The Story Of The GameShark - Gaming's Most Famous Cheating Device!

the game is over in no way because we have the game genie we tell you when it's cold game genie I decide how many lives I get for many of us in North America the game genie was our first encounter with the video game

cheating

device

that the game genie allowed you to enter codes that could grant you infinite lives, the ability to skip higher levels and more, although it was quite popular, game genie was discontinued in the mid 90s and another cheat

device

created for the new generation of powerful 32-bit consoles came to prominence in North America when interact launches the game Shark interact accessories welcomes you to the amazing world of video game enhancements with our new game store pro version 3, game sharp pro, which It is more technologically advanced than any other

gaming

enhancer on the market today.

To take your game to higher levels, the game shark could do everything that the game genius could do, but better not only that the game shark was not limited to

cheating

with a game shark, you could play a song or specific video of a game on the CD. The Movie Player in the Play Store professionals search for all the full motion video footage in your PlayStation games. When they find it, you can choose from a list of videos that you want to make. It could be used as a cheaper and higher capacity memory card than the first one.

Party cards were sold at console manufacturers and there was even a version that could take your Nintendo 64 online, seemingly an instant hit. In reality, the overnight success of the game sharks took al

most

a decade, so How did a device come about? It began as the action repeater of the Commodore 64. A product that was created in the United Kingdom by a company called the ended up on North American store shelves nine years later as the interactive game Shark. Today we will see how detailed action replay became the ancestor of cheap video game console devices. and partnered with an American company founded by a 25-year-old, dominates at least for a time the cheap gadget market on both sides of the pond thanks to innovative products, accessories, knock-offs of its own magazine and numerous failed attempts to break into the North American market. market, this is the

story

of Game Shark, it is impossible to talk about the hi

story

of Game Shark without talking about its origins as an action replay, after all, Game Shark is, in essence, an action replay designed and produced in detail, but sold in the market.

US by interact / STD entertainment, also known as standard entertainment, action repetition has a long history; in fact, the action repeater for the Commodore 64 is sometimes credited with being the first cartridge-based blade device, actually the first two versions of the action repeater. Originally used a pre-existing device, Snapshot 64 as a base, Snapshot 64 was a device that, among other things, could bypass copy protection to copy programs, as well as inspect and modify details of a game or program's code, it had a commercial partnership with the parent company of the Snapshot 64. The company LMS Technologies, which allowed Tell to use the Snapshot 60 Force technology before launching the action repeater line, had previously sold CB AM radios in the United Kingdom.

Eventually the company began manufacturing third-party accessories and hardware interfaces for home computers, such as the Commodore 64. Amiga and ZX Spectrum Their foray into the world of computing would eventually lead to the creation of action replay which would also see releases for the Amiga and PC. The action replays ability to execute what are called peek and poke commands allowed users to set the number of live ammo and other game parameters, the device also allows users to create a snapshot of the Commodore's memory or friends and then put it on a disk or tape. With these snapshots, users can restart a game right from where they had previously left it, thus People soon realized that the action replay and ROM dump snapshot capabilities provided an easy way to create copies of games, although some consumers may have loved this, the European games industry did not use action repetition along with some of the details, other copying devices were blamed. for damaging the nascent games market, the replay was supposedly partly a response to the UK Parliament enacting the Copyright Patents and Designs Act 1988, which explicitly addresses this type of software copying between a decline in the computer video game industry and legislative efforts against piracy.

They say to look for the

most

promising pet home console market to stay relevant long before any Game Shark-branded products hit the market. They say they released the action replay for the NES Master System Mega Drive/Genesis and the details for the Super Nintendo. The console version of the pro action replayer was released in the UK for the NES in 1991, putting it in direct competition with the game Genius which was released in 1990 and, coincidentally, was also created by the company based in the UK which still exists today code masters the code. The book included with the Pro Action Replay only covered codes for 19 NES games, unlike the Game Genie codebook, which included codes for over 290 games on the surface, which could make it seem like Game Genie was a better product, but the Pro Action. the repetition included a code trainer worth more than a thick code book.

Game Genius and Action Replay worked by making temporary changes to hexadecimal values ​​in memory. the game genie recoded or hidden those hexadecimal values ​​into game genie-specific codes. It is difficult for a user to create their own codes other than making wild guesses, action replay, however, does not obfuscate their codes, this means that with the Stranor action replay feature, a user can quite easily discover new codes for almost any NES game you own, as would the codes. A similar pattern would follow and the trainer would allow the user to more quickly determine what the values ​​are within the controlled codes within the game.

Pro Action Replay also added the ability to play NTSC games on a PAL console. The success of Game Genies in North America led to detailing using a Florida-based company, coast-to-coast technologies to distribute cheap Genesis devices in the US in 1992, one would simply be called Action Replay and the other would be the More familiar Action Replay Pro, called the US version of the Sega Genesis Action Replay, which sold for $69, while the Pro version sold for 89, with the main difference being the Action Replay Pro. The iteration included a code trainer that was absent in the cheaper model. Costa Coast Technologies appears to have been owned and operated by Day, as Costa Coast's business license lists Day founder Michael Connors as one of its directors despite having more roles than a professional action repeater cartridges.

Game Genie Coast to Coast were not as successful as their Game Genie counterparts and by the end of the year, Costa Coast Technologies was no longer in the details of the business and later licensed the sale of the action replay to Innovation, who announced that they would market their version under the name game Wizard Innovation launched their Game Wizard in 1993 for the Sega Genesis, as well as the Super Nintendo and Game Boy, as coast-to-coast technologies. Innovation's previous efforts also failed to compete with Game Genius even though the game again included unique features not found in Game Genius, so why are action replay-based cartridges apparently superiors were defeated again and again in a word?

Galoob Galoob was a California-based toy company that released a host of toys from properties such as Star Ironically, Trek Power Rangers Micro Machines and in 1990

gaming

genius Codemasters helped pave the way for the release of action repeats in North America when copyright infringement lawsuits were filed against them by Nintendo in Canada and the US and the lawsuits Nintendo alleged that the game. Genies' modification of the NES games created a derivative work and violated its copyright. The court victory cleared the way for Game Genius and other game modification devices to be released without the danger of incurring the legal wrath of Nintendo or another game company, as opposed to distributors repeating the action. had used in the US.

Galoob was a large company with a lot of money and substantial marketing reach. All genie releases were backed by a huge advertising campaign, frequent free code updates and gaming magazines and came in a bright, eye-catching printed box - the action repeats itself on us by comparison. Advertising was a frequent, often basic package that made it look like a cheaply produced product and the companies distributing the action replay either had no proven track record when it came to selling video game accessories or lacked a network. of substantial distribution. Replay devices continued to do well outside the US, but were unable to compete with gaming giant Genie in North America.

Details changed when, after five years, Galoob opted to stop supporting the development of new Genie game models, leaving the action replay as arguably the best-known cheap device for consoles, with its main competitor gone, it saw the opportunity. to finally capture the US market after failing to break through to smaller US distributors as well as its own distribution efforts. They say they would need an experienced, well-funded and detail of the aggressive partner smelled blood in the water now all they needed was a shark. Game Shark made its retail debut in January 1996, but its road to success is surprisingly long and complicated and involves no less than seven companies with which the Game Shark distributor interacts.

The brainchild of Todd Hayes, a young entrepreneur from Maryland, less than six months after graduating from Pennsylvania State University in 1987, Todd began working for an import-export company called Ace More International Limited, although Ace More had numerous projects in Southeast Asia, only one of them was performing. money to import controllers for Nintendo and Sega consoles, by Todd's own admission, their products were of poor quality and the company closed in 1991 wanting to remain in the video game industry. Todd flew to a trade show in London and went to this show. Over a beer at the Hard Rock Café, he convinced an executive at Hong Kong-based Standard Holdings Limited to give him a chance and the capital to start a video game accessory distribution company in the United States.

Kay's new company would be called Standard Entertainment USA and act as a subsidiary of Hong Kong Standard Holdings Limited and distribute its products in the US under the Interact brand as well as perform for the next few years. Todd Hayes and std were very successful in the US and it wasn't long before they made it. Captured a significant portion of the third-party accessories market in the US. Its success attracted attention in record time. A consumer electronics manufacturer and distributor with a penchant for buying other companies. In September 1995, Reggaeton bought Std Holdings Limited. and its subsidiaries shortly after STD's record purchase the UK-based creators of the action replay they tell reached a deal with interact to distribute the action replay in the US finally, after years of starts in false, details of the cheap device would be front and center in North America now rebranded as

gameshark

interacts in January 1996, the game Shark debuted for the Sony Playstation. and Sega Saturn, both were massive improvements or gaming genius that most gamers in America were used to and Game Shark was just getting started, there were numerous versions and revisions of Gameshark and its related products available for the Game Boy Game Boy Color.

Game Boy Advance PlayStation PlayStation 2 Saturn Dreamcast Nintendo 64 and more, When you consider Gameshark's line of game save products, for the sake of brevity I'm just going to mention a few common Gameshark features that are typically found in Gameshark products Pro interact, although I think it's worth looking at the launch devices with a little moredetail. The partnership brought the Game Shark to Nationwide retail outlets such as Electronics Boutique and software etc. A customer who purchased a GameShark from one of these locations would get a lot more than just the cheap device, in addition to the convenience of being able to store a large number of codes, the game shark also came with a big advantage of a lot of empty space.

The PlayStation Game Shark used a feature called V mem to provide the user with 120 in-game save slots in just 15 that came with Sony's memory card, the Saturn Game Shark came with eight megabytes of storage, which was approximately At four to five times more than Sega cards overall, the game truck provided much more memory per dollar than first-party options. Game Sharks cheat codes essentially worked. In the same way that action replays did since the '80s, by altering the hexadecimal values ​​stored in the memory game's trigger code, it is made up of two parts. The first part is simply the address at the memory location we want to take control of.

This could be the location that controlled lives, for example, the second part of the code is the alternative value we want to place there, for example, if this location normally contains only two lines, then a Gameshark code for additional lives could look like this, where nine are nine lives in order. To streamline code experimentation, Game Sharks included cheat trainers that help users identify and select which lines impacted game behavior. In addition to the game's cheats, there were other features such as the ability of the PlayStation game Trucks to allow the user to browse through files on a disc and FMV Player. to view scenes without playing and even a serial port that allows you to connect your game truck to your PC to make it even easier to locate and enter new codes the PlayStation game shark connected to a port on the back of the console and It is supposedly one of the reasons why Sony removed this port and future PS1 models, leading to the creation of the CD in combination with a card similar to normal PlayStation memory.

Cards to store codes from the Saturn version of the game. Shark plugged into the cartridge slot and, although it lacked the built-in code trainer, included the ability to play games from other regions, the Dreamcast version of the Shark game would employ a system similar to the CD X bootable CD memory card combo. The board game sharks had more traditional cartridge devices, while the Nintendo 64 game shark was reminiscent of the game's genie in that you placed it in the slot of the cartridge and then stacked your n64 game on top; You could use an included code generator to create your own codes, but this feature required the Nintendo 64's memory expansion pack.

The Nintendo 64 also had the distinction of being home to one of the most unique short game devices. Shark Wire Online Shock Wire Online is a really cool product we have developed to bring kids who have the Nintendo 64 game console online. Email Gizem to be taken to a really cool website for gamers that will be full of great quality gaming content that basically gives kids everything they find on the internet right through our hardware modem cartridge Shark Oil online. You don't need an Internet connection, what you need is a Nintendo 64, a telephone line. I mean, this fox has it all.

I mean, you have the connection cables, the modem, the keyboard, everything you need from your own room to dial. This virtual world Shark Wire online was a Shark game with a serial port and a modem that allowed you to connect to a special dial-up network where users could upload and download saved games, download new cheat codes directly to their Shark game and read articles. From interact-approved vendors, Shark Wire Online also required the memory expansion pack, included a keyboard, and used a tiled web browser to assuage parents' concerns. Shark Wire Online did not provide full Internet access only to content deemed safe for children by Interact Shark. wire online sold for just under $80 and required a monthly paid subscription.

A PlayStation version of Shark Wire Online was also announced, but was never released to keep its customer base engaged and up to date on new codes. Interact. took a page from the Game Genies book and provided new cheat code updates in gaming magazines through a 900 number on its website and through its own publication Danger Waters, which in 2000 became a gaming magazine with more features called Game Shark Magazine, but along with success came competition, although their competitors would never reach the heights of In Game Shark, they were able to take advantage of the key features of one of the game sharks, the ability to easily edit and create custom codes from hexadecimal values ​​and created their own cheap devices, such as the explosive and the code breaker, partly out of fear of having their own. codes used by competitors, the PS2 version of the game Shark used a proprietary encryption system that could not be easily deciphered by end users, essentially restricting the development of Game Shark's code to interact and tell the day with the interaction, announce a Gameshark for Gamecube and continue produce a steady stream of other shark-related accessories that don't seem to stop interaction or the game reduces brand appearances, but can be misleading.

An August 21, 2002, article in the Orlando Sentinel revealed that Interact's parent company, Recoton, had defaulted on its debts, which now totaled $235 million. A follow-up article in September claimed that reggaeton had been losing money for in recent years and its executives directly blamed its video game division just three months later, on December 5, 2000, to date L terminated the distribution agreement with interact. interact and record Sun were in trouble and this time there was no cheat code that could save them to the interaction props. Gameshark was generally a licensed and renamed version of action replay details. Its success was the culmination of years of details.

In trying to enter the US market, Detail clearly had a vested interest in succeeding, but somehow, they say, it actually acted as a competitor to the hunting shark, even after signing a deal with Interact Detail, continued selling their own hunting shark cheek products. In the US, through a company called Bracket Game Products, this advertisement from a June 1998 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly Rocket Game Products advertised several non-game shark cheat cartridges under the Cheap brands. Factory Game Killer and Racing and Combat Champions. a gameboy emulator for the Nintendo 64 called game booster that also included cheat code capabilities.

The game booster, like all of the devices I just mentioned, were created and manufactured by date L. Rocket game products may have been based in Clearwater, Florida, but that was not the case. just a company that imported detailed gadgets from the United Kingdom, such as technologies from coast to coast, before the commercial register of rocket games was listed in the day, tell founder Michael Connors as one of its managers. Rocket game products not only sold detailed devices, but detailed interactions, they actually sold unlicensed rockets. game titles for Game Boy Color in Game Shark Calm, so they didn't care about the competition or had no choice in the matter since this was a relationship in which the L date had the most influence, Either way, look at the details. in direct competition with interact and game Shark when Date L announced the end of their agreement with interact in December 2002, they issued a press release stating that they themselves would begin distributing their cheap devices in the US under the name action replay through another company. had established in Clearwater Florida assigned detailed design and development documents showing that the detailed design and development was incorporated in July, almost five months before the day before, the detailed details were separated from the name of Michael Connors appearing once again on the commercial presentations only one month after the date.

L formally parted ways with interact Mad Catz bought the rights to the Shark Brain game from interact and record ton for $1 million in January 2003. Three months later, Rekha ton filed for bankruptcy in April and decided to liquidate its assets. MadCatz hired fire International to create and supply products to be sold under the

gameshark

brand. Ironically, Fire International had recently been responsible for creating Pelican Code Breaker, one of Game Shark's competitors under Mad Catz, the Game Shark brand changed its focus from traditional code-based cheat products to focus instead. on devices that allowed saved game files to be downloaded and exchanged, these new devices debuted at E3 in May 2003 and were available for PlayStation, Xbox, and GameCube.

Mad Catz would continue to market Game Shark branded accessories for several years, but the days of entry or searching for their own codes ended sometime in 2012. Game Shark Comm went offline. The URL now redirects visitors to the official Mad Catz website, where no Gameshark products are listed for sale. Mad Catz filed for bankruptcy in March 2017, but was surprisingly resurrected in January 2018 by former employees of the company's factories in China. Mad Catz's new website and press release announcing its return made no mention of the shark. of gaming at all, the gaming shark of yesteryear, the gaming truck that so many gamers fell in love with, is gone, there are other game enhancement devices for modern systems, but due to the nature of today's hardware it's unlikely we'll see a Console cheat device that will rival the game shark any time soon.

I'd like to thank former Interact employees Jason Dvorak and Chris Kuehl for their help with In this episode, Jason Dvorak runs a gaming website, Game Rave Calm, as well as an excellent YouTube channel. Chris is the co-founder of One Up On Cancer Charity, an organization dedicated to providing direct financial assistance to adults in the United States undergoing cancer treatment. I'll leave links to both in the description below. If you'd like to reach out to me directly, you can do so on Twitter at Tressel's Gaming, and if you're feeling extra generous, you can support the show on patreon at patreon.com.

Struggling with the games but most of all thanks for watching.