Are cheats dead?

[BetaWolf47]

Do any games still use codes and cheats? I can't remember a game that had a cheat menu or "button press" codes since last-gen, mostly on GBA.

[Boltorano]

I've never been big into cheat codes at all, had a Game Genie for both the NES and SNES but I barely used them at all after I got into a big RPG kick in the mid 90s.

I've been using the ones in Retro Game Challenge, but mainly because the game actually tells you them and it's actually encouraged as part of the gameplay.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

Good question BetaWolf, I've been wondering about that.

[Tupin]

Rockstar games are the only modern ones I can remember recently having cheats. I think Just Cause or Mercenaries may have had them too.

It's kind of sad looking at all of those new "cheat books" that essentially are basic walkthroughs because there aren't many games with cheats in them anymore.

[Baloo]

Since games aren't as arcade-y anymore and more focused on a long single-player trek that's not extremely hard coupled with competitive online multiplayer, cheats are starting to fade away. I don't really care for them myself, but today they basically exist to give you an unfair edge that can piss people off. Before it was just against the computer, now it's against other people.

[Cryomancer]

The new EDF game has a button-combo cheat code that unlocks extra pictures in the gallery, of the girls they used for their promo calendar/video. Game came out last month.

Before the system update that changed it, the xbox 360 cache clearing function was effectively a cheat code.

[Dangerboy]

Today's cheats are fairly simple. If you play many EA Games, it's simply "$3.00" on PSN or "300 microsoft points" on Live.

[Terminusvitae]

You could use the Konami Code in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow to unlock a cheat menu. Doing so would prevent you from earning any further achievements in the game, but that's hardly a big deal.

[TonyTheTiger]

Games tend to be different these days. Considering what they're like, stuff along the lines of "infinite health" and "level select" doesn't have quite the same significance it once did. I don't think they'll ever completely go away but their importance has certainly diminished.

[kupomogli]

I like cheats how they were then rather than now. Some were cool cheats, like Harmony of Dissonance allowing you to play as Simon Belmont in boss rush or Final Fantasy with the 1-15 game, among others. I'm one who really never used cheats to make a game easier, etc.

Games now days you need to finish the game in order to unlock the cheats for that mode. Uncharted allows for slow motion, inverted world, infinite ammo, different in game graphics, one hit kills, etc. Same with Uncharted 2 and possibly Uncharted 3. You finish the game, you unlock a cheat, so it seems kind of pointless to use them other than mess around in game.

Although if you were to find a glitch it would be considered a cheat. Resident Evil 5 for example. Exiting online if you're the first player and you can steal any stock ammo/items in their inventory. Nothing game breaking, but it's there.

[portnoyd]

Today's cheats are fairly simple. If you play many EA Games, it's simply "$3.00" on PSN or "300 microsoft points" on Live.

Thread over.

[BetaWolf47]

Woah, just did some research and found that Call of Duty: Black Ops has a code that lets you play the original Zork. Guess they're still around, but just not as prominent.

[mpat15]

Today's cheats are fairly simple. If you play many EA Games, it's simply "$3.00" on PSN or "300 microsoft points" on Live.

My thoughts exactly.

[PapaStu]

Woah, just did some research and found that Call of Duty: Black Ops has a code that lets you play the original Zork. Guess they're still around, but just not as prominent.

Thats not a cheat though. It's a bonus. It's also how one can play Dead Ops. Break free of the bonds after the game boots and turn around and go to the computer, type in Zork or DOA.

[exit]

The lack of cheats doesn't really bother me, hell I haven't really cared about them since after the SNES days. I think since games have been focusing on being more realistic, they've gotten a bit easier as a result and really don't need the basic cheat code anymore. I can't really think of a single game this generation that made me wish for a cheat code, except maybe when I fought Green Eye in Lost Planet, but other than that they've become unnecessary.

[jcalder8]

I miss the fun that cheat codes can add to a game. I think that the more realistic games would be better with cheat codes. I'd love to play through Heavy Rain in big head mode.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

I guess I'm in the minority here as I used to always love cheats. I wouldn't always use them but, if and when a game became too hard/frustrating for me and I still wanted to see the rest of the story to it, I would resort to cheats. Sometimes I would use one just to get past a specific point then resort back to playing as usual and other times I would just play through with the cheats enabled...

[The 1 2 P]

I haven't even noticed cheat codes are for the most part gone. I did enjoy them during the Nes, Genesis and PS1 days but last gen I rarely used them and the same goes for this gen. I thought it might of had something to do with developers worried that someone might hack the cheats to use in the online portions of games but now I think it's just because not that many people really miss them.

[Ze_ro]

With all the online play and achievements and stuff, you can't really do cheat codes in the same way anymore. "Winning" the game just doesn't have the same meaning as it did in the past.

While we're on the subject, I miss Game Genie and Game Shark. I'm guessing Sony, MS, and Nintendo would never allow something like that again (again, mostly for the shitstorm it would cause with online games).

--Zero

[InsaneDavid]

Considering that I sell at least 5 Action Replay DSi units each week, I'd say cheating is alive and well.

[mobiusclimber]

The PS2 had cheat codes released on discs by some company or other.

[Jorpho]

Surely The Sims still has "button-press" cheat codes? Maxis (or whatever might count as Maxis these days) was always good that way.


I think since games have been focusing on being more realistic, they've gotten a bit easierAwuh? I didn't know you could get better after being shot just by leaning against a wall for a few minutes.

[Swamperon]

As I recall, a couple of Wii games do. Let's Tap and Boom Blox have some codes built in. I imagine there's more.

[Robocop2]

Duke Nukem Forever has cheats that you can enable once you beat the game. No special code needed. I also suppose you could consider the skulls in the Halo series as "cheats" though you find the skulls and then can activate them so maybe not and as they modify the game mostly in ways that make it more challenging they kind of are anti-cheats in a sense I suppose.

But yes I do miss cheats overall. Not as much because it allows one to beat a game more easily but moreso because sometimes its fun to be invincible and have unlimited energy/ammo/whatever. I think they add another dimension to the gameplay personally.

[Mr Smith]

I have never considered this, but am suddenly aware of how saddened I am by the demise of cheat codes. Long gone are the days when you would spend hours trying to tap in the correct button combination for the most pointless alteration to the game play experience - good times.

[garagesaleking!!]

This thread made me realize I havent cheated in a game in probably 10 years...

[ScourDX]

These day it is all about preordering first to unlock cheats or buy cheats. The days of free cheats are fading replacing by paid cheats.

[BetaWolf47]

While we're on the subject, I miss Game Genie and Game Shark. I'm guessing Sony, MS, and Nintendo would never allow something like that again (again, mostly for the shitstorm it would cause with online games).
Don't forget about Action Replay. That lasted until GameCube/PS2/Xbox for consoles, and is still alive on handhelds. In fact, cheating is possible on some online DS games and yes, it does ruin matches. From what I understand, Nintendo has a machine for testing Pokemon teams during tournaments to ensure that they aren't "sharked".

[Jorpho]

From what I understand, Nintendo has a machine for testing Pokemon teams during tournaments to ensure that they aren't "sharked".Interesting! I was reading about the way Pokemon data is stored once (in conjunction with the legitimate "catch Mew" trick for R/B/Y) and it never occurred to me that they might have designed the data in such a way to make such testing possible. Or maybe it's just a coincidence and they weren't thinking that far ahead at the time.