Cheat code

A cheat code is a key sequence, password, or series of steps to be entered within a video game that will provide the player some object, ability, or access to a level or location within the game that is secret, hidden, or that would have otherwise been unobtainable or unavailable to the player.

Activation methods for cheat codes might include entering a code at a password prompt or a pressing a combination of game controller buttons. Effects might include unlocking a character or improving a character's performance (providing a car with greater acceleration, for example.) Other entry points may be a developer console, a code entry dialog, at title screens, or in-game.

Unlike other cheating methods, cheat codes are implemented by the game developers themselves,[ often as a tool to playtest certain aspects of the game without difficulty.