Anti-Piracy Screens: Debunking Creepy Video Game Myths

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Learn how anti-piracy screens work with real & fake examples

Co-authored by Hunter Rising

Last Updated: January 28, 2026 Fact Checked

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What are anti-piracy screens?

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Are they real?

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How They Work

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Real Examples

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Creepypasta Examples

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Video game piracy was (and is still) a problem, and developers have been using anti-piracy measures to prevent it. While some of these anti-piracy screens popping up on your feed are real, horror creators have shared many fake screens online. Keep reading, and we’ll explain what anti-piracy screens are and how they work, along with real and fake examples!

Anti-Privacy Screens in a Nutshell

Anti-privacy screens appear when you’re playing a pirated version of a game, and prevent you from making any progress. While some games like Donkey Kong Country and Earthbound have real anti-privacy measures, many of the creepy ones seen online are fake and made for scary online stories.

Section 1 of 5:

What are anti-piracy screens?

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Anti-piracy screens are programmed into video games that only trigger when the copy you’re playing was pirated. These screens usually prevent you from playing and display warnings about using stolen copies of the game.

Section 2 of 5:

Are anti-piracy screens real?

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Some games have real anti-piracy screens or measures. While they aren’t very common and are hard to find, there are games that have authentic anti-piracy techniques. These screens usually freeze the game or change the gameplay so it’s impossible to make any progress.
- Learn more about real anti-privacy measures in our examples section below!
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Anti-piracy screens that are meant to be scary are usually fake. If an anti-piracy screen has creepy art or animations, it’s a sign that they’re fake. Creators in the 2020s created multiple anti-piracy screens for “creepypastas,” or online horror stories, to scare other players.
- Fake anti-piracy screens usually involve creepy character animations, glitched levels of the game, or hidden dialogue options that are tonally different than the rest of the game.
- Most game companies wouldn’t include scary anti-piracy screens because they could potentially change the age rating for the games.
- Check out our list of notable fake anti-piracy screens below.

Section 3 of 5:

How do anti-piracy screens work?

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Anti-piracy runs in the background when you play a game, and there are various ways it checks for a legitimate copy. Newer games run through Internet servers to verify your game, but older games run codes while you’re playing and will cause the game to freeze if it detects something wrong.

Section 4 of 5:

Real Anti-Piracy Screen Examples

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As soon as you load up a copy of Donkey Kong Country or any of its sequels, an error message appears on screen. The anti-piracy screen reads, “This product will not operate when connected to a device which makes unauthorized copies. Please refer to your instruction booklet for further information.”^{[1]
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In the classic SNES game, a pirated copy would boot up like normal, but more enemies would spawn when you go outside and make the game more difficult. Once you reached the final boss, your game would crash and automatically delete your save data.^{[2]
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Copies of the game came with a cardboard wheel called a “Dial-A-Pirate” that had different faces and codes. If your computer detected a pirated copy of the game, a face would display on screen. To unlock your game, you’d use the Dial-A-Pirate to create the matching face and correct code.^{[3]
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Spyro: Year of the Dragon When you launch a pirated copy of Spyro: Year of the Dragon, an NPC named Zoe displays an anti-piracy message instead of starting the tutorial. Because you’re not able to start the tutorial, you’re stuck in the game’s first world.^{[4]
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- The message reads, “I’m sorry, Spyro, but you seem to be playing a hacked version of this game. This may be an illegal copy. Since this copy has been modified, you may experience problems that would not occur on a legal copy.”
If you download and try playing a pirated copy of GTA4, the screen tilts and moves around so it’s difficult to control your character. When you get in a vehicle, it automatically accelerates and explodes within a few seconds to end your game.^{[5]
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While there isn’t a traditional anti-piracy screen, the developers uploaded a modified version of the game to piracy sites. When you play the pirated copy, the game company you control loses a lot more money to in-game pirates than usual.^{[6]
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Section 5 of 5:

Fake Anti-Piracy Screen Creepypasta Examples

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A video by Super Mario 64 Beta Archive claims to have found a hidden anti-piracy screen that shows Mario sitting on the Nintendo 64 logo holding a game cartridge. The message reads, “It is a serious crime to copy video games according to Copyright law. Please refer to your Nintendo game instruction booklet for further information.”
In a video posted by Joey Perleoni, the minigame in a pirated copy crashes before it starts. The screen goes black before displaying the characters locked behind jail bars. “Piracy is no party!” appears on screen along with a message asking you to turn off your game console.
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Pokémon Platinum According to a video by Forgot_N, playing a pirated version of Pokémon Platinum triggers different dialogue options when you start the game. Instead of the game launching, the character discusses piracy and criminal info. Then, two police officers appear on screen to scold you.
- If you continue playing the pirated copy of the game, a fake battle starts where your character appears glitched and unable to fight.
In a TikTok by @mjthrillme2020, a race appears as normal, but a mysterious item labeled “New” appears on screen. When the player uses it, Princess Peach throws her head into the air, and a ghostly version of her appears as a playable character. When you try to race, the screen is black and has scary faces appear before displaying an error screen.