More Message Mayhem...
Visitors of the website often bring up some very interesting issues, and send in some very good comments and questions... While other people seem to lack common sense and common courtesy. Fortunately, thoughtful messages often outnumber the strange ones. Well at least on good days, that is.

Did you take those pictures from Super Smash Brothers Melee? They're awesome! My favorite was "The Legend of Macho Pichu." It was the title that made it my favorite. When I read the title, I was rolling with laughter! Sorry I couldn't put that in better words.

Glad to hear that someone else got a kick out of that caption. It's one of my personal favorites. Most of the other shots only have basic descriptions, but that one is special. It just popped into my head as I was adding new shots to the gallery. I figured this obscure joke would be lost on many players, so thanks for taking the time to share your appreciation.

(For Melee players who are curious about the double meaning, there's a historical reference here... It involves an ancient city in South America, high up in the mountains of Peru. The lost village of Machu Pichu was built by the Inca Empire several hundred years ago. Machu Pichu is a beautiful village, constructed entirely out of stone slabs. These stones were somehow cut with incredible precision, and wedged together in such a tight fashion that it boggles the mind. Although Machu Pichu has long since been abandoned, the walls are still standing to this day. The lush green landscape surrounding the provides the illusion of life, even though the original inhabitants have long since departed.)

I want to become a hacker like you guys and get secret things in Perfect Dark, Golden Eye and etc, how did u ppl get to do it, i would love to do the things you do, any tips on how to start.

For starters, it takes a certain type of person... Most people don't have the patience to spend hours in front of a blue screen filled with hex values. You also need to be able to wrap your mind around the concept of exactly how a game "thinks". I had done a bit of computer programming in the past, so it wasn't hard for me to get onto it. I found myself doing all kinds of neat things the very same day I bought my very first Gameshark.

I wouldn't necessarily call myself a real hacker, because true hackers are capable of accomplishing incredible things with their Gamesharks. I've learned how to manipulate a number of things inside Goldeneye's memory, using only the Windows Calculator to figure out the hexadecimal values and relationships for the properties of guards, doors, and other items. But this doesn't even compare to what can be done by the "professional" Gameshark hackers. Most of them connect their Gamesharks to their computers, using special utilities which allow for thorough searches of a game's memory, to create amazing and mind-boggling codes.

To learn how to hack some basic (although fairly entertaining) codes in Goldeneye 007, you can check out a fully illustrated step-by-step guide in the Members Section.

I have taken interest in your Perfect Dark website, these mysterious happenings and glitches have taken my attention in an unexpected way. You have pointed out all of these glitches and I have come to a couple of conclusions. Assuming that all of these glitches have been placed there for no apparent purpose, I believe that Rare has placed them there purely for the physiological affect on the player. It is perhaps a form of propaganda geared in keeping the thoughts of Perfect Dark in the players head constantly. Rare may have done this in the attempt of making the player obsessed with Perfect Dark so that he/she buys the second one. This is only a speculation and I have no evidence except the use of such odd methods of propaganda by other companies and advertising agencies.

Although all of these strange things certainly lead to a great deal of fascination with these games, I'm pretty sure that they're not done on purpose. Programmers pride themselves in making their games as glitch-free as possible, and the exploitation of these glitches probably isn't something that they like to see... But at the same time, most of these glitches require a great deal of messing around, to the extent that they don't really cause serious problems in the game.

All of these weird things don't accomplish anything, but they're nonetheless fun to do. I know that I certainly had a blast playing around with glitches in Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, and other players had the same experience. So even though I believe that these glitches are accidental, it adds a whole new element of replay value to games that are already fun and addictive.

In Super Smash Bros Melee, what is your favorite stage? character? item? trophy? mode: i.e. classic, multi-man melee etc.

Whoa, one question at a time... Keep in mind that my answers will change, depending on what kind of mood I'm in (or how tired/wired I am).

For my favorite stage, I'll have to say Final Destination. I love an all-out fight, without obstacles getting in the way of myself and my opponents. An aggressive battle of skill and strategy is something that I really enjoy.

As for characters, I'll have to go with Link. Although I've really gotten to like using several other characters, Link is solid and reliable. He's a great all-round character, who doesn't have any extreme strong points or weak points.

Trophy... That's a tough one. I'm gonna say Unmasked Samus, but that one can only be found by hacking your game (Shhh... Don't tell Nintendo!). But for a 'legitimate' trophy, I'll go with Giga Bowser.

As for the mode, I enjoy a good VS match against a couple challenging foes. But if you want a more creative answer, I'll say Classic or Adventure. Again, this boils down to the mood. I like Adventure, but it's too damned long if I'm feeling tired.

At the place where you fight the yoshi's in the Mushroom Kingdom of Super Smash Bros Melee, you can clearly see Toad running in the backround.On the bottom of page 19 in the instruction booklet,it shows a picture of the exact same place but toad cannot be found running in the background!That;s just plain weird.

Yes, that's very strange indeed, because he's clearly not there... The little Mushroom Retainer can always be seen in the background of the final game, so this proves that he must have been a late addition to the game. Seems like a strange little detail to include at the last minute, but I suppose changes can always be made.

hey, i just stumbled upon your site looking for Goldeneye 007 gameshark hacks (yes i know its 2005, but i got a sudden urge to see if i can discover some more secrets) and i realized you had a huge Goldeneye section and a perfect dark section, all i can say is there the best 2 things i ever seen and just because the n64 is long gone don't dare delete them lol... by the by do you think its stupid to be messing around with Goldeneye and perfect dark years after there release?

There's no need to feel out of place for still enjoying these two "classic" games. They're both awesome, and certainly are NOT inferior to newer games that have shiny graphics. The Internet has breathed new life into these games, and kept them alive by connecting players all over the world, enabling them to share all the hidden things that can be found. It makes me a feel a bit special that these two Detstar gamesites have encourage the longevity of two of the best games of all time.

Updates don't occur nearly as frequently as they used to, because of a lack of new stuff to add, combined with a bigger popular demand for GameCube content... But I have no plans to remove those two websites. I know the countless pages are valuable resource for fans. Even to this day, players are picking up these games for the very first time, surely having just as much fun as we did way back in 1997.

Hi, my name is matt and I play as marth & yoshi. and I just wonted to ask if there is a Super Smash Bros Melee 3 coming out? And if there is can you tell me because I here rumors that there is one or isn't one. I just wonted to know And I just wonted to say that this game is the best one I have ever played in my life! My friend and his dad and I play it all the time.

your best fan, Matthew Alan Richardson

There are countless rumors circulating on the net about another Smash Bros game, and it's a frequent topic that pops up in my mailbox. But as far as I know, there hasn't been no official comment on such a game at this point. I've heard so much about it, including contradictory titles and other claims that appear to be made of absolute bullshit... I'm sure that another Smash Bros is in the works however, but no details have been released that I know of.

Hey, I have a question about Goldeneye 007 for N64, was there ever a way to play all the multiplayer levels with 4 players? when I try playing with 4 players, the last row of levels aren't available, i don't remember if there was a way to unlock this, I couldn't find anything on your site about the game (the site is amazing, by the way!). Thanks if you can answer this question for me

Before the game was released, it was decided to remove the 4 player compatibility for some levels. The reason being, was that 4 players tended to slow down the gameplay. However, we can correct this minor annoyance with a Gameshark... By using the built-in codes for the Bunker/Archives/Caverns/Egyptian, the game will be forced to have these arenas available for selection. The framerate will drop noticeably when 4 players are battling it out, so you've been warned.