{"id":133507,"date":"2023-05-03T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-148761"},"modified":"2023-05-03T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T17:00:00","slug":"soapbox-15-years-ago-the-action-replay-ruined-pokemon-for-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2023\/05\/03\/soapbox-15-years-ago-the-action-replay-ruined-pokemon-for-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Soapbox: 15 Years Ago, The Action Replay Ruined Pok\u00e9mon For Me"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image: Ethan Zack \/ Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over.<\/em> Today<\/em>, Ethan remembers a time when he flew too close to the sun…<\/em><\/p>\n

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This is the power fantasy eight-year-old me dreamed of when I slotted an Action Replay into my Nintendo DS for the very first time. As a young kid with hundreds of hours dumped into my copy of Pok\u00e9mon Diamond<\/a>, the idea of having a device to let me input cheat codes and do whatever my heart desired was quite the compelling prospect. Unfortunately, hacking my way to Pok\u00e9mon mastery would end up leaving me with nothing but regret \u2014 and a few glitchy Bad Eggs burning a hole in my PC boxes.<\/p>\n

In those early years of playing games, there was no series I loved more than Pok\u00e9mon. As with many fans, much of that appreciation stemmed from the games\u2019 core loop of battling, training, and collecting colorful monsters. Still, there was more to it than that. Each game presented an entire world that felt genuinely lived in. Pok\u00e9mon Diamond exemplified this quality more than most other titles in the franchise, boasting a region filled with stories of ancient, world-creating deities, mysterious areas like the haunted Old Chateau, and other fascinating tidbits of historical lore hidden away in library bookshelves and optional NPC dialogue.<\/p>\n

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It was a rush, but a fleeting one.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I treasured that sense of intrigue. Coupled with the myriad schoolyard rumors and internet hoaxes that swirled around the Gen 4 titles, it felt like the game had an endless abundance of secrets to discover, even beyond what might be accessible to the average player. What would happen if I talked to the Pachirisu NPC sitting within the fenced-in area of the Pok\u00e9mon Day Care? What if I could Surf my way into the open waters past the boulder barriers on Route 223?<\/p>\n

I wanted answers to these burning questions. And I wanted super-cool, super-strong Pok\u00e9mon. I got both.<\/p>\n

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Image: Ethan Zack \/ Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first cheat I entered with my Action Replay maxed out every member of my party\u2019s stats. After turning Torterra and friends into beasts that could reasonably dethrone Arceus itself, I then set about filling my bag with 999 Master Balls, 999 Rare Candies, 999 Exp Shares, and so on, no doubt obliterating Sinnoh\u2019s economy in the process. I also needed something to use all those super-strong items on, so I spawned in shiny variants of Deoxys, Celebi, and every other rare \u2018Mon I could think of, catching them all without breaking a sweat.<\/p>\n

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I set about filling my bag with 999 Master Balls, 999 Rare Candies, 999 Exp Shares, and so on, no doubt obliterating Sinnoh\u2019s economy in the process<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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It was a rush, but a fleeting one. Like a kid finally allowed to eat candy for every meal of the day, I grew sick of the instant gratification pretty quickly. I turned my thoughts to exploration.<\/p>\n

After selecting a cheat to allow my character to walk through walls, barrelling through the treeline barrier of Route 214 was an easy feat. In hindsight, I\u2019m not sure what exactly I was expecting to find out there. A hidden area, perhaps, or a yet undiscovered Legendary Pok\u00e9mon waiting for someone to find it. A single secret item, even. Anything.<\/p>\n

Instead, what I discovered was a greater revelation than my childish mind could have ever anticipated. There, lying just beyond the normally-viewable foliage was\u2026nothing. A black, empty out-of-bounds void. I took a step past the trees and out into the inky ether, and the game promptly froze. Rebooting my DS and trying the same thing in a few other locales yielded similar results. That was that.<\/p>\n