Game Shark: The Cheat Monster

Similar to Game Genie and Action Replay, Game Shark worked on variety of console video game systems and in various formats, such as cartridge and cds.

With it it was possible to hack games through code and access things that were not intentionally released, such as infinite lives, , secret phases, debug menus, etc. It was also possible to cause bizarre bugs like going through walls and scenery, flying where it was not meant to happen, and releasing weapons, accessories, and blocked items. Some codes come already preloaded, the others needed to be added. Magazines featured these codes on the tips and tricks pages.

Photos of the personal collection.

Interestingly, producers of games did not like these tools, some sued manufacturers of cheat cartridge for intellectual property infringement and unfair competition, some winning and some losing. Nintendo sued Galoob and lost. In a way, Game Shark exposed a way to hack games, which naturally caused discomfort in game developers and game makers and consoles. Some consoles had to be unlocked for Game Shark to work. This was certainly classified as illegal by the manufacturers.

Game Shark had some popularity until the sixth generation of video games, I did not find the precise date, but during that period Recoton, the company that owned the brand, went bankrupt. Another company currently owns the trademark rights and uses it in products for different purposes such as a storage device for games. Today, for sure, Game Shark would have a hard time gaining popularity. The DLCs business model would cause game companies to take more severe action to boycott the accessory, as content that is already embedded and released by purchasing DLCs could be liberate with Game Shark codes. Online games would not give breath to the use of Game Shark, because cheater players are not welcome and well regarded in the community. Of course this is just speculation, maybe Game Shark would be a hit in the current generation. But also, the scenario is different, the games of old were different, there were no resources like the internet to use forums, videos and detonated, only in magazines.