Title:
Game Genie
Genre:
Platform
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Release Date:
1969-12-31
Game Summary:
The Game Genie is a series of cheat systems designed by Codemasters and sold by Camerica and Galoob for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Mega Drive/Genesis, and Sega Game Gear that modifies game data, allowing the player to cheat, manipulate various aspects of games, and sometimes view unused content and functions. It is known as the first example of consumer-friendly "game enhancement” by means of (temporarily) directly altering the binary code of a game. Although there are currently no Game Genie products on the market, more than five million units have been sold worldwide,and most video game console emulators feature Game Genie support. Emulators that have Game Genie support also allow a near-unlimited number of codes to be entered whereas the actual products have a much smaller limit that usually tops between three and six codes. The Action Replay, Code Breaker, and GameShark are similar hacking devices, some acting as a spiritual successor on later generation consoles, although they were created by entirely different companies.
The introduction of the original NES Game Genie, was met by fierce opposition from Nintendo. Nintendo then sued Galoob in the case Galoob v. Nintendo, claiming that the Game Genie created derivative works in violation of copyright law. Sales of the Game Genie initially stopped in the U.S., but not in Canada. In many gaming magazines of the time, Galoob placed Game Genie ads saying "Thank You Canada!” However, after the courts found that use of the Game Genie did not result in a derivative work, Nintendo could do nothing to stop the Game Genie from being sold in the U.S. Before the lawsuit was filed, Galoob offered to make the Game Genie an officially licensed product but was turned down by Nintendo.
Around the time of the lawsuit from Galoob, Nintendo tried to use other methods to thwart the Game Genie, using ROM checksums in later titles intended to detect the cheat modifications. These measures were partially successful but some could be bypassed with additional codes. Later versions of the Game Genie had the ability to hide Genie modifications from checksum routines.[citation needed]
Sega, on the other hand, was a full endorser of the Game Genie, with their official seal of approval. One of Sega’s requirements for this, however, was that the Game Genie wouldn’t work with games that have a save feature, such as the Phantasy Star or Shining Force series.
The introduction of the original NES Game Genie, was met by fierce opposition from Nintendo. Nintendo then sued Galoob in the case Galoob v. Nintendo, claiming that the Game Genie created derivative works in violation of copyright law. Sales of the Game Genie initially stopped in the U.S., but not in Canada. In many gaming magazines of the time, Galoob placed Game Genie ads saying "Thank You Canada!” However, after the courts found that use of the Game Genie did not result in a derivative work, Nintendo could do nothing to stop the Game Genie from being sold in the U.S. Before the lawsuit was filed, Galoob offered to make the Game Genie an officially licensed product but was turned down by Nintendo.
Around the time of the lawsuit from Galoob, Nintendo tried to use other methods to thwart the Game Genie, using ROM checksums in later titles intended to detect the cheat modifications. These measures were partially successful but some could be bypassed with additional codes. Later versions of the Game Genie had the ability to hide Genie modifications from checksum routines.[citation needed]
Sega, on the other hand, was a full endorser of the Game Genie, with their official seal of approval. One of Sega’s requirements for this, however, was that the Game Genie wouldn’t work with games that have a save feature, such as the Phantasy Star or Shining Force series.
Platform:
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Developers:
Galoob
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Graphics:
8-bit
Input Devices:
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Date Added:
2018-07-03 12:18:15
