Save States and Cheating

For those that don't know, a Save State is a feature of an emulator that saves the game exactly as it is. When you Load State it brings up the game exactly as you save stated it. This allows for saves in games that don't normally have them, or in places you can't save in the game (a save anywhere in the Final Fantasy games for example)



I do a fair amount of my videogaming through emulation. I have the Xbox 360 and the PS2 hooked up, and everything else I do through my computer and whoo boy do I have a bunch,and even worse I have the consoles, games and such in storage upstairs. Emulation for me is for convenience.

So I was playing the PS1 Space invaders update, and I play through 5 or 10 stages at a sit. I save state before each level, and if I die, I replay. I do similar things with Super Mario Brothers 3 and Sonic. I play through a level or two and save state. This allows me to actually progress through and beat these games, something I just don't have the time to do in one sitting these days.

Save stating is actually one of the main reasons I do emulation, for just that reason. It allows me to play the games on my schedule, not theirs. And as I don't have the 3 to 5 hours to spend beating a mario game all at once, it is refreshing to be able to play through old favorites, and not just play the same levels over and over.

It also means I am “cheating' to an extent. By replaying levels till I get them right from a savestate I don't suffer whatever negative consequences for failing at that point. This allows me to get every crystal in sonic (I hit the bonus section, and don't get the crystal – load state and start the level over. And I am not one to be above cheating – I used the old Game Genie on my NES and Genesis, Gameshark on PS1 and 2, and recently been using Code Breaker.

The reason I do this? Simple, and it is the mantra of this blog. I play the games on my time, my way. If the game is too difficult for me, I cheat. If I the game is set up to only play in one long sitting, I'll break it up. I may not be playing the games the designers sold me, but if the only way I can enjoy them is to change the rules, then so be it.

Now Back to games - Shooting down marching aliens.

Games played since last post:
Gauntlet Dark Legacy (PS2)
Solitaire (PC)
Conan (360)
Space Invaders (PS1)
Ghost Recon Advance Warfare 2 (360)
Black (Xbox)
Bonk (TG-16)
Exile (TG-16 CD)