I called the tip line exactly once. I was surprised because it was actually my parents' idea, and I knew it cost money. Of course, it makes sense in retrospect. It was the copy protection part of StarTropics, which come to find out was apparently their most common question.
In those days, copy protection of console games was rare, and all copy protection generally relied on physical artifacts that came with the games (sometimes manuals, sometimes dedicated objects). I'd bought the game used, and did not receive the artifact in question. In this case, the copy protection step happens pretty late in a difficult game. The copy protection thing was a "letter" from the main character's uncle with a code written in invisible ink -- that is, it wasn't obvious that it was a copy protection artifact. Naturally, many kids would lose it and be locked out of the end of the game.
No wonder they got a lot of this question: the call basically unlocks the last 33% (wild probably-wrong estimate from memory) of a game you already own.
Nintendo had previously released this game for the Wii Virtual Console, but they included an image of the dipped letter in the digital manual included with the game.
In those days, copy protection of console games was rare, and all copy protection generally relied on physical artifacts that came with the games (sometimes manuals, sometimes dedicated objects). I'd bought the game used, and did not receive the artifact in question. In this case, the copy protection step happens pretty late in a difficult game. The copy protection thing was a "letter" from the main character's uncle with a code written in invisible ink -- that is, it wasn't obvious that it was a copy protection artifact. Naturally, many kids would lose it and be locked out of the end of the game.
No wonder they got a lot of this question: the call basically unlocks the last 33% (wild probably-wrong estimate from memory) of a game you already own.