I remember the first time someone showed me No. 3 on the below list. I was standing in the back of a Tilt mall arcade in St. Clairsville, Ohio, waiting for my turn to play Area 51. The machine, then relatively new to the market, was surrounded by a group of teenagers, each attempting the trick before one finally pulled it off. Suddenly, everything changed on the game’s screen, and I was in awe.
After doing it myself, I told a friend, who told another friend, and so on. Back then, that’s how video game cheats were shared. That, and the irreplaceable vessel of video game magazines. (GameFAQs.com was just starting to make its way through the Internet tributaries in the mid-1990s.) At the time, there were some rumored cheats that turned out to indeed be hoaxes; others were entirely possibly, but were thwarted by user error or sticky joysticks. Area 51 created a bit of a micro-obsession with arcade-exclusive cheats that hasn’t waned.
Below, we’re going to take a look at that very cheat referenced in the first paragraph above, as well as four other tricks of the 1990s that made you a celebrity in packed arcades. You’ll notice that these get more difficult as we count down to 1:
5. Cruis’n USA (1994): Bonus Cars
OK; so, this one’s the easiest to pull off. When you're selecting a car, simply hold down View 2 on the lefthand side of the machine to see options like a police car, a school bus, and even an ATV. (Mess with the View buttons during the track selection to see some fun options pop into the menu, too.)
4. Area 51 (1995): Kronn Hunter Mode
Oh, boy: Here it is. Start a new game and shoot only the first three members of the S.T.A.A.R. team (a.k.a., the good guys). The blast doors will open and close and you'll suddenly find yourself inside an alien's viewpoint, fighting on the other side with different colors and shooting graphics. This, I would find, is the most popular cheat among show-offs at Aladdin's Castle.
3. Crazy Taxi (1999): Bike Time
One more involving vehicles here: Crazy Taxi was a revelation when it arcades in the late ’90s. It’s fast, vibrant, and takes more than a few quarters to get good. Even devotees are shocked to find out that there's a way to get a bike with an attached seat for your riders. It’s a bit on the tricky side, though: After inserting your coin, you press and hold both the accelerator and brake pedals, press start, push up the gearshift, release the pedals, choose your driver, push down the gearshift, and press start. The result is a lot of fun, though surely much harder, physically, on the protagonist.
2. Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash Of Super Heroes (1998): Secret Characters, Colors
Some of them are below, but you can find the rest of them on IGN’s site.
Lilith: Starting at Zangief, move Left (2x), Down (2x), Right (2x), Up (2x), Down (2x), Left (2x), Up (4x), Right, Left, Down (4x), Right (2x), Up (4x), Left (2x), Down (4x), Right, Down.
Shadow Lady: Starting at Morrigan, move Up, Right (x2), Down (x4), Left (x2), Up (x4), Right (x2), Left (x2), Down (x2), Right (x2), Down (x2), Left (x2), Up (x2), Right (x2), Up (x2), Left (x2), Down (x6).
And my personal favorite, Golden War Machine: Starting at Zangief, move Left (x2), Down (x2), Right (x2), Down (x2), Left (x2), Up (x4), Right (x2), Left (x2), Down (x4), Right (x2), Up (x2), Left (x2), Down (x2), Right (x2), Down (x4).
1. Super Street Fighter II: Turbo (1994): Playing as Akuma
This one is legendary for its difficulty, thus making an appearance as rare as Halley's Comet. Highlight Ryu or Ken for 3 seconds; highlight T. Hawk for 3 seconds; highlight Guile for 3 seconds; highlight Cammy for 3 seconds; highlight Ryu or Ken again for three seconds; and then press "Start" and all three punches at once.