The Hidden Secrets of Alien Resurrection on the PS1

[@ModernVintageGamer]

Get an exclusive Surfshark deal! Enter promo code MVG for an extra 3 months free at surfshark.deals/MVG

[@IIARROWS]

I can't believe you are lying on "safety" for VPN advertising, shame on you!

[@Danielo515]

Wasn't that krusty the clown?

[@Ironically-Sarcastic]

The code doesn't work if you only want the VPN. It's also not particularly exclusive given how many codes there are floating around for this. And on top of that, Surfshark have no cancellation button - you have to contact support and hope they respond in time before you're re-billed at a much higher price. I love your content MVG, but please find a different sponsor.

[@et7313]

Surfshark is terrible. Bypasser doesn't work, killswitch turns off whenever it feels like it, the latency is terrible, and the customer service is non existent.

[@Sarge92]

ok for the record and fun everyone post how much that game is on ebay RIGHT NOW currently in the uk the game costs betweek £20 and £40

[@alexlefevre3555]

Martin... you literally programmed a swap exploit into a retail PlayStation game, got it past Sony QA, *didn't tell your co-workers*, and spoke naught of it until now? I stand in awe of you, sir.

[@MartinPiper6502]

I figured it was so long ago and that I didn't want to get old and die without letting go of these kind of secrets. :)

[@alexlefevre3555]

I find it hard to prognosticate a world where I could ever attain that level of cool

[@cencil6497]

What a legend!! @@MartinPiper6502

[@MikeFraley-w7k]

@@alexlefevre3555Not using words like prognosticate would be a start.

[@casedistorted]

@@MartinPiper6502I love that so much. I knew there had to be old video game secrets out there that programmers put in without telling anyone. I am glad to witness one of these Sir Martin 😎

[@ModernVintageGamer]

A Few Notes: - This works with any version of Alien Resurrection (I've personally tested North American ) - This works on emulators ive tested (Duckstation and Mednefen) - It works with most (maybe all?) PS1 models in all regions. - With a Memory card you can save the cheat menu and it will only require you to entire the secret code. Complete Code List: code_0 = L1, RR, RL, L1, LD, LU, RR//-- 0 guns code_1 = L1, L2, LU, L1, L2, LU, RR//-- 1 ammo code_2 = R1, R2, LD, R1, R2, LL, RL//-- 2 health code_3 = R1, L1, LL, R1, L1, RL, LD//-- 3 face hugger code_4 = R2, L2, LR, R2, L2, RR, LD//-- 4 drown code_5 = RL, LU, LD, RR, LL, R1//-- 5 research menu code_6 = RR, LL, LR, RR, LU, R2//-- 6 debug menu code_7 = R1, LD, R1, LR, L1, LU, L2, RL//-- 7 section select code_f = RU, L1, R1, RL, L1, R1, L1, RL//-- f version display code_8 = LL, LU, LR, LD, LR, LU, LL, RL, RU, RL, RU, L1//-- 8 Martins special super code

[@ocha-time]

Really appreciate the awesome video, but I would highly recommend editing the audio to give the correct code for inputs, as someone's likely going to be listening to this video trying to do it, not reading the addendum added in post and getting frustrated that it's not working. Usually a visual edit is fine but this is one of those instances where I really think it should be fixed up in post since it's instruction.

[@slyp5409]

@@ocha-timeAudio cannot be Redone retroactively (really stupid that still isn’t possible mind you) but I agree a fair amount of people won’t bother seeing corrections

[@ocha-time]

@@slyp5409 Weird, coulda sworn there was an audio replacement option in the video editor built into YT. Maybe it only lets you slot in unlicensed music, that'd be really stupid :p

[@antikommunistischaktion]

@@slyp5409 There actually is a KZbin feature that allows you to wholesale replace a video while maintaining the same video ID, likes, comments, etc but only super massive channels like LTT have access to it.

[@arcticfeather]

Did Alien Resurrection get a Japanese release?

[@MartinPiper6502]

Thank you for bringing this story to life and the channel plug. It's nice to see people enjoyed the game.

[@NervousNoodles]

_[Sony Corp Legal Department has entered the chat]_

[@lucaslg26]

Glad its not Nintendo

[@AJ_UK_LIVE]

Super interesting stuff! Thank you for sharing :)

[@WayStedYou]

Sneaky hidden features

[@MisterCasket]

Remaster this game!

[@SpiritOfHalloween31]

This is actually amazing. I normally don't like the disc swapping method because to me its rather crude and can scratch up your discs if you're not quick enough or have a steady hand, but this actually stops the disc and gives you time to just change it normally. Martin Piper you are a legend, thank you for not telling Sony and keeping this a secret until now.

[@Adam_Outdoors]

The Gameshark/Swap magic discs also stopped the disc for you.

[@SpiritOfHalloween31]

@@Adam_Outdoors I did not know this, good to know.

[@maybeitsneato]

Yeah, I've never successfully swapped a disc.

[@Adam_Outdoors]

@@maybeitsneato It's easy. Used to do it all the time back in the day. Just got to do it quick enough at right time when it spins down if using game as boot disc.

[@jbreckmckye]

In principle, if you had a set of PSX EXE files and any code they banked in, you could find other games with the same feature. The "disc stop" (CdlStop) and "start executable" (CdReadExec) commands are both specific BIOS calls, you would be able to pick them out of any uncompressed executable code, and you could potentially find games using it without calling CdlStatShellOpen to check if the tray is open. The problem is a lot of games load code outside their EXE itself. Maybe you could do it with an emulator plugin of some kind and a lot of manual testing. It would not be trivial but potentially there are other games out there with the same functionality...

[@FordFourD-aka-Ford4D]

6 days later and the eBay prices for this disc have shot WAY up! They now range from $355 to $655… and a graded copy is listed for $810!

[@Jfscloud723]

True and Phantom Crash but there are so many just on ebay looks like the sales have stoped

[@NotChris03]

And for that you maybe better off buying a disc swapping or a old thing that allows to do that

[@Frozenduckling]

Now the ones that go for that are going to be very scratched on top of over priced.

[@RestFunction]

lol just got mine for 15 euros

[@MichaelOfRohan]

People are so stupid lol

[@Double8546DX]

its genius, the devs knew they had a softmod that was undetectable and 100% used it after launch

[@SinisterSkyler]

When you word it like this it’s hilariously well played

[@kosmosyche]

They brought a trojan horse into Sony's ecosystem and let it stay dormant for 23 years. 😆

[@HMNNO]

Dunno if it's genius to make a random code that wasn't disclosed to sony but it's cool at least

[@di4352]

@@kosmosyche It was a softmod face hugger

[@SweetBean92]

Those devs probably used it for their own purposes at home @@HMNNO

[@_The_Archive_]

Fun Fact: For the movie, Sigourney Weaver originally refused to do a fourth Alien film. When asked why she changed her mind, she replied, "They basically drove a dumptruck full of money to my house".

[@InnerRise]

It's the HONESTY for me💀💀💀

[@ImmaSpam__________________Can]

I agree that is an incredibly honest answer and I totally respect it

[@Miraihi]

The movie was bad but Sigourney Weaver still is a badass in the movie. Ripley becoming a xenomorph/human hybrid of sorts is actually an interesting concept that could've been done more justice.

[@sociallyresponsiblexenomor7608]

@@Miraihi Ngl I like it a lot more than Alien 3. It's more campy with more jokes and such, but I rewatch it from time to time. I rarely rewatch 3 at all.

[@Miraihi]

@@sociallyresponsiblexenomor7608 actually same. Alien 3 is such a slog to watch I may prefer Alien 4.

[@dog_knight]

What an awesome Easter egg. Wouldn’t have ever seen the light of day if not for Martin sharing. Makes you wonder how many cheat codes or Easter eggs remain hidden still to this day.

[@jamesbasnett2580]

⁶

[@thediamonddust]

Not really an Easter egg is it.

[@tim.martin]

Easter egg hidden at 1:18 too.

[@Aeduo]

@@thediamonddust The easter egg is the whole extra game you get to play for free. :)

[@Dan-di9jd]

It was probably a debug menu left in from the developers who wanted to test various builds but got tired of having to burn a new PS1 capable disc.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

Martin has always been an absolute legend and been nothing but kind when it came to sharing information regarding Alien Resurrection.

[@Thy_Boss]

Wild how often floundering sci-fi cinema turns into a groundbreaking video game that paves the way for standards in the genre. _Dune 2_ for real-time strategy, _Alien Resurrection_ for console FPS, _Riddick_ for a bunch of "action" game standards, right down to vaulting onto raised surfaces with an animation instead of Mario-jumping everywhere.

[@treighpedroche1516]

Wow...just wow! Imagine having this knowledge back in 2000! I remember even as a 12 year old kid playing the PS1 and having some computer/software knowledge at the time, thinking that there must be so many secrets in these games that only the developers know and will never tell. Finally, the NDAs are expiring and we can enjoy these gems of knowledge from the past.

[@TheDjardy]

Even better, we got it when we’re 40!

[@l88ch3r]

Not only is it awesome its there to begin with, it's awesome that he remembered the steps and wanted to disclose it all this time later. That was so close to being lost forever.

[@DustinBarlow8P]

He could have stumped his toe and accidently fell into a wood chipper, and it would have been lost forever. So the message is?... Disclose your secrets...... You could fall in a wood chipper!

[@mixednuts4you]

​@@DustinBarlow8P what's one of your secrets then?

[@trinitybingham2406]

Well... Certainly wasn't expecting that today... This is one of those things that, in my opinion, is the tales of a true legend in the industry. That kinda secret takes a lot to keep in for 23 years, and the icing on the cake is Sony had no idea. Absolutely brilliant.

[@phlhoran12396]

Just epic.

[@aeriumfour6096]

I really love it when these little secrets are found in games after so long. All those people who worked on it, took the time to do this, never said anything, but there it is.

[@Dan-di9jd]

It sounds like the developers are the one who reached out to this guy.

[@Prxpagandalf]

Have you even watched the video my dude? 😂

[@aeriumfour6096]

@@Prxpagandalf Yeah, they eventually mentioned it, this is a game from 2000, it's 23 years old.

[@elythiel]

Back in my uni days we were using syphon filter 3 to boot a backup copy using the swap method, it was a lot faster than that as it required no code or even starting the game, but it was done while the disk was spinning, using the noise of the spin speed and the optical lens reading sound to know when we had to do the swap. Good old memories ❤️

[@justvers]

Loved the syphon filter games

[@DucktheMe]

I used to do this too back in '00/01

[@zachman893]

Worked with Any real game

[@RPGreg2600]

Yep, I used to do that too. Mostly to play NES games with IMBNES. I think it only worked with the very first PS1 models.

[@Jacob-2796]

Action Replay was all I needed. Slotted straight into the back.

[@Pixelman546]

Mind blowing. I find it fascinating that the cutting room floor knew about the code beforehand but didn't know it's use. Really makes you think about other games at the time and if any of them have similar secrets... I'm sure some of the devs got crafty with their codes as clearly demonstrated in the video when it required a specific level select. Fantastic video, this discovery blew me away.

[@jbreckmckye]

In principle, if you had a set of PSX EXE files and any code they banked in, you could find them. The "disc stop" (CdlStop) and "start executable" (CdReadExec) commands are both specific BIOS calls, you would be able to pick them out of any uncompressed executable code, and you could potentially find games using it without calling CdlStatShellOpen to check if the tray is open. The problem is a lot of games load code outside their EXE itself. Maybe you could do it with an emulator plugin of some kind and a lot of manual testing. It would not be trivial but potentially there are other games out there with the same functionality.

[@damian9303]

I can only wonder if whether those other “Unknown” button inputs found in that datamined article from TCRF was alternative combinations after doing the D-pad gestures since they both require the same button presses just at different timings.

[@b8s_art]

Wild find. Sorta reminds me of the og oxm (official xbox magazine that had hidden import demos on its monthly disc that you could pull up by finding the right combo of buttons to hit in full order by very soft rumble that tapped per hit at main menu etc. Tegridy members

[@mirrorsedger]

Wow! Imagine if something like this slipped through the cracks on current consoles.

[@dftfire]

On current consoles, it would simply get patched-out, given that to play newer games, you have to be running a minimum system firmware level and so would eventually be forced to update, unless you were happy to only play older games

[@AndreFreitas91250]

Probably Sony would pay to the person that discovered it just to keep it quiet until they release a patch to most consoles. Also the studio who did do it would be pursued by Sony's legal team😅

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

Looking at examples of games on the 3DS that were found to have exploits? Probably instantly delisted, and then assuming the developers are still around quickly patched and put back up.

[@KopperNeoman]

Some things did. Not outright privilege escalation, but UWP apps on Xbox One/Series that called themselves games to get extra OS permissions.

[@j377yb33n]

I don't think you'd have a low enough level access on modern consoles to get away with it, though going back to the 3ds there was some exploits with a ubisoft game with a QR code feature, and the original switch unlock exploit by bridging pins inside one of the joycon notches

[@SomeOrangeCat]

That late model PSOne is such a an aesthetically pleasing console. Its so elegant.

[@AaronHendu]

You could even get that official clam shell style LCD display for it. It is so cute. As someone who's fav console is the Sega Dreamcast, I think the PSOne is a close second.

[@TVIDS123]

Mine had an official bag to carry it around with too that had room for discs

[@jammin2575]

Yep I fell in love with that design and had to get it day 1, I still have it to this day. The screen took ages to come out and boy was I excited for it, I wanted to make it truly portable even though the battery pack was a behemoth and didn’t work well at all.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

@@jammin2575 Definitely one of Sony's better moments.

[@mastahshonuff]

This is one of the most amazing discoveries, especially for how long it was kept in secret. great video

[@akyruz8345]

Over 20 y ago someone was probably already thinking about possibilites for video game preservation when old hardware becomes absolete and physical original cd copies become rare or unplayable. Thank you Martin. On another note, I own this game (even played it last year at my parents house) and this is the first time i see someone giving it proper credit for its "inovating" way of using what is now considered standard movement/aim control using the controller L/R joysticks.

[@chasesmay7237]

That’s so wild. The ps1 was the first ‘modded’ console I ever owned. The cheap, flashed action replay card in the serial port, a pen spring or toothpick in the open disc tray, the whole nine. It didn’t work all the time, it was janky but my little brother and I loved exploring the library, we would spend hours on forums and getting torrents. To think that all I ever really needed was my copy of Alien from the shelf and a few button prompts… Kudos on this video, this is awesome:)

[@dmoehling]

This was soooooo amazing! You should be extremely proud that you were selected to showcase this announcement. I couldn’t imagine anyone else in the internet leaking this. Congrats to you and your channel! ❤

[@jellymop]

@@acmhfmggruCarl Sagan the astrophysicist?

[@phlhoran12396]

​That's who I thought it was! 😂​@@jellymop

[@damearstor2120]

​@@acmhfmggru'pewdiepie', lmao

[@phlhoran12396]

@@acmhfmggru My bad. May he rest in peace.

[@dftfire]

Bit of trivia: this game developed by Argonaut may have used what would become modern FPS controls. But did you also know their 1997 game, "Croc: Legend of the Gobbos" did similar by using the right analog-stick for camera-control, years before this would become standard in the PS2 / GameCube / Xbox era? 🤔

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

That's interesting to know that they were one of the very few pre-2000 developers to actually use the right stick. I know hindsight is 20/20, but I really wonder why it took so long for right stick moving the camera to be standard. Like, Super Mario 64 using the C-buttons for the camera is basically the same thing! I get that devs wanted to accommodate for the original PS1 controller that had no sticks, but they could've made it an optional extra you could use in place of the shoulder buttons or something if you happened to have an analogue controller, just like the left stick for the d-pad.

[@martinkosecky4943]

Actually, this wasn't the first game to use modern dual analog stick FPS controls. Medal of Honor predated it by a year.

[@agustindanielgimenez9483]

Medal of Honor setting 4 and you have modern controls

[@kennywilkinson913]

Well, the n64 had the c controls which was the 1st step to my mind

[@cube2fox]

Did Croc have full analog camera control (both vertical and horizontal) like Super Mario Sunshine?

[@Psyopcyclops]

Just think how many other secrets there are in recent games? Developers are a special kind of people. They absolutely thrive on this sort of thing. I guarantee you there’s even more unknown secrets to be discovered. Great job Martin and MVG!

[@craigrivers82]

Was wondering why this game went from around $60 to $200-$300+ on ebay... now I know why.

[@HenryKlausEsq.]

This is so bad ass. Martin well done not just on the hack but holding onto this secret for so long and getting it past the publisher. Makes you wonder what other software secrets lurk in other games/systems.

[@MasaCheez]

Prices for NA CIB copies of this game have been hovering around $40 for a year on eBay. I'm curious to see how this video impacts that number.

[@SnackCannon]

Exactly. Now that people know it's a backup boot disc lol

[@jcrabtree621]

Right now, there's no listing on Ebay for used copies of the game. Just three sealed copies. It's already happened lol

[@nickwallette6201]

@@SnackCannon Well, I mean... it would be a bit of a novelty, but this doesn't sound at all interesting to me as an actual alternative to using an ODE or mod chip or hacked Vita, etc. I cannot imagine someone buying this in 2023 to use as a way to play unauthorized discs.

[@pentexsucks43]

​@lionsgamingden97yeah but THPS2 is one of the best selling games on the entire system, and in the series. It's like if San Andreas or Gran Turismo 1 suddenly had a price increase. It's just way too common and well known

[@EndlessFunctionality]

Now there is. And they're averaging $500 for a 'Very Good' one lol. Some people are just sadistic.

[@mikenewbold1699]

if this had been known in 2000 this game would have been in top ten best sellers on ps1 lol

[@kirbyak47]

It was leaked back I days on porn website 😂I hat few burn 🔥 it start whit flopy disk

[@bulbx1273]

i payed 20€ back in the days to install a chip, it was cheap and very easy to use compare to that !

[@mikenewbold1699]

true but for a kid with no skills would have been magic@@bulbx1273

[@palody_en-ja]

I used to do the swap trick until I bought a Game Shark. Those were fun times!

[@WayStedYou]

and how do you suggest the take the game down that had all those copies already sold? it wasnt internet connected there would be nothing they could do @@Elatenl

[@J-S_93]

It's basically using the wobble authentication still in memory from the first disc, and boots the second disc using the first disc's wobble authentication - I believe the wobble groove is the same across all the discs anyway; as far as I know. Once the wobble check is authenticated, any backup will work - the black backs of the PS1 discs use a special baked-in wobble as authentication. The groove wobble is how PS1 authentication works.

[@palody_en-ja]

The black dye doesn't have any effect on copy protection. But it looks cool from a marketing standpoint, and it immediately lets a person know if it's a legitimate copy or not (until colored discs, including black, eventually hit the market).

[@J-S_93]

@@palody_en-ja Ah, gotcha - I may have misremembered to a degree. Cheers for the clarification! It's all very interesting stuff; still fascinates me to this day.

[@palody_en-ja]

@@J-S_93 it was all mysterious back at the time since there was so little info, but yup, now we know! Also we didn't see too many of them since most publishers embraced DVDs, but I liked how the CD-based indigo PS2 games looked too. Would have been cool if Nintendo dyed their discs red, Sega blue, Microsoft green, etc.

[@KopperNeoman]

​​​@@palody_en-jaThose aged poorly with bluray, mind you. Oh, and the wobble authentication ISN'T in memory! It's just not checked for since you didn't eject the disc. It being in memory is a thing that copy protection looks for.

[@jamesflames6987]

The wobble authentication is simply part of the initial boot process. As the game is already booted, it can simply start a new executable without going through the initial boot process again.

[@Shadow_Enz]

These are the kinds of cheats and exploits I love -- ones that exist unknown and then can do no harm when found out decades later. Thank you Martin for disclosing this gem!

[@elliottryan13]

MVG is the man for showing this to us. But Martin getting this past a Play Station is LEGENDARY!

[@Blanco8x8]

As someone who doesn't burn discs, this is a truly amazing discovery. It could've been a widely popular PS1 exploit if it were revealed 20 years ago, but it probably wouldn't be worth getting into trouble with Sony.

[@excellentswordfight8215]

How so? Isnt the normal disc swap trick much easier?

[@cameronferguson4162]

​​@@excellentswordfight8215the normal disc swapping method doesn't stop the disc drive and has a very small window of success. This leads you needing to be fast on swapping the discs onto an active disc drive. This cheat code stops the drive until the lid is closed and doesn't seem to have a time limit, which helps prevent any damage to the discs and the drive itself

[@damian9303]

⁠@@excellentswordfight8215it doesn’t stop spinning for you so you risk scratching the discs if not ruining the laser by accidentally touching it since it’s time sensitive to perform

[@M0bel]

It wouldn't have been a popular exploit, because there were cheaper and easier methods available.

[@killjoygames2019]

This is wild. I imagine this game would have become the number one bestseller if this backdoor was discovered back then

[@metal_kitsune]

Sony would have recalled the game faster than you can burn a hair.

[@MitWS]

Iirc that happened with a Nintendo DS title that would allow one to scan QR code that turned into an exploit for homebrew installation @@metal_kitsune

[@johns1625]

​@@metal_kitsuneand imagine the lawsuits 😂

[@CAPCOM784]

Some have forgotten what Sony did to Bleem back in the day?

[@Shadow_Enz]

This timeline is preferred, where secrets were kept and then disclosed at a safe time as more of a programming time capsule that can cause no harm.

[@The_dislike_guy]

Martin is an absolute *gigachad* for this.

[@eskanda3434]

He also still might get sued by Sony 😂

[@-eMpTy-]

​@@eskanda3434 statue of limitations

[@wasuh464]

Thank you Martin for 1. Implementing such a cool little feature and 2. Sharing the info after so many years. Who knows when it would've been discovered Thanks for MVG for being a perfect platform to share this info

[@kasper7574]

also thank him for ruining the price for the game...

[@ProducerX21]

For some reason, and I can’t completely understand why, you are the only channel that I watch where I thumbs up as soon as I start watching, regardless of the video. I have respect for you man. Thanks for the content

[@culturedivined]

really interesting man! would be neat to find more "secret cheats/options" for other old games that are not known

[@DankRedditMemes]

The demo of Crash Bash has a cheat code that lets you access the full game

[@stanneh1978]

Just think that Dev has had his own personal boot disk nobody has known about for all of this time.

[@robertlawrence9000]

Very cool! Hopefully there are some other brave developers out there that do stuff like this for future consoles. When companies lock down their systems so much, they make future preservation hard, thus doing a disservice to the fans and creators of these awesome experiences.

[@ExTremZero]

maybe on PS but not on Xbox, sicen Microsoft keeps everything inside a virtual machine so the game cant run outside its sandbox.

[@antikommunistischaktion]

@@ExTremZero There are exploits that can bust outside of a virtual environment and/or a sandbox, but the issue with modern consoles is that Microsoft can just patch the exploit in an update. Remember, the 3DS ran a sandbox for DS backwards compat but a few exploits involved busting out of that sandbox.

[@ChrisCarlos64]

I think the issue with Xbox overall is what exclusives are there even on the system say this generation? Xbox is probably less useful to exploit now since it is less on game preservation as practically all their games are on PC or multiple systems. Less incentive to really bother hacking IMO.

[@ExTremZero]

@@ChrisCarlos64 its way to much effort on a console you can basicly play homebew/emulators without exploiting the console in the first place, the only reason to hack the system would be to pirate xbox games.

[@tim.martin]

One brave dev hid a flesh-light at 1:18. Pause to reveal.

[@TwoToeTags]

My father recently passed away so I've been going through all his stuff, and among nearly 300 dvds, about 20 PS3 games, and 5 or 6 PS2 games.. there is 1 PS1 game in his collection and of course, its Alien Resurrection.

[@notthatfatboy6519]

The fact that we are still learning things about old consoles and games that doesnt matter at all in the current generation of gaming is absolutely fascinating. I remember my Dad had a spring and a burned cd that did the same thing back in the day. But this, this is a whole other level.

[@kodemasterx]

This game runs beautifully on Duckstation, it shows how ahead of its time it was.

[@willh7352]

Loved this game when my brother bought it. Never in my mind would've guessed this existed.

[@krank23]

Absolutely insane. Worth noting: the controls some reviewers were complaining about were… the ones every game uses now. Moving with the left analog stick, looking around with the right. Resurrection is pretty much the only PS1 fps game I can stand playing, just because itä's the only one that plays like a modern shooter. It's till too hard vor me of course, and lack of widescreen makes it hard to stomach after a while but… yeah. (Both this and Trilogy need remasters, but I'm guessing neither will ever happen due to licensing bullshit)

[@northwestrepair]

we needed you 20 years ago. Now you just reminding us of our past.

[@LouBart-lq9ui]

Congratulations on raising the price of the game to nearly $500. That’s amazing.

[@Pocketrocket-pj1us]

You are kidding, right?

[@HasidicHomeboy]

Not even close but ok

[@cileymyrus1034]

Enter the Matrix on PS2 has the same feature if you input a specific command on the in-game "hacking console". Discovered it back then entering random words into the console until suddenly the dvd drive stopped spinning

[@cajampa]

MVG should do an episode on that.

[@VMC_Boy]

Wow, first time I heard of that.

[@ravec9245]

sounds fake but do tell me more

[@greenhowie]

Wouldn't surprise me, the hacking "minigame" is genuinely better than the actual game, still think that's deliberate.

[@nekokonata]

I'm definitely curious now

[@ltzmin]

I just witnessed gaming history. Thank you to all involved for sharing, this is freaking cool!

[@amerikaOnFire]

That is pretty awesome that they did this. I was wondering what use case they would have, as official Sony devs, for wanting to boot up other CD-R's that weren't their own game. But then you spoke of exactly that use case and Argonaut tended to like trying new things other game companies had not and being able to put in a disc and just go without a reset would have been great. Also, I absolutely love this game. The fact that it's not just the first game to use "modern" analog controls but that it also supported the PS mouse. I played it with a mouse and the difficulty goes way down when using it. It's a great game by some great devs and it's better known today by people who follow such things, but still relatively unknown by most. Which is a bit of a shame.

[@nickwallette6201]

Uh... am I forgetting something here? I seem to remember the disc swaps in FF VII being pretty trivial. You get a cinematic, then "Insert Disc 2", you open the console, exchange discs, close the lid, a couple seconds later, Cloud's running around on-screen again. So what's this about needing resets, and resorting to hacky tricks to use multiple discs?? This seems more like a dev-mode feature left in, intentionally, just to see if they could get away with it. For the LOLs.

[@delxiv]

NONE. They would have had NO case to present to SONY QA to boot other games. Like said in the vid, SONY would have made them remove it if they were told.

[@amerikaOnFire]

@@delxiv They didn't put it in for zero reason. They had a use case for it obviously, but they abandoned it. I was curious what they were planning in regards to official or unofficial reasons. Hell, maybe a member of the team just wanted a way to easily boot other games at the time by using their own game. And a use case was outlined by MVG in the video. We watched the same video, right? Possibly an easy way to switch discs when prompted that didn't involve a reset that would cause a wobble check. That is the most plausible reason, but FF7 already did this years earlier. My guess is SOMEBODY just wanted a way to boot official games easily to check out by using their own official game to bypass the security at the time.

[@delxiv]

@@amerikaOnFire Yes, they had a case for a *possible* multi-disc, *same game* disc swap. So they did the technical demo for it (yes, I watched the same vid you did.) When the game was finalized to be on 1 CD, there was ZERO legitimate reason for the code to still be there. Again, that has no bearing on booting to a *different game disc*. There's was literally ZERO reason for any PS1 dev to boot other games with embedded cheat codes in retail ready copies of games like this. Especially when the devs already have hardware that essentially plays CDR copies of games for QA. Source: I worked on games QA for SONY, Xbox, & Nintendo titles for over a decade.

[@amerikaOnFire]

@@delxiv I asked about the use case before it was finalized. I was not insisting that there was a legit one after. And as for the external use case, there is more than just the devs on the team that might find such an exploit useful. Friends, family or anybody else in the scene. Lots of non-legit reasons why. Since it seems like you need it, I'll just wish you a happy holidays and leave off.

[@MASF_]

These old game secrets are are always interesting to see, especially the secrets so well hidden it takes 23 years to discover.

[@chriskaprys]

Even though, like you say, it's not very useful today, I still find these kinds of use interface-side codes so attractive. Whether it's within a video game like this (or the famous Konami one, or accessing the speedup mode in the Galaga/Ms Pac-Man cabinets), or the old payphone code that you could punch in to get it to ring itself, or the series of buttons in an old Honda civic to prevent the compressor automatically kicking on in defrost mode .. something about these technological "incantations" I find so attractive, knowing that the result is right there within reach if you simply know and perform the correct combination of inputs. Love it.

[@jcxtra]

Wow! So the code was known before, but no one knew what it did? Seems like that one developer had a way to play any (backup/import) game they wanted for years! I love how they didn't tell anyone until now as well, super cool! I also like how it stops the disk too, since many disc swaps the disc kept running to it was a bit of a nightmare. Not so important these days given we have good ways of running whatever we want on PS1 but kudos :)

[@sunnyD301]

My dad played this, he told me if I get scared I can't watch him play.... I then heard an alien and was sent on my way haha

[@Kawaiilolrofl]

Ah, those are the memories. Same for me with the zombies in terranigma

[@InnerRise]

LOOOOOOOOL how old when this happened?

[@MartinPiper6502]

Well we did make this game a long time ago.

[@sunnyD301]

@InnerRise I would of been about 4 or 5 years old at the time hahs

[@sunnyD301]

@MartinPiper6502 awesome work dude 👏

[@StormsparkPegasus]

It's so weird...when games are made from good movies, they are usually terrible. But when games are made from terrible movies, they more often not tend to be really good, or at least a lot better than the movie.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

@@Elatenl Worst movie I've ever seen. Everything about it was terrible. It feels like it wanted to be a parody but took itself seriously at the same time. The only thing that could've possibly saved it is Rifftrax. It's worse than Batman & Robin.

[@coliander4180]

​@@StormsparkPegasus 'worst movie I've ever seen' has to be hyperbole. There are far, far worse movies out there than Alien: Resurrection.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

@@coliander4180 I guess Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey is worse. But it's in the category of "so awful it doesn't matter if there are some that are worse".

[@slyseal2091]

This one, Isolation and two of the Alien Vs. Predator games were good. I heard the top-down tactical game that came out recently was good too. The Alien brand in general is probably the most sucessful movie-to-video game franchise. This only sounds good if you don't consider that this legacy started back when Atari was still investment worthy. There are nuclear power plants that broke even before Alien video games did.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

@@slyseal2091 Yeah come to think of it the only really bad game was Colonial Marines. Isolation was amazing and is probably the best Alien game.

[@jakeridez6465]

Wow. Martin revealed the most valuable secret. This would’ve helped me years ago

[@afromanpeter]

Thanks

[@RolandHazoto]

This reminds me of a copy of Diablo 1 some friends had that was burned with a crappy cover art print out glued to the top of it. It was self booting and DID NOT need a boot disc at all, but was buggy as hell with things like loading bars going off screen, audio stutter, and random crashing, BUT it was playable and could be beat. It's been 22 years since i first played it, and I still have no idea how that disc worked.

[@FifthOfNovember_Original]

Sounds amazing! Would be cool learn more about this particular bootleg. Never heard anything like this before!

[@RolandHazoto]

@@FifthOfNovember_Original All I know is that they got it somewhere in the Dominican Republic in the late 90s

[@Fuuntag]

This game has a fascinating and despressing development history. Truly a limit pusher of the PS1 and an innovator of FPS controls on consoles. Also the GameSpot review of this game and it ragging on the controls aged hilariously well.

[@kanggoo57]

And now alien is ridiculously priced lmao.

[@fArG0]

One of my top 5 favorite channels on YT. Thanks for this year mate!

[@jonathantaylor372]

Soooo, this disc swap hack been around since i forst bought a ps1. Im 38 now. Anyway when i lived in Okinawa, they had a shopbthat sold burnt games for 100Y a piece. Also got my hands on games released in Japan b4 the US. But the hack we used was this; NEED: 1 working american NTSC Game 1 Gutted BIC pen (black clicky one) 1 Burnt game or any non PAL PS CD-ROM. Process: (Using any non slim, original ps1) -open lid, place BIC pen into the button that makes the PS thinks its close. Prop the other end up in the cut out square that latched to the open button. This alkows for the PS to assume the lid is closed. -put american game (AG) game in. You will get the white sony screen 1st then the black ps screen. -As soon as the black ps screen shows up, pop your AG out and quickly put in your Burnt/foriegn game (BFG[see what i did there lol]) -It will stay on this screen, but you BFG will doubke to tripple its rotation speed, then slow down. -As soon as it slows down, pop out your BFG and put your AG in. The screen will load out of your black ps acreen to an all black screen. -as soon as thay screen goes black pop out your AG and put your BFG in. In a few seconds youve bipassed all the security and your BFG will load. Never had any issues with freezes or poor performance. At one point i had sent like 300 on just about ever game in existence, way back when. The unfortunate part was i didnt understand Japanese, amd RPGS like legend of legia, ff, legend of dragoon, were all in Kanji as long as you have a game that will fully boot to your PS region, all you gotta do is start with that and follow the directions above and itll work. Sidenotes: 1)you can swap your BIC pen for a spring that has the same diameter as your innter button. It will also fit around the plastic spike that holds it down when the lid is closed. That way after you are done the swap you can close the lid to prevent any unforseen accidents. 2)in the directions when i say swap fast. Literally have like 2, maybe 3 seconds to snatch out the disc and pop the other one in. But if you never knew of this trick, it legot works amd was really cool for .y 13 yearold self to be taught this. Made growing up in a lower income house, feel a bit better. Whike even the rich kids maybe had a 50 to 60 game library hy year 3, i had over 300 before year 2. (I was picked on a lot back than, video games were my escape). Let me know what yall thinknkf thag cool little swao hack. Oh ladtly i only every performed this on the 1st and 2nd gen ps1. The slim i believ could do it but you had to have a different open lid set up. But works for sure with any of the big top opening one.

[@AutumnGarnet]

I love seeing these old secrets come to light; kudos to Martin for sharing it and MVG for sharing with us!

[@Immorpher]

This is fantastic! Aside from the disc swapping, I wonder if there is a way to increase the player speed? I think the control and difficulty gripes from the original reviewers are perhaps one in the same. The player speed is too slow to effectively strafe enemy attacks. This simultaneously make the controls feel bad and makes the game harder.

[@jbreckmckye]

Yes, plausibly, if you reverse engineered it you could create a PPF patch.

[@YamiSpyro2011]

Good thing this is only disclosed at the end of the consoles life cycle

[@baltakatei]

This goes straight into my “In case you travel back in time and need to impress someone with harmless foreknowledge” folder.

[@AdamHougham]

I see that the game is going for around £50 on eBay 21 hours after this video went live - will be interested to see what it was going for yesterday and what prices it'll be fetching in a few weeks!

[@ItsASuckyName]

Got a copy(disc only) for only 9 euro's here in the netherlands right after I saw this video, lucky me

[@trueultimagod2465]

It'll probably go down again after awhile and stabilize to it's normal price. Idiots will always try to take advantage and inflate the value, when there are easier methods already available to unlock the drive.

[@EndlessFunctionality]

$500 now. People are sick lol

[@crystalwater505]

@@EndlessFunctionality Indeed. It'd be easier to emulate honestly, lol.

[@RPGreg2600]

​@@crystalwater505 right, ps1 emulation is really good these days, even on phones. If you're going to spend 500 bucks to pay burned games on real hardware, you might as well just get a mod chip or a gen 1 PS1 that you can do the swap trick on. This boot disc method is not convenient.

[@dhgodzilla1]

An Underrated Game

[@matthewhardwick8208]

I've never heard of this game. This is why backwards compatability has to be an industry standard. I love the Alien franchise and the fact you have to execute this hack by accessing a cheats menu is so nostalgic.

[@Squared_Phoenix]

So Martin went ahead and created his very own personal swap magic, legend. Thanks for sharing this with us all Martin, if you end up reading this.. Did you end up using it much over the years?

[@toolbar12423]

AAAAAND Alien: Resurrection used is going for $300 now on Ebay. Thank you Modern Vintage Gamer (In all seriousness, this is the sickest shit I've ever seen. What an INSANE way to put out a boot disk past EVERYONE)

[@muigokublack6487]

Makes me glad I bought it when I did haha

[@sc76399]

That is so cool. Martin out there playing all the burned games he wants lol

[@toko6086]

On the codes list you show at 10:03 there were other codes with Unknown status that included L1, Triangle, Square combination. I wonder if they relate to the second part of the sequence after swap as well. Like could you do L1, Triangle, Square, Circle and it would still boot the swapped game?

[@cyclonmaster]

Amazing discovery 😲

[@BaneKing57]

Resale prices on this game just sky rocketed

[@XanYT]

I thought that at 1st but I think there are much better ways to disc swap.

[@MisterCasket]

Yeah it's easy to play pirated games on ps1 or through emulation. The neat part of this video is mostly because the exploit is on an official dosc release.

[@cencil6497]

Yep it already has. This morning there was 2 copies on Ebay for under $60 and now the only listings are $200+ 😂

[@pentexsucks43]

Its the only reason I hate when videos like this get made, everyone either buys as many copies as possible or scummy resellers jack up the price. Oh well, that's what modding is for. Garbage resellers will always find a way

[@acomingextinction]

Martin Piper you absolute legend. Hats off.

[@PersonaSama]

What a neat hidden feature! Great video and love seeing that Retrotink4K being used to get that CRT look!

[@LSFprepper]

Seems a bit overly complicated, but I guess that's the best way to hide something. Thanks for sharing!

[@rorychivers8769]

Well yeah, if it had been discovered back in the day, there would have been some pretty savage legal action against the developer from Sony...

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

"Game over man! Game over!"

[@attractivegd9531]

The level design of this game is impressive, especially considering ALL the limitations.

[@NotIT]

Installing a mod chip is faster than doing that, I'm serious. Great video though! Very cool.

[@ImTheMayor]

Every copy of Alien Resurrection on eBay was bought today, for some reason

[@Simte]

The atmosphere of this game back in the day was outer worldly indeed. How crazy is the fact we find out about this after so many years. Thanks VG.

[@gatsbysgarage8389]

Alien resurrection boutta get a whole lot more expensive

[@cencil6497]

2 copies on Ebay for $60 this morning, now $200+ 😅

[@louism771]

Thanks MVG for spreading the news about this awesome discovery! For me it's obvious the developers knew what they had or else they wouldn't have locked it behind this load of button combos. This way it's easy to execute if you know how but it's exceptionally hard to discover for Sony, at least back in the day. Maybe they were in need of additional systems to test their new in-dev games on, using CD-Rs. So with this release they essentially pushed their private boot disc to Sony to press it for them.

[@guser7137]

That was my reading of it, allow them to burn in progress discs and test on off the shelf consoles. Especially that late in the console's life they were cheap to buy.

[@Zan_Jayna]

I loved the soundtrack from Aliens Trilogy very much, I copied it to my PC. A lot of PS1 games had a folder that was visible on PCs which had complementary PC desktop wallpapers and so forth, what a great era.

[@djcactus]

I love the concept of him sharing this with close pals and famiy and it never getting out

[@ikannunaplays]

Considering how complex it is to use this "cheat" code I wonder how many takes it took to record this episode.

[@shortcat]

until he gave up and used a failed take xD

[@monkeywithocd]

I've always thought that if I were making a console game I'd intentionally leave in some sort of cryptic system-hacking exploit. Though likely not his intention, it's nice to see something like this.

[@shanematthews1985]

Yeah a dev on the switch did something similar to include a version of basic in his game, once it came to light nintendo were not impressed and i imagine that dev burned all his bridges, so you'll only ever get to do it once :P

[@fake12396]

You can't really do this on 7th gen and up consoles since games have restricted permissions there. Maybe Wii to an extent, but otherwise no developer would realistically be able to do something like this

[@captainfach]

Finally some love for this game! The atmosphere in here is soo impressive for ps1 and the controls actually hold up well

[@YBR420]

This goes above hot coffee, absolutely amazing.

[@fatz420]

dang this video made tge game jump up to 300+ plus dollars on the resale market. R.I. P. to ps1 collectors

[@michaelmcclintock8827]

This and a few other videos made a $10 game $200 over night. Thanks

[@Err0r415]

You sound mad

[@AGoNYC]

within hours of this video being posted every reasonably priced copy was snatched up and now are being listed for much much more. Dont EVER tell me "youtubers dont affect game prices" because they absolutely do.

[@1chibanKasuga]

How much did it cost?

[@Kyle_Riel]

No one cares about this

[@erenyeager8306]

@@1chibanKasuga around 20-40 USD

[@AGoNYC]

⁠@@Kyle_Riel No one asked you. Also you cared enough to take time out of your life to make a dumbass comment so apparently you do. 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@robaboian7644]

It would be interesting to test this idea (Martin's potential multidisc idea) with MGS1 using an original disc to play the first part and after when the game tells you to use the second disc, try with a copy disc.

[@glaurennorthern369]

Doesn't work

[@robaboian7644]

​@@glaurennorthern369 ohh 😢

[@Pwtz]

Hi @mvg - I used to have an original PSX and just did a disc swap at the bios load to CD-R. It was tricky and had a failure rate but it definitely worked!

[@friedzombie4]

This is incredible, like a lot of poor kids in the early 00s I really got into the PS1 library during the PS2 days because no one was renting PS1 games anymore at blockbuster and I remember seeing this game on the shelf! I knew a kid with his own PC and burned games all the time, I would have hounded him like mad if I knew this!

[@iainh]

This is glorious. This has to be at the top-tier of all easter eggs, Sony would wipe their ass with the original contract if they knew about this at the time. The risk was immense, at any time when Argonaut Games were still active Sony could have pursued legal action if this was found. Hats off to these maniacs.

[@seanmoore4653]

Ur a geek

[@michaelangst6078]

You could do this with buying a gameshark too. It's meh

[@KazyEXE]

And the eBay price skyrocketed

[@ScarDd-i1w]

Within 5 days game went from 67$ to 350$ GL on buying it cheap now lol

[@bcrment]

This is the first time i really like a secret code in a game. Great video!