Action Replay Max DS: cheats sometimes prosper

The Nintendo DS has been out for all of three months, but already you can crack your games wide open thanks to Datel's new Action Replay Max Duo. It gives your DS console an ugly protrusion that makes PSP owners laugh at it even more, but then again, Action Replay allows you to cheat your way through both Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS games.

Crave remembers when it had an Action Replay for the Mega Drive and had to enter thousands of codes just to make Sonic the Hedgehog invincible. But we have the Internet now, and all you need to do is hook up the cartridge to your computer to download all the latest codes. With GBA games, the number of codes available can make you think you're looking at The Matrix, but with DS games, you simply download or swap saved games with your friends. Neither might sound too appealing unless you're a schoolboy, but seeing as though it finally helped us get 120 Stars on Super Mario 64 DS, we can't argue too much.

The new cartridge costs £30 and comes in a particularly alluring silver case -- the Faberge Egg of tin packaging. The PSP version is due out when the console launches in September, but anyone still unconvinced as to how popular a Nintendo DS can make you, take a look at this lucky bear. -GC