darkSpyro

How did that message get there..Did Insomniac put it in or did someone else?

Insomniac did that. Their anti-piracy measures for the game were so good that it took ten years before anyone could totally get past them.

Lol, Insomniac started to get wise to all these pirate copies.

Ah, thank you

The beauty of its anti-piracy measures is that I believe each copy messed up the game in a completely different way. In my pirated version (smash the system!) it wouldn't let me go back to Midday Gardens and Evening Lake, for instance. The only constants were Zoe telling you 'lol, you're screwed bro' and going to fight the Sorceress spitting you out in Sunrise Spring.

Quote: Tynesider

The beauty of its anti-piracy measures is that I believe each copy messed up the game in a completely different way. In my pirated version (smash the system!) it wouldn't let me go back to Midday Gardens and Evening Lake, for instance. The only constants were Zoe telling you 'lol, you're screwed bro' and going to fight the Sorceress spitting you out in Sunrise Spring.

Woah, do you have/can you get pictures??

I'm glad I have all of the original Spyro games!

Me, too. I didn't even know game piracy was a thing until the mid-2000s, when I was in my late 20s. XD

Quote: Tynesider

The beauty of its anti-piracy measures is that I believe each copy messed up the game in a completely different way. In my pirated version (smash the system!) it wouldn't let me go back to Midday Gardens and Evening Lake, for instance. The only constants were Zoe telling you 'lol, you're screwed bro' and going to fight the Sorceress spitting you out in Sunrise Spring.

I seem to remember something along the lines that when you defeated the final boss, it reloaded you back to the very beginning of the game with all your progress lost. It was quite clever actually, because the game seemed fine apart from the early message until you'd invested hours into playing it.

Quote: Jaggedstar

Quote: Tynesider

The beauty of its anti-piracy measures is that I believe each copy messed up the game in a completely different way. In my pirated version (smash the system!) it wouldn't let me go back to Midday Gardens and Evening Lake, for instance. The only constants were Zoe telling you 'lol, you're screwed bro' and going to fight the Sorceress spitting you out in Sunrise Spring.

Woah, do you have/can you get pictures??

I'm afraid not. I haven't owned a PS1 since about 2007, so I couldn't play the game to take pictures. That said the disc itself might still be lying around - I'll have a look later tonight.

Quote: bionicle2809

Quote: Tynesider

The beauty of its anti-piracy measures is that I believe each copy messed up the game in a completely different way. In my pirated version (smash the system!) it wouldn't let me go back to Midday Gardens and Evening Lake, for instance. The only constants were Zoe telling you 'lol, you're screwed bro' and going to fight the Sorceress spitting you out in Sunrise Spring.

I seem to remember something along the lines that when you defeated the final boss, it reloaded you back to the very beginning of the game with all your progress lost. It was quite clever actually, because the game seemed fine apart from the early message until you'd invested hours into playing it.

That was one of the constants, yeah. I think the point of the measures was it disrupted the game without you knowing it before hitting you with one last sucker punch. Bar Zoe's message at the beginning the problems weren't dropped on you with a message of 'serves you right', but you gradually notice them as you're going through, and just when you think 'meh, I might not be able to do that but at least I can get through the game', the Sorceress encounter resets your progress. The execution is quite beautiful, really.

Y'know, did Insomniac do this with their other titles? I haven't heard similar stories emanate from pirate copies of Ratchet and Clank. Then again, despite having plenty of cracked PS1 games pirate PS2 games never found their way into my hands, so maybe the PS2 was more sophisticated in dealing with fakes. Can anyone confirm?

I nearly freaked when I saw this because I was literally just reading about this last night and was going to make a thread today about it.

This is crazy though. I think it's hilarious how they tease you like "yeah! you can play" but then get revenge of flushing your time down a toilet.

Quote: Jacques

I nearly freaked when I saw this because I was literally just reading about this last night and was going to make a thread today about it.

This is crazy though. I think it's hilarious how they tease you like "yeah! you can play" but then get revenge of flushing your time down a toilet.

Evil Insomniac

I had a pirate copy in 2001 and it acted like normal aside from having Zoe's message. Didn't delete save or anything with the Sorceress. I might have beat the game with a Platinum copy, though, don't remember. I still have that copy so I can check it later.

Off-topic, but this cut anti-piracy message is one of the best:

^I burst out laughing must be fun to be a game developer!

I recently chipped my PS1, so I'll have to give this a try.

I'm still partial to Earthbound's trick of freezing your game at the final boss and proceeding to corrupt your save file after you reset the game. Well played, HAL. ^.^

Quote: HIR

I'm still partial to Earthbound's trick of freezing your game at the final boss and proceeding to corrupt your save file after you reset the game. Well played, HAL. ^.^

Well played indeed