Monday, May 13, 2013

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 PublisherIssue#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

1 comment:

  1. We had a similar section over here in 'Joystick' magazine called 'Jeux Cracks' (game cracks) for PC, Amiga etc ... So much fun in reading those. Today's magazines are just (thin) pile of crap. Back in the days you'd buy one which was at least 200 pages, worth every penny. Thanks to the internet there is a strong community involved in scanning these gems such as http://www.abandonware-magazines.org/ there are even video tapes ! all my youth on this site :D:D:D

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