Have you ever been playing Whomp 'Em and thought to yourself that you'd really like to hear all the music that this game has to offer without having to slog though the game proper?

Me either.

But! You totally can anyway.

First, go to the title screen.

Then hold A + B on Controller 2. Press Start on Controller 1 and keep holding A + B on Controller 2 until you get this screen

Now you can listen to all the sounds this game makes to your heart's content.

Ys III: Wanderers from Ys is one of those games that I played and really liked the music to (bonus pro tip, the game name, "Ys" is pronounced very similar to "Ease"), so wouldn't it be great if you could listen to the music any time you wanted?

Well, then, good news!

First, bring up your menu by hitting Select on controller 1

Then press Select on controller 2

Ta da!

Now you can listen to all the sounds and music that the game has to offer.

And as a bonus, the song you pick will continue to play after you close the menu and until you change areas.

Pretty awesome!

It should probably come as no surprise by now that I like video game music. Especially from games that have good music, like Castlevania III.

You probably recognize the title screen if you've ever played this game:

But, hold down A and B while you press Start and:

Ta da!

You use Up and Down to choose your song, B to play it, and A to stop it. Perfect for making your own mix CD.

Which we'll have to talk about another day.

Have you ever wondered who made RBI Baseball for the NES? Well, then I have a treat for you!

At the title screen

Hold down A and B, and press Start. Then the credits sequence will start

Which actually only consists of the one screen.

But hey, now you know who to blame for this game.

Spy Hunter is a tough game, one of the reasons is that you don't get to pause the game if you need to do something in real live not related to driving a spymobile.

Or do you?

At any point in the game, grab Controller 2 and press the A button.

Blam! Game paused.

Press it again to unpause the game.

Neat, eh?

The Puzzle Fighter games are a bit... different. You have to take characters from the Darkstalkers and Street Fighter series up against each other in a battle of wits by sorting colored blocks.

But say, for example, that when you select your character that you highlight Morrigan (Felicia if you're player 2)

Then you hold down the Start button and hit Down on the joystick 13 times, and then press any button to select your character?

Why, your character turns into comic-relief character Dan, who's typically a little on the weak side in all the games he appears in (but can be unstoppable in the hands of a skilled player).

Can you finish the game with underpowered Dan?

Good luck!

In the 3rd NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game you have your standard four turtles to pick from:

which you get to pick from pretty much any time you run out of health.

Now, what if you were at the 'select your turtle' screen and pressed Down on the control pad five times (ten times if you're playing a two-player game)?

You might see the words 'Auto Mode' appear up in the corner of the screen.

Which means that the game will randomly decide which turtle to give you, should you run out of health, which makes the game a bit more interesting.

Journey to Silius can be a pretty tough game.

Which means that you're going to see this screen a lot.

But there's a way to throw more lives at the game, which will give you a better shot at finishing it.

First, go to the title screen.

Then, press the B button 33 times, then press Start. You'll get a screen where you get to modify how many continues you get (from 0 to 9).

As a bonus, you get to hear all eight songs that the game has to offer without actually having to go to the stages. Pretty snazzy!

Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball is one of my favorite baseball games of all time. It's just Plain Good(tm). But have you ever wondered to yourself who was responsible for bringing this game to life? I sure have.

An easy way to find out is to go to the title screen.

Then (kind of quickly) press: B, A, Down, B, Up, B, B, A. (You can remember this code easily if you remember BAD BUBBA)

The result?

The credit sequence, without having to do any more work than that.

Just like the first Ninja Gaiden game, Ninja Gaiden 2 has some pretty good music. But the game's kind of tough, so it's a little bit difficult to get to hear your favorite track any time you want to.

That's why I use the Sound Test.

At the title screen

Hold Up, Left, A, B, and Select, and press Start.

Boom! Sound Test mode!

Which is pretty awesome by itself, but if you hold down Up, Left, A, B, and Select. Then wait for the screen to fade out, then press Start to bring it back, then let it fade out again, then press Start to bring it back, then let it fade out again, then press Start to bring it back, and then press Start again to complete the code, well, then you get to the Sound Test again... but slightly different.

The Musicruise is kind of a neat little visualization for the tracks in the game. And since it looks cooler, it's my choice for a sound test.