The Return of the Game Genie

[loco365]

Even though the DS is gradually reaching the end of its lifecycle, some companies are still holding out hope for it. Atlus is one, as it’s planning to release Devil Survivor 2 in 2012. Hyperkin is the other, as it’s just announced its Game Genie DS, DSi and DSi XL cheat device. The Game Genie is a combination cheat code device, game save backup system and mp3 player. As long as you get yourself a microSD card and slip it into the cartridge, you can use this $19.99 device to back up your saves from your game cartridges, download cheat codes with its WiFi receiver or load it up with your favorite songs.

If you visit the Hyperkin Game Genie site, you can see a list of downloadable codes already available. It’s… a bit short. Alright, I’ll just say it. At the moment, the code list is lacking. A lot of recent releases, like Kirby Mass Attack, Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns and actually every Professor Layton game are absent. That will probably be fixed within the next few weeks and months, since this is a new product, but for now it’s a little disheartening to see so few recent releases on the list.

Source

I've had many, many different Game Genie devices (NES, SNES, and GB) but I never knew that a new company would try to re-issue the old thing. Wonder how well this device will fly? It does have MP3, save restore, and Wifi capabilities, so this will be interesting. Or will system updates render this device null and void?

 

[Prof. 9]

Pretty dumb move, imo. Everyone is already using the established Action Replay DS-syntax codes. They'd have to steal and convert all existing codes or work their asses off to create new ones. On top of that the cheat codes themselves are encrypted which is pointless and annoying imo. I don't expect this getting much community support, I think it'll just sink into obscurity like Codebreaker DS.

That said, I do wonder what kind of code types this device supports.

 

[PolloDiablo]

yeah!

 

[Deleted member 473940]

I REMEMBER! I think I had one for Sega or something.. has been a decade lol. Works in DS mode on the 3DS?
But yeah.. the list is.. pretty small

 

[BlueStar]

Seem to remember it was made in a garage originally by two guys who lived near me. Had one for my Game Gear which proudly shouted "Game Genie" in a Geordie accent when you turned it on.

 

[shadowmanwkp]

Game genie
Bending your pins since 1990TM

 

[Hadrian]

I wonder if Codemasters allowed them to steal the name of their device.

 

[RupeeClock]

Man this is gonna bomb.
Action Replay is already an establish cheats device with codes supported in all manner of ways, they didn't even use a good looking genie for their package!
I don't think this is a market they could hope to penetrate, too late for the DS and all you know?

Besides, most people who wanna cheat and know best use a flashcart.

 

[BORTZ]

Yeah i know some people out there are still dumb enough to buy this, but anyone serious like us know that cheats can be created on the fly with a flashcart.

 

[Rydian]

And then there's old-school people like me who remember that game genie codes couldn't touch half the shit PAR/GS codes could anyways.

 

[nl255]

And then there's old-school people like me who remember that game genie codes couldn't touch half the shit PAR/GS codes could anyways.

Actually, game genie codes could do more than PAR/GS codes because PAR/GS were limited to RAM codes while the GG could modify ROM access as well. The main limitation was that you only got 3 or 5 game genie codes to work with. In other words, it was impossible to have an infinite lives code with the PAR/GS, the best you could do was "always have X lives" because it was impossible to do a "replace the subtract 1 from LIVES instruction with a noop" like you could with the GG. The only reason that can be done today is because unlike the NES, SNES, Genesis, and Gameboy/Gameboy Advance the DS copies the game code into RAM rather than running it directly from the ROM.

 

[mysticwaterfall]

You'd think if they were going to use the name, they could have used the cool old logo as well. That logo looks like crap.

 

[Sheimi]

I remember using Game Genie for Sega Genesis. I will buy this

 

[Fear Zoa]

Don't cheaper flashcards do the same thing but with more features? Besides its way too late for something like this anyways

 

[Hells Malice]

If it was a 3DS game genie...maybe it would be useful.

But Flashcarts do all it does, and more...for the same price, and they don't look hideous.
So, yeah, no thanks.

 

[Rydian]

EDIT: Guys, this isn't just cheating, it has other features like save file loading/restoring on real carts, and while we can do that on flash carts on the DS/Lite, success is minimal or nonexistent on the DSi/3DS due to the lack of human-doable cart swap.

Actually, game genie codes could do more than PAR/GS codes because PAR/GS were limited to RAM codes while the GG could modify ROM access as well. The main limitation was that you only got 3 or 5 game genie codes to work with. In other words, it was impossible to have an infinite lives code with the PAR/GS, the best you could do was "always have X lives" because it was impossible to do a "replace the subtract 1 from LIVES instruction with a noop" like you could with the GG. The only reason that can be done today is because unlike the NES, SNES, Genesis, and Gameboy/Gameboy Advance the DS copies the game code into RAM rather than running it directly from the ROM.

From what I've experienced and read up on (GS on GB/C, PAR and GG on SNES, GG on NES) it was the opposite, PAR could do RAM and ROM while GG could only do ROM.

The reason that most GS/PAR codes amount to "make this RAM value static" was because that's a lot easier of a code to find, and locking values to make lives infinite (for example) is often what people desired opposed to simply starting with more lives (to use the same example).

 

[Zetta_x]

From my experiences too, half the codes I have made are unable to be ported to GG on SNES and NES. Games like Super Mario RPG, I was severly limited on what I could do with GG.

Either it's backwards from what nl255 said or they both have advantages and disadvantages

 

[Deleted-236924]

What's the point of it being able to read MP3 files?

Seem to remember it was made in a garage originally by two guys who lived near me.

Everything started off in a garage, I'm not surprised.
Protip: If you want to start something successful (?), get a garage.

EDIT: Guys, this isn't just cheating, it has other features like save file loading/restoring on real carts, and while we can do that on flash carts on the DS/Lite, success is minimal or nonexistent on the DSi/3DS due to the lack of human-doable cart swap.

Doesn't the Action Replay DSi already do that?
Unless the Game Genie DS supports backing up IR cards (HG/SS and B/W, mainly), there's no advantage.

 

[Rydian]

Doesn't the Action Replay DSi already do that?
Unless the Game Genie DS supports backing up IR cards (HG/SS and B/W, mainly), there's no advantage.

I've seen more people with non-functional ARDSi's than I'd ever thought, and some have stated it was their second or third, so the ARDSi really has a bad name in some areas 'cause apparently they're just plain old Built Like Shit™.

Idunno' about IR carts, but seeing as the method to do that was figured out a few weeks after the games came out in NA it wouldn't surprise me if it worked for them.

 

[Deleted-236924]

Oh, and also...
ZTIOOT anyone?