You've thought about it, just admit it. The thought of being "master of the game" flows over you like a warm breeze, does it not? You desire the power to become invincible, jump as tall as buildings, or just acquire every item in the game. Conquering a game without cheating is fine, no doubt about it, but there's something about cheating that is exhilirating and undeniable. While anybody can just cheat, it takes something more to be a true master of the cheating world, and we've got five easy steps to becoming that master. If you're pure of heart and think cheating is wrong, turn back! You're in the wrong place.

Getting into cheating is no laughing matter; it takes hard work and discipline, like learning Karate or cleaning your bath tub. zSB(3,3);if(!z336){var zIsb=gEI("adsb");if(zIsb){zIsb.style.display="inline";zIsb.style.height="0px";zIsb.style.width="0px";}var zIss=gEI("adss");if(zIss){zIss.style.display="inline";zIss.style.height="0px";zIss.style.width="0px";}} But there are ways to get into it, provided you have the fortitude to continue. Becoming a master isn't easy, but here are 5 steps to help you along to the dark side.

1. Have Your Online Codes, Cheats, and Strategies Resource

Behind any master cheater is any number of resource sites for staying on the top of the game. These resources offer strategies, codes, and an overall database of help. Excellent resources for master cheaters are Gamewinners, cheats.ign, and GameFAQs. These sites combined make up most of the internet strategies, codes, and cheat resources. Using them all is the most effective way to get every cheat, code, and help you could possibly need.

2. Get the Guides

While online sources have the benefit of updating frequently, it becomes tedious to get up, get on the internet, and search for what you want. Written guides are more essential than online guides because they often have better strategy guides and walkthroughs than they do online. The reason for that is that companies like to charge money or make you sign up for membership for walkthroughs. Prima Games makes excellent written guides that can be found just about everywhere. Of course, these guides cost money, but what you get in their guides can be essential, especially for games that require lots of re-looking (fighting games are the best example). Brady Games is another good resource for guides. And, on top of their information, written guides have neat pictures.

3. Use all Cheats Possible, but Know the Good Ones

A true master never neglects even the smallest cheat. If there are 20 different Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas cheats, the master cheater will use them all. Of course, a master cheater knows which cheats will be beneficial in the game. Codes such as "Flying Cars" is only fun for a while, but cheats like "unlimited ammo" or "invulnerability" are the bread and butter of a master cheater's arsenal. "What's that? You've got rocket launchers? Hah! So do I!" ...and so on. Of course, the codes that are usefull should be used first, while the codes that are merely for entertainment should be tucked away in case you desire to impress a friend.

4. Save the Game After You've Cheated

While some games make you re-enter the cheats when you continue your game, some, like the afforementioned Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas allow you to "get all guns" and "get full life" and then save the game so that when you restart, you don't have to re-enter the codes. Always save the game if you can after you've cheated; a master cheater knows that when you cheat, you don't want to have to cheat again; that's just wasteful. 

5. Get Action Replay

The final essential part of the master cheater is Action Replay. All you cheaters out there probably know what Action replay is, but before I get into why it's essential, here's a little backstory.

We all remember the Game Genie, which was Galoob's "game enhancer" that allowed you to enter a code and "enhance" your game. It also featured the ability to make your own code - provided it didn't crash the game (which it frequently did). Game Genies were around during the earlier SNES and Genesis days. Things went pretty well with that, so later, during the PlayStation and N64 days, InterAct made the GameShark, a similar device that allowed you to cheat like no other. Interact wasn't doing so hot in the money part of things, so they sold their GameShark to MadKatz for a desperate 5 million. Unfortunately, GameSharks had a slight hiatus, and so in this time CodeJunkies brought the Action Replay "game enhancer" over to the US. This became the gamers choice of "game enhancers," but the two devices were essentially the same.

Action Replay is currently the only way to cheat on Xbox Live, although if you do you can be booted by Microsoft. Still the Action Replay and GameShark "game enhancers" are the final step to becoming a master cheater. They offer hundreds of codes (varies by game) for hundreds of titles on the current generation consoles. Using Action Replay allows you to do things that the online cheats and print walkthroughs don't allow.

Of course, Action Replay isn't perfect and gamers need to be aware of this. Every time you want to use the system and play a new game you have to boot up with the Action Replay disc, which is annoying. There is a device that allows you to connect your PC to your PS2 and store codes on your hard drive, but this is awkward. More simply, you can edit and store codes on your memory card. For Xbox things are simplified - you can store codes on your hard drive. While it's not the best peripheral ever, it's still the final jump to becoming a master cheater.

Remember, being a master cheater doesn't just mean doing these 5 things, but doing them well. It involves using cheats frequently and getting through even the toughest spots in Ninja Gaiden without breaking a sweat. But follow these five steps and you'll be on your way to being a Master Cheater in no time.