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Cheats
Armored Core 2
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Samba de Amigo
SSX
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THPS 2

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by Pelican Accessories

Good cheat codes are the Cliff’s Notes of the gaming world. In much the same way that you can’t read every book that you should (how many of us are ever going to read Ulysses?), you can’t play through every game you should. There just isn’t 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 time’s 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, Sony’s 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. There’s 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 don’t mind.

It’s a little more work to unlock those codes not included on the disc. First off, it’s really helpful if you have Internet access (I guess if you’re reading this then it’s kind of a moot point). Most cheat code sites have listings for Gameshark codes, so it’s 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 you’re going to need to give up one of your Playstation memory cards to the Code Breaker. You won’t be able to save games onto this card once it’s 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 haven’t figured out why this is useful, but it’s one more thing to point out about the software, and while I’m 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. There’s been one character I’ve been dying to unlock, but I just haven’t 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.

It’s 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 don’t 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 you’re cheating on, you’ll 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. Pelican’s 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.

Jason Frank

Snapshot

Ups: Use cheat codes on your PSone; cool code storage system; easy to use; GameShark compatible.

Downs: Swapping discs.

System Reqs:
Sony PlayStation or PSone

 

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