Castlevania III Password Algorithm
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Castlevania III Password Algorithm
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Re: Castlevania III Password Algorithm
#2As a kid, I was dumbfounded that passwords worked on NES games, and Castlevania III was my first introduction to the concept. I still remember staring at the screen not comprehending how putting in this combination of icons would get me my game back. I knew there’s no way they could manually create a password for every game state, but I also had no conception of discrete states, algorithms and hashing, so I literally could not conceive of how this thing in front of me worked.
It is personally satisfying to finally get a complete understanding (even though I long ago understood it conceptually).
Re: Castlevania III Password Algorithm
#3As a kid, I was dumbfounded that passwords worked on NES games, and Castlevania III was my first introduction to the concept. I still remember staring at the screen not comprehending how putting in this combination of icons would get me my game back. I knew there’s no way they could manually create a password for every game state, but I also had no conception of discrete states, algorithms and hashing, so I literally…
Mega Man 2 had a similar password concept, but has less state to calculate: https://retromaggedon.com/index.php/mega-man-2-nes-passwords...
I recall seeing codes in gaming magazines at the time, it was pretty neat being able to "send" this state over the mail.
Re: Castlevania III Password Algorithm
#4These old games password systems analysis are always so entertaining and interesting to see... just like a glimpse onto the limitations that were faced by 8-bit console gamedevs in the early days, and the very clever solutions they came up with.
There's this Youtube creator called Bisqwit who has a complete series on cracking old videogame passwords:
* Season 1: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzLzYGEbdY5nEFQsxzFan...
* Season 2: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzLzYGEbdY5mmad-FKPIl...
Re: Castlevania III Password Algorithm
#5 Name Description
HELP ME Start and continue with 10 lives.
AKAMA Start in Hard Mode alone.
OKUDA Start in Normal Mode with Alucard.
Re: Castlevania III Password Algorithm
#6As a kid, I was dumbfounded that passwords worked on NES games, and Castlevania III was my first introduction to the concept. I still remember staring at the screen not comprehending how putting in this combination of icons would get me my game back. I knew there’s no way they could manually create a password for every game state, but I also had no conception of discrete states, algorithms and hashing, so I literally…
Faxanadu passwords were the worst. Upper case, lower case, numbers, and some punctuation.
It was, however, able to represent your inventory, location, money, etc. Pretty much a full state in ~24 characters, which I thought was very cool.. but 10-year old me didn't always write down the mantra correctly.
You can read about this system here: http://www.the-interweb.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/...
Re: Castlevania III Password Algorithm
#7Castlevania 4's password system looks identical from the player's perspective. I wonder how similar the implementations are.
Re: Castlevania III Password Algorithm
#8As a kid, I was dumbfounded that passwords worked on NES games, and Castlevania III was my first introduction to the concept. I still remember staring at the screen not comprehending how putting in this combination of icons would get me my game back. I knew there’s no way they could manually create a password for every game state, but I also had no conception of discrete states, algorithms and hashing, so I literally…
There was this NES game called "The Magic of Scheherazade" that had what at first looked like a very complex password system, but even as a kid, I was able to figure out how to exploit it to cheat at the game, giving me lots of money or start at higher levels, as it wasn't actually hashed very well.
The game itself is kind of obscure and looks like it's a cheap ripoff of Legend of Zelda (there are several scenes that are actually blatant rips), but it's got a lot of depth and is a lot of fun, even today. There's both over-world-action- and turn-based combat, and a whole time travel component.
IIRC, the password system was so bad that you could create game-puzzle-breaking states with it, to where you were in certain levels without items that you needed to progress.
Re: Castlevania III Password Algorithm
#9Name Description HELP ME Start and continue with 10 lives. AKAMA Start in Hard Mode alone. OKUDA Start in Normal Mode with Alucard. Ahh, back when games had cheat codes... nowadays, you’d have to pay $1.99 to unlock the extra difficulties and lives.
Now days it's more likely to be included in an accessibility menu. Games like Celeste, for instance, have options that might have historically been called "cheats".
Re: Castlevania III Password Algorithm
#10The original NES Metroid game also had a password, but just used letters and numbers IIRC. I remember taking a password for one of the games I was playing and incrementing it to find more valid passwords.
Most of them took me back to the beginning of the game without any upgrades, but some of them put me in significantly later stages of the game without any upgrades.