# Video game secret codes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576 "2003-05-07T03:05:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jplacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jplacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jplacer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/1 "2003-05-07T03:05:22Z")
I was messing around with the secret codes to Grand Theft Auto Vice City on PlayStation 2 and I was wondering who discovers these codes. For example, if you hit R1, R2, L1, X, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up, you get special armor. That code seems very complicated. Do people sit around all day and hit buttons to see if they do anything? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/2 "2003-05-07T03:06:51Z")
I’d wager a number of them are leaked by the programmers who put them in in the forst place. ---
**Author:** ![DrLiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DrLiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLiver)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/3 "2003-05-07T03:27:58Z")
as a followup on this question… why would the programmers put them anyway? Is it their boss that tells them to include some cheats in or is it just their way to have fun? ---
**Author:** ![samboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@samboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samboy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/4 "2003-05-07T03:41:03Z")
Games have had cheats in them for a bazillion years. Im sure that at one stage the programmers just put them in by themselves to have a bit of fun (I know I would), but surely now it is mandated by the game producers. Cheats and Secrets simply make the game more exciting. Thus people enjoy them more, and are more likely to buy a similar game. I dont think you would find many games released nowadays without Cheats. As to how they are discovered, as a kid I used to think that some lucky person just fluked it and told everyone but the sheer number and complexity of them indicates that the game companies release Cheats themselves. PS: I am a purist and never use cheats until after completing the games. ---
**Author:** ![JaxBeachBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@JaxBeachBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaxBeachBoy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/5 "2003-05-07T04:43:17Z")
many of them are put in to help with the debugging stage. tester reports a bug in level 7…u don’t want to have to play your way there to test it ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/6 "2003-05-07T04:46:08Z")
Cheats are also very useful for testing. E.g. your game company gets a report that the beta version of the game crashes if the player shoots the final boss with an ion cannon. You could have your testers play through the game, start to finish, over and over until they can repeat the bug. Or you could add a “level warp” code and an “all weapons” code and save everyone a lot of time. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/7 "2003-05-07T06:20:24Z")
A lot of the GTA:VC codes were in fact discovered by people doing random button presses, and relying certain patterns. A couple others were discovered by people using hex editors. But some other codes remain hidden for years until leaked by the developers. A great example of this is GoldenEye for N64–it had codes that came out years after the games’ release because the developers kept them secret. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/8 "2003-05-07T07:24:16Z")
All of the above. Plus, after finishing the game, it’s so much fun to be able to try some funky stuff you couldn’t possibly do when the game was trying to kill you. (ie, testing all the weapons everywhere), or adding some new feature, like low-gravity in GTA3. 😃 giveusatank ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/9 "2003-05-07T07:45:48Z")
And then, some developers just like putting in the codes for player enjoyment. Look at Midway, for example. They amused millions with the secret characters in NBA Jam, where you could play a Bill Clinton/Al Gore duo! Most of their games, that I can think of, have lots of codes and secrets built in. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/10 "2003-05-07T19:15:46Z")
Of course, in some games, the cheat codes are sensical words or phrases, which migh (potentially) be easily guessed. For example, in Hexen, typing “nra” gives you all the weapons, and “casper” lets you walk through walls. And in Starcraft, “power overwhelming” (which is one of the things said by one of the units) turns all your forces invincible. There are also some codes which are repeated (sometimes with trivial variations) in many games. “xyzzy”, for example, is a cheat code in many computer games (it’s a reference to one of the ancient text-only adventure games). And I think that several Nintendo games used the same cheat as the infinite lives one from Contra. So when a gamer gets a new game, he might try a few of the “old classic” codes to see if they work. ---
**Author:** ![RevRaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RevRaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RevRaven)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/11 "2003-05-07T21:11:14Z")
[www.gamefaqs.com](http://www.gamefaqs.com) Walkthroughs, codes, everything you need if you get stuck in a videogame. Best part? It’s free. ---
**Author:** ![Jplacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jplacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jplacer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/12 "2003-05-07T22:11:28Z")
The Contra code. Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. I haven’t played that game in years, yet somehow I remember the code. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/13 "2003-05-07T22:26:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jplacer \* > \*\*The Contra code. Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. > > I haven’t played that game in years, yet somehow I remember the code. \*\* Didn’t that do something on all Konami games or am I insane? ---
**Author:** ![nth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nth)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/14 "2003-05-07T22:38:56Z")
yeah, the cheats can be programmed in to debug/test. it also can be mandated by boss for marketing purposes. to sell magazines. it can be programmer having fun and being creative. it can be a bug. i remember my atari pacman had a bug where i can jump over walls at a certain specific time and point. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-game-secret-codes/173576/15 "2003-05-07T22:49:17Z")
People like cheat codes. Pleasing the public sells games. Selling games makes companies money. Putting cheat codes in games makes companies money.