How were codes for Game Genie/Gameshark/Action Replay found/created back in the day?
In: Technology
Old cheat codes like `Up Up B A B A Left Right` were actually programmed in specifically by the devs. Action-Replay/Gecko/Gameshark codes were basically editing the game’s code itself as it was running.
(WARNING: the following is more ELI20)
In computers, numbers like health, ammo, player position, etc. are all stored in memory addresses. You can think of this as a “slot number,” and the data stored in that slot.
EX: `0001 0150` would store the number `150` in memory slot `#1`
Except in reality there are 2 differences. First difference is that numbers are written in something called “Hexadecimal,” which instead of 0-9, we use 0-9 *and* A-F (this means larger numbers use less space); Second we can also store system instructions as well as numbers (the actual “number,” that represents an instruction is arbitrary and changes from system to system).
EX: Lets say the instruction number for “store number,” on the console is 122. In Hex 122 would be `7A`. So if by using specialized tools we figured out the player’s money is stored in address `0F2A` we could write the following:
007A 270F //store_number | 9999 (270F is 9999 in Hex)
0F2A 0000 //in address 3882 (0F2A in Hex) | 0000 is just a “blank space.”
On our imaginary console this would set the player’s money to 9999.
If you’re interested in actually doing this, I’d recommend using an emulator on PC and looking up “How to write your own [AR codes](https://www.codedonut.com/ds-hacking/action-replay/make-action-replay-codes/),” (or [Gecko codes for Wii](https://mkwii.com/showthread.php?tid=830)). It’s actually super easy, and you’ll learn a LOT about how games and computers work.
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