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Game Genie |
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Game Genie |
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| This is the
SNES version of the popular cheating device for the NES. Just like the
NES version, this version is not licensed by Nintendo. Nintendo has
felt that the Game Genie goes too far in its ability to allow players
to cheat, and refused to grant them a license, and their "Seal of
Quality". The Game Genie was released anyway, first in Canada, then a
year later after Nintendo took them to court over it and lost. The Game
Genie was developed by Codemasters of England, the same people who
previously released licensed games, as well as a slew of unlicensed
products for the NES after releasing the Game Genie. Production and
distribution was done by Galoob Toys, Inc. in the US, as well as Canada
I believe (can anyone confirm?) Versions of the Game Genie were also
released for the NES, SNES, GameBoy, Sega Genesis, and Sega Game Gear;
Sega, by the way, had no problem with the Game Genie and gave the two
for their systems their seal of approval. Support for the Game Genie
was dropped a few years after the SNES released, and the Game Genie
line ended, replaced by such devices as the Game Shark, which is still
in product for today's lastest consoles. The Game Genie was released in Europe, by Codemasters. There is a picture of it above. The SNES Game Genie is inserted between the cartridge and the console; simply insert the cart onto the Game Genie, than insert the Game Genie into the SNES deck. The SNES version works just like the NES version, except it uses longer codes. Just turn on the SNES, and you get a screen, where you get a menu where you can enter up to four codes. Codes can do all sorts of things, depending on what game you are using. You can get extra lives, invincibility, extra cash, extra life or fuel, unlimited continues, and more. The Game Genie Manual comes with lots of codes, for SNES games released up to a few months before the Game Genie was released. As far as I know, the codes in the manual are all the same, and the codes were not updated as new codes were developed during the production run of the Game Genie. You could also develop your own codes, of course. Galoob offered "subscription" service for little booklets with newly discovered codes for the NES, which were released quarterly. I don't know whether they did this for the SNES version, can anyone tell me either way? The only drawback to this device was the difficulty in discovering new codes yourself. It is quite hard, especially if you are a beginner; it takes a lot of trial and error. Today, however, most codes have been discovered, and are available for download on the Internet. The three biggest sites for codes, Galoob's Game Genie pages, The Game Genie Code Creators' Club, and the Game Genie Server have all disappeared (Galoob's site is gone for good, I am sure). If anyone can point me to the new URL for the other two sites, please let me know.
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