Ultimate Techniques: SNES Game Genie

1. How the GG works:

        The Game Genie modifies a piece of the game cartridge ROM as it is 
loaded into memory. Its codes are made like this:
VVAA-AAAA
where V is the value, in hexadecimal, and A is the address of where to put
it. The hex is encoded, but the address is encoded in nearly indecipherable
ways. I believe that one letter is part of 2 numbers, and the other parts are
part of another letter.

2. Hexadecimal??

        Before you start, take the chart on page 18 and write under it so that 
it looks like:

D F 4 7 0 9 1 5 6 B C 8 A 2 3 E
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

        This will help you a lot. Now let me explain hexadecimal. You know how 
the decimal system uses digits 0-9, the last digit equals the number, the next
to last is the number times 10, the next 100, etc...

        But does it have to be 9 and 10? The hexadecimal system uses digits
0 thru F, with A to F representing 10 to 15. Instead of digit values going
by tens, it goes by 16's. As in, a 2 digit number would be digit 1, times 16,
plus digit 2, instead of digit 1, times 10, plus digit 2. To change a number
from 0 to 255 into a 2-digit hex number, make digit 1 the number divided by
16, and digit 2 the remainder. For example:

0A=10, 10=16, 20=32, 2A=42, 63=99, and FF=255.

        Why do programmers use hex? Because a byte can be represented with
only 2 hexadecimal numbers.

        You should remember that I said that Game Genie hex was encoded. The
chart I had you make is the code key. The old chart (the numbers on top) 
contains the Game Genie hex from 0 through F. The numbers I had you write,
the numbers on the bottom, are the real hex numbers. Thus;

0 decimal, 00 hex, DD encoded;
16 decimal, 10 hex, FD encoded;
42 decimal, 2A hex, 4C encoded;
99 decimal, 63 hex, 17 encoded;
255 decimal, FF hex, EE encoded.

3. Technique #1.
        
        This is the technique in the instructions. Change the first 2 letters,
the value, to anything you want. If it has a number in it, use hex to change
it to any number that you want. It also works very well on codes without 
numbers, but you'll have no idea what's going to happen.

For example: 7FB4-6F07, Start with 50 lives becomes 14B4-6F07, start with 99
lives.

4. Technique #2

        Change the fourth letter to anything that you want. This doesn't
always work, but usually the effect is pretty different.

5. Technique #3

        This is pretty complex. If the fifth or seventh number is in one of
these 4 categories, change it to a number in the same category. The seventh
works the most commonly.

Category 1: D 0 6 A
Category 2: F 9 B 2
Category 3: 4 1 C 3
Category 4: 7 5 C E

6. Technique #4

        Change the sixth or eighth letter to a number in the same category.
The categories are different here:

Category 1: D F 4 7
Category 2: 0 9 1 5
Category 3: 6 B C 8
Category 4: A 2 3 E

7. Technique #5

        This is a favorite of mine. Some codes, most of them being in the 
codebook or Code Updates, are made up of 2 or more codes. Try one by itself
and see what happens.

8. Technique #6

        If you see a code for a game that is the same as a code for another,
try transferring another code from one game to the next and see if it works.

9. Rules of Combining Codes

        If 2 codes entered in simultaneously are the same except for the first 
2 letters, the last one entered takes precedence over the first.
        Try combining a blackout code made from another code, with the 
original and see what happens. Unless of course the codes are the same except
for the first 2 letters.

10. How does Galoob always come up with such good codes?

        It's my opinion that they have a decompiler. Aagh!

by Michael Goldman.

