Twitter user foone has shared an interesting discovery regarding the classic SNES game Pilotwings, specifically about the demo sequence that plays before starting the game.

If Pilotwings is left to run on its own without pressing any buttons, the game runs a demo sequence showing a red biplane attempting to touch down on a landing strip. However, even though both games contain the same software, the end result of the demo changes depending on when the cartridge was manufactured. In earlier copies of the game the plane will land safely, while in later ones it ends up crashing before it can even reach the landing strip.

Because on some cartridges, it does not. It comes in for a nice landing. pic.twitter.com/tkTWyQ4IXg

— foone🏳️‍⚧️ (@Foone) May 10, 2019

According to foone, the reason why this happens is because newer versions of Pilotwings were built with an additional chip to help with calculations and processing. Using this new chip, newer Pilotwings cartridges calculate the end result of the demo flight differently from the older ones, determining that the plane will crash instead of land safely.

So what does this have to do with the crash/land difference?
Well, first of all, it explains why we have two identical-rom cartridges: the cartridge rom only contains code and graphics/sound for the main CPU of the SNES. They're identical… but that doesn't mean the chips are.

— foone🏳️‍⚧️ (@Foone) May 11, 2019

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