Expert: Chamale - 11/19/2007

Question
I don't really know how to work my Nintendo Gameshark (3.3) for the N64.

Answer
My explanation is pretty long, I wanted to be sure I covered everything. For future questions, please explain exactly where you're having a problem. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

SET-UP

With the N64 off, plug in the gameshark where you put the games. Then put the game you want to use in the top of the gameshark. Turn on the N64. After the title screen, you'll see a main menu with:
1. Start game
2. Select cheat codes
3. Memory card manager

OPTIONS

If you hit "start game", you can either play with codes (all the codes selected in "select cheat codes") or without codes, where it plays like it would normally. Use up and down on the + pad to choose options, and A to select.

The "select cheat codes" option lets you choose from the codes in the Gameshark's memory, with games listed alphabetically. Use the + pad for up and down, and use R and L to go up and down pages. When you've chosen a game, it opens up a list of codes. You can only have 15 codes turned on at a time. When you've chosen the cheats, hit START to go back to the start menu.

NEW CODES

To enter a new code, go to "NEW CODE". To describe it, use a name that tells you what it does, like "More lives" or "Strongest gun". Select letters with A in the text-entry box to form the name. Use c-up (c buttons are the yellow ones on the controller) to change from upper-case and lower-case in the text entry box. Use R and L to go left and right in the writing.

The process is similar to make a new game file, just select "NEW GAME" on the game list.

HOW CODES WORK

Now, the code entry. I'll explain how it works. The N64 stores all its data in memory, in certain locations. Suppose the location for "lives left" was stored in location 15, and you had one left. By changing the number in location 15 to 5, you make the game think you have 5 lives. Now, for yes-no questions, like "does he have the machine gun?", the game might use location 20 and indicate yes with the number 1, and no with the number 0. So by changing location 20 to the number 1, the game thinks you have the machine gun. However, since there are so many locations, and the Nintendo counts "one two three four five six seven eight nine A B C D E F ten", the codes are a lot more complicated.

CODE ENTRY

Actually entering codes is a lot like naming the codes, but you shouldn't name it whatever you want. If you enter a random code, it will probably either do nothing, delete something from the game, mess up graphics, or damage the Gameshark. It's best you use codes that you know will work.

There's a "default" box, where you choose if the code is usually on when you play that game, usually off when you play that game, or usually on when the "GS" button on the Gameshark is pressed.

MEMORY CARD MANAGER

This lets you look at the contents of a memory card. There are on-screen instructions, so I don't think I need to explain this much.