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Copy Protection / LucasArts

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  • The floppy disk version of Day of the Tentacle requires the players to configure a machine based on an image printed on a certain page of the manual. Thing is, similar images are printed on every page, and the player needs a certain number in-game to look it up. This copy protection is nowhere to be seen on the CD/Remastered versions.
    For those of you playing from a Compact Disk, ignore this section [Copy Protection]. It never happened. It doesn't exist. These aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along.
    • DOTT's predecessor, Maniac Mansion, also has copy protection as an in-game puzzle, but the one available for play within Day of The Tentacle omit it by making it impossible to close the steel security door, which remains open throughout the game. The NES version (and other non-PC versions) replace the steel door by a regular door.
    • A similar image-based copy protection system occurs at the very beginning of the floppy disk version of Sam & Max Hit the Road, where you have to dress Sam or Max according to how he appears on a certain page in the manual. For the CD version of the game, this is just another minigame you can buy at Snucky's.
  • In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Marcus asks Indy to translate some symbols for him, which need to be looked up in the manual. Failing to do so will let the game continue as normal — until a crucial point where Indy, at Donovan's place, fails to translate a tablet concerning the Holy Grail (Indy mistakenly translates it as "Holy Grain"), prompting Donovan to say "Seems you're just an illegitimate copy of the man I thought you were."
    • Even if you get past that, there is another level of copy protection - at an important part of the game, you read a set of inscriptions to get two possible descriptions of the Holy Grail (a later clue allows you to narrow it down to one), but those descriptions are merely references to the Grail Diary that comes with the game. If you don't have it, well, have fun trying each grail one by one until you get the right one...
  • In Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, when you start the game, there is a screen with three concetric rings with a sun, moon and volcano on. You have to refer to the part of the manual indicated and click on them to align them exactly.
  • The Secret of Monkey Island uses a code wheel called "Dial-a-Pirate", whereupon loading the game, the user had to rotate the wheel to match the upper and lower halves of a series of pirate faces and then return the given date revealed by the wheel. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge uses a similar "Mix'n Mojo" code wheel, which involves lining up reagents in a voodoo spell. This is also used in the old SSI Gold Box Games (Pool of Radiance, etc) and their Translation Wheels.
    • Again, the CD-ROM issues of these games don't have copy protection. The CD issue of Monkey Island 2 also removes the Easy Mode.
  • Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe used a code wheel. The game gives you an airplane type and an example of bomber nose art. You turn the inner wheel (plane) until it matches up with the outer wheel (art) and a hole in the plane symbol reveals a woman's first name that you enter to verify that you own the game.
  • Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders requires the player to enter exit visa codes given in the manual every single time you leave the US on a plane. Inputting an invalid code more than four times results in a Nonstandard Game Over wherein you are placed in a "pirate jail" and given a stern ("I HOPE YOU ROT IN THERE!") talking to about the dangers of piracy.

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