Where did you learn about the cheat codes for the first time?

I got into Sonic later on, during the late nineties, with S3K Collection and Sega Dreamcast. And yeah, Sonic HQ used to be the shit.

 

This, for the most part. Including (especially?) the Sonic 2 MS level select.

Those I didn't know of were filled in a few years later thanks to Sonic Jam. I think I must've gone round about three times trying to memorise them all before realising it would be much easier to copy them out on paper. (It's also thanks to Sonic Jam that I was able to input the code in Sonic 3. That one's a bugger.)

 

My brother had a Genesis before I was born, and around the time I was old enough to play video games, I started with Sonic. Man it was awesome. We had a Game Genie and a book full of codes for various games (Only Sonic game was Sonic 1 =P). Eventually we discovered codes on the Internet and got some to get Hyper Sonic in Sonic 3.

 

<!--quoteo(post=262655:date=Jan 3 2009, 02:16 PM:name=MathUser)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MathUser @ Jan 3 2009, 02:16 PM)

Feb 1992, by the way.

 

Was that the Prima guide? Actually that one was pretty good overall -- WAY better than BradyGames' guide, as noted.

In addition, it actually helped me immensely in terms of mapping out the layout of each stage, though I recall Hydrocity 2 and Launch Base had a few bits that were incorrectly printed. Like the line about Fred's two feet, they're also the parts of the levels that I'm least familiar with, for that very reason.

 

Way back when I only had a few games for Genesis, one of them being Sonic 2. My babysitter, Sarah, brought her games over (Shining Force, Phantasy Star 2, Sonic 1) and I played Sonic 1 first because SF and PS2 were really confusing. I played until Labyrinth Zone where I got stuck, and my babysitter showed me the level select code! It was awesome, I got to beat the game without seeing Starlight Zone and Scrap Brain Zone. =P

Anyone ever visit Gamewinners? Back in the day, they were awesome for cheat codes. I got the rest of the cheatcodes from them in early millennium.

 

1902 555 444. Sega help line. Yes, an official Sega hotline number gave out cheats. They also charged premium rates. 1902 numbers ended up barred at my house for quite awhile. :D

 

My cousin tought me Sonic 1's Level Select, after that, everything else I learned from "Secrets of the Game Sages" which years later turned into codes.ign.com

 

I used to buy an issue of Tips&Tricks magazine every few months or so. I had known about the Sonic 1stage select from a friend but I got the debug code and codes for the other Genesis Sonics from that magazine. Well I guess the Gamepro AOL channel helped a bit too.

 

Sonic 1 was the first video game I had played on a console and not on an arcade machine. I was 5 and my mom lived with her ex husband at the time. He had a Genesis and an NES and he would let me play Sonic the Hedgehog. When he was teaching me to play, he taught me the level select for Sonic 1.

The way he did it, he kept pushing Up, Down, Left, Right over and over again from the where it says SEGA all the way until he heard the ring sound. Then of course hold A and push start. I gues he didn't know you only have to do UDLR once at the title screen, but then again he had the slippery red dotted controllers so maybe it was harder for him to do it right.

Speaking of that, I wonder why there are so many variations of 3-button Genesis controllers. Short cords, long cords, red dots, white dots, firm buttons, smooth buttons, flat plugs, and plugs with a bump in the middle. Any of those stats seem to be able to be found mixed and matched so there are many variations of official controllers.

Anyway, back on topic. When I got my own Sega Genesis and Sonic 1 for my 6th birthday, the first thing I did was use the level select code. My grandma watched as I got started and said "what? how did you already know how to do something like that?" I think she was amazed and realized I was born to play video games. It's probably why my uncle brought up his cordless NES with games the next day and gave it to me after seeing the hookups in the back were the same.

 

My first source was Tips & Tricks Magazine (RIP). It was the level select code for Sonic 2 Game Gear. Tore the page out, to show my cousin who owned the game, only to be disappointed by the revelation that his Game Gear busted.

My first successful experience with cheat codes... that would be Sonic 2 on the Genesis, the stage select and then the Chaos Emeralds cheat. Yep, courtesy of T&T again, these took more than a day to finally execute right though. But boy, Super Sonic was so worth the wait.

 

The first time I ever learned about cheat codes was when one of my cousins came to my house. She was playing an Aladdin video game on the Genesis, and I saw her completing levels without getting to the end. I asked her how she did that, and she told me what a cheat code was. Then I learned about the Sonic ones over the Internet. I wish the 3D games had cheats like that as well, but at least we have Sonic Adventure DX: Preview!

 

When I was younger I had S&K Collection for PC and wanted a level select to get past Carnival Night (damn barrels; I didn't solve that for years!), so I went online and found a little page that had Sonic cheats on it. It had cheats on it for Sonic 1, 2 3, Knuckles, and 3D Blast. I printed the whole thing out. I think I still have the printout too.

...however, I was kinda confused as to why it wanted me to press A after entering the level select code. I kept pressing the A key on the keyboard, but nothing would happen. I also had Sonic 3D Blast for PC, so I tried the codes on it that wanted me to press A, B, C, X, Y, and Z on the pause screen for different things. I figured the guy who made the site was lying after trying some other stuff and it not working.

Not until I found Genesis emulators did I discover that they were referring to the Genesis versions and the Genesis controller.

 

My first cheating experience was with S&K Collection in about 2000. We finally had high-speed internet, and I found this cheat forum. I don't even remember what is was. But anyway, I found the codes for S&K Collection, and my mind was blown. I thought fighting Knuckles and playing as Super Sonic in Doomsday were cheats in themselves, because I hadn't even beaten Hydrocity at that point.

I even remember reading the cheats for other Sonic games that I didn't even own and being amazed. "Wow, you can change Sonic's snowboard in Sonic Adventure! Cool! Golden Chao Eggs!"

 

I read them at GameFAQs, it was the year 1999, before that, I never knew about this cheat codes so I always played the games from start to finish, I was able to beat sonic and knuckles, but sonic 2 I was able to reach Death Egg Zone, always died on the final boss >.<, I never had a copy of sonic 1 and sonic 3, but used to play it from other friends house or rentals, but I didn't get that far with them.

After learning the cheat codes I was able to see the end of Sonic 2, finnaly, and used Super Sonic in EHZ, also how the hell can you do the level select in Sonic 3, is freaking impossible.

 

T&T was such an awesome magazine. Each issue had about 30 pages of codes for ALL systems in the back. So awesome.

I remember I found out about the hadouken in sonic chaos from Tips & tricks. I miss that magazine... good guides too.

 

Yeah the level select code for Sonic 3 is very hard to pull off. I have only been able to do it a couple times on a real Sega Genesis and could not pull it off with the GameCube controller for Sonic Mega Collection.

Also depending on your Genesis and copy of Sonic 3D Blast, sometimes if you bump the system or slightly pull on the corner of the game while it's running, you can access the level select screen that way. I don't recommend it as it's probably not very good for your hardware.

When I was a kid I had a different Genesis and games which I sold a few years ago. Then I re-bought them in better condition. But when I was a kid I tried pulling the corners of the cartrdges out on different Genesis games bcause of what had happened in Sonic 3D Blast. Nothing was ruined after doing this, but when I tried it the games froze up and it made the music sound very funny. Parts of the music were missing or mixed up in Sonic Spinball, and Sonic 2 had weird sounding noises in the background instead of drums. Battletoads/Double Dragon had some strange music patterns too.

 

no kidding. I can count on one hand the number of times I've pulled it off before. Thank god Sonic & Knuckles had a much easier level select code.

 

The sonic 2 cheats I got from a Sega Genesis cheat code video tape, forgot where I had got it. Sonic 1 was from EGM and Sonic 3 was the guide, and the internets.