GameShark

GameShark is a cheating device used to alter the internal data of many video games. It is well-known for its use in the Pokémon series, as it is one of the ways to easily get legendary Pokémon or Pokémon only available through an event, and many rare items, such as Master Balls.

Use of a GameShark can sometimes cause unwanted corruption of a save file. If the game is not inserted correctly into the slot, this is especially likely.

Codes

A GameShark code is made up of three parts. The first part is the code type, which is commonly represented as 01. The second is the quality digits, which are the digits that will go into that space in memory. This is usually represented by XX, as these numbers can be modified at any time to change what will be received. All values are in hexadecimal code, instead of decimal (for example, the number 88 is represented by 58). The third and final part is the address in memory, represented in Little Endian notation. This means that if the address C000 is to be modified, the end of the code would need to be 00C0. The code 010100C0 would tell the GameShark that the code type is 1, and that the value 01 will be put into the address C000.

Consequences

Sometimes the game will give you a bad egg, or take away your key items. Other times, your game will freeze, or simply erase.

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