Modern hacks vs. old pirate hacks

Thomas Jentzsch · October 22, 2001

Where is the big difference between a modern hack and all those pirate hacks (Bermuda, Spiderdroid ...)?

For a collector only, there might be a big difference (rarity), but for those who are playing the games, I don't see any. A hack is hack, and never an original game, even if it was released in the eighties.

I think it would be a good idea, if we would try to seperate those pirate hacks too, and use the same system (links) as for the modern hacks.

PAL and NTSC versions (Taz, Asterix) of the same game should be linked somehow too.

slapdash · October 22, 2001

I think the problem becomes "where to draw the line"... Some games they just changed a few graphics, maybe blocked out the Activision logo, etc. But some, while very different games, have an obvious start from another game. I can't think of perfect example right now, but isn't Farmyard Fun essentially based on Freeway? And wasn't some game based on Pengo, but doesn't really play like Pengo anymore?

I was once going to add some descriptions to my game lists to cover these cases, but I never got around to it. I would just list:

Pirate Game X (S Activision Game Y)

...where the "S" meant "similar". I had meant to add qualifiers to it like "S:GR" for "similar -- but with hacked graphics" and "S:GP" for "similar but with gameplay hacks.