Old Save Bonus: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

The ability to [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|use old save data]] (or in rare cases, use of the physical game) from an old game in a new game (often a direct sequel, though unrelated examples aren't unheard of) [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|for a bonus]]. Mostly, this means a tiny change (such as an acknowledgment of your accomplishments in the first game), or an item that may or may not be useful, but in some RPGs (the main originators of this trope) it is possible to import the character from the last game, levels intact, to start the new one. (The monsters would sometime be scaled up, of course.)

Sometimes, this is a way of avoiding the [[Bag of Spilling]] problem. [[Mission Pack Sequel]] games are especially prone to using this, as the sequel is usually built on the same basic code as the previous entry, so it's easy to port over content.

 

 

* Unlocking Japanese as an audio option for Theater Mode instead of the default English in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]: [[No Export for You|Final Mix+]]'' requires having a finished ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories|Re: Chain of Memories]]'' save file on the memory card. Notably, ''Final Mix+'' added a few cutscenes not in the original edition of the game, which means that there is no English voiceover available for them. ''This'', in turn, means that these cutscenes ''are essentially muted'' until you get around to finishing the other game. Which, naturally, is [[Guide Dang It|entirely in Japanese]]. At least ''Re: Chain of Memories'' [[Embedded Precursor|comes with]] ''Final Mix +''...

** The ultimate example is [[Sierra]]'s ''[[Quest for Glory]]''. Every game in the series after the first allows importing earlier characters, meaning that if you played your cards right you could start each game significantly stronger than a brand-new character, and with a ton of cash to boot. In ''[[Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire|Quest for Glory II]]'', a player who's conducted the entire game virtuously and gone well out of his way and against common game mechanics (for instance, returning a reward) to do so will have his character receive a [[Flaming Sword]] and the hidden "Paladin" class as the last scene of the ending; both are only usable in the sequels. Fittingly enough, the Paladin's hat is selfless good. Since it could very easily be [[Lost Forever]], ''[[Quest for Glory III: Wages of War|Quest for Glory III]]'' features a Paladin quest that only takes up half the game, while ''[[Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness|Quest for Glory IV]]'' lets one change an imported character due to a bug in reading the old save files.

* The ''[[Wizardry]]'' series of video games let you do this in the second, third, and fifth games by letting you import characters from previous games (except the fourth, which was a standalone adventure) to make descendants as playable characters. These had greatly lowered stats, and were at level one. However, they kept the same job as their parents, letting you start out with the advanced classes.

** ''Wizardry VIII'', the last game of the series, pushed the envelope by having you not only keep your character, but some of the allies and affiliations they had made in the previous game. This changed your starting location to your ally's base, and severely altered the way in which you could resolve the plot... assuming, that is, you were one of the few who still had their ''Wizardry VII'' saves from '''ten years ago!'''

* The somewhat obscure [[Roguelike]] for Windows 3.x, ''[[Castle of the Winds]]'', came in two parts. The Shareware first part allowed you to save your game after beating the [[Big Bad]] of the game, where you could then continue it in the commercial second part exactly as left. This created a bit of a problem for characters created anew in the second part, since it was tuned for an already-leveled and geared character. It got around this by giving new characters some instant levels and gear, although characters brought forward from the first part were typically significantly better off.

* Both ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' games allow you to save your characters and load them into the expansion packs and free content modules so that you can continue their adventures over multiple stories.

** You can find a few other easter eggs if you examine the mailboxes in Woodside Apartments, inspect the fencing on the roof of Brookhaven, and look around Heaven's Night.

* ''We Love Katamari'', the sequel to ''[[Katamari Damacy]]'', can import the star data created in the previous game into the new cosmos map.

* Stop 'n' Swop in ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'' and ''Banjo-Tooie'' was meant to be a rare cartridge-based form of this, whereby you could swap the two games over during play, taking items from one game to another to unlock secret bonuses. Changes to the [[Nintendo 64]] prevented the idea from being fully realized until the [[Xbox Live Arcade]] remakes, where Stop 'n' Swop also unlocks additional content in ''Nuts & Bolts''.

** Doing Stop 'n' Swop between the [[Xbox Live Arcade]] versions of ''Banjo-Kazooie'' and ''Banjo-Tooie'' will give you three new bonuses in ''Tooie'' on top of the original four: {{spoiler|a Gamer Pic, a Banjo-Kazooie Theme, and Stop 'n' Swop ''II'', which apparently involves three new eggs.}}

** You can also unlock [[Ratchet & Clank|Ratchet and Clank]] as a playable driver if you have a ''[[Ratchet: Deadlocked]]'' save file.

* If you play all 4 ''Sorcery!'' Gamebooks of the ''Fighting Fantasy'' Gamebook Series, you'd have a better chance of surviving to the end than if you played Book 4 alone, just from the sheer number of items alone.

* ''[[Metroid]] Fusion'' and ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' can be linked together with the Gamecube/GBA cable. You can wear the Fusion Suit in Prime, and play a port of the NES Metroid on your [[Game Cube]].

** Also, you can connect ''Metroid Fusion'' to ''Zero Mission'' (via link cable) for some bonus pics, including all the ending images from Fusion as well the Japanese exclusive ending pictures.

* On ''[[Mario Kart]] Wii'', having a save game from ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' and then playing 50 races is the easier method for unlocking Rosalina as a playable character.

* ''[[F-Zero]] GX'' actually allows the sharing of data between itself and the [[Arcade Game]] ''F-Zero AX''. As AX machines are hard to find in the US (at the height of their popularity there were a grand total of 20 of them available to the English-speaking world) and few people read the back of the box, hardly anyone ever noticed. The AX version did contain a semi-exclusive cup, which could be unlocked in GX if you beat the courses in AX with a GC memory card inserted to the machine; but because of the rarity of the AX machines, the only way to unlock this AX cup that most players have access to is to beat every cup on [[Nintendo Hard|Master difficulty]].

** ''.hack//G.U.'' also names one character after your main character in the original games, if it finds a save file for one of them.

* ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' and ''[[Assassin's Creed]]: Bloodlines'' can connect to each other, so that in AC II, you get the weapons from each of the bosses that you defeated in Bloodlines as well as some extra money, and in Bloodlines you can now [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower|block with the hidden blade]], [[Improbable Weapon User|fire knives from your hidden blade]] and get a health extension.

**** Also, if you had a GBA copy of BN5 in Slot 2 that had the Bass/Forte icon on the title screen (acquired by beating said boss not once, but twice, and he's stronger the second time), you could access Bass Cross, with different bonuses in that form depending on which version-half of BN5DS you were playing.

**** Not Just Bass/Forte Cross. You could import your old folder from the GBA version to the DS version - the only restriction being you have to be able to equip it as you are (which, if you're using Sol or Bass Cross, you most likely can't, due to -1 Mega Chip). Importing a folder made for the endgame at the start of the new one makes it so easy it's almost funny.

*** Putting a ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' game in Slot 2 while playing the first ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]'' would unlock a mini-quest that got you the BN Buster, which was quite a good weapon for the entirety of the game. A similarly unlockable sidequest in ''Mega Man Stor Force 2'' provides not only a new weapon but also an epilogue to the ''Battle Network'' series.

** Playing ''[[Kirby]] Canvas Curse'' with another ''Kirby'' game in the GBA slot allows you to play as a Waddle Doo before unlocking it regularly (which is extremely late post-game).

** If you had ''[[Animal Crossing]]'' for the Gamecube, and linked a Gameboy Advance to the Gamecube, it would allow the player to reach a summer island minigame on the Gameboy --- which provided fruit worth a lot of money.

** Putting the Japan-only first ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' GBA game into the DS remake will unlock all five cases from the start.

** ''[[Super Robot Wars W]]'' and ''K'' both give you very good mech parts if you use one of the Japanese GBA cartridges in the Slot-2.

** Having ''[[Yggdra Union]]'' in the GBA slot while playing ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'' gives you the opportunity to recruit Pamela at a random point later in the game, and the tutorial will have Yggdra as its guide instead of Maria, with arranged music from Yggdra Union in the background.

** In ''Monster Farm DS'', one method of unlocking monsters is by inserting a game - any GBA game - into the GBA slot, and some formula works out what monster to make, but is still played straight as there are two special monsters that can only be unlocked with this feature, with the required games being the two GBA games of the Monster Farm franchise. (That is, the Japanese versions of those games. "Monster Rancher" is the English name of the franchise, and the English versions of the game do NOT give the special monsters.)

* [[Halo: Reach]] gives you extra money for [[Cosmetic Award|armor]] if you've made progress in ''Halo3'' & ''[[Halo 3: ODST|ODST]]'' beforehand.

* The [[Sega Dreamcast]] version of ''[[Shenmue]] II'' allowed players to transfer collected items over from the first game. Unfortunately, the American version was never released, so the few U.S. gamers who imported the European version could only exploit this feature by hacking the ''Shenmue I'' save file to add the flags indicating it is a European save file (though the game does play fair by giving Ryo a few collections by default to sell for cash).

* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'s [[Digital Devil Saga]] 2'' had a ton of save bonuses if the player had completed the first game. Bonuses included improved starting stats, special abilities, anti-element rings (gained by defeating the Bonus Bosses in the first game), and even {{spoiler|getting Heat back into your party}}.

** In ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha VS King Abaddon]]'', you get some bonuses for having a completed save from ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]]''.

* ''[[Lego Adaptation Game|Lego]] [[Star Wars]] 2'' has an "extra" that allows the user to import characters from a ''Lego Star Wars'' (1) save file for use in the "Free Play" mode. Of course, this (and the two games themselves) was made obsolete with ''The Complete Saga''.

* Although it's an online game and thus has no 'save' option, ''[[Guild Wars]]'' uses a related mechanic. In ''Eye of the North'', there is a Hall of Monuments that can store mementos of character's personal achievements. The developers have announced that it will be possible to obtain special bonuses for characters in ''Guild Wars 2'', based on the contents of the Hall.

* The various ''[[Arc the Lad]]'' sequels have bonus content and characters that can only be unlocked by save files from the previous games.

* In ''[[Xenosaga]]'', possessing Game Clear data from Episode I when starting Episode II gave your entire party the ability "Swimsuit", which dressed them up in swimsuits of various appeal, but more importantly boosted your Speed (And was one of the only ways to) and couldn't be obtained any other way. Game Clear data from Episode II to Episode III also unlocked a couple new costumes as well (Such as Shion's Vector uniform from I/II), which were again otherwise unobtainable. Both game's save data also allowed for a bonus in starting XP and skill points for characters in the next game, though the benefits were severely curtailed; maxed-out levels in the first game would add perhaps 4-5 levels to your starting total in the second.

** SSI also made a Mini Game and [[Sidequest]] compilation, ''Hillsfar'', in which you could import your [[Gold Box]] characters and play through a series of events which would give the characters increased experience, skill and valuables before you exported them to another adventure.

** Though, if I remember correctly, none of the sequels actually let you keep your loot from the prior games - instead, each started with something happening to take away any equipment you might already have, such as being teleported thousands of miles away or being captured by the enemy.

** This also happens quite a bit in ''tabletop'' D&D. It's not at all uncommon to dig up old, high level, characters for an epic campaign.

* ''[[Panzer Dragoon]] Saga'' will give you extra money based on how long you've played ''Panzer Dragoon Zwei''. You can also get a music box as a bonus item later in the game, and Saga will also unlock any bonus features in Zwei that haven't been unlocked yet.

** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds]] Tag Force 4'' takes it one step further... sort of. Using UMD recognition with each Tag Force Game will unlock the Effect Monster (i.e. versions of the cards that can be used IRL) version of each of the God Cards as well as a lot of rare cards (including anniversary edition versions of popular cards, like Dark Magician Girl). ''Tag Force 2 and 3'' also unlock alternate versions of Akiza Izinski and Kalin Kessler, respectively for you to duel.

** Using UMD Recognition in ''Tag Force 3'' unlocks Bastion Misawa by having the game recognise ''Tag Force 2''.

* ''[[Burnout]] Revenge'' rewards ''Burnout 3'' players with a borderline [[Game Breaker]] - the second most powerful crash car in the game unlocked right at the start.

* ''[[Gran Turismo]] 4'' gave a 100,000 credit bonus to those who possessed a GT3 save file. Also a possible gamebreaker... considering that the majority of difficult races in the series are at the start, when it's tough to simply out drag race and bumper car the AI.

* Having a save file from the ''[[Iron Man]]'' video game on your system unlocks Iron Man (in Hulkbuster armor) as a playable character in the ''Incredible Hulk'' video game.

* If you have a [[Game Cube]] memory card with ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius|Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance]]'' save data plugged into your Wii when you make a new game on ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Radiant Dawn'', characters that were in both games (most of the cast) can have their stats improved. In theory anyway. A rather nasty bug in the North American version of ''Radiant Dawn'', caused by the arbitrary renaming of difficulty settings in the localization, makes the game crash when this is attempted if there are any easy difficulty saves on the memory card.

** Also, ''Path of Radiance'' had some bonus unlockables of its own that could be achieved by linking up with a GBA with ''Blazing Sword'', ''Sacred Stones'', or (Japanese version only) ''Sealed Sword'' inserted.

* ''[[Animal Crossing]]: City Folk'' lets a player import a character from the predecessor ''Animal Crossing: Wild World''. Only the name, face, hair, and catalog transfer; relationships, clothing, items, and money [[Bag of Spilling|do not]]. The data on ''Wild World'' stays intact after this is done, so the data that isn't transferred isn't gone for good.

** If it counts, Resetti will also thank you for buying both games during the first encounter, if you do transfer your character from Wild World to City Folk.

* A saved game of ''[[Castlevania: Lament of Innocence]]'' would net you a special item near the start of ''[[Castlevania: Curse of Darkness|Curse of Darkness]]'' that could either be sold for a good amount of cash or be used once to completely fill up your life bar.

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Ages]]'' and ''[[The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Seasons]]'' were meant to be played one after the other (in either order.) Data was transferred between the games by a generated password allowing you to fight Twinrova and rescue Zelda in the second game. There were also dozens of passwords you could get from NPCs to perform multi-game sidequests, unlocking bombchus, special rings, the Master Sword, Biggoron's Sword, and arrow/bomb capacity upgrades.

** You could also get a new code to port it all BACK to your old game letting you play through the ending AGAIN with few if any additions. ''[[One Game for the Price of Two]]'' indeed.

** ''SimCity 2000'' allowed you to load ''SimCity'' games

** ''SimCity 3000'' let you import ''SimCity 2000'' and ''SimCity'' games

** ''Streets of SimCity'' and SimCopter both let you import ''SimCity 2000'' cities.

** ''[[The Sims]] 2'' allowed you to import small cities from ''SimCity 4'' as a neighborhood

* A game-clear save from ''[[Phantasy Star]] Generation:1'' is required in order to even attempt the [[Guide Dang It|long, arduous road]] to reviving Nei after her [[Plotline Death]] in ''Phantasy Star Generation:2''.

* Let's not forget, if you own a copy of ''[[Rock Band]]'' and its sequel on the [[Xbox 360]] or [[Play Station 3]], you can import nearly every song from the first game and play it on the second one at little cost.

** This trend has continued for the numerous spin-off games in the series, such as ''[[Lego Adaptation Game|Lego Rock Band]]'' (where you can export the tracklist to ''[[Rock Band]]'' and ''[[Rock Band]] 2'', and play child-friendly import and DLC songs) and ''[[Green Day]]: [[Rock Band]]'' (which is also compatible with pre-bought [[Green Day]] DLC). ''[[The Beatles]]: [[Rock Band]]'' does not include this feature, however. Harmonix are also working on not only securing the rights to import the songs from ''[[Rock Band]] 2'' to ''[[Rock Band]] 3'', but also [[No One Gets Left Behind|bring back the songs they couldn't relicense at first]] from ''[[Rock Band]]''.

* A save for ''[[Backyard Sports|Backyard Basketball]]'' unlocks Barry Dejay in ''Backyard Baseball''.

* ''[[Penny Arcade Adventures]]'' allows you to keep your characters' levels by transferring a completed game save from Episode 1 to Episode 2. Any extra experience points that you earned above the initial level cap of 15 are still counted toward the next level, and will make your quest for earning level 30 a bit easier.

* If you have an ''[[Ico]]'' save file on your memory card, the mark on Agro's forehead in ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' will resemble the letter "I" from the ''ICO'' logo.

* ''[[Professor Layton]]'' has a sort of reverse example: in addition to the first game giving you a password to unlock content in the second, the second game contains a password that can be used in the first game to unlock bonus content there, as well as a password for the third game. The third game has its own password that works in the second game.

* ''[[Patapon]]'' for the Sony PSP has an unusual example; if you use the full game to load a save file created from the game's downloadable demo, it gives you a powerful, special sword for one of your troops to use.

* If you have a save file for ''[[Twisted Metal]]: Black'' in the game card when you start a file for ''[[War of the Monsters]]'', you get exclusive access to Agamo's fourth skin - patterned after Sweet Tooth.

* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]] [[Compilation Rerelease|Mega Collection]]'', you will immediately unlock ''Flicky'' or ''[[Blue Sphere]]'' upon start-up if you have a ''Sonic Adventure 2 Battle'' or ''[[Phantasy Star Online]]'' file (respectively) on your memory card.

** In the same vein, ''[[Phantasy Star Online]]'' Episode 3 allows you to unlock certain cards if you have save files of certain Sonic games, ''[[Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg]]'', and even ''[[Phantasy Star Online]]'' Episode 1+2.

* ''[[Jagged Alliance]] 2'''s expansion, ''Unfinished Business'', allows to start with your party from the base game, with all the experience they gained during the playthrough. However, it adjusts the difficulty of the game accordingly.

* The ''[[Tokimeki Memorial]]'' series loves to do this with their Drama Series and Substories spin-offs:

* If you have a savefile from [[Dead or Alive]] 3 or Xtreme Beach Volleyball on your Xbox and play Story Mode as Ein, you unlock Hitomi in [[Dead or Alive]] Ultimate.

* ''[[Champions of Norrath]]'' characters can be imported into ''Champions: Return to Arms''.

* In the second ''[[Creatures]]'' game, an item called the Nornverter would allow you to import Creatures from the first game.

* Having save data of ''[[No More Heroes]]'' on your Wii gives Travis's room an aesthetic change in the sequel.

* If you connect your DS with [[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds]] World Championship 2009: Stardust Accelerator to your Wii with Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds Wheelie Breakers, both games receive cards that you couldn't normally get without hacking them.

* In a rather painful example, if you import a character from ''[[Alternate Reality (video game)|Alternate Reality]]: The City'' into ''Alternate Reality: The Dungeon'', they are woefully underpowered compared to a native created character. The original concept of the Alternate Reality series was to be 8 games which, when complete would form one large world which the player could move around at will. It would not be necessary to import saves from one module to the next, the character would move to a new/previous area just by inserting the appropriate data disk (this was before hard drives were common, let alone standard equipment). Unfortunately, due to corporate problems the game only made it as far as the second installment, and ended up with a one-way import from the first game to the second.

** ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' imports decisions from ''Origins'', including some from the expansion and DLC. Most of these result in certain events getting a mention, particularly during {{spoiler|Alistair's cameo}}.

* The ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]'' games for the Wii offer a varation; Hottest Party 2 can unlock all the songs on Hottest Party, Hottest Party 3 can unlock all the songs on Hottest Party 2, "Hottest Party 4" can unlock everything on Hottest Party 3, etc.

* ''[[Sonic Adventure Series|Sonic Adventure DX]]'' and ''[[Sonic Adventure Series|Sonic Adventure 2 Battle]]'' have Chao systems that are cross-compatible with each other as well as with the ''[[Sonic Advance]]'' games. Using the GBA it's possible to bring Chao from one game into the other. A few other games, such as the [[Game Cube]] version of ''[[Phantasy Star Online]]'' included a downloadable Tails Chao that could be brought into the other games.

** The Chao cross-compatibility is not exclusive to the Camecube remakes of the Sonic Adventure games. You could import SA1 Chao into SA2's Chao garden, but you can't usually go the other way without hacks like the Chao Editor as Chao in SA2's A-Life engine are given several additional attributes such as alignment (To go with the playing as good or evil theme of the game.) This troper would not mind seeing Sonic Team release a standalone Chao game that combines the features of the original two A-Life engines plus much much more.

** Both the Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi series did this off an on throughout its run - usually the reward would be the early unlock of a character (usually Bardock or another movie character) that you normally wouldn't get until much later in the game.

* If you unlock mecha in ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Link Battler'', you can transfer them over to ''[[Super Robot Wars 64]]''

* ''WWE Legends of Wrestlemania'' would use a save file from ''[[Smackdown vs. Raw]] 2009'' to import characters from that game. Whilst it didn't include the entire roster (Anyone who was no longer part of the WWE roster didn't carry over) or the DLC characters, it ''did'' let players import their created characters.

* ''[[Resident Evil Outbreak]] File #2'''s option menu allows you to import your purchased characters/costumes from ''File #1'', as well as export those you purchased in ''File #2'' back into ''File #1''.

* ''[[The Suffering]]'' lets you do this. The sequel not only has multiple ending but multiple beginnings. Normally you start with the neutral beginning, but having a savegame from the first game let's you chose the appropriate start.

* ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy|Dissidia 012 Duodecim]]'' allows the player to transfer the levels of characters, many things unlocked from the PP Catalouge (Such as the villains and bonus chacters, costumes and player icons) as well as a few other things, from their saved data of the previous game. The player is also give the choice of importing everything, or everything but the levels (or as they call it, [[Bag of Spilling|Restarting from Level 1]].) The player can also import data from the demo bringing all the items they won in it.

* Having ''[[Street Fighter IV]]'' data in your memory would unlock two additional color schemes in ''[[Updated Rerelease|Super Street Fighter IV]]''. In addition, any DLC costumes you bought for the original will be unlocked in ''Super''.

** ''Salamander'' needed to be played with ''Gradius 2'' in the second slot, or else [[No Final Boss for You]].

** When ''[[Q*bert]]'' was placed in the second slot, it unlocked cheat codes in ''Gradius 2''; with many other games it had the same effect as Konami's ''Game Master'' cheat cartridge.

* ''Ultimate [[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'' will give you the DLC costumes from the vanilla release should you own them on vanilla. Also, DLC characters [[Resident Evil|Jill]] and [[Doctor Strange|Shuma-Gorath]] will transfer over if you own them, complete with their own alternate cotumes as well. Furthermore, {{spoiler|You unlock [[Galactus]] Mode, a special one player mode where you [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|play as Galactus]], which you would normally have to unlock via racking up 30000 player points.}}

* ''[[Forza Motorsport]] 4'' will handsomely reward players with a ''Forza 3'' game save in the form of extra credits, car imports and an achievement.

** ''[[Valkyria Chronicles II]]'' will allow you to unlock several bonus characters, including Isara Gunther {{spoiler|who died in the original game}} if you have save data from ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' moved over from your save there. She's an Armored Tech, and a good one too.

** Having save data from ''II'' will get you Anisette as a playable character in ''''[[Valkyria Chronicles III]]''.

* The Flash RPG series ''[[MARDEK]]'' allows the player to carry over stats and items from chapter to chapter (all chapters are separate games), along with several other variables that are carried over (conversations with NPC's, prior events being referenced in later installments, etc.)

* In the ''Game And Watch Gallery'' games for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, you can eventually unlock the ability to link with previous games in the series to unlock more Museum pictures of classic Game & Watch games. To do this between 2 and 1, you have to get over 1000 points in every game in 2; between 3 and 1, you have to get over 1000 points in every game in 1.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy XIII-2]]'', if you have a ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' file, you unlock a [[Play Station 3]] theme or Xbox 360 gamer picture, along with the Eternal Crystal item. In addition, you can find masks of Lightning and Serah as adornments if you beat ''XIII''.

* In ''[[Dead Space 2]]'', starting a new game with a save file from ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]'' will give you access to a "refurbished" plasma cutter - which is really just the weapon from the first game (that can't be obtained any other way). Starting a new game with a save file from ''Dead Space: Ignition'' will net you a Hacker RIG (which can be very useful in later parts of the game).

** Ditto with ''[[Crash Bandicoot|Crash Tag Team Racing]]''.

* There is a system in ''[[Geometry Wars]] Galaxies'' for both the Wii and DS which is unlocked by linking them via wireless connection. As these are among the highest-scoring levels in the game, it is nearly impossible to ascend the scoreboard without linking.

* In ''[[Mega Man X|Mega Man X8]]'', having a ''[[Mega Man X Command Mission]]'' save on your memory card will let you fight Cut Man from the original ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' as a bonus boss in Optic Sunflower's stage, right before the boss proper.

** However, the PC port scratches that (mainly because ''Command Mission'' never had a PC release), instead having you complete every area of the stage at the highest level to be allowed to meet Cut Man.

* In ''[[Harvest Moon]]: Friends Of Mineral Town'' (GBA) connecting to a Gamecube with HM: A Wonderful Life unlocked Van and Ruby, from whom you could buy certain bonus items. On the flip side: playing AWL with FoMT connnected would unlock the hot springs (Where your character could recover lost health and stamina without the use of foodstuffs).

* Having ''[[Resistance]] 2'' for the [[Play Station 3]] linked up with ''Resistance: Retribution'' for the PSP will allow for PSP Plus, giving the player an almost entirely different storyline and locations to access within the PSP game.

* ''[[Monster Rancher]] 2'' would generate certain special monsters by reading other [[Tecmo]] game discs, such as ''[[Dead or Alive]]''.

* ''[[Fossil Fighters]] Champions'' allows you to send over fossils from the first game. This makes certain vivosaurs much easier to obtain, as some 'saurs that are only available late-game can be gotten from the start in the original FF. There are also some fossils that can ''only'' be obtained in FF, as some vivosaurs only have head fossils in ''Champions.''<ref>Though fossil-set completion is far less important in ''Champions'' because it's no longer tied to skill learning, it's still the fastest way to level your 'saurs.</ref>

 

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[[Category:Older Than the NES]]

[[Category:Video Game Rewards]]