Overall, the GameCube is fairly fertile ground for code hacking, even though there are fewer games available for it than other systems and only one main code-hacking device. Datel’s Action Replay device again dominates the GameCube scene. This time, it’s the only major device, so you don’t have much choice. You may have heard that Datel’s Freeloader CD allows you to play games from other regions ( [Hack #49] ), but the Action Replay includes this technology, as well as the standard, encrypted Datel multidigit code formats for entering cheats. You’re supposed to log on to CodeJunkies.com to find officially approved and created codes. These have encryption built in, so you can’t just make them yourself, in stark contrast with the earlier days when cheat hardware manufacturers encouraged customer creativity.

Of course, thanks to some cheeky souls hacking the hackers, you can create your own codes. However, you can’t use the PlayStation 2 trick of copying data onto your PC to analyze which values to change, because the GameCube uses a custom miniature disc that won’t read on a PC. How do you know which values to tweak?

The secret is an exploit discovered using the GameCube broadband adapter and a copy of Phantasy Star Online. The GCDev web site (http://www.gcdev.com/index.shtml) has a Windows, Mac, and even Linux utility that fakes the IP address of a Phantasy Star Online update server and allows the player to execute homebrew code. See the full README file and FAQ within the ZIP download.

It’s also possible to load a program called GCNRd and its README file (available from the GSCentral download page, http://www.gscentral.com/menu.pl?Download), which allows you to access the GameCube via Ethernet while other games are running. You can see and alter variables while the game is running, which makes hacking much less of a trial-and-error proposition.

There’s an excellent FAQ about GCNRd hacking on the Action Replay Central site (http://arcentral.net/FAQs/GCNrdGUI_Tutorial.html). It explains the whole setup process and the code search functions.

However, the FAQ takes you only halfway, because you’ll end up with an unencrypted code that won’t work properly on an Action Replay. Fortunately, GCNCrypt (http://www.gscentral.com/lib/downloads/GCNcrypt-v1_41.zip) allows the willing hacker to encrypt and decrypt Action Replay codes at will. That’s both barriers down; nice going!

What kinds of hacks have enterprising hackers excavated? The following sections describe some of my favorites.

The Nintendo 64 was fertile ground for codes, particularly because it used a cartridge system, so it was easy to make a cheating hardware adapter that fit in between the cartridge and the console. The GameShark is the leading code creator, but a host of Asian third-party adapters also use the same codes. They’re all pretty much interchangeable.

One particularly cool hack for the N64 is the ability to spawn multiple Marios in Mario 64. GSCentral has a wonderful screenshot gallery (http://www.gscentral.com/cia.pl?id=spawnmarios), as well as the code itself. For posterity’s sake, it’s:

D033AFA1 0020 8033B248 0001

Even neater, after you press the L button to spawn a new Mario and then run away, he will stay put and otherwise replicate your animations exactly. You can have 10 Marios on screen all facing the same way and making the same motions, as if there were some kind of music video dancer synchronization going on.

Other than that, some of the best N64 code-hacking work these days comes from the Rare Witch Project (http://www.rarewitchproject.com/). Its creators have done amazing things with GoldenEye, finding a completely unknown level and the original James Bond actors’ portraits for multiplayer (a feature removed from the game before it shipped, though the actual graphics are still present.) Check out the many, many codes at http://www.gscentral.com/codes.pl?dev=gs&sys=n64&game=007.

Nintendo’s cartridge-based GameBoy family is also well-suited for codes using the pass-through connector method. Your options are the GameShark, Action Replay, and Code Breaker flavors, though, of course, the GameShark and Action Replay have very similar internals in recent versions. Remember that the GameShark name disappeared into bankruptcy. Mad Catz bought it, before licensing the Action Replay technology. Earlier versions of the GameShark have different internals.

Obviously, the whole Action Replay and Game Genie duel was prevalent back in the time of the NES, Genesis, and SNES. There are still many workable codes floating around. Back in those simpler, more innocent times, codes were shorter. GSCentral is still a great place to find codes for a lot of these relatively ancient code systems along with some important conversion tools.