10 Awesome Old-School Video Game Features We Don't See Anymore

10. Cheats

Now we’re not talking about modding the life out of Skyrim or exploiting the myriad glitches in Sonic Boom here, but the classic pause the game and enter a code style cheats.

In what was undoubtedly the first experience of actually breaking the rules some kids had ever had, you were never really a true gamer until you had held Select while turning on the power, or quickly pushed Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, B on the main menu to achieve your unholy ends.

Such was the prevalence of cheats in eighties and nineties gaming that cheats were published in magazines, devices such as Action Replay (created specifically to allow players to cheat at games!) were sold on store shelves, and many games actually had a “Cheat Code” option on their main menu.

These days are sadly behind us, but with good reason.

After all, what use would a good old Level Select cheat be in a game like The Witcher or Breath of the Wild, where “Levels” as we knew them are no longer defined?

What good would the classic Infinite Lives cheat be in a game like Jedi Fallen Order when the result of suffering a defeat is merely the option to respawn at your last meditation spot?

Games are now seen as a true art-form, and not something to be sullied by cheap exploits.