Starting with the home edition of Pong put out by Atari in the 70's, there has
been a massive industry of home-based video games, games which are designed to
hook up to TVs and bring the experience of the arcade to the living room. Of
course, this wasn't really the case for a long time, because the home consoles
would always be a little (or a lot) less powerful than what you'd be dumping
quarters into at home. To keep the games fresh and new, a game-player would have
to purchase cartridges, CDs, or other 'gaming packs' that are sold in stores.
Naturally, it becomes a challenge to be the best at every new game that comes
out, and people would show their prowess or abilities by solving or beating games
and then going out to report their victories in "how-to" or "FAQ" files about
the games. You can see many examples below.
There was never as much copy protection on home console games because it was
never thought easy to duplicate the cartridges. This became a sub-industry
in itself and many files about how to copy games, how to program in the gaming
systems, and how to make the systems do things they were never supposed to do
are below.
Files Dealing with Nintendo and Nintendo Gaming Systems
Hardware Hack to make a 24mhz Atari Lynx
The Sega 32x Game Listing and Code/Cheats FAQ, by Trevor Ryder, v0.2 1995
The Battle of the 32/64 Bits Game Console Supremacy
List of Games for the Mattel "Aquarius" (March 16, 1994) by Dean Dierschow
Game List for the Emerson Arcadia 2001 (October 25, 1993) by Dean Dierschow
Game List: Atari 800 (Cartirdges)
Programming on the Atari 2600, posted by Greg Alt (December 7, 1992)
The AtariLink Directory - Last updated 27 Feb 1995 (A list of people who own Atari Jaguars)
Advertisement for the 4th Annual Connecticut Atarifest (1994)
List of Games for the Bally Astrocade
Game Notes for Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure on the Atari LYNX (January 9, 1992)
Shout Outs from Bushwick Bill to the NEO-GEO crowd
Dateline Atari! by Bob Brodie (January 7th, 1994)
Walkthrough for Breath of Fire by The Spook
Review of "Bounces" for the Sega (Basketball Game)
Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie (October 1, 1993)
List of Cartridges for the Commodore C-64 By Dean Dierschow (March 16, 1994)
List of Dean Dierschow's Video Game Cartridge List (March 16, 1994)
Sega CD Game Secrets Version 6 (January 1, 1994) by Bob Rusbasan
Videogame Cartridge Copiers by Lawrence Chiu
Documentation for CART_ID v2.05, a Console Cartridge Image Identification Program
Copiers Information from Alpha Flight (April 1992)
Information on Console Copies by Console Madness
Copiers Info by Executioner (March 1992)
The 'Real" Console Newsletter by Corrupt, Edition 1, January 8, 1994
Information on the Developers Toolbox from T&S Versand
The JAGUAR game: EVOLUTION of DINO DUDES - Passwords and Comments
King Kung's Donkey Kong Country FAQ ver. 1.0
Donkey Kong Country FAQ Version 1.0 (December 20, 1994)
OCF's Donkey Kong Country Game Genie Codes by Orlando C. Fernando Version 2.0 (February 2, 1995)
DSFX - SFX 65816 disassembler v1.20 by The Voice Over (1992)
Dune II: The Battle For Arrakis Sega Megadrive version by D.Kennedy (January 21, 1995)
Ecco The Dolphin Frequently Asked Questions Version 1.5 by Aleksandr Berland
Earthworm Jim Guide Version 2.0 by ManoS
Earthworm Jim Unearthed! Spoiler guide to EWJ by peter Booth (December 1, 1994)
Documentation on Famicom Hardware Register Locations 9Version 1.1)
GAME LIST: Fairchild Channel F (March 16, 1994) by Dean Dierschow
Final Fantasy II FAQ by Adam Lederman and Kelly Gillilan
Final Fantasy 3 FAQ Version 4 by Wizard 201, JonN2000 & King Kung (January 1995)
Final Fantasy III Guide by Mynock (Version 1.5)
TGSSZ Walk-Through #1: Final Fantasy Legend
Fatal Fury 2 Special FAQ (1994)
The Unofficial Fight For Life FAQ v. 0.9
Final Fantasy II Frequently Asked Questions and Strategy Guide Version 1 (February 11, 1993)
Famicon CPU G65SC802 / G65SC816 Instruction Set by Carnivore/BeerMacht (August 23, 1994)
A 1.6mb IBM PC Disk Formatting Program (Documentation) April 20th, 1992
Video Game Background Music FAQ Version 2.03 (June 29, 1994)
Information on Using the Game Genie for Genesis (January 8, 1993)
Game Genie for Sega Genesis Codes
Guerilla Video Gaming by Craig E. Engler
Sega Genesis Hardware Internals - Revised (April 7, 1993) by Rick McTeague
Ho-Wei Wong Tells you about the latest in Game Copiers
An Interview with Chris Eisnaugle of Vor Technologies Inc.
List of Games for the Mattel Intellivision
The Atari Jaguar is an IBM Animal (July 5, 1993)
The Jaguar Teckboard (April 19, 1994 Version)
Transcription of Dateline: Atari (November 4, 1993)
Chris Millar of Delphi and Andy Eddy discuss the new Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar Game Cheats and Codes Compiled by Clay Halliwell (March 8, 1995)
The Atari Jaguar Frequently Asked Questions (January 30, 1994)
Interview with Jeff "Yak the Hairy" Minter by Richard Karsmakers
Genesis Joystick Pinout Information (March 2, 1993)
List of Arcade Ports by Kris Kelley (February 1995)
Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters: Konami Sends in the Big Guns!
The Lost Vikings Transcripts by Rick Furr (April 12, 1994)
Some Lynx Reviews (February 25, 1992)
Microvision FAQ Version 0.04 (February 9, 1995)
Secret of Mana FAQ Version 0.2 (January 6, 1994)
The Usenet Lynx FAQ (January 1, 1993) by Rob Jung
Maximum Carnage FAQ version 1.2
MegaDrive Secrets Removed from the Genesis Secret List Version 4 (January 19, 1992)
Information on the megadrive/Genesis Emulator for the Amiga from Advanced Emulation Limited
Passwords and information on Mega Man X by Rick Furr (1994)
Information on a List of Game Doctors (Game Copiers) Including Origin and Capabilities
Game Finger Codes for the MGH by Johnny 5 (May 14, 1993)
How to Win at NBA Jam, by Rudolph S. Vance and William G. Henderson
How to Win at NBA Jam by Randolph S. Vance and William G. Henderson Version 1.13 (August 18th, 1993)
NBA Jam FAQ Tips and Info by Fast Eddie Version 1.17 (February 19, 1994)
NBA Jam Tournament Edition FAQ Version 2.0 (April 26, 1994)
NBA Jam Tournament Edition for Consoles FAQ Version 1.1 (February 25, 1995)
NBA Jam Tournament Edition FAQ 1.0a (February 21, 1995)
List of Games from the Magnavox Odysey II
Review of Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures
Power Instinct FAQ Release 0 (January 1994)
Sega Programming FAQ February 5, 1994, Third Edition
Newsflash: Customs RAIDS/CONFISCATION of Copiers in United Kingdom (September 2nd, 1992)
Samurai Shodown FAQ Release 12 (December 1, 1994)
Samurai Shodown FAQ Release 12 (December 1, 1994) Part II
Schematics for Connecting a Genesis Joypad to an Amiga
Game Genie for Sega Genesis Codes (1993)
Secrets of the Sega Sages Volume 1, Number 4 (February 1994) by Brian Preble
Connecting a Sega Genesis to an RGB Monitor by Dennis Gale Brown
SEGA CD Game Secrets Version 5 (August 21, 1993)
Sega Programming FAQ February 5, 1994, Third Edition by Henry Rieke
Sega Programming FAQ September 14, 1994, Sixth Edition by Henry Rieke
Super Magicom File Upload Program (Version 2.1) Documentation by R. Bubba Magillicutty
Shadowrun Walkthrough Version 1.05 (March 15, 1994)
Guide to 'Shining Force" for Sega Genesis by Col. G. L. Sicherman Version 0.5 (February 6, 1995)
Super Magicom File Split Program V1.0 Documentation by Nightshade of High Society
Super Mario Kart Frequently Asked Questions and Strategy Guide v1.0 (July 13, 1994)
Collection of Games for the Sega Master System
Sega Master System Frequently Asked Questions v1.06 by Jeff Bogumil
Saturday Night Slamasters FAQ by Marlin Liew Version 2.0 (October 13, 1994)
The Bloody SPC-700, an overview of a Nasty Chip for Sound by Paradis
Super Star Wars Tips by the TOMinator
List of Games for the RCA Studio II
The Super Wild Card & Super Magicom Programmers Handbook by MicroChip/Evolution/Submission
Sega NTSC/PAL and Language Switch on the Sega MegaDrive (November 30, 1993)
How to WIN at Terminator 2:Judgement Day (Version 1.1) by Randolph S. Vance
The Top 20 Console Game Charts 7 by Tomdoc of Crystal
Game List for the Texas Instruments TI/994a
The Tower Of Doom FAQ Version 2 - August 5, 1994 by Roland Acton
Game List for the Tandy Color Computer
The password for UFO Super Drive Pro 6 as of Nov. 20, 1992
Vectrex Game List by Dean Dierschow, 1994
A Quick History of Home Video Game Systems
Video Game Piracy Information or Time to Trash the Amiga (January 14th, 1992)
Wizz 'n Lizz Hint/Cheat FAQ Version 1.3 (February 26, 1995) by Nick 'Jinxed' Brassard
Wonder Boy in Monster World V Assistance by Matt Latrobe
Young Merlin Guide by Brian P. Minnebo (July 26, 1994)
The Legend of Zelda FAQ by Alan "Linkmaster" Mitsugi (February 25, 1995) v1.0