ZoMBiE343

April 17th, 2009
Lazy Bastard: What is your favorite code/hack that you hacked?

ZoMBiE343: My favorite was the Super Nova code that I created for FF7. You could use one/any character's limit break to use Super Nova. Unfortunately, it only worked against Safer Sephiroth, in the final battle, and I didn't have the tools/knowledge/equipment to figure out why. I was actually trying to hack a limit modifier. I used my GameShark Pro to freeze the value after Sephiroth cast it. I was going to turn my Playstation off...but I said, 'let me finish him off with an Omnislash'....my brother and I couldn't stop screaming when the camera zoomed into cloud's face and did the Super Nova animation. We were even more excited to find out that it did Super Nova damage (instead of Omnislash). Good times. 



Lazy Bastard: What is your favorite code/hack of all time?

ZoMBiE343: I was always envious of this guy CzarDragon. He created the famous Debug Room code in FF7. That was such an awesome, ground breaking code. It really taught us what could be hidden in any game! As it turns out, he was actually trying to create a code to change cloud's size. Little did he know, that when he was searching for memory values that, yes the map changes ...but so does Cloud's size! ...Map modifier, Size modifier....this is why you have to be very careful with how you hack a certain code.
OK, I'm coming back to answer this question again. When I was 8, there was a Super Mario Bros. NES Game Genie code that turned all the Goombas into Toad! ...Yes, all the goombas were Toad. It was awesome. To this day, I have been unable to find this code, but that code is what made me very curious about how cheats were made.



Lazy Bastard: Who would you say influenced you the most in the video game hacking scene? Who did you 'look up to' when you first entered the scene? (doesn't have to be the same person for both)

ZoMBiE343: CodeMaster and CzarDragon. I never understood what was involved when creating codes and I always had lots of ideas. I also loved that they got to play games as much as they wanted.



Lazy Bastard: What was your first code/hack? 

ZoMBiE343: My first code was probably infinite health for the mini-games in Ape-escape. I created things like "inifinte health" or "one-hit knock out"



Lazy Bastard: What do you think is the most difficult type of code/hack to hack, and why?

ZoMBiE343: Codes that literally take the game apart or make hidden elements of us regular gamers. I hate how they'd tease you with things like, putting Sephiroth or Lynx in your party, and not let you play as them. These kinds of codes require a lot of creativity. I never had a disassembler and couldn't use assembly language to figure out what the game was doing. I had to use my brain and say, "jumping means my character goes higher from the ground. Maybe...just maybe, the game stores a number that represents how high my character is from the ground". I would follow this logic and create, let's say, a mega-jump code.



Lazy Bastard: What is your favorite type of code/hack?

ZoMBiE343: The ones that no one ever expects to be possible. The codes that really make you pick up a game and play it all over again. I must have beat FF7 about 15 times.



Lazy Bastard: Which game did you find the most fun to hack, and why?

ZoMBiE343: Final Fantasy 7...duh. Mostly Squaresoft games. There were a lot of similarities with how their games were designed. HOWEVER, one game, Vagrant story used NEGATIVE numbers to store how high your character jumps in the air. SO, as your character jumped higher, this memory address kept DROPPING. I remember showing this to CodeMaster and he rudely told me, "Have you ever heard of SIGNED mode???" ...I asked him to look at it and within 30 seconds he had the code (a better one, mind you)...and he was floored. He said, "maybe the programmers were doing the weed when they came up with this" .....Good times. :)



Lazy Bastard: Was there ever a code you just couldn't get to work quite correctly (something you hacked/attempted to hack)?

ZoMBiE343: I was disappointed with the SuperNova code after many months of trying to get it work OUTSIDE of the Safer-Sephiroth battle. Or, I did make a code in FF7, that actually give you weapons with triple materia links!  Normally you could only link two materia, say Final Attack + Phoenix (when you die, Pheonix gets cast)....well, how about: Final Attack + Double/Quad Attack + Knights of the round? (When you die, your opponent gets 4 Knights of the Round on him! ....but Sadly, I lost this code two seconds after creating it. I never even got to test the materia theory out. =(



Lazy Bastard: Aside from hacking and gaming, how do you like to spend your time? 

ZoMBiE343: I actually collect vintage comics, comic artwork, play handball, go to the gym. Honestly, I work for a very successful dotcom company...they keep me very busy. When I'm not working, I try to relax and stay as far away from a computer as possible. :)



Lazy Bastard: What do you think must happen for the video game hacking scene to continue to thrive?

ZoMBiE343: We need another Gameshark Pro...but for today's console...perhaps some console <-> PC link device.



Lazy Bastard: One last question: if you had one thing to say to current, aspiring, and future hackers, what would it be?

ZoMBiE343: Whatever you do in life, make sure it gives you the things you want. Be passionate about everything you do and everything you enjoy. Also, don't get discouraged if you don't succeed the first time around. I don't consider myself to be the smartest guy in the room, but I am always eager and willing to learn. You should do the same, by always being a student of life. :)