History Main / PasswordSave

* ''LivePowerfulProBaseball'' has a password save for a character's stat, which can be used in a sequel to transfer the data between games. This include player's originally created and in-game secret characters. Each set of password is notoriously long, but it's proven robust enough it survives even in the most recent generation of gaming.

* "Level" passwords: The password records what level you're on, but that's about it -- don't expect information such as your [[ScoringPoints score]], [[VideoGameLives lives]], stats or items to be stored. In other words, the password basically doubles as a level-select. Obviously, this is limited mostly to puzzle games, and games with linear level progression, where collecting secondary items isn't necessary for advancement. These passwords don't actually encode information, so they can be anything the developers want. They are often human-legible words or phrases, and may contain inside jokes from the developers.

* ''[[NineteenFortyTwo 1943]]'' was another example, with its five-letter passwords such as "IGPOD".

* ''PajamaSam's Lost and Found'' uses various simple words for each level, and some do other things, like skip to the ending cutscene, and even mess up the background.

* ''[[ElectronicArts FIFA International Soccer]]'' for the SNES

* ''TheBattleOfOlympus''. Zeus's "words of wisdom" were very long and confusing.

* ''[[GranTurismo GT]] [[SuperTitle64Advance Advance]]''

-->--A ''VideoGame/{{Metroid|1}}'' password responsible for a ''lot'' of WildMassGuessing

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': The NES version of the original game had a twenty-five character alphanumeric password system.

** Mega Man based fan games, like {{Rosenkreuzstilette}} and RokkoChan, often use this as a nod to the older games.

* ''CommandAndConquer'' for the Playstation

* ''ChipsChallenge'' gave you a four-character password every level.
* ''PipeDream'' had passwords every few levels.
* ''MicroMachines V3'' for the Game Boy Color had that.

* And ''EccoTheDolphin'' had them on the Sega MegaDrive[=/=]SegaGenesis.

* ''ZombiesAteMyNeighbors'': You received a password every four levels, which allowed you to start over from that level with that number of surviving neighbors — passwords didn't include your weapons/ammo, so late-game passwords could make the game even ''harder''.

* Password Time! ''Franchise/MyLittlePony: Crystal Princess: The Runaway Rainbow'' for the GameBoyAdvance always reminds its target audience of young girls to write down its simple 9-character passwords on a piece of paper.

* ''VideoGame/TheSmurfs1994'': Level passwords are provided in all versions of the game, though in the Super NES and Mega Drive versions it takes the form of matching the correctly displayed Smurf characters. Using them was usually a bad idea, though, because playing from the start allowed to collect more ExtraLives for the [[DifficultySpike very difficult endgame]])

* ''VideoGame/TheSmurfs1994'' (though using them was usually a bad idea, because playing from the start allowed to collect more ExtraLives for the [[DifficultySpike very difficult endgame]])

* ''SpiritualWarfare'' also had a long password system.

* AppleII game ''Diamond Mine''.

* Since multiplayer games in ''WarcraftIII'' can't be saved with any degree of reliability, custom map makers often include passcodes, usually generated on demand, to save relevant parts of the map's {{macrogame}} between games. The length and complexity of the codes vary depending on the thoroughness of what's being saved, as simple as eight case-insensitive letters or as complicated as thirty-six-plus characters that include upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols

* ''TheSmurfs'' (though using them was usually a bad idea, because playing from the start allowed to collect more ExtraLives for the [[DifficultySpike very difficult endgame]])

** ''Buster's Hidden Treasure'' for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive has a 20-letter password system, divided by five four-letter sections. However, the furthest the game can take you when you enter a password is the first act of the final world, so if you want to skip to the last level, you're gonna have to play through the first three acts of the last world first.

* ''The Addams Family'' implements a 5 character password. Due to a game bug, it doesn't accept passwords if either digit in the lives counter is '9'. It is also an example where someone simply entering a default password of "11111" can start the game with 100 lives.

* "Game state" passwords: A lot more complicated than level passwords, these record essentially all the information that a SavePoint would: What items you've acquired, your character stats, key event flags, and so on. Enter the password and you can pick up from (almost ''literally'') the exact moment you left off. The length of the password will depend on how much information is being "saved", so a "game state" password that records a lot of things will require a longer password. Also, to discourage players from attempting to cheat the system by inventing their own passwords, the password may incorporate a "checksum", a small combination of symbols whose only function is to verify that the rest of the password is (or at least ''looks'') legitimate.

Many of the more complicated password systems are case-sensitive and also use numbers. The reason is that 26 lowercase letters, 26 uppercase letters, 10 numerals, and 2 other symbols add up to 64 (two to the fifth power), which means that 6 bits of raw data can be encoded in each password character.

** ''X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse'' used portraits of the X-Men.

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest''. Insidiously, one has about a one in one trillion chance of guessing a password with random input.

* ''TombsAndTreasure''. Finding out your password requirde the Ixmol Jewel.

* ''War of the Dead'' on the PCEngine had passwords that were 54 characters long and mixed hiragana, katakana and romaji to get 7 bits out of each character. The developers apologized for this.