_{Karateka (1984), from future Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner, was noted for its realistic animation, thoughtful martial arts combat, pointed cut scenes and overall cinematic flair.}

Apple may have boasted one of the largest and most vibrant software libraries, but its seas were teaming with pirates. Although illegal software distribution was an issue for earlier platforms and Apple's rivals, the latter's ubiquitous floppy drives made software copying easier and more efficient.

A dual cassette deck could be used to duplicate cassettes, but there were few guarantees that the process wouldn't introduce errors, especially when copying from a copy. A disk copy, by contrast, was typically an exact match of the original. Various virtual and physical copy-protection schemes were introduced, but most were circumvented fairly quickly by dedicated hackers.

_{Later releases, like Broderbund's Airheart (1986), shown here, demonstrated how far visuals on the system had come, including smoother onscreen motion.}

"It would be impossible to mention more than a small fraction of the hundreds of interesting games available for the Apple II computer system." - Electronic Games magazine, 1983 Buyer's Guide

How big of a problem was piracy? Although several software authors claim that they stopped developing games because of rampant piracy and the subsequent loss of revenue, piracy did expose more computer owners to more games than they otherwise would have been -- this was at a time before ubiquitous demos made it easier to "try before you buy." Another benefit of this piracy is that much of the software archived today at online repositories are the cracked versions.

Since software with copy protection is difficult to move from its source medium, its shelf-life is often finite. Of course, at the time, having a working copy of a game often left little reason to purchase the real thing, though many publishers such as Infocom, Origin, and SSI offered amazing packaging and in-box extras, such as cloth maps and unique trinkets. In short, the precise impact of piracy is difficult to determine, though it likely had advantages and disadvantages for the longevity of the platform.