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Cheats

If you're like me, there are some games I could just never win as a kid. This guide will finally allow you to win! (albeit with a much lesser sense of satisfaction)

Download Cheats

As a preface cheats only work through libretro/retroarch so take note of the emulators you are using.

You first need to open the RGUI. There are two ways of accessing the RGUI:

  • In the RetroPie menu of EmulationStation select Retroarch or
  • Hotkey combination Hotkey+X to open the RGUI from within a game

If you haven't done so already, you'll need to enable the advanced settings by navigating to Settings >> User Interface >> Show Advanced Settings, then enabling the Online Updater in Settings >> User Interface >> Menu Item Visibility by turning ON the Show 'Online Updater' option.

Next, navigate to Online Updater >> Update Cheats and this will download a set of preconfigured cheat files for many games into /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch/cheats

Enable Cheats

Now you can launch the game you want to finally win:

Open the RGUI with Hotkey combination Hotkey+X

Choose Quick Menu >> Cheats >> Load Cheat File

Navigate to your game title and select it

Then navigate to the cheat you want to enable and press left or right to toggle it on/off

Select Apply Cheat Changes

Then press B to go out of the cheat menu and resume your game.

Your cheats should now be enabled

Create Cheat Files

You can create .cht files in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch/cheats/<system>/<rom_name>.cht

The following is a reference chart for the types of cheat codes for each system:

Console Cheat type Example code
Famicom / NES Action Replay 02A2:01
Famicom / NES Game Genie APEETPEY
Game Boy Game Genie FA1-B9C-4C1
Game Boy (Color) GameShark 0101CEC1
Game Boy Advance GameShark v3 CD93194F 089CE0B4
Game Boy Advance GameShark v1/v2 A62B1D67 EB2D
Game Gear Action Replay 00D3-C280
Mega Drive / Genesis Action Replay FFFE21:0032
Mega Drive / Genesis Game Genie NN8A-AADN
N64 GameShark 8033B177 0015
NDS Action Replay 22085A50 00000001
Sega Master System Action Replay 00C0-2502
Super Famicom / SNES Action Replay 7E1490:FF
Super Famicom / SNES Game Genie 14B4-6F07

Cheat Code Example

Filename: Addams Family, The - Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt (USA, Europe) (Game Genie).cht

cheats = 3 

cheat0_desc = "Infinite Health"
cheat0_code = "009-15C"
cheat0_enable = false 

cheat1_desc = "Start With 9 Lives"
cheat1_code = "092-17F"
cheat1_enable = false 

cheat2_desc = "Infinite Lives"
cheat2_code = "004-27F"
cheat2_enable = false 

Multiline Cheat Codes

The following is an example for a PSX game

Filename: Resident Evil 2.cht

cheats = 2

cheat0_desc = "Infinite Ammo Claire (1/2)"
cheat0_code = "800D49F5+0063"
cheat0_enable = "true"

cheat1_desc = "Infinite Ammo Claire (2/2)"
cheat1_code = "800D4A01+0063"
cheat1_enable = "true"

Mame Cheats

Mame has its own configurations for cheats. You can see a guide HERE