2023-07-16 05:00:00
A must for developers in the 90s and 2000s, cheat codes are no longer in the odor of sanctity.
Not so long ago, they were ubiquitous in video game magazines: whether it was to pass a level that was too complicated or to have fun following finishing the game, cheat codes were normality.
All you had to do was make the right combination of buttons on the controller or enter the right password on your PC to become invulnerable, reveal a secret level or obtain as many weapons as possible. But it’s practically ancient history, only a few games – starting with The Sims – continue to offer these cheat codes.
A code once morest censorship
The history of cheat codes begins in 1986 with the famous Konami Code. Created by Kazuhisa Hashimoto, who was in charge of the Nintendo NES port of the shooter Gradius. Deeming it too difficult, he decided to include in the game a code to increase the powers of the ship.
The famous Konami Code – DR
In reality, Hashimoto did not create the Konami Code for fun but to advance faster in the game and check for bugs. This is also how the cheat codes will really emerge in the 1980s and 1990s.
“I added cheat codes to help me develop games,” summed up Scott Miller, founder of the 3D Realms studio (Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem, etc.). Clearly, programmers primarily placed codes to debug games, at a time when patches and updates did not exist.
Then these cheat codes obviously ended up in specialized magazines, so that it became almost inconceivable not to place any in your cartridge or CD-ROM. In 1992, the developers of the highly controversial game Mortal Kombat even came up with the idea of creating a code (ABACABB) that unlocks the game’s most violent scenes.
irreducible
The turn will come in the early 2000s with the arrival of the internet. Therefore, game bugs are more easily corrected by offering patches for download. Above all, publishers have a brilliant idea for their finances: charging for additional content such as hidden objects. No need, therefore, to offer weapons or levels to be unlocked by a code since it suffices to sell additional content.
The other reason for the programmed end of the cheat code is the development of the online game where cheaters are now a plague.
Finally, the level of difficulty of video games has changed radically: publishers often favor more detailed stories that are experienced as playful experiences that must be completed as one should complete a film. Since then, single-player games have become much simpler. Too simple for a “god mode” that allows the character to become invulnerable.
There are still a few diehard studios still attached to the culture of cheat code. Starting with the giant Rockstar, which still offers some on its games (GTA, Read Dead Redemption, etc.), among the best-selling in the world.
Thomas Leroy Journalist BFM Business
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