorceress and then a travel-between-worlds Saving-Loading Screen appears, and after it, you return back to the Sunrise Spring Home with your hot air balloon, with the only difference being that your save file has been written with a new status - namely, a fat zero over everything you can collect. To sum it up, instead of erasing your save file, the game resets it back to the beginning. There is also a "software terminated" Kill Screen which is triggered by anti-mod detection, that is if you're playing it on a modified console or attempting to use a Gameshark add-on, but it's much more overt: right before you get the chance to press start at the title screen it will cut to the kill screen instead. The reason for this subtle method of crack protection rather than something more obvious was to delay the release of a working crack, in order to maximise sales directly after the game's release. The idea was that hackers would simply check if the game booted correctly and then assume that they had produced a successful crack, without playing the game through. This would delay the creation of an actual complete crack. This worked well, as it took a month after the game's release for a working crack to be released, compared to the couple of days it took to produce an incomplete crack. However, as a side effect it was considerably easy to trigger both the anti-piracy or anti-mod protection even on legitimate copies and unmodified consoles if the disk is a little scratched, the lens is a bit dirty, or even seemingly at random. Ironically, after the game has been successfully cracked, it became a lot easier for hackers to bypass the protection than legitimate buyers. |
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Copy Protection / int_ecccafaa | featureApplicability |
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Copy Protection / int_ecccafaa | featureConfidence |
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Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_ecccafaa | |
Copy Protection / int_ede55421 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_ede55421 | comment |
In fact, when id Software announced that they were putting a new version of Denuvo into newer versions of Doom Eternal as an anticheat, they got major flak for it, with many people ending up refusing to update or even pirating the game to downgrade. Even worse? The version of Denuvo deployed was incompatible with Proton, punishing those who legitimately bought the game but are playing it on Linux. To say it severely pissed off Linux gamers is an understatement. All these factors led to disgruntled owners of the game review-bombing the Steam store page. Not only was Denuvo gone by the update after that, id personally apologized to Linux gamers and promised that they will consider the possibility of players using Proton in the future. The devs of Denuvo themselves were also extremely shaken by the whole ordeal and promised to make future versions of the Windows version of Denuvo Proton-aware note there is already a Linux-native version of Denuvo, but that will only work on Linux-native games so protected Windows games will still work within Proton. | |
Copy Protection / int_ede55421 | featureApplicability |
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Copy Protection / int_ede55421 | featureConfidence |
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Doom Eternal (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_ede55421 | |
Copy Protection / int_f0196885 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_f0196885 | comment |
Nippon Safes Inc. is particularly sneaky, since it lets you play normally until halfway through the adventure, when suddenly a student pops up from nowhere and asks you questions about Japan. The answers can be found in the part of the manual dedicated to Japanese culture and geography. One can even think that the game is somewhat an exploration of a foreign culture, when actually it's anything but. | |
Copy Protection / int_f0196885 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_f0196885 | featureConfidence |
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Nippon Safes Inc. (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_f0196885 | |
Copy Protection / int_f1dc55 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_f1dc55 | comment |
A curious bit of copy protection is in their only romance game: Plundered Hearts. The feelies in the game consist of facsimiles of the heroine's starting equipment, one of which is a banknote. The note shows the game's villain posing dramatically... but would you believe he's showing the solution to a puzzle? Grab his hat, try to grab the book he's carrying and press on the same part of the globe where he is and presto! Secret door! | |
Copy Protection / int_f1dc55 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_f1dc55 | featureConfidence |
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Plundered Hearts (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_f1dc55 | |
Copy Protection / int_f3f68a7b | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_f3f68a7b | comment |
If Garry's Mod detects it's pirated, it will pretend to crash and display the nonexistent error "Unable to shade polygon normals" with an "error code" that is actually the user's Steam ID, in order to trick pirates into posting about it on the forums and getting themselves banned. | |
Copy Protection / int_f3f68a7b | featureApplicability |
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Copy Protection / int_f3f68a7b | featureConfidence |
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Copy Protection / int_f3f68a7b | |
Copy Protection / int_f6c5733b | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_f6c5733b | comment |
In Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2's remake, Re;Birth 2, one of the usual people on Chirper, Evil Kid, comes up upon these with things like his save game being deleted before the final boss. Intentional, considering he pirated his game from ASIC. | |
Copy Protection / int_f6c5733b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_f6c5733b | featureConfidence |
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Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_f6c5733b | |
Copy Protection / int_f8aa3995 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_f8aa3995 | comment |
The Starflight series: The original Starflight has a code wheel. Starflight II asks you to look up a code on a code wheel every time you leave the starbase. If you enter it wrong you can still play the game, but a few hours in, your starship will be pulled over by the Space Police. They accuse you of software theft and give you one more chance to enter the right code; failing causes them to blow up your ship. The game also has a fold out star map and a viewer to isolate three-inch sections of the map. The game will then ask you the number of certain colored stars in the said section once you place the viewer at certain coordinates. |
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Copy Protection / int_f8aa3995 | featureApplicability |
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Copy Protection / int_f8aa3995 | featureConfidence |
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StarFlight (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_f8aa3995 | |
Copy Protection / int_fa201eba | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_fa201eba | comment |
Demoniak (which was reissued as a double with Dark Seed II) has a spot early in the game when you are required to enter a specific word on a specific line on a specific page in the manual. While a copy of the manual's text was included on the disk, it's a .textfile transcript which loses all of the line format and pagination of the original manual. Trial and error is useless since the word changes every time the game is restarted. This, in effect, makes the game unplayable without either having or knowing someone with the original Demoniak release (unlikely if you weren't in the U.K) or some sort of hack. The original release is almost as bad, as the copy protection check is programmed based on an initial pre-layout draft of the manual. Don't know if a header counts as a line? Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Asked for the first word on a line that doesn't exist? It's the last word of the previous line from before the text was reflowed. |
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Copy Protection / int_fa201eba | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_fa201eba | featureConfidence |
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Copy Protection / int_fa201eba | |
Copy Protection / int_ffe7a833 | type |
Copy Protection | |
Copy Protection / int_ffe7a833 | comment |
The second Transylvania game, The Crimson Crown, came with a small parchment that a gryphon in the game would instruct you to open and read, then tell him the answers to the riddles printed on it. Answering them was necessary because he would relinquish an important Plot Coupon as a reward. Later releases of the game just have him ask the riddles in the game proper. | |
Copy Protection / int_ffe7a833 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Copy Protection / int_ffe7a833 | featureConfidence |
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Transylvania (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Copy Protection / int_ffe7a833 |
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