Action Replay Max
Strengths:Thousands of codes, memory card compression, DVD playback, online updates.
Weaknesses:Does not work with some PS2 models, cheating is wrong.
Posted Jan 19, 2006 - I remember the old days of galore. Me and my NES, along with my trusty Contra game, spent many long nights together. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. I kept dying during the fifth level, and she was getting bored with me. That's when I met her. Game Genie. I'm not going to lie; she seduced me, but she didn't have to try. I wanted her myself. She promised me infinite lives, unlimited ammo... that I'd finally be able to play with power. With her help, I conquered Contra. Contra wanted me to take her back, but it was already too late. I've tasted victory, and now I couldn't settle for less. How could I go back? I deserved more. And I got it. I went on to conquer many more games with Lady Game Genie on my side.
But the times were changing. It wasn't long before I got tired of Game Genie. She always delivered the goods. Always promised that she'd make me happy, but honestly, it was never as good as the first. The magic was gone. Extra lives and more ammo weren't enough for me; I wanted more. I wanted downloadable game saves, region-free DVD playback, memory card compression... and that's when I met my new mistress - Action Replay Max. The she-devil promised me all of it. She promised to do all that, plus other things Game Genie wouldn't do for me.
It sounded good to me at the time, but now I wish I never strayed. I saw her on and off a couple of times. While I was seeing her, I also went out with Gameshark and Codebreaker. I liked them better too, so why I threw it all away for Action Replay is beyond me.
Action Replay made many promises, and she kept them all more or less, but I wasn't satisfied with her performance. The foreplay was horrible: it would take her four or five minutes to warm up, and then she actually had to load up the codes. I told her to take her time, but in the back of my mind, I just wanted to get it over with. The codes themselves are ho-hum at best. I got the basics like unlimited lives and invincibility for the more popular games, but content was neglible for some of the lesser-known games. That's when I learned her dirty little secret: her codes are encrypted so that you can't use them in other cheat devices. I don't know if she still does that, but this didn't allow me to enter my own values, modify memory addresses, etc. What I'm trying to say is that she didn't allow me to create my own codes. I had to use her codes. I had to follow her rules. Sometimes I like it when she dominates, but this isn't one of those cases.
What's worse is that I don't know if I could trust her. I don't know if she would delete my games saves or crash my games, because she's a... third-party peripheral. Oh God, please don't let her mother read this. I didn't have to worry about those kinda things with Game Genie because I could always reset and try again if the game crashed, but Action Replay puts a lot of pressure on me. I want to trust her, but when my hours and hours of game saves are on the line, sorry, but baby's got to go.
I had a good time with Action Replay while it lasted. I still see her from time to time, and we'll say hi and talk a while, but I think my journey to the seedier side of gaming is over. I've had enough of the lies, the cheating, the deception... I just want to play my games now.
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very bugggy
