I had a random question about this: I remember Crash 1 had a password-based "save" system where the player could skip ahead to a level if they entered the password for it.
Was the creation of that system motivated by the as-of-yet-unsolved memory card bug? Or was it just standard practice to support players that didn't buy the memory card? I can't remember many games using something like that, but it was a long time ago.
That is me, yes -- thank you! Actually the password save capability was mandated by Sony. At that time they wouldn't approve your game if you didn't offer a card-less save mode. I guess they thought requiring people to have memory cards made the base system too expensive.
Fun fact: the code to convert the bits of saved game state to PS controller buttons used modular exponentiation, as in the RSA algorithm. Carl de Marcken suggested this method; I asked him to recommend something because at the time I really didn't know anything about hashing or crypto. There's an HN post somewhere from a guy who reversed engineered it.
After Crash I joined Carl at ITA Software (now Google Flights), where he was Chief Scientist.
https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DaveBaggett/20131031/203788/...
I really enjoyed that story.
I had a random question about this: I remember Crash 1 had a password-based "save" system where the player could skip ahead to a level if they entered the password for it.
Was the creation of that system motivated by the as-of-yet-unsolved memory card bug? Or was it just standard practice to support players that didn't buy the memory card? I can't remember many games using something like that, but it was a long time ago.