Saved game
Encyclopedia
A saved game is a piece of digitally stored
information about the progress of a player
in a video game. This saved game can be reloaded later, so the player can continue where he or she had stopped. Players usually save games to prevent the loss of progress in the game (as might happen after a game over
unless the game features permadeath, in which the save file is permanently deleted), especially when interrupting or ending a game session.
The use of saved games is very common in modern video games, particularly in computer and console role-playing games, which are usually much too long to finish in a single session.
and video games, there was no need for saving games, since these games usually had no actual plot to develop and were generally very short in length.
The relative complexity and inconvenience of storing game state information on early home computers (and the fact that early video game console
s had no non-volatile data storage) meant that initially game saves were represented as "passwords
" (often strings of characters that encoded the game state) that players could write down and later input into the game when resuming.
Home computers in the early 1980s had the advantage of using external media for saving, with compact cassettes
and floppy disk
s, before finally using internal hard drives.
On later cartridge-based console
games, such as Kirby's Adventure
and The Legend of Zelda, saved games were stored in battery-backed RAM on the game cartridge itself. In recent consoles, which use compact disc
and DVD
technology for storing games, saved games are stored in other ways, such as by use of memory card
s or internal hard drives on the game machine itself.
Some games do not save the player's progress towards completing the game, but rather high scores, custom settings, and other features. The first game to save the player's score was Taito
's seminal 1978 shoot 'em up
title Space Invaders
.
Depending on the game, a player will have the ability to save the game either at any arbitrary point (usually when the game has been paused), after a specific task has been completed (such as at the end of a level), or at designated areas within the game known as save points. Save points are employed either when a game state is too complex to save at any given point or as a way to manage the difficulty level (i.e. a save point located before a difficult area, or one single save point before a set of difficult bosses rather than in between).
s) where a player's status is saved and where the character respawns
in the status saved by the checkpoint. A respawn is most often due to the death of the in-game character, but it can also be caused by the failure to meet an objective required to advance in the game. Some of these checkpoints are temporary and last until a new checkpoint is activated, the level is cleared, or the player loses all his/her lives. Most modern games, however, save the game to memory at these points, known as auto-saving. In many racing game
s with a limited race completion time, checkpoints passed by the player increase the amount of time available to finish the race by adding time to the countdown. In some games, bonuses are awarded for passing checkpoints.
and console emulator
s. These give the advantage of saving games even if the game or the system did not support such a feature. This is done by means of a RAM dump, which saves all the RAM data of the emulated console into a computer file
for later use. Saved games of this kind are usually called "save states". "Save state hacking" is the practice of modifying the data in these saved states to achieve various effects, some of which would otherwise be impossible.
Some games that feature save points also use a variation of a save state called a suspend save; these saves will record the complete state of the game and the player will continue from that exact point when they resume. However, the point of this save is to allow the player to stop the game because they are interrupted and do not have time to reach a save point; as such, this save state is erased when the player continues the game so that the player cannot use this feature to inch their way through the game. Restoring from the same suspend save multiple times is often considered savescumming, and is generally considered cheating on most roguelike
s.
Some people consider the use of quick save in a game to be a form of cheating since it allows the player to incrementally "inch" through a difficult level regardless of skill. Others see the omission of quick saving as a fatal flaw in a game, believing that the player should have control as to when the game is saved. A good balance can be achieved if a game's difficulty level is set so that quick saving is not required but to still provide the facility for those players that wish to make use of it. Some games (e.g. Painkiller) exclude quick save capability from the highest difficulty levels.
Quick saving is usually a feature found in PC games and is often not present in console games. One reason for this is hardware limitation: because a quick save must contain information about the entire level state, rather than minor statistics such as player health and inventory, it can require significantly more memory to store the information (a quick save for Doom 3 is approximately 10 megabytes in size, while a corresponding save game for any PlayStation game only occupies a few kilobytes). Half-Life for the PS2 gets around this by saving the quick saves directly to the console's memory; if the game is left for any reason without going into a menu and saving properly, the quick save is lost. In The Orange Box, which when for the PlayStation 3 contains no autosave function, the player is merely reminded to quick save at important checkpoints. On Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, the quicksave function is accessible at any time during play through the pause menu and is useful to use it in safe spots so that in the occasion that you die in the next dangerous part of a level it is not necessary to repeat a relatively long section of playing to try it again, however, because it's possible to quick save when you are cornered or otherwise bound to lose, and because you can't quick save on more than one location some strategy is needed to know when it is useful and safe to quick save.
The term Quicksave can also refer to a suspend save, such as in the Mystery Dungeon series (in fan translations, this term has been translated as "Quit").
Some high-end models of digital audio players and portable media player
s have the "save anywhere" system for playlists and randomization modes for audio files (and videos).
represents save points with old fashioned typewriter
s (which require an ink ribbon item for each save), the Grand Theft Auto
series used representations appropriate to the era of the setting: audio cassettes for the mid-1980s (Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
), 3½-inch disks for the early-1990s (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
) and compact disc
s for the late-1990s (Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
). Many RPGs integrate the function of saving into the form of a journal
that the characters can write into, or by auto-saving whenever the character stays at an inn or other resting place.
Square
is notorious for commonly treating save points as legitimate objects within the game world. In Chrono Trigger
, a save point in Magus' castle will actually attack the character if he attempts to use it. In Final Fantasy VII
, there is a save point at the Gold Saucer amusement park
that forces the player to spend in-game currency to use it. There is also a phony save point serving as a distraction early on. If it is checked, the player misses out on a new character. In Final Fantasy VIII
, the effects of a mysterious magical spell cause one save point to suddenly replicate into dozens of save points when touched. In Chrono Cross
, Terranigma
, and Xenogears
, the character's recording of his memories in the game's various save points becomes a plot point later in the game.
In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
, it costs two banana coins to use any save point more than once. Also, there is a puzzle in Alundra 2 that entails a cost in GP proportional to the number of times the game has been saved, penalizing frequent savers.
Perhaps one of the most famous integration of saved games in gameplay is Metal Gear Solid
. Depending on how often the player saves, Psycho Mantis and Revolver Ocelot
comment on how often they save, and also comment if save files from certain other Konami
games are on the same memory card.
Another way saved games interact with each other is through passing along data to a particular game's sequels. A famous example of this is in Konami's own Suikoden series. By having and utilizing a save state from Suikodens final save point that includes all 108 Stars of Destiny
recruited, extra characters and plot elements are introduced in Suikoden II, and both previous games can stack with Suikoden III to show the player even more. Another notable example is the Ratchet & Clank series
, in which having saves from previous entries to drastically reduce the price of previously purchased weapons that reappear in later games. Saves of non-related games can also interact with each other; for example, Super Smash Bros. Melee
will reward the player with a Captain Olimar trophy when he or she boots the game with a Pikmin
game save on the memory card. The character Rosalina becomes available on Mario Kart Wii
if you have a Super Mario Galaxy save on your console. In Mass Effect 2
, the player can import a save from Mass Effect
which can alter the events that transpire in the game. Other franchises that allow transferring saves between games include the Fire Emblem
, Shenmue
and .hack
series. In Silent Hill 3
, if the player has a save from a complete play-through of Silent Hill 2
on the same PS2 memory card, the player can unlock hidden scenes that are similar to that of the previous game.
Oracles games actually encourages this with a password swapping side quest that is available after finishing the main story.
system, or by the use of PlayStation
cards, as in Dance Dance Revolution
. These generally use either a magnetic card to store the data, or network (internet) connection, or some combination thereof. Similarly, passwords have generally been rare at arcades, with occasional exceptions, such as Gauntlet Legends
.
Computer file management
The term computer file management refers to the manipulation of documents and data in files on a computer.----Specifically, one may create a new file or edit an existing file and save it; open or load a pre-existing file into memory; or close a file without saving it. Additionally, one may group...
information about the progress of a player
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
in a video game. This saved game can be reloaded later, so the player can continue where he or she had stopped. Players usually save games to prevent the loss of progress in the game (as might happen after a game over
Game over
Game Over is a message in video games which signals that the game has ended, often due to a negative outcome - although the phrase sometimes follows the end credits after successful completion of a game...
unless the game features permadeath, in which the save file is permanently deleted), especially when interrupting or ending a game session.
The use of saved games is very common in modern video games, particularly in computer and console role-playing games, which are usually much too long to finish in a single session.
History and overview
In early arcadeArcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
and video games, there was no need for saving games, since these games usually had no actual plot to develop and were generally very short in length.
The relative complexity and inconvenience of storing game state information on early home computers (and the fact that early video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s had no non-volatile data storage) meant that initially game saves were represented as "passwords
Password (video games)
In many video games of the 8-bit and, to a lesser extent, 16-bit eras , after a level was beaten and/or when all continues were used, the game would display a password, that when entered in the game would allow the player to return to this part in the game...
" (often strings of characters that encoded the game state) that players could write down and later input into the game when resuming.
Home computers in the early 1980s had the advantage of using external media for saving, with compact cassettes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
and floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
s, before finally using internal hard drives.
On later cartridge-based console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
games, such as Kirby's Adventure
Kirby's Adventure
Kirby's Adventure, known as in Japan, is a platforming video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. It was first released March 26, 1993 in Japan, and was later released in North America on May 1, 1993, and in Europe on...
and The Legend of Zelda, saved games were stored in battery-backed RAM on the game cartridge itself. In recent consoles, which use compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
technology for storing games, saved games are stored in other ways, such as by use of memory card
Memory card
A memory card or flash card is an electronic flash memory data storage device used for storing digital information. They are commonly used in many electronic devices, including digital cameras, mobile phones, laptop computers, MP3 players, and video game consoles...
s or internal hard drives on the game machine itself.
Some games do not save the player's progress towards completing the game, but rather high scores, custom settings, and other features. The first game to save the player's score was Taito
Taito
Taito may mean:*Taito Corporation, a Japanese developer of video game software and arcade hardware*Taito, Tokyo, a special ward located in Tokyo, Japan*Taito, also known as matai, paramount chiefs according to Fa'a Samoa...
's seminal 1978 shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
title Space Invaders
Space Invaders
is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...
.
Depending on the game, a player will have the ability to save the game either at any arbitrary point (usually when the game has been paused), after a specific task has been completed (such as at the end of a level), or at designated areas within the game known as save points. Save points are employed either when a game state is too complex to save at any given point or as a way to manage the difficulty level (i.e. a save point located before a difficult area, or one single save point before a set of difficult bosses rather than in between).
Save points
Save points are employed either when a game state is too complex to save at any given point or as a way to manage the difficulty level (i.e. a save point located before a difficult area, or one single save point before a set of difficult bosses rather than in between).Checkpoints
Checkpoints are locations in a computer or video game (generally found in platform gamePlatform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
s) where a player's status is saved and where the character respawns
Spawning (computer gaming)
In video games, spawning is the live creation of a character or item. Respawning is the recreation of an entity after its death or destruction....
in the status saved by the checkpoint. A respawn is most often due to the death of the in-game character, but it can also be caused by the failure to meet an objective required to advance in the game. Some of these checkpoints are temporary and last until a new checkpoint is activated, the level is cleared, or the player loses all his/her lives. Most modern games, however, save the game to memory at these points, known as auto-saving. In many racing game
Racing game
A racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings...
s with a limited race completion time, checkpoints passed by the player increase the amount of time available to finish the race by adding time to the countdown. In some games, bonuses are awarded for passing checkpoints.
Autosaves
A common feature of games with long load times is to automatically save the game immediately after loading a new level (much like a checkpoint save), so that if the most recent manual save was very close to the end of the last level and the player then needs to reload, they do not have to spend time reloading the previous level, playing for a short period and then loading the new one again.Save states
A unique method of saving games is possible when playing under arcadeArcade emulator
An arcade emulator is a program that emulates one or more arcade games on a different computer, such as a PC.The first known arcade emulation available publicly was the Williams Digital Arcade series from Digital Eclipse Software, released for the Macintosh in 1994. This series featured the...
and console emulator
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
s. These give the advantage of saving games even if the game or the system did not support such a feature. This is done by means of a RAM dump, which saves all the RAM data of the emulated console into a computer file
Computer file
A computer file is a block of arbitrary information, or resource for storing information, which is available to a computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable storage. A file is durable in the sense that it remains available for programs to use after the current program has finished...
for later use. Saved games of this kind are usually called "save states". "Save state hacking" is the practice of modifying the data in these saved states to achieve various effects, some of which would otherwise be impossible.
Some games that feature save points also use a variation of a save state called a suspend save; these saves will record the complete state of the game and the player will continue from that exact point when they resume. However, the point of this save is to allow the player to stop the game because they are interrupted and do not have time to reach a save point; as such, this save state is erased when the player continues the game so that the player cannot use this feature to inch their way through the game. Restoring from the same suspend save multiple times is often considered savescumming, and is generally considered cheating on most roguelike
Roguelike
The roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many...
s.
Quick saving
Similar to save states, quick saving is the term used for saving the player's progress in a game at any given time. Normally, to save progress the player must reach a designated point in a level (checkpoint), or if saving is permitted elsewhere it is usually achieved through the use of a menu. In games that allow quick saving, one can save progress with a simple keystroke, bypassing the menus or checkpoints. Accompanying quick saving is the quick loading feature, which is a complementarily assigned key to load a game instantly.Some people consider the use of quick save in a game to be a form of cheating since it allows the player to incrementally "inch" through a difficult level regardless of skill. Others see the omission of quick saving as a fatal flaw in a game, believing that the player should have control as to when the game is saved. A good balance can be achieved if a game's difficulty level is set so that quick saving is not required but to still provide the facility for those players that wish to make use of it. Some games (e.g. Painkiller) exclude quick save capability from the highest difficulty levels.
Quick saving is usually a feature found in PC games and is often not present in console games. One reason for this is hardware limitation: because a quick save must contain information about the entire level state, rather than minor statistics such as player health and inventory, it can require significantly more memory to store the information (a quick save for Doom 3 is approximately 10 megabytes in size, while a corresponding save game for any PlayStation game only occupies a few kilobytes). Half-Life for the PS2 gets around this by saving the quick saves directly to the console's memory; if the game is left for any reason without going into a menu and saving properly, the quick save is lost. In The Orange Box, which when for the PlayStation 3 contains no autosave function, the player is merely reminded to quick save at important checkpoints. On Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, the quicksave function is accessible at any time during play through the pause menu and is useful to use it in safe spots so that in the occasion that you die in the next dangerous part of a level it is not necessary to repeat a relatively long section of playing to try it again, however, because it's possible to quick save when you are cornered or otherwise bound to lose, and because you can't quick save on more than one location some strategy is needed to know when it is useful and safe to quick save.
The term Quicksave can also refer to a suspend save, such as in the Mystery Dungeon series (in fan translations, this term has been translated as "Quit").
Save anywhere
Another type of saved game is the concept of save anywhere, which allows the user to save at any point of the game at any time at any state of the game. The phrase "SAVE SAVE SAVE" is a reference to this feature and if often included in guides to these types of games to ensure that the user takes maximum advantage of this feature. This was chiefly a computer-only save game ability until the introduction of hard drives on console systems.Some high-end models of digital audio players and portable media player
Portable media player
A portable media player or digital audio player, is a consumer electronics device that is capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, video, documents, etc. the data is typically stored on a hard drive, microdrive, or flash memory. In contrast, analog portable audio...
s have the "save anywhere" system for playlists and randomization modes for audio files (and videos).
Integration of saved game systems into gameplay
Game designers often attempt to integrate the save points into the style of the game. Resident EvilResident Evil (video game)
Resident Evil, known as in Japan, is a survival horror video game by Capcom. The first installment in the Resident Evil series, it was originally released in 1996 for the PlayStation and was subsequently ported to the Sega Saturn and PC. In 2002, a remake of the game was released for the Nintendo...
represents save points with old fashioned typewriter
Typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
s (which require an ink ribbon item for each save), the Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto (series)
Grand Theft Auto is a multi-award-winning British video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Edinburgh based Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games...
series used representations appropriate to the era of the setting: audio cassettes for the mid-1980s (Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...
), 3½-inch disks for the early-1990s (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall...
) and compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s for the late-1990s (Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is a 2005 sandbox-style action video game developed by Rockstar North and Rockstar Leeds. It is the ninth game in the Grand Theft Auto series...
). Many RPGs integrate the function of saving into the form of a journal
Journal (computing)
In computer storage, a journal is a chronological record of data processing operations that may be used to construct or reinstate an historical or alternative version of a computer system or computer file....
that the characters can write into, or by auto-saving whenever the character stays at an inn or other resting place.
Square
Square Co.
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
is notorious for commonly treating save points as legitimate objects within the game world. In Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. Chrono Triggers development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team": Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Square's Final Fantasy series; Yuji Horii, a...
, a save point in Magus' castle will actually attack the character if he attempts to use it. In Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII
is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was originally released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and was re-released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers and in 2009...
, there is a save point at the Gold Saucer amusement park
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
that forces the player to spend in-game currency to use it. There is also a phony save point serving as a distraction early on. If it is checked, the player misses out on a new character. In Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII
is a role-playing video game released for the PlayStation in 1999 and for Windows-based personal computers in 2000. It was developed and published by Square as the Final Fantasy series' eighth title, removing magic point-based spell-casting and the first title to consistently use realistically...
, the effects of a mysterious magical spell cause one save point to suddenly replicate into dozens of save points when touched. In Chrono Cross
Chrono Cross
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...
, Terranigma
Terranigma
Terranigma, known as in Japan, is a 1995 action role-playing game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System developed by Quintet. It was published by Enix in Japan before Nintendo localized the game and released an English version in Europe and Australia. The game was never officially released...
, and Xenogears
Xenogears
is a science-fiction console role-playing game developed and published by Square for Sony's PlayStation. It was released on February 11, 1998 in Japan and on October 20, 1998 in North America. The game was never released in PAL territories...
, the character's recording of his memories in the game's various save points becomes a plot point later in the game.
In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is an adventure platform game developed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System produced by Rareware and published by Nintendo. It stars Diddy Kong and his girlfriend Dixie Kong...
, it costs two banana coins to use any save point more than once. Also, there is a puzzle in Alundra 2 that entails a cost in GP proportional to the number of times the game has been saved, penalizing frequent savers.
Perhaps one of the most famous integration of saved games in gameplay is Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid
is a videogame by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami in 1998 for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Kojimas early MSX2 computer games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake...
. Depending on how often the player saves, Psycho Mantis and Revolver Ocelot
Revolver Ocelot
, also known as is a fictional character and antagonist of the Metal Gear series. He was originally introduced as a gunslinger-themed member of FOXHOUND from the former Soviet Union in Metal Gear Solid and was revealed to be an agent for The Patriots in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty...
comment on how often they save, and also comment if save files from certain other Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
games are on the same memory card.
Another way saved games interact with each other is through passing along data to a particular game's sequels. A famous example of this is in Konami's own Suikoden series. By having and utilizing a save state from Suikodens final save point that includes all 108 Stars of Destiny
108 Stars of Destiny
The 108 Stars of Destiny are at the core of the plot of the Chinese classic Shui Hu Zhuan , commonly translated as Water Margin, Outlaws of the Marsh, or All Men Are Brothers, edited by Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong during the 13th century and 14th century...
recruited, extra characters and plot elements are introduced in Suikoden II, and both previous games can stack with Suikoden III to show the player even more. Another notable example is the Ratchet & Clank series
Ratchet & Clank (series)
Ratchet & Clank is a series of platform video games. The franchise was created and developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PS2 and PS3 consoles, with the exclusion of Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank, which were developed by High Impact Games for the PSP...
, in which having saves from previous entries to drastically reduce the price of previously purchased weapons that reappear in later games. Saves of non-related games can also interact with each other; for example, Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee, known in Japan as , often abbreviated as SSBM or simply as Melee, is a crossover fighting game released for the Nintendo GameCube shortly after its launch in . It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 game Super Smash Bros., and the predecessor to the Wii game Super Smash...
will reward the player with a Captain Olimar trophy when he or she boots the game with a Pikmin
Pikmin
is a strategy video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001. Pikmin is the first game in the Pikmin series of video games, and the third game for the Gamecube overall. It was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Pikmin was released on October 26, 2001...
game save on the memory card. The character Rosalina becomes available on Mario Kart Wii
Mario Kart Wii
is a racing video game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. It is the sixth installment in the Mario Kart series and the second Mario Kart title to use the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The game was released worldwide...
if you have a Super Mario Galaxy save on your console. In Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2 is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on January 26, 2010 and for PlayStation 3 on January 18, 2011...
, the player can import a save from Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...
which can alter the events that transpire in the game. Other franchises that allow transferring saves between games include the Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem
is a fantasy tactical role-playing video game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems , the maker of Advance Wars , and published by Nintendo...
, Shenmue
Shenmue (series)
Shenmue is an interactive cinema open-world adventure video game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki, and developed and published by Sega. Shenmue was listed in the 2006 Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive video game produced for its time, with a production budget of...
and .hack
.hack (video game series)
.hack is a series of single-player action role-playing games for the , developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Bandai. The four games are titled .hack//Infection, .hack//Mutation, .hack//Outbreak, and .hack//Quarantine...
series. In Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 3 is a survival horror video game published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 and developed by Team Silent, a production group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. It is the third installment in the Silent Hill series and a direct sequel to the first Silent Hill game...
, if the player has a save from a complete play-through of Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 2 is a survival horror video game published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 and developed by Team Silent, a production group within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo...
on the same PS2 memory card, the player can unlock hidden scenes that are similar to that of the previous game.
Save sharing
For many years, sharing game saves among friends has been very common. From trading passwords to swapping memory cards, gamers have always been able to help each other out to unlock features in a game. With the growing popularity of the internet, many people upload their game saves to the World Wide Web to help out their online friends with some of the harder games out there. However, with the inclusion of a progress meter or "gamerscore" that tracks player progress in games for the Xbox 360, many players are beginning to view those who load other people's files onto their systems as "cheaters". The Legend of ZeldaThe Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda, originally released as in Japan, is a video game developed and published by Nintendo, and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Set in the fantasy land of Hyrule, the plot centers on a boy named Link, the playable protagonist, who aims to collect the eight fragments...
Oracles games actually encourages this with a password swapping side quest that is available after finishing the main story.
Arcades
Saved games have generally been rare at arcades, but have found some use, notably in the Konami e-AmusementE-AMUSEMENT
e-AMUSEMENT is an online service offered worldwide by Konami to enable exclusive online features in games, such as Internet Rankings and unlockable content. It is utilized by multiple Konami games as listed below, including the arcade and the PlayStation 2 platforms.- Magnetic Cards :Before 2006,...
system, or by the use of PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
cards, as in Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...
. These generally use either a magnetic card to store the data, or network (internet) connection, or some combination thereof. Similarly, passwords have generally been rare at arcades, with occasional exceptions, such as Gauntlet Legends
Gauntlet Legends
Gauntlet Legends is an arcade game released in 1998 by Atari Games. It is a fantasy themed hack and slash game, a sequel to 1985's popular Gauntlet and 1986's Gauntlet II and marks the final game in the series to be produced by Atari Games...
.