How do you keep track of your video game passwords?

[gbpxl]

I have a bad habit of losing track of passwords. What usually works best for me is taking a picture of the screen with my phone and then when I want to go back to that game I will go through my gallery and look for the newest photo of that particular game.

I used to keep track of them in a notebook and then just cross out the old password once I wrote the newest one down but I tend to lose notebooks. The phone rarely gets lost since it is essentially another component of my body at this point, sadly.

[jperryss]

I have a bad habit of losing track of passwords. What usually works best for me is taking a picture of the screen with my phone and then when I want to go back to that game I will go through my gallery and look for the newest photo of that particular game.

This is what I do. And when I save a newer password, I delete the older pic.

[Aussie2B]

I guess I'm old-fashioned, since I just jot them down on a piece of paper. I have cases for most of my handhelds, so if it's handheld game, I just keep the paper in the case. If it's a home console game, I just leave the paper near the system. I haven't ever had a problem with losing my passwords. I also have never had a problem with copying down a password wrong, even though people have been complaining for decades about writing down passwords that then don't work. Maybe it's my nature as a proofreader, but I always copy them carefully and double-check before I turn the game off.

[gbpxl]

I guess I'm old-fashioned, since I just jot them down on a piece of paper. I have cases for most of my handhelds, so if it's handheld game, I just keep the paper in the case. If it's a home console game, I just leave the paper near the system. I haven't ever had a problem with losing my passwords. I also have never had a problem with copying down a password wrong, even though people have been complaining for decades about writing down passwords that then don't work. Maybe it's my nature as a proofreader, but I always copy them carefully and double-check before I turn the game off.

A lot of games left characters like O, I, l, 1, 0 for that exact reason. Thats one reason I take a photo so theres no doubt in my mind I am typing the right character. I also would have a hard time writing down the passwords for Boogerman or Castlevania 3

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Aussie2B]

A lot of games left characters like O, I, l, 1, 0 for that exact reason. Thats one reason I take a photo so theres no doubt in my mind I am typing the right character. I also would have a hard time writing down the passwords for Boogerman or Castlevania 3

That's another thing I have to have a sharp eye for when proofreading, to tell the difference between zeroes and O's and ones, L's, and I's that are serifed or not. So I make sure I understand the font of a game before I copy a password, and I'll write the password in a way I know I'll understand later. Normally, I don't write zeroes and O's any differently, but if there's any chance for confusion, I'll put a diagonal slash through zeroes. And ones I normally write as just a straight line, but I'll add the hook and bottom line if needed to be clear.

[WulfeLuer]

Kudos for actually knowing a serif is and how to use it.

In all honesty if it's a linear string of ten or less characters I can keep in my head reliably for a while, twelve if its all numbers. Not because I'm special, but because remembering a string of ten characters--read, a phone number--was a taught survival skill, a string of twelve--read, a UPC code--is something you pick up at work after a while. Anything more complex gets written down.

My big hang up was always the more complex Mega Man passwords; not the Battleship-like dot based ones, but the letter-and-blank grids from the later GB games. Those things are EVIL, even if you write them down.

[goldenband]

Paper for short passwords, camera or phone for longer ones (or ones that get into weird non-alphanumeric characters).

With long passwords it's too easy to make a mistake, and there are games like Lord of the Rings Vol. 1 on SNES that actually give you passwords that don't work, so having an image of the screen is a good way to keep from losing your mind!

[Rickstilwell1]

Somewhere in a folder I have some old Faxanadu passwords and I either entered one incorrectly that somehow worked, or my game glitches when it was dirty and I managed to end up with one where I had infinite Elixirs taking up an item slot. Like I could equip the Elixir as an item and use it and it wouldn't disappear. I'm pretty sure I posted it somewhere but am not 100% sure.