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Random adjacent anecdote: I got a Game Boy GameShark for Christmas when I was 8 years old (so ~1999) and distinctly remember my father furrowing his brow as I e

Random adjacent anecdote: I got a Game Boy GameShark for Christmas when I was 8 years old (so ~1999) and distinctly remember my father furrowing his brow as I explained to him that the whole point of the device was to cheat at video games. He was initially skeptical as it involved "cheating" at games which he regarded as a negative behavior given his experience playing sports, but after explaining that it was basically a software hacking device designed to expand gameplay possibilities he understood and softened his stance. Emergent properties of gameplay are far more interesting than merely "winning" a game, especially when it involves using Pokemon summoned from memory that was never intended to be addressed or rooms in the dungeons of Koholint Island that were discarded halfway through development.

jwestbury 3y ago
Adjacent to your adjacency: My dad played video games, too. I was probably six or seven years old when we were playing through Super Mario World at the same time. One day, I came home from school and my dad had been experimenting with the Game Genie. He did shift work, and was just coming off a night shift -- he was tired, and wasn't sure exactly what code he was TRYING to enter, but whatever he DID enter ended up producing the following two effects: * Mario would cycle between three animations at all times. Walking, swimming, and walking upside down. * Mario was invincible to everything except falling down pits. I so wish we still had that code. I don't even know where I'd find a SNES Game Genie, but it was endlessly entertaining to me at that age.
tnecniv 3y ago
My parents gave me similar looks of distaste if I ever used a cheat code, game guide, or game shark. They never punished me or anything, but it took years for me to use cheats in video games guilt free even though I knew it was whatever

jwestbury 3y ago

Adjacent to your adjacency: My dad played video games, too. I was probably six or seven years old when we were playing through Super Mario World at the same time. One day, I came home from school and my dad had been experimenting with the Game Genie. He did shift work, and was just coming off a night shift -- he was tired, and wasn't sure exactly what code he was TRYING to enter, but whatever he DID enter ended up producing the following two effects: * Mario would cycle between three animations at all times. Walking, swimming, and walking upside down. * Mario was invincible to everything except falling down pits. I so wish we still had that code. I don't even know where I'd find a SNES Game Genie, but it was endlessly entertaining to me at that age.

tnecniv 3y ago

My parents gave me similar looks of distaste if I ever used a cheat code, game guide, or game shark. They never punished me or anything, but it took years for me to use cheats in video games guilt free even though I knew it was whatever