Cheat codes were made to give players an advantage when playing those unbeatable levels. Game testers grinding it out at work were given codes to make their job just a little bit easier. Consumers later got to try out those special codes when games started getting released when the codes were not wiped from the games. Some gamers used them to beat those difficult levels that seemed impossible to conquer. Others liked to use cheats after they've beaten a game just to see how the other half live.
However, some cheats that came out over the years are downright useless. From Big Head Mode to 'riskymoney' , many cheat codes fail to offer any sort of advantage at all. Gamers hoping to gain advantage through codes are best advised to stay away from these cheats.
DK Mode/Big Head Mode
Big Head Mode did exactly what it sounds like. Cheaters who used the code had their avatar turned into a huge headed monstrosity.
In GoldenEye the mode was called DK mode. The cheat let players go at it in four player multiplayer in a game of large head madness. DK Mode's only real advantage was that it made players easier to spot if they were hiding around corners.
SimCity 4 and 'riskymoney'
SimCity 4 was extremely popular in the early 2000s. The game was one of the first SimCity games to use a 3D graphics engine and was considered a strong installment of the franchise.
The game had many cheats for gamers who didn't want to play by the rules of city building. One of the worst cheats for the title was the 'riskymoney' code. Inputting the code gave player $10,000 in money to use on their city. The only problem was the code caused an earthquake which could end up causing more than $10,000 in damages. Suffice to say, the cheat was not worth it.
Everyone Hates You on Grand theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto (GTA) III built a whole industry of sandbox games. It started a trend of games that put players in an open-world and let them run rampant. Many players used their freedom to wreak havoc on the innocent NPCs of the worlds they were put in.
GTA III devs created a code to let those NPCs fight back. The 'Everybody Hates You Code' caused all NPCs in the world to attack the protagonist of the game on site. It made it nearly impossible to traverse Liberty City without dying and worst of all was impossible to reverse if you saved the game with the code running.
GoldenEye Multiplayer Invisibility Cheat
Cheat codes are made to give players an unfair advantage. This wasn't really a problem before the days of multiplayer games. However, using codes took quite a different turn following the release of GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64. GoldenEye was one of the first video games to let players cheat against other real people.
Using the invisibility cheat players could wander multiplayer maps taking out their friends without ever being seen. The code surely caused many real world fights between cheaters and the ones who didn't figure out the code yet.
Using Doom Cheat Codes for Heretic
Doom's 'idkfa' cheat was ahead of its time. It let players become invincible while fighting the demon spawn of the underworld. Doom's cheat has become so infamous that players tried to use it on other games published by ID Software.
The 1994 first-person shooter Heretic was published by ID using a modified Doom engine. For a laugh the games developers placed a cheat code into Heretic that caused gamers who used the 'idkfa' cheat to lose all of their guns and ammo. As an added bonus if a player used the God Mode cheat they would die instantly.