Hardcore Computist - Hardcore IBM PC Game Hacking?

The magazine Hardcore Computist was a magazine dedicated to cracking on the Apple II platform.    Every month users would submit their cracks or "softkeys" allowing a user to break the copy protection on commercial software and freely copy that software to disk.  Naturally the magazine only claimed to assist users in making legitimate backup copies of their software, but too frequently programs would be widely distributed anyway.  The magazine also offered hacks to cheat at games, reviews, technical articles and the like.

All issues of Hardcore Computist and related items can be found here : http://computist.applearchives.com/  It is less known that eventually, around issue 48, the magazine started to invite IBM PC software cracks and hacks.  At first, they were slow in coming.  Some issues did not have any, and other issues only had applications, not games.  For these cracks, all that was usually needed was a hex editor and DEBUG, but the cracks varied widely in quality.

Some of these cracks can be found on textfiles.com, and many more can also be found there.

Game	Version	Publisher	Issue#	Protection
The Dam Busters		Accolade	89	Disk
Chessmaster 2000	1.01	Software Toolworks	89	Disk
The Faery Tale Adventure: Book I	CGA & EGA	MicroIllusions	87	Document
Ancient Art of War, The		Broderbund	87	Disk
Grave Yardage		Activision	87	Disk
Gun Boat		Accolade	87	Disk
Gauntlet		Mindscape	87	?
Astrilis		Shaman Games	87	?
Space Harrier		SEGA Enterprises, Ltd.	86	Disk
Heat Wave		Accolade	86	Document
Hoverforce	EGA & VGA, 03-19-91	Accolade	86	Document
Carrier Command		Microplay	85	Document
Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego		Broderbund	85	Disk
Colonel's Bequest, The		Sierra On-line	85	Document
Continuun	11/29/90	Data East	85	Document
Crime Wave	1.1 & Unknown	Access Software	85	Document
Curse of the Azure Bonds		Strategic Simulations, Inc.	85	Document
Dragon's Lair II		Readysoft Incorporated	85	Document
Dragon's Lair		Sullivan Bluth Interactive Media, Inc.	85	?
Earthrise		Intersel Corp.	85	Document
Escape from Hell		Electronic Arts, Inc.	85	Document
Earl Weaver's Baseball	1.5	Electronic Arts, Inc.	85	Document
F-15 Strike Eagle II		MicroProse	85	Document
Gunship		MicroProse	85	Document
Caveman Ugh-Lympics		Electronic Arts, Inc.	85	Document
Firehawk : Thexder II	09/24/90	Sierra On-line	85	Document
Battle Chess II : Chinese Chess		Electronic Arts, Inc.	84	Document
Battlehawks 1942		Lucasfilm Games LLC	83	Document
Alley Cat		IBM	83	Disk
Jordan vs Bird: One on One		Electronic Arts, Inc.	83	Document
Grand Slam Bridge		Electronic Arts, Inc.	83	Disk
Bargames		Access Software	83	Document
Archipelagos		FanFare	83	Document
California Games	1.01 02-23-88	Epyx	83	?
Balance of Power	1.1	Mindscape	83	Disk
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego	2.0 12-11-89	Broderbund	83	Disk
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego		Broderbund	83	Disk
Dragon's Lair		Sullivan Bluth Interactive Media, Inc.	83	Disk
Battlehawks 1942	10/06/88	Lucasfilm	82	Document
Centurion		Electronic Arts, Inc.	82	Document
Champions of Krynn		Strategic Simulations, Inc.	82	Document
Command HQ		MicroProse	82	?
Indianapolis 500		Electronic Arts, Inc.	82	Document
Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf	CGA, TGA, EGA, HGC	Accolade	82	?
Lowblow Boxing		Electronic Arts, Inc.	82	Document
Might and Magic: Book One - Secret of the Inner Sanctum	11/18/87	New World Computing	82	?
Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World		New World Computing	82	?
Railroad Tycoon		MicroProse	82	Document
Silpheed	2.2	Sierra On-line	82	Document
Street Rod		California Dreams	82	Document
M1 Tank Platoon		MicroProse	82	Document/Disk (Document Only)
Test Drive II	EGA & CGA	Accolade	82	?
Vette		Spectrum Holobyte	82	Document
ABC Monday Night Football		Data East	82	?
Abrams Battle Tank		Electronic Arts, Inc.	82	Document
Bob'n Wrestle		Mindscape	82	?
Nuclear War		New World Computing	82	Document
Pipe Dream		Lucasfilm Games LLC	82	Document
Red Storm Rising		MicroProse	82	Document/Disk (Document Only)
Wing Commander		Origin	82	Document
Populous		Electronic Arts, Inc.	82	?
Life & Death II: The Brain		Software Toolworks	81	Disk
Crime Wave		Access Software	81	Document
Stunt Driver		Spectrum Holobyte	81	Document
Gauntlet II		Mindscape	81	Document
Wing Commander		Origin	81	Document
Thexder II : Firehawk		Sierra On-line	81	Document
Welltris	10/03/89	Spectrum Holobyte	80	Document
Serve and Volley		Accolade	80	Disk
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego		Broderbund	78	Disk
Indianapolis 500		Electronic Arts, Inc.	77	Document
Ultima V : Warriors of Destiny		Origin	77	Disk
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego		Broderbund	77	Disk
Interlude II		?	76	Disk
Rack'Em		Accolade	76	Disk
Mean Streets		Access Software	76	Document
Red Storm Rising		MicroProse	75	Document/Disk (Disk Only)
Pete Rose Pennant Fever		Gamestar	75	Document
Silpheed	1.0	Sierra On-line	75	Document
Paperboy	CGA, TGA & EGA, PAPERxxx.EXE = 06/17/88	Mindscape	75	?
Zany Golf		Electronic Arts, Inc.	75	Document
Pool of Radiance		Strategic Simulations, Inc.	75	Document
Paladin		Omnitrend Software, Inc.	75	Document
Welltris	WELLTRIS.EXE = 10/03/89	Spectrum Holobyte	74	Document
Batman		Data East	74	?
Motocross	CGA & EGA, Possibly TGA & HGC	Gamestar	74	Document
Populous		Electronic Arts, Inc.	74	Document
SimCity		Broderbund	74	Document
Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain		Lucasfilm Games LLC	74	Document
Battle Chess		Interplay	72	Document
Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator	1.0	Electronic Arts, Inc.	72	Disk
Battlehawks 1942		Lucasfilm Games LLC	72	Document
688 Attack Sub		Electronic Arts, Inc.	72	Document
Shinobi	SH.EXE = 9/23/89	SEGA Enterprises, Ltd.	72	?
Zany Golf		Electronic Arts, Inc.	71	Document
Mean 18 + Arch	GOLF.EXE = 89375 bytes, ARCH.EXE = 49631	Accolade	70	Disk
The Last Ninja		Activision	70	Disk
The Games: Winter Edition		Epyx	70	Disk
Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf		Accolade	70	Document
Defender of the Crown		Mindscape (Cinemaware)	70	Disk
Infiltrator		Mindscape	70	?
Perfect College		Mindscape	70	?
Gold Rush!		Sierra On-line	70	Document
F-19 Stealth Fighter	10/15/88	MicroProse	70	Disk
Police Quest II: The Vengeance		Sierra On-line	70	Document
Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places)		Sierra On-line	70	Document
Apollo 18: Mission to the Moon		Accolade	70	?
Mean 18 + Arch	03/29/88	Accolade	68	Disk
Bop 'n Wrestle		Mindscape	68	?
Willow		Mindscape	68	Disk
Ancient Art of War, The		Broderbund	68	?
Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer 2.0	1.2	Electronic Arts, Inc.	68	?
The Games: Summer Edition		Epyx	68	?
California Games		Epyx	68	?
Trivia Master		?	68	?
Gato		Spectrum Holobyte	68	?
The Last Ninja		Activision, Inc.	68	Disk
Rampage		Activision	68	Disk
Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places)		Sierra On-line	68	Document
Fast Break		Accolade	68	Disk
4th & Inches		Accolade	68	Disk
Test Drive		Accolade	68	Disk
The Three Stooges		Cinemaware Corp	68	Disk
King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella	09-19-88, 09-24-88	Sierra On-line	68	Document
F-15 Strike Eagle		MicroProse	68	Disk
Reader Rabbit		The Learning Company	66	Disk
Balance of Power		Mindscape	64	Disk
Trivia Fever		Professional Software	64	Disk
Mean 18 + Arch	EGA	Accolade	64	Disk
Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress	.COM	Sierra On-line	63	Disk
Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator	1.0	Electronic Arts, Inc.	63	Disk
Test Drive	CGA 10/26/87, 11-17-87 (Not EGA, see Issue 65)	Accolade	61	Disk
Mind Prober		The Human Edge	60	Disk
Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz		Infocom	56	Disk
Zork: The Great Underground Empire		Infocom	56	Disk
Sargon III		Hayden Software Co.	54	Disk
Pool 1.5		Innovative Design Software	53	Disk
Zork III: The Dungeon Master		Infocom	53	Disk
Flight Simulator	1.00	Microsoft	52	Disk