Reader Lord Toon sent in an interesting Pokemon D/P hack, which led me to discover a whole world of “cheats” for Nintendo DS games.
I’ll share some of the more compelling cheats with you, not the ones that just award you with infinite ammo or 999 credits, but the ones that actually change or improve the way you play a game, like that Game Genie code for the original SNES Street Fighter II that enabled you to cancel and perform mid-air special moves.
You will need either an Action Replay DS or a flashcart with a ROM for the game to try these out.
- Star Fox Command - D-Pad controls hack
In case you haven’t played it, Star Fox Command only allows you to maneuver your ship with the touchscreen, the DS’s buttons used to fire your weapons. With this hack, you can now used the directional pad to move around and the A/B buttons to boost/brake. According to one gamer who tried this out, “It breathes new life into the game.”
- Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer - No savefile corrupt when powered off in mid-game
Most fans of the Shiren series will argue that this hack ruins the spirit of the game, taking away from its famous unforgiving difficulty.
In its intended state, Shiren forces you to live with and learn from every mistake. Any attempts to bail out of an unfortunate situation and return to a prior saved state sends you back to the starting town without any of your gear, money, or experience. With this code, you can play recklessly, death’s consequences forgotten.
Because this cheat changes the feel of the game so much, it seems worth trying out just to see how it affects your experience, enjoyment, and interpretation.
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - Hourglass doesn’t decrease
No more stressing out over whether you’ll reach your objective in the Temple of the Ocean King in time! Some had no problem dashing through the Temple’s halls and puzzles long before the last grain of sand trickled down the hourglass, but that wasn’t the case for me. Unfortunately, there’s no cheat for skipping the tedious Temple back-tracking entirely.
- Pokemon Diamond & Pearl - Crazy Zooom! v1.2
I haven’t played these games, so I can’t really comment on this hack’s usefulness, but I like the experiment of tilting the camera behind your character, exploring towns and environments from his or her level/perspective.
- Contact - Outfit Mod
Contact’s costume system, among other flaws, was a common complaint with players who dreaded having to return to their ship just to change outfits and access different special abilities. With this cheat, you can change outfits anytime by hitting Start or Select.
Please keep in mind that I haven’t actually tried out any of these cheats, so they might not work as advertised, if they work at all!
