Does anyone here "kinda" like passwords?

[Damon Plus]

Passwords are looked as being a hassle, but I kinda like them. Having a computer next to my systems helps a lot, because is harder to make a mistake when writing them. I keep a notepad file with the passwords for my games as I advance in them. Does anyone else like passwords?

[Rickstilwell1]

Passwords are looked as being a hassle, but I kinda like them. Having a computer next to my systems helps a lot, because is harder to make a mistake when writing them. I keep a notepad file with the passwords for my games as I advance in them. Does anyone else like passwords?

One thing I do like is the ease at which you can play part of a game on the real system then continue the game where you left off on some other emulator or system. Example, I could play Neutopia on the TurboGrafx-16 then resume it on the Wii. Then play another part of the game on an emulator.

Oh and here's a good one. Play Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean machine on like 5 different systems just using the passwords. Blue Sphere (Sonic 1 & Knuckles) is another one where passwords are handy.

[Guy Bramsworth]

If I'm playing a game on a console as opposed to emulation I'm never right next to a computer, but even if I were thats not anymore conveniant. Passwords are just a nuisance and too possible to screw up, thus rendering all your hard work null. Saves are better. In fact, the only good thing about passwords is the music they write for those screens specifically. The one in Mega Man X comes to mind :)

[Ro-J]

Depends on the password system. Some games employed a four character password system that was easy to record, other games involved an insanely long password system with many characters looking similar to each other. With the number of times I mixed up O's with 0's with D's ..... it's a wonder I ever finished Kid Icarus.

[heybtbm]

I'll take passwords over changing out old batteries any day.

[exit]

I always hated passwords in Metal Gear and Simon's Quest, where sometimes the passwords just wouldn't work, no matter how many times you double checked yourself. Which results in doing different variations of different letters, until you either finally get the password right, or just give up and declare the Password broken.

[Blitzwing256]

Don't forget the ocational time of putting a password in wrong, and suddenly having 7 crowns and the dragonslayer in legacy of the wizard, or messing up your password and just putting in all l's to "reset" your password in metal gear to have the password work and give you the rocket lauchner and card 6,7 ;-), so passwords aren't so bad

[BetaWolf47]

Passwords do add to nostalgia, and eliminate the possibility of a battery dying on you, so yeah, I love them. I usually use my camera to take a screenshot, so I never write down the password wrong.

[RPG_Fanatic]

I remember the Kid Icarus password on the NES. It was a 24 digit upper and lower case with numbers. I would write it down very carefully and then go back later to find out it didn't work. Boy did it piss me off!!!!!

[heybtbm]

Passwords do add to nostalgia

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/5782/justingbailey.jpg

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

Some of the memory save processes for earlier games (like PS1) are convoluted. "Do you want to save? Checking Slot 1. Do you want to overwrite? Are you sure? Saving...do not remove memory card. Hit X to continue." In those cases, I would rather have a password.

For games that autosave without the hassle, I would rather not have a password.

[Callin]

One good thing about password games is that you don't ever have to worry about a save battery going dead.

[skaar]

I was fine with passwords once digital cameras were in everything ;)

I never really minded them that much, other than for RPGs.

[Kitsune Sniper]

One game made me hate passwords: Legend of the Mystical Ninja.

I HATE THEM THERE. Those passwords made me yell in anger more than once.

[boatofcar]

Great topic, OP. Who didn't memorize 007 373 5963? One time I accidentally put it in for my social security number--I didn't realize what I'd done until I saw that I had an extra number :)

[old man]

I love the Guardian Legend, but hate the password system in that game (shudder).

[tpugmire]

For some reason I liked the passwords for the Mega Man games. I used to try and put the dots in different places trying to skip ahead.

[Aussie2B]

I absolutely like passwords. Sure, the really long ones where characters can look similar can be a pain, but even then I've never had any problems because I don't rush, I write clearly, and I double check when I'm done. When passwords are short or visual like in Mega Man or Castlevania, they're terrific. Once I write down that password, as long as the game is functional, that password will be too, and I can use it on any copy of the game. Write down a whole series of passwords and you can jump in at any point in the game, right now or years down the road. You can't beat that. It's depressing that games are giving the player less and less control. First we had our files stuck on just one copy of a game, and now we can't even use them on more than one system.

[kupomogli]

Saves are more convenient, but passwords are better altogether.

[Lerxstnj]

I never played a game that required one, but doubt I'd like it.

[Parodius Duh!]

Id rather deal with passwords than worry about the battery in the cartridge dying!!!!!!

[lordolunch]

I like them, they keep the old school feel going

[Tony Lama]

I have to agree. I LIKE passwords. I kind of wish Legend of Zelda and Ultima Exodus for NES used passwords. When their batteries die out, I'll feel like the games are "broken" in some way since I won't be able to save. I know there are ways to change the battery ... but those were the ORIGINAL batteries my game paks came with!!
Heck ... the entire Gameboy Adavnce library uses batteries so I find it hard to collect for that system knowing that someday they'll all be "dead"!
Passwords rule!!

[Aussie2B]

Very few GBA games use batteries. Most use Flash, EEPROM, or FeRAM.

[Tony Lama]

Very few GBA games use batteries. Most use Flash, EEPROM, or FeRAM.

Oh, my bad! Well now ... GBA seems more inviting to me now.

What about GBC? They seem to use batteries (as I see them through the transparency).

[Damon Plus]

Oh, I forgot to add, I really like the passwords in Military Madness. 6-letter passwords that are also the names of the stages. Very convenient.

[Steven]

Password system I'm always in favor of. Once you log them accurately, you never lose them. Also, sometimes it's fun to just fire up a game and play on a specific level.

However, the PW system should be simple and relatively easy/quick to implement. Like Super Back to the Future II, which incorporates simple, easy-to-read-and-access 4 letter passwords. A bad example would be NBA Give 'N Go. Try going through an 82 game complete season -- it'll drive you nuts (oddly, the JP version is battery-backed)


http://www.rvgfanatic.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_32701/orly.gif
GREAT SCOTTS! Heavy...


http://www.rvgfanatic.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_1433122/GiveNGoPW.JPG
Completely absurd

[Vectorman0]

I think passwords are fine as long as they aren't too long. If it's going to take more than thirty seconds to enter, it's too long. I would say the pros and cons for both battery/memory and password saves even out.

I am not a fan of passwords on handheld systems as it can be more difficult to keep track of them when away from home, but I can understand their implementation for cost savings.

[Emuaust]

I used to love passwords as a kid, I even had a big book that I used to write ever password down in. In saying this though there is a line I draw, when passwords are short they are fine and I would probably say Wonder Boy III : Dragon's Trap is as long a password as I can tolerate, when they become stupidly long and simply not memorable ala Monster World on the Master System they become stupid.

[Aussie2B]

What about GBC? They seem to use batteries (as I see them through the transparency).

I would imagine most, if not all, use batteries, but somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

[Atarileaf]

I don't mind passwords when they're fairly short. Its when they become longer and more complex than the ones used at Norad that I start to balk.

[Drixxel]

Passwords, when compact, are pretty neat for resuming play in relatively non-complex games. The Mega Man games on Game Boy are great examples, plus, it's a bit of a brain game to recall the most recent password at any given time. I started playing Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge and had just beaten Fire Man's stage - to make sure that I would remember the password for the next play, I decided to promptly reset the game and plug in the password from memory to test mindstrength. Despite being completely confident that I had the code down, I plop it in and get an immediate "password error". I'd worked out a visual memory cue and everything ("It's like a little 'L' in the upper left with two out-of-focus eyes at the bottom."). How embarrassing.

[dustylights]

faery tale adv. for genesis now those are some crazy long passwords!
i like short/simple passwords where possible,also like to hunt for obscure
ones like this for metalgear(nes);fuckme(put 1's in rest of the spaces)
it really does work!

[Gameguy]

I would imagine most, if not all, use batteries, but somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
I remember a few games that didn't use batteries. Crazy Castle 3, Monsters Inc, and Scooby Doo Classic Creep Capers come to mind. There's more but I really can't remember what games had those features as it's been ages since I've played GBC stuff.

Personally I'd prefer passwords because I'll never have to worry about the batteries dying, plus I remember having to write down passwords for Crazy Castle 2 which was kind of fun to do at the time. I really liked that game.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Nope - unless they are short. And even then I prefer a save feature.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, if passwords are short (8 characters or less, approximately) I don't mind passwords. But long passwords, the ones that are dozens of letters long... those are just too long, a complete pain to both write down correctly and enter. There are some games I don't play much more because of the length of their passwords than anything else... sorry, I don't like 32 character passwords, they're a pain! But yeah, short passwords are okay.

As for batteries, yeah, batteries are a complete hassle. Stupid old dying batteries... why did everyone have to make it so hard to replace the things? It's really annoying! What's the best way to replace those things yourself, again? I mean, for how to get the battery off of the circuit board. Still though, I'd probably rather deal with that than write down 32 character or longer passwords. But short ones? That's different.

Of course, non-battery-based flash memory is ideal, and certainly is the best solution... well, as long as they don't do it like the PS1 and make memory access times so absurd. Yes, I like the Sony went with an all-flash-based memory solution while Nintendo and Sega both had a mix of batteries and flash, I like it a lot (N64 has batteries or flash in game carts, or batteries only in memory cards; Saturn has battery in the system, or flash in the memory cart). But those save/memory card access times are so long! Still though, flash (EEPROM, Flash RAM, FeRAM, whichever) are certainly the best systems.

[Wraith Storm]

I like the portability of passwords and the convenience of a save file.

Turbo Grafx had the best of both worlds. Most games I have for it offer a password, but if played on a Duo or if you have a Turbo Booster Plus then they actually support save files as well.

I had bad capacitors (the sound died) in my first Duo. I had played all the way through Ys Book 1 and was halfway through part 2. Seriously, who wants to play Ys without the music?!?! So I loaded up the password feature (which was wicked long) and copied it down. I Then entered it on my Turbo Grafx 16 + CD-rom attachment and resumed my game there. It was an awesome feeling and I wish more games would give you both options.

[Rob2600]

Passwords can be a hassle, especially ones that include a lowercase l, a capital I, a 1, a capital O, and a 0.

The good thing is no matter how many times a password-based game is played and beaten, the owner can always start over from scratch.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, read this recent DP topic: Capcom tries to kill used video game sales with the one-save game (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=154753)

[Haoie]

Passwords are only good for cheating!

[kainemaxwell]

Too much hassle now. Especially games with a fancy font for the password screen like Faxanadu or Metroid, too easy to mess up, so now I'll just emulation or whatnot. Picture passwords aren't so bad (ie: Mega Man titles, Castlevania 3 and SCV4).

[Doonzmore]

I remember Busters Hidden Treasure (Genesis) having lengthy passwords as well. It didn't help that the music on the password screen was annoying as hell.

[substantial_snake]

I would MUCH rather deal with changing a battery every 20 year or so then some of the 20+ character password systems I had to deal with growing up.

I remember more then on game slotting in passwords at the bottom of the screen probably as an after thought. This led to major issues as it was often the part of the screen that curved into the bevel of the old TV set we used so a part of the password would be cuttoff. Even better was when a game company though it was a great idea to use various symbols and signs in their passwords..while making their characters as small as possible. That was always a ton of fun playing a game for hours only to lose all your progress due to a blurry antenna-fork signal not being sufficient clear to read X games 20 character password.

Damn it those passwords used to piss me off so much as a kid that I would stop playing games that used overly long and intricate passwords. If a password is simple then I have little issue with it but when game designers decided that their either had to account for every variable that you could of made in gameplay, or just chose a long password to discourage people from skipping through the game its pointless.

[Haoie]

No passwords for me. What a pain to copy.

[SpaceHarrier]

I never played any of the games with really long passwords, so I always liked 'em for the same reason as everyone else, no dead batteries.

[TonyTheTiger]

The first Crash Bandicoot was great for being one of the few games that had both. I guess Naughty Dog figured that, at the time, most people didn't have much experience with memory cards and would scoff at the idea of buying a separate accessory just to save their progress. They basically made the game fully playable under any condition.

That was pretty much the end of it, though. I don't think anybody would even entertain the idea that modern games use password features. But early PlayStation games that didn't have passwords did bug me for a short time when I had the system without a memory card. I remember playing through Jumping Flash in one sitting only to feel some chagrin at the realization that there was a second quest. To this day I've never played through the second quest.

[JSoup]

I kinda laugh at myself when it comes to passwords. I hated obnoxiously long passwords in games growing up, and still have low tolerance for them today. Yet all my account and general web passwords are long as all hell. by choice.

[treismac]

Great topic, OP. Who didn't memorize 007 373 5963? One time I accidentally put it in for my social security number--I didn't realize what I'd done until I saw that I had an extra number :)

Ha!

Passwords are a cool and, sometimes, cruel part of retro video game culture. The good could be awesome and the bad could be merciless. Here is an excellent example of merciless from River City Ransom:

http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/50632-river-city-ransom-nes-screenshot-password-inputs.gif

66 letters and numbers. 66. This is why the last time that I played the game it was on my Wii. As horrible as the password system is, I still kind of have a perverse enjoyment in very carefully transcribing the password down when I do play it on the original NES. I know many will slap their foreheads when they read this, but in a small way, I enjoy the challenge of having to take down the code without making a single mistake. Of course, in a very big way the password is an unnecessary nuisance that I skip with my Wii's Virtual Console, so I can afford to smile nostalgically at that retarded dinosaur in a way that the young me couldn't.

The password system of Mega Man II is a big (positive) part of what makes that game so unforgettable.

http://joshhead.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/mm2pass.jpg

Beautiful, ain't it? Transcribing those patterns was a big part of the victory ritual in that game, and I loved it. I haven't played 9 or 10 on the Wii yet. Do they use a password system?

[sheath]

Miltary Madness style passwords are the perfect example of the kind of password I am not offended by. I absolutely hate passwords with capital and lowercase letters, or fonts that make it hard to distinguish between letters and numbers like O and 0.

Unfortunately, as games allowed more advanced save features they needed more data for the passwords to contain. When this happens I prefer saves over passwords.

Really though, if a game is going to have passwords that describe the level and only start at the level, why not included a menu option for level select instead?

[BlastProcessing402]

Oh man, we lost so many Metroid codes back in the day. REALLY didn't help that there were O, 0, and o in the mix.

Also, everyone "battery boo, flash yay" flash doesn't last forever either. And good luck replacing those when they go.

[MarioMania]

I like the passwords system in the 8 and 16 bit Castlevania Games

As well on Doom and Final Doom on the Playstation