Ever been playing M. C. Kids and started up the wrong level? Or maybe you screwed something up beyond repair and just need to start over?

Well, then I've got some good news for you!

Just pause the game (by hitting Start, natch)

And then hit Select. Done right, you'll lose one of your lives

But you'll get kicked back to the Map Screen. So I'd say the trade's worth it... unless you're on your last life... then you might want to reconsider.

Uniracers is a lot of things, but it is definitely not short. And after racing dozens of tracks, the last few against the "Anti-Uni" are pretty tough.

But if you get frustrated, or just want to see what the ending is like (warning, it's a bit of a letdown!), then I have some great news for you!

First, pop in your Uniracers cartridge and go to the title screen

Then grab Controller One press Down on the Cross Pad + L + R + B

Done right, you'll be, erm, "treated" to a few ending shots. Warning, spoilers ahoy!

How fun!

Play through Super Mario RPG and you'll eventually discover that there are hidden treasure chests all over the place that contain some goodies. You even get an item that 'dings' when you enter an area that has one, making it easier to find them. There's one room, though, that gave me fits for a while: the hallway to the Mushroom Castle.

It turns out that you only have one shot per game to get this box. When you talk to the Toad and he starts walking down the hall, you have to jump on his head

And then jump on top of the door

Where you'll find the hidden chest

This is the only chance you'll have to grab it, and if this is the first time you're playing this game, you probably won't even know that you're supposed to be looking for hidden boxes. It's pretty devious, really.

Have you ever been playing On The Ball and got tired of seeing that blue marble hurtling through the mazes?

Well, you could go to the Password screen and put in the password: GFXJF

Done right, you'll be whisked to a screen where you can pick alternate balls... even though they don't look particularly ball-like

But they behave just like the ol' blue marble does, so don't worry about that

Yeah, they look kind of funny, but it's nice to have a change of scenery once in a while.

The Genesis Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game is a whole lot like Turtles in Time, which means you should know pretty much what to expect.

And if you want to skip around to see what the game has to offer without actually working for it, we can arrange that.

First, go to the title screen

Grab Controller 1 and hit:

A, B ,B ,C ,C ,C ,B ,A , Start

Done right, you'll be taken to a black screen where you can select your starting point

Which means you can start at the end and finish the game in less than 5 minutes.

You know, if you're into that kind of thing.

In Dragon Warrior, like most Role Playing Games, your guy starts out pretty weak.

But!

If you start a new quest and use the name "TEST" instead of something good

You'll find that your starting statistics are slightly higher!

Making the game a bit easier.

Since I didn't have much access to the Genesis library in its heyday, I missed out on a lot of games, like Zool. So now, when I do get a chance to play them, I make sure that I tip the scales to my favor any chance I get.

So, in Zool, I pause the game, and hold in the Start button. Then press Down, Up, Left, Left, A, Right, Down (which kind of spells out the word 'Dullard'). The screen will light up halfway through the code, like it's been un-paused, but it won't be. Finish out the code an you get a bonus life! And, you can do this as many times as you want to stock up!

Easy!

Okay, The Little Mermaid isn't that hard of a game, but that doesn't mean that I'm above taking every advantage that I can.

Like going to the title screen.

Grabbing Controller 2, holding Right + A + B, and while holding those hitting Start on Controller 1. Done right, a new option should appear

Turning this game into a test of endurance.

A basic tenet of games based on movies is: most of them are awful. But sometimes you just have to play them to see how bad they really are. Like Jurassic Park.

But let's say that you get a game like this on a rental and don't have the chops to make it to the end before it has to go back to the rental place. What do you do?

Well, you could to to the title screen

And then grab Controller 1 and press Down, Right, Left, Down, Right, Left, Down, Right, Left, Down, Right, Left. Done right you'll hear a noise of some kind. Start your game like normal, and then any time you want to. Pause the game and hit Select. You'll be warped to the next stage!

And you can keep on doing that until you get to the end of the game (spoiler alert between these lines!)

Making the game last about three minutes (or less if you have fast fingers).

Money can be kind of hard to come across in the second Wizards and Warriors game, you don't really need it for much, but it's nice to have when you do want to buy something.

So, to make it easier to raise some cash, you could go to the title screen

Press and hold Up on the Cross Pad + B + Select, and while holding all of those, press Start. Done right, you can go to your nearest merchant and start playing the gambling game. The skull will always land in cups in the following order: 1, 4, 3, 2. And then repeat. You can sit there racking up cash for as long as you like

I was able to accumulate a tidy sum until I screwed up the rhythm and picked a cup out of sequence. Once that happened, the pattern ended and I had to go do something else.