Welcome to the 32 Dangerous Cheat Codes, a brand new series that will run daily between November 24 and December 25. Join us as we discuss the hazardous ramifications of some of your favorite cheat codes.
Today we're talking about David White, Devil's Crush and a plagiarism scandal. It's a lurid story that sees Electronic Gaming Monthly feuding with GamePro, all over a silly a pinball exploit. Learn more about this TurboGrafx-16 password when you watch today's episode of the 32 Dangerous Cheat Codes.
Video game passwords come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they're too long, sometimes they use dots and sometimes they string random words together to create awesome phrases. Passwords will help you jump to the right level, save your progress and even undress a certain Nintendo heroine. But today we're talking about a very different type of password, one that shouldn't really exist.
The code in question is for Devil's Crush on the TurboGrafx-16, a demonic video pinball game where you fought ghouls, ghosts and evil monks with a shiny ball. Although critics were mixed when it first came out, I loved it as a kid and still think it's an underappreciated gem. But what set Devil's Crush apart from all of the other pinball games is that it had a simple password system that was easily exploitable.
One of the first people to notice this bug was David White, one of the assistant editors at Electronic Gaming Monthly in 1990. After punching his name into Devil's Crush, he was surprised to discover that it not only worked, but shot the player to the very end of the game. He printed this fluke in EGM's 1991 Video Game Buyer's Guide, which is where this story should have ended.
But Ryan Sullivan of Seaside, CA, wasn't prepared to let the code go unnoticed, and he submitted the password to GamePro magazine in hopes of winning a free t-shirt. His plan worked, and GamePro published the code in their March 1991 issue. This was followed in April by Electronic Gaming Monthly calling their competition out, explaining how the Devil's Crush exploit worked and mocking GamePro for stealing the code. And they weren't the only ones to run with the password. You'll find David White's name pop up this this day on GameFAQs and countless other sites that publish cheat codes.
And longtime fans of EGM will know that this wasn't the only time their codes got lifted by other magazines. Usually this plagiarism went unnoticed, but sometimes it was blatant. For example, after Electronic Gaming Monthly published an April Fool's joke that involved unlocking a hidden Street Fighter II character, several foreign publications foolishly ran with the codes. I guess the whole April Fool's Day thing was completely lost in translation.
This whole thing reminds me of a quote I'm now going to plagiarize to help underscore my thoughts on copying other people's work: "If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and flattery will get you nowhere, then it stands to reason that imitation will get you nowhere."
