Hyperkin Resurrects the Game Genie

[Twilight_guy]

So... its a hex editor with very specific functionality that is pre-programmed? Huh.

I guess its interesting that they're bringing it back. My view of gaming has change a lot since back in the day though so I don't know how to feel.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

This disgusts me. People too fucking lazy to learn how to play the game, so they cheat. If you're not good enough to beat the goddamn game, don't fuccking play it. Pretty damn simple.

Looks like someone didn't start gaming until the fifth or sixth generation, at the earliest. The game genie is a product of the 8 bit era, that survived into the 16 bit era. Back in those days, people who actually beat games were the stuff of playground legends, and I mean just having finished a single game once without a game genie was something to be /really/ proud of. By your metric, the vast majority of 80's and 90's gamers would have been completely unworthy of the hobby.

 

[Waaghpowa]

I just noticed they have a 3DS one that allows you to transfer saves and watch videos on it....I might have to invest in one.

Also I still have my Sega Genesis one .

 

[weirdee]

Mods nothing, you can just pull up the console in Skyrim and dump piles and piles of armor at your feet.

Or sweetrolls. Whatever's the most efficient at clogging the halls at Winterhold College.

 

[JasonKaotic]

Really? Sony are okay with this? If they let us have these this is awesome. I'll assume it's similar to Action Replay, so I'll be getting this as soon as I can.

I do doubt that Sony won't try and pull something though. If they'll ban us from modding our console, they'll ban us from modding our saves just as easily.

(Oh my god, I can finally get 'round to completing FFXIII so I can play XIII-2. Hyperkin, I love you.)

 

[Loop Stricken]

Ah, the Game Genie. I remember this well. I practically glued it to my copy of Super Mario Bros 3.

Truth be told, if you put me in front of a NES right now, I could probably remember some of the codes just by the noise that each digit makes when you input it; I seem to recall the infinite jump code being particularly melodious.

 

[Draconalis]

I always preferred GameShark...

Sharks are just more interesting than Genies.

 

[NLS]

Counting down to Sony's inevitable lawsuit. What about you, guys?

Surprised nobody else mentioned this. I'm pretty sure this will mess up some EULA or other ruling that would make Sony kick their asses.

 

[Skarlette]

The game genie is a product of the 8 bit era, that survived into the 16 bit era. Back in those days, people who actually beat games were the stuff of playground legends, and I mean just having finished a single game once without a game genie was something to be /really/ proud of.

Too true, mate! My cousin owning a Game Genie was the only way that we beat some of those notoriously difficult games! (and not so hard games -- we WERE 4 and 6 years old at the time.) It was such a shame it broke before we could beat Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. [read: get past the 3rd level.]

Man, the NES had SOOOOO many hard games.

 

[Cyrus Hanley]

This disgusts me. People too fucking lazy to learn how to play the game, so they cheat. If you're not good enough to beat the goddamn game, don't fuccking play it. Pretty damn simple.

You might wanna see a proctologist about that stick up your ass.

 

[Flames66]

This disgusts me. People too fucking lazy to learn how to play the game, so they cheat. If you're not good enough to beat the goddamn game, don't fuccking play it. Pretty damn simple.

If you want to stop playing because you got stuck, that is up to you. I would much rather slip god mode on and be able to see the rest of the story.

 

[lancar]

Get PC version of your games.
download mods and/or trainers, (or in some games just use the in-game console)

OR!.. i guess you could shell out 33$ and wreck your save files


Seriously, though, regardless of what publishers say, your game is your own. You're entitled to play it however you please.
Though it should always disable online activity when in effect. Achievements and leaderboards don't need any more tampering with.

 

[LtFerret]

I always preferred GameShark...

Sharks are just more interesting than Genies.

Action Replay is the way to go

It has the word Action right in its title so you know it must be good

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Cheating in single player games is back in style?? Hooray, I can enjoy the plots, stories, and design of games I find tedious, boring, and stupendously aggravating, without all the annoyances! Now I can quickly breeze through the horrendously boring gameplay of games like Bayonetta and Dante's Inferno, and actually see how the other half of the game's story works out! When cheats started dying out, games were less fun. The ability to put in a few codes and stride around like an old testament god stomping on mortals and turning them to salt was infinitely more fun than wading through mediocre gameplay with tedious fights. Huzzah!

I'd love to agree with you, but Bayonetta? Not only do you have no taste but Bayonetta comes with an infinite health cheat enabled by default. You'll only get stone medals but you absolutely will progress.

Really? Never saw that. Don't really care, as it was an example of a game I found boring enough to stop playing, and if I was really interested in the story I'd go watch a let's play, or something. And not sure why my taste is being flagged, but if you're going to judge me on not finishing the two games listed because of their annoyingly repetitive and bland gameplay that got in the way of a story, then by all means, make your assumptions. You can watch me care even less.

 

[RheynbowDash]

I just wanna know is it gonna affect trophies?

 

[Kross]

So... its a hex editor with very specific functionality that is pre-programmed? Huh.

Yeah, Game Genie was basically a 6 line (I think that's how many codes you could use) Hex editor that would "freeze" values as defined.

Each code was 8 characters - the last 6 characters of the code were a memory offset, and the first two were the Hex value of that offset. (so, 0-255 for the values)

So, if you wanted infinite lives, you would put in the offset that stored the "lives remaining" variable, and then the value to lock it at. You could come up with your own codes by trying to guess at memory offsets around other codes (randomly or hoping to be near other counters in memory).

Not that anyone cares, but an example from the FF3 codes:
D35C-78E5 Start Terra with Blizzard equipped
F75C-78E5 Start Terra with Enhancer equipped
9A58-7675 Start Terra with Mithril shield equipped
9258-7675 Start Terra with Gold shield equipped

5C-78E5 = Terra's (starting loadout) weapon slot
58-7675 = Terra's (starting loadout) offhand slot

D3 = item code for the Blizzard weapon
9A = item code for the Mithril shield

The fun thing is some games only had one item list, so you could do things like put D3 in the wrong item slot and wear swords on your feet. (I think FF had separate lists for each slot though)

 

[Eric the Orange]

Yeah, Game Genie was basically a 6 line (I think that's how many codes you could use) Hex editor that would "freeze" values as defined.

I remember it being 3. But then again I only had an NES game genie not a SNES one.