GTA Chinatown Wars Cheats for DS, PSP, iOS and Android

What are GTA Chinatown Wars cheats?

GTA Chinatown Wars cheats are codes that give Huang Lee weapons, health, armor, wanted-level control and weather changes in Rockstar’s 2009 top-down return to Liberty City. On Nintendo DS and PSP they are eight-button sequences you press while playing. On iOS and Android they are short words spelled out on a whiteboard inside Huang’s safehouses.

The game launched on Nintendo DS in March 2009, reached the PSP later that year, landed on iPhone in early 2010 and finally came to Android in 2014. Each version has its own controls, so the cheat inputs differ by platform even when the effect is identical.

This is an unofficial fan page, not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two. The codes below were cross-checked against at least two established GTA references.

Is there a PDA cheat menu?

No. This trips a lot of people up. Huang’s PDA handles email, the map, the drug-trade tracker and other tools, but there is no cheat screen inside it. The major GTA databases describe DS and PSP cheats as button sequences pressed during normal gameplay, and mobile cheats as whiteboard words at a safehouse. If a video tells you to open a hidden PDA menu, it is either describing a mod or making things up.

How to enter cheats on DS and PSP

1. Make a manual save first, because entering any cheat disables autosave.
2. Return to normal gameplay. Do not pause and do not open the PDA.
3. Stand still or sit in a stopped car. At least one guide reports that moving mid-sequence can interrupt the input.
4. Press the eight inputs in order using the d-pad, face buttons and shoulder buttons.
5. Look for the confirmation message, then repeat if you need another dose.

How to enter cheats on iOS and Android

1. Save your game.
2. Walk into any safehouse and approach the whiteboard.
3. Drag the letters into the cheat word, in order.
4. When the spelling is correct, the letters disappear and a notification confirms the cheat.

Reference sites note that the free “Lite” edition of the iOS version did not support cheats. Third-party “cheat helper” apps exist for Android, but they are unofficial and not needed: the whiteboard is the built-in method.

Health, armor and wanted level cheats

Cheat	Nintendo DS	PSP	iOS / Android
Health	L, L, R, A, A, B, B, R	L, L, R, Circle, Circle, X, X, R	LIFEUP
Armor	L, L, R, B, B, A, A, R	L, L, R, X, X, Circle, Circle, R	SHELLY
Raise wanted level	L, L, R, Y, Y, X, X, R	L, L, R, Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle, R	COPIN
Lower wanted level	R, X, X, Y, Y, R, L, L	R, Triangle, Triangle, Square, Square, R, L, L	COPOUT

Health and armor are mirror images: swap the order of the two face-button pairs and you get the other one. The Lower Wanted Level code reverses the Raise code’s shape, too, which makes the set easy to memorise. Each wanted cheat moves your heat by one level per entry, so enter Lower several times to shake a big chase.

One reference lists a different PSP sequence for Lower Wanted Level; the version above is the one two major databases agree on.

Weapon cheats

Cheat	Nintendo DS	PSP	iOS / Android
Weapon pack 1	R, Up, B, Down, Left, R, B, Right	R, Up, X, Down, Left, R, X, Right	LOADOA
Weapon pack 2	R, Up, A, Down, Left, R, A, Right	R, Up, Circle, Down, Left, R, Circle, Right	LOADOB
Weapon pack 3	R, Up, Y, Down, Left, R, Y, Right	R, Up, Square, Down, Left, R, Square, Right	LOADOC
Weapon pack 4	R, Up, X, Down, Left, R, X, Right	R, Up, Triangle, Down, Left, R, Triangle, Right	LOADOD
Explosive Eagle (exploding pistol rounds)	L, R, X, Y, A, B, Up, Down	L, R, Triangle, Square, Circle, X, Up, Down	BOOMCAN

All four weapon packs share one skeleton, R, Up, button, Down, Left, R, button, Right. Only the face button changes. The mobile codes follow the same logic, LOADO plus A, B, C or D.

Explosive Eagle turns pistol rounds into tiny explosives and stays active until you enter it again. It is the most fun code in the game for a short burst, and the fastest way to accidentally turn a traffic jam into a fireball.

Weather cheats (DS and PSP)

Weather	Nintendo DS	PSP
Sunny	Up, Down, Left, Right, A, B, L, R	Up, Down, Left, Right, Circle, X, L, R
Extra sunny	Up, Down, Left, Right, B, X, L, R	Up, Down, Left, Right, X, Triangle, L, R
Cloudy	Up, Down, Left, Right, X, Y, L, R	Up, Down, Left, Right, Triangle, Square, L, R
Rain	Up, Down, Left, Right, Y, A, L, R	Up, Down, Left, Right, Square, Circle, L, R
Heavy rain	Up, Down, Left, Right, A, X, R, L	Up, Down, Left, Right, Circle, Triangle, R, L
Stormy	Up, Down, Left, Right, B, Y, R, L	Up, Down, Left, Right, X, Square, R, L
Foggy	Up, Down, Left, Right, Y, B, R, L	Up, Down, Left, Right, Square, X, R, L

Every weather code opens with a full d-pad sweep. The lighter weather types end L, R and the heavier ones end R, L, which is a handy way to remember them.

Mobile-only time and money cheats

Cheat	iOS / Android whiteboard word
$10,000	CASHIN
Skip ahead 1 hour	JUMPHR
Skip ahead 6 hours	JUMPHRS
Skip ahead 1 day	JUMPDAY

CASHIN is the only money cheat in Chinatown Wars, and only on phones and tablets. On DS and PSP the money game is the drug trade, which is arguably the best part of Chinatown Wars anyway.

DS vs PSP vs mobile: key differences

• Input: DS and PSP use button sequences; mobile uses whiteboard words.
• Buttons: DS face buttons map to PSP buttons in this pattern for the shared codes: B becomes Cross, A becomes Circle, Y becomes Square and X becomes Triangle. Shoulder buttons stay L and R.
• Exclusive cheats: weather codes are DS and PSP features, while money and time-skip codes are mobile features.
• Autosave: on every version, using a cheat turns autosave off.

Which Chinatown Wars cheats are worth it?

• Tough mission: Health, then Armor, then Weapon pack 1 or 4 for a strong all-round loadout.
• Lose the police: Lower Wanted Level, entered once per level of heat.
• Rampage: Explosive Eagle plus Raise Wanted Level, then see how long Huang survives.
• Atmosphere: Stormy or Foggy weather for a moodier Liberty City at street level.

If you are rusty on handheld-style inputs, the cheat trainer lets you practise button sequences with a keyboard or gamepad. Note that our interactive cheat finder currently covers the main console and PC games rather than the handhelds.

How Chinatown Wars fits into GTA cheat history

Chinatown Wars arrived between GTA IV, which moved cheats onto an in-game phone, and the handheld “Stories” games such as Liberty City Stories, which used classic button combos. The DS and PSP versions stuck with button codes, while the touchscreen ports invented the whiteboard method because there are no physical buttons to press. For the full timeline, see our history of GTA cheat codes.

Like every cheat on this site, these are single-player only. The game’s online and wireless modes are not a place for hacks, and using third-party tools in any online GTA mode can get you banned.