GameShark Labs · Since 1994
The tool that let a generation bend games to its will.
Before cheat codes were built into games, there was GameShark — a device that let millions of players unlock secrets, reach places the designers never meant them to, and rewrite the rules mid-game. This is where it came from, who built it, and a few things we kept.
01 · The legend that changed gaming
From the late ’90s into the early 2000s, GameShark became shorthand for curiosity and control — the after-market key that turned a finished game back into a playground. It started at InterAct Accessories, the company Todd Hays founded and the home of the original GameShark in 1994, alongside a shelf of controllers, memory cards, and programmable pads that a whole generation grew up holding.
GameShark Labs is the continuation of that work — the same instinct to hand players more than the box shipped with, rebuilt for people who never stopped playing the classics.
02 · From the founder’s archive
Hardware, packaging, and print from the original era — kept from Todd’s personal collection.
The original GameShark — the cartridge that started it all.
InterAct's “Play With Us” print campaign, from the GameCube era.
The UNPROGRAMPAD (InterAct SV-337) — programmable controller, in-box.
SharkPad Pro 64 — the N64 controller, with Bonus TremorPak.
03 · Behind the scenes
Stories from the founder, straight from the archive.
04 · Where it’s going
- About GameShark Labs — what we’re building now: a vault, a device, and a book.
- Our approach to AI — where the classics meet what comes next.