cheat cartridge

A cheat cartridge is a device that connects to any sort of cartridge-based video game system. It allows a user to input special cheat codes to manipulate a game in a way not permitted by its original programming. Usually the effect is to gain infinite lives, ammunition, unlock secrets, or do things that would otherwise allow an unfair advantage (or disadvantage in some cases). Some games have codes to activate unreleased levels, weapons, or items that may not have been available normally, and some even have codes to access debug menus used by programmers (as for beta testing purposes). Equivalent non-cartridge devices have been released and sold for modern game systems that use optical media instead of cartridges to store games.