GameShark Labs · Built by players
The cheat-code canon, kept by the people who never put the controller down.
Game Genie codes copied by hand into the back of a Trapper Keeper. The Konami Code burned into your thumbs. The glitch your cousin swore was real — and turned out to be. That whole universe of player ingenuity never had a real home. We’re building it one: a living canon of cheat-code culture, written against sourced facts and corrected in the open.
01 · What we’re preserving
Every other retro-game archive sorts by genre, or by whatever the crowd upvoted that week. None of them treat player ingenuity — cheat codes, controller exploits, glitches, easter eggs, design oversights, schoolyard lore — as a single culture worth keeping. We do. We call it the Enhancer Canon: the definitive record of every clever, ridiculous, game-breaking thing players ever pulled off, Atari through the PS2.
No code is too obscure. No rumor is too weird to run down. If a nine-year-old in 1998 swore it worked, it earns a real entry: sourced, cited, and kept for good.
02 · Three things we’re making
One canon, three ways to hold it: a vault, a device, and a book, all drawn from the same sourced record.
The vault
SharkVault
The living archive: every game, every code, every exploit, drafted with our editorial AI, checked against its sources, and corrected in the open. You're standing in it.
The device
RetroShark
The codes, back in your hands: a bring-your-own-games device that reads emulator memory live, so a code fires while you play. In development, not shipped.
The book
Compendium
The canon in print: a coffee-table hardcover with original backdrop art for every game. The one you'll actually leave on the table.
03 · The Founders
None of this would exist without the people who funded it. 1,126 Kickstarter backers put real money behind a cheat-code book before a single page shipped — and they became our Founders.
Every Founder gets a permanent number — Founder #1 through the last backer, in the exact order you pledged. It’s yours forever: on your profile, on the community wall, and stamped on anything you share.
See membership04 · Who’s building it
A small crew of players, engineers, and lifers who finished the games and never got over them.
05 · Get in
- Become a memberThe Founding Membership, and everything it unlocks.
- Browse the canonEvery game we cover, with the open guides up front.
- Search the codesCheat codes from every game that is open to everyone.
- Backdrop GalleryOriginal art, one backdrop per game. Full-resolution files are a member perk.
- CommunityThe Founders, Supporters, and Top Referrers walls.
- VoteFounders pick which games join the vault next.
- RoadmapWhat we are building, and what ships next.
- Sample the CompendiumA free look at the book, no signup.
- FAQHow guides get written, and how to report an error.
Backed the Kickstarter? Sign in with your backer email to claim your Founder number.
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