Evolution of Game Cheating
As previously mentioned, we spent a large amount of our youth in an arcade that, sadly, no longer exists. Within its dark and somewhat mouldy confines, I learned a valuable lesson taught to me by my brother: the hardware hack. This involved holding down all 4 controller sticks and buttons on the NBA Jam arcade game, giving you a free tank game.
It didn’t take long for the arcade’s surly Asian owner to figure out what was going on. Kids were getting free games; they were doing things you’re not supposed to in games. Her response was to yell at you, a lot, if she caught you playing. I know that doesn’t sound like much of a punishment, but her voice was really annoying, so it was surprisingly effective.
This foray into hacking ultimately led me to cheat in many games after that, including Wheel of Fortune for DOS, where I used a Hex Editor to find the dictionary of possible words and my way to victory. This was how you cheated; nobody did it for you, you had to battle it out with old Asian women and hours of Hex and ASCII. Things are different now, easier, and I can’t help but miss the days when you had to know how shit works.
That surly Asian owner had to defend her arcade when mall security did not exist. One time some kids were misbehaving and she brought a pool cue over to the pool table and BROKE IT IN HALF while screaming with a heavy accent: “YOU GO!”
They left.
i never heard that before. did you witness it?
I will show on the doll where the pool cue touched me.
xkcd and Irregular Webcomic are two of my favorites as well. I don’t read penny-arcade very much, thguoh I’ve been told I should. I also like Darth and Droids by Irregular Webcomic. I love Star Wars a lot, but I also really like making fun of it too :)
This comment seems out of place, but you’re expressing love for webcomics on a webcomic so I’m going to hope you read one of our comics and liked it and will come back. Open your arms – I’m coming in.
you didn’t express your love for our comic. GET OUT OF HERE.
no wait, come back. i love you.
Game Genie was my friend.
game genie was nobody’s friend. that thing flaked more than a hobo with a full time job.