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Didi
Registered: Nov 2011
Posts: 489 |
Hacked/modfied games - Do you have more info?
Based on the discussion about Demoni +4DGHF , which is a hack of Warhawk with modified graphics, and what Smasher wrote about these hacks and about cracks without intros being sold in Italy. I also got word that in Spain it was done in a similar way.
Maybe you know about other countries this was common?
Also scene groups sometimes modified old games to look a bit different and published them as first releases of new (because widely unknown) games. Cycles +FT is a well known axample for this.
Maybe you know about more games where this was done? |
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E$G
Registered: Dec 2007
Posts: 873 |
It happens mainly in Italy and Spain.
but it's just a translation of the original name, some time with a different new name and meaning and a translation of the english words, like score, start and so on.
It happens that some time some spanish grabbed the italian ones
or viceversa like
Base Lunare - italian
http://www.gb64.com/game.php?id=20931
Base Lunar - spanish
http://www.gb64.com/game.php?id=19892&d=18
that is: Blue Max 2001
http://www.gb64.com/game.php?id=894&d=18
Most of the stuff released was this.
Demoni that was officially released also in computer shops is an hack.
You have also focused on hacks done by a scener or a group.
So we can basically call hack the same code with different gfx and tunes? |
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Smasher
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 524 |
game hacks done by sceners are just too many, nobody can count how many boulder dash versions were released! :)
Answering Didi's question, I don't know if that "practice" was common only in Italy and Spain, but let me now tell you a (slight offtopic) story: about 10+ yrs ago I spent my summer holidays in Cyprus. I'm now reading on wikipedia that that country joined EU in 2004, so I might have flown there that year or the year before.
whatever, Cyprus is a common destination for vacation so some of you probably have noticed that too: shops which sold pirated movies/games/software/music! I'm not talking about a strange guy at the beach who gets near you and say: "hey, pssst! do you want to see the latest 007 movie?" :) no, no, that was the situation at the central shop in Larnaca airport and in other electronic shops. the original stuff you could find there was about 0-2%, I don't think much more, and you could get the latest photoshop for 5$.
those times should be over by now on that island I think, but the meaning of this story is that what happened in Cyprus in the early millenium was like Italy (and Spain) in early-mid 80s.
As I told Didi, 30 years and 30 kg's ago one day my father (oh no, another story!... hehe) came back home with a gift for me from Milan (I think he spent 20-25K lire): the game "the goonies" in a cool plastic cover which looked like an original! oh yes! cool! load "*",8,1.... "armati soft presents the goonies..." - what?!?! and then the cool gamepic "cracked by the newcomers!"... gosh!
well, that armati soft dealer then got jailed in 86-87 I've heard, but that would be a 3rd story from me today, and I bored you enough already, so I better stop here. :)
greetz, Ze Smasher. |
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Flavioweb
Registered: Nov 2011
Posts: 466 |
I think Demoni is a "borderline" case.
Isn't just an hacked version of Warhawk swapped by sceners.
Who made it, did it with the intention to fool a software house causing them to sell the game as original work.
I guess Ian would not notice anything strange if the 'author' also changed the tune...
Demoni had a totally different "story" than piracy games sold in compilations back in the days... |
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Doc Strange
Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 101 |
Common practice in Italy and Spain. GB64 started to include them in the database with the reference to the original game, which is really handy when you are digging old stuff.
I have no idea if happened in other countries with same frequency to be honest. |
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tlr
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 1797 |
Hexenküche?
I believe this was done in Sweden too. I remember distinctly that Karl XII told me he did some translation hack work for HK Electronics mid '80s. Could have been some utility program though. |
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Romppainen
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2008
Posts: 40 |
I'm pretty sure Hexenküche was official localized release. |
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tlr
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 1797 |
Quote: I'm pretty sure Hexenküche was official localized release.
Fair enough, but was it done by the author or was it a commissioned binary hack? |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11445 |
pretty sure it was done by palace themselves |
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TheRyk
Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 2367 |
yep not hacked but released in 4 languages by Palace
http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/Cauldron |
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Dr.j
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 279 |
i think it wasn't common at all of changing the game and to release as "another game" and change (whatsoever gfx/music/sprites) i think ppl were smart enough 30 yrs ago
and it was totally lame by crackers to do such stupid
acts. i know this method is got into to trend for games of
apps or on websites (unity sources/flash ) i guess there
are only a few of those hacks |
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Krill
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 3007 |
Quoting TheRykyep not hacked but released in 4 languages by Palace
http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/Cauldron Indeed. I seem to remember looking at Cauldron II in different languages, and the entire binary layout was different. Makes it fairly certain they compiled the different language versions from source themselves. :) |
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Didi
Registered: Nov 2011
Posts: 489 |
Alpha Flight released a bunch of hacked/modified games in 1995/6 to grab first release points for some old diskmag games, who would have got no points back then because of their age. They were all supplied by Cryonic who also claimed to be the creator of these games. The copyright notices were changed to later dates and creator to Stefan Vocke (Cryonic). The graphics were slighty changed and the ingame texts. Some were also enhanced with creator intros to make them require NTSC fixing and grab more points. Finally they were cäught with Cycles +FT being identified as good old "Speed King" from 1985.
I suspect Cryonic being a fake member and the mods were done by The Ignorance , because the writing style in the additional game intro infront of Worly +2FT is very similar to his scrolltext in his crack intros.
Not all games supplied by Cryonic were identified by now. Maybe you can help? |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11445 |
Quote:I suspect Cryonic being a fake member
perhaps you shouldnt write it into his db entry as if it were fact - csdb isnt a diskmag. |
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Goat
Registered: Oct 2007
Posts: 43 |
Changing the letters from "Dari" just the way it was done with ROWLY/WORLY, I searched GB64.com for "Raid" and... BINGO!
Raid (Tronic Verlag, Ulrich Mühl):
http://gb64.com/game.php?id=14908&d=18&h=0
Dari (Butterfly Productions, Stefan Vocke):
http://gb64.com/game.php?id=1962&d=18&h=0
The coders initials (UM) are still visble in the intro screen of the fake "Dari". |
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The Gothicman
Account closed
Registered: Aug 2011
Posts: 40 |
Ah... Those nasty AFL-bitches make me sick... ;) |
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Didi
Registered: Nov 2011
Posts: 489 |
Worked for 5 releases of some rather unknown games, but trying it on a quite well known game like Speed King was one step too much. ;) Pre-Internet times made it possible. |
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Goat
Registered: Oct 2007
Posts: 43 |
There were some hacks done by LEGEND in 1998:
The Quest for Atlantis +2
The Perfect Weapon +3 |
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Goat
Registered: Oct 2007
Posts: 43 |
"Turbo Racer" was also hacked from a 1987 Tronic game into a newer date/Stefan Vocke/Butterfly Productions title.
http://csdb.dk/release/?id=31280&show=trivia#trivia |
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Goat
Registered: Oct 2007
Posts: 43 |
"Joe" was identified now, too.
http://csdb.dk/release/?id=31446&show=trivia#trivia
Once again, "Stefan Vocke" was used as the programmer, but this time he published it through "Paradise Software" and not through "Butterfly Productions". ;-)
The original can be fetched here:
http://gb64.com/game.php?id=16116&d=18&h=0
BTW: there was no translation done as the original appears to be full english already. |
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Goat
Registered: Oct 2007
Posts: 43 |
"Kill the Saucers" (http://csdb.dk/release/?id=20318&show=trivia#trivia) is now identified as a hack of "Missioncode CX-13" (http://gb64.com/game.php?id=14909&d=18&h=0).
This means that the information on the SID (Missioncode CX-13) need to be changed in game name, composer and company now. |
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The Overkiller
Account closed
Registered: Mar 2002
Posts: 342 |
About Demoni, Flavioweb already said my same opinion and anyway I was focused mainly on the fact it was RARE, not an hack .... Anyway, we've also The White Ninja Ninja Bros +4 [seuck] or Ninja Bros [seuck] which is an hack of Outlaws http://www.gamebase64.com/game.php?id=10981&d=18&h=0 (one of the games sold in bundle with the original SEUCK disk) .... |
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Goat
Registered: Oct 2007
Posts: 43 |
The 1992 Image release "Marblemania" was originally written by another person and originally published in 1989. Marblemania
Original is here: http://gb64.com/game.php?id=9103&d=18&h=0 |
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TheRyk
Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 2367 |
Hey Mediterraneans, I need some more info about these strange bootlegs.
Is this one
Special Cars [italian]
renamed by ICS or has it been sold under that name officially?
And how about that one:
BADALM = Bedlam
made me facepalm a lot today ^^ |
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Smasher
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 524 |
Quote:renamed by ICS or has it been sold under that name officially?
in Italy back in the 80's you could buy commodore/spectrum mags with embedded bonus tape full of games at every kiosk. those games were mostly cracked games with removed intros and italian translation. so to answer your question: it was very probably "sold" that way, not in a computer shop with proper cover and box.
///Ze Mediterranean |
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TheRyk
Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 2367 |
buying hot warez at a kiosk... unthinkable in 1980s Germany where copy criminal kids lived in fear of being tracked down by police or company lawyers :) |
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Maxlide
Registered: Apr 2003
Posts: 33 |
I remember a wheelchair race game which was infact a modified Pitstop 2, something similar to http://csdb.dk/release/?id=108678. But I can't remembery anymore if it was for made for getting a firstie or just for fun. |
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Flavioweb
Registered: Nov 2011
Posts: 466 |
Italian "Kiosk tapes" =)
http://specialprogramsipe.altervista.org/default.php |
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TheRyk
Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 2367 |
What I really wonder is why the Italians borked the game titles so frequently, BADALM (facepalm) might be a typo but why re-baptizing Night Racer to Special Cars? Did they think, renaming it would make it less obvious/less copyright-criminal? |
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Krill
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 3007 |
Quoting TheRykless obvious/less copyright-criminal? The fun part is that it was, in fact, technically legal for a long while. And technical legality is the best kind of legal. Similar in the Netherlands, and some other countries, iirc, where related loopholes persisted. |
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Smasher
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 524 |
ZeRyk: correct. you could take "Microprose Soccer", rename it as "Roberto Baggio soccer" and you could sell that game and make money. there was no laws that said the practice was legal or illegal, and if there really was a laws about that nobody really cared. even F4CG had a shop in the early days.
Also many games were not complete, especially multiload ones: you could find and play the first level only on that tape.
aaaww, someone should really bring back the 80s, when Italy was world champion while today we don't even go to Russia... :) |
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TheRyk
Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 2367 |
Quoting ZeSmasher... someone should really bring back the 80s, when Italy was world champion ... :)
... in what? Lawlessness? After all I've read here, I think that might hold true :) |
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Smasher
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 524 |
Quoting TheRyk ... in what? Lawlessness? After all I've read here, I think that might hold true :)
you perfectly know in what, as it was against West Germany in 1982! :)
well, we could open a new topic to talk about copyright laws.
For example here in Switzerland you can legally download any multimedia content (movies, music, etc... I'm not talking about software like videogames) and you can share it with your family, your relatives and your friends, but you can't publish it and make it general available. in practice: you can download any movies/mp3 with bittorrent if you stop/filter the upload flow. |
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Goat
Registered: Oct 2007
Posts: 43 |
Another hacked game:
"The Adventures of the Little Ghostkid" (https://csdb.dk/search/?seinsel=all&search=ghostkid) from 1991 is an unauthorized hack of the game "Orsital" (https://csdb.dk/search/?seinsel=all&search=orsital), which was published in 1989.
The original's game coder writes: "Ha, I’ve not seen Little Ghostkid before, same game, but someone added better sprite graphics, level’s still the same by the looks of it : )" |
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TheRyk
Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 2367 |
yet another one Strega [italian] |
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Akira
Registered: Oct 2003
Posts: 52 |
This happened in Argentina too. I need to find some examples, but besides the wild recracking going on, some games were also hacked and distributed as "new". |
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Zibri
Account closed
Registered: May 2020
Posts: 304 |
Quoting AKiRaThis happened in Argentina too. I need to find some examples, but besides the wild recracking going on, some games were also hacked and distributed as "new".
Or even fake games like Archon III "Exciter" :D |
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TheRyk
Registered: Mar 2009
Posts: 2367 |
Aaand one more
Saloon |
