Video Game Features That Don't Work

[Casati]

NES Excitebike "save custom track" option doesn't save.

Stanley Dr. Livingston passwords apparently leave you at the very beginning of the game without your accumulated stock of items.

[nouserever]

Crackdowns "same screen Co op"
and black and white 2's "sandbox mode"

[Emperor Megas]

While the game over screen passwords work just fine, I've never gotten a single password that Winkle gives you to work in Golvellius: Valley of Doom for the SEGA Master System.

Almost none of the games work on those Dream Gear X-in-1 plug-n-play devices.

When you end the SMS game Ghost House, it doesn't add your 500,000 final round clear bonus to the final score.

I'm not sure if it counts, but the room that the instruction manual tells you to enter the 'suicide' code in on SEGA Master System game Zillion doesn't work (in that room). I suppose that's just a typo though.

[SparTonberry]

NES Excitebike "save custom track" option doesn't save.

It's because it uses the Famicom Data Recorder to save.
Nintendo left it in the NES version because they didn't know if they were going to release an NES version of the Data Recorder. (the manual even says "they have been programmed in for potential product development")

[Dangerboy]

Any online multi-player feature from games older than 5 years, give or take. Anything Midway (NOT WB) on PS3 no longer has servers, etc.

The Saturn started a generation of games that no longer have all features accessible, mostly online.

[Leo_A]

It's because it uses the Famicom Data Recorder to save.
Nintendo left it in the NES version because they didn't know if they were going to release an NES version of the Data Recorder. (the manual even says "they have been programmed in for potential product development")

It works on the Virtual Console release. :)

[c0ldb33r]

Neat idea for a thread.

[theclaw]

It's because it uses the Famicom Data Recorder to save.
Nintendo left it in the NES version because they didn't know if they were going to release an NES version of the Data Recorder. (the manual even says "they have been programmed in for potential product development")

I can't imagine it'd be easy to connect a Famicom Data Recorder to NES. IIRC that requires the keyboard too, which plugs into Famicom's expansion port... @_@

[TinyTheGiant]

I personally had a lot of issues with the passwords system between the games Zelda: Oracle Of Ages and Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons. Other than that, they're great games.

[Scissors]

NES Excitebike "save custom track" option doesn't save.





It's because it uses the Famicom Data Recorder to save.
Nintendo left it in the NES version because they didn't know if they were going to release an NES version of the Data Recorder. (the manual even says "they have been programmed in for potential product development")

Wrecking Crew also has a nonfunctional save feature for the same reason.

[A Black Falcon]

Wrecking Crew also has a nonfunctional save feature for the same reason.

The other one of the three like that is Mach Rider.


It works on the Virtual Console release.
It also works in the version of the NES game in Excitebike 64 on the N64.

[GameNinja]

I personally had a lot of issues with the passwords system between the games Zelda: Oracle Of Ages and Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons. Other than that, they're great games.

Hmm I can't say that I had any issues but it was years ago.

Come to think of it that whole concept was kind of cool but hindered a bit by its technology.

[Kiddo]

Any online multi-player feature from games older than 5 years, give or take. Anything Midway (NOT WB) on PS3 no longer has servers, etc.

The Saturn started a generation of games that no longer have all features accessible, mostly online.

It started earlier than the Saturn, mind.
Besides online, most networking features from long ago in general are long gone. IMHO the XBand, Sega Channel and Satellaview are probably the biggest of the early losses. I'm sure many people miss Meganet as well.

As for games with features that never worked from the start..?
Many RPGs tend to have magic that are completely useless or do not function as you're lead to believe they are.

[Vlcice]

KOF Neowave on the Xbox has a filter level option that does nothing. No matter what setting you use, it has really heavy bilinear filtering. Its "heat mode" (special button which drains life to increase your damage output) also does almost nothing - it drains your life, but doesn't increase your damage!

They didn't test that port very much... needless to say, the arcade and PS2 versions didn't have those problems.

[old man]

Using the second memory card slot in MegaMan Legends 2 doesn't work. I think there are several PS1 games that the second memory card slot glitches on, but I can't think of any others.

[Drixxel]

Using the second memory card slot in MegaMan Legends 2 doesn't work. I think there are several PS1 games that the second memory card slot glitches on, but I can't think of any others.

Glitchy saving or not, PSX games that don't support the 2nd memory card slot for saving/loading are just stupid. I can't think of a legimitate reason why that wouldn't be implemented.

[Wraith Storm]

The Saturn started a generation of games that no longer have all features accessible, mostly online.

I was under the impression that the only thing Saturn games did "online" was connect to the Xband "match making service". That "convenience" service aside, all of the games are still fully playable through direct dial.

Although over great distances, they only work efficiently on land lines. Vonage customers and the like need not apply.

[Casati]

As for games with features that never worked from the start..?
Many RPGs tend to have magic that are completely useless or do not function as you're lead to believe they are.

Such as those NES Heroes of the Lance spells. The find traps spell actually works, but is pointless because their damage is light enough that it's faster and easier just to try dodging them.

I was seriously disappointed regarding the lack of Excitebike save. If it worked, Excitebike would truly deserve its place on top NES lists.

And I was hoping someone would refute my claim that the Stanley Dr. Livingston password doesn't work. I hate starting at the beginning on that game.

[A Black Falcon]

Glitchy saving or not, PSX games that don't support the 2nd memory card slot for saving/loading are just stupid. I can't think of a legimitate reason why that wouldn't be implemented.

There are plenty of games on all systems that allow multiple memory cards that only support port 1. It's common on the PS1, N64, Dreamcast, Gamecube, PS2... all of them. I agree that it's extremely annoying in all cases, though. Just allow us to save to any memory card plugged into the system darnit!

[djshok]

In Dashin' Desperadoes for Genesis there's supposed to be a minigame called Rockfall, they even tell you about it in the manual. You're supposed to type in rockfall in the password screen to access it, but it never works. The other mini games work, just not that one. It used to bug the hell out of me as a kid.

[kupomogli]

Such as those NES Heroes of the Lance spells. The find traps spell actually works, but is pointless because their damage is light enough that it's faster and easier just to try dodging them.

The spells on Heroes of the Lance work well. Some enemies are immune to certain spells.

[Emperor Megas]

Genji: Dawn of the Samurai is a more recent game doesn't recognize the second memory card slot (I'm assuming it's not just a PS3 thing). I had to make room on a virtual memory card in the first 'slot'. Lame.

[BlastProcessing402]

And I was hoping someone would refute my claim that the Stanley Dr. Livingston password doesn't work. I hate starting at the beginning on that game.

I'd never even heard of that game before this thread!

Maybe play it in an emulator and use save states? Not the best way to play a game, I know, but if you like the game and the starting over thing is bugging you, worth a suggestion.

[Ackman]

KOF Neowave on the Xbox Its "heat mode" (special button which drains life to increase your damage output) also does almost nothing - it drains your life, but doesn't increase your damage!


I thought you were supposed to use it to drain you health so that you could do the hyper ultimate devastation move supers (your health usually has to be at 1/4 or something to be able to do them), if you choose max mode IIRC, you could just turtle and wait for your super bar to automatically regenerate. And then you'd have multiple HSDM in one round. I think super cancel was the better mode, but it was fun to troll noobs using multiple HSDM in one round. Choi's was especially funny a few people were quite angry with me for it, lol.

[TonyTheTiger]

Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled has a few of these. It's a pretty good game and accomplishes what it sets out to do but there are a few amateurish problems that leave you scratching your head.

First, there's a summon spell that is glitched out of the game. Even after you do what you're supposed to do, the spell simply never shows up.

Second, there's a bar on the main menu that has the word "Monsters" written above it. It does nothing. The manual says that it'll fill up as you perform the "appraise" spell. It doesn't.

[Az]

The Revenge of Shinobi manual mentions a stage select screen after the level map screen appears, which I always found puzzling. Forward 15+ years and the beta ROM version of RoS that Sega used in the PC Smashpack (which is possibly one of the stupidest mistakes I've ever heard) had the stage select built in. I guess they based their manual on the beta build.

Enduro Racer for SMS had a picture from the post-race items screen that had a little icon next to the item (accessory maybe?) that would heal your bike's health. This was never in the real game and I always wondered how they managed to get that icon to show up on that screen. A few years ago I bought the Mark III version, which on top of having twice as many stages, actually has that icon when you purchase the item. I don't know why they'd base their US manual screenshots on the Japanese version, which was twice as large and AFAIK released after the US version.

[kedawa]

Saving game progress in Pugsy for Sega CD just straight up doesn't work once you get maybe a third of the way through the game.
It really pissed me off, because I was really enjoying it up to that point.

[kedawa]

dear god the forums are wonky today

[Vlcice]

I thought you were supposed to use it to drain you health so that you could do the hyper ultimate devastation move supers (your health usually has to be at 1/4 or something to be able to do them), if you choose max mode IIRC, you could just turtle and wait for your super bar to automatically regenerate. And then you'd have multiple HSDM in one round. I think super cancel was the better mode, but it was fun to troll noobs using multiple HSDM in one round. Choi's was especially funny a few people were quite angry with me for it, lol.

That's one use for it. :b There is a damage boost in heat mode in the arcade and PS2 versions - but the damage boost really sucks. Chris's SDM does 33% normally and 38% in heat mode, for example - he takes more than that difference in life drain from heat mode. The damage boost is so crappy I kind of suspect they just didn't notice it wasn't working, since you have to look for it to notice the difference when it is.

[Ackman]

Yeah that doesn't sound very helpful, I never even knew that. Wonder if your HSDM does more damage if you're still using it?

[Atariguy]

Virtual Lab for the Virtual Boy presented you with passwords, but there's nowhere to enter them.

[SparTonberry]

That's because the game was rushed to get it out the door before the VB died.
They didn't even have time to spell-check the box. "Licensed by Nintenndo" :P

[Haoie]

Pretty much everything that's ever been dummied out right at the end.

[shinobimusashi]

Here is one that I've stumbled upon today. Not sure if the original Xbox is considered classic gaming yet, but I think it should, there haven't been any new games released for it in years.

I've heard that some copies of Panzer Dragoon Orta do not support 480p screen resolution despite claiming so on the back of the box.

Apparently the copy I own happens to be one of them.

[Mr Mort]

Here is one that I've stumbled upon today. Not sure if the original Xbox is considered classic gaming yet, but I think it should, there haven't been any new games released for it in years.

I've heard that some copies of Panzer Dragoon Orta do not support 480p screen resolution despite claiming so on the back of the box.

Apparently the copy I own happens to be one of them.

Actually, the issue isn't exactly with the game, it's that the game is somewhat incompatible with later model Xboxes. The earlier models use a different video encoder than version 1.5 & 1.6 models, and the game won't run in 480p mode in some 1.5's and all 1.6's.

The game runs in 480p just fine on most Xboxes, just not some of the newer ones.

[SparTonberry]

I just remembered another one.
The pause feature in the first Deep Dungeon for the Famicom Disk System.
At least the first 3 games, it uses a time-based random encounter system.
In 2 and 3, you'll certainly be attacked within a couple seconds if you stand still (though random encounters get turned off if you're at a high enough experience level for your location).
However, the first game had such a lengthy delay between encounters.
As it turns off the music, it is presumed the Start Button was supposed to pause the game. And perhaps the length was so long the developers just assumed it was working correctly.
So one day I pushed it because I had to go to the bathroom or something. When I came back I found I had been attacked (with the music playing).
Otherwise making Start a "turn off the music until the next encounter" doesn't sound like a very useful feature. :P

Speaking of broken pause features...
in Ninja Jajamaru: Ginga Daisakusen for Famicom, the pause function only works while Start is HELD. If not a bug, perhaps the developers used it as a slow-motion feature and forgot to turn it back in the retail version. It was fixed in the NES prototype version, Squashed.