GAMESHARK FAQ:

Hopefully, I can answer the most commonly submitted questions regarding Gamesharks, and other game enhancers on this page.

Q: What is a Gameshark?
A: A Gameshark is a device that attaches to the bottom of your N64 game cartridge, and plugs into your N64. A Gameshark is used to change values in the game's memory. For example, giving your character unlimited health, or unlimited ammo. Codes are activated in the Gameshark's menu before the game itself is loaded.

Q: What else can I do with a Gameshark?
A: Besides finding easier ways to complete your games, you can also access many hidden things with Gamesharks. There are many characters, items, vehicles, and levels that are left in the memory of many games. These things are not used in the final game, but left behind by the programmers. With a Gameshark, we can re-activate some of these long lost things, and see them for ourselves.

Q: What's the difference between Gameshark and Action Replay?
A: Action Replay is the European counterpart to the Gameshark.

Q: Will Gameshark Codes work with Action Replay?
A: No. Both devices have slightly different addresses for codes, so the codes are not directly interchangeable.

Q: How do you convert Gameshark codes to Action Replay codes?
A: The only calculation that I know offhand, is for codes that begin with 801... You take the code into the windows calculator, set it to Hex. From there, subtract 18C70 from the Gameshark code's address, to get the Action Replay equivalent.

Q: How does a Gameshark work?
A: A Gameshark changes values in the memory addresses in the game's RAM. Many values are loaded into the RAM as you are playing your games. You can use a Gameshark to set these values.

Q: Will a Gameshark damage my games?
A: Gamesharks have been known to occasionally erase the saved game files of certain games. Zelda in particular. But I've been using Gamesharks and hacking Goldeneye for years, and have not had a single problem.

Q: How do you hack with a Gameshark?
A: Gameshark Pro enables just about anyone to become a hacker, to a certain degree. It allows for value searches. So, we can search for different values that we'd like to change, such as health, ammo, or money. Practically every aspect of a game can be hacked and modified with a Gameshark. You just need to figure out exactly how to search for that aspect.

Q: Why aren't Gamesharks approved by Nintendo?
A: Hackers can expose the many flaws of a game's programming with a Gameshark. Plus, we can see many things inside the game's memory that we were never meant to see. And, with enough time spent in any given game's memory, we can figure out exactly how the game itself works. Naturally, such a useful tool would never be approved by the makers of the games.

Q: Why do some Gameshark codes freeze games?
A: A Gameshark changes a value in the game's RAM. Sometimes, this value is just not accepted by the game, so it crashes. This is especially common when you mix codes who's effects contradict each other.

How a Gameshark code works:

I'll use a Goldeneye code that I hacked to change the uniform of a guard in the Dam level for an example.
801DF9F1 00??

The first eight digits in a Gameshark code (in this code, 801DF9F1), specify the memory address of the object you'd like to change. The last four (00??), specify the value of what you'd like to change that object to.

If you were to view that location of the game's memory WITHOUT using any Gameshark codes, it would look like this:
801DF9F1 0025

The value 25 just happens to be the value for the Siberian Guard's uniform. Changing that value to another number, will give you a different uniform for that guard. The value for Oddjob, is 0F. So, if you use 0F as the last part of the code:
801DF9F1 000F
You would have Oddjob in the Dam, in the place of one of the normal guards.