Enhancer Codes

Plastation Power Replay Game Enhancer - Cheat Codes Plug and Play
$14.99
Just imagine - infinite lives - unlimited energy - extra levels - hidden levels - and much much more! POWER REPLAY contains 100's of gamebusting codes for all the latest games. More cheats can be added as new games are released. New entries are added to Power Replay's internal game cheat library. PLEASE NOTE THIS THIS DEVICE IS ONLY COMPATIBLE WITH EARLIER MODEL PLAYSTATIONS >>> Look on the bottom of your Sony PlayStation - If the sticker shows the following models, THIS DEVICE WILL WORK >> SCPH7501, SCPH7001, SCPH5501, SCPH1001 ONLY

Gameshark Game Enhancer
$29.95
The Windows Gameshark 3.0 is a product which in allot of ways, represents allot of wasted potential. This 3.0 version is the successor to an even earlier version. Since it (this newer, 3.0 version) launched in 01, the many reports of it not supporting current games, and having a small code library (43 games) is true to a point, but not all together fair given that it's an old, discontinued, and inexpensive product. Also while all the games it supports are indeed older games, considering when support for it stopped (mid 02), this simply can't be helped. InterAct launched the PC Gameshark with a shoestring advertising campaign, and was not prompt about launching new codes for new games, or expanding their existing code library. However, many of the titles it does support are aging, but high profile heavy hitters which in some instances remain playable and popular in some gaming circles even now. Speaking for myself, I have 4 titles it supports, and they are all games that I still play (Metal Gear Solid, Crimson Skies, Final Fantasy 7, and Frogger 2--Tomb Raider II as well, though the TR2 codes did not come pre-loaded into the Gameshark), so it comes in handy quite often for me.

It's truly sad that InterAct didn't launch this product with a better advertising campaign, or keep launching new codes for new games promptly--with these things behind it, it might have realized the success of it's console counterparts. But no--InterAct was simply too focused on code development for the immensely more sucecessful console Gamesharks--with it's sales, and popularity low, code development for the PC Gameshark was a low priority. Early buyers (like me) should probably be happy we got the tiny trickle of codes that came out for it over the next year or so after launch. Nevermind that when PSX Metal Gear Solid launched for example, InterAct had 44 Metal Gear Solid codes posted on their website on launch day. Similarly, there were 57 codes (!!) for PSX Final Fantasy VIII on launch day. Yet when comparably high profile PC titles launched, InterAct made no effort at all to release codes in tandem with the game's launch as they so often did with high profile console titles. Compounding the problem, though they did launch codes for a handful of high profile PC games later, the codes were months late (often after demand for the game had already dropped to almost zilch), it was rare to get more than 2 codes for any one title, most of them were of the pretty generic "God Mode", or "Unlock Everything" variety, and you could almost never count on the PC Gameshark to have the same codes for the same games as it's console counterparts. These complaints may sound nit picky, but this is the level of support owners of console Gamesharks had gotten used to, and (rightfully) expected of the PC Gameshark when they bought it as well--they didn't get it. In short, the PC Gameshark simply did not recieve the high level of support enjoyed by it's console brethren, and I remain convinced that this, along with it's shoestring advertising campaign contriubted heavily to it's failure--you simply can't expect a product to be a strong seller when you barely advertise it, or give it any exposure, and only a niche group of people even know it exists.

As mentioned previously, there is a handful of codes that InterAct made for it after launch, and I have most (but unfortunately, not all) of them, and am willing to share with anyone interested. Overall, it's usefulness diminishes as the product ages, and the titles it supports gets older, and less popular, but people who already have some of the games it supports can still get some use from it. Some of the more well known titles it supports right off are: Army Men, Baldur's Gate 2, Crimson Skies, Deus Ex, Forsaken, Final Fantasy 7, Frogger 2, Metal Gear Solid, Might&Magic 6: The Mandate of Heaven, Mortal Kombat 4, Outlaws, Quest for Glory, Return to Krondor, Starcraft, The Sims, Star Wars: Rebellion, Unreal, and Vampire: The Masquerade. Owners of any of these games can expect to enjoy maxed out stats, infinite ammo, infinite lives, free cash, free experience points, etc. It is a discontiued, and unsupported product now, and that's an undeniably bad thing, but not unforgivable since it's cheap (I paid 30 dollars for it at launch, and it's less than 10 here now), and not entirely without usefulness. So while I sympathize with the frustrations of people who bought this product expecting, or hoping for a larger, or more up-to-date game library, that is something that simply can't be helped. But I can tell you that even if you have only 2-4 games it supports, the cheats it gives you (the infinite gil cheat code for FF7, infinite lives in Frogger 2, or the infinite ammo cheats in Metal Gear Solid come immmediately to mind--all of which are games it supports right out of the box) are going to give you enough of an edge in these games to be worth your money. But I also feel confident that I can't be the only person in the world who bought one of these at launch, and kept all the extra codes for it. Maybe another like me will show up on here with the ones I don't have. In the meantime however, at least to me, even as it fades into obscurity, the PC Gameshark still has limited usefulness for gamers with older games in their collection.