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The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console!

It would be impossible to leave out the most famous code of all. It's the first code anyone thinks of when they hear about game cheats, and it's become an enduring symbol of classic video games. You know this code by heart; you may even have a t-shirt bearing its pattern. That's right, we could only be talking about one famous cheat code.

The A, B, B, A continue code from Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road. Oh, or the Konami code. That one's pretty good too.

There are actually only two games available on the American Virtual Console that use the Konami code, and they're both Gradius games.

Gradius (NES): Pressing up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, then Start while paused gives you a load of powerups. All of them, in fact, but Speed Up and Double.

Gradius III (SNES): Gradius III is significantly trickier about the code. Entering up, up, down, down, left, right, left, rightB, A, Start will give you all the powerups and then kill you. You must use the L and R shoulder buttons instead of left and right on the directional pad.

Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES) refers to the code in Zone IV, when a character informs you that "if you use the code 'Up Up Down Down L R L R B A', nothing will happen." He is correct.

The Japanese VC has a few more Gradii on which the code works.

Gradius (PC Engine): Pressing up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, II, I works just like it does in NES Gradius.

Gradius II (PC Engine): Entering up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, II, I at the title screen enables all powerups, as usual.

Gradius II (Famicom): The code has two uses in this game: entering up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, then Start at the title screen grants you thirty lives, like in the beloved and missed Contra. Entering the code while paused enables powerups like in other Gradius games.

more codes and cheats:

China Warrior (TG16)

Access the Debug Menu: Hold Run and Select to reset the game. When the title screen appears, let go of Run and hit up. Then let go of Select and press up, up, up, right, right, right, right, right, right, down, down, left, left. (up x 3, rght x 6, down x 2, left x 2). You can now make yourself invulnerable and select your level! You know, if you want to see the end of China Warrior. You can also make the enemies invulnerable for some reason!

Streets of Rage (Genesis)

Level Select Menu: Similar to the Debug menu in China Warrior, you can access secret options in Streets of Rage to change your level and number of lives. At the menu, hold A, B, C, and right on the second controller, then select "Options" with player 1. You'll be able to choose exactly which street will receive your rage.

More Continues: At the title screen, press left, left, B, B, B, C, C, C.

Final Fight (SNES)

Option Menu: At the title screen, hold L and press Start. You'll be taken to a menu that lets you change difficulty settings, number of lives, and point values for extra lives. Most importantly, you can listen to "OH! MY CAR" over and over again. It's #39 on the sound player. Unfortunately, there's no code to give Haggar a shirt. Haggar was programmed to reject all attempts to clothe him!

Bloody Wolf (TG16)
Is it possible for a game to be any more retro-war-game than Bloody Wolf? You've got hostages handing you power-ups, shirtless commandos, and unattended motorcycles. It's the total opposite of the dour Call of Brothers of Company of Medal of Whatever stuff we have now. Ridiculous cheats complete the experience!

Hover Mode: At the title screen, press down, up, left, left, II, II, I, Select, Run. The Bloody Wolf dudes were already eerily similar to Princess Peach, right? This code gives them the same hover-jump. The resemblance is just uncanny.

Fast Mode: At the title screen, press up, down, right, right, I, I, II, Select, Run.

Gain Ground (GEN)
Level Select: At the options screen, press A, C, B, C. This lets you skip all of that troublesome ground-gaining, because, really, who wants to gain ground?

Military Madness (TG16)
Madness? This is ... oh, right, this is madness.

Switch Sides: At the continue screen, hold Select and press Run. The best way to punish the opposing faction is to lose as them. It uses a skill-- losing-- with which you've already demonstrated proficiency!


Gunstar Heroes (GEN)
Hidden Move: Perform a half-circle motion on the controller (back to down to forward) and then hit B to do a slide move. This may alter your normal Gunstar Heroes strategy somewhat, as the precision required to input this move disrupts the normal "hit all the buttons on the controller as fast as you can before hyperventilating" method of playing such frenetic action games.

Dynamite Headdy (GEN)
Hard Mode: Unlockable hard modes are the anti-cheat. You enter codes to discover them, but, naturally, they don't make the games any easier. Of course, poor Headdy's life is already one tortuous hardship after another. How would you feel if you were constantly under attack, your only defense to rip off your own head and lob it at your attackers? You wouldn't feel anything, actually, but Headdy does, and that's his sad lot in life. So, in a way, this Hard Mode is merciful to Headdy, as it grants him a restful death after only one hit. As the player, you may feel different emotions toward Headdy's repeated demise, but how could you understand? Your head's securely attached and non-modular. To access the Hard Mode, press Start at the title screen, then press C, A, left, right, B. Press and hold start through the opening scene.

source

That's very cool and helpful. I didn't think to have cheats for VC.

Sonic the Hedgehog:
The legendary level select cheat- at the title screen press up, down, left, right, then hold A and press start.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2:
Level select- play songs 19, 65, 09, 17 in options, then go to the title screen, hold A and press start.

Very cool although I dont have any of those games.

yeah, me neither...but when i get em, i shall pwn

Until recently, the famous "JUSTIN BAILEY" password (JUSTIN BAILEY followed by a line of dashes) was assumed to be a deliberate cheat code, designed by the programmers of the American version of Metroid (the Japanese version was a Disk System game and thus didn't need passwords). However, this has turned out not to be true. It's just a random code that happened to work. The Metroid Database verified this by examining the code in their Metroid Password Generator, and finding that the effects are a function of the individual symbols used-- that it works like any other Metroid password rather than as a cheat code. It just happens to have the cool effects it does.

NAR PASSWORD (NARPAS SWORD0 000000 000000), however, is the real deal. It doesn't work in the same way as the generated passwords, meaning that it is an intentionally-created code. It is also totally awesome.

NAR PASSWORD, presumably created by the Nintendo of America employee responsible for the Metroid password system, starts you off with infinite energy and missiles, and all weapons, except the Wave Beam. It completely nerfs the game, which, in the case of a surprisingly difficult game like Metroid, is not necessarily awful. With all the weapons, you can go straight to the minibosses and kill them, then head to Tourian and Mother Brain.

After you've done that, you can give the Password Generator a shot. Or, should you feel like going the easy way, but doing that the hard way, you can compose your own password. Should you be playing with a turbo controller on a real NES, you can try completely random passwords!

Everyone loves ninja, except for 1980's Europe. It's hard not to be taken with their style of dress, their pre-Bond gadgetry and, most of all, their silent ruthlessness. But gamers have grown up with a different kind of ninja: the kind who walks around a (usually futuristic) city in broad daylight wearing a dark mask and uniform, displaying blatant disregard for stealth in his battle against giant robots or ghosts or freaking birds.


Much like real-life ninja used anonymity and darkness to flout bushido, we enjoy using codes to violate the established laws of our favorite ninja games. This week's VCA features a selection of codes from the Virtual Console's already ninja-rich library.


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES):
Share Boomerangs between turtles: It takes some serious Turtles devotion or NES nostalgia to convince yourself to play this game for more than five minutes, so we think it's a good idea to give you a little help. Short of a Make the Game Stop code that involves turning off your system, there's not too much that can be done, but there is at least a glitch that allows you to use the same set of boomerangs with multiple turtles. It's easy, too: just throw the boomerangs, switch turtles, and catch them.

Ninja Spirit (TG16):
Level Select: This is only appropriate for appreciating each level of the sumptuous Ninja Spirit as an individual work of art. We'll know if you use the level select code to fast-track through the game. We'll know and we'll tell IREM. And they'll cry. Press II, I, II, II, I, II, hold Select and press Run to access the level select menu.

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (GEN):
Unlimited Shurikens: This code, also seen in Revenge of Shinobi, is one of the most iconic and satisfying cheats in any game, because it's so simple to input and remember, and it is immediately visually recognizable. In the options menu, if you set the number of shuriken to 00 and leave the cursor there, after a few seconds the "00" will morph into the symbol for infinity. Neat!

Cool, thanks for making this!

yeah i dont have any of those games either. nice list though!

Some of the most interesting discoveries in video games were put in there totally by accident, or are the result of someone's imagination. Second, the images and subject matter of today's VCA are as not safe for work as unaltered Super Mario Bros. footage can be.

The Kintamario

In 1-2, or any other level in which you can get on top of the line of blocks acting as an upper screen boundary, you can perform a puerile visual gag that makes Mario resemble a tanuki, but not in the same way that Super Mario Bros. 3's Tanooki Suit did. Simply position the coin in the coin display between Mario's legs. The coin's "flashing" color is the same as Mario's skin tone, so Mario will appear to have a rounded protuberance between his legs. That's right, Kintamario is a portmanteau consisting of the words kintama 'balls, testicles' and Mario. Oh, how clever!

The Unkomario

This equally childish gag uses the same setup: positioning Mario in front of the coin icon. If you then crouch, it sort of looks like Mario is defecating, right there on the bricks! "Take that, bricks," we imagine Mario saying, "maybe next time, you'll just give me the star instead of making me beat it out of your friend over there." Unko means 'feces', of course!

Something as ridiculously silly can only be funny to children, right? Maybe not. Check out 9-Volt and 18-Volt's intro video from Wario Ware: Smooth Moves and see if you see anything familiar. Apparently someone at Intelligent Systems thinks it's funny too!

I said this thread would be a cool idea

Solomon's Key

At the game over screen, hit  Up + A + B (Up+1+2 on wii-mote?) to continue from the last stage you died in starting from scratch (no power-ups).  This game is damn hard (battletoads difficult) otherwise.  Great obscure puzzle/adventure game!

ooooo, that sounds cool

do you know if DEBUG MODE is disabled in Sonic 1?
i was not able to do it! =(

Maybe the took it out on purpose, although a lot of times they hardly mess with the original game.

Zelda II glitch

We used to think that Nintendo's programming was above reproach, when, in reality, Nintendo's work -- even EAD's top-shelf games -- are just as riddled with bugs and glitches as anyone else's. And that's to our benefit, since without Nintendo's occasional gaffes, there'd be no Minus World, no secret Metroid maps, and no Chris Houlihan's Room (or no way to get there, anyway).

In the case of Zelda II, you can use a weird glitch to give yourself an advantage early in the game, provided you can get through, uh, the early part of the game. First, complete a palace level. Pause the game, save, and quit while the experience points are tallying (using the in-game save system, not the Wii's). Open a game in another profile. The experience points will be added to this player's profile instead of the first. Completing any of the later palaces would send multiple levels' worth of points into a new game.

As we mentioned, the catch is that you have to be able to complete palaces before you can benefit from this. The difficulty of the freaking palaces is what makes this glitch worth exploiting in the first place.