GameShark#All platforms

{{Short description|Brand of video game cheating devices}}

{{more citations needed|date=September 2010}}

File:GamesharkLogo.PNG

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, and Nintendo 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, codes were saved in the onboard flash memory 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.{{cite magazine |date=January 1996 |title=Cheating Comes to 32-Bit Systems |url=https://ia804501.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/27/items/electronic-gaming-monthly-issue-078-january-1996/Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20-%20Issue%20078%20%28January%201996%29.cbz&file=Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20Issue%2078%20%28January%201996%29%20page%20088.jpg |magazine=Electronic Gaming Monthly |publisher=Ziff Davis |issue=78 |pages=88–89}} It was originally released for the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation consoles in January 1996.{{cite magazine |date=January 1996 |title=32-Bit Game Busters |url=https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_078_January_1996/page/n23/mode/2up |magazine=GamePro |publisher=IDG |issue=78 |page=23}} It was a runner-up for Electronic Gaming Monthly{{'}}s Best Peripheral of 1996 (behind the Saturn analog controller).{{cite magazine |date=March 1997 |title=The Best of '96 |url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902/Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20Issue%20092%20%28March%201997%29/page/n89 |magazine=Electronic Gaming Monthly |publisher=Ziff Davis |issue=92 |page=90}}

A GameShark was released for the Nintendo 64 in late August 1997.{{cite magazine |date=August 1997 |title=Buyers Beware |url=https://doge24190.top/lib/exe/fetch.php/gamepro_issue_097_august_1997_page_018.jpg |magazine=GamePro |publisher=IDG |issue=107 |page=18}} The Nintendo 64 GameShark also bypasses the console's regional lockout, allowing games from any region to be played on the same unit.{{cite magazine|title=Review Crew: Game Shark |magazine=Electronic Gaming Monthly|issue=101|publisher=Ziff Davis |date=December 1997 |page=207}}

A GameShark was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2002.

See also

References

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