cheats

While normal cheat codes are built into the game by the programmers, unofficial cheat codes can be created by manipulating the contents of the memory address for a running game. On video game consoles, this is done using a cheat cartridge. Users of some early home computers called these codes pokes, named after the command used to input them. Nowadays, cheating like this is considered "hacking" because the user must use external software or hardware to change values in the game memory.

Cheat codes are, by definition, considered cheating and most serious players only use them for experimentation, if at all. Sometimes, though, using cheat codes is necessary, particularly in the case of bugs: If a serious game-stopping bug is encountered, a cheat code may be able to bypass it without the need to start the whole game over again from the beginning.

The game Micro Machines for the NES had a bug where the game would freeze if the player reversed over the start/finish line at the start of the race. This was due to a single zero being a one in the code. Discovered after thousands of games were made, Codemasters, rather than throw the cartridges away, which would have been very costly, used technology from their Game Genie cheat cartridge to rewrite the code in every game.

Often cheats spell a word, possibly comical or relating to the cheat (for example, "Start", "Left", "A", "B" would spell "Slab").