When I was young, in my opinion the only thing as good as a new Nintendo or Saga game was discovering the cheat codes for those games. Before the internet, the only way to find these codes were by word of mouth or through a magazine like the popular one below.

I COULD NOT WAIT FOR THE LATEST NINTENDO POWER MAGAZINE!!!

Below are a few of the cheat codes that are forever ingrained in my mind.

#5 Cheat code to access the big green wrecking machine on Evander Holyfield’s Real Deal Boxing on Saga…



When in career mode on the title screen, you would type THE BEAST and a green fighter with blue hair would appear with all attributes set to full.

#4 The infinite life cheat code for Ikari Warriors…


In dual player mode, after your man died you could type "ABBA" over and over again until your man reappeared. The only thing to watch out for was when he reappeared behind a wall and got stuck. That was the only glitch in an otherwise great game.

#3 Thirty lives on Contra…


For thirty lives on Contra, on the start up screen you would type “up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start” for one player and “up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, select start" for two player.

#2 The cheat codes for both the women’s team and the super team on Baseball Stars (one of the greatest NES games of all time)…


Women's Team
Go to the "Make Team" option on the main menu. Then type, "DOWN, RIGHT, LEFT, DOWN, DOWN, RIGHT, UP, UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, UP." Push "A" to enter and change the message given from "WHAT IS A WREN?” to "A BIRD." You had to be sure to include the period and then press start. You would then have another message saying "WHEN ISN'T IT?" and you would delete this and enter "WHEN IT IS" once again remembering the period.

Super Team
Enter the "Team Select" mode (fast team, good hitting, etc.) then you would press “DOWN, RIGHT, LEFT, DOWN, DOWN, RIGHT.” The screen would say "When isn't it?" and you would type "When it is."

#1 Cheat Code to Tyson in one of the other top NES games of all time, Mike Tyson’s Punch-out...


To fight Iron Mike right off the bat, you would type, 007-373-5963. I probably typed this code at least 500 times or more as a kid.