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Cheat codes are codes that can be entered into a computer game to change the game's behaviour. It is unknown when this practice started, but the codes were implemented and used by game developers to playtest certain aspects of their games; for example, a common use of a cheat code is to skip to a later level in a game.
The practice became widespread, and now a great many games have cheat codes as a form of Easter egg. Computer game magazines have had sections devoted to providing these codes since the late 1980s, and occasionally cheat compendiums are produced which provide cheat codes for a large number of games.
The method of entering cheat codes varies; on video game consoles, which lack keyboards, the code is frequently a sequence of button presses. On computers such as the Amiga or PC, the code can be textual and entered using the keyboard, or more outlandish combinations of mouse, keyboard and controller may be required to activate the code.
While normal cheat codes are built into the game by the programmers, unoffical cheat codes can be created by manipulating the contents of memory address for a running game. On video game consoles this is done using a cheat cartridge. Users of some early home computers called these codes pokes, named after the command used to input them.
Famous cheat codes
- Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start — the Konami Code. First used in Gradius, more prominently used in Contra, has later been copied by many other games. It is also the name of a song by The Ataris.
- A, B, A, C, A, B, B – The Blood Code that allowed full blood and fatalities in the Sega Genesis version of Mortal Kombat.
- IDKFA and IDSPISPOPD from Doom by id Software
- xyzzy – the 'magic word' from Colossal Cave Adventure is often used as a cheat code.
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