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T-hawk

Many NES games have had their password systems cracked:

Mega Man 3: http://www.mmhp.net/Passwords/MM3/

Metroid: http://www.gdward.plus.com/site/flash/metroid/

Kid Icarus: http://www.geocities.ws/passgens/pages/Kid_Icarus.htm

Castlevania III: http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php?topic=4659.0

Google for pretty much any popular NES game + "password generator" and you'll find something.

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I have to pimp myself here. Strider: http://danweber.blogspot.com/2008/07/strider-password-genera...

Metroid! I haven't thought about that game for years! I loved it. I played through a ton of it.. but what was that pw? Justin Bailey? TIL(this only reddit?) "Justin Bailey is a term used to refer to the bikini swimsuit that Samus Aran wore during the endings of Metroid, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion." I can't even remember how I learned of that code..

The password is JUSTIN BAILEY ------ ------ . Metroid has been disassembled to prove that there's nothing special about those words in the code. The password is a coincidence, that the bit pattern happens to pass the checksum and produces a Samus who possesses most of the powerups in the game.

There's no meaning to it. It's not anybody's name, and anything about the swimsuit is fan retcon. You probably learned about it from either Nintendo Power or one of the many unofficial NES game guidebooks. They invented all sorts of urban legends around it, but modern eyes on the cold code can prove it's just a fluke.

It actually gives an impossible game state: Samus has 255 missiles current but 205 max, and some of the combinations are inconsistent like a set of missiles acquired behind a door that remains locked.

Awesome. It is interesting thinking about these childhood days. Yea I did have a subscription to Nintendo Power. I actually got in it on the time trial of a mario cart level(i think the first). It is crazy that I actually remembered the code. That is how the brain works I guess.. I do remember one time I guessed a code: Turbo graphics 16, Military Madness: Neptune I completely guessed it as a child and it was like.. uhh. amazing!

>They invented all sorts of urban legends around it, but modern eyes on the cold code can prove it's just a fluke.

Yes.

The legend as passed to me on my first hearing of this code in 1988 or so was that Justin Bailey had been a game tester/developer.

While the "JUSTIN BAILEY" code is meaningless, Metroid does have an actual pre-programmed "cheat" password in it: NARPAS SWORD0 000000 000000 . It was intentionally placed into the game (src: http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Narpas_Sword ), and it gives you infinite energy and other powers you can't get conventionally or with any other (generated) password.

Metal Gear: http://unoriginal.org/people/cybern/metal_gear.html

Solar Jetman: http://unoriginal.org/people/cybern/solar_jetman.html

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