You would not steal a automobile. So why obtain a sport? Piracy is an age-old downside that has plagued many leisure industries, and the gaming trade was no exception. Builders have been continually on the hunt for one of the simplest ways to forestall piracy.
Some builders took a extra inventive strategy, making a number of the most hilarious anti-piracy measures ever seen within the gaming world. A few of these anti-piracy measures are simply plain humorous, whereas others are scary sufficient to make anybody suppose twice about downloading a sport illegally.
1. Earthbound: Issue x1000
Earthbound is already well-known for having steep problem curves all through its playthrough. However for anybody enjoying an unlawful copy of the sport, the problem was elevated tenfold. If an unlawful copy of Earthbound was detected, the sport immediately spawned much more enemies than typical. Not solely that, however they have been additionally far stronger than the unique model of the sport.
If anybody in some way managed to battle their means via the seemingly infinite hordes and make it to the boss, the display would freeze, prompting you to reset the sport. As soon as reset, the sport would delete all of the saved knowledge.
2. Spyro: 12 months of the Dragon: Lacking Components
Spyro: 12 months of the Dragon would make use of the same tactic to Earthbound’s to discourage folks from enjoying unlawful copies of the sport. Zoe would inform you initially that the sport was unlawful and it greater than possible wouldn’t work correctly.
In the event you endured, an onslaught of errors would happen. Characters and gadgets won’t seem, Sparx wouldn’t be capable to restore any well being, and Spyro would typically randomly teleport again to the beginning of the extent. And should you in some way managed to make it close to the tip, all of the saved knowledge could be wiped. However hey, you may’t say Zoe didn’t warn you.
3. Sport Dev Tycoon: Piracy Glitch
Sport Dev Tycoon had essentially the most painfully practical anti-piracy technique on this checklist. Sport Dev Tycoon is a simulation sport the place you make a sport. You may succeed, making all of your online game goals come true, otherwise you may fail. And unlawful copies of Sport Dev Tycoon have been destined for failure from the start.
If an unlawful copy of Sport Dev Tycoon was detected, your sport would begin easily with none hitches. However abruptly, you’d begin bleeding cash, and folks would cease shopping for your sport. Why? As a result of pirates began making unlawful copies of it. Abruptly, your online game goals would crumble to the ground. This piracy glitch was not current in authentic copies of the sport.
4. The Sims 4: Censorship
The Sims 4 builders took a really sarcastic stance towards pirated copies of their sport. When you have ever performed a Sims sport, you may be acquainted with the pixelated censorship bubble that seems over your Sim’s personal elements at any time when they do one thing like take a bathe or go to the lavatory.
If an unlawful copy was detected, that pixelated space wouldn’t go away as soon as your Sim was completed doing its enterprise. As an alternative, your Sim would grow to be trapped in an infinite cycle and the pixels would ultimately unfold till your entire display was censored.
5. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks: Runaway Practice
One of many essential options of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is the prepare. The very one which travels the spirit tracks, in truth. If the sport’s programming caught even a whiff of piracy, nevertheless, the controls for the prepare would merely not seem.
The sport was rendered fully unplayable with out these crucial controls, so avid gamers who managed to get their sticky paws on an unlawful copy would discover themselves crying all the way in which to their native video games retailer to select up a authentic copy of the sport that they may truly play.
6. Crysis Warhead: Offended Birds
Crysis Warhead had presumably one of the hilarious anti-piracy techniques identified to mankind. Slightly than taking pictures bullets, pirated variations of the sport would make your gun shoot chickens as an alternative. Chickens definitely have their place in life, however getting used as bullets is unquestionably not one in every of them.
These chickens did zero harm to your opponent. Granted, they might stun the enemy, however that doesn’t get you very far in the long term. At that time, you’d be higher off enjoying Offended Birds.
7. Alan Wake: Captain Alan Wake
The builders of Alan Wake served their anti-piracy measures with a aspect of satire. Most of the video games on this checklist employed techniques that make the sport unplayable if it was perceived as illegitimate. However Alan Wake, however, merely let the pirates know they knew. Whether or not that made them really feel responsible or not is unclear.
In the event you have been enjoying an unlawful copy of Alan Wake, the sport would slap an important huge pirate eye patch proper on Alan’s face. It made no distinction to the gameplay in any way, other than making Alan look edgier and barely extra unlawful.
Whereas the concept of enjoying via Alan Wake with a pirate eye patch on might sound just a little interesting, there are literally actual safety risks of enjoying pirated video video games, or downloading any cracked software program typically. To not point out the truth that we wish to be supporting the devs who’re making these video games, to allow them to hold making extra sooner or later.
8. Severe Sam 3: Unleash the Kraken
Severe Sam 3 went for a extra nightmarish strategy. Gamers of unlawful copies could be incessantly haunted by an enormous crimson scorpion-like arachnid. This beast was impossibly quick and wouldn’t cease till you have been useless. If that wasn’t scary sufficient, it was additionally invincible.
Enjoying via the sport, by no means figuring out when this hideous creature was going to spawn and assault you, was absolutely sufficient for folks to simply buy the sport. Enjoying the actual factor would have been much more satisfying with out the fixed menace of dying looming over them, albeit rather less thrilling.
9. The Secret of Monkey Island: Dial-A-Pirate
The Secret of Monkey Island would ask a sequence of questions initially of the sport that may forestall you from persevering with except you had the Dial-A-Pirate Wheel. This cardboard anti-piracy measure had a sequence of pirates with distinctive codes that may be revealed as soon as the corresponding elements have been lined up.
This wheel was clearly solely supplied with authentic purchases and was one of many few bodily anti-piracy measures for video video games.
10. The Witcher 2: Mistaken Id
Whereas many people could also be below the impression that the age of piracy is over, that’s sadly not the case. On-line piracy was discovered to be growing in 2022. So it wasn’t simply traditional video games from the 90s that had anti-piracy strategies in place.
If we needed to charge anti-piracy measures, The Witcher 2 would undoubtedly be in first place. The Witcher 2 has a sequence of romance mechanics that allow you to unlock cutscenes the place Geralt and an NPC of your alternative would interact in a raunchy reduce scene.
In the event you have been enjoying an unlawful copy of the sport, nevertheless, your chosen NPC would get replaced with a slightly unpleasant previous woman by the identify of Marietta Loredo. This shock would absolutely have been sufficient to scare any gamer onto the fitting aspect of the legislation.
Buying Video games Legitimately Is by Far the Finest Approach to Help the Video games You Love
Whereas piracy is much less of a problem for modern-day consoles, it was as soon as a plague that each sport developer needed to cope with. However hopefully, these quirky and artistic anti-piracy measures have been sufficient to discourage folks from downloading their video games illegally and encourage them to exit and assist the individuals who developed these unimaginable video games as an alternative.