"Octopus is fatal" and other bizarre Game Genie codes

That's a weird thing to wish for

If you grew up gaming in the '90s, the Game Genie line of cheat-enabling accessories will always have a certain mysticism to it. As long as you knew the correct string of letters and numbers to punch in, these peripherals let you hack into your cartridges and fiddle with the game's parameters, which gave youngsters a kind of godlike power to bend virtual reality to their will. Most of the codes have obvious benefits: invincibility, infinite lives, the ability to use items indefinitely. But some Game Genie codes are just... bizarre.

It's understandable that there'd be codes to make a given game more difficult for all the hardcore challenge-seekers, maybe by making the enemies take more hits to kill. Others seem needless, like a cheat for instant restarts in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on NES (which you shouldn't be playing in the first place). But then there are the Game Genie codes that seem flat-out absurd, no matter how you slice 'em. I've scoured through the listings on GameGenie.com in search of the most peculiar-sounding cheats I could find, and I was not disappointed. Take a look at these laughably inexplicable cheat codes, and as a bonus, please enjoy the nostalgia bomb that's sure to detonate when you see all these 8- and 16-bit games again.

"Worthiness item worth nothing on pickup"

But I thought you said...? This cheat threatens to create a dimensional paradox, because it brings into existence that which should not be able to exist: the worthless Worthiness.

Latest Videos From

The game: Wayne's World on SNES
The code: C2B5-04BC

"Go on to next day after completing Monday"

Yep, that's usually what happens. Monday ends, and Tuesday begins. Not sure I needed a Game Genie code for that.

The game: Paperboy 2 on Game Boy
The code: 007-0CB-F72

"Shields last until at least end of the world"

I guarantee that this shield will last at least until the apocalypse. Also, I defy you to find a more perfectly toned male buttocks on the Super Nintendo than the one on glorious display here.

The game: Gods on SNES
The code: 1DE7-31E8

"Some bullets kill you"

I'd be so bold as to say that most do, actually.

The game: Spawn on SNES
The code: EED7-8F20

"Fish are devastating"

These orange piranhas might not look like much, but rest assured, they are absolutely annihilating Greendog's flesh with their razor-sharp teeth. The lanky 'surfer dude' has no mouth (or any facial features, for that matter), but he must scream.

The game: Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude! on Sega Genesis
The code: CD8A-AACL

"Magic blocks are always hooters"

I'm not sure what that means, exactly, but it doesn't sound appropriate for an all-ages puzzle platformer.

The game: Krusty's Super Fun House on Sega Genesis
The code: ABFA-AA6J + 93FA-AAEL

"Infinite 'pump-ups'"

Why would this be useful, you ask? I'll just let Robin Hood: Men in Tights explain.

The game: Jammit! on Sega Genesis
The code: AKET-AA4C

"Octopus is fatal"

Look at the murderous glint in this eight-armed predator's eye. Though I hate Ecco for being the most kid-friendly protagonist of any brutally sadistic game ever, even I wouldn't wish this kind of end on the poor dolphin. To cross this octopus' tentacles is to know death itself.

The game: Ecco the Dolphin on Sega Genesis
The code: HAVT-NAFC

"Start with letters X and T"

But why would you want to? WHY?!

The game: Bubble Bobble on Game Gear
The code: 00F 12E 5D4