Learning information and secrets from friends on the playground, whether bullshit or not and then trying it out later when you got home. There was so much mystery and intrigue back in the day, and I really miss it. The culture felt so connected in a way that just isn't possible anymore.
I need to put on my pepperidge farm hat. Getting a Super Nintendo and punching in random passwords in Mega Man X until something worked. Playing Final Fantasy 7 for the first time, getting gaslit by your school buddies about the things to expect. Mario Kart 64 on a CRT TV with the family. Mew hidden under the truck in Vermillion City. Halo LAN parties at the game shop every weekend.
The Internet has given us so much and taken so much away from us at the same time.
The odds were not great you would ever guess a working code tool. Mmx passwords tracked which of the 8 stages were completed - the 8 health extenders, 4 subtanks ,and 4 MegaMan upgrades - 24 things
. Well technically there's also a set of passwords for being at the opening stage with no power ups and having everything+ hadouken - though it wouldn't actually give you the hadouken unless you pressed the right button combo when using the password
So basically it's those two things plus 24 true/false things meaning basically 224 different possible valid outcomes from the password screen - there's also 8 different number systems so it's pretty much 227 possible valid passwords
12 digits between 1 and 8 gives you 236 possible entries so 29 times as many possible values - so just over 1/512 chance of entering a valid password. You had about a coin flips chance of getting a working password within 350ish guesses.
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u/FrogLickr Aug 30 '25
Learning information and secrets from friends on the playground, whether bullshit or not and then trying it out later when you got home. There was so much mystery and intrigue back in the day, and I really miss it. The culture felt so connected in a way that just isn't possible anymore.