The Horror Of Anti-Piracy Screens

[@Izzzyzzz]

Thanks again to twitter.com/bighugefrog?s=21 for the AMAZING pixel art!!!!!! ✨👾 please go support their awesome work :)

[@BilliamH]

T H E T A L E N T

[@judithkostromitin8011]

8:56 is pure gold

[@flanthief]

I love your new intro!! They did an amazing job!

[@ILoveMenWayTooMuch]

Bighugefrog's intro is magnificent and suits well with your style or videos ! Props to them ⭐

[@DaniloGanzella]

Thank you so much for the video. Im usually to scared to check the original videos, but I love that you make a toned-down version so I can enjoy the content too without too many nightmares

[@Sciman101]

There was a really cool piracy screen in 'Just shapes and beats' for a bit where a little photo of the developer would pop up and basically say "I get it, i played pirates games too, but if you like the game please help spread the word about it so other people might buy it" - thought it was a different and pretty cool approach

[@wowgrab7553]

Ooooooo I like that!

[@temarithebadass9276]

Man of honor

[@armpit.6952]

So dope!!!

[@lullabypoppera3914]

That person's a person of culture!

[@rosemary3029]

js&b is a really good musical bullet hell game i can confirm

[@vinx3078]

The scary part about anti piracy screens is the 4th wall break. You're the one that's supposed to be observing, but when it suddenly begins observing you, then it's chilling

[@keyboardtypes8067]

Something about the abyss looking back I think

[@kpr4225]

23:00

[@genericname2747]

For me, it's the fear of getting in trouble. I don't want the video game to get mad at me :(

[@AGMSP]

Sometimes, the orb watches you.

[@lorenende7661]

yeah thanks we watched the video.

[@rebsb4706]

Just getting error screens about actual game errors scared the shit out of me.

[@buttershy_]

the ps2 error screen 😭

[@edgyerica4823]

@@buttershy_ u mean the ps2 hellscape 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@rentorars]

right like i would start crying over simple “this disk cannot be read” i wouldve probably fainted if i saw this stuff as a child

[@mystic-hm9mk]

IKR

[@asoupofprunes3895]

I got Pokemon Ruby's internal clock error screen when I was 7 and I panicked so bad I didn't pick that game up again until I was 14 😭

[@charlieb4993]

Pokemon Black's anti piracy is one I find fairly chilling, in it's extreme subtlety. It just doesn't give you any exp from battles. You don't even notice it for a while, which is why it's suddenly pretty scary when you get that "hold on, something is wrong" revelation.

[@Emmet4399]

Wiping out Emmet and Ingo’s Pokemon for nothing 👍 Wiping out Emmet and Ingo’s Pokemon for something 👎 (this is a joke, i swear, i may stan the subway bros but not that much)

[@arinradamalaiarisoon4025]

Pokemon challengers gotta love those

[@lunactiathemoth]

mfs on their way to download roms of black and white just so they could obliterate ghetsis with mons they can't level up

[@TheTownNarcoleptic]

This is what started making the zero exp challenge rule popular, I’m pretty sure. You could just easily download a copy of the game for entirely free and have a fun, weird rule attached to it.

[@BlazingDiancie]

Pokemon anti-piracy is so bad, its laughable. HGSS has an AP that prevents you from throwing your pokemon out to battle, but no emulator or flashcart I have ever seen or heard of triggers it. Even the OG R4, the very first one on stock firmware, doesnt trigger it.

[@cherubyc8815]

The fanmade Ace Attorney one where they have a court case convicting the player for pirating the game will always live in my memories. Really made me feel guilty even though I didn't even pirate it.

[@shadowcatgamer2521]

I'd love to see that, if you have a link.

[@mae.glitter]

AAAAH YES! Also, also! Did you know that theres a real anti-piracy measure in the franchise too? In Edgeworth Investigations 2! The game suddenly switches to being entirely in Borginian, a fictional language in the AA universe!

[@cherubyc8815]

@@shadowcatgamer2521 kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5upY5JjfN9gjpI Here it is

[@girlypopgeek]

@@mae.glitter that’s so cool!! I need to revisit the series

[@aromanticfranziskavonkarma]

oh hey a fellow ace attorney fan out in the wild! what's your favorite case?

[@rae3432]

I don't think I ever encountered any anti piracy screens myself, but as a kid I loved the game Theme Hospital. Some of the later levels were a bit tricky for me back then so I tried entering a cheat code, which caused the hospital intercom lady to say "THE HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR IS TRYING TO CHEAT" or something along those lines, it did catch me by surprise but I could laugh about it 😅

[@therealt.parrot9791]

Imagine if this was said in an actual hospital

[@nachopeligro]

@@therealt.parrot9791 if it was in a real hospital i would assume the intercom lady was in a relationship with the hospital administrator and he was cheating on her. the drama.

[@Dylanquinn666]

Lol I remember that! Bullfrog used to put a ton of meta easter eggs in their games.

[@sewingsavage]

God I was obsessed with this game. The autopsy machine always creeped me out since people never came out of it. it doesnt help that youd get a reputation hit if the press discovers it.

[@rae3432]

@@sewingsavage Ah yes the research department, I loved the black humour the game had haha.

[@bugandrews]

As a little kid the "FBI it's illegal to make copies of movies" screen before all movies used to scare me so bad, I was so worried I'd copy a movie on accident and go to prison

[@isoceptic]

Me too

[@zahhakgaming]

You wouldn't download a car.

[@SOBEKCrocodileGod]

I’m glad to find other people who had an odd fear of those screens

[@buggibii]

it really is that unreasonable childhood fear, huh. 'ah woops ah beans hand slipped and i accidentally copied and reprinted an entire film on cd i'm goin to jail'

[@pitbullism]

​@@buggibiiwhen i was a kid i was playing around with the printer and I saw the word 'copy.' I thought It had something to do with copyright and i was terrified the the police would show up at my door and arrest me

[@refrigeratedmemes]

as a gamedev, you've gotta remember that us gamedevs want people to buy their games, not to traumatize people. I'm working on a joke ms-paint looking visual novel / point and click game about shopping in a store and hijinks ensue, and i have heavy anxiety over game ERRORS, let alone piracy screens, so for the full game the piracy screen will be a version of the game where the real store would be replaced with a party city and when you get the only possible ending there it pops up a message saying "enjoying the party? download the game!" with a website link. I'm trying to create something that would make me laugh when i was 7, not cry.

[@Nova-bv5qb]

thank you. also where can i download this game legally

[@refrigeratedmemes]

@@Nova-bv5qb it's in a free beta right now but i can link it

[@refrigeratedmemes]

@@Nova-bv5qb has 10 endings right now but i hope for the full ver. that it has 20+

[@Lichmistre55]

What’s the game called

[@refrigeratedmemes]

@@Lichmistre55 Funky kong gives you beanbux: creppy edition. intentionally bad game with too much effort and laced with inside jokes, but you can still try it!

[@hannahstewart697]

i have a terrible fear of still images on a screen where there is supposed to be a video (don’t ask why, it’s so hard to explain, it’s so unsettling to me) so stuff like this scares me shitless

[@guppiecuppie179]

NO ME TOO I DIDNT KNOW OTHER PEOPLE FELT THAT WAY

[@hannahstewart697]

@@guppiecuppie179 YES FINALLY SOMEONE WHO GETS IT. MY FRIENDS MAKE FUN OF ME FOR IT BC ITS SO HARD TO EXPLAIN

[@mistermojoice]

Reminds me of when I was a kid at my cousin's place, she had a copy of The Cat in the Hat movie, and it froze at one point and I couldn't stay in the same room because I was afraid there was gonna be a screamer, so I think I understand what you mean

[@parasitophobia]

THIS. My main example is that like. If something tells you it should be moving and it doesnt? Or if it tells you it shouldn’t move and you have to brace yourself for if it does? I also hate when KZbin videos are showing a still image yet it is still continuing (unless it’s a music related video as I cannot watch music videos due to it being too distracting)

[@feiris]

OMG YESS, I always feel like a screamer will pop-up

[@oracleofdelphiii]

I was shitting bricks whenever I saw the "Viewer Discretion is advised" screen on TV. If I saw an anti-piracy screen as a kid, I'd never sleep again.

[@Toondoubloon]

Yeah! I totally agree

[@Fzzyboy_tea]

I was shitting bricks when my ps1-2 turned on cuz of the screen when it cant read the disk lmao, also just the turn on sound

[@argotsambience]

idk if this is universal but in the uk we have a "watershed" at 9pm where the tv censors relax. When i was a kid i felt like if i watched uncensored tv alone the tv would sense it and something would crawl out lmao

[@RAZ0RL0PEE]

Wait, I wasn't the only person who shat bricks at those screens?

[@BUNNYZLIVEZONTHEMOON]

i still do that. even siri slightly is a no for me. and dont get me started on the disney fast play intro as a kid

[@Account_Not_Applicable]

That Nintendogs one is the most fucked up to me. Like you get a short time to love your new pup, grow attached to it, only to have it suddenly die, and show you its grave. Kinda reminds me of that game Can Your Pet? It's dark, it's upsetting, and it's the most effective (albeit fake) antipiracy measure.

[@roxassora2706]

Exactly. To me, it feels insensitive to those who lost a real dog in their life.

[@moonbyulrin]

@@roxassora2706 but it's not like it's making fun of it or taking it lightly. Almost like karma has hit the theif. Video game piracy IS a crime, so imagine getting punished by fate by having your little pup just die before you too could have some time together. It's personally my favourite since it's so scary yet so subtle..

[@nuclearcatbaby1131]

I imagine a pirate who is accomplished at coding could remove this.

[@judynyairo9791]

I have been trying to find the game can your pet for MONTHS!! thank you!!!

[@ToycoreTyme]

Can Your Pet traumatized me when I was a kid.

[@CitryteYT]

The Izzzy anti piracy screen at 8:53 being followed immediately by a jc penny ad was one of the most severe tonal whiplashes I've ever experienced

[@lilliangearhart4958]

67 likes and no comments? I'll change that...

[@randomguy11518]

Same but ubereats

[@tailssss7334]

Same but Aspen Dental

[@JustARandomLittleBWord]

same but an anti 🏳️‍🌈 advert

[@toyotasprintertrueno86]

same but uh...womans underwear

[@ebagentj]

Fun fact: Game Dev Tycoon's "piracy mode" also inspired people to pirate it just to see it/attempt to beat it, which lead to the game adding it as a sort of super hard/challenge mode to legitimate copies.

[@sirsnausages2164]

Yeah! I bought the game a couple years back, and Piracy mode is super fun (if you're good at combining genres and shit)

[@zigfaust]

@@sirsnausages2164 It lowkey proved that piracy can be mitigated by having unique games that people WANT to play.

[@Draemurr]

I like your pfp

[@ebagentj]

@@Draemurr Thanks. I like yours, too!

[@Draemurr]

@@ebagentj ty ^^

[@arcticdino1650]

To be honest, the only thing about anti piracy measures that have ever spooked me was false positives. Being locked out of legitimate copies of games because something broke or it's just old is something that I would not want to happen

[@ais4185]

and yet companies keep making games with DRM that's close to spyware, games that depend on servers which will be discontinued once unprofitable, etc. who needs game preservation anyway?

[@justaperson4656]

@@ais4185 there are actually archive sites for games that needed servers that no longer run, game preservation will eventually win

[@leavemealonethx]

the Sims 4 is guilty of this. I have a ton of mods installed but nothing illegal and I keep getting notifications that items have been removed from my game because I "don't own them". that game is buggy as fuck tho, definitely worth the probably $150 ive spent on it

[@LilyBloodsom2003]

@@leavemealonethx i always pirated sims and never had notifications like that lmfao

[@jammingshrimp]

@@LilyBloodsom2003 hey can u lmk how do u pirate sims without wrecking my laptop that would be very cool

[@byggrynsgroet]

i feel like the scariest part about anti-piracy screens (at least as an adult, im 21) has to be the eerie music or even the lack of music. i would probably be shit scared seeing any of these as a child no matter what sounds they played but even as a grown-up these certainly are uncanny

[@pkeetrypt7654]

I agree. One time I got rickrolled while trying to download a game and the BLASTING MUSIC when I opened the file scared the shit out of me. I've never pirated again. So traumatizing...

[@avidbreather6539]

@@pkeetrypt7654 that literally sounds so hilarious yet so scary at the same time 💀 what game did you pirate?

[@pkeetrypt7654]

@@avidbreather6539 I was trying to pirate Pokémon ruby. Honestly the funniest thing is that they only played the part "You know the rules and so do I" and then displayed the "this game is pirated blah blah blah"

[@ifiwerearichman-yabadiba]

@@pkeetrypt7654 I pirated Pokemon Emerald once, glad but also dissappointed that never happened to me

[@imgayforv2]

@@pkeetrypt7654 BAHAHA- do you have any footage? that sounds SO fuсkiпg hilarious

[@Draph_]

There's a game that has a small community called just shapes and beats, and there's a legitimate anti piracy screen that actually is extremely nice. The main dev who worked on the game explains how he's not angry in the message, and how he used to pirate games as a kid as well. It doesn't let you play on, but it's a subtle reminder that it is a crime, even if it's common to do as a child since you don't know any better. It's a simple "hey, I did this too when I was your age, but you should know that this is something that can get you into big trouble. As much as you want to play this game I can't let you because it would be a crime" instead of something that scares you out of it. One of the best possible ways to execute it imo.

[@lalaloopsyyay]

That’s my favourite anti piracy scene haha!!!

[@realCaveJohnson]

technically downloading a videogame online isn't illegal, but redistributing it is.

[@SHUTDOWNOfficial]

@@realCaveJohnson Exactly. And depending on where you live, a lot of ISPs will not give a single shit, even if you redistribute them. It's the reason The Pirate Bay was able to stay up for so long, it was hosted in Sweden where, at least in my experience, ISPs don't really care. I'm from Sweden myself and my whole family has been pirating stuff since around 2005.

[@karak962]

I love that!!!! I'm putting something similar in my game that just asks you to email me a story about your day for a free copy. I want everyone to get to play it, but that's something they can still pay me with ^_^

[@DuskPShermanWallaby123]

@@karak962 Aww, that's really sweet! What's your game about?

[@taytaykve]

The way that anti-piracy screens are unnerving reminds me of the way emergency alerts are unnerving. I can’t explain it, but it triggers similar emotions in me.

[@AmyraCarter]

Fight/Freeze/Flight Response. It's instinctual.

[@hye2354]

ikr it makes watching horror movies aren't as scary as seeing the anti-piracy screens.

[@orionskittles]

Same! Emergency alerts are HORRIFYING! Like once, I woke up to this loud beeping (at like 1:00AM) and when I got up in the morning, I realized it had been a tornado warning. The little notification on my phone screen just terrifies me! It’s even scarier with amber alerts and such.

[@a_bear]

i know exactly what you mean

[@aestheruna]

same for me except its also random phone calls at around 1 am. they have an ominous feel to them, when in reality they just want me to sell my house to them lmao

[@Mel-nd5sn]

i was always pretty confused about the whole ''scary anti-piracy'' thing because as someone whos dad wouldnt spend a single penny on a videogame when i was a child and the minute i asked my dad to get me a game he'd go on a certain filehosting site with ALOT of pirated content i ran into these quite alot and was basically desensitized to anti piracy screens

[@musicbyella3769]

my dad pirated a solid 90% of everything and i don’t remember ever seeing one lmao

[@somedude172]

this is how i was about movies lmao. i remember going to friends houses and being like "why do all your movies have print on the actual disk? how did you make cases with the movie poster on it?" i also thought it was a stylistic choice that a lot of them were filmed "like youre watching it at the movies" my grandparents had a dude at work or something that put pirated movies on dvd for like $1, looking back im pretty sure they would just buy every childrens movie he had and bring it to us. it was great because my brother had a habit of destroying things, so it wasnt a big deal when he ruined a movie somebody else in the house actually liked. at that point we would just buy the real copy and he wasnt allowed to touch it lmao

[@rchow8051]

He’s a material girl.

[@sallyhazy]

@@musicbyella3769 samee. not only my dad pirated every type of media I ever wanted, but when I got old enough, he thought me how to do it lol (which, to be fair, is not complicated if you use torrent). it might be ther best gift he gave me: the ability of not having to pay for Netflix

[@LiterallyScarecrow]

Same, my first original game was Twilight Princess, when I was like 13. Everything I had seen until that point was piracy everywhere

[@FiveToedSloth]

These have often scared me more than any actual horror game

[@tylerlyons1812]

Probably because you don’t expect games like Mario to be terrifying.

[@MarsMakes]

same

[@keribere244]

maybe because you usually know horror games are intended to be scary, so you can emotionally prepare yourself but when a game supposed to be relaxing suddenly does that it’s unexpected?

[@Beachbum-ch9cg]

same

[@hye2354]

ikr I can watch horror games footage without looking away but never been brave enough to click on an anti-piracy screen video games compilation video.

[@thoraortegren]

personally, ive always been extremely creeped out whenever pbs would thank me for watching a program. so i think i would’ve died on the spot if i ever got an anti piracy screen

[@Emmet4399]

You hate thank you messages? Someone isn’t grateful /j

[@RaeganScarlett]

Yeah now that I think about it, it always gave me a slightly weird feeling as well. It must be the fourth wall break

[@Fzzyboy_tea]

ayo i thought it was just me, but especially when my parents were outside and I would be watching it and it would to the screens before the new show started, I was shitting bricks anytime those popped up lmao

[@RisingSunfish]

My compulsive need to have my Audible listens marked as Finished pales in comparison to my fear of the old-timey man who tells me Audible hopes I have enjoyed this program. 😰

[@coffee_gremlin]

i thought it was just me! that always creeped me out growing up, so did the “to be continued” screen especially at night

[@voiceofthelegion578]

I actually beat the final boss on a pirated earthbound. Was playing through on an SNES emulator, which has reloadable save states. Every time the game would freeze I would reload the previous save state and each time I did it I was able to progress a little further into the fight, which I would save and reload to. Took like three hours. Interestingly, once the battle ends so does the anti piracy measure and it lets you watch the final cutscene uninterrupted.

[@battyrae1398]

king o' th' pirates, ye earned yer title well!

[@voiceofthelegion578]

@@battyrae1398 thanks, but I only did it because I wasn't about to play through in entire RPG again. I don't recommend it though it was very annoying.

[@AmySay]

The line between determination and insanity is a thin one and you did such a graceful dance on that line.

[@FinalMegaFangirl1230]

i love EarthBound. that final battle made me cry lol

[@deusfaust]

I'm pretty sure it's just that Earthbound has issues being emulated on certain emulators. ☠️

[@geeker6350]

These developers took the phrase 'scare them straight' and ran a marathon with it.

[@ddjsoyenby]

they really h@t3 the best way to enjoy games.

[@vivictinimoved]

@@ddjsoyenby indie devs hate piracy because their games are often the only way they can pay their bills 💀

[@k4zikaze]

@@ddjsoyenby maybe because making a game your whole team worked so hard on and then get a random site pirating that exact game would obviously piss them off lmao

[@ddjsoyenby]

@@vivictinimoved agreed honestly indie games are the exception.

[@noursama_the_old]

@@ddjsoyenby they are probably the reason why I hated the internet and the people of the 1st world countries at that time (I never understood that even games need to be paid for I was so young ). because I live in a 3rd world country where 1 dollar equals a lot of our money and we didn't even have credit cards. It made me think at that time that people of 1st world countries are just selfish people who like to collect money and ruin our days because their countries are successful ( which is clearly wrong since you people are just people just like us,I was truly stupid and selfish ) I even sometimes was close to crying LOL I was so devestated LOL (MY ENGLISH IS HORRIBLE OMG)

[@DaftBanana]

honestly real piracy screens are much more eery than these creepypasta ones to me. just the fact that music cuts out and all that's left is a blunt message is pretty creepy espiecially if it was encountered alone or at night

[@hammywoods]

God this always gives me chills, reminds me of when cartoon network would switch over to adult swim and all that would play is a silent black screen telling you the following program is for adults only. I couldn't read at the time but whenever I would be watching cartoon and my TV screen would just suddenly go black with small white text, little me would bolt out of the room in tears 😭

[@m00nrac00n]

Yea, its like someone pulling the plug and therefor pulling you out of the immersion and saying "Listen, you have been caught, this is ending NOW." Immersion is a huge part of why games work, breaking that can be quite scary.

[@literallieme]

@@hammywoods you just described me perfectly in that moment, except i’d be too afraid to run and just watch adult swim. that’s how i discovered toonami actually lmao

[@bwc1976]

@@hammywoods Kind of like when TV stations signed off in my day, it would suddenly go to loud static or a loud tone, and sometimes there would be a loud scary sounding announcement, as if the announcer was scolding you for still being awake. Now I'm going to have to try and find that black screen.

[@sha_exists7480]

The baldi one REALLY got me. That one was really high on the trauma scale. Anyway i was like 11 at the time, it was like 3am, everyone else in the house was asleep, and i was in bed watching disney channel, and out of nowhere the screen goes black and theres a red line with moving text on the screen that says "weekly test" or whatever. The alert sound started and mind you the volume was loud. Hysterical as i was, i plugged my ears the best i could, and ran to the tv to turn it off. I couldnt sleep after that.

[@Emmet4399]

What year was that? I feel like I was there when that happened

[@pinkfeet518]

i’m 26 years old and i still would probably cry if i saw one of those again. that noise never leaves your brain

[@bigOlMonke]

This happend to me 😭

[@kayzzzzzzzzz]

omg you just unlocked one of my memories

[@boxcutter4]

Wait i also pirated baldi and i never got a screen like that

[@weebsquit347]

The eerie sounds or silence of an Anti-piracy screen makes it feel like you got yourself into a huge trouble. Like someone or something is coming to get you. Like you unleashed something. Plus, it's very immersion breaking and takes you out of the game sometimes just to call you out. It's pretty cool and creepy.

[@cyqry]

That's definitely the part that gets me with anti-piracy (well at least legit ones, not the jumpscare bs). The audio is so unsettling, like you know something's wrong because of it.

[@Dani-sr9sl]

I remember there was an anti-piracy ad that would play on Australian DVDs where a picture of a movie, usually happy feet, would be set on fire as it said something like "when you pirate movies you're destroying cinema". That ad scared me so much as a kid that I had panic attacks everytime I saw the ad, and eventually every time I saw a happy feet DVD case. I don't know why it affected me as much as it did but jesus I still sometimes struggle if I see anything that reminds me of happy feet or the ad

[@Dani-sr9sl]

@Coffee Reliant Yes thats the one! I only got two seconds in because it gave me the heeby-jeebies

[@batteryacid4817]

y e s that happy feet thing scared the shit outta me for some reason. like i couldnt watch happy feet and i had to throw out my happy feet plushie. like something about that ad installed a visceral fear of any thing related to happy feet

[@Pr0j3ctLim]

I remember that everytime I would watch a movie on my DVD and add about piracy came on where kids were watching a movie and talking about how the didn't want to watch pirated movies anymore. Then a man would say that if you commit to piracy then you're a criminal, after 10 or less seconds the movie would start It wasn't scary at all but it remember not liking the add and feeling bad whenever it popped up

[@Candy-id3gz]

I have like hundreds of DVDs and i never got an anti piracy ad :[

[@ddjsoyenby]

so trying to be the spoops.

[@jungjaehyuns]

when i used to obsessively play moshi monsters i remember one time i typed a gift code wrong and the moshi monster that would 'eat' the code and throw up the gift would just make a weird noise and spit the code out if you put an invalid one. absolutely terrified me and ever since that moment i would leave the room when entering codes in case i typed them wrong because i didnt want to hear that sound 😭 if i ever saw an anti piracy screen i think i wouldve collapsed.

[@kassiaactuallydraws9361]

That happened :0? I played the game but I never got to use any codes _I was a easily scared kid so I'm kind of glad I never did_

[@jungjaehyuns]

@@kassiaactuallydraws9361 it was probably my first adhd hyperfixation like all i did was think and talk about moshi monsters 😭 i had tons of gift codes because i bought the entire trading card set (i made my poor dad enter ebay auctions for cards i was missing). the gift code screen was iggy with his mouth open so it was kind of cute but the sound he made when he threw up an invalid code was absolutely horrifying for me back then lol. edit: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZukp6d4q7qWpLc i dont even know what exactly i found scary about this but this is what it looked like

[@kassiaactuallydraws9361]

@@jungjaehyuns Wow :0 I don't have adhd so it wasn't an hyperfixation for me but I relate on the moshi monsters brainrot. My mom had to limit my computer usage bc I only wanted to play it I wasn't allowed to use money on anything so I never made nobody pass through that lol The sound's silly ngl

[@toadofjustice6028]

WHEN I WAS YOUNGER I WOYLD RUN OUT OF THE LIVING ROOM WHEN I GOT A GAME OVER IN SUPER MARIO 3D WORLD BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS SCARY

[@thevarietypacksnaxx405]

This is so cute pls

[@buildinasentry1046]

I think the creepiest one I’ve encountered which is also real, is one from the game La Abadia Del Crimen. When you walk into this church, it begins playing choir music like usual, but then the game gets stuck, and you hear this bit-crushed voice repeat “PIRATA” while the voice gets deeper and slower with every repeat, until it finally crashes

[@Hazagal173]

I got the baldis basics one I started crying and I told my mum and she laughed

[@asmolgaytree]

It sorta reminds me of those warnings before movies on vhs/dvd that'd like "Do not copy this tape, it's a crime, and you can face up to 6 years in jail." Those always scared me despite being 8 and not trying to pirate Rugrats

[@Kitkatcaitlin]

LITERALLY like the silence as well. Idk what was wrong with me but those “the following program is classified pg” warnings used to scare me as well (they kinda still do)

[@Axl4325]

I did get them and I was 100% watching pirated movies, but what can I say? I was 7 and living in a third world country with no access to the real deal. I especially remember an advert that was about a guy entering a shop dressed as a 2000s punk and stealing some CDs with a very gritty filter, the guy got busted, the cops pursued him and he got shot a buncha times with the message of "This could be you" or something along those lines, real funny nowadays but spooky as a child

[@jdjohnson1591]

y o u w o u l d n ' t d o w n l o a d a c a r

[@BM-ts1yi]

@@jdjohnson1591yes i will

[@abbacadaver]

Yeah, they were in theaters too. I wonder why that just… stopped

[@Nae_aka_toras_wifey]

That intro was so cool, fits the retro arcade game aesthetic perfectly.

[@kaylituh]

glad someone noticed !

[@martha-hy7vq]

ikr! also the glitch and piracy message in the middle of the video. it scared me.

[@xoxogossipgreen]

I never got an anti piracy screen, but as a kid playing Sims 2 on DS I changed the time to get around a morning/night based element and triggered something where aliens invade your town due to time travelling and you can’t continue your game, they just continually make you faint until you go back to an old save. The idea of a game having self awareness, that it could tell what I did to the hardware, scared me so much I had nightmares hahah

[@Mauripsu]

Yokai Watch had a similar thing, on which the Yokai Oni would call you out

[@allyh7075]

I got a false positive on Spyro 3 and ended up with Zoe warning me about my supposed piracy when I was around 8 years old. I remember it terrifying me - I was the ultimate goody two-shoes kid, always trying to be on everyone's good side and never breaking any rules out of fear, and the sudden mention that I was somehow breaking the law was so scary. I didn't know how anti-piracy screens worked at that age, so although I knew they were just characters in a video game, it felt like whoever ran the company somehow knew who and where I was and they were going to track me down and arrest me. Even as an 8 year old I knew that sometimes innocent people are assumed guilty by the police so I remember laying in bed crying about how I didn't want to go to jail lol

[@metallicbunny9595]

Love the concept of people pirating Friday Night Funkin instead of just going to Newgrounds to play it for free, and it being such a problem that they had to make special anti-piracy measures

[@greedtheron8362]

Actually, piracy of free flash games does happen. Other unsavory websites would download and host FNF or whatever other game and put all their own ads to make money off something they had no permission to.

[@metallicbunny9595]

@@greedtheron8362 fair, there are lots of ripping sites or unblocked pages for school computers. Mobile ports too. Probably why pretty much every flash game has embedded links back to the original host and big logos and everything. Still found it kind of funny tho, the best anti piracy would probably just be putting a newgrounds link in the play button or something

[@conarcoin]

it’s free to download too LOL

[@p0p7art]

@@metallicbunny9595 understandable for school computers

[@ci_cu]

"why are you in here?" "i killed several men. you?" "i pirated undertale" "stay the fuck away from me"

[@sokaiton]

Sans: *it's not sans... Its **_mans_* Mans: perfection

[@lillyanaduff3864]

@@sokaiton Frisk isn't Frisk anymore.... they're Risk... and Char now, they lost the A in their name... Char, Risk, and Mans are after you and they're mad... *laughs*

[@sokaiton]

@@lillyanaduff3864 😂 Oh jeez. But, Papyrus, he... He is simply Paper now. And, Undyne is... Uh. Am I reading this right? She is Undin. And alphys, oh alphys. She is alhys, uh... That looks funky. And finally, Flowey. The antagonist, the villain, the demented creature, simply is Flower now. He's still a big deal, even with the change but he's like this weird pink tulip with a face. It's not good

[@TypewritR]

@@sokaiton it ain't Undertale now, it's over quest 💀

[@sokaiton]

@@TypewritR Long ago, there lived two races... Mike Wasowskis and Dora the Explorers

[@quagstar]

The image of the Mario characters locked behind bars in the Mario Party DS anti-piracy screen is actually in the game. It appears in the story mode, where Bowser locks all the characters behind bars and then shrinks their size down. I've seen some confusion where people think that the image is fake along with the rest of the screen, but it's as real as mayonaise

[@PersephoneDarling28]

Mayonnaise isn't real though

[@quagstar]

@@PersephoneDarling28 Oh no, you've just made me realise that I have been spelling mayonnaise wrong my entire life. I'd edit my comment, but after this reply I lose finger privileges for the rest of the day

[@AntiKira20]

I thought mayonnaise was an instrument.

[@emoxhermit8230]

YES! Someone clarifies! Also, while the music in the video (known simply as "Piracy is no Party!") is made by the content creator, it is more so a rendition of a different song also within Mario Party DS.

[@cloverlovania]

... as real as, marionnaise

[@cprisnn]

i think the thing that scared me most, and still scares me now, is red text. still, i find red text just so eerie, even if it is something as simple as an error, like a disc not being read, or something disconnecting. it is just so scary, no idea why haha

[@theoneflop]

RIGHTT

[@slyar]

Look at the screen for error code 410 Gone, I think it might be similar to this

[@TennelleFlowers]

Dang, the whole talk about activation codes sent me back! I remember all my pc games needing you to enter the activation codes in order to install the game. My family had an old computer, so we would only have a few games installed at a time, then uninstall and re-install if we wanted to play them again. You’re 100% right about them being a pain for regular users, because I definitely lost access to some of my games because the code would get lost. And this was also back when my family didn’t have any internet at all, not that anyone would know or think to try to look up codes online just so I could play Disney Animated Storybook Mulan. Lol In general, there is something just extremely unsettling about piracy screens. I’m glad I never ran into one as a kid, cause they would’ve scared the bejeezus out of me. A lot of the scare factor is definitely feeling vulnerable and watched, but I think another thing about them that frightens me is the broken trust between player and dev/company, and that they want revenge on you. Like, a game is supposed to be an escapist activity, something fun and then to suddenly be reminded that this game is a product made for profit first and foremost is just kinda? And that feeling that these people who made a thing you enjoy now hate your guts or something. Idk, it always creeps me out.

[@3osprey]

-i just finished watching one of your videos help-

[@parrotperson]

I used to have to uninstall and reinstall my old sims games so often, at one point I had the game activation codes for a few of them completely memorised.

[@Rippertear]

Not to mention, you were just playing a game and enjoying what the devs made for you- and now all of a sudden, they've been watching you all along, and they don't trust you, and they didn't make this game for the likes of you. The confrontational aspect is probably what does it for me

[@Alyssaromantic]

That's kind of why I like the Just Shapes And Beats piracy screen. It doesn't judge you or try to scare you, it just sits down and tries to convince you.

[@annamarie5192]

@@parrotperson omg I used to memorise the activation codes too , or if I lost one id be so annoyed if they weren’t right online

[@Scarlet8375]

To me, one of the reasons why they're scary is because it's calling you out for something you actually did. Like a guilt trip in a Undertale genocide run, you feel horrible because you know you. Or if it's a false positive, then it's changed to a fear you might feel when being wrongfully arrested. Also, I watched this video about 4th wall breaks in video games and how that in and of itself can be scary because it's popping that comfortable bubble of being anonymous and inconspicuous, to being known and very much conspicuous. The same video also said what if Undertale had pulled a Psycho Mantis and during the genocide route Sans said something like, "Why don't you go play Overwatch so you can let them down instead?" And simply reading that in the video hurt.

[@distortedideas9612]

I watched that one too!

[@KOTEBANAROT]

why would someone feel bad for pirating games? i pirated undertale btw

[@toxiwashere]

@@KOTEBANAROT I can't really describe it, but it's like when a kid eats dessert too early, they normally wouldn't care, but when a parent catches them doing it, they feel bad

[@slylover123]

Probably my only experience with this is stealing from a shop in Zelda-they changed my name to THIEF for the rest of the game (it even shows up on the save file) 😭 If that's not anti-piracy I don't know what is

[@tadbitsketch]

im sorry but that's freaking hilarious

[@dreamycarnival4400]

ngl it'd b a hilarious ap counter for the franchise

[@gaymerjerry]

In the DX version theres a picture you can only get by doing that

[@genericname2747]

Haha classic THIEF

[@firstcanonkill1767]

I REMEMBER THAT

[@calista8639]

This video was so satisfying. I thought I was always so silly for getting nervous and plain scared by anti piracy screens or warnings. Although this is for movies, I would always dread the anti piracy warnings on DVD I would see before watching childhood movies like Aladdin with my family during movie night. We would click play on the title screen, I was cuddled next to my mom with a blanket and ice cream. But what I knew was coming was a dark screen, no sound, and words like “FBI,” “prison,” “crime,” etc. It felt wrong to see. It felt too touching. So when you said these screens make us feel vulnerable, especially as it breaks the fourth wall, you got it right on the money. And after that, the movie would play, but my nerves still haven’t settled. I sincerely hated the precautionary piracy warnings as a kid it was an unnatural fear 😭

[@thatsamood]

You are ice cream during movies?

[@skeletonmeatphantasylibrary]

There's just this spooky surrealism to playing a game as you normally would just to be interrupted by a screen or dialogue telling you the game is pirated. That's the main thing for me.

[@m00nrac00n]

The immersion break, that the game "can tell" and pulls you out.

[@amelia3291]

also, story: not anti-piracy, but the linked fear of a loud/repeating noise glitch. i was little, playing indiana jones wii with my mom, and suddenly the game stopped and glitched. it repeated the same noise over and over and i was petrified

[@tadbitsketch]

Yeah, glitching noises are extremely terrifying

[@yamiletsandoval9117]

@@tadbitsketch yeah ,I know right? Once this happen to me and it's scored me for a hole week , but everything is fine.

[@ansun1987]

@@tadbitsketch Yeah

[@clxo1273]

ok so my tv is old and does that and i have a fear of being alone so when it happene for the first time a went under my covers and started shaking

[@wildlylucky]

I was playing Sims on my laptop and it bluescreened, and the Sims music did that 😭😭😭 it was terrifying

[@turner15]

The Earthbound anti piracy measure is hilariously harsh. Imagine thinking you got away with it, made it to the end of the game, and then the whole thing just crashed while you lost your save. Like damn, ice cold 😂.

[@404ares]

That's why it was effective- it's much easier to know when you finally bypassed the anti-piracy if it's a lock-out right at the start of the game, but if it's something more subtle and way later in the progression of the game that deletes your progress every time it becomes VERY difficult and time consuming to keep changing, checking, changing, checking, until you eventually bypass the anti-piracy.

[@lambybunny7173]

@@404ares same approach was taken with Spyro: Year of The Dragon!

[@RowletGameing]

I can't imagine actually getting to the end, the game locks you out after enemy encounters so you'd need to be cheating in order to get to the end in the first place.

[@Kitkatcaitlin]

I love games that do that. It’s a power move tbh

[@genericname2747]

@@lambybunny7173 That anti-piracy measure is legendary

[@aveocado]

I love everyone sharing their strange mid 2000s early online horror experiences. All of us kids who were in the transition and grew up online but right before the cut off. I wish there were more support groups to talk about 2007-2012. My heart aches.

[@catziee]

“You’ll be making Lasagna in prison for the rest of your life, Garfield!” needs to be an anti-piracy screen.

[@WizzygetsdizzyXD]

Or "Next day you'll wake up, it'll be Monday, Garfield!" especially I'd there's a game that goes levels as weeks

[@Dragondacrafter]

" All of your 9 lives will feel like Mondays after this! "

[@aquareus1]

For me personally, I always found the piracy screens really goofy, even as a kid. "oh what, Sonic is going to try to shame me for committing a crime? what do you know? you're a hedgehog!" idk, the sudden tone shift and fourth wall break was jarring but in a way that just made the entire situation seem silly.

[@luk_143]

Stupi- oh right, I’m a Sonic Fan, my opinion doesn’t matter. But Sonic knows the crime the person that recorded it committed. He’s against animal cruelty and piracy. (maybe?!?!) Also, maybe he’s smarter than other hedgehogs?!?!

[@lab_is_not_listening]

When I was younger in about 2011, I had a friend at my house and we where playing in my bedroom. We had our DSs and where just messing with the voice recording game. I had the radio on and we started recording 5 second clips of the songs on the radio so we could put voice effects ontop of the singing. We thought it was hilarious. Then the music ended and the radio started reading out the news. There was the usual news stories and then a short message from the radio station saying it's illegal to pirate music off the radio and recording songs is a serious crime. My friend and I both freaked out and ran downstairs to tell our mum's, who where in the kitchen. We where apologising because we where scared the police where going to come to my house to arrest us. Our mum's just laughed.

[@nanomeows]

AW

[@rblxeditorbutinsane]

Lol

[@leaf111]

how did it know you were recording or could it have been a coincidence? did the music stop mid-song?

[@lab_is_not_listening]

@@leaf111 I definitely think it was a coincidence. The radio would sometimes say something along the lines of "it's illegal to pirate music off the radio" after the news, it just scared me this time because I had been recording songs and I thought it knew. The message came on after the news.

[@leaf111]

@@lab_is_not_listening that makes sense, crazy coincidence. i've never heard an anti-piracy message on the radio (i'm from belgium)

[@JJRedy]

i think that people tend to dismiss these things just because they're fake, but they're, jus like you said, pieces of art. The creativity that comes into making a spooky, yet subtle screen like this is endless, and that should be applauded on its own

[@dm-cody5054]

IMO what makes these anti piracy screens and analog horror so effective is that it makes you the main character of the story. You aren’t reading about creepy occurrences happening from a characters perspective, it’s happening to you.

[@404ares]

YEAHHH EXACTLY it's sonic.exe but turned in the direction that it's always needed to be turned. Walten Files is a fantastic example of modern analog horror in this light.

[@zeeeeyyyy]

my favourite DRM is definitely from a game called ''la abadia del crimen'', where after a specific part of the game, there is a loud voice getting deeper and slower, and calling you ''pirate'' alongside of an ear-scratching glitch noise. the game then shuts down and deletes the save. i think it's so much scarier than the fake ones

[@iwakeupandboomimarat]

is that the pirata one??? that scares the shit out of me lmao

[@toastarkat]

i would diarrhea myself if i came across that while alone

[@Mauripsu]

PIRATA PIRATA PIRATA P I R A T A P I R A T A

[@deviantartguy0]

Sweet fish, man. You like tad poles?

[@zeeeeyyyy]

@@iwakeupandboomimarat yes that is the one !!

[@katatat2030]

Btw, "game developers" weren't pissed that people used to be able to pirate games easily. There is a class line here. The game developers aren't the ones making money off the sale of the game, they are only paid for their labor in making the game. The owners of the company are the ones who lose profit if the game is pirated

[@toyfan1769]

Um, no? That might be the case for AAA games since the 2005 to now. But indie game devs currently, and a good chunk of developers in 1980-2000 were directly hit by piracy.

[@wavee8894]

This is not necessarily true. Most games for 80s home computers, which were predominately cassette tape based, were made by indie developers who both made the games and ran their own businesses. Large software publishers are more of a thing of the 90s onward because the popularity of video game consoles and the controlled ecosystems around them made it harder for small developers to release their games.

[@epicthecandydragon6079]

@@toyfan1769 first of all, anyone who pirates indie games that are often 20 USD or less should understand what disservice they’re doing to the studio. Second, the financial hits in the 80s to 2000s were before major game companies became multi-billion dollar tech giants.

[@epicthecandydragon6079]

@@wavee8894 but we all know what happened when Steam was invented.

[@suziebelle3738]

thats only for companies like AAA, indie devs make almost all their money off game sales

[@literallydiamondcat]

Never came across anti-piracy screens, but these scary fake ones reminded me of real emergency alert messages that would pop up in the middle of your Saturday morning cartoons. When I was a kid, I couldn't help but panic when the familiar and unsettling emergency alert screen came on in the middle of my show. I got so scared to the point I was in tears. The buzz sound made it even worse. Amber alerts are also terrifying to me, even as an older teen

[@robinredd7734]

The anti-piracy measures being so inconvenient for people who just bought the legal copies is such a fail imo - not to mention that it can make it impossible to keep your ownership of the game longterm, like you said you can just lose the activation codes. When I tried installing my Sims 2 discs recently, I found out EA games let the licence expire, so even though I had paid for the games, and taken good care not to lose the stupid booklets, I had to "hack" my own PC to make it stop checking for licences because otherwise it just wouldn't install these games I genuinely paid for. aaaaaaargh!

[@eastdakota6954]

same, I had to purchase the steam version of Spore even though I had a physical copy because the licensing nonsense

[@RegsaGC]

If it helps, such hacks have been made explicitly legal under EU law. It is considered a flaw in your product, that you have a right to correct. Don't know if you're in the EU but it's just to say that even lawmakers are aware of the problem and agree that it's bullshit.

[@robinredd7734]

@@RegsaGC I am in the EU, and that info does help thank you! I feel vindicated lol

[@rachelgoldenburg2241]

When does it check for the licenses?

[@robinredd7734]

@@rachelgoldenburg2241 Right after you insert the disc and attempt to read/play it

[@mmilcz833]

I recently saw a fake anti piracy thing for Animal Crossing New Horizons where a new character appears and kidnaps one of your villagers and I’m just genuinely fascinated and confused about how you would make that. The character looked exactly like they would be in the game, everything looked right and I just have absolutely no idea how you would achieve that.

[@pixi7633]

It's always intrigued me the sheer amount of talented artists and the like who spend their talent on, like, creating internet urban legends to scare little kids 😂

[@stainedglassghosts3692]

Would you have the link to that video?

[@mmilcz833]

@@stainedglassghosts3692 here it is! kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6TXqnekqrp1j5Y

[@TimmyvsTommy]

It’s funny that you mention that because that’s my video and I actually made a video explaining how I went about making the fake anti piracy video

[@stainedglassghosts3692]

Thank you so much!!

[@thanatoast]

The funniest part of DRM is that it basically only protects the first few months of sales. Companies normally invest a lot of money on good DRM because those first sales are the ones that allow them to make their money back, but even good DRM eventually tends to get cracked anyway.

[@ma.2089]

Sometimes even, they appear on legally purchased copies. Which sucks

[@Shewhospeakesinverse]

@@ma.2089 Id occasionally run into games that wouldnt work on my ds but i shrugged it off because wed buy 🏴‍☠️ games on cartridges that had like fifty games on a cartridge and so most of them ended up working. But finding out that apparently people who bought it legitimately couldnt play the games is so wild. Its like they Want to drive us to the high seas

[@bodkie]

A lot of DRM gets broken within days of game release, let alone months or even weeks.

[@miaikel]

@@Shewhospeakesinverse The DS was piracy fest, Here they were called "R4" a cartridge with a SD card and you could just download any room and play it on your DS. i never had to buy a DS game and their cost was like 20$ lol.

[@SteveDice21]

The Witcher 3 clearly proved DRM doesn't work. Just make good games.

[@faeriemachine]

This really reminded me of Emergency Alert System scenarios for some reason, I think you should look into it! It's similar in the same "analog horror" way as anti-piracy

[@cac_deadlyrang]

EAS scenarios are analog horror, while APS mocks are digital horror.

[@SiennaBibby]

Honestly, I think EAS alarms a way less more scary then anti-piracy screens. And its less scary when you see it off a screen instead of real life on a tv.

[@slyar]

Obviously you'd be _terrified_ if an EAS alert played on the TV, way more than on your computer or phone screen. But you can replicate it by using KZbin for TV@@SiennaBibby

[@CreatineKinaze]

honestly even tho im 20 EAS scenarios scare me

[@annenoir760]

i fell for the Earthbound anti piracy measures when i was a child and for a long time i would think Earthbound was this extremely hard game and people who liked it were insane

[@AlexSpherebob]

My favorite part about that anti piracy measure is that if by some chance you actually manage to get to the final boss, the game would take you back to the menu screen and delete your save file, making it impossible to beat the game.

[@bl1ndpr0phet]

I get pretty creeped out by some old technology stuff. Especially error screens because a lot of the old ones were very unsettling if you weren’t expecting them. A lot of those Nintendo ones talking about serious crimes would have scared the hell out of me lol

[@TheCanadianWeeb5]

Same

[@TheRaychenator]

I knew I wasn't alone in this fear, but it's good to see someone else saying it out loud. I first thought that I was scared of "some old 8-bit music but not all of it" and then narrowed it down to "idk anything from the atari 2600 unnerves me deeply" but maybe its just that im creeped out by some old technology stuff.

[@Feynix4]

The Elmo with a knife one made me actually laugh out loud. I live for chaotic Elmo

[@liondyi]

*La la la la, la la la la.. Elmo’s world..*

[@lillyanaduff3864]

Demonic Elmo...

[@noreverie]

i read elon for a second

[@omialoc]

@@noreveriewhat if Elon musk had a knife and pirated the game?

[@erickamakeeaina1649]

500th like

[@anonymous-ll4qm]

When i was 8 i got a legitimate copy of the sims 2, without a code. Im not american, and when my dad called some people and got an email to get the code, it took like 3 days. Then we got a new computer and my dad lost the email and thought nothing of it, i was like 10 and had to call the company myself. I was on the phone on and off for about 5 hours with the same guy who wanted tk do everything but help me, called me names, was super rude and told me to get my parents many times even though i told him i was home alone. I called him about 4 times, but on the second time i told him that the guy i talked to before was super rude and im just a 10 year old trying to get a code for a video game, and he just told me its him and hung up on me. I kept calling and annoying him, and still got no help. My dad contacted them a few days later and a really nice lady answered and solved our problem in a few days. Nowdays I have severe anxiety from calling people i dont know, whether its ordering a pizza or looking for a doctor or something. Im so happy they stopped using these codes

[@MlNORlTY]

I'm surprised you didn't mention "BAD EGG". it was a very well known anti cheating measure for Pokemon games. I remember kids at school would spread the news about it, warning everyone to beware of the "BAD EGG". it's a glitch that happens when you use cheat codes. it takes the 1st pokemon in your party and permanently traps them into a "BAD EGG" and this egg is also locked into your party, so you are unable to get rid of it. but otherwise, you can continue to play the full game as usual. this glitch never happened to me personally, but it did unfortunately happen to my sister. we had a Game Shark (a device that contains a huge database of cheat codes for just about every game you could imagine and you'd connect it directly to your console) and we used it a lot. I gave myself unlimited rare candies, unlimited master balls, unlimited max potions, and so on. I even gave myself rare shiny pokemon, even legendaries. I was undefeatable. however, I never received any punishment for it. unfortunately, my sister used the Game Shark device and ended up with the "BAD EGG". she was extremely upset, because the egg had taken over her Kyogre. not only was this one of her favorite pokemon, but she had captured it fair and square on a legitimate game that she purchased. it's still trapped inside the "BAD EGG" to this day. why she got punished for using cheat codes but I never did, we'll never know.

[@beingmegucaissuffering.5326]

Oh man, I remember BAD EGG and all the old spooky proto-creepypasta videos people made about it. I had a GameShark but never used it on my Pokemon games because I was too scared that it'd mess up my file. I also avoided hatching the Egg you get in Lavaridge because I'd heard it would hatch into BAD EGG if you cheated your game (no idea if this is true). And about why your sister's game tripped the anti cheat and yours didn't--apparently Bad Egg is more likely to appear if you use the quick daycare level up cheat or hack an illegitimate move onto a pokemon. Maybe it had to do with one of those?

[@fieratheproud]

@@beingmegucaissuffering.5326 Not sure how true it is but I recall hearing that it was possible to get a Bad Egg from the Wynaut even just randomly because of some glitch. Coulda just been a rumor though. Oh yea, and I do feel like I remember that the Bad Egg could be placed into a Box but there it could spread, potentially overtaking any other pokemon deposited? That and if kept in tge party it could "hatch" but only ever into another Bad Egg which also could hatch, forming a sort of endless loop. Once again, both these coulda been rumors since it's been forever since I last saw anyone talk about the Bad Egg.

[@MlNORlTY]

@@beingmegucaissuffering.5326 yeah, I don't know exactly what cheat she was trying to use, but obviously it wasn't a good one. this was back in diamond/pearl era, so it's been a long time. I know there's ways of getting rid of them nowadays in newer games, but still haven't found anything that reverses the glitch and restores the trapped pokemon. RIP Kyogre

[@pandoraeve9751]

Speaking of Pokémon, there was a rather famous measure I haven't seen in the comments yet in BW where I believe you couldn't gain experience in pirated copies. Naturally, there were some people who decided to take this as a challenge. This is the first time I've actually heard of bad egg being an anti-cheating measure, since I'd just heard of it being a glitch.

[@MlNORlTY]

@@pandoraeve9751 they're literally calling you a "bad egg" for cheating. it's not possible to get one just from playing the game naturally as intended. if you get a bad egg, you did something to deserve it.

[@afterlight7632]

In middle school, my friends and I would swap around disks of sims 3 expansions. We found out pretty early on that you just needed the disk for whatever expansion you had most recently download in order to play the game. We would each just buy a single expansion and then share them amongst ourselves. By the end, 7 of us had every sims expansion available. It was awesome.

[@mari_zz]

The funniest part is; I've only ever played pirated copies of games for like, my whole life. We don't really have much money in my family, so playing videogames is something we could never afford, yet I always loved. And in my whole life of playing any pirated game I want, I've never seen an anti-piracy screen at all lol I'm guessing the people that make the copies actually take the time to get rid of those screens or weird methods to kinda lock you out of the game, so yeah, I guess they don't serve much of a purpose other than making "pirates" work a little harder, probably so the copies take more time to come out and the game gets a good amount of sales before that happens.

[@anshagrawal254]

Yeah same ive pirated soo many games on many platforms, but i didn't even know about the existence of anti piracy screens before they became famous on youtube. Goes to show that DRM only really hurts the paying customer.

[@fieratheproud]

Yeah, seems Anti-piracy is mostly meant to slow down pirates. Cases like Spyro 3 are most fascinating to me since there's multiple levels of copy protection, the first one being obvious and easily cracked and then the next being much more subtle, with the intent that the pirate would play the game to test that it works, decide it's fine now and share it, not knowing that it was only partially cracked. I remember hearing that the majority of the sales that companies don't wanna miss out on are the first week or so.

[@hectorr2642]

same,but instead of low money,my uncle pirates games for me,even tho if i don't want it. he's very nice,i don't know if i should be mad at him or not... however,i got some games without piracy,like super Mario 3D world,Splatoon,paper Mario color splash etc.

[@satanslittleprince]

Real, same

[@lizzyisanamy1820]

I’ll never forget one day when I was on KZbin and I stumbled across a n “ace attorney anti piracy screen.” It played out like a normal level, but had the player on trial for piracy, and ended up being convicted. I was much younger at the time, and the video gave me nightmares. Surprisingly though, it ended up motivating me to wishlist Ace Attorney on Steam, and I ended up getting it.

[@AstridHorton]

A Video Scared You Into Wanting A Game?

[@Tinlion09]

Mario Party DS Anti-Piracy was wild. Just the sheer insanity of the escalation from Bowser saying he doesn't party with criminals, to the game somehow calling 911 through your DS and telling you to turn yourself in, to a completely original boss fight mini-game with a banging remix of the original video's music. Also, if you translated the Japanese developer notes in the videos, most of them were along the lines of "TO HUDSON SOFT: _Please_ fire the programmer who keeps sending us builds with all this weird anti-piracy shit. -Nintendo"

[@its-so-ouverture]

The monty mole saying "I don't serve criminals" tho

[@Magiclove99Abby]

@@its-so-ouverture Or getting eaten by a Shy Guy.

[@spiralhillrailfan3768]

Bowser: I don’t party with criminals! Ok kidnapper of 35 years that also commits what I’m pretty sure are warcrimes

[@Tinlion09]

@@spiralhillrailfan3768 *PIRACY IS NO PARTY*

[@Stelterna]

To the boss coming into the real world to arrest the player (that was the last entry in the series)

[@trenvert123]

Thanks for the Creepypasta warning. Most people would have just jumped into scary content without warning.

[@corruptedteka]

Yes I gotta give her props for that. I myself had to stop watching though, I'm really interesting in learning about the topic but i really get this irrational fear and anxiety so I really can't handle it even if I try. Maybe if I wasn't alone I could watch it.

[@mikoletea]

@@corruptedtekaAME ! I was watching late at night alone in my room and when I knew the creepy pasta part would begin I had to turn off the video and waited til I got to work to keep watching 😭

[@boel7522]

Gotta admit, I was a little scared of watching this lol. I thought you were gonna show an image from Sonic CD that absolutely terrified me when I saw it in a video at age 11. But since you didn’t mention it I felt the need to google it. Turns out that 1: the image is real and not a creepypasta 2: it’s not an anti piracy function but a hidden message from Masato Nishimura who worked on the game and 3: it’s not as scary as I remembered, it’s just pixel art of Sonic with a laughing human face and a moustache

[@spicyuh]

I was expecting a mention of that one too.

[@MezzoForte4]

I remember just READING about that hidden message in a Sonic magazine and it kept me on edge for days imagining how horrible the image of a "human-like Sonic" looked like. I didn't even have the game the message appeared in. Years later I found the image and thought "that's it?"

[@ender27plays]

isnt the sonic creepypasta real? i thought a dev put it there and that was his face, he said he didnt intend it to be scary though

[@spicyuh]

@@ender27plays something like that, yeah.

[@boel7522]

Liam Mannion it is real! And there are more (less creepy) easter eggs in the sound test screen where you find it! kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6bFY2OLpc6Dqpo

[@spooke_talynn]

When I was 7 I got an anti-piracy screen on my Nintendo DS in a Tinkerbell game, so, my parents called the numer in the manual the game card came in. It turns out that it was a legitimate game and somehow a false screen was triggered. As a kid I was really freaked out and came crying to my parents. If I remember correctly, Tinkerbell was trapped behind wooden bars with a disappointed queen on the bottom screen flashing "Power off and eject game card" while the top screen talked about how it was a serious crime and also gave instructions.

[@Zeverish]

While not quiet an anti-piracy measure, I remember playing Animal Crossing for the GameCube back in the day, traveling to a friends neighborhood on a second memory card, and all of the weird stuff that could happen there. The developers included an "easter egg" that occurs when you turn the game off in another player's neighborhood. You would lose all the items in your inventory and your character's face would be replaced by two empty eye sockets and a gaping circular mouth. It terrified the hell out of me as a kid. I basically quit Animal Crossing for several years after that. It's hilarious in retrospect, but man, I chucked my game across the room when it happened.

[@Jo-sx8yi]

Its even creepier if you consider the symbolism. The face is that of a Gyroid, which are grave figures

[@tadbitsketch]

I haven't even seen that and I am now terrified, thank you.

[@thatonemom1415]

YES! This happened to me when I visited my cousin’s town. He saved while I was still there and it booted me out. Scary shit. 😭 Resetti also scared the HELL outta me.

[@deulalune]

IS THERE A VIDEO SHOWCASING THIS

[@aoifefinn330]

THE GYROID FACE

[@isa_saenz]

7:58 the funniest thing is that The Sims 4 is probably one of the most successfully pirated games. The sites who post repacks even managed to make the TS4 online gallery work, account and everything while most pirated or cheated games can't connect to the internet, and some of them sell a plan for automatic updates (then someone pirated that lol).

[@deedeedeef]

i've been trying to find a good + safe way to download this since summer is coming up and i have free time. do you have any suggestions??? 🥺

[@jaspersoranges]

@@deedeedeef fitgirl is a nice website. Her cracks are amazing and very well made, I've never had any viruses whenever I got my games from her.

[@luo8727]

@@deedeedeef anadius repack

[@kvdrr]

@@luo8727 gallery bypass is dead, though

[@kenyauslaender]

@@deedeedeef actually EA is making the sims 4 free to download on PC in a few weeks! You can get it then!

[@hihi-nm3uy]

17:48 ABSOLUTELY. the nintendogs anti-piracy screen is absolutely one of the best ones i think off-putting, subtle content that slowly gives an uncanny sense that something isn't right is an excellent approach to this type of horror

[@carolinemcgovern4488]

Yes! The Nintendogs one is amazing, and props to the person for making it.

[@hihi-nm3uy]

@Robert Hoffman well, to be fair, the food you’re buying the dogs in that copy are pirated; they were sold over the seven seas for 8 years, and lost all its nutritional value in the carribean

[@meganhash7840]

YES! When I was little, I was literally too scared to get a Fur Real Friend, Tamagotchi, or any other toy/game that involved taking care of a pet because I didn't want them to die, so the Nintendogs one would've traumatized me

[@DoveDynamite]

I created that video!

[@zzz-wf1ke]

i find this topic extremely fascinating. i’m from argentina and playing videogames or seeing movies which aren’t original has never been an issue, especially in the 2000s. there was no way you could face real legal consequences. the only consequence was the waste of money if the game/movie didn’t work, which in my case almost never happened. however, the concept of a still text in a video + silence makes me uncomfortable to this day. i remember it happened a lot to me when watching tv as a kid. an episode of a show would end and i would be left alone in the dark at night with nothing but the outro credits and logos of the companies. i would change the channel as quickly as possible istg.

[@padparradschas9623]

20:30 - i kind of find other errors besides just piracy screens scary for some reason, and I don't think I'm the only one. Amber alerts and other error/alarm noises (except morning alarms, those are just annoying) and eerie computer error noises have always just freaked me out, especially late at night. I think just errors in general freak some people out like me.

[@pissonmytoast]

Yeah it all freaks me out its so scary

[@AstralArbourSystem]

They're supposed to be scary. It gets people's attention.

[@Nova-bv5qb]

Thank you, I agree! Although I've gotten used to one specific glitch on my computer and most error popups (it happened 3 times, and the only way out of it is to restart the machine. i have since fixed the bug it was encountering), I still really really really do not like even the possibility of a fire alarm/CO alarm/amber alert/EAS alarm going off unexpectedly. Fun fact: I listened to EAS fake alarm scenarios for a while. I stopped because I hated them and they were severely impacting my mental health.

[@ansun1987]

Yeah

[@phoebthepancake]

I get scared when my Nintendo Switch is whirring up. An actual error or anti piracy screen is going to give me a fatal heart attack

[@y00nz]

when i was a kid there was this anti-piracy ad that played before brazilian dvds where a mom bought a pirated dvd for her kid and then a bunch of armed men showed up and started shooting the air and thanking her for the money, it was... an experience

[@novoime710]

now what the hell is this 💀

[@oddinaryone1652]

Reminds me of an anti-piracy clip from Germany. Children with their mum standing infront of a jail, singing Happy Birthday. Their dad's in prison for piracy and the childrens ask how many times they have to sing until dad comes out lol

[@Jo-sx8yi]

@@oddinaryone1652 ahahaha i remember that one, I found it funny but after the scene there was this one guy who Announced that piracy is a crime and i found his voice super scary

[@missunderground9552]

Or the one that says you wouldn't steal a chicken or 'bullets' as changes. Good old times, I used to not look at and turn the TV mute

[@noirangel4234]

THIS

[@noemiv8248]

There was a German one for movies where a family of two kids and their mom where singing happy birthday at a prison, and when one of the girls ask “mommy when is daddy coming back” she goes “after we sing four more times”. The implication is that the dad distributed illegal copies and is now in prison for five years. The warning was mostly on children’s movies, so I think it was to scare parents by using children, while the kids themselves wouldn’t really get it.

[@Septixcake]

Ahh i remeber this haha. We sometimes watched movies the day before the holidays in school and most of the movies had this ad before it. But i always found it kinda funny as did most of my class.

[@frostyfoxteals]

Smart af LMFAO

[@lina8812]

I always say I’m not scared of anything..... but this. And any error screens. Even seeing the words “serious crime” or “power off your console NOW” or seeing my favorite character sitting there staring at the screen as a kid I would be traumatized. I’m even scared of amber and weather alerts. Even a little glitch in the game. If honestly say it’s my worst fear

[@XernDrawz]

hi! one of the people who worked on mpdsap here, this is a lovely video commentary! the anti piracy trend was definitely something else, I hope it comes back some time in the future. I've always been afraid of error screens myself. but the weirdest thing to me was on account of Joey, the series was actually inspired by a dream he had called "spin the Luigi" where you had to spin Luigi with a stylus and once the minigame was complete, it called the cops on him. pretty strange how something like that caused an internet phenomenon. the series is still kind of going (at my hands anyways). I'm glad people are starting to make video essays on this topic :)

[@1234bobfox]

I was really into animal crossing as a kid, and the in game warnings against exiting without saving and various hacking videos made anti-pirating videos on KZbin all the more realistic. I know the Coco face was only a thing in older versions, but I was spooked playing the DS game as a kid lol

[@AceAttorny]

I know these became a big creepypasta staple recently, but the thing is... I'm not sure they were ever really... A thing? Like, yeah, I guess I have some very vague images of a generic screen identifying a game file as illegitimate in my memory if you really press me, but 99 times out of 100 what a game would do is just let you play for a while and then silently lock you out of progressing any further.

[@Shewhospeakesinverse]

... the idea that people who legitimately bought games saw more of these screens than me who played mostly pirated screens is ... A lot to process. Capitalism baby

[@Shewhospeakesinverse]

Replied to the wrong comment, whoops sorry

[@thanatoast]

Yeah, for example Pokemon Black an White would straight up disable exp gain so your Pokémon would be stuck at whatever level you caught them in. I feel like adding a creepy hidden screen where pikachu tells you to kys yourself would just make people want to pirate the game even more.

[@Shewhospeakesinverse]

@@thanatoast .... Ok literally i never played the ds pokemon games because id always get them in morocco and theyd either not work or be stuck in french? My copy of mystery dungeon worked fine but the trouble i had with the final boss and being unable to defeat him looking back on it now seems .... Manufactured

[@angelicpretty777]

@@Shewhospeakesinverse you could have just deleted the comment?? lmao

[@googleuser5062]

the idea of seeking refuge in a game as a kid, only to be jolted back to the harsh reality with themes of CRIME SHAME and LAW popping into your mind. i think its the contrast of the two oposites that make these so intimidating, feels like being caught with your pants around your ankles.

[@emwatchesthings]

My favourite genre of these screens are the ones where they just tell you in game that your character is a criminal is a criminal and is just straight up sent to jail. I find it hysterical! I also like the new horizons one where you’re just left on the island with nobody else and cannot progress.

[@lukewarmmullet145]

I love your videos and content so much! I get so excited when I see that you’ve posted a new vid. Thanks so much for what you do :3

[@justaperson4656]

Wholesome comment, weird pfp

[@CrystalDoggoIsMissing]

@@justaperson4656 lmao right 💀

[@twilightjoltik3151]

I’m surprised they didn’t mention the Pokémon Firered/Leafgreen one, where the sailor tells you “If you like this game, buy it or die!” I think that’s the earliest example of a hoax anti piracy measure I can think of. So many people thought it was real, and even to this day a lot of people aren’t sure if it was a complete hoax or just something that a specific pirated rom included as something of a personal signature.

[@fieratheproud]

If I recall, it's more or less confirmed a hoax since that line of dialogue can only be found in some ROMs and isn't present if you dump it directly from an official GBA Cartridge. The location of the text being unusual also points to this (stored well away from the rest of the Sailor's text)

[@not_okay875]

honestly if all the fake creepy pasta anti piracy screens were real, i feel like piracy would be very unpopular.

[@wahoodotwav]

i was an absolute MANIAC for Mario Party DS when i was younger so the fact that, as someone who knew the game front to back at the time, the fake anti-piracy convinced _me_ when i first watched it is really a testament to Joey's efforts

[@FishGoingInsane]

Honestly, disk-reading error messages still terrify me to this day.

[@locomotivetrainstation6053]

Someone about that old vibe, dark background, quiet, emergency text and the combination of a strange looking character makes it way more scary than any horror game I've seen

[@AverageMD-Fan21]

"The disc could not be read. Please refer to the Wii Operations Manual for details."

[@MythicMachina]

The worst is the Gamecube GB Player one where they drop a fucking piano on you.

[@Ciubix8513]

Remember pirating from big companies is always morally correct

[@azaleawinchester]

Hell yeah! Cheers to pirating every big company rpg I have the ability to play!

[@ingamesniperr]

But is it ethical? 🤨

[@justaperson4656]

@@ingamesniperr yes. When Nintendo migrate to a new console, they often discontue manufacturing games for the previous console. This makes game like pokemon coliseum and coliseum XD abandonware (I believe a lot of ds/dsi games are abandonware now too?) and perfectly legal to emulate or otherwise pirate. Legit copies of pokemon XD in English are £80+, so pirating it is morally correct, ethical, and actively encouraged.

[@bepisthescienceman4202]

Eat the rich

[@dimples9746]

Especially if the company’s logo is red and starts with an “n” and ends with an “o”

[@Toondoubloon]

The thing is, they’re not supposed to be scary per say. They’re just supposed to inform you about the crime you could unknowingly be committing. But, that black screen staring back at you is just… creepy.

[@chorizord6974]

The true horror is the amount of people who think that the edgy fan made ones are real

[@AlienGuyCkun]

As a mexican kid, my parents would always try to buy me original Barbie DVD, and the DVDs always had this weird PSA-like about piracy, It had a weird feeling, like it was threatening me. I don't remember exactly what they were like, but in the end they always said something like "piracy is a crime" and I was always afraid of the beginnings of the Barbie movies because of that, its kinda nostalgic and scary see this fanmade anti-piracy screens, good video btw! :D

[@mafuyu8088]

same, the Mexican ads on movies were threatening and scared me as a kid too. like they felt too serious and ominous

[@allurajane4979]

i remember those!

[@whatiftherewasanun]

SOMEONE FINALLY TALKING ABOUT HOW YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A CAR????? FUCK YEAH LET'S GO

[@lunar4724]

I remember that screen, it had a blue background for me and it was just a still image before the movie. It was a bit unsettling but I never thought much of it.

[@AngelCaz7]

@@lunar4724 YES I REMEMBER THE BLUE BACKGROUND AND IT HAD LIKE A BADGE OR SOMETHING FROM THE US WHICH SCARED ME EVEN MORE AS I AM NOT AMERICAN

[@Benbfnas77777]

YES YESSS I LOVE THIS SUBJECT!! There IS a smaller part of this anti-piracy community however that i think you should know about! Recently (about 11-12 months ago is the farthest back recording) a small section of this community (mainly of young kids) started making anti-piracy for TV channels. Yeah. Though crazily enough it is actually possible to “pirate” live broadcastings so in a way they ARE tapping into an untouched idea. The videos as ive said before are made by kids and by kids i mean little 9 year olds. But I actually think its fantastic, even if the videos are really just amateur repeats of each other, I really like the idea on paper and I thought you would too, so i shared a tidbit with you! They all kind of follow the same format, tv broadcasting freaks out, shows a screen telling you of your crimes and tells you to turn off the tv. A second screen pops up telling you “hey are you deaf?” and im not joking thats how ALL these screens are. Then a third screen pops up typically showing characters severed heads on spikes and telling you you’ll get the “final punishment”. Que a bunch of jumpscares they took from the internet Thats about it, just thought you might be interested in that bit of info! Great video!

[@hannahblespecter5325]

I feel this way too. Some of my favorite fakes are the animal crossing new horizons ones from your thumbnail. The one where you wake up and the entire island is completely empty really creeps me out.

[@VurrenAnimations]

honestly as much as I respect the work that goes into fake anti-piracy I wish people wouldn't try to trick people into thinking they're real. it's made a lot of confusion and even though it's usually easy to tell it's just kinda ruined them for me

[@rileygee2423]

Yea

[@sophiathefurbst]

do you mean like faked anti-piracy screens?

[@ZebboGeesucks]

My sentiment exactly. Seems like proper etiquette to put a disclaimer somewhere to let people know it's not official, either in the title or video description, or even in the video itself, following the fake screen. Otherwise it just seems like the creator is intentionally trying to mislead viewers. Reminds me a lot of the big Nintendo/Pokémon leaks from a few years back, where there were people making fake sprites and trying to pass them off as the legitimate newly discovered leaked ones, even intermingling them on sprite sheets. Really scummy stuff.

[@CL0WNKIT]

Same, I’m watching a series of anti piracy screens and whilst some I can *tell* are fake, others I can’t, and I’d assume fakes are real and reals are fakes (as I did with a Mario one witch turned out to be real)

[@TigerAceSullivan]

my copy of spyro 3 was scratched, so after about two years of owning the game, it just suddenly popped up with that anti - piracy message. it was so unsettling, especially for someone who at the time didn't even know what piracy was.

[@thegoods6122]

I like how she’s more afraid of scary video game screens and not that shelf of absolutely cursed Garfield’s

[@genericname2747]

What shelf of cursed Garfields? There's nothing there. help garfield has a gun

[@seashellguy9416]

"This is what you get for pirating the game" said garfield, while holding the player at a gunpoint "Now you will work in the lasagna factory for an eternity and be my slave."

[@subjectverbargument9871]

@@genericname2747 I'm sorry Jon

[@Shosholegbt]

@@seashellguy9416what about pizza

[@seashellguy9416]

@@Shosholegbt no

[@bwc1976]

Breaking through the fourth wall, that summarizes it exactly! I remember as a kid, being scared when the TV stations would close down at night because it felt like the announcer was talking to me and looking at me, scolding me for not being asleep yet like a good kid should be. Also I love your hair and hat in this video, very cute colors.

[@masomaso6617]

The abbey of crime has a horrific antipiracy screen where everything freezes and a voice starts saying 'pirato' each time slower and lower pitch, cant find it anywhere cuz i saw it in a compilation once, but worth mentioning

[@pintobean173]

here is a video i found of it! kzbin.info/www/bejne/h53EqKpqZa10p6M

[@masomaso6617]

@@pintobean173 tysm!!!

[@danalisatarabarova1188]

Game piracy was extremely common when I was a child, I often did so because I lacked other options, so these screens don’t seem so creepy just by the fact that I am called out for being a criminal. In my country 85% still are pirating till this day😂 So actually paying for “just a game” would make them confused.

[@m1LeyViRuS]

Yeah same here, it seems like something that would only scare first world citizens where this is an actual isssue

[@violetbitch9492]

@@m1LeyViRuS i pirate 99% of the games i play and if I saw shit like this I'd still be scared

[@skullsaintdead]

Nah, I recon it’s age. I’m 30, Australian and we were bombarded with those ‘you wouldn’t eat your mother while belittling your dads corpse’ ridiculous anti-piracy ads, that were always on the legit dvds & at the cinemas, but were thankfully cut &/or skippable from the illegitimate copies. For example, I have the DVDs of LOTR but don’t watch them because you have to sit through 2-3 mins of ‘made by X company’ ads & anti-piracy BS prior to the film, I just go to Putlocker sites instead. Anything anti-piracy in my generation just gets us to roll our eyes & boycott the brand.

[@kevinwong_2016]

Ace 🖤🪨🤍💜

[@espurrcat]

I'm very thankful for the warning for the creepypasta image warning at the start of the video. Some images are extremely triggering to me and i live in constant fear of encountering them in media 😭 It's really thoughtful you added a warning❤️ I haven't watched yet but i just wanted to say thank ya