A typical crack intro has a text running at the bottom of the screen. Quartex's intro on Amiga.

A crack intro, also known as a cracktro, loader, or just intro, is a small introduction sequence added to cracked software, designed to inform the user which "cracking crew" or individual cracker was responsible for removing the software's copy prevention and distributing the crack. Image File history File linksMetadata Quartex. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Quartex. ... The original Amiga 1000 (1985) with various peripherals The Amiga is a family of home/personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation as an advanced home entertainment and productivity machine. ... Software cracking is the modification of software to remove encoded copy prevention. ... Copy prevention, also known as copy protection, is any technical measure designed to prevent duplication of information. ...

These first appeared on Apple II and later Commodore 64 games that were distributed around the world via Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes) and floppy disk copying. Initially the intros consisted of simple messages, but they grew progressively more complex as they became a medium to demonstrate the purported superiority of a cracking group. The 1977 Apple II, complete with integrated keyboard, color graphics, sound, a plastic case and eight expansion slots. ... The Commodore 64 is the best selling single personal computer model of all time. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... Ward Christensen and the computer that ran the first public Bulletin Board System, CBBS A Bulletin Board System or BBS is a computer system running software that allows users to dial into the system over a phone line and, using a terminal program, perform functions such as downloading software and... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ...

Crack intros became more sophisticated on more advanced systems such as the Apple Macintosh II, Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST, as well as some IBM PC clone systems with sound cards. Macintosh II was the first personal computer model of the Macintosh II series in the Apple Macintosh line. ... Amiga is the name of a range of home/personal computers using the Motorola 68000 processor family, whose development started in 1982. ... The Atari 520ST Atari 1040STF with SC1224 color monitor The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially popular from 1985 to the early 1990s. ... IBM PC (IBM 5150) with keyboard and green screen monochrome monitor (IBM 5151), running MS-DOS 5. ...

Eaglesoft's logo used in their intros became familiar for most Commodore 64 users

As a result, crack intros began to feature big colourful effects, music, and scrollers. Cracking groups would use the intros not just to gain credit for cracking, but to advertise their BBSes, greet friends, and to give themselves recognition. Messages were frequently of a vulgar nature, and on some occasions made threats of violence against software companies or the members of some rival crack group. Occasionally intros also told players to support the designers of high quality games by buying also a legal copy of software in question. Often trainers appeared with intros. A trainer is a cracker's addition to a game program, which allows the player to make the game easier for example by selecting unlimited lives or unlimited time. Image File history File links Eaglesoft. ... Image File history File links Eaglesoft. ... The Commodore 64 is the best selling single personal computer model of all time. ... 2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models (such as 2D geometric models, text, and digital images) and by techniques specific to them. ... MOS 6581 and 8580 Commodore 64 SID chips Chiptune, or chip music, or micromusic is music written in sound formats where all the sounds are synthesized in realtime by a computer or video game console sound chip, instead of using sample-based synthesis. ... This article needs cleanup. ... The term vulgar originally meant of the common people, from the Latin vulgus. ... Trainers are programs made to modify behaviour of a computer game, usually u addresses and values, in order to allow cheating. ...

Crack intro music (when present) usually falls into the chiptune genre. In the early days advanced sound chips were unavailable and high quality instrument samples could not be efficiently stored or used. Today chiptune music is used in homage to the original intros. Occasionally, the color palette used in modern intros will also reflect the old video hardware limitations. MOS 6581 and 8580 Commodore 64 SID chips Chiptune, or chip music, or micromusic is music written in sound formats where all the sounds are synthesized in realtime by a computer or video game console sound chip, instead of using sample-based synthesis. ...

Crack intro programming eventually became an art form in its own right, and people started coding intros without attaching them to a crack just to show off how well they could program. This evolved into the demoscene. The separation of demoscene from The Scene is reflected by the fact that many people dealing with software piracy no longer tolerate intros in the releases. The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes itself on producing demos, non-interactive audio-visual presentations, which are run real-time on a computer. ... The Scene is a term used to refer to a collection of communities of pirate networks that obtain and copy new movies, music, and games, often before their public release, and distribute them throughout the Internet (and previously through BBSes). ...

Crack intros that use chiptunes live on today in the form of background music for small programs intended to remove the software protection on commercial and shareware software that has limited or dumbed-down capabilities. Sometimes this is simply in the form of a program that generates a software packages' serial number.

External links

A classic example of an early Apple IIe crack intro screen; Beyond Pinball cracked by Brian Fist (circa 1986).

• World of Cracktros – A site containing Amiga crack intros removed from illegal cracks and enhanced for modern Amigas and emulators
• World of C64 Crackintros – A large collection of C64 cracktros in native "prg" file format (supported by most C64 emulators)
• Flashtros – Amiga cracktros converted to Flash format
• DocSnydersPage – Collection of C64 cracktros recoded in Flash
• Pouet – A demoscene archive including cracktros for all types of operating systems
• Defacto2 – Hundreds of cracktros, loaders and installers for the PC