Don't share that secret!

[RCBH928]

I was having a chat with some friends about games back in the day, and he brought up something I really forgot about, it was life pre-internet era.

He said that he used to play with his cousin Mortal Kombat, and his cousin was a gaming freak so he did know how to do all the Fatalities ...but when he asked him about it, his cousin refused to tell him "The Secret" ... then everyone would know!

Who remembers hiding tactics or moves in a game so no one would be able to match you?
There was no internet back then to make a quick "ALL MORTAL KOMBAT CHEATS" search and get everything from A to Z, maybe even some stuff the developer didn't know about !

Do you have any memories you would like to share about hiding secrets and moves in retro games? Maybe someone refused to tell you how to reach some area , or how to beat a certain boss? Do you remember any one being stubborn about sharing the secrets?

[Limewater]

I recall refusing to tell my brother how to solve some puzzles in Link to the Past and a few point-n-click adventure games. I was kind of a jerk, and I really regret it now.

[optmusprimenumber]

i don't have any specific memories (in regards to which game)... but i remember shenanigans about not sharing special moves in fighting games

[Curlypaul]

Yeah I remember the best SF combos were always kept a secret, but like you say not of that it relevant anymore now that everybody can learn anything they need to know from the net

[arion]

Similarly someone once tried to sell me the list of moves for Mortal Kombat 2. According to him these secretes were very valuable.

[Veno]

I was gonna start a topic asking this question, but I guess this would be the better place to ask it.

For those of you from back in the day, how did you find out these secrets? Fatalities, combos, cheat codes, the only thing you guys had were strategy guides. Not counting these strategy guides, did you guys just experiment? It intrigues me how hard people worked back then for secrets.

And don't get me wrong, I don't look at a walkthrough unless I'm truly stuck, and I don't use cheats unless I just wanna mess around, but anything I need, my computers right there.

[Curlypaul]

Magazines where a massive source of cheat codes, dont see how anybody would think to do any of the button presses these things needed.

Finding combos mainly involved experimenting, which was more of a pain than normal in those days as nobody thought to put a training mode into fighters then

[finerion]

Magazines where a massive source of cheat codes, dont see how anybody would think to do any of the button presses these things needed.

Finding combos mainly involved experimenting, which was more of a pain than normal in those days as nobody thought to put a training mode into fighters then

I agree. Gamepro was my usual source for cheat codes, combos, puzzle tips, etc. Nintendo Power of course has some walkthroughs and tips for games on those consoles, but Gamepro was really where it was at for hardcode info.

There was a ton of experimentation and many wasted quarters. When someone at school figured out a new move they really did have 15 minutes of fame until someone else found the next move or something different. I even had my moment in the spotlight when I mastered all of Scorpion and Raiden's moves and fatalities in the first Mortal Kombat.

Life pre-internet involved a lot more independent thinking and research in my opinion. While the internet is a great source of information and I wouldn't trade it for the world, it has made us a bit lazy.

[Frizz.Meister]

Its a real shame in my opinion. For example the Skulls in Halo 2 were incredibly hard to find and after 3 years i'd found all except one. Halo 3 with youtube, most people found them all on the first playthrough and missed out on the fun of exploring. Halo Reach the skulls are already found as there was no point hiding them if people would just look it up.

When did video games become about points and scores and no longer fun and craziness? Personally i blame achievments/trophies.

[finerion]

When did video games become about points and scores and no longer fun and craziness? Personally i blame achievments/trophies.

LOL, I just wrote a blog article about this very subject: http://www.thealfredeffect.com/?p=104