10 Most Famous Video Game Cheat Codes

7. There Is No Cow Level - StarCraft (1998)

Blizzard are nothing if not self-aware. Or, at least, they were in their early days.

Their critically acclaimed genre pioneer, Diablo, is the source of a phenomenon that has been perpetuated in the company's games ever since as a running joke among developers and fans alike.

Rumour had it that by clicking enough times on one of the cows around the town of Tristram, the player would be transported to a 'secret cow level' hidden away as an easter egg within the game. This rumour turned out to be false, but Blizzard clearly got a kick out of it and decided to carry the joke on.

1998's StarCraft, the cynically-christened 'Warcraft in Space', was released a year after Diablo, and features a cheat code that not only bags you an instant victory in the game itself, but also puts to rest that infamous theory that fans had yearned to find the answer to:

"there is no cow level".

And while that may have been true at the time, Diablo II does, indeed, finally give us that secret cow level we'd all been dying to see. It's exactly what it says on the tin, too: a level. Full of cows. With halberds.

Contributor

Graduate composer, on-and-off session musician, aspiring novelist, professional nerd. Where procrastination and cynicism intertwine, Lee Clarke can be found.