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I've been having some fun lately reverse engineering the "password" systems that some console games used prior to memory cards and backup RAM. Some are very st
by bbayles 2y ago
I've been having some fun lately reverse engineering the "password" systems that some console games used prior to memory cards and backup RAM.
Some are very straightforward - just an encoding of which level you were on, your score, etc.
Others are that plus a halfhearted checksum, or an actual standard CRC checksum.
Still others are these elaborate obfuscation schemes with encryption using a fixed key, then scrambling, then a checksum.
My favorite so far: ThunderStrike 2 does a few things, and one of them XORs your input with the string "NOSEY GIT". I took it to mean the original programmer was chiding me for trying to cheat at the game.
- qingcharles 2y agoNOSEY GIT sounds very British :) I had to look it up -- Core Design. I knew some of the guys there at the time, but none of those in credits for ThunderStrike. Does the original game have the same XOR string? I remember spending more time on Ecco the Dolphin cracking the password system than playing the game because it was so damned hard. I bought the game on day of release using every penny I had saved, then ruined it by cracking the code on the 2nd day and teleporting straight to the end.