Contra - the Old 30 Life Trick!

Nothing says classic like Contra! One of the first tricks I ever learned in video games (waaaay pre game genie) was how to get 30 lives in Contra. If you've played it, you know that you can use all the lives you can get in this side scrolling/z axis action adventure game. It was ahead of its time with that whole z-axis thing every other level - you know - the parts where you're running into the screen space in a decent attempt at simulated 3D - well, decent for an 8 bit game system in the 80's anyway.


So in case you forgot, here's the code to start Contra with 30 lives - and it still works on the ROM: UP,UP,DOWN,DOWN,LEFT,RIGHT,LEFT,RIGHT,B,A,B,A,START (if you want to play with 2 players make it SELECT,START). Do the whole thing during the opening title and you should be good to go! Now kick some ass!!!

➥Contra ROM Download

Gauntlet: the Old School WOW

I've been playing World of Warcraft lately and it is just as awesome as all the certified geeks and game fanatics have said it is. It's a whole new gaming experience - more of an alternate reality. So as I was running around completing quests and killing Defias thieves with other players from who knows where in the the world, I started thinking about how advanced games have become and where it all started.


I managed to trace the WOW style back at least to a game I loved playing in the arcade at a local pizza parlor when I was a kid - Gauntlet. It's a game that didn't involve huge involved quests and the graphics were...well - graphics weren't the point. The arcade version (and later home version) was 4 players! A 4 player game! Who could imagine such a thing? Well, Gauntlet is a true original. The one I'm posting here is a 2 player version and it's about as basic as you can get in and RPG. Choose the Warrior, the Wizard, the Valkyrie, or the Elf and just start running around. You collect keys and treasure and food and kill a never ending supply of spooks as you make your way through one maze after another. It may seem simple and plain but it can become seriously old school addicting if you let it. So if you need a break from the breathtaking World of Warcraft, relax with Gauntlet and be glad that it's now the 21st century!

➥Gauntlet ROM Download

Splatterhouse for Turbo Grafx-16

Now we're talking old school for the connoisseur. Splatterhouse is a game originally for NEC's now nearly forgotten Turbo Grafx-16 system. It was a system (originally called the PC Engine in Japan) competing with Sega's state of the art 16 bit Genesis console which offered a big step up in graphics from 8 bit systems like NES and Sega Master System and more importantly - gore. Turbo Grafx was ahead of its time in the sense that it was the first major system in the competition made by a non-gaming company (NEC was more of a computer hardware co.) and it put its games on these nifty little cards instead of the big cartridges that we were all so used to.


Anyway, the important thing here is GORE - and Splatterhouse has plenty of that. As a heavy hitting, hockey mask wearing anti-hero, you plow through levels full of vomiting monster corpses and crude zombies. Each time you hit one of these with your fist or a big stick or a chainsaw, you guessed it - they splatter in a blood and gut explosion all over the place. It's very satisfying in a sick way - but very entertaining. Check it out!

➥Splatterhouse ROM Download

Abadox - Invincibility

Abadox is an awesome but somewhat obscure side scrolling shooter originally for NES. It's really a cool idea - you're a guy in a big robotic suit flying into the mouth and then the deep innards of a giant monster. All the bad guys are very biological or robo-bio or whatever. They're pretty gnarly. This is a pretty tough game. I have beat it without the invincibility code but it takes a lot of focus since - like most good shooters - it gets harder and harder to maneuver through swarms of bad guys and dripping toxic monster insides.

So here's the good part: If you want complete invincibility hit these buttons on the second screen - the black one that says "Press Start" - A,A,UP,B,B,DOWN,A,B,START.


Even cooler than playing this game without being touched is the fact that while you are invincible - at any time - press START to pause the game. When you un-pause it, you will have all of the top weapons and defense - lasers, missiles, 4 barriers, and you'll be glowing with "invincibility" even though you don't need it!

➥Abadox ROM Download

Final Fantasy VII - Easy Money

Short of selling a Master All materia for 1.4 million gil, it's always a challenge finding good areas to score some big bucks in FFVII. I found one that works every time.

In "The Mideel Area" on one of those long islands just south east of the main continent, you'll find an area where there is a long beach on the west side of the narrow island and a short beach on the east side with grass in the middle. It is near the middle of the island that stretches the farthest north. Land your airship on the grass there and look for a fight ON THE BEACH. Every single time, you will run into a giant Sea Worm. Depending on your level, he may be a bit of a challenge at first but he gets much easier as you level up. Every single time you beat this character, you get 1300 EXP, 200 AP, and 5000 Gil.

If you are anywhere before disc 3, all of these stats will greatly help and even on disc 3, you can't find any non-bosses outside the North Cave that will give you this much cash. Fight the worm as often as you like - you'll get rich quick and level up your characters and your materia fast! Happy hunting!

Gaires Invincibility Trick

Gaires is a side scrolling shooter originally for Sega Genesis. For its day, it had breathtaking graphics and was (IS) very challenging - to say the least. It's fast moving with great sound and a cool way to throw out a satellite to steal the bad guys' weapons. Well, I'll just be honest - this game is HARD - and I like to think I'm good at shooters. Anyway, there is a way to enjoy everything this game has to offer - except for endless spaceship wrecks.


For complete invincibility - at any point in the game, hit Start to pause the game and then hold A, C, Left. You should have to hold it for just a second or two. On the console, you would see a minor pause in the picture so you would know for sure that it worked. The ROM still allowed me to do this trick but failed every so often requiring me to eat dust and try again. I also didn't get the slight pause to show that the trick worked so there was only one way for me to find out - run into the nearest object. In the end, it did allow me to do get through every level with invincibility which made for a fun (and low stress experience).

This game has a lot of levels and is pretty intense. The cool part about the way this invincibility cheat works is that you can choose when to use it so you can try the level on the regular setting and if you're just getting nailed, use the code and kick some ass!

➥Gaires Rom Download

Final Fantasy VII Chocobo Stamina Trick

Some say that despite obvious improvements in graphics since 1997, Final Fantasy VII is still the best of the Final Fantasy series (I agree). Here's a nifty trick that will help you win more Chocobo races so you can climb the ranks faster and get better prizes (or more GP) and ultimately increase your chances of breeding special Chocobos.

First, make sure you are running your race on the manual setting. Then - if you are on the PS One system, hold BOTH R1 and R2 during the race to slowly increase the stamina of your bird. If you are playing on the PS2, be sure to hold ALL 4 R and L buttons (R1,R2, L1,L2). This way you can sprint ahead and once you have the lead cruise for a while to refill your stamina and then sprint ahead again. You better get used to winning...

Super Mario Brothers 123

For my first post here, I thought I'd re-visit a classic Nintendo series that started a dynasty. With the 8 bit revolution in the 1980's came Mario and Luigi - and they stuck around. Each of the first Super Mario Games was revolutionary for one reason or another. Super Mario 1 because it was a huge expansion on the arcade game, "Mario Brothers" which was extraordinarily basic. Super Mario Brothers 2 - one of my all time favorites - because it was so different and offered a whole new world and characters unlike any others in the Mario empire. Super Mario 3 knocked everyone's socks off with the ability to fly and navigate a map of each world, allowing unprecedented freedom in a non-RPG. So - with that, have a good time with these blast to the past classics!

➥Super Mario Brothers Download
➥Super Mario Brothers 2 Download
➥Super Mario Brothers 3 Download