How To Get Cheat Codes

Cheating may spoil the game experience for some players, but for impatient gamers who want to unlock all the game's secrets, cheat codes are a blessing in disguise.

Why Cheat?

Cheat codes are a sequence of passwords, keystrokes, or other tools used to unlock features and bonuses, or to aid the player to finish the game. Cheat codes are sometimes used by game programmers to debug or analyze flaws in the game; sometimes, the cheat codes remain with the game code when the game is released. Some video game publishers and developers may purposefully put cheat codes into the game to satisfy gamers.

Common Kinds of Cheat Codes

For a password to be properly called a "cheat code," it must directly affect the gameplay. Visual effects and new sound effects from a secret password are not considered cheat codes. Here are some of the most common cheat codes in video games.

* God mode grants a player temporary or permanent invulnerability.
* Unlimited resources may add more credits or mana to a player's resource pool or mana meter. Some cheat codes may do away with caps, and just give you unlimited resources to work with.
* No clip is a cheat code used in action games and shooter games, and gives you the ability to walk through walls and other obstacles. No clip cheats may also give you the ability to fly.
* Unlocked levels may include secret levels or rooms that can only be accessed with a cheat code.
* Unlocked abilities and weapons, including infinite ammunition and new spells, can be attained through cheat codes.

The Internet

The Internet is your best resource for cheats. There are very few games without a cheat code, and there is no computer game out there that is completely cheat-proof. Here are some of the cheat codes and cheating tools you can get from the Internet:

* Actual codes. You can simply type the name of the game in a search engine, add "cheats" to the search string, and you can find an assortment of cheat codes on the Internet. Remember to surf safely, because many cheats may contain spyware or malware.
* Strategy guides and walkthroughs are text documents that contain the complete details on how to play and complete a game. It may be a full plot for a role-playing game, strategies for a first-person shooter, or the complete movelist for a fighting game.
* Saved games are usually used for console and PC games, where everything has been unlocked. Saved characters for role-playing games may also be used to give you a head-start in a game, although cheated and hacked characters can easily be detected in multiplayer games.
* Trainers are used for many games where the manufacturer did not leave or release a cheat code. A trainer is a program that runs in the background of the game, and exploits loopholes in the programming code to allow a cheat. The cheat is activated through a series of hotkeys, usually bound to any of the function keys (F1 to F12).
* Cheat hardware. When games still ran on cartridges, the Game Genie was a popular piece of hardware used to input cheat codes. Similar cheat hardware also include Pro Action Replay and Game Shark.

Programming

For those who want a challenge, programming is a very good way to cheat. Even the most thoroughly tested games in the world will have a few loopholes here and there that programmers and modders (people who modify games) can use to explore cheats and the limits of the game. Programming a cheat may be seen as unethical by some people, but some game programmers use the valuable information provided by people to make a more enjoyable, stable, and less vulnerable game.