Metroid: Justin Bailey Cheat Code!

Hyrule Chicken

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I was playing the original Metroid on the NES the other day and it reminded me of a cheat code I used to use as a kid: "JUSTIN BAILEY ------ ------"

I'm pretty sure that I learned of this in Nintendo Power magazine (I think! Either that, or word-of-mouth from a friend at school who read it in the magazine). The password would basically make you super powerful with a ton of items (if I remember right, 255 missiles) and most notably allow you to ditch the Power Suit and run around in a one-piece pink suit, with no helmet!

I always wondered who exactly Justin Bailey was, and there are theories that it was actually just a fluke and part of the computer language the password program uses to enable/disable different things in game.

Anyone else remember using this password in game? Remember how annoying it was to write down the passwords so you could keep all of your hard earned items?
 
Huh, that's super cool! I have never heard of that...:)
 
I realized that I should have included some pictures:

justinbailey_zps5smertrl.jpg
Norfair_zpskfj3unz5.gif
justinbailey_zps01p1sfdr.png


The game play was the same except for the boost in missiles (255) and of course the fact that Samus is running around in a one-piece. This actually coincided with my learning that Samus Aran is female; this wasn't widely known back when Metroid came out since there's no where that indicates it until the very end of the game when she removes her helmet.
 
The Wikitroid has a great page on the Justin Bailey code. Apparently, there are actually several such codes that will swap out the power suit for the one piece (strictly as a cosmetic change)--though the Justine Bailey code is by far the most famous and offers up nearly every item in the game upfront.

Although I naturally see the appeal of replacing the power suit with the one piece (or the zero suit for that matter), I find it exceptionally silly! To me, Samus opting for a swimsuit (or the zero suit) over her power armour is not unlike Tony Stark going into battle wearing his tighty whities instead of his Iron Man armour! On an alien planet no less! It just doesn't make sense on a practical level!

As Cracked.com points out, the NARPAS SWORD password truly gives the player every power up in the game and is thus the most powerful--but it doesn't strip away Samus' power armour and as such was less popular among the young lads of the time! (As someone born in the early eighties, I can confirm that even a pixelated one-piece swimsuit in a 8-bit NES game was enough to titillate my young male peers! It was a very odd time, before the internet and its various conveniences!) ;)
 
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Although I naturally see the appeal of replacing the power suit with the one piece (or the zero suit for that matter), I find it exceptionally silly! To me, Samus opting for a swimsuit (or the zero suit) over her power armour is not unlike Tony Stark going into battle wearing his tighty whities instead of his Iron Man armour! On an alien planet no less! It just doesn't make sense on a practical level!

Hahaha I absolutely agree to both your point. And being born in the early eighties as well, I know exactly what you mean about a one-piece bathing suit being especially appealing. I think part of it was that it was a SECRET costume, so it added to the fun.

So while most people will see the cheat code as changing Samus to this:

justinbailey_zps5smertrl.jpg


Back then, in our mind's eye, we saw her more as this:

tumblr_mrxu3tIR471sxfu3lo1_1280_zpsd3pl1or5.jpg

;)
 
That's really cool! Secret and unlockable costumes are a big part of games now with DLC, so it's neat to see where it may have started. I remember my big brother using passwords for Metroid, and I remember him telling me that Samus Aran was a girl but he never shared the one-piece suit with me haha :)
 

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