Game Genie is a line of video game cheat cartridges originally designed by Codemasters, sold by Camerica and Galoob. The first device in the series was released in 1990[1] for the Nintendo Entertainment System, with subsequent devices released for the Super NES, Game Boy, Genesis, and Game Gear. All Game Genie devices temporarily modify game data, allowing the player to do things unintended by developers such as, depending on the game, cheating, manipulating various aspects of games, and accessing unused assets and functions. Five million units of the original Game Genie products were sold worldwide,[2] and most video game console emulators for the platforms it was on feature Game Genie code support. Emulators that have Game Genie support also allow a near-unlimited number of codes to be entered whereas the actual products have an upper and lower limit, between three and six codes.[citation needed]
In 1993, Codemasters began development on a "Game Genie 2", with Galoob to market and distribute the device in North America,[3] but no Game Genie devices were released for the fifth generation of consoles. Other companies have produced similar hacking devices such as the Code Breaker, Action Replay, and Game Shark. The Game Genie brand was later revived by the company Hyperkin, who released cheat systems for newer consoles.[citation needed]
Codemasters later implemented similar cheat systems in some of their later games post-Game Genie, such as TOCA Touring Car Championship and Colin McRae Rally.[citation needed]