GameShark is the brand name of a line of video game cheat cartridges and other products for a variety of console video game systems and Windows-based computers. Since January 23, 2003, the brand name has been owned by Mad Catz, which marketed GameShark products for the Sony PlayStation,

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

, and

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

game consoles. Players load cheat codes from GameShark discs or cartridges onto the console's internal or external memory, so that when the game is loaded, the selected cheats can be applied.

Products

When the original GameShark was released, it came with 4,000 preloaded codes. Codes could be entered, but unlike the

Game Genie The Game Genie was a line of Video game accessory, video game accessories that allowed players to alter codes transmitted between ROM cartridge, game cartridges and a video game console, known informally as a cheat cartridge. Developed by Codemas ...

, codes were saved in the onboard

flash memory Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...

and could be accessed later rather than having to be reentered. The cartridges also acted as memory cards, with equal or greater storage capacity to the consoles' first party memory cards. It was originally released for the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation consoles in January 1996. It was a runner-up for ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...

''s Best Peripheral of 1996 (behind the Saturn analog controller). A GameShark was released for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

in late August 1997. The Nintendo 64 GameShark also bypasses the console's

regional lockout A regional lockout (or region coding) is a class of digital rights management preventing the use of a certain product or service, such as multimedia or a hardware device, outside a certain region or territory. A regional lockout may be enforced t ...

, allowing games from any region to be played on the same unit. A GameShark was released for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

in 2002.

References

External links

* *
GameShark.com

GSCentral.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:GameShark Computer peripherals Unlicensed Nintendo hardware Cheat cartridges Computer-related introductions in 1995

Products

See also

References

External links