Password Save: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|JUSTIN BAILEY

------ ------|A ''[[Metroid]]'' password responsible for a ''lot'' of [[Wild Mass Guessing]]}}

---- ------|A ''[[Metroid]]'' password responsible for a ''lot'' of [[Wild Mass Guessing]]}}

A classic of oldie video games, this is the method of saving your progress in a game without being required to actually ''store'' it on the console or game cartridge: Encode it as a string of letters, numbers, or other symbols and have the player write it down on a nearby piece of paper.

These have an advantage of being portable compared to traditional save ~~files -- you~~ can take that slip of paper pretty much anywhere (like a friend's house), and input the password to resume the game more or less right where you left off. On the other hand, you have to make ''absolutely'' sure you wrote down the password ''correctly'', because messing up a letter here or number there will probably render the entire thing (and whatever game progress it represents) unusable.

These have an advantage of being portable compared to traditional save files—you can take that slip of paper pretty much anywhere (like a friend's house), and input the password to resume the game more or less right where you left off. On the other hand, you have to make ''absolutely'' sure you wrote down the password ''correctly'', because messing up a letter here or number there will probably render the entire thing (and whatever game progress it represents) unusable.

Also present on some newer console games where the data to be saved was too small (like just a level number) to justify the cost of a battery-backed saving chip or an extra file block in the memory card.

Usually, there are two kinds of passwords:

* "Level" passwords: The password records what level you're on, but that's about ~~it -- don~~'t expect information such as your [[Scoring Points|score]], [[Video Game Lives|lives]], stats or items to be stored. In other words, the password basically doubles as a level-select. Obviously, this is limited mostly to puzzle games, and games with linear level progression, where collecting secondary items isn't necessary for advancement. They are usually human-legible words or phrases, and may contain inside jokes from the developers.

* "Level" passwords: The password records what level you're on, but that's about it—don't expect information such as your [[Scoring Points|score]], [[Video Game Lives|lives]], stats or items to be stored. In other words, the password basically doubles as a level-select. Obviously, this is limited mostly to puzzle games, and games with linear level progression, where collecting secondary items isn't necessary for advancement. They are usually human-legible words or phrases, and may contain inside jokes from the developers.

* "Game state" passwords: A lot more complicated than level passwords, these record essentially all the information that a [[Save Point]] would: What items you've acquired, your character stats, key event flags, and so on. Enter the password and you can pick up from (almost ''literally'') the exact moment you left off. The length of the password will depend on how much information is being "saved", so a "game state" password that records a lot of things will require a longer password. Also, to discourage players from attempting to cheat the system by inventing their own passwords, the password may incorporate a "checksum", a small combination of symbols whose only function is to verify that the rest of the password is (or at least ''looks'') legitimate.

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{{quote|[[Joueur Du Grenier|I just died in the password screen! Is that a joke?]]}}

== Examples of "game state" passwords: ==

== Examples of "game state" passwords ==

* ''The Addams Family'' implements a 5 character password. Due to a game bug, it doesn't accept passwords if either digit in the lives counter is '9'. It is also an example where someone simply entering a default password of "11111" can start the game with 100 lives.

* ''[[Wonder Boy III the Dragons Trap]]''