9 replies to this topic

[silverpoodleman]

I feel like an idiot asking this question, but here it goes. I was able to pick up a Game Genie for Genesis for $2 today. Never having used it, I understand this makes the genny games (produced before a certain date) better. How? I do not know.

Also, it came with just the cart, not manual/book. Is that a problem? If so, where can I pick one up? I looked on ebay and there were no listings for just the book.

Thanks

[Xot]

silverpoodleman, on Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:58 PM, said:

I feel like an idiot asking this question, but here it goes. I was able to pick up a Game Genie for Genesis for $2 today. Never having used it, I understand this makes the genny games (produced before a certain date) better. How? I do not know.

Also, it came with just the cart, not manual/book. Is that a problem? If so, where can I pick one up? I looked on ebay and there were no listings for just the book.

Thanks

http://gamegenie.com...sis/index.shtml

[silverpoodleman]

Xot, on Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:12 PM, said:

silverpoodleman, on Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:58 PM, said:

I feel like an idiot asking this question, but here it goes. I was able to pick up a Game Genie for Genesis for $2 today. Never having used it, I understand this makes the genny games (produced before a certain date) better. How? I do not know.

Also, it came with just the cart, not manual/book. Is that a problem? If so, where can I pick one up? I looked on ebay and there were no listings for just the book.

Thanks

http://gamegenie.com...sis/index.shtml

THANK YOU

[JB]

silverpoodleman, on Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:58 PM, said:

I feel like an idiot asking this question, but here it goes. I was able to pick up a Game Genie for Genesis for $2 today. Never having used it, I understand this makes the genny games (produced before a certain date) better. How? I do not know.

I can describe the techncial basis...

The codes you enter into a Game Genie(no way to save them, so they have to be re-entered from the code book each time) are actually a cleverly disguised ROM address and value. The Genie watches game access, and when the system calls a ROM address that's matched to an entered code it blocks the cartridge ROM and substitutes it's own value.


Essentially, it's reprogramming the game. This makes the Game Genie FAR more powerful than the Action Replay, which merely locks a given address in RAM.

Given enough Game Genie codes, you could make your own totally new game. There's not a lot you can do with the 5 instructions a Genie allows, though.
But it's enough to dummy out a decrement(for infinite lives/health/time/etc) or chang a starting value(9 lives instead of 3, for example).

[Mike OC]

JB, on Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:36 PM, said:

silverpoodleman, on Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:58 PM, said:

I feel like an idiot asking this question, but here it goes. I was able to pick up a Game Genie for Genesis for $2 today. Never having used it, I understand this makes the genny games (produced before a certain date) better. How? I do not know.

I can describe the techncial basis...

The codes you enter into a Game Genie(no way to save them, so they have to be re-entered from the code book each time) are actually a cleverly disguised ROM address and value. The Genie watches game access, and when the system calls a ROM address that's matched to an entered code it blocks the cartridge ROM and substitutes it's own value.


Essentially, it's reprogramming the game. This makes the Game Genie FAR more powerful than the Action Replay, which merely locks a given address in RAM.

Given enough Game Genie codes, you could make your own totally new game. There's not a lot you can do with the 5 instructions a Genie allows, though.
But it's enough to dummy out a decrement(for infinite lives/health/time/etc) or chang a starting value(9 lives instead of 3, for example).

You can also get another Game Genie and "Piggyback" it together with the one you already have. It gives the possibility of using 10 codes. I have double Game Genie setups for NES SNES and Genny.
FYI: some games won't play correctly with too many codes added so you'll have to play around with it a bit.
When you fire up the system with two Game Genies attached, you get the screen for the first GG, enter all the codes you want then hit start. A second GG screen will come up and you can enter additional codes there. Hit start again and the game will boot.

[JB]

Mike OC, on Wed Oct 12, 2005 6:37 PM, said:

JB, on Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:36 PM, said:

silverpoodleman, on Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:58 PM, said:

I feel like an idiot asking this question, but here it goes. I was able to pick up a Game Genie for Genesis for $2 today. Never having used it, I understand this makes the genny games (produced before a certain date) better. How? I do not know.

I can describe the techncial basis...

The codes you enter into a Game Genie(no way to save them, so they have to be re-entered from the code book each time) are actually a cleverly disguised ROM address and value. The Genie watches game access, and when the system calls a ROM address that's matched to an entered code it blocks the cartridge ROM and substitutes it's own value.


Essentially, it's reprogramming the game. This makes the Game Genie FAR more powerful than the Action Replay, which merely locks a given address in RAM.

Given enough Game Genie codes, you could make your own totally new game. There's not a lot you can do with the 5 instructions a Genie allows, though.
But it's enough to dummy out a decrement(for infinite lives/health/time/etc) or chang a starting value(9 lives instead of 3, for example).

You can also get another Game Genie and "Piggyback" it together with the one you already have. It gives the possibility of using 10 codes. I have double Game Genie setups for NES SNES and Genny.
FYI: some games won't play correctly with too many codes added so you'll have to play around with it a bit.
When you fire up the system with two Game Genies attached, you get the screen for the first GG, enter all the codes you want then hit start. A second GG screen will come up and you can enter additional codes there. Hit start again and the game will boot.

*nods*
Did that on my cousin's NES ages ago.

I wonder what the limit is on Genie stacking. Past a certain point you should start getting timing errors, and I'm curious as to where that kicks in.

[Guitardude]

Can you imagine having the Genie, with the Sonic & Knuckles cart on top of that with Sonic 2 on top of that? In a Nomad!

[JB]

Guitardude, on Thu Oct 13, 2005 6:52 AM, said:

Can you imagine having the Genie, with the Sonic & Knuckles cart on top of that with Sonic 2 on top of that? In a Nomad! 

Too bad the Nomad don't work with the 32x... you could get even more absurd.

[Classic Pac]

I've been using one for years now. Try stacking Sonic and Knukles+Sonic 3+ the game genie I am always afraid it will topple over. In actual fact the 2 best sites for codes are:
www.gamewinners.com and www.gscentral.com the second one has new codes created by members of the site. This is where I found codes for both Rolling Thundar 3 and Sonic 3-D Blast and it was the only way I could beat them.

[Vic George 2K3]

The only stacked set-up that I had regarding game cheating adapters that actually worked was having the NES Game Genie plugged into the really-painful-to-install Game Action Replay (no relation to the Action Replay Cartridge) that allowed me to slow down a game to about 1/5 its normal playing speed in addition to allowing game saves in games that don't normally have game saves. Of course, the first Game Genie that I owned for the NES didn't allow for it to work with the Game Action Replay; the second one that I owned did.