Code Generation?

[StanJr]

I've been playing more NES lately, and a LOT of the NES games have codes. Some seem to follow a pattern or system of coding while others appear completely random. Ironsword comes to mind for the latter. I've gotten a code for it, returned to the game play screen, then immediately went back to the code screen and there was a totally different code.

 

So I was wondering, does anyone know how these older codes are generated by games? I guess in essence has anyone cracked any of these old codes?

[sigma]

Megaman 2, the first row says how many energy tanks you have (A1 none, A2 one, A3 two, so on) and from there the alive/defeated switches are determined by which A you choose, like if you wanted 2 tanks with Air Man and Wood Man defeated, it would be A3 B1 C5 D1 D5 E2 E3 E4 E5

[JB]

Metroid's saves game time, which makes it appear random.

 

The program MetEdit will let you generate and decode passwords, though he doesn't know what some bits do, and the time system is ... akward, to say the least.

Suffice it to say that the exact same state will ALWAYS generate the same password in Metroid.

[chrisbid]

http://homepage.mac.com/chrisbid

 

there is a file i got from a cached website (its no longer up) that has the metroid password crack. after looking through it, its not that complicated save for the randomizer at the end

 

back in the day i managed to crack the password system for mega man 3 its similar to the pw system in 2, but they use a combination of blue and red dots, it isnt that hard though