An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction time . The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games , beat 'em ups , shooter games , rhythm games and platform games . Multiplayer online battle arena and some real-time strategy games are also considered action games.
147-582: Mega Man X2 (stylized as MEGA MAN X² ), known as Rockman X2 ( ロックマンX2 ) in Japan, is a 1994 action - platform game developed by Capcom for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The game was released in Japan on December 16, 1994, and in North America and PAL regions in 1995. It is the direct sequel to Mega Man X , released one year prior. Mega Man X2 takes place in
294-841: A first-person shooter might secretly enjoy that their character gets killed in the game, although their expressions might show the contrary. The game used in the study was James Bond 007: Nightfire . Shooter games have been around since the beginning of the video game industry . Notable examples of shooting arcade video games during the early-to-mid-1970s include Syzygy Engineering 's Computer Space (1971), Galaxy Game (1971), Tank (1974) by Kee Games , Gun Fight (1975) by Taito and Midway Manufacturing , and Midway's Sea Wolf (1976). In turn, early arcade shooter video games were inspired by early mainframe games such as Spacewar! (1962) as well as arcade electro-mechanical games such as Periscope (1965) and gun games . A major turning point for action video games came with
441-497: A Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool that is updated as part of the regular Windows update regime, and an older optional anti-malware (malware removal) tool Windows Defender that has been upgraded to an antivirus product in Windows 8. Some viruses disable System Restore and other important Windows tools such as Task Manager and CMD . An example of a virus that does this is CiaDoor. Many such viruses can be removed by rebooting
588-483: A disk image , or a backup copy is one solution—restoring an earlier backup disk "image" is relatively simple to do, usually removes any malware, and may be faster than "disinfecting" the computer—or reinstalling and reconfiguring the operating system and programs from scratch, as described below, then restoring user preferences. Reinstalling the operating system is another approach to virus removal. It may be possible to recover copies of essential user data by booting from
735-528: A live CD , or connecting the hard drive to another computer and booting from the second computer's operating system, taking great care not to infect that computer by executing any infected programs on the original drive. The original hard drive can then be reformatted and the OS and all programs installed from original media. Once the system has been restored, precautions must be taken to avoid reinfection from any restored executable files . The first known description of
882-446: A non-memory-resident virus (or "non-resident virus"), when executed, scans the disk for targets, infects them, and then exits (i.e. it does not remain in memory after it is done executing). Many common applications, such as Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word , allow macro programs to be embedded in documents or emails, so that the programs may be run automatically when the document is opened. A macro virus (or "document virus")
1029-706: A ransom payment is made. Phishing is a deception in which the malicious individual pretends to be a friend, computer security expert, or other benevolent individual, with the goal of convincing the targeted individual to reveal passwords or other personal information. Other commonly used preventive measures include timely operating system updates, software updates, careful Internet browsing (avoiding shady websites), and installation of only trusted software. Certain browsers flag sites that have been reported to Google and that have been confirmed as hosting malware by Google. There are two common methods that an antivirus software application uses to detect viruses, as described in
1176-507: A web address link as an instant message to all the contacts (e.g., friends and colleagues' e-mail addresses) stored on an infected machine. If the recipient, thinking the link is from a friend (a trusted source) follows the link to the website, the virus hosted at the site may be able to infect this new computer and continue propagating. Viruses that spread using cross-site scripting were first reported in 2002, and were academically demonstrated in 2005. There have been multiple instances of
1323-408: A broad category of action games, referring to a variety of games that are driven by the physical actions of player characters . The term dates back to the golden age of arcade video games in the early 1980s, when the terms "action games" and "character games" began being used to distinguish a new emerging genre of character-driven action games from the space shoot 'em ups that had previously dominated
1470-416: A complex, humanoid robot dubbed X who was discovered by the archaeologist Dr. Cain in laboratory ruins many months earlier. Created with human-level intelligence and free will , some Reploids have a tendency towards destructive, criminal activity and are subsequently dubbed "Mavericks" by the government. A military force called the "Maverick Hunters" is formed to halt or prevent such activity. The events of
1617-453: A contrast between the two series. Tsuge elaborated, "With Mega Man , we wanted the players to feel a certain familiarity with the characters, but it was our intention that the X series would have a world with a more hardcore feel to it. We didn't want the bosses in this world to be cute products of kids' imaginations, we needed them to be solid characters refined by professionals." Mega Man X2 has an in-cartridge enhancement by Capcom called
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#17330847366321764-891: A database of file " hashes " for Windows OS files, so the security software can identify altered files, and request Windows installation media to replace them with authentic versions. In older versions of Windows, file cryptographic hash functions of Windows OS files stored in Windows—to allow file integrity/authenticity to be checked—could be overwritten so that the System File Checker would report that altered system files are authentic, so using file hashes to scan for altered files would not always guarantee finding an infection. Most modern antivirus programs try to find virus-patterns inside ordinary programs by scanning them for so-called virus signatures . Different antivirus programs will employ different search methods when identifying viruses. If
1911-408: A demonstration that there is no algorithm that can perfectly detect all possible viruses. Fred Cohen's theoretical compression virus was an example of a virus which was not malicious software ( malware ), but was putatively benevolent (well-intentioned). However, antivirus professionals do not accept the concept of "benevolent viruses", as any desired function can be implemented without involving
2058-698: A different approach to game design at the time. According to Eugene Jarvis, American arcade developers focused mainly on space shooters during the late 1970s to early 1980s, greatly influenced by Japanese space shooters but taking the genre in a different direction from the "more deterministic, scripted, pattern-type" gameplay of Japanese games, towards a more "programmer-centric design culture, emphasizing algorithmic generation of backgrounds and enemy dispatch" and "an emphasis on random-event generation, particle-effect explosions and physics" as seen in arcade games such as his own Defender (1981) and Robotron: 2084 (1982) as well as Atari 's Asteroids (1979). In
2205-406: A different variant of the virus. One method of evading signature detection is to use simple encryption to encipher (encode) the body of the virus, leaving only the encryption module and a static cryptographic key in cleartext which does not change from one infection to the next. In this case, the virus consists of a small decrypting module and an encrypted copy of the virus code. If the virus
2352-412: A dominant genre in video arcades and on game consoles through to the present day. Space Invaders set the template for later games in the shooter subgenre, and it is considered one of the most influential games of all time. During the arcade golden age, from the late 1970s to early 1980s, a wide variety of new subgenres were created. The success of Space Invaders led to space shooters becoming
2499-409: A file on a computer that already contains copies of the virus. The advantage of using such slow polymorphic code is that it makes it more difficult for antivirus professionals and investigators to obtain representative samples of the virus, because "bait" files that are infected in one run will typically contain identical or similar samples of the virus. This will make it more likely that the detection by
2646-469: A fully functional virus written in assembler programming language for a SIEMENS 4004/35 computer system. In 1980, Jürgen Kraus wrote his Diplom thesis "Selbstreproduktion bei Programmen" (Self-reproduction of programs) at the University of Dortmund . In his work Kraus postulated that computer programs can behave in a way similar to biological viruses. The Creeper virus was first detected on ARPANET ,
2793-416: A limited range, but this attack is rare. Players may find a power-up within the game world that grants temporary or permanent improvements to their abilities. For example, the avatar may gain an increase in speed, more powerful attacks, or a temporary shield from attacks. Some action games even allow players to spend upgrade points on the power ups of their choice. In action games that involve navigating
2940-455: A major antagonist in the game's story. Enemy attacks and obstacles deplete the player character's health and lives , and the player receives a game over when they run out of lives. Alternatively, the player gets to the end of the game by finishing a sequence of levels to complete a final goal, and see the credits . Some action games, such as early arcade games , are unbeatable and have an indefinite number of levels. The player's only goal
3087-422: A means of encryption inside an executable in which the virus is encrypted under certain events, such as the virus scanner being disabled for updates or the computer being rebooted . This is called cryptovirology . Polymorphic code was the first technique that posed a serious threat to virus scanners. Just like regular encrypted viruses, a polymorphic virus infects files with an encrypted copy of itself, which
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#17330847366323234-406: A more deterministic, scripted, pattern-type" of play. Terms such as "action games" or "character games" began being used to distinguish these new character-driven action games from the space shooters that had previously dominated the video game industry. The emphasis on character-driven gameplay in turn enabled a wider variety of subgenres. Namco 's hit maze game Pac-Man (1980) popularized
3381-446: A network limits the destructive potential of viruses and malware. Open-source operating systems such as Linux allow users to choose from a variety of desktop environments , packaging tools, etc., which means that malicious code targeting any of these systems will only affect a subset of all users. Many Windows users are running the same set of applications, enabling viruses to rapidly spread among Microsoft Windows systems by targeting
3528-508: A new life, the player resumes the game either from the same location they died, a checkpoint, or the start of the level. Upon starting a new life, the avatar is typically invincible for a few seconds to allow the player to re-orient themselves. Players may earn extra lives by reaching a certain score or by finding an in-game object. Arcade games still limit the number of player lives, while home video games have shifted increasingly to unlimited lives. Action games take place in either 2D or 3D from
3675-515: A parking lot of a government building or other target, with the hopes that curious users will insert the drive into a computer. In a 2015 experiment, researchers at the University of Michigan found that 45–98 percent of users would plug in a flash drive of unknown origin. The vast majority of viruses target systems running Microsoft Windows . This is due to Microsoft's large market share of desktop computer users. The diversity of software systems on
3822-680: A plethora of shoot 'em up games taking place from a top-down or side-scrolling perspective. Space shooters were initially categorized as a separate genre from action games in the early 1980s, when the term was used to refer to character action games, up until character-driven shooters, particularly scrolling run-and-gun shooters, became popular by the late 1980s. The setting of shooter games often involves military conflicts, whether historical, such as World War II , contemporary, such as Middle East conflicts , or fictional, such as space warfare . Shooter games do not always involve military conflicts. Other settings include hunting games, or follow
3969-400: A result, even if a user ran the virus, it could not harm their operating system. The Bliss virus never became widespread, and remains chiefly a research curiosity. Its creator later posted the source code to Usenet , allowing researchers to see how it worked. Before computer networks became widespread, most viruses spread on removable media , particularly floppy disks . In the early days of
4116-422: A self-reproducing computer program is considered the world's first computer virus, and he is considered to be the theoretical "father" of computer virology. In 1972, Veith Risak directly building on von Neumann's work on self-replication , published his article "Selbstreproduzierende Automaten mit minimaler Informationsübertragung" (Self-reproducing automata with minimal information exchange). The article describes
4263-401: A self-reproducing program in fiction is in the 1970 short story The Scarred Man by Gregory Benford which describes a computer program called VIRUS which, when installed on a computer with telephone modem dialing capability, randomly dials phone numbers until it hits a modem that is answered by another computer, and then attempts to program the answering computer with its own program, so that
4410-517: A set of new abilities. For example, the leg part will allow the player to perform a dash in mid-air, while the X-Buster part will allow for two charged blasts in succession. When specific conditions are met a special capsule is unlocked in one of the game's final stages, allowing X to perform an attack that deals damage on every frame (the "Shoryuken"), making it almost insta-kill. It is used by characters from Capcom's Street Fighter series. Mega Man X2
4557-437: A space, players will encounter obstacles, traps, and enemies. Enemies typically follow fixed patterns and attack the player, although newer action games may make use of more complex artificial intelligence to pursue the player. Enemies sometimes appear in groups or waves, with enemies increasing in strength and number until the end of the level. Enemies may also appear out of thin air. This can involve an invisible spawn point, or
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4704-456: A specific type of email system ( Microsoft Outlook is the most commonly used), harvest email addresses from various sources, and may append copies of themselves to all email sent, or may generate email messages containing copies of themselves as attachments. To avoid detection by users, some viruses employ different kinds of deception . Some old viruses, especially on the DOS platform, make sure that
4851-438: A variety of different subsystems on their host computers and software. One manner of classifying viruses is to analyze whether they reside in binary executables (such as .EXE or .COM files ), data files (such as Microsoft Word documents or PDF files ), or in the boot sector of the host's hard drive (or some combination of all of these). A memory-resident virus (or simply "resident virus") installs itself as part of
4998-430: A variety of perspectives. 2D action games typically use a side view or top-down view. The screen frequently scrolls as the player explores the level, although many games scroll through the level automatically to push the player forward. In 3D action games, the perspective is usually tied to the avatar from a first-person perspective or third-person perspective. However, some 3D games offer a context-sensitive perspective that
5145-428: A virus (automatic compression, for instance, is available under Windows at the choice of the user). Any virus will by definition make unauthorised changes to a computer, which is undesirable even if no damage is done or intended. The first page of Dr Solomon's Virus Encyclopaedia explains the undesirability of viruses, even those that do nothing but reproduce. An article that describes "useful virus functionalities"
5292-509: A virus is with a constant so that the exclusive-or operation had only to be repeated for decryption. It is suspicious for a code to modify itself, so the code to do the encryption/decryption may be part of the signature in many virus definitions. A simpler older approach did not use a key, where the encryption consisted only of operations with no parameters, like incrementing and decrementing, bitwise rotation, arithmetic negation, and logical NOT. Some viruses, called polymorphic viruses, will employ
5439-516: A virus scanner finds such a pattern in a file, it will perform other checks to make sure that it has found the virus, and not merely a coincidental sequence in an innocent file, before it notifies the user that the file is infected. The user can then delete, or (in some cases) "clean" or "heal" the infected file. Some viruses employ techniques that make detection by means of signatures difficult but probably not impossible. These viruses modify their code on each infection. That is, each infected file contains
5586-509: A virus, in some cases, the virus is designed so that the e-mail appears to be from a reputable organization (e.g., a major bank or credit card company). Boot sector viruses specifically target the boot sector and/or the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the host's hard disk drive , solid-state drive , or removable storage media ( flash drives , floppy disks , etc.). The most common way of transmission of computer viruses in boot sector
5733-750: A virus, one can start again using the backup (which will hopefully be recent). If a backup session on optical media like CD and DVD is closed, it becomes read-only and can no longer be affected by a virus (so long as a virus or infected file was not copied onto the CD / DVD ). Likewise, an operating system on a bootable CD can be used to start the computer if the installed operating systems become unusable. Backups on removable media must be carefully inspected before restoration. The Gammima virus, for example, propagates via removable flash drives . Many websites run by antivirus software companies provide free online virus scanning, with limited "cleaning" facilities (after all,
5880-451: A visible generator which can be destroyed by the player. These points may generate enemies indefinitely, or only up to a certain number. At the end of a level or group of themed levels, players often encounter a boss . This boss enemy will often resemble a larger or more difficult version of a regular enemy. A boss may require a special weapon or attack method, such as striking when the boss opens their mouth, or attacking particular part of
6027-733: A world. Each level involves a variety of challenges, whether dancing in a dance game or shooting things in a shooter, which the player must overcome to win the game. Older games force players to restart a level after dying, although action games evolved to offer saved games and checkpoints to allow the player to restart partway through a level. The obstacles and enemies in a level do not usually vary between play sessions, allowing players to learn by trial and error. However, levels sometimes add an element of randomness, such as an enemy that randomly appears or that takes an unpredictable path. Levels in an action game may be linear or nonlinear , and sometimes include shortcuts. For levels that require exploration,
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6174-580: Is a computer program that executes specific machine code to reach the maximum CPU power dissipation ( thermal energy output for the central processing units ). Computer cooling apparatus are designed to dissipate power up to the thermal design power , rather than maximum power, and a power virus could cause the system to overheat if it does not have logic to stop the processor. This may cause permanent physical damage. Power viruses can be malicious, but are often suites of test software used for integration testing and thermal testing of computer components during
6321-419: Is a virus that is written in a macro language and embedded into these documents so that when users open the file, the virus code is executed, and can infect the user's computer. This is one of the reasons that it is dangerous to open unexpected or suspicious attachments in e-mails . While not opening attachments in e-mails from unknown persons or organizations can help to reduce the likelihood of contracting
6468-452: Is an accepted version of this page A computer virus is a type of malware that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code into those programs. If this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected" with a computer virus, a metaphor derived from biological viruses . Computer viruses generally require a host program . The virus writes its own code into
6615-443: Is controlled by an artificial intelligence camera. Most of what the player needs to know is contained within a single screen, although action games frequently make use of a heads-up display that display important information such as health or ammunition. Action games sometimes make use of maps which can be accessed during lulls in action, or a mini-map that is always visible. Action games tend to set simple goals, and reaching them
6762-425: Is decoded by a decryption module. In the case of polymorphic viruses, however, this decryption module is also modified on each infection. A well-written polymorphic virus therefore has no parts which remain identical between infections, making it very difficult to detect directly using "signatures". Antivirus software can detect it by decrypting the viruses using an emulator , or by statistical pattern analysis of
6909-417: Is encrypted with a different key for each infected file, the only part of the virus that remains constant is the decrypting module, which would (for example) be appended to the end. In this case, a virus scanner cannot directly detect the virus using signatures, but it can still detect the decrypting module, which still makes indirect detection of the virus possible. Since these would be symmetric keys, stored on
7056-523: Is obvious. A common goal is to defeat the end-of-game boss. This is often presented in the form of a structured story, with a happy ending upon winning the game. In some games, the goal changes as the player reveals more of the story. Many action games keep track of the player's score. Points are awarded for completing certain challenges, or defeating certain enemies. Skillful play is often rewarded with point multipliers, such as in Pac-Man where each ghost that
7203-412: Is often designed with security features to prevent unauthorized use of system resources, many viruses must exploit and manipulate security bugs , which are security defects in a system or application software, to spread themselves and infect other computers. Software development strategies that produce large numbers of "bugs" will generally also produce potential exploitable "holes" or "entrances" for
7350-434: Is often under time pressure, and there is not enough time for complex strategic planning. In general, faster action games are more challenging. Action games may sometimes involve puzzle solving, but they are usually quite simple because the player is under immense time pressure. Players advance through an action game by completing a series of levels . Levels are often grouped by theme, with similar graphics and enemies called
7497-476: Is part of the metamorphic engine. Damage is due to causing system failure, corrupting data, wasting computer resources, increasing maintenance costs or stealing personal information. Even though no antivirus software can uncover all computer viruses (especially new ones), computer security researchers are actively searching for new ways to enable antivirus solutions to more effectively detect emerging viruses, before they become widely distributed. A power virus
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#17330847366327644-620: Is physical media. When reading the VBR of the drive, the infected floppy disk or USB flash drive connected to the computer will transfer data, and then modify or replace the existing boot code. The next time a user tries to start the desktop, the virus will immediately load and run as part of the master boot record. Email viruses are viruses that intentionally, rather than accidentally, use the email system to spread. While virus infected files may be accidentally sent as email attachments , email viruses are aware of email system functions. They generally target
7791-501: Is to get as far as they can, to maximize their score. The action genre includes any game where the player overcomes challenges by physical means such as precise aim and quick response times. Action games can sometimes incorporate other challenges such as races, puzzles, or collecting objects, but they are not central to the genre. Players may encounter tactical and exploration challenges, but these games first-and-foremost require high reaction speed and good hand–eye coordination. The player
7938-440: Is to use a heuristic algorithm based on common virus behaviors. This method can detect new viruses for which antivirus security firms have yet to define a "signature", but it also gives rise to more false positives than using signatures. False positives can be disruptive, especially in a commercial environment, because it may lead to a company instructing staff not to use the company computer system until IT services have checked
8085-461: The CIH virus , or Chernobyl Virus, infects Portable Executable files. Because those files have many empty gaps, the virus, which was 1 KB in length, did not add to the size of the file. Some viruses try to avoid detection by killing the tasks associated with antivirus software before it can detect them (for example, Conficker ). A Virus may also hide its presence using a rootkit by not showing itself on
8232-572: The Cx4 chip, a digital signal processor which allows for limited 3D graphical effects like rotation, enlarging, and shrinking of wireframe objects. The company held weekly meetings devoted to utilizing the chip to its maximum potential in Mega Man X2 . Tsuge commented that the Cx4 was their "greatest adversary to date" as they were instructed to use it in as many ways as possible. The musical score for Mega Man X2
8379-511: The Elk Cloner virus would be activated, infecting the personal computer and displaying a short poem beginning "Elk Cloner: The program with a personality." In 1984, Fred Cohen from the University of Southern California wrote his paper "Computer Viruses – Theory and Experiments". It was the first paper to explicitly call a self-reproducing program a "virus", a term introduced by Cohen's mentor Leonard Adleman . In 1987, Fred Cohen published
8526-480: The Mega Man series had come to expect. Comparing the game to the first Mega Man X , GamePro ' s Chris Nicolella called Mega Man X2 "improved in almost every way". Nicolella summarized, "The new C4 chip energizes the already great graphics, the extremely responsive controls are perfect and the levels contain more enemies and hidden locations than any MM cart yet." Dave Halverson of GameFan likewise enjoyed
8673-416: The Mega Man X series was no small task," the website abstracted, "but Mega Man X2 accomplished the job admirably." In 2018, Complex listed the game 57th on their "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time." They commented that Mega Man X2 is a great follow up to the original, although there is not much change compared to its predecessor yet the gameplay is great. Action game In an action game,
8820-488: The Microsoft Outlook Component Object Model (COM) interface. Some old versions of Microsoft Word allow macros to replicate themselves with additional blank lines. If two macro viruses simultaneously infect a document, the combination of the two, if also self-replicating, can appear as a "mating" of the two and would likely be detected as a virus unique from the "parents". A virus may also send
8967-428: The University of Rochester on college students showed that over a period of a month, performance in eye examinations improved by about 20% in those playing Unreal Tournament compared to those playing Tetris . Most arcade games are action games, because they can be difficult for unskilled players, and thus make more money quickly. Researchers from Helsinki School of Economics have shown that people playing
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#17330847366329114-776: The Virtual Console in 2011 and 2012 for the Wii and in 2013–2014 for the Wii U . In 2006, Mega Man X2 was included as part of the North American Mega Man X Collection for GameCube and PlayStation 2 . A version for i-mode and EZweb -compatible mobile phones was made available in Japan between 2008 and 2009. Mega Man X2 was released on the Wii Virtual Console service in Japan on December 27, 2011, in PAL regions on May 31, 2012, and in North America on June 14, 2012. It
9261-652: The Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (now included with Windows (Security) Updates on " Patch Tuesday ", the second Tuesday of each month), and Windows Defender (an optional download in the case of Windows XP). Additionally, several capable antivirus software programs are available for free download from the Internet (usually restricted to non-commercial use). Some such free programs are almost as good as commercial competitors. Common security vulnerabilities are assigned CVE IDs and listed in
9408-544: The antivirus software article. The first, and by far the most common method of virus detection is using a list of virus signature definitions. This works by examining the content of the computer's memory (its Random Access Memory (RAM), and boot sectors ) and the files stored on fixed or removable drives (hard drives, floppy drives, or USB flash drives), and comparing those files against a database of known virus "signatures". Virus signatures are just strings of code that are used to identify individual viruses; for each virus,
9555-459: The arcades in the late 1970s. Classic examples of character action games from the early 1980s include Frogger , maze games like Pac-Man , and platformers like Donkey Kong . Shooter games allow the player to take action at a distance using a ranged weapon, challenging them to aim with accuracy and speed. This subgenre includes first-person shooters , third-person shooters , light gun shooters , rail shooters , run and gun games and
9702-522: The first Mega Man X game entail the hunter X's fight to stop Sigma , a Maverick overlord bent on the destruction of humanity. X prevails in his mission, but at the cost of his partner Zero 's life. Six months following the incident, X becomes the head of the Maverick Hunters. X tracks a "manufactured Maverick" bearing Sigma's emblem to a Reploid factory, where he launches a full assault. However, despite Sigma's apparent death and X's recent efforts,
9849-497: The first-person shooter (FPS) genre was popularized by Doom ; it is also considered, despite not using 3D polygons, a major leap forward for three-dimensional environments in action games. 3D polygon texture mapping appeared in action games around the mid-1990s, introduced to fighting games by Sega AM2's Virtua Fighter 2 (1994), to light gun shooters by Sega AM2's Virtua Cop in 1994, and to FPS games by Parallax Software 's Descent (1995). Computer virus This
9996-443: The high score . It also had a basic story with animated characters along with a "crescendo of action and climax" which laid the groundwork for later video games, according to Eugene Jarvis , who said many games "still rely on the multiple life , progressively difficult level paradigm" of Space Invaders . Following the mainstream success of Space Invaders , the industry came to be dominated by action games, which have remained
10143-421: The personal computer , many users regularly exchanged information and programs on floppies. Some viruses spread by infecting programs stored on these disks, while others installed themselves into the disk boot sector , ensuring that they would be run when the user booted the computer from the disk, usually inadvertently. Personal computers of the era would attempt to boot first from a floppy if one had been left in
10290-409: The "Four Guardians". However, both this character and Violen's second form were cut from the final version of the game due to a lack of resources. In creating the eight, ancillary Maverick bosses, the development team considered holding public, fan submissions as they had done with several games in the original Mega Man series. They ultimately decided against the idea as they wanted to further establish
10437-441: The "last modified" date of a host file stays the same when the file is infected by the virus. This approach does not fool antivirus software , however, especially those which maintain and date cyclic redundancy checks on file changes. Some viruses can infect files without increasing their sizes or damaging the files. They accomplish this by overwriting unused areas of executable files. These are called cavity viruses . For example,
10584-430: The 1978 release of Taito's shoot 'em up game Space Invaders , which marked the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games . The game was designed by Tomohiro Nishikado , who drew inspiration from Atari 's Breakout (1976) and the science fiction genre. Nishikado added several interactive elements to Space Invaders that he found lacking in earlier video games, such as the ability for enemies to react to
10731-507: The Maverick rebellion continues. Three powerful Mavericks—Serges, Agile, and Violen—form a group called the "X-Hunters" and gain control of the North Pole . In the time between Sigma's demise and the trio's sudden uprising, Serges has collected the deceased Zero's bodyparts. After the factory mission, X is assigned to seek and exterminate eight Maverick leaders on a large continent directly south of
10878-601: The North American home video game market (after it had crashed in 1983 ). Alongside side-scrollers, rail shooters and light gun shooters also became popular during the mid-to-late 1980s. Popular examples include first-person light gun shooting gallery games such as Nintendo 's Duck Hunt (1984), pseudo-3D third-person rail shooters such as Sega's Space Harrier (1985) and After Burner (1987), and Taito's Operation Wolf (1987) which popularized military-themed first-person light gun rail shooters. A trend that
11025-520: The North Pole. If the player gathers all the parts, Dr. Cain states he will attempt to reassemble and reactivate Zero using his original control chip. If the player does not succeed, X is informed by Dr. Cain that the X-Hunters have attacked Maverick Hunter headquarters and stolen any collected parts and the control chip. Just as X annihilates the last of the X-Hunters, Sigma reveals himself to have been behind
11172-469: The North Pole. The X-Hunters contact the Maverick Hunters shortly thereafter and taunt them with Zero's body. The X-Hunters drift among the eight Maverick locations and attempt to lure X out, each one promising the protagonist a piece of Zero if he can defeat them. The story deviates slightly depending on whether or not the player collects all three of Zero's parts before heading to the X-Hunter fortification in
11319-595: The US National Vulnerability Database . Secunia PSI is an example of software, free for personal use, that will check a PC for vulnerable out-of-date software, and attempt to update it. Ransomware and phishing scam alerts appear as press releases on the Internet Crime Complaint Center noticeboard . Ransomware is a virus that posts a message on the user's screen saying that the screen or system will remain locked or unusable until
11466-452: The antivirus designer tries to choose a unique signature string that will not be found in a legitimate program. Different antivirus programs use different "signatures" to identify viruses. The disadvantage of this detection method is that users are only protected from viruses that are detected by signatures in their most recent virus definition update, and not protected from new viruses (see " zero-day attack "). A second method to find viruses
11613-474: The avatar eats will generate twice as many points as the last. Sometimes action games will offer bonus objects that increase the player's score. There is no penalty for failing to collect them, although these bonus objects may unlock hidden levels or special events. In many action games, achieving a high score is the only goal, and levels increase in difficulty until the player loses. Arcade games are more likely to be unbeatable, as they make their money by forcing
11760-445: The best player, paving the way for the competitive multiplayer and deathmatch modes found in modern action games. Inspired by Street Fighter II , along with the SNK fighting games Fatal Fury (1991) and Art of Fighting (1992), John Romero created the deathmatch mode in id Software 's Doom (1993), which popularized competitive multiplayer online games . In the 1990s, there
11907-401: The boss. In many action games, the avatar has a certain number of hit-markers or health, which are depleted by enemy attacks and other hazards. Sometimes health can be replenished by collecting an in-game object. When the player runs out of health, the player dies. The player's avatar is often given a small number of chances to retry after death, typically referred to as lives . Upon beginning
12054-491: The computer attempts to download or run the executable file (which may be distributed as an email attachment, or on USB flash drives , for example). Some antivirus software blocks known malicious websites that attempt to install malware. Antivirus software does not change the underlying capability of hosts to transmit viruses. Users must update their software regularly to patch security vulnerabilities ("holes"). Antivirus software also needs to be regularly updated to recognize
12201-406: The computer, entering Windows " safe mode " with networking, and then using system tools or Microsoft Safety Scanner . System Restore on Windows Me , Windows XP , Windows Vista and Windows 7 can restore the registry and critical system files to a previous checkpoint. Often a virus will cause a system to "hang" or "freeze", and a subsequent hard reboot will render a system restore point from
12348-404: The conflict with Sigma's right hand robot named Vile. Mega Man X2 features much of the same action - platforming elements as the first installment of the series, following the traditional gameplay of the original Mega Man series . The player is tasked with completing a series of stages by destroying enemies, gaining various power-ups, and winning the special weapon of each stage's boss. Like
12495-457: The cross-site scripting viruses in the "wild", exploiting websites such as MySpace (with the Samy worm) and Yahoo! . In 1989 The ADAPSO Software Industry Division published Dealing With Electronic Vandalism , in which they followed the risk of data loss by "the added risk of losing customer confidence." Many users install antivirus software that can detect and eliminate known viruses when
12642-409: The dash is a permanent ability at the start of the game, instead of being an armor upgrade found in a capsule. The player must contend with countless robotic enemies and several platforming hazards such as bottomless pits, deadly spikes, and rising lava. Along the way, the player can pick up extra lives and items that restore health and weapon power. Each stage contains one main boss at the end; defeating
12789-629: The design phase of a product, or for product benchmarking . Stability test applications are similar programs which have the same effect as power viruses (high CPU usage) but stay under the user's control. They are used for testing CPUs, for example, when overclocking . Spinlock in a poorly written program may cause similar symptoms, if it lasts sufficiently long. Different micro-architectures typically require different machine code to hit their maximum power. Examples of such machine code do not appear to be distributed in CPU reference materials. As software
12936-500: The dominant genre in arcades for a few years, before a new genre of character-driven action games emerged in the early 1980s. The term "action games" began being used in the early 1980s, in reference to a new genre of character action games that emerged from Japanese arcade developers, drawing inspiration from manga and anime culture. According to Eugene Jarvis , these new character-driven Japanese action games emphasized "character development, hand-drawn animation and backgrounds, and
13083-424: The drive. Until floppy disks fell out of use, this was the most successful infection strategy and boot sector viruses were the most common in the "wild" for many years. Traditional computer viruses emerged in the 1980s, driven by the spread of personal computers and the resultant increase in bulletin board system (BBS), modem use, and software sharing. Bulletin board –driven software sharing contributed directly to
13230-485: The eight stages contains an optional entrance for a battle with one of the three X-Hunters, should the player select that stage when one of them is present. Defeating an X-Hunter will earn the player a piece of Zero, which may affect the storyline late in the game. Like the first Mega Man X , players can locate and acquire numerous hidden power-ups . "Heart Tanks" extend the player's maximum life bar, "Sub-Tanks" store life energy for later use, and armor upgrade capsules grant
13377-509: The encrypted virus body. To enable polymorphic code, the virus has to have a polymorphic engine (also called "mutating engine" or " mutation engine") somewhere in its encrypted body. See polymorphic code for technical detail on how such engines operate. Some viruses employ polymorphic code in a way that constrains the mutation rate of the virus significantly. For example, a virus can be programmed to mutate only slightly over time, or it can be programmed to refrain from mutating when it infects
13524-506: The extensions may be hidden from the user by default. This makes it possible to create a file that is of a different type than it appears to the user. For example, an executable may be created and named "picture.png.exe", in which the user sees only "picture.png" and therefore assumes that this file is a digital image and most likely is safe, yet when opened, it runs the executable on the client machine. Viruses may be installed on removable media, such as flash drives . The drives may be left in
13671-578: The facility to rendezvous with Zero outside, and the two watch as the facility self-destructs. Mega Man X2 is an action - platform game in the same fashion as the first Mega Man X and the original Mega Man series . The player takes on the role of the titular character X, who must traverse and clear a series of eight, side-scrolling stages in the order of the player's choosing. The protagonist's initial abilities include running, jumping, scaling walls, dashing forward to make longer jumps, and firing his chargeable "X-Buster" arm cannon. Unlike Mega Man X ,
13818-405: The first Mega Man X , this game lets the player dash, scale walls, and obtain access to special abilities via optional pieces of armor. Mega Man X2 is graphically similar to its predecessor as well, but Capcom included the Cx4 in-cartridge enhancement chip to allow for some 3D wireframe effects. The development team was instructed to utilize this technology as much as possible when working on
13965-580: The forerunner of the Internet , in the early 1970s. Creeper was an experimental self-replicating program written by Bob Thomas at BBN Technologies in 1971. Creeper used the ARPANET to infect DEC PDP-10 computers running the TENEX operating system. Creeper gained access via the ARPANET and copied itself to the remote system where the message, "I'M THE CREEPER. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!" was displayed. The Reaper program
14112-456: The game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "This is one series in need of a serious overhaul. And despite it all, the little blue guy is just as unbearably fun as he always was." The game has made it to several lists of best games for the Super NES. IGN named Mega Man X2 as the 31st-best game in its list of the top 100 SNES games of all time. "Following up the explosive debut of
14259-494: The game. The presentation and gameplay of Mega Man X2 have earned the game a mostly positive critical reception. However, reviewers were dismayed by the lack of changes from the original Mega Man X . The game has since been released on various other platforms. Mega Man X2 is set in an ambiguous year during the 22nd century ("21XX") in which the world is populated both by humans and mechanical beings known as "Reploids" (replicant androids). The mass-produced Reploids are based on
14406-459: The genre of "character-led" action games. It was one of the first popular non-shooting action games, defining key elements of the genre such as "parallel visual processing" which requires simultaneously keeping track of multiple entities, including the player character, the character's location, the enemies, and the energizers. Other classic examples of character action games that followed include Nintendo 's Donkey Kong (1981), which established
14553-495: The host program. When the program runs, the written virus program is executed first, causing infection and damage. By contrast, a computer worm does not need a host program, as it is an independent program or code chunk. Therefore, it is not restricted by the host program , but can run independently and actively carry out attacks. Virus writers use social engineering deceptions and exploit detailed knowledge of security vulnerabilities to initially infect systems and to spread
14700-504: The illustration of Zero. The game's antagonists, the X-Hunters, were present as several illustrations within Inafune's sketchbook prior to the completion of the first Mega Man X . Their aesthetic features were combined to create the basis for Sigma's design in Mega Man X ; the three designs were then fleshed out as three separate characters for the sequel. The team had planned to include a fourth, female X-Hunter and were going to denote them as
14847-404: The infected file, or, the "read" request will be served with the uninfected version of the same file. The only reliable method to avoid "stealth" viruses is to boot from a medium that is known to be "clear". Security software can then be used to check the dormant operating system files. Most security software relies on virus signatures, or they employ heuristics . Security software may also use
14994-416: The infected host, it is entirely possible to decrypt the final virus, but this is probably not required, since self-modifying code is such a rarity that finding some may be reason enough for virus scanners to at least "flag" the file as suspicious. An old but compact way will be the use of arithmetic operation like addition or subtraction and the use of logical conditions such as XORing , where each byte in
15141-403: The latest threats . This is because malicious hackers and other individuals are always creating new viruses. The German AV-TEST Institute publishes evaluations of antivirus software for Windows and Android. Examples of Microsoft Windows anti virus and anti-malware software include the optional Microsoft Security Essentials (for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7) for real-time protection,
15288-497: The level designs and judged the new armor abilities and the music to be better than the original Mega Man X . GameSpot editors Christian Nutt and Justin Speer were appreciative of Capcom's attempt at expanding Mega Man X2 over its predecessor in all aspects, especially the story, which they called "involving ... with engaging characters". Next Generation reviewed the SNES version of
15435-420: The level is completed with time remaining, this usually adds to the player's score. In most action games, the player controls a single avatar as the protagonist . The avatar has the ability to navigate and maneuver, and often collects or manipulates objects. They have a range of defenses and attacks, such as shooting or punching. Many action games make use of a powerful attack that destroys all enemies within
15582-489: The list of system processes or by disguising itself within a trusted process. In the 2010s, as computers and operating systems grow larger and more complex, old hiding techniques need to be updated or replaced. Defending a computer against viruses may demand that a file system migrate towards detailed and explicit permission for every kind of file access. In addition, only a small fraction of known viruses actually cause real incidents, primarily because many viruses remain below
15729-547: The mid-1980s, side-scrolling character action games emerged, combining elements from earlier side-view, single-screen character action games, such as single-screen platformers, with the side-scrolling of space shooters. These new side-scrolling character-driven action games featured large character sprites in colorful, side-scrolling environments, with the core gameplay consisting of fighting large groups of weaker enemies using attacks/weapons such as punches, kicks, guns, swords, ninjutsu or magic. The most notable early example
15876-466: The mid-1990s. Most of these viruses are written in the scripting languages for Microsoft programs such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel and spread throughout Microsoft Office by infecting documents and spreadsheets . Since Word and Excel were also available for Mac OS , most could also spread to Macintosh computers . Although most of these viruses did not have the ability to send infected email messages , those viruses which did take advantage of
16023-509: The near future in which humans try to peacefully coexist with intelligent robots called "Reploids", with some of the Reploids going "Maverick" and threatening daily life. The plot follows the android protagonist X , a "Maverick Hunter" who has saved humanity from the evil Sigma six months earlier. A trio of Mavericks calling themselves the "X-Hunters" has arisen, intent on destroying X by luring him with bodyparts of his comrade Zero , who died in
16170-451: The new portable executable (PE) files introduced in Windows 95. In late 1997 the encrypted, memory-resident stealth virus Win32.Cabanas was released—the first known virus that targeted Windows NT (it was also able to infect Windows 3.0 and Windows 9x hosts). Even home computers were affected by viruses. The first one to appear on the Amiga was a boot sector virus called SCA virus , which
16317-479: The newer series beginning with this title. According to Tsuda, it was Inafune's decision to bring Zero back to life in Mega Man X2 simply because he thought it would be "a shame" to keep him dead. Inafune felt particularly attached to Zero, a character whom he had designed and originally intended to be the main protagonist of the X series. Even though Inafune had mostly relinquished his character design duties in Mega Man X2 , he refused to allow any drastic changes to
16464-466: The operating system when executed, after which it remains in RAM from the time the computer is booted up to when it is shut down. Resident viruses overwrite interrupt handling code or other functions , and when the operating system attempts to access the target file or disk sector, the virus code intercepts the request and redirects the control flow to the replication module, infecting the target. In contrast,
16611-413: The operating system. A virus can hide by intercepting the request to read the infected file, handling the request itself, and returning an uninfected version of the file to the antivirus software. The interception can occur by code injection of the actual operating system files that would handle the read request. Thus, an antivirus software attempting to detect the virus will either not be permitted to read
16758-641: The original SNES instrumentals, was included as part of the Capcom Music Generation: Rockman X1 ~ X6 compilation released by Suleputer in 2003. The game was released in Japan on December 16, 1994, and in North America and PAL regions in 1995. Mega Man X2 was included in the Mega Man X Collection for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 in North America in 2006. The game was also released on Japanese mobile phones in 2008 and 2009 and worldwide on
16905-491: The platforming of Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. (1983) with side-scrolling elements from racing game Excitebike (1984) and beat 'em up Kung-Fu Master to create Super Mario Bros. (1985) for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It went on to have a significant impact on the video game industry , establishing the conventions of the side-scrolling platformer sub-genre and helping to reinvigorate
17052-437: The player may need to search for a level exit that is hidden or guarded by enemies. Such levels can also contain secrets—hidden or hard-to-reach objects or places that contain something valuable. The prize can be a bonus (see below) or a non-standard exit that allows a player to access a hidden level, or jump ahead several levels. Action games sometimes offer a teleporter that will cause the player's avatar to re-appear elsewhere in
17199-523: The player to lose the game. Games sold at home are more likely to have discrete victory conditions, since a publisher wants the player to purchase another game when they are done. Action games contain several major subgenres. However, there are a number of action games that do not fit any particular subgenres, as well as other types of genres like adventure or strategy games that have action elements. Character action games , also called "character-driven" games, "character games" or just "action games", are
17346-402: The player typically controls a character often in the form of a protagonist or avatar . This player character must navigate a level , collecting objects, avoiding obstacles, and battling enemies with their natural skills as well as weapons and other tools at their disposal. At the end of a level or group of levels, the player must often defeat a boss enemy that is more challenging and often
17493-407: The player's movement and fire back and a game over triggered by enemies killing the player, either by getting hit or enemies reaching the bottom of the screen, rather than a timer running out. In contrast to earlier arcade games which often had a timer, Space Invaders introduced the "concept of going round after round." It also gave the player multiple lives before the game ends, and saved
17640-474: The plot. X leaves the exploding compound and tracks Sigma to the Central Computer, one of the eight locations he visited earlier. If the player fails to collect all of Zero's parts, X finds both Sigma and the newly rebuilt Zero waiting for him halfway through the stage. X must then beat Zero in combat. If the player does manage to collect all of the parts, a gray-armored clone of Zero accompanies Sigma instead;
17787-504: The purpose of the websites is to sell antivirus products and services). Some websites—like Google subsidiary VirusTotal .com—allow users to upload one or more suspicious files to be scanned and checked by one or more antivirus programs in one operation. Additionally, several capable antivirus software programs are available for free download from the Internet (usually restricted to non-commercial use). Microsoft offers an optional free antivirus utility called Microsoft Security Essentials ,
17934-476: The real Zero then appears at X's side and destroys the clone. The outcome of either event has Sigma retreating and Zero creating a passageway in the floor to allow X pursuit. After X defeats Sigma, he reveals to X that his true form exists as a computer virus , and taunts to X that he will return. However, Sigma questions Zero's allegiance with humans, stating that Zero is "the last of the Doctor's creations". X evacuates
18081-409: The same day corrupted. Restore points from previous days should work, provided the virus is not designed to corrupt the restore files and does not exist in previous restore points. Microsoft's System File Checker (improved in Windows 7 and later) can be used to check for, and repair, corrupted system files. Restoring an earlier "clean" (virus-free) copy of the entire partition from a cloned disk ,
18228-401: The same exploits on large numbers of hosts. While Linux and Unix in general have always natively prevented normal users from making changes to the operating system environment without permission, Windows users are generally not prevented from making these changes, meaning that viruses can easily gain control of the entire system on Windows hosts. This difference has continued partly due to
18375-426: The same level. Levels often make use of locked doors that can only be opened with a specific key found elsewhere in the level. Action games sometimes make use of time restrictions to increase the challenge. However, game levels typically do not react to time passing, and day/night cycles are rare. When the timer expires, the player typically loses a life, although some games generate a difficult enemy or challenge. If
18522-510: The second computer will also begin dialing random numbers, in search of yet another computer to program. The program rapidly spreads exponentially through susceptible computers and can only be countered by a second program called VACCINE. His story was based on an actual computer virus written in FORTRAN that Benford had created and run on the lab computer in the 1960s, as a proof-of-concept, and which he told John Brunner about in 1970. The idea
18669-399: The spread of Trojan horse programs, and viruses were written to infect popularly traded software. Shareware and bootleg software were equally common vectors for viruses on BBSs. Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by other computers. Macro viruses have become common since
18816-573: The stage's boss will earn the player a special weapon that can be quickly switched to and used in any remaining levels. Every boss is weak to another's weapon, so the player may strategize the order in which the stages are completed. Mega Man X2 features a number of extra gameplay elements. At certain times, the player can pilot vehicles including an attack mech in Wheel Gator's stage and an attack hovercycle in Overdrive Ostrich's stage. Each of
18963-539: The story of a criminal, as seen in the popular Grand Theft Auto franchise. Although shooting is almost always a form of violence, non-violent shooters exist as well, such as Splatoon which focuses on claiming more territory than the opposing team, by covering the playable environment with colored paint or ink. Hybrid action games are games that combine elements of action games with elements from other genres. Studies have shown that people can improve their eyesight by playing action video games. Tests by scientists at
19110-414: The system for viruses. This can slow down productivity for regular workers. One may reduce the damage done by viruses by making regular backups of data (and the operating systems) on different media, that are either kept unconnected to the system (most of the time, as in a hard drive), read-only or not accessible for other reasons, such as using different file systems . This way, if data is lost through
19257-441: The template for the platform game subgenre, as well as Konami 's Frogger (1981) and Universal Entertainment 's Lady Bug (1981). Martial arts action games eventually emerged in the mid-1980s, with Data East 's Karate Champ (1984) establishing the one-on-one fighting game subgenre. While Japanese developers were creating a character-driven action game genre in the early 1980s, American developers largely adopted
19404-528: The theoretical epidemic threshold. While some kinds of antivirus software employ various techniques to counter stealth mechanisms, once the infection occurs any recourse to "clean" the system is unreliable. In Microsoft Windows operating systems, the NTFS file system is proprietary. This leaves antivirus software little alternative but to send a "read" request to Windows files that handle such requests. Some viruses trick antivirus software by intercepting its requests to
19551-413: The theory of self-replicating computer programs was done in 1949 by John von Neumann who gave lectures at the University of Illinois about the "Theory and Organization of Complicated Automata ". The work of von Neumann was later published as the "Theory of self-reproducing automata". In his essay von Neumann described how a computer program could be designed to reproduce itself. Von Neumann's design for
19698-521: The virus scanner will be unreliable, and that some instances of the virus may be able to avoid detection. To avoid being detected by emulation, some viruses rewrite themselves completely each time they are to infect new executables. Viruses that utilize this technique are said to be in metamorphic code . To enable metamorphism, a "metamorphic engine" is needed. A metamorphic virus is usually very large and complex. For example, W32/Simile consisted of over 14,000 lines of assembly language code, 90% of which
19845-440: The virus. To replicate itself, a virus must be permitted to execute code and write to memory. For this reason, many viruses attach themselves to executable files that may be part of legitimate programs (see code injection ). If a user attempts to launch an infected program, the virus' code may be executed simultaneously. In operating systems that use file extensions to determine program associations (such as Microsoft Windows),
19992-726: The virus. Viruses use complex anti-detection/stealth strategies to evade antivirus software . Motives for creating viruses can include seeking profit (e.g., with ransomware ), desire to send a political message, personal amusement, to demonstrate that a vulnerability exists in software, for sabotage and denial of service , or simply because they wish to explore cybersecurity issues, artificial life and evolutionary algorithms . As of 2013, computer viruses caused billions of dollars' worth of economic damage each year. In response, an industry of antivirus software has cropped up, selling or freely distributing virus protection to users of various operating systems . The first academic work on
20139-438: The widespread use of administrator accounts in contemporary versions like Windows XP . In 1997, researchers created and released a virus for Linux—known as " Bliss ". Bliss, however, requires that the user run it explicitly, and it can only infect programs that the user has the access to modify. Unlike Windows users, most Unix users do not log in as an administrator, or "root user" , except to install or configure software; as
20286-681: Was Irem 's Kung-Fu Master (1984), the first beat 'em up and the most influential side-scrolling martial arts action game. It was based upon two Hong Kong martial arts films, Bruce Lee 's Game of Death (1973) and Jackie Chan 's Wheels on Meals (1984), This side-scrolling arcade action format became popular during the mid-to-late 1980s, with examples including ninja action games such as Taito's The Legend of Kage (1985) and Sega 's Shinobi (1987), run and gun video games such as Namco 's Rolling Thunder (1986), and beat 'em ups such as Technōs Japan 's Renegade (1986) and Double Dragon (1987). Shigeru Miyamoto combined
20433-760: Was a "3D Revolution" where action games made the transition from 2D and pseudo-3D graphics to real-time 3D polygon graphics . 3D arcade system boards that were originally designed for 3D racing games during the late 1980s to early 1990s, such as the Namco System 21 , Sega Model 1 and Sega Model 2 , were used to produce 3D arcade action games in the early 1990s, including 3D rail shooters such as Namco 's Galaxian 3 (1990) and Solvalou (1991), 3D fighting games such as Sega AM2 's Virtua Fighter (1993) and Namco's Tekken (1994), and 3D light gun shooters such as Sega AM2's Virtua Cop (1994) and Namco's Time Crisis (1995). On personal computers ,
20580-524: Was chiefly composed by Yuki Iwai. Others, such as Ippo Yamada , were involved in some of the game's sound production. Tsuge wanted the Flame Stag stage theme cut from the game, but the song was kept due to its popularity among the development staff. Additionally, the game's ending theme was originally its final boss track. As the team felt it was more appropriate for the ending music, it was slightly altered and made as such. The Mega Man X2 soundtrack, featuring
20727-472: Was created to delete Creeper. In 1982, a program called " Elk Cloner " was the first personal computer virus to appear "in the wild"—that is, outside the single computer or computer lab where it was created. Written in 1981 by Richard Skrenta , a ninth grader at Mount Lebanon High School near Pittsburgh , it attached itself to the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system and spread via floppy disk . On its 50th use
20874-488: Was detected in November 1987. A computer virus generally contains three parts: the infection mechanism, which finds and infects new files, the payload, which is the malicious code to execute, and the trigger, which determines when to activate the payload. Virus phases is the life cycle of the computer virus, described by using an analogy to biology . This life cycle can be divided into four phases: Computer viruses infect
21021-460: Was developed by a team at Capcom , which included artists Hayato Kaji and Keiji Inafune , as well as designers Sho Tsuge, and Yoshihisa Tsuda. A majority of the people who worked on Mega Man X2 had either been heavily involved with the development of the first Mega Man X or were completely new to the franchise. Inafune was "hands-off" with the art design in Mega Man X2 . He instead began focusing more on planning, producing , and story writing for
21168-551: Was discovered in April 1992, two years after the release of Windows 3.0 . The virus did not contain any Windows API calls , instead relying on DOS interrupts . A few years later, in February 1996, Australian hackers from the virus-writing crew VLAD created the Bizatch virus (also known as "Boza" virus), which was the first known virus to specifically target Windows 95 . This virus attacked
21315-517: Was popularized for action games in the early 1990s was competitive multiplayer , including what would later be known as esports tournaments. The arcade fighting game Street Fighter II (1991) by Capcom popularized the concept of direct, tournament-level competition between two players. Previously, action games most often relied on high scores to determine the best player, but this changed with Street Fighter II , where players would instead challenge each other directly, "face-to-face," to determine
21462-461: Was ported to Microsoft Windows , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , and Nintendo Switch as part of Mega Man X Legacy Collection ( Rockman X Anniversary Collection in Japan) which was released on July 24, 2018, worldwide and July 26, 2018, in Japan. Reception for Mega Man X2 has been primarily positive by virtue of its graphics, sound, and a persistently enjoyable gameplay model which critics and fans of
21609-533: Was published by J. B. Gunn under the title "Use of virus functions to provide a virtual APL interpreter under user control" in 1984. The first IBM PC compatible virus in the "wild" was a boot sector virus dubbed (c)Brain , created in 1986 and was released in 1987 by Amjad Farooq Alvi and Basit Farooq Alvi in Lahore, Pakistan , reportedly to deter unauthorized copying of the software they had written. The first virus to specifically target Microsoft Windows , WinVir
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