9. Tilt
Pinball may not be a video game, but the tilt cheat is so famous it just has to be mentioned. This is the original way to cheat at a coin-operated machine: abusing it physically. By jostling the pinball machine in just the right way, it is possible to manipulate the ball in ways that are not possible within the games normal rules and physical limitations. The ball can be bounced up into regions it doesnt belong, rescued from a precarious spot, or slammed back and forth between high-scoring targets. So frequently used was the tilt in its day that players forced a redesign of the machine. Pinball manufacturers began installing anti-tilt devices and the trick must now be used much more subtly. But tilting isnt a trick limited to the pinball machine. It can be done on just about any cartridge game. The trick is especially popular on the Nintendo 64. Some tilts yield more interesting consequences than others. In Ocarina of Time, it is possible to unlock a limited debug mode. Players tinkering around with the Ocarina of Time debug mode even discovered an Arwing from Starfox 64 that had been used during development to stand in for flying enemies. Often, tilting the cartridge is not a helpful thing to do. In modern pinball games it can cost you a credit. Tilting a cartridge can damage the game permanently and isn't really a practical way of getting past difficult parts. Still, strange enough things happen to make cartridge tilting a fun trick to experiment with.