Well, here we are at the end of September already. These events always go once again facing the end wishing there was too fast somehow, and now I am more time to talk. Ther’s how it goes, though. So instead of mourning the end of Sneaky Secrets in September, let’s instead celebrate it by discussing Some of the very best kind of secret; cheat codes! Read on for some of of yours below! my favorites, and be sure to share some of yours!

WISHY WASHY BANJO

Banjo-Kazooie

Those who’ve played enough Banjo-Kazooie know that Mumbo Jumbo isn’t exactly the most reliable shaman. He spends all his time napping, and he’ll even forget the proper incantation sometimes, accidentally turning the bear and bird in to a washing Machine! This accidental transformation isn’t playable since Mumbo immediately turns Banjo and Kazooie back, but there is a version that’s fully playable thanks to a cheat code added in the XBLA version of the
game.

If you complete all of Bottles’ challenge puzzles, Cheato the Spell book will award you the “WISHY WASHY BANJO” cheat. Entering it at the Treasure Trove Cove sandcastle and then going to Mumbo will get Banjo and Kazooie transform into a fully playable washing machine that’s invulnerable to sand and swamp water hazard Kinda useless there of the end of the game, but fun nonetheless.

Space Convertible!

Rogue Squadron: Rogue Leader

I can’t think of the last time we got a fun arcade space shooter, but one of my favorites from back in the day was Star Wars: Roque Squadron II: Rogue Leader for the Gamecube. (Aside: how great were Star Wars games before EA got the license?) It was So much fur playing through bath classic movie sequences and original missions. An got so many ships! All of them unlockable via cheats! Of these, my favorite was the convertible, unlocked by entering “!ZUVIEL!! BENZIN!”

It wasn’t the strongest or even really meant to be used for clearing missions. Rather, it functioned as a guided tour of sorts, playing an interview with whom I think was the lead developer as the player flew around each level. It was Such a cool little Easter egg of a cheat code, and I really wish we could have seen more like it in other games.

DK Mode!

GoldenEye 007

I just remember this one being the quintessential unlockable cheat. You get it by Speedrunning the very first mission (The Dam), and all it does is give all the enemies giant heads. My 7 year old self thought it was all kinds of funny ws. I watched my older cousins play GoldenEye 007 with it on, and it’s just stuck with me ever since.

Some thing that’s always bugged/amused me about it, though, is that it’s called “Dk Mode”. Like, why? Outside of the first Super Smash Bros., DK’s head was never all that big compared to the rest of his body, so why is a giant head mode named after him? It’s super goofy, but I guess it’s part of what makes the cheat so memorable.

Infinite Wealth!

The Sims

While I wouldn’t call myself a fan of The Sims as a franchise, I absolutely loved the original game and its expansions. The things is, though, I don’t think I actually ever played the actual game. The only thing I remember doing was making house after house an just enjoying watching my sims interact with all the fur furniture and objects I placed in them.

This took money; a lot of it, And since I didn’t know how to play the game normally, I’d enter the money cheat “roseland” over and over and over again to get every thing for the latest house or vacation bungalo of my grade school dreams, If my current machine vern’t so old, I’d go back or and do it again, I think, building in The Sims was just too much fun!

So Many Animal Crossing Cheats!

Animal Crossing (Gamecube)

There is a lot that sets the original Animal Crossing apart from the rest of the series, and cheats are one of them. Thanks to the mysterious Gift Code system, which was never properly Utilized internationally to my knowledge, everything in the Can be obtained via cheats! game. The cheat codes were frustratingly long, but with them you could not only get whatever furniture that was normally obtainable, but you could also get things that were never meant to be obtainable.

NES Games, Nintendo items, special collections, all of it was there. All you needed to do was go to one of the early, websites dedicated to secrets and guides (like Game FAQs) and print them off. And I absolutely did (You better believe it!) It was like getting access to something I wasn’t supposed to, and it was all kinds of fun! It’s too bad all of this stuff more or less went away after the Gamecube era.

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Well that’s it for Sneaky Secrets in September, but don’t worry! Halloween is right around the corner now, so there’s plenty more fun to come! For right now, though, what were some of your favorite cheats from back in the day?

Image is the official Banjo-Kazooie box art