06: Codes of Our Lives

The cheat code is dead. It wasn't so long ago that codes, passwords and other tricks were regularly discussed in gamerdom -- so much so that some codes became as popular as the games they were made for, if not moreso. Though the mystique of codes has faded away in the age of in-game tutorials, achievements and add-ons, they still have stories behind them. From the NES to the arcade to the PC, we profile almost a dozen codes that didn't just do cool stuff, but entered our heads, stayed in our memories, and in some cases, influenced culture. Also in this issue, an encouraging look at the recent Monster World collection, a mini-history of Xevious on its 30th anniversary, the weirdest Dreamcast ever, and more.