Note: This section is largely intended as a general help file for using Game Genie Codes with emulators, you may find one or two of the tips useful when using a real Game Genie on a Genesis/Mega-Drive though. You will need to read the instructions that came with your emulator for help using the Game Genie function with that particular emulator as it is beyond the scope of this e-book to give instructions for each one.

Using Game Genie Codes - Introduction.

Lots of emulators have Game Genie support built in, this allows you to use your old Game Genie codes just like the real thing. Unfortunately it's use is not explained very well in most of the Read Me files supplied with the emulators!* I also suggest that you read the "Entering Codes" and possibly the "What is a Game Genie?" sections of this e-book before reading this section to gain a better understanding of how an real Game Genie works.

Most emulators allow you to enter codes as either Game Genie codes or Hex (Pro Action Replay) codes.
 

  • Game Genie codes are in the format ABCD-EFGH (the '-' is usually optional).

  • Hex codes are in the format AAAAAA:DDDD (24 bit Hex address, and 16 bit Hex Data). - This is usually what you get if you save your codes from within the emulators.

All the codes supplied in this E-Book are in Game Genie format because they are easier to read. There are lots of sites on the internet containing Game Genie and Pro Action Replay codes for most of the popular games. You shouldn't need to visit them often because I believe this represents the most complete set of codes to be found anywhere, and most sites don't have codes for the  Pro Action Replay.

Codes can be typed into the emulators (See the readme.txt files for each emulator for details*) along with a short description of what the code does. Once entered most emulators allow you to save the codes to a .PAT file (a standard .txt file) which will be loaded every time you play that game so you don't have to type the codes again every single time. Alternatively you can cut and paste the text directly into the .PAT file with a text editor (NotePad for example) which will save you a lot of time, and now you can use the .Pat files contained within this E-Book so you need never type a set of codes out again.

* Don't forget to download our other e-book "the Official Gens Manual" for more detailed instructions on using Game Genie codes with Gens along with loads of other useful power tips for this emulator. It's available to download for free from our website the Genesis Project, just click on the Gens logo to enter the download page.

General Help for Game Genie Codes.

Not all the codes are in the format ABCD-EFGH (a "word"), you will quite often come across "Multi-Word" codes in the format ABCD-EFGH+IJKL-MNOP and sometimes even longer ABCD-EFGH+IJKL-MNOP+QRST-UVWX etc. The confusion arises because most of the emulators will accept the 2 "Word" codes, but these will more often than not fail to work, and you cannot type in the longer codes! (If you edit the .PAT file directly the latter part of the code will appear in the description box).

So how do you get around this problem?

To start with let's use a few examples:

Example 1:     If we use a 2 "Word" Code for Afterburner 2 -

NTNA-AABW+NTNA-AAB4 Start with 100 missiles

Kgen98 will allow you to type this code in, Genecyst will not - but it will accept the
code if you type it into a .PAT file (NOTE: there are NO spaces in the code!),
and in both cases the code works. So where's the problem you think?

Example 2: If you now try this 2 "Word" code for Castlevania Bloodlines -

9T6T-BGJ2+BA6T-AAA4 Start on level 1-6

Using the code as shown will crash Kgen98 back to WinDoze, Genecyst stops the
CPU emulation (the game stops)!

Clearly there is a problem with Game Genie Codes which contain more than 1 "Word", so how do we fix this?

Using the code from Example 2 for Castlevania Bloodlines, the codes MUST be entered one "Word" per line as you would on the code screen of a real Game Genie as shown here:

9T6T-BGJ2 \_
BA6T-AAA4 /  Start on level 1-6

BOTH codes must be activated for the cheat to work (I put the 'arrow' in to make it clear when your using the codes within the emu, and all the "multi-word" codes in this e-book have been entered in this format, but you can do it any way you choose.) The cheat will now work without any problems in both emulators.

We can now use this for longer "Multi-Word" Codes, for example with this 4 "Word" code for Arcus Odyssey -

2DNA-ACNR + 9XNA-BCEW + V5NA-AFE0 + A1NA-AAEY Start at act 3

You can't type it in using the emulators, and if you type it into a .PAT file the latter part of the code will appear in the description box as before. In either case the code doesn't work.

If you enter it like this, with each "Word" on a separate line:

2DNA-ACNR |\
9XNA-BCEW | |
V5NA-AFE0 | |- Start at act 3
A1NA-AAEY |/

And activate ALL 4 LINES TOGETHER the code will now work correctly.

This is probably the largest area of confusion, particularly for new users, when using Game Genie codes but as long as you follow the rule of "ONLY ONE EIGHT LETTER CODE PER LINE" you should be fine. If you're still not sure read the examples above again and try them using the emulators yourself. Also remember with emulators you are not usually restricted to just five codes as with a real Game Genie, although you may occasionally experience strange or undesirable behaviour when using lots of codes at once.

What are .PAT (Patch) files and where do I put them?

.Pat (Patch) files are simple text files which contain the Game Genie codes for a particular game and are supported by most of the commonly used emulators. They can be created using any basic text editor, for example NotePad that comes with Windows is ideal for writing your patch files, and it's much easier than entering them through the Game Genie Manager in the emulators! This e-book also contains all the known .PAT files ready for you to use, no typing required! Simply save them to your hard drive (you may need to rename them before they will work).

One other thing that seems to be causing confusion is where to put the .PAT files....

  • In Kgen this is usually in the KGen directory. It cannot be changed.
  • In Genecyst this is usually in the Genecyst directory, but you can set it to use a different directory by using File--> Directories--> Patch:
  • In Gens it is in your PATCH directory which by default is the Gens directory (folder), ie if Gens is on drive D: in a folder called "Gens" your .PAT files will be saved as D:\Gens\Game.PAT. You can change the PATCH Directory by using Options--> Directories --> Patch*.
  • Other emulators may use different directories, read the documentation that came with your emulator for more information.

The emulators will usually automatically load any existing .Pat files for your game ready for use when you first load the game. Don't forget to put your .Pat files in the right directory and remember that your .Pat file will need to have the EXACT same name as your game. For instance if you were playing Afterburner II (U) [!].smd you would need to place your .Pat file in the correct directory and rename it Afterburner II (U) [!].pat otherwise the emulator won't "see" it.

Once your Game Genie codes have been loaded you will need to activate any codes you wish to use before they have any effect on your game. Each emulator does this in a slightly different way so you will need to read the supplied documentation to find out how to do this*.

* Don't forget to download our other e-book "the Official Gens Manual" for more detailed instructions on using Gens . It's available to download for free from our website the Genesis Project, just click on the Gens logo to enter the download page.

Using Master Codes.

Some games require a "master code" to be entered before they will work with a real Game Genie, if you have a master code for a game you MUST USE IT. There is a way to bypass this however, see the "Entering Codes" section for more information.

This works slightly differently when using the Game Genie function in an emulator as master codes are only required when the game is starting up, and as Game Genie codes are never active when you first load a game master codes are generally not required. The only time you will need a master code when using emulators is when you press the "reset" button, when you do this any codes being used will still be active and you will encounter a red screen if a master code is required. This can be fixed by either entering the master code (remember the five code limit does not generally apply to emulators), or switching off any active codes, and pressing "reset" again. As the five code limit doesn't apply to emulators however it's advisable to always use a master code when one is available to avoid problems later.

Troubleshooting.

Game Genie codes do not always work, or your emulator may not be loading them as you would expect! Here are the most common causes:

 

  • Have you put your .Pat file in the right directory?
  • Did you remember to rename your .Pat file (where necessary)?
  • You did remember to activate the codes you wanted to use didn't you?
  • Did you remember to split "Multi-word" codes onto separate lines?
  • Have you activated all the lines of a "Multi-Word" code?
  • Does the game require a master code, and did you activate it?
  • Has the code been entered correctly.... check your .Pat file!
  • Games are sometimes re-released with altered code, or re-coded for different regions....
    the code may not work with the copy of the game you are using!
  • The code is a fake! (it happens trust me)