[ALL] How did people figure out cheat codes and glitches back in NES/SNES days ?

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

Today we rely completely in the internet.
Many get down and dirty and scour through code to figure out values and whats needed to unlock things etc.
But thats today..with computers and lots of software and access to it.

But how the hell did someone figure out up up down down left right left right etc...
How did people figure out that pressing up in some random part of mario bros 2 where theres zero identifying mark would transport them or kill them ?

Was it all trial and error or did some small group of people back then hack these games and look at code then to ?
Im convinced that devs just leaked the info to magazines and people just to get callers to there help hotlines.

[Primetime]

[MmmmBeeeeer]

I thought in the manuals you could call an 800 number and pay to get them. Or get them from Nintendo Power magazine

[leaffan]

Neighbours and buds at school pretty much.

Mortal Kombat was really the first game I can think of where we had to have a magazine tell us how to do the fatalities.

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

I thought in the manuals you could call an 800 number and pay to get them. Or get them from Nintendo Power magazine

Nintendo had a hotline to help you with games. I recall calling for a level of KungFu. IIRC the guy was able to get to that point in the game very shortly. How...I dont know.

I understand how things propagate ...magazines word of mouth etc...but how do they originate ?
Ive just always had an issue with believing that some random person found the glitch or code then was somehow able to replicate it purposely.

[padman59]

Regarding the codes, I have to imagine the devs told people about them, but that's not to say that some of these couldn't be figured out by trial and error or by accident by people who bought the games. I found out how to change the music and enter hidden menus in the Super Star Wars games by messing around with my SNES Advantage before I read about them in a codebook.

[EmpireWF]

GamePro.

[Glenbino]

There's the aforementioned Gameshark, there were the Game Genies that I had for both my 8-bit and 16-bit versions of the NES and then the video game magazine (mine was GAMEPRO), a genre which used to hold down a good shelf at the grocery store magazine rack and is now invisible, always had a section for codes.

The guys who figured out how to beat the original Mario Bros. in under 5 mins all on their own during the mid and late 80s are the real heroes.

[Ravin]

I know it isn't the same, but does anyone else remember back in the day having to put in huge codes for saved games. Here is Super Tennis for SNES, and we use to play the fuck out of this game.



I have no idea how many times we would sit there and write out all the letters and numbers, and when you went back to do it again, it would be fucked up. Like was 54 letters/numbers really needed for this shit. You would spend like 5 minutes writing it down, and someone would fuck up a letter, or the zero would be an O and you would not get your game back.

[DoubleDeuce]

How did we all know the blow in the cartridges? I don't ever remember learning or hearing about it, I just always did it.

[whuteva]

it was funny because once i gott the code for mike tyson punchout, i never played the game ll the way thru. just rushed in to fight mike and get knocked da f*ck out!!

[Leftwich]

All this can be answered by one phrase, word of mouth.

[StealthShot]

I used this for super mario world when I was younger http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

And had the game genie book as well didn't use it as much as I do now on the XBOX 360!

[1ke]

That old fashioned thing called word of mouth.....

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[bluntside]

Word of mouth, for sure.

I can remember a kid a grade ahead of me in school pointing out where the Master Sword was located in The Legend of Zelda. I had the big fold-out map that came with the game and he showed me which tombstone needed to be pushed in order to get it. I would never have figured it out on my own. This same kid showed me the Konami code for Contra, then proceeded to beat the game without even using it.

Back when people still used the post office to mail things, I sent a letter to Square to ask about the final boss in Final Fantasy 2 (IV) on the SNES. To my surprise, a kind person from their helpline took the time to send me a return letter explaining what level I should be and some techniques to use to defeat the boss. I was so surprised to get a return letter, I decided to save the letter and if I dig through some of my old boxes, I'm sure I could find it.