Ron Gilbert Maniac Mansion Programmer wrote:The Commodore 64 version unintentionally added more trepidation due to the idiosyncratic hardware. Everything could not fit into memory, so before the cutscenes started, the disk drive would spin up. Players would freak out because they knew something was about to happen. That weird Commodore 64 disk light became the Pavlov's dog thing for people playing the game, because whenever it came on they'd tense up.
This got me thinking of what other games might have an undocumented hardware quirk that would help in game play. Dreamcast Skies Of Arcadia hardware indicator rattle is a more well known, the drive would make a noise right before a random battle which occurs all too often.
Are there any other games that does this?
Please post any game that has a hardware quirk as in the examples I mentioned, I'll keep this OP updated. Be sure to go into detail what happens in the game and what the console does to enhance detection in a game. Not looking for cheat codes or anything, just hardware indicators to use in a game.
CRTGAMER wrote:Game List of Unusual Hardware Cues
Hardware warns that something new is about to happen in a game
COMMODORE 64 - MANIAC MANSION
Floppy drive access light before cut scene
DREAMCAST D2
GD drive head access noise before a random encounter
DREAMCAST - SKIES OF ARCADIA
GD drive head access noise before a battle <Reaction Is Allowed>
PSP - JEANNE D'ARC
PSP drive spooling before enemy power up or magic
SATURN - SHINING THE HOLY ARK
Saturn drive makes noise before enemies appear <Reaction Is Allowed>