Third-party codes, kept apart from ours

Emulator Cheat Codes

Game Genie, Action Replay, GameShark and RetroArch codes for 6,188 retro games — 168,317 codes across 12 systems.

These come from libretro-database under CC BY-SA 4.0. None of them has been tested by us, and they never count towards a game's own cheat total — see what our two labels mean.

Emulator cheat codes — Game Genie, Action Replay, GameShark and similar memory codes — for 6,188 retro games across 12 systems, 168,317 codes in total. They come from libretro-database, the open collection RetroArch itself uses, and each set names the cheat device, the system and the regional version it was written for. None of them has been tested by us.

Verified

By system

NES

21,494

codes on 736 games

SNES

34,153

codes on 788 games

Game Boy

5,483

codes on 284 games

Game Boy Color

3,632

codes on 212 games

Game Boy Advance

4,252

codes on 293 games

Nintendo 64

13,062

codes on 292 games

Nintendo DS

22,875

codes on 871 games

Genesis / Mega Drive

21,395

codes on 648 games

Master System

2,067

codes on 183 games

Game Gear

2,587

codes on 158 games

PlayStation

13,158

codes on 921 games

PSP

24,159

codes on 802 games

By cheat device

Game Genie codes 11K Action Replay codes 9K GameShark codes 11.4K Code Breaker codes 3.3K Game Buster codes 2.7K Xploder codes 84

What these are

A Game Genie sat between the cartridge and the console and changed what the console read from the cartridge. An Action Replay, GameShark or Code Breaker left the cartridge alone and wrote a value into the console's memory while the game ran. Emulators such as RetroArch accept the same codes, which is why these lists outlived the hardware.

A code is written for one build of one game. The USA, European and Japanese releases keep things in different places in memory, so a code for one will usually do nothing on another. Every set on this site names the version it was written for.

Guides: entering cheats in RetroArch and PCSX2 Cheat troubleshooter

Quick answers

Frequently asked questions

What are emulator cheat codes?
Codes for cheat devices such as the Game Genie, Action Replay and GameShark, and for emulators that accept the same codes. They change the game by altering what it reads from the cartridge, or by writing a value into the console's memory while you play. They are not the same thing as a cheat the game itself accepts.
Where do these codes come from?
libretro-database, the open cheat collection RetroArch uses, under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Every set on a game page links to the exact file and revision it was read from, so you can check it. We did not write these codes and we have not run them.
Do these codes work on original hardware?
Some do, through the cheat device they were written for. Others only work in an emulator. Each set names the device, and a set labelled "RetroArch code" came from a file written for the emulator rather than a device.
Why does a code do nothing?
Usually because the set is for a different regional version of the game than the one you are running — every set names its version. In RetroArch, the other common reason is that the cheat was typed in and switched on but "Apply Changes" was never pressed.