History
The spiritual forefather of copier devices can be traced back to the Famicom Disk System, an official add-on device for the Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Users quickly discovered ways to copy these disks with ordinary home computers of the time and transmit the copied data to others using the emerging electronic bulletin board systems. Nintendo attempted to counter the piracy problem by slightly modifying the hardware in newer revisions, but they were unable to stop the unauthorized copying. Later, the Famicom Disk System was discontinued, supposedly because cartridge technology had caught up in capacity, but the influence of rampant piracy cannot be discounted.
When the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released, Hong Kong based companies were quick to cash in on the same idea. They produced cartridges that fit in the video game console's cartridge slot, but were interfaced with a floppy disk drive through a connecting cable. The copier, as they were called, also had a passthrough slot into which a real game could be inserted. The device, once powered up, could be used to copy the cartridge's ROM data into ordinary MS-DOS formatted 3.5" floppy disks and thereafter to play the game from the same disks, without having to rely on the original cartridge being present.
When these devices were introduced to the United States and Europe, video game enthusiasts quickly started swapping the copied games over bulletin board systems. Release groups formed to cater to the need of fresh games, and also to crack the protection that was employed to thwart copying in several games released after copiers became available. Release groups would also add their own intros to games, to advertise their BBSes and new releases.
The copier devices and dissemination of hardware information through BBSes made it possible to start developing software on the video game consoles. The software evolved from crack intros to demos, and finally to home-made games. The homebrew software development scene is still alive and active today on multiple contemporary platforms.
Read more about this topic: Game Backup Device
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