"Sarah Palin 2012" is mentioned in the original Metroid (1986)

It turns out that in the original Metroid for NES published in 1986, there are a few passwords that allow you to use Samus in her Zero Suit (without her armor). One of those passwords is "Sarah Palin 2012." Check out the YouTube video below!



Sarah Palin ran as Vice President in 2008, which is only 4 years away from 2012... coincidence?

Modern hack/ emulator home brew? I have an original nes and metroid too bad I dint have it here while I'm uo north working or id put this to the test.

a reply to: darkbake

How do we know this is taken from the original game and not a modified version from an emulator?

a reply to: Atsbhct

There are a lot of people that have talked about it on the net besides this guy. I have an NES with Metroid, maybe I will try it.

a reply to: darkbake

I think I would try it before posting it. No online references list it as a code for the original game that I can find.

Just tried and confirmed this works with both the silver label and the yellow label Metroid on original NES hardware. There must be so many characters that can be compatible with a save for the nude Samus so I'm guessing someone used that and figured out a phrase that fits?

a reply to: NihilistSanta

Interesting. Tried it on my original copy of the game, and it works!

In 1986, sarah Palin was in college, and her name was actually Sarah Heath.

Are the metroid creators time travelers?

a reply to: WP4YT
So its confirmed, mind...,blown!

OOOOKKKKK that is weird as hell... I played the crap out of that game in the 80's how is that the code I never found?

a reply to: darkbake
Well as they say. There is nothing new under the sun.

Bump

I am bumping this because I will not believe it until I see someone show the cartridge and have it on a TV not what could be an emulator...

a reply to: abeverage

OK sorry I was in a hurry so the pics are a bit blurry and I didn't have time to clean them up. I used the silver cartridge for these pics. I tried to add a plaque with ATS-Nihilist_santa 11/28/15 and the time like on 4chan. Not sure if you can make it out but I also put a clock in the pic.

Cartridge in working hardware connected to CRT TV.


Entering the code.


The results = nude samus.


If the quality of the pics are not up to standard I will reupload from a different camera when my wife gets home or perhaps a video.

It is possible that this is another example of [www.abovetopsecret.com...]Retrocausality[/url], in which events occurring in the present have an effect upon those in the past.

I once saw an ATS thread this year where members were gathering all the examples they could find and posting them. Wish I knew the name of the thread because this definitely belongs.

originally posted by: NihilistSanta
Just tried and confirmed this works with both the silver label and the yellow label Metroid on original NES hardware. There must be so many characters that can be compatible with a save for the nude Samus so I'm guessing someone used that and figured out a phrase that fits?

Interesting. Makes the most sense to me.
Has anyone tried it with different values ?
Like "Sarah Palin 2008" or even "2011" or anything else ?

I only have an "emulated" game on my WII. Will try it tonight.

That is so weird. The only logical explanation I can think of is that the maker of the codes may have known someone with that name, girlfriend maybe. But the odds of that name, which is not common at all, being in a game from way back is just so strange.

Things that make you go , Hmm!

Here's a text showing the password algorithm.

games.technoplaza.net...

It has an 8 bit checksum which means that

The final 8 bits are the checksum, which is the first 136-bits added
together. This provides Metroid a way to ensure that a valid password is
being entered.

Because the checksum is the same for every unique combination of the first
136 bits, there are 2^136 valid Metroid passwords, which is approximately
8.7112285931760246646623899502533e+40 passwords. Many of them are
functionally equivalent.

To calculate the checksum for a password, add together the first 17 individual
bytes (136 bits) together. Take the lowest 8-bits of this value and you have
the 1 byte (8 bit) checksum.

The checksum is not a perfect means of validation. It can only do a glib
test stating that the data is likely to be what you meant to enter.

tasvideos.org...

Trivia
In Metroid, user can input
22300745198530623141535718272648361505980416 (64^24) different passwords. [3]
Out of them, 87112285931760246646623899502532662132736 (2^128 * 256) are valid. [4]
By guessing randomly, one has 1 chance in 256 of coming up with a password that is accepted by the game.

If this information is right then 1/256 chance of getting a correct password.
That is pretty high odds.

Limbo

a reply to: Limbo

This was my thinking as well. Thanks for posting the info.