Good cheat codes are the
Cliffs Notes of the gaming world. In much the same way that you cant read
every book that you should (how many of us are ever going to read Ulysses?), you
cant play through every game you should. There just isnt enough time. This is
why God made cheat codes and the tools with which to access them. There are even some
games where the programmers were perverse enough to force you to play through good games
multiple times in order to access some of the most prized easter eggs. I ask you,
"Who really wants to do that?" The first time through Jedi Power Battles is kind
of fun, the second times just time consuming, and the third gets downright tedious.
And all of this, just to be able to play as Queen Amidala. If you really want to play as
Queen Amidala, you should be able to do it whenever you want. Deep down I have a problem
with rewarding useless repetition, but society seems to thrive on it. Just take a look at
our current crop of sitcoms.The industry standard for accessing cheat codes has been
the Gameshark. As you may or may not have noticed, Sonys new PSone is lacking an
expansion port which makes using an old-style Gameshark impossible. Now you have to get a
whole new cheat system. The folks over at Pelican Accessories have heard your plea for
shortcuts and infinite lives have answered your prayers with their Code Breaker. The Code
Breaker is a CD-based cheat system that works off of the same codes that the Gameshark
uses.
Setup is fairly straightforward. The CD comes with the code breaking software and
cheats for over 300 games preinstalled. Theres a pretty wide variety of titles to
choose from. I was impressed with the fact that there were titles as recent as Spiderman
and Crono Cross to choose from. There are a few conspicuous omissions like THPS but those
omissions can be remedied pretty easily with some patience and a spare memory card.
I started my test off with a couple of the pre-loaded cheats. I had no difficulty
opening up all of the areas on Crash Team Racing or endowing my Mudoken Abe with
invulnerability. The process is pretty straightforward. First you insert the Code Breaker
disc, next you choose which cheats you wish to activate, and then you eject your Code
Breaker from the PSone and replace it with the game without turning the system off. It
takes a little more time and effort than I would like, but when I think of all of the time
it saves me on some of those games I dont mind.
Its a little more work to unlock those codes not included on the disc. First off,
its really helpful if you have Internet access (I guess if youre reading this
then its kind of a moot point). Most cheat code sites have listings for Gameshark
codes, so its just a matter of copying down the codes you want and entering them on
the disc. Visit the Codebreaker
Website for the latest updates and cheats. If you want to avoid the work of reentering
the codes every time you want to play the game then youre going to need to give up
one of your Playstation memory cards to the Code Breaker. You wont be able to save
games onto this card once its formatted for the Code Breaker, which adds another ten
bucks to the price of the disc. However, it is ten bucks well spent. Besides using the
memory card to save cheats, it can also be used to archive saved games from another memory
card. I really havent figured out why this is useful, but its one more thing
to point out about the software, and while Im at it I should also mention that for
some bizarre reason there is also CD playing software on the disc.
The first code that I entered into my Code Breaker was for Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.
Theres been one character Ive been dying to unlock, but I just havent
had the time to play through it enough times. But with the Code Breaker I was web slinging
and grinding like it was the end of the world. Did I feel like a bit of a cheat for taking
the easy way out? Sure, a little. Was it worth it? Oh yeah! I also tried out some codes
for WWF Smackdown 2 without any problems.
Its important to note that not necessarily all codes will work at the same time.
When I tried to open all of the codes on CTR, the game would freeze up. This is going to
happen with any cheat system, so I dont see any cause for concern. This will crack
the games you want to play as long as you have the necessary codes. You should be aware
that if you want to save a game that youre cheating on, youll need to enter
your formatted memory card in the player 2 slot of the Playstation and an empty card into
Slot 1.
Life is simply too short to play through most games more than once. I know that there
is a stereotype associated with those of us in the gaming community, but the truth of the
matter is most of us do have lives. Pelicans Codebreaker is a nice alternative for
those of us with lives but who also want to get at all of the good stuff. Although the CD
based format is a little awkward, the Pelican Accessories Code Breaker is a great way
around not having an expansion port. So, if you feel game makers are unconstitutionally
limiting your access to sufficient firepower and ammo, get the Pelican Code Breaker and
exercise your God given second amendment rights.