"Dangerous" tricks on a system/game that were actually pretty cool

[retrorussell]

What tricks do you remember doing on a game system or arcade machine, that would be ill-advised by a game manufacturer/arcade owner/game system manufacturer but actually turned out to be harmless and pretty cool? Which game was it? And what did these tricks do?

 

Good examples would be "frying" on the Atari 2600 (wiggling the power switch inbetween on and off), switching cartridges on the Genesis while the power was still on, pulling the plug on an arcade machine, plugging it back in and getting a free game, etc.

[+Random Terrain]

None for me. I didn't even shake or shove pinball games.

[jboypacman]

I remember going to the local bowling alley as a youngster and one of the pinball machines there we found out you could unplug and plug back in and you could get a free game off of.

 

We used to go in there all the time and do that but i guess either they wised up to us or the machine just had been swapped out with another machine because it was gone after a short while.

 

But after that i have never tried anything else like that home or arcade wise.

[Poopopyo]

Well this isn't with an old system or an arcade machine. I always shove tons and tons of cheats into my PS2 and my XBOX. I lost 3 PS2s that way and my XBOX is slower and has some grinding going on. Another cause of my XBOX grinding is that I would go into Blue Hell on GTASA and GTA 3 and do all kinds of glitches like that.

[shadow460]

There's the disc swap, which I've never really tried.

 

There's also use of a game shark to load Japanese Saturn games, and anyone with a Saturn knows that use of a Game Shark on it should warrant capital punishment.

 

Installing modchips or hacking console's internal software is just a given. The PSP comes to mind here.

 

Hmmm, cut the locking tab from a classic Game Boy and load up Color Game Boy carts. Basic game artwork and a message will appear on the screen telling you the cart won't run in your handheld. I've done this with Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons and Perfect Dark.

 

Changing save batteries also gets a mention.

 

Running any Starpath tape forward to the second/third load, then attempting to load it from a cold power up. I never got this to work, although I did manage to guess some of the passwords for Survival Island. That got me into Stage 2 a little early, but then I got there the right way on my own.

 

Any console repair such as cap kits, laser calibration/replacement, reflowing boards, etc.

 

Pulling a Lynx cart during gameplay. The system shut itself off, unlike my other portables which would keep running.

 

Opening the drive on a PS1 or PS2 during gameplay. Serious, though, I don't if there's a "proper" way to eject a PS2 disc during gameplay and power down without going back to the system's title screen. If you open the drive with the system in standby, it powers up again. The Saturn and DC will both go back to their title screens if you open the drive while a game is running...assuming they aren't modded, that is.

 

I've put some arcade machines into test mode by power cycling them. I've hit the switch on a couple of pinball games, and the Galaga machine I played in 1991/2 was plugged into a loose wall outlet. Sometimes it would fall out during a game.

[SEgamer]

Hot wiring my old SNES to work. Wouldn't power on at all and found out that the voltage regulator wasn't getting any power. I soldered a regular DC jack directly to the voltage regulator and voila! the system works again. The only bad thing is finding a power supply that has roughly the same specs as the original SNES power adapter, and the system will probably die in the long run with how it's wired.

[Video]

Frying 2600's, Yeah, I suppose you can hurt it, but howmany ever killed one?

 

Also, who doesn't remember the "blowjob"? The only quick and easy way to get the games to work on so many cart based systems. I'm sure some could be hurt if you drooled in the cart and turned it on with all the contacts shorted out or something, but I've never in person heard of it (of course Nintendos died, but that's cause the cart edge connector is shit, not the fault of anything people were doing to it)

 

And of course, every "not liscensed" products ever made, Game Sharks, Game Genie, video carts, multipurpose carts, and illegal rom carts

Edited May 25, 2009 by Video

[STICH666]

What was fun about frying the 2600?

[Wickeycolumbus]

What was fun about frying the 2600?

 

The game acts strange. Stella emulates this, you should try it out some time!

[brojamfootball]

On a 2600 with Space Invaders inserted, hold down reset while powering on. This gives you double shot! Same thing on 2600 Galaxian.

 

When I was about thirteen years old, we used to go to a local bowling alley arcade. They had an original Donkey Kong machine that if you kicked the front of the coin door it would give a free game. The vibration wiggled the little latch inside as if a quarter had just been inserted. It was eventually fixed.

 

On the original Playstation, you could insert a pencil eraser into the hole that held the disc lid sensor. That would allow you to get the system to boot partway, and then swap discs to a burned copy or a foreign game to get that to boot, the machine thinking the disc lid was closed the whole time. It was kinda tricky but worked.

Edited May 25, 2009 by brojamfootball

[darthkur]

There was a Stargate machine in my favorite arcade that had a nice little glitch. While sitting on a bar stool it allowed you to press your knee against the access door just to the right of the coin slots. Each time this was done 4 credits would be given. I sat there for hours playing that. I got too greedy and was informed upon so the coin box was checked and there just wasn't enough tokens in there to warrant how many games I'd played and the multitude of credits still on the machine. It summarily got turned off.

[retrorussell]

Nice tricks folks!

There were lots of advantages to "frying" on the Atari 2600.. the great Activision game H.E.R.O. could grant 255 lives or so with this method.

One terrible baseball game in Tommy Lasorda's Baseball for the Genesis was a breeze if you powered up a game, pulled it with the power on, and put in Lasorda Baseball and hit reset. Every time you pitched to the cpu they would pop the ball straight up and often right into the waiting glove of the catcher. I think the cpu might have been incompetent in the field as well, giving you easy runs. Can't recall exactly but the game was much easier this way. Numerous other games had positive glitches when you swapped with the power on.

[NE146]

None for me. I didn't even shake or shove pinball games.

 

Then you didn't really have an idea about how to play Pinball

 

Myself? I tended to gouge out slots in my Super Famicom carts to work on my SNES.

 

[+Random Terrain]

None for me. I didn't even shake or shove pinball games.

Then you didn't really have an idea about how to play Pinball

Who thought up the idea that you were supposed to bash the crap out of a pinball game? Was it always an acceptable practice or did so many assclowns do it that it became part of the game? I don't like abusing machines. If I found out that I could get higher scores when playing Ms. Pac-Man if I hit the machine with a sledgehammer, I wouldn't do it.

[Moriya]

None for me. I didn't even shake or shove pinball games.

 

Then you didn't really have an idea about how to play Pinball

 

Myself? I tended to gouge out slots in my Super Famicom carts to work on my SNES.

 

Instead of destoying my SFC carts, I melted and cut out the tabs inside of the SNES.

I could never bring myself to cut into my beloved SFC carts.

 

Basically works the same way...never have issues with SFC or SNES carts.

 

Not my pic, but basically looks the same.

 

 

I thought if you hit pinball machines, it set off the tilt sensor and you lost a ball.

Same with arcade machines that have the tilt set up, so people don't hit the coin mechs.

Edited May 26, 2009 by Moriya

[NE146]

Who thought up the idea that you were supposed to bash the crap out of a pinball game? Was it always an acceptable practice or did so many assclowns do it that it became part of the game? I don't like abusing machines. If I found out that I could get higher scores when playing Ms. Pac-Man if I hit the machine with a sledgehammer, I wouldn't do it.

 

Uhh no you don't bash the crap out of it (Where do you get that idea that this involves abuse of the machine?) You skillfully nudge it to affect the ball movement. If you do it too violently like it sounds like you're talking about, you will get penalized by losing of the ball with a tilt. Answer this for me.. how else are you expected to control the ball movement when it falls or bounces off something? Do you think you just watch it go straight down between the flippers and moan "oh no.. how unlucky"? Come on man.

 

What I think what you really need to see is a really good pinball player in action. It'll all come clear to how you physically PLAY the mechanical game of Pinball and are able to score in the multi-millions. Using the flippers is the major part of the game, but not all of it.

 

I thought if you hit pinball machines, it set off the tilt sensor and you lost a ball.

The tilt is so you don't move it excessively. Hence you have to move it skillfully & not shoving that thing to hog heaven. i.e. having that "touch". That's why there's a tolerance involved.. because players are expected to nudge.

 

I could never bring myself to cut into my beloved SFC carts. Basically works the same way...never have issues with SFC or SNES carts.

 

Yeah yeah I know all about that, as does everyone else with an internet connection over the past 15 years. But tell that to me back in 1991.. that's when I needed to know that Anyway back then Super Famicom carts to me were the common item.. the U.S. carts were the "expensive" ones

[kool kitty89]

Hot wiring my old SNES to work. Wouldn't power on at all and found out that the voltage regulator wasn't getting any power. I soldered a regular DC jack directly to the voltage regulator and voila! the system works again. The only bad thing is finding a power supply that has roughly the same specs as the original SNES power adapter, and the system will probably die in the long run with how it's wired.

 

Why not just solder wires straight from the original power adaptor port to the voltage regulator?

 

BTW you shouldn't have any problems using other power adaptors as long as the voltage is somewhere around 9-12V (you might even be able to go lower). The US SNES has a weird (proprietary?) power plug, but the Famicom/AV-Famicom/NES/NES2/Super Famicom/PAL SNES all share the same port which is identical to that of the Sega Master System and Model 1 Genesis, and the polarity is the same too meaning they're all compatible. -rather the power supplies all compatible for the Nintendo ones, Sega is DC only and I beleive the FC/NES/SFC/SNES -at lest the PAL version all have internal rectifiers and accept AC current (regardless of if their respective power supplies actually output DC), and at least the NES power supply outputs (rated) 9V AC.

A DC adaptor on one of these Nintendo consoles still has to match the polarity of the rectifier for current to flow, but unlike DC dependent consoles reversed polarity DC won't harm them, no current will flow at all. (inless you bypass the rectifier-which you are doing by wiring straight to the voltage regulator).

 

On DC dependent hardware it can be damaged by reversed polarity of an improper power supply, most are protected by a fuse or possibly a diode (to only allow current to flow one way), Systems like the Genesis, Sega CD, and modern consoles (and I think Master System too) have such failsafes, unfortunately the Atari 2600 did not (at least the 6-swithcers), I unfortunately experienced this first hand. (blew the voltage regulator and at least one of the main chips, probably either the 6507 or RIOT, the rest of the board was fine though)

Edited May 26, 2009 by kool kitty89

[shadow460]

oh yeah... i hooked up the rumble circuit in my dual analog pad. they supposedly can damage the ps1. i haven't killed a ps1with it yet.

[roland p]

Pulling a Lynx cart during gameplay. The system shut itself off, unlike my other portables which would keep running.

 

I once soldered two pins of the lynx cartridge connector to eachother so the system won't shut off. Powering on whithout the cartridge would display 'INSERT GAME'.

 

When I played slimeworld, and pulled out the cartridge, the sprite of your character becomes a mess (the game continues running from lynx' internal memory). Now when I inserted the Warbirds cartridge, I could actually see warbirds sprites instead of the sprite of your character.

Edited May 26, 2009 by roland p

[<Retro-Freak>]

Not sure if my ones are cool, but anyways. When i was playing the soundtracks in Sonic 2 on the Megadrive (Chemical Plant Zone). I removed the cartridge and the music kept playing, but in a very distorted kind of tone lol. Did the same with the Sonic Chaos MS cart, just left a white noise tone with a blue screen. Not sure why i did that, but whatever lol.

 

Another trick that i well, discovered. When booting the Sonic 3D cart into the megadrive, it got to the "SEGA" screen and i accidently jigged the cart. Surprise, surprise! Found a glitch that it sends me right to the level select screen! I thought i made a discovery but i researched and found others had the glitch on their copies too! I'm sure one of you here did it before, right?

 

I have those Famiclone in-a-pad things. I tend to very rapidly switch it off and on. It shows some garbled graphics on screen like i shorted the thing.

 

Oh yeah, another one. I have one of those pirate 32-in-1 Gameboy carts. I removed the cart case and had the bare PROM chips exposed. While the game was playing, i took a knife and touched the solder pins on it. It shorts the Chips, freezes the game, or reboots the Gameboy.

Edited May 26, 2009 by <Retro-Freak>

[pinball22]

Yes, as NE1 said, you really are meant to shake/nudge a pinball machine. That's not being obnoxious, it's a completely intentional aspect of it being a physical object that you can influence, and a vital part of being a good player.

[+Random Terrain]

Yes, as NE1 said, you really are meant to shake/nudge a pinball machine. That's not being obnoxious, it's a completely intentional aspect of it being a physical object that you can influence, and a vital part of being a good player.

Like I said, I bet at one time, that wasn't even on the minds of pinball makers. It probably became known and accepted over time. I don't like shaking/nudging and won't do it no matter what the pros do. I don't play to impress anybody or to beat my chest and I don't want to stand around for hours playing on the same quarter. I just want to have a bit of fun. Besides not wanting to abuse machines by shaking and nudging, if I try to be too skillful, it's more like work and less like fun.

[NE146]

Like I said, I bet at one time, that wasn't even on the minds of pinball makers.

 

Well considering the earliest iterations of pinball machines didn't even have flippers.. nudging was precisely how you played it I mean look at the Pinball "bingo" machines (which also have no flippers) around even to this day.. how do you play it? Aside from moving the numbers around on the top hoping to win money.. that's right.. you nudge it. Heck, even all video game pinballs from 2600 video pinball to friggin Gameboy POKEMON Pinball have a nudge button..(pokemon has a nudge up, nudge left & nudge right as a matter o fact). It's a part of it all man

 

I don't like shaking/nudging and won't do it no matter what the pros do. I don't play to impress anybody or to beat my chest and I don't want to stand around for hours playing on the same quarter. I just want to have a bit of fun. Besides not wanting to abuse machines by shaking and nudging, if I try to be too skillful, it's more like work and less like fun.

 

Not sure how you keep confusing a nudge with "abusing" the game. Maybe if you have no subtlety in your physical movement it can be that way, but people tend to not want to break their expensive pinball games.

 

But anyway, who's beating their chest? You can play any game any way you want to and that's fine of course. for example you can play a game like Mario Kart and never use the power slide move. If you don't want to use it.. then don't. That doesn't change the fact that it's there. And if you're fine leaving your ball drops to chance, there's nothing wrong with that. That doesn't change the fact that other players will try and affect it and that's how you really play Pinball.

[+Random Terrain]

Well considering the earliest iterations of pinball machines didn't even have flippers.. nudging was precisely how you played it I mean look at the Pinball "bingo" machines (which also have no flippers) around even to this day.. how do you play it? Aside from moving the numbers around on the top hoping to win money.. that's right.. you nudge it. Heck, even all video game pinballs from 2600 video pinball to friggin Gameboy POKEMON Pinball have a nudge button..(pokemon has a nudge up, nudge left & nudge right as a matter o fact). It's a part of it all man

OK, then I'm going to build a time machine and make sure nudging is considered tampering with the games.

 

 

That doesn't change the fact that other players will try and affect it and that's how you really play Pinball.

Not after I build my time machine.

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

I used to break into games alot at the local supermarkers and bowling alleys when I was kid. I found alot of times that quarters that were jammed in the coin slots could be rigged to actually engage the credit trigger to give more credits. it was quite clever. I found that opening the back of the game with s flathead screwdriver could allow me to put in as many credits as I liked.