Bring Cheat Codes Back!
/The Planet’s Source for Games, Cheats and Hints!
Remember when you could hop on Cheatplanet.com and print loads of gaming cheats for Playstation 2 and the original Xbox? Do you guys remember unlocking all the duel characters in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, or playing as Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man (2002)? Did you ever have to worry about Half-Life’s health draining drop-kick in Hulk? I bet you didn’t because you decided to be invincible! Did you spawn a tank in Grand Theft Auto III and wreak havoc across Liberty City just because it was fun? Those were the days, huh? What happened to cheat codes? Why did game developers stop releasing them? Beats me! I just know cheat codes were frigging bolt thrower, and we need them back. Now!
Why Were Cheats so Fun?
A cheat sheet I wrote when I was seven years old. That writing is… yeah.
Cheat codes were fun because they gave us the chance to mess around without having to worry about real, substantial consequences. They also extended the life of a game by a sheer mile with some of the crazier codes, letting the player do all kinds of things. Want infinite ammo in Max Payne? Just type GetInfiniteAmmo on the cheat code screen. Boom. Done. Can’t stand the thought of losing to Hex again in Mad Dash? Well, all you’d have to do is pause the game, hold down the left trigger, then press X, B, B, Left, Left, Y, B and bam—you’d never have to deal with him smacking you around during the final race ever again! Cheat codes were an effective way of getting ahead, and they made the game even more enjoyable. I mean, c’mon, do you really want to buy all the combat upgrades in Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu, or would you rather punch in a code and unlock them all now? Don’t lie to me.
Where Are They Now?
Cheat codes are mostly dead and buried—online multiplayer, achievements and trophies hammered the nail in the coffin. However, there are a few modern games still rocking the classic cheat sheet tradition. For example, opening your cellphone in Grand Theft Auto V and inputting 1-999-3844-8483 lowers your wanted level by one star. In Call of Duty: Black Ops, inputting the code 3ARK UNLOCK will unlock all campaign and zombie missions right off the bat. Alas, these codes deactivate achievements/trophies. If you’re a trophy hunter like me, then you may want to reconsider those nifty, short button combinations. Damn. Using the One-Shot cheat during my Grounded playthrough in The Last of Us Part II would have made it so much easier.
So… What Now?
Now that we know how awesome cheats were and that they’re dead, what do we do? Will we prepare a funeral for them and say our goodbyes? No. That’s just weird. Will we forget cheat codes and move on with our lives? Not a chance. I’ll tell you what we’ll do—we’re going to riot in the streets and demand their return! There will be bloodshed and weapons and… oh, am I taking this too far? Ok, I’ll dial it down. I think gaming companies should use cheat codes more often because they’re fun. Plain and simple. Until gaming companies like Electronic Arts, Sony and Nintendo give us our hearts’ desires, the best thing we can do is plug in our retro gaming consoles and search up a few codes and cheat until we’ve had our fill. Happy cheating!
P.S. Don’t cheat on your girlfriend.
Styles HD
Styles writes funny stuff and is a funny guy. Or so he thinks. He writes novels, lives in Hangar 11, and plays a lot of Halo. He’s pretty good at it - message him for 1v1’s.
