Anti-Piracy: the Fake, the Creepy, and the Downright Malicious | Tech Rules

This video is sponsored by Blinkist. The first 100 people to go to www.blinkist.com/techrules are going to get unlimited access for 1 week to try it out. You'll also get 25% off if you want the full membership.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
3:10 Overview & "Feelies"
5:02 The Real & The Fake
12:53 Everyday Anti-Piracy
15:50 The Malicious Ones
18:07 My Favorite Anti-Piracy Measure
This Tech Rules video used the following resources: pastebin.com/dFJrmYnv
Videos Used, in Order of Appearance:
Mario DS Anti-Piracy Screen: • Mario Party DS Anti Pi...
Earthbound Anti-Piracy: • EarthBound Anti-Piracy...
GTAIV Anti-Piracy: • Anti-Piracy Measures i...
The Secret of Monkey Island Playthrough: • The Secret of Monkey I...
Mario 64 Anti-Piracy Screen: • Anti-Piracy Screen
Lego Island WHOOOPS!: • You have to put the CD...
Puyo Tsu Gameplay: • Puyo Puyo Tsu (Arcade)...
Gyakuten Kenji 2 Anti-Piracy: • Pirate This! Episode 6...
Michael Jackson Anti-Piracy: • Pirate THIS! mini | Mi...
(The KZbinr responsible for the two videos above has other great anti-piracy demonstrations, and they just recently returned to KZbin. Show their channel some love!)
La Abadia Del Crimen Anti-Piracy: • La Abadia Del Crimen -...
Rabi-Ribi Speedrun by IIvgmll at SGDQ 2020:
• Rabi-Ribi by IIvgmII i...
Just Shapes & Beats Anti-Piracy: • Just Shapes & Beats Pi...
Check out The Cutting Room Floor, the best place for datamined and technical video game trivia! tcrf.net
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I excessively talk about unimportant things on Twitter: / radhewc

[@TechRules]

The first 100 people to go to www.blinkist.com/techrules are going to get unlimited access for 1 week to try it out. You'll also get 25% off if you want the full membership. Hey everyone! So, for clarification: This video was being worked on right about when that Mario Party DS video was gaining traction, before the fake anti-piracy trend even kicked off. That's why I talk about it like some strange, foreign thing that magically appeared one day. (Which, let's be honest, it kind of is.) Thankfully, I opted not to make it a big focus in the video, so the finished product still holds up just fine! If anything, it might even be more relevant! Also, big news: The first ever Tech Rules livestream will be happening this month, on the 15th! We'll be doing some sort of randomizer. I have a few good ones in mind, and I'm gonna make a poll for which game we'll do a day or two after this video's release. If you want to weigh in on that, keep an eye on the community tab! The stream itself should start some time in the evening. Well, evening in the Eastern time zone. Hope to see you there! EDIT: Okay, so it's not technically correction time yet (although I'm sure you all will find SOMETHING I screwed up on) a lot of people are mentioning that the "unused" Cuphead track actually plays in the game's bad ending. That's...partially true. While the unused track starts the same way, I'm pretty sure it goes on for a bit longer, and there aren't any hidden images in it. My bad, should've mentioned that! Also, it seems a lot of you are missing the original Tech Rules title card animation? I figured I would just try shortening it a bit, since I'm working on making my videos a little less bulky. If everyone wants it back, though, I'll bring it back. Just let me know!

[@ELopez]

Piracy is no party

[@dr.doofenward1192]

I was hoping you talked more about anti privacy in games

[@cookiecakeeater6340]

@@ELopez lol

[@m0nst3ra]

POOOGGGGG

[@oliverfougere6296]

You better get that FNAF 2 video out soon, or I'll kneecap ur CPU.

[@sebYB67]

Rumor has it Doki Doki Literature Club's anti-piracy removes all the horror and turns it into a normal visual novel

[@EEE.654]

I just peed my pants because of that horrifying anti-piracy screen

[@prettyradhandle]

aw man that's the scariest anti-piracy of them all... a *normal* visual novel?

[@oimate6357]

This is the joke

[@PokeMario-pk4ot]

I want to pirate the game now

[@ayanoakemi2973]

Too bad the game is free thought

[@saadmeliti]

Anti piracy screens are like when you are watching Cartoon Network as a kid and adult swim starts

[@Emi_Bean]

You perfectly described it

[@djredstinger12pvz75]

And then you're frantically trying to find the remote before your parents walk in.

[@tahseenkhan3629]

Or when noggin turned off and switched to nick at nite Was it only me who watched noggin? (More recently known as nick jr)

[@maymay5600]

i remember those early days man! epic time

[@roobusmcscroobus]

It also feels like when you're watching Nickelodeon and then you fall asleep, and you wake up at like 2:00 am to the George Lopez opening and freak out

[@pedropimenta896]

Dude caught you pirating his game but isnt mad, admits guilt, gives insight, shares constructive criticism and affirms you're the best in the end? What an absolute legend!!

[@GustavoIto]

probably canadian

[@frankpetersberger7367]

@@GustavoIto Oh, Canada-

[@MeLlamoBauti]

literally a gigachad

[@deadvirgin428]

Yeah and he also calls you a thief? Are we forgetting that part? When he says "pirating is stealing"? Even though you're not taking anything from anyone?

[@leagueofdead569]

@@deadvirgin428 he was referencing some old anti-piracy video. Even if you don't get the reference, I feel like it's so obvious that he wasn't serious.

[@orange_turtle3412]

Fun fact. The PIRATA sound effect actually took up more storage space than the game itself. Think about that. The anti piracy protection was a bigger file size than the game itself.

[@taniscadwell3843]

Didn't pure audio files have a comparatively massive file size back then?

[@GMDTheOnyxGuyEizzX]

Kinda reminds me of the fact that Sonic the hedgehog's "SEGA" screen sound occupies most of the cartridge space as well.

[@caesarion4596]

@@taniscadwell3843 nah, but your mom did

[@g_n4485]

Interesting

[@ChorusCory]

@@GMDTheOnyxGuyEizzX pretty sure that was just because the genesis soundchip didnt do well with voice samples

[@silasbrookhaven8165]

That last anti-piracy thing reminds me of the story I heard about the guy who pirated Shovel Knight and later met the devs at a con and just straight up gave them 20 bucks

[@moca-pocalypseoctohog3045]

That's actually pretty wholesome

[@furret5954]

oml i love that

[@pavloverboy]

I imagine the exchange something like "hey, I pirated your game, but now I feel pretty shitty about it. Here's 20 bucks"

[@runed0s86]

If he actually bought the game, the devs would get nothing for it.

[@diamondangel3442]

If the game was 20 bucks they earned more this way XD

[@MikeyForrester]

I pirated yoshi island and in the middle of the game Yoshi turned to the camera and stated my full name, my social security number, and my deepest fear

[@od4361]

wow man that's scary :O

[@randomfish2054]

And your in jail

[@camman3740]

He needs to continue to run from the police, he needs gasoline to hide from taxes.

[@NeoChampion]

@@SanestPjskFan_ oR cAN iT!?

[@bain9897]

GOOGLE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW YOUR LOCATION or THIS SITE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW YOUR LOCATION

[@waddledee6642]

the dev talking to the player about piracy and forgiving them and thanking them for playing just touches my heart. instead of the game being like, hey shut off your computer now; the guy who made the game thanks you and tells you other ways you can support them. that’s life changing, really.

[@mrfoodskater]

Lol life changing

[@lockl00p27]

Life changing???

[@rosemary3029]

Jsab

[@Serperior1212]

Life changing jajajaja

[@CT-7567_CPTNRex]

You laugh like an idiot​@@Serperior1212

[@agitated_cat]

Can confirm scary anti piracy once. I was playing Geometry Dash and the game suddenly crashed, my phone levitated out of my hand, spilled my coffee, and went on a rampage screaming "DONT COMMIT CRIMES" and killing everyone in the house. I now live in a pile of ash and no longer have a phone

[@SP4C1AL_]

Did it try to kill you too?

[@theotherdashmelted]

I can give you this gigachad badge

[@nept2ned]

can i also give you the cheese badge?

[@dan.nandlal]

Nice try trying to trick people, its fake

[@nept2ned]

@@dan.nandlal ITS OBVIOUS. (man i wish youtube wasn’t so strict.)

[@billyblood8993]

Fun fact: If you pirate Wii Sports Resort, Matt comes to your house and curb stomps you

[@TruzzleBruh]

That happens without owning Wii Sports Resort! Oh wait I live in Jacksonville...

[@significantgumption]

Damn it matt, not again!

[@smallsthetimelord4066]

Yup. Just one of the many ways to get matt to come to your house and curb stomp you.

[@significantgumption]

@@smallsthetimelord4066 dude last time he came over he was salty I clapped him 60-0 smh 🤦‍♂️

[@fant0m763]

In the game AND irl????

[@theblackestcat9679]

Yeah, I accidentally triggered the Super Mario World anti piracy. I tried to boot it up, and suddenly Mario came out of the Tv, screamed something about serious crimes and punched me in the face. Then he ate everything in our house and jumped back in the tv while showing us the middle finger.

[@user-wq4nf4dk3s]

Did he eat you too?

[@theblackestcat9679]

@@user-wq4nf4dk3s No, only my right foot

[@jean-alexandre5594]

Not gonna lie, they had us in the first half

[@theoldfinalchapters8319]

If only you had milk, everything would've been fine.

[@chavesa5]

Damn you too?

[@Nickumtoo]

My personal favorite example of anti-piracy was a pirated version of BeamNG Drive. Upon starting the game I was greeted with "Ahoy there matey, we hope you enjoy your time with our game and support the official release when you can!" Affer playing for a few hours and absolutely loving it, I purchased it just a few days later.

[@OdipIsTired]

Yeah, It makes you want to buy the game more than some plain "Copying video games is a crime" screen.

[@vicroc4]

That's a better way to go about it, imo. No "aaaa you did something wrong" but rather acknowledging that the whole reason you did it was because you wanted to play the game but either couldn't or wouldn't pay for it. I'd think that's more likely to get a positive reaction.

[@vitriolicAmaranth]

I've always bought games that I've enjoyed after pirating them regardless- though if they have Denuvo or similar I wait until it is removed, and I prefer to get my games on GOG. There are games I pirated years ago and have since stopped playing that I never bought and presumably never will despite having enjoyed them because the malware was never removed from the legitimate version.

[@conair2786]

Before this, I was watching compilations of fake anti-piracy screens and it slowly evolved into nothing but cheap scares. Most of the Mario ones end with Mario screaming "MMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAA" and it got really REALLY annoying. After watching this video and seeing the Just Shapes and Beats anti-piracy, it felt very satisfying.

[@cylan787]

I'm sure that the "MMMMMAMMMMAAAMMMAAA" is from a stupid video that makes weird sounds with the Mario voice lines, it's very funny and I can't remember the name

[@conair2786]

@@cylan787 Yeah. I legit can't take it seriously because I already knew the origin. Lmao

[@cylan787]

@@conair2786 what was the name of the video?

[@conair2786]

@@cylan787 it's literally called "Mario screaming"

[@TerrorLTZ]

yeah... many anti piracy is just annoying things spyro did that a shitload of trolling

[@TacBans]

"GTA 4 turns you into dangerous alcoholic with a unstoppable need for speed" nah that's just normal gameplay

[@MajorTeag]

Yeah, pretty much. I never really played that much of GTA games. Just got to the point where you could roam freely and see how much mayhem I could cause. Using rules like, you can only drive on sidewalks, cars have no brakes, or my fave: Pedestrian malls have no traffic at all. It's probably how I managed to get that one achievement where you have to blow up like 10 vehicles in a few seconds.

[@Sh0ckV]

niko aint russian

[@RubberDucky757]

I thought the gameplay was just Bowling.

[@LasermanSteam]

I don't think so

[@TheBreakingBenny]

Spent more time on anti-piracy than on optimizing the game for PC gameplay, eh?

[@impossibletowel7085]

Imagine the undertale anti-piracy just makes the sans fight go on forever.

[@spooktspeek]

or imagine if it made the toriel fight have her just never start feeling sorry for you so people don't notice until after maybe like 3 deaths and way too much time put into trying to spare her

[@Lime3Deez]

1 day later: undertale anti piracy screen! 123445609876hours and 33.8 minutes

[@impossibletowel7085]

@Simple Secrets Then I guess it removes the mercy button.

[@thekremlingking8200]

I think a neat anti piracy for undertale would be only having act and item. But this only happening after torial runs some errands.

[@ThatSpaceMelonOLD]

@Simple Secrets I HAVE AN IDEA! WHEN YOU FIRST MEET SANS HE FIGHTS YOU AND IT NEVER ENDS

[@Shry99]

I think another reason it feels so scary is that As a kid the idea of being accused of something you didn’t do is part of what makes it so terrifying too… Almost everyone has had some experience with a parent or teacher punishing you for something you didn’t do but being helpless to defend yourself. Imagine that but it’s yo

[@SpookusMcDoofus]

I remember playing a pirated version of diddy Kong in the dark (without knowing it was pirated) and when that anti piracy screen showed up, I felt scared and like I had become the FBI’s most wanted

[@Zaurthur]

Ive forgotten a few times the name of this game, but when I was really young I had a game with a "feelie" where you had to type something in from the manual. Being like 5 I didn't understand and when I couldn't figure it out, the character called me a liar, the game would crash with a dialog box saying my character was devoured by rats. I remember crying.

[@jan_Eten]

kings quest 3?

[@mesoc3075]

I booted up a legitimate copy of five nights of freddy’s and Freddy entered my home and ate my newborn brother and hit my shins with a scooter

[@mindsmurf5282]

damn are you okay?

[@picopogandolly9982]

Your lucky Freddy did the grubhub dance and stole my fridge

[@walkertang]

That happened to me too, Freddy who for some reason was dressed in completely black enter my house through the window and stole all my parent's jewelry then left

[@notcute-qh8og]

I think the worst part about this is I, can so vividly imagine this happening

[@autistichades5552]

You weren’t ready for Freddy!

[@kruemmelbande5078]

A dusty cardridge could trigger an anti piracy. Maybe the dirty pins cause it to write to the wrong adress in sram, wich would cause it to actually work.

[@TechRules]

This is actually a good point. When a game tries to save at an address that's too high, it just defaults to the highest address, which is the spot the game reads to find out if the SRAM is the right size. Saving to the wrong address would mean the game wouldn't find it in the right spot and trigger a false positive. Seems obvious now that you say it! 😅

[@kruemmelbande5078]

@@TechRules Yeah, dirty cardridges are well known to trigger anti piracy. You know when you have a dirty cardridge on an nes game, and the power light just flashes? That is nintendo´s hardware anti piracy , because it cant read some pins correctly

[@handlethesenutz]

i love that anti-piracy at one point was "if this thing works, something funny's going on here"

[@k96man]

@@handlethesenutz anti-piracy: quick, what's 5 * 2? Hardware: uh, 10 Anti-piracy: (draws gun)

[@ellelawliet6508]

This happened to me on a Donkey Kong Country cartridge

[@WinEntity]

I recall Scott Cawthon specifically mentioning that he didn't mind if people pirated FNaF, and went so far as to add his own version of the game to piratebay. That version would play completely normally, until exiting, upon which Golden Freddy would jumpscare you. It's possible that this was just something that someone attributed to him. However, if I recall, that's how the FNaF anti-piracy story began.

[@Oturan20]

That totally sounds like a thing Scott Cawthon would do.

[@SuperM789]

This is confirmed to be false

[@Goro_Maj1ma]

​@@SuperM789makes sense. All the genuinely cool things usually are. But yay! At least we get to have sad, pathetic losers debunking everything and sucking all joy from the internet .😍

[@DJays4]

​@@Goro_Maj1maThe fact that you are genuinely mad about someone saying a single added jumpscare to fnaf isn't real is like You gotta get your priorities straight

[@mr.jitterspam9552]

​@@DJays4fr, if they get so butthurt, then theyre also miserable twats

[@b0iledfurby659]

My favorite one is the sims 4 anti piracy where everytime your sim bathes, showers, uses the toilet, or otherwise is nude, the pixelation gets bigger and bigger until it covers your entire screen

[@jishan6992]

I am assuming that's false lol

[@yellobanana6456]

Fake

[@yowch1081]

why are you all convinced it’s fake it’s real, there’s multiple sources all saying the same thing about it

[@Mr.ShyGuyYT]

Why does this seem so funny thinking about it

[@TheElf_Online]

This is one of my favorites too, I was thinking about it the entire video.

[@CHKNSkratch]

Gmods antipiracy was skipped over entirely, so I will comment it here: when the game detected you were pirating the game, it would give you an error (failed to shade polygons or sumt like that) that you could not get due to an actual error, so the people who pirated the game would post the error code and ask for a fix, thus exposing themselves as pirates

[@nightorchid5031]

That's great. You mean gmod like garry's mod? The only sort like "gmod" is "Gmod rp", "Garry's mod rp", etc

[@transmasctsukasa]

That’s actually very clever!

[@crazymanwerido4522]

Skullgirls did a similar thing with "what is the square root of fish now im sad"

[@hero-bo7qc]

@@nightorchid5031 whaaaa?

[@kara6020]

@@nightorchid5031 huh??

[@TheAweDude1]

Here's another reason why so few games include creepy/disturbing anti-piracy measures: creepy/disturbing anti-piracy measures are interesting, and would actually encourage people to pirate the game. If a game developer is going to put time and effort into designing something truly bizarre and creepy to "punish" pirates, they might as well put that time and effort into actually developing the game.

[@splonky]

Wait what’s an anti-piracy I was kinda confused wen watching the video

[@izitri420]

@@splonky It's basically a measure games take to make sure u don't steal it

[@splonky]

@@izitri420 I kinda realized what it meant when I got more into the video also thanks

[@ilmansalt]

yeah, why waste time coding extra stuff...

[@wetmote8221]

how about a game that acts as a malware if pirated

[@moonythespoonie9551]

It's one of the common examples, but I'm fond of Skullgirls-style anti-piracy that doesn't actually disrupt the game, just does something weird that tricks pirates into outing themselves

[@TheOriginalSide1]

What is it?

[@moonythespoonie9551]

@@TheOriginalSide1 There's a little popup asking what the square root of a fish is, pirates kept going online to ask what that meant

[@TheOriginalSide1]

@@moonythespoonie9551 reminds me of Gmod and game dev tycoon

[@7tales311]

@@moonythespoonie9551 madmax had something similar with a nigh unkillable enemy in one level that was very specific.

[@exotericidymnic3530]

My favorite anti-piracy measure will always be Batman Arkham Asylum, simply because some guy complained on twitter at the devs that he couldn't get out of the starting area (the measure disabled Batman's gliding ability). Needless to say the devs pointed out what was happening.

[@YuckFouTubeX]

It's similar to the one in a Serious Sam game, where a nearly invincible giant red scorpion chases the main character around the second level and it's stabs kill Sam even if you use invincibility cheats, also it's nearly immortal and chases him around from level to level, should you defeat it it only gets replaced by an even bigger and faster scorpion that kills you seconds later, the forums were full of people complaining about this "Feature" in their "legitimate" game

[@suicune3776]

"Why a giant portion of my viewers are suddenly REALLY REALLY interested in Mario party D.S." That's extremely funny for some reason

[@gengar-edits3457]

that's suicune from pokken

[@jamesmoore7755]

@@gengar-edits3457 sure is

[@kacpercicharski4193]

Omg it's suicune from pokken, is the imposter sus? We need to know

[@suicune3776]

@@kacpercicharski4193 The imposter isn't sus, I'm totally the real suicune, not just some random guy on the internet pretending to be a pokemon.... >w< stop staring!

[@kacpercicharski4193]

I was Just asking if the impostor was sus, and it appears that you outed yourself, im sorry i must do this, but i must signal the emergency meeting.

[@thewindwakinghero7423]

"shameless plug, but hey you're playing illegally"

[@Itachi-ce3jx]

how come their are no replies with 567 likes loool

[@goon5665]

I guess people should go to berzerk.tv Wait... Was that a way to try to get pirate to learn to become game devs to then help them on their next game?! Holy moly that is galaxy brain

[@Itachi-ce3jx]

@@goon5665 😑

[@aurafox1]

@@goon5665 Or maybe the message was to fool the player into a false sense of security and berzerk.tv was actually a cruise to single out everybody who pirated the game and to have them all arrested.

[@goon5665]

@@aurafox1 ah yes. Large brain

[@Shrewdilus]

I think the reason people remember anti piracy screens isn’t because of video games, but because of movies. A lot of vhs and dvds would start with an anti piracy screen that can feel upsetting and confusing to kids

[@AhsokaSnipz]

As far as I'm aware, my favorite Anti-Piracy is in Batman Arkham Asylum where it disables the cape and you need to glide pretty early on so you can't progress.

[@ls190v2]

People said Batman was flapping like a chicken on Twitter, unknowingly exposing themselves!

[@niphfm]

My favourite anti-piracy isn't even really anti-piracy. In each game of the Rhythm Heaven series, the developers leave a message in the "Read Something" section of the cafe, saying something like "Hi, thank you for buying Rhythm Heaven, we hope you enjoy" and it fills my heart with sadness and guilt knowing that their gratitude is being wasted on a pirate.

[@trevorragan3572]

*emotionally torture the pirates*

[@jaden8923]

i still pirate rhythm heaven i downloaded mega mix but haven't played yet

[@hero-bo7qc]

Its like the scrapped anti-piracy from freedom planet where lilac and Carol say they think the game is pirated but still let you play and tell you to donate to them, kill em with kindness I guess

[@MaimaiKuroshiro]

That's much worse, honestly.

[@kirbo857]

Finally someone on the internet remembers this game and imma be ho eat the bartender was a lifesaver

[@DeliciousHotShmoze]

That last one is so freaking wholesome. No judgement, no halting progress, no malice. Just the dev kindly making a simple request that even ends with him still saying “you are the best.”

[@Tower_Swagman]

I hope more devs do this

[@diamond7099]

That's fucking boring what is wrong with you?

[@Gamesmarts194]

Honestly it takes a bit of balls to do that in my opinion.

[@masteralbi6595]

@@diamond7099 whats wrong with YOU?

[@rocketlanterns]

@@Tower_Swagman Another game that does this is Freedom Planet, where they programmed an entire cutscene with the 2 main characters and full voice acting that esssentially does the JSaB thing of "we aint gonna stop you, but please consider helping out if you do like the game".

[@nerdkingalpha4958]

I remember being a kid back in 1982, and when I was playing the first ever Mario. I triggered the anti piracy by licking the cartridge every day. The game.wouldnt boot up and kept showing swears

[@starflare505]

Was the cartridge scrumptious?

[@yeahhwalluiiijji]

why the fuck did you lick the cartridge

[@chillfactory9000]

did it taste good

[@nerdkingalpha4958]

@@chillfactory9000 very

[@YuckFouTubeX]

If I was your father I would be very proud of you ending up as a nerd, all things considered you weren't the brightest candle in 1982, I myself used to lick those square batteries because the electricity tingled my tongue, until one day where I was lying down face up and dropped it in my mouth, I kept struggling until I was sure I was taking my last breaths, then as I got unconscious I fell of the couch and slammed on the ground the battery fired out of my throat... I never did that again

[@RubyBlueUwU]

When I was very young my dad had a few pirated and fake copies of games that I wasn’t really aware were fake (it wasn’t really something I was old enough to understand) so encountering any of these measures was always weird and jarring to me and I can imagine that’s the root of many (not all) people talking abt how they were freaked out by these…their parents or siblings had fake copies, they didn’t know or understand, game feels like it’s accusing you directly of sin

[@DingoOverlord]

The Pokemon character who said “Buy it or die!” Wasn’t an anti-piracy NPC, he was just from New Hampshire!

[@spiffyavatar3611]

underrated

[@yukikursosaki200]

What else did we expect, lol? The state's motto is "Live Free or Die", so "Buy it or Die" would be a close second!

[@T3KNUG3T5]

As a Granite Stater. I believe it.

[@b.n.d1540]

I can confirm; this is 100% real

[@kategachalifeandmore3298]

as someone from new hampshire, it seems true lol

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

I love Skullgirls' anti-piracy method of putting an intentionally-strange message onscreen for people to, inevitably, post about online because they didn't know what it meant. Once they did, they were outed as a pirate because the message only appears for people who cracked the game.

[@zwarriorkrillin6400]

There was a similar one for Garry's Mod where the game would crash at random with a message there was an "error shading polygon normals". people went to get tech support and got dunked on instead

[@iwakeupandboomimarat]

i love the old tweet where someone asked what that screen meant and the skullgirls twitter replied 'it means you should buy the game'

[@skapokonroll]

I remember that also happened with one of the Batman Arkham games, where in pirated copies you couldn't glide with Batman's cape. So whenever someone asked how to beat a certain part, they would be told they were playing a pirated version of the game

[@ausar4148]

Reminds me of how in mirrors edge, if you pirate the game, your character will slow down when you approach a ramp, making jumps impossible, what troll

[@beardalaxy]

Iirc Sims 4 did something where the naked censor would go over your entire character instead of just the middle of them, so when people complained that the censor was too big everyone knew.

[@shadzioz]

8:23 This track is actually used in Cuphead, as before the final boss fight you have an option to turn in the soul contracts to the devil. If you choose to do so, you become the devil's minions, and after a short cutscene it sends you to the title screen, where said music plays.

[@Temmie4Life]

false. when i played it restarted the game and nothing happened

[@shadzioz]

@IncredibleJake690 I'm not saying that the music is the same as anything, (I have no idea where you got that from???) I'm saying that it's used in the game, contrary to what the video says.

[@thecriticalghost4626]

@incrediblejake690 so... The same

[@KogawaRan]

You're almost correct, you need to input the Konami code for said music to play

[@fearisdelicious]

19:44 “Shameless plug, but hey! You’re playing illegally. Lets call it quits.” LMFAO

[@ayylien2432]

Can you imagine being in jail like: "So what are you in for?" prisoner: "i murdered 7 people, robbed 3 houses and a bank, and commited arson. What about you?" Pirate: "i was too poor for micheal jackson rhythm game" :'(

[@kzjha]

:(

[@cocoanotfound9210]

If only prisoners were that chill-

[@knight123x4]

"You monster!-"

[@Kerrmunism]

The JSaB one is really wholesome actually, as much as I get a kick out of the creepy stuff, that was cool to see.

[@floxiesaysreadmybio4988]

yeah, i was in it for a bit, more in the JSaBPC fandom.

[@AxiamWolfe]

Is it a parody of the classic “You Wouldn’t Steal a Car” anti-piracy commercial too?

[@Trimint123]

@@AxiamWolfe It is.

[@defaultdan7923]

what is a jsab

[@defaultdan7923]

nvm

[@mrcool9090]

That malicious one made me think of that one sonic fangame anticheat that made it pretty much malware. It's more or less the creepy pasta antipiracies made real

[@overdoseiinstereo]

sonic gather battle!! ah the irony of the game using stolen sprites

[@CricetoFunni]

I just looked it up out of curiosity and it's way worse than I expected, along with making the game basically unplayable it also apparently reads what you're typing into your web browser and prevents you from typing in certain things (I.E. sonic gather battle cheats, hacks, etc) It also logs some of your device's identifying info and sends it to an online database that the game accesses. Any attempts to just reinstall the game wouldn't work because it would detect that your system is listed in the aforementioned database and start the "Anti-Piracy" again. (I put Anti-Piracy in quotes because it's more of a severely malicious DRM). The only way to remove it would be to contact the game's dev and try to convince them to whitelist your device. The worst part is that this could be triggered by complete accident, either because of a bug (yikes) or through opening certain programs such as cheat engine. The game also runs with admin access and can access everything on your hard disk so that's fun. Yeah this is downright insanity.

[@TheGameTrainzHD]

Real anti-piracy is MILES scarier than these fake ones. With the real ones you can imagine being a kid in a basement grinding a game solo after your friend gave you the disk for free, and then just out of nowhere being told you’re a criminal while the games characters stare at you with disdain and slow, creepy music and audio. You’d feel like someone, or something, is actively coming to get you.

[@thesauce179]

Source?

[@derenyilmaz3598]

It's crazy that the piracy message on just shapes and beats ends with "you're the best!" The fact that the creator can show players that are playing illegally respect and trying to teach them how to support their favourite creators while not spending money is just very heart warming

[@Jhud69]

Same. I really loved that. If I saw this message even if I was in a tough situation I'd save up to actually buy the game. I sometimes pirate games just to try them out if they don't have a demo and if I love them enough I buy them - if they're indie games, even in multiple copies (I have at least 5 copies of Don't Starve and Stardew Valley...), especially if I end up liking the developer. But for expensive games made by shit AAA devs like The Sims 4 I see no reason to get them legally honestly.

[@theraymunator]

As someone who actually can't pay for half of my games, it's cool when developers do that. They have absolutely no reason to show sympathy to people who pirate games, yet there are people that do. That's nice. Really nice.

[@faeb.9618]

as someone who just has enough money for my own needs and still has to save up a lot just to have a working laptop, that honestly warms my heart. it's so nice to know that some of these creators know not all players are just greedy people that refuse to spend money. i've promised myself that if i can afford it, i'll buy all these games that i have been playing pirated once i am able to, and this kind of messages really motivates me to do that.

[@normal_username3231]

I feel like that could have turned out really bad for the creator. Since it does nothing there are no consequences it could have lead to a lot more people pirating

[@faeb.9618]

@@normal_username3231 to be fair, if someone wants to pirate a game nowadayas there really isn't much to stop them, considering the technological advances. and there's actually a lot of people that pirate out of not having the means to buy a game rather than being genuinely uncaring and not wanting to spend money they have. at least with a kind message like this they're more likely to convince people to help the developers out, i imagine a spiteful message and harmful code is more likely to make them keep pirating

[@funnilywordedfunnyman824]

I had this experience, one time when i was 3 months old i ended up accidentally stomping on the cartridge and shattering it into pieces. I put the shards into the console and it gave me an anti-piracy screen and then combusted into flames. I immediately died from the explosion.

[@opossumontheinternet9864]

I thought this was real for a second. Too bad it isn't.

[@totallyahuman5055]

@@opossumontheinternet9864 what do you mean this is totally legit

[@arturoki4028]

same

[@i-sore]

I had a similar experience except it happened to me when I was 9174 years old and I broke the cartidge with my laser feet

[@RyanTosh]

Happened to me too, but I survived the explosion and after my tragic accident I got elected president of every country in the world except Peru.

[@fluffcake]

I think these scare tactics are actually pretty effective, but scaring someone out of purchasing the actual game is risky. But really love the fanmade ones!

[@jordanwardle11]

Tbf, most pirates weren't interested in buying the game in the first place

[@Thedarkbunnyrabbit]

Anti-piracy is dumb for two reasons: the first is that 90% of pirates will never buy your product. They just won't. Either they don't want to give you money, or they can't. If you remove the ability to access that content without the pay, you will not suddenly get more money (or if you will, it has never been shown to be signficant enough to bother). It is essentially, just spite. Second: any half decent pirate is an expert at finding and removing anti-piracy measures anyway. You're only catching the sloppiest of pirates with your anti-piracy measure, and all the downsides like extra disc space, glitches, slow loading, or accidental triggers affect everyone except the people who are the pirates that deactivated your anti-piracy. This quite literally has historically caused some games to be pirated simply because 'it's a much better gaming experience this way'. (one infamous example was when pirates removed the requirement to be online for SimCity, a single player game) When you consider the fact that, say, 10% of all pirates would otherwise pay for your game, and *at best* only 50% of pirates are affected by your anti-piracy measures (and tbh it's probably more like 10-30% if we're being generous) you are effectively protecting yourself from a 5% profit loss at the expense of all of the dev time you put into making your anti-piracy measures, maintaining them, repairing them when they inevitably glitch out, and however many sales you lose from people who just don't want to deal with your anti-piracy measures. Honestly, the only effective anti-piracy measure I've seen ever is the one at the end of this video: a simple recording of a person saying 'hey if you don't want to or can't pay for this game, consider supporting us in ways that aren't monetary'. It's probably far more effective at protecting the company's bottom line - with less investment - than anything else I've seen.

[@astral6749]

That last part was actually very wholesome and would make me want to buy the game even more compared to other anti-piracy solutions.

[@fayezfawzi3255]

precisely. It shows someone who actually understands the end player because he has been there himself.

[@darienb1127]

Freedom Planet also does something similar as well

[@renhaker]

the game is fun too

[@UBvtuber]

@@fayezfawzi3255 Yep that's quite the difference from major game publishers who have corporate assholes asking for these screens and who don't know or care a damn about poor gamers. Nintendo especially could really benefit from people like this calling the shots.

[@kofimoon-vv-8279]

Kinda like with Stardew Valley Although I don't think it has a piracy screen I heard people were feeling bad after pirating it or something

[@APerson-if4qs]

I accidentally triggered earth’s anti-piracy and got chucked into the void. Edit: I GOT OUT!

[@Diaisdumb]

Dammit, we TOLD you it was a very serious crime, and to return the copy to the seller!

[@notkaif]

Dang. Never pirate planets kids

[@Timeward76]

Did you evade your taxes

[@pinkajou656]

You should have bought the original Earth.

[@LolaTheGardevoir]

Did you get reborn from losing all your save progress at the end of the game

[@ThatsJustLikeYourOpinionMan]

The original Alone in the Dark for early PCs came with a little code booklet. The this was TINY and would fit in your palm. When you booted up the game it told you a random page to turn to in the code book. On that page was a series of images (items from the game that could be in your inventory). You would select those images on that page's code into the game. We lost the book once and couldn't play it for months until we found it again.

[@GlitchKnight113]

My favorite anti-piracy is jsab (just shapes and beats), how the creator understands why you probably did it, but is still asks you to buy it, or have others do so, and try to support them in other ways. Edit: it's already at the end lmao

[@thesauce179]

What did we learn

[@ctrlaltrepeat245]

“Diddy Kong is in jail because he pirated a game.” Yoshi with tax fraud, Diddy with piracy

[@kayleighmoore6951]

what about tax pircay

[@knelson3057]

and mario with war crimes

[@TylerFurrison]

Waluigi because Karen took him to court

[@SlyHikari03]

Meanwhile good guy Kirby pays his taxes.

[@Mona-ni6jx]

The unspoken duo.

[@itsmagic1244]

Apparently the “pirata” sound file in La Abadia Del Crimen is larger than the actual game itself

[@yellobanana6456]

Guess they really care about traumatizing kids

[@be_lla2940]

@@yellobanana6456 Mexican kods

[@be_lla2940]

Kids

[@alexg9601]

@@be_lla2940 Spanish people, not every spanish-speaking person is mexican, racist gringo

[@agus_moon]

@@be_lla2940 Lo siento no hablo School Shooting

[@duduche6869]

I can confirm about the "Thank you for playing" image that would pop out after 15min or so within CC Ring of Fates. It was one of the first anti-piracy screens I'd ever seen and I didn't understand what it meant at first

[@huffpapi3597]

This just unlocked a core memory for me… wow. Once I bought a used copy of NHL 08 from a GameStop, and when I booted it up in the PS2 it was some samurai game that was completely in Japanese. I had no idea for literally almost 20 years how a NHL disc had a different game on it, but I feel like it might have been a pirated version. My little brother and I just assumed that the dragon on the guys chest on the cover of the game meant it was secretly a game about Samurai.. The funny thing is despite never understanding anything anyone said we ended up figuring everything out and beating the game. We ended up liking it way more than hockey. It was so strange.

[@markymark443]

"What are you in for?" "I killed a family of 5. You?" "...I pirated Donkey Kong Country"

[@SmokeyDope]

"JFC stay away from me you monster!"

[@em5345-]

"You think that's bad? I PIRATED THE RARE DS MCDONALD'S GAME!"

[@justyouraveragesimp9429]

@@em5345- YOU WHAT? HOW COULD YOU

[@alexg9601]

cellmate: You MONSTER, *Let me out! Let me out!!!*

[@laharl2k]

Well it is said nintendo has conections wih the yakuza so i wouldnt be surpriced if you were on a hit list for piratkng nintendo games. One day out of nowhere some dude comes one a motorbike and shoots you with an uzi or something and leaves a pirate cartridge on your corpse :P

[@aqgpandemic5406]

My personal favorite video game thing related to piracy is from Darkwood, the developer got a message from someone who was couldn’t afford to buy the game and in response the devs put a full real rom of it on the Pirate Bay, with an official message from them saying this is for people who want to play the game but aren’t sure if they’ll like it or might not be able to afford it. Then it had a link the where you could officially buy the game and just asked people to buy it officially if they liked it or when they had enough money.

[@Tuntor689]

Good dev

[@PencilNova]

That's what i would do as an anti-piracy measure,or like the JSaB one

[@zoki4291]

Chad Darkwood devs. As someone who couldn't afford a lot of games growing up, I am kinda thankful

[@giorgiiobidze351]

Pure legends

[@iota-09]

The best anti piracy is pirating it yourself so you can control the damage as much as possible. After all, honestly, online games aside(and not even always) people WILL pirate your game sooner or later, so might as well try and sway their opinion as much as possible in a productive and effective way till it's possible.

[@ruzgarefsanesi5130]

Fun fact! It is actually possible to trigger that cuphead sound effect. The way its done is: First go do the bad ending by offering your soul to the devil. This will make the title screen theme reversed but not reverb like the "piracy effect" after doing the bad ending, go into the title screen and punch in the Konami Code. This actualy makes that sound play. I'm geniuenly serious.

[@jamiej3776]

I appreciate your use of real good and modified checksums for _The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy_ on the NES at 13:37

[@somedragonbastard]

Yeah, I saw the anti-piracy stuff sometimes. Once, while playing Super Metroid, the game crashed and Ridley came out and killed my parents and I had to be adopted by bird people.

[@antonto1]

'I may be a space pirate but you... You disgust me'

[@davideogamer7910]

Gray mann? Is that you?

[@superplushtiman7ti075]

Samus? You were playing your own game? (I know this is a joke)

[@haka-katyt7439]

@@antonto1 robbing and killing people is fine Samus, BUT PIRATING A 15 YEAR OLD GAME??? UNACCEPTABLE

[@hilary3219]

And that's how you became Leo from Stardew Valley...

[@tweekkat7764]

Once I tried pirating Yakuza 0. Majima came to my house and beat the shit out of me, screamed something in Japanese, and stole my money

[@Salmonator2000]

Wow, must have been a prototype for the "Majima Everywhere" system in Yakuza Kiwami.

[@CyberdustStudios]

Same but with Santa-san

[@davisdf3064]

Same, best day of my life.

[@b.nngames4468]

the worst part is that you now have no money :(

[@Lokear]

I know it's taking it very literally, but I like to think Majima just roared the Japanese word for 'something' at the top of their lungs.

[@ReiDaTecnologia]

I bet the % of people who bought the game after seeing that wholesome "anti-piracy" screen in Just Shapes & Beats is way higher than the average "Piracy is a crime" screen or just crash...

[@ahumanbeing8371]

The cup head “anti piracy” audio is just what plays if you say yes to the devil and re-open the game try it for yourself.

[@happyd150]

No it just restart ur game and reverse the title theme not the same music

[@goomygaming980]

​@@happyd150the reversed title theme is literally the song they're talking about.

[@happyd150]

Its because its not the same audio. When you cash into the devil you dont hear laughs and crap you hear the title theme backwards. The audio is called DealWithTheDevil666

[@goomygaming980]

@@happyd150 you sure you don't hear that stuff?

[@ytazzy5800]

There is actually a way to trigger the Cuphead "Anti-Piracy" reverse song, but it has nothing to do with piracy. If you get to the final boss fight against the Devil, before the start of the fight, there is a short cutscene in which you either hand over the contracts, or refuse to. If you hand the contracts over, you get the bad ending to the game, and the credits role. Once the credits are done, stick around on the title screen. That's where the reverse song can be heard. I'm not sure if it's the same one, but it's the closest thing to the supposed anti-piracy method that I know of.

[@MetaBloxer]

It could be tested. If you replace the audio file with something more distinct, it would either play or not play at the end. Bonus points if you use All Star by Smash Mouth or something like it.

[@curtisplays21]

@@MetaBloxer yes

[@Redokev]

As i heard they were about to add it as a anti piracy but they decided not to

[@ytazzy5800]

@@MetaBloxer I don’t have the game on steam, but I’ll try to get it and hopefully I’ll come back with results.

[@loganstewart7105]

@@ytazzy5800 well? Anything?

[@PinguinodelRio]

One time I booted up my copy of a Tech Rules video. For the first fee minutes, everything played out normally, but then all of a sudden, the audio got super distorted, to the point where it became unbearable to listen to. Then all of a sudden, Mario started staring at me with blood red eyes and told me in a raspy voice: “Piracy is no party.”

[@theeagle7552]

And then his hyper realistic eyes started bleeding

[@klunk4683]

Don't mess with mario

[@renhaker]

then after that the game showed me a picture of my grave with freddy freaked dancing on it!!!!1!1!!1!1!!!1! so scary

[@sasdagreat8052]

And when I refreshed the page, it took me to a new KZbin video that screamed at me, "WOULD YOU STEAL A CAR?"

[@Grexius]

Should've turned off adblock. >:/

[@CrystalC9]

Oh I love the Rabi-Ribi one. My friend set that off on accident without knowing it was a thing a while back when he used a DLC unlocker to get the Orchestra Mode Music & Skin pack, though he just let it unlock everything and well... As soon as he loaded in I just saw him go offline on Discord and Steam and knew his PC overloaded lol

[@Jimmy--Little]

yup

[@mateoreyes5309]

Other game companies: *make creepy ass anti-piracy screens* Dennaton Games: YAR HAR FIDDLE DE DEE

[@emojisarepurecancer8097]

Correction, KZbinrs: make creepy ass anti-piracy screens Other game companies: makes it impossible or outright miserable to play a pirated copy

[@arcticdino1650]

I like that the Ace Attorney one turns the language into a fictional language from two of Capcom's aeries

[@MrMegaManFan]

Into aerials, up so high...

[@AyrisX86]

Wouldn't that take up a lot of space, to contain the entirety of the game's text again but in a fake language?

[@cessposter]

@@AyrisX86 there is a thing called a font

[@picopogandolly9982]

@@Mama-Luigi LMFAO

[@jbabeb8328]

“Sorry I can’t speak English well” Literally is the man who said gibberish in ddlc without stuttering once

[@abder200]

Lmao yes

[@millermiller3439]

Very well could have been re-recorded a bunch

[@Kate-tr1jr]

He's fluent in gibberish

[@329link]

That probably took a LOT of tries

[@Goobert42069]

XD wow

[@Clammychow]

Your tone at 9:32 makes me laugh so hard 😭 it’s so accusatory

[@mermer3572]

What's really interesting about that soundtrack in Cuphead is like you said, it does exist in the game, it's just not an anti-piracy measure. It's triggered when the player agrees to the devil's terms and hands over the souls of the prior bosses.

[@mouthwide0pen]

It, admittedly, did not do this on release, but the audio file stilll existed. Hence why rumours existed surroundijg it.

[@azyjmexcuseokstop924]

I remember that on zelda spirit tracks, the antipiracy would deactivate your train controls when going to the castle for the first time. Since you cannot whistle the pig out of the way, you hit it and cannot restart your train. I always found this one very elegant.

[@zoki4291]

As someone who played the pirated version of spirit tracks till the end (poor kid, parents wouldn't dare buy me everything, you get the drill), like actually finished it and all, but for some reason as if it's some hidden memory I remember the anti-piracy measure happening, despite actually never happening.

[@justinw.2168]

Holy shit. It's probably been 10 years since I encountered that on my ds as a kid. Thank you for solving a mystery of my childhood I had forgot about

[@adenosine2electricboogaloo647]

I thought it said restart your brain

[@mohammadsaddam4560]

Damn i've played the pirated rom and boy i think its a broken game

[@bmrabbit]

Yeah I remember pirating it and not knowing why it just doesn't work lol.

[@untrustfool5646]

I like how the anti-piracy screen at the end just sounds like “pirating is illegal! but it’s okay, i did it too. you can pay me with exposure if you don’t have money!”

[@lampshadewhichisblue]

r/boosingcheggars

[@nexutrosity]

@@lampshadewhichisblue o.O

[@wodawiod5447]

the one time where paying in exposure is OK

[@geeworm]

@Rion_Guests bussy

[@starspritechippy]

@@pixelgamelvr it *is* the just shapes and beats anti piracy message

[@acefromeuropa4759]

Anti-Piracy measures scared the hell out of me as a kid despite the fact all the stuff i got was legit i was so scared some creepypasta-esque stuff would happen.

[@creepercraftytT99]

13:50 yep, garbage is the only attack method in tetris too, but believe me, there is A Lot MORE of it in Tetris

[@pepesilvia429]

I got an antipiracy screen on SMW when I was three months old, i cried, pee'd my pants and karate chopped my dad in the throat

[@camman3740]

WHAT THE FUCK!

[@rixeno]

And then you beat him to death

[@sarcore_]

Same

[@lonewolf711_]

Is your dad good tho

[@rixeno]

@@lonewolf711_ nah hes dea'd

[@igunn8632]

“Shameless plug but you are playing illegally so we will call it quits” made me chuckle

[@MetalMuffinJumbosoCheese]

Same.

[@olrominic206]

So I found your channel today and I enjoy the content

[@krysisaverted]

16:20 As I native Spanish speaker, I am honored to be the one with the privilegeth to translatedeth this for thou "Pirate" "Pirate" "Pirate" "Pirate" "Pirate" "Pirate" "Pirate" "Pirate" "Pirate" "Pirate" "Pirate" In the last repetition Tech Rules does something really sneaky, and changes the text on the screen to "Piñata", which sounds really similar to "Pirata" (in Spanish) but means.... well... "piñata"...

[@insaniac2021]

I once triggered anti-piracy on my Otamatone. It just played a “wah” sound whenever I touched it. No one believes me though!

[@kyro_xx]

I swear I've seen you comment on a completely unrelated video before lol

[@insaniac2021]

@@kyro_xx That means my plan is working well…

[@leo79033]

Hey i have an otamatone

[@somedummyonyoutube3362]

sully knows your location *_s t a r t r u n n i n g_*

[@burnv06]

It became Waluigi

[@imakoolguy4251]

Subnautica has an anti piracy feature that is on the pause menu that says “ if you enjoy playing our game please consider supporting us by purchasing a copy.”

[@MusharnaMush]

Id just pirate that out /s

[@Dumbone.]

Damn they should give you a choice (the q is continue playing) Yes would tp you the void with a shit ton of ghost leviathans No would just boot you off the game

[@jek__]

Ooh creepy anti-piracy myths, I wanna play! Ok how about this - In the early days of arcade games most developers were just focused on the game itself and distribution was difficult. As games gained popularity a way to get these games to the people was needed, so a company arose to facilitate this. It essentially provided a cookie cutter backend for arcade cabinet compatibility, which allowed these computer game developers to easily utilize the arcade hardware and distribute their product. One of the components of that backend api was an anti-piracy measure. Being a feature in arcade cabinets this anti-piracy measure would rarely trigger as the game player themselves doesn't have the opportunity to pirate arcade games. But if you found your way into a grey market arcade you might stumble across a machine that had detected its piracy, and triggered this feature. The feature, programmed into nearly every arcade cabinet but rarely seen, would circumvent starting the main game listed on the cabinet, and instead boot into a subversively psychologically manipulative game intended to reprogram the user into being averse to further piracy, but which led to unintended and largely undocumented changes to the minds of players. This game was titled "Polybius"

[@minoxiothethird]

underrated comment

[@user-jd6do2ls2j]

Cool story

[@ItsMe_Victor]

It's a cool myth

[@Brikiboi69]

Interesting

[@linuxguy1199]

17:58 As a developer, that is totally something I would do. It would be easy to implement and totally worth it for the lols.

[@erkenred]

Actually for cuphead, that “spooky noise/song” is what plays when you choose (spoiler) to sell out to the devil. The next time you go to the title screen after getting that ending, that song will play.

[@Stefanoabed05]

Very interesting

[@Powerisha]

@B N9476 You are absolutely right According to the rumours, if you get the bad ending, the title music just reverses. The creepy version will play if you pirate the game. (Again, it is all rumours, which are proven false.)

[@willowids369]

@@Powerisha except that's proven incorrect in this exact video. There's no antipiracy measures. No checks or anything. The file's just in the game.

[@Powerisha]

@@willowids369 I was going off the myth. Ik it is not real.

[@Khosumi]

@@Powerisha that's not what it looked like you were saying.

[@fiend-off-the-grid]

7:53 fun fact: this audio actually ISN'T unused! It's used whenever the player goes through the "bad end" of the game (where you actually hand over the soul contracts to the devil instead of triggering the bossfight.) after the short cutscene, it will boot you back to the title screen and will play this audio file instead of the normal title screen audio (dunno why people made it into an antipiracy creepypasta)

[@rhettdajet5028]

I was waiting for someone to say this haha

[@Octol1ng]

No no, this bad ending FEELS like creepypasta

[@maesaliva]

Oh my, that would scare younger me so much To be honest it’d scare me today

[@bruhlono]

isnt the bad ending title screen just backwards, nothing else?

[@fiend-off-the-grid]

@@bruhlono no, it's the song that's backwards, not the actual screen

[@Peppermynt.]

i triggered the super mario anti-piracy screen by playing the game naked, an egg appeared, smoked a blunt, said “HELO, ME ARE BLUNT EG, DO NOT PIRACY” and then hatched to reveal a heavily dithered image of a spider

[@DorkVaderYT]

One screen I saw somebody make is for Sonic Adventure 2 with Sonic telling you that piracy is bad, but it wasn't a run of the mill creepypasta screen. That one was really cool and realistic

[@UCWjF-rlGGWBHxEPLGJXZBoA]

Yes, I would like you to talk about the Baldi's anti piracy.

[@davedavison9769]

same here

[@lpolarisl219]

What's that one about ?

[@Sazandora123]

I'd love to hear more about it, too!

[@UCWjF-rlGGWBHxEPLGJXZBoA]

@@lpolarisl219 12:41 Watch it

[@PrincessColumbidae]

I don't understand why a demo would need anti piracy? It's free?

[@FrederykStrife]

I believe the reverse title screen is used when instead of fighting the devil, you hand the souls over, and it boots you to the title screen with that playing

[@goldenyoyo0791]

nah, that's different, the reverse title screen is unused from what I've seen

[@lukejensen9933]

No the anti-piracy screen is lower pitched, the bad ending one is just backwards

[@goldenyoyo0791]

@@lukejensen9933 well, for one, the backwards one can't be the bad ending because, like he said, the backwards one is completely unused

[@ondrejzmolik7417]

@@goldenyoyo0791 I've seen a streamer have the reverse title screen after getting the bad ending

[@thedinofromdinoshittybeat3434]

I got both endings and I can confirm this does play with the bad ending

[@KarleonBR]

Oh god that woke up some primordial memories. Loved La abadia del crimen, really unexpected entry!

[@moonrakerone]

I remember one company released an update for their game with DRM as part of the update. This was when digital downloading of games was relatively new (mid 2000s). It turned out that the DRM required a code from the game box that the digital downloaders wouldn't have. When the company went to remove their DRM from the game...they discovered they couldn't. So they took a pirate crack from a pirate site and included it as the next update for the game. 🤣

[@quack5210]

My favorite Anti-Piracy system is the one of Enter the Gungeon, or rather Mod the Gungeon. If you have a pirated copy of the game and decide to install mod the gungeon, instead of starting a normal run it starts you in a room where you can only enter a boss arena. There 10 Lord of the jammed spawn (an unkillable enemy which only spawns when certain criteria are met) which almost instantly kill you due to their attack patterns. It doesnt even end there. After that the game crashes and opens two windows in your browser. These are the Steam page of Enter the Gungeon and the Lazy Town song of You are a Pirate

[@FectoMemoria]

the fact that they used you are a pirate sent me

[@dream_walker9726]

@@FectoMemoria same

[@DragoonDyte]

The devs are so creative

[@iaminpain.]

dang that’s good

[@Retr0_Streamer]

I tried to transfer enter the gungeon from my Xbox to a windows laptop and that happened

[@JomasterTheSecond]

As an anti-piracy buff myself, I'm intensely upset that there's so many fakes out there that are confusing newbies.

[@Falkuzrules]

If any notable amount of people has any interest in something, the internet is gonna take it and start making fakes and ruining it for everyone! Whether it's anti-piracy, "unused" game-over screens, or VHS tapes...

[@noncreativearts5360]

I find anti piracy very interesting do you have any videos or examples (that are real) I could look into?

[@JomasterTheSecond]

@@noncreativearts5360 Head onto TCRF and look at this page - tcrf.net/Category:Games_with_anti-piracy_methods It's full of great stuff. One of my personal favourites though is Serious Sam 3: Before First Encounter. It's a great example - a giant pink unkillable scorpion monster hunts you throughout the game. Another is Puggsy on the Mega Drive - it kicks you out after like 6 levels and tells you to buy a real copy. It even uses "your" instead of "you're" on the screen!

[@noncreativearts5360]

@@JomasterTheSecond thank you so much! I will definitely look into this!

[@hk7u]

i downloaded a pirated copy of cuphead once, expected to be spooked, i was! the bosses were nightmare fuel!, downloaded yet another pirated copy, threw a cross at my screen to murder the devil once i got to the fight where he looked like smile dog and siren head mixed together, and swore that i would pay for games next time.

[@Dovah_Slayer]

Me binging Tech rules videos: wow i love this dude i wonder how often he uploads *last upload was a year ago* Me: oh ok time to binge all the videos again until the next upload Also the "creepy audio" is likely being confused with the bad ending changes to the title screen (i seem to recall the reversed title screen being real but only for the bad ending which yes cuphead has a bad ending) hence the file name of dont deal with the devil

[@Totally_Bonkers]

Just shapes and beats goes the whole other way, appreciating you and calling you the best

[@romance0038]

why the hell did i start crying from that anti piracy message at the end he’s so understanding and supportive of the people who’re playing his game in any form

[@richie1002]

You're disappointed with yourself for expecting the worse out of people, perhaps? Just giving out ideas

[@hahaisntitfunny5579]

@@richie1002 Do you only read newspapers filled with horoscopes

[@jvpro2076]

We're no strangers to love You know the rules and so do I A full commitment's what I'm thinking of You wouldn't get this from any other guy I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling Gotta make you understand Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you We've known each other for so long Your heart's been aching, but You're too shy to say it Inside, we both know what's been going on We know the game and we're gonna play it And if you ask me how I'm feeling Don't tell me you're too blind to see Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you (Ooh, give you up) (Ooh, give you up) Never gonna give, never gonna give (Give you up) Never gonna give, never gonna give (Give you up) We've known each other for so long Your heart's been aching, but You're too shy to say it Inside, we both know what's been going on We know the game and we're gonna play it I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling Gotta make you understand Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you Never gonna make you cry Never gonna say goodbye Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

[@alexiarosalia]

@@jvpro2076 rickrolled I am😔

[@jvpro2076]

@@alexiarosalia damn, i rickrolled yoda!

[@KorporalKReephdmkiytrecv69]

Of course it makes sense Luigi would pirate stuff, he does absolutely nothing including not paying for stuff

[@NerdyColonel160]

But if he does nothing, he wouldn't pirate either.

[@Glory2Snowstar]

This is the same man that didn’t bat an eye when he won a free mansion from a contest he didn’t even enter. I think Luigi is a more insidiously nonchalant figure than we give him credit for.

[@CommanderWiggins]

The thrilling sequel to Yoshi Commits Tax Fraud, get ready for Luigi Commits Video Game Piracy!

[@ramonmff5158]

Have you SEEN the mountains of money that dude has?

[@Noxedwin]

@@CommanderWiggins Fuck. This comment deserves more love than it's gotten.

[@lilypyrope4620]

Not sure if it was anti-piracy or just the disk being bad or some kind of soft/hardware issue, but I used to have a copy of MK: Double Dash and it always crashed on the third lap of Luigi Circuit, at almost the exact same time. I don't know if the game was borked or not, but that's a real thing that happened and I was genuinely concerned when I was young

[@CrashGordon94]

Yeah, I think that's just a dirty or damaged disc.

[@lilypyrope4620]

@@CrashGordon94 yeah, I figured as much

[@Chickenbreadlp]

One really malicious example I can think of was from a Japanese of Korean MMO title. When the game detected that it was pirated, it would crash to what seemed like a crash handler, and the pirate was asked to enter some personal details (Name + Email or Phone) so that the devs could "contact" the user in case they needed more info on the crash. After submitting, the game would launch again as usual (if the "crash handler" was closed on any other way, the game refused to re-launch). Now here's the twist: months after launch of the game, a new page appeared on the games website, that listed the details of every single user who had submitted this "crash handler". In essence, they publicly shamed every person who pirated the game 🤭

[@alephorsmth9140]

JESUS CHRIST. THAT'S EVIL.

[@MissSolaris]

Man, that's evil genius

[@Rebecca_George]

That among us idea, imagine the game ending with the screen “everyone was an imposter”

[@naga7900]

I wish there were a 0,0001% chance of this happening in the game.

[@thebiolibrary5572]

Or you try to get in a game, but you’re instantly ejected as soon as you “find” a room, with the game saying “Pirates aren’t allowed on this ship.”

[@Platitudinous9000]

It's like the opposite of the Smash Summit Mafia game where everyone was a villager!

[@tracyblanchard7663]

Honestly, a mode where "You are a pirate" and everyone is a crewmate with no tasks wouldn't be a bad anti-piracy measure. Your only option is to wait indefinitely on the ship or vote people off until everyone's gone.

[@Stickyz]

That doesn't make sense because the imposter knows who else is an impostor

[@bluwzrdphone]

My favorite anti-piracy measure is still the one for the game developer simulator, where your studio goes bankrupt and it ends with the message about piracy ruining your studio because no one needed to buy it.

[@FourthDerivative]

Meta as hell

[@Mafootion]

Yeah this ruined the experience of the game for me. I paid for it in a genuine way and it popped up every time I tried to play it. I thought it was the end of the game. And it ended with some message about piracy. I did find out the game thought I was using a pirated version but I just remember the emotions I felt at the time and never gone back to play it again.

[@karloveliki5373]

Pirated that game, got the message but never actually went bankrupt. Thought it was just a normal feature

[@b.nngames4468]

7:51 i love how you can just at the end of that word he just slowly cracks up