Every once in awhile, I remember the expansive collection of games I have built up over the years and decide to try out one of the older ones. Recently I dusted off my old N64 and had a blast going through Star Fox 64. I still think Peppy is a senile old man and Falco is a grade A douche. After my adventures were done and Andross once again had his ass handed to him on a silver platter, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye hiding down in the bottom of the box. My old copy of GoldenEye.

Now for anyone who has ever played this game will understand why I nearly wept at its discovery. The hours I spent on this game with friends are very numerous. It reminded me of simpler times, but it also brought something else to my attention. Games these days lack proper cheat codes. There is no Big Head mode in Mass Effect, no flying cars in L.A. Noire, and even the Konami Code has seen a decrease in its appearance.

Now I know one possible reason is that modern games have achievements and the like so using cheat codes would be cheating to get those virtual marks of accomplishment. Why not just disable achievements for that play session then if codes are used? Then we can have our flying car paintball wars and leave your precious achievements alone.

Cheat codes are a missed part of gaming history in my book. I found that they were more useful for making the game much more entertaining than actually helping me cheat the game somehow.