Series history · 1997 to today
The History of GTA Cheat Codes: From Name Entry to Phone Numbers
How GTA cheat codes evolved from name-entry tricks in GTA 1 and 2 to PS2 button combos, San Andreas hash codes, GTA IV phone numbers, GTA V and beyond.
Quick answer
GTA cheat codes began in 1997 as special words typed in as your player name in GTA 1 and GTA 2. GTA III (2001) introduced controller button combos, with typed phrases on PC. San Andreas hid its PC codes behind hashes, which is why many look like gibberish. GTA IV moved cheats onto Niko's phone, and GTA V combined button combos, a PC console and 1-999 phone numbers.
Key takeaways
- GTA 1 and GTA 2 used name-entry cheats: you typed a code word as your player name.
- GTA III made button combos the standard, and the PC versions let you type phrases mid-game.
- San Andreas PC cheats were stored as hashes, so short gibberish strings like HESOYAM also trigger them.
- GTA IV turned cheats into phone numbers; GTA V added 1-999 numbers on its later console and PC releases.
- Several famous button patterns were recycled across games, from Vice City's tank code to GTA V's Buzzard.
A short history of GTA cheat codes
GTA cheat codes have been part of Grand Theft Auto since the very first game in 1997. Over almost three decades they have moved from secret player names to controller combos, typed phrases, hashed PC codes and finally phone numbers dialled inside the game world. Each step says something about the hardware of its era and about how Rockstar wanted cheats to feel.
This guide walks through that evolution game by game. It is written by fans, for fans, and is not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two. Where the historical record is fuzzy, we say so.
The top-down era: cheats as player names (1997 to 1999)
The original Grand Theft Auto, made by DMA Design and released in 1997 for PC and PlayStation, did not use button combos. Instead, you entered a code word on the name entry screen when starting a game. Type the right name and the game quietly switched on an effect.
On PC, IAMTHELAW is the famous example: it removes the police from the game. Another PC name, IAMGARYPENN, is reported to unlock harsher language in dialogue. The PlayStation version had its own, separate list, so a code from one platform was useless on the other.
GTA 2 (1999) kept the name-entry idea. MUCHCASH, entered as a player name, starts you with $500,000. Reference wikis note that the PC version needed an extra step to switch cheat mode on first, and that some PC codes varied between regional releases, which is a good reminder of how messy cheat documentation was in the late 1990s.
Why names? There was no in-game phone, no console window, and no real need for one. A name field was already a text box, so it doubled as a cheat prompt.
GTA III: the button combo becomes king (2001)
GTA III moved the series into 3D on the PlayStation 2 in 2001, and with it came the cheat style most people still picture: long controller sequences entered during gameplay. GTA III’s full health code, for example, is R2, R2, L1, R1, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up.
When GTA III reached PC in 2002, it introduced typed cheats. You simply type a phrase like GUNSGUNSGUNS or GIVEUSATANK while playing, with no prompt and no Enter key. GTA III also has IFIWEREARICHMAN, which adds $250,000 and remains the only straight cash cheat in the classic trilogy apart from San Andreas’s combined health, armor and money code.
Vice City: playful phrases and reused patterns (2002)
Vice City (2002) doubled down on both styles. On PC, the phrases became jokes in their own right: ASPIRINE for health, PANZER for a tank, PRECIOUSPROTECTION for armor. On PS2, the combos borrowed GTA III’s shape. Vice City’s health code is R1, R2, L1, Circle, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up, a clear cousin of the GTA III version.
Vice City’s tank combo, Circle, Circle, L1, Circle, Circle, Circle, L1, L2, R1, Triangle, Circle, Triangle, is a piece of series DNA. The same sequence spawns the Rhino in San Andreas and the Buzzard helicopter in GTA V. Vice City also famously has no money cheat. See the Vice City cheats hub for everything else.
San Andreas: the scrambled codes (2004)
San Andreas (PS2 in 2004, PC and Xbox in 2005) is where PC cheats got strange. Instead of storing readable phrases, the PC version stores cheats as hash values: numbers calculated from text. The game keeps track of recent keystrokes, hashes them and compares the result to its list. That approach hid the cheats from anyone poking through the files.
The side effect is that more than one string can match the same hash. The community brute-forced short strings that trigger each cheat, which is why the most famous San Andreas codes look like keyboard spam:
HESOYAM (health, armor and $250,000) and AEZAKMI (never wanted) are the two everyone remembers. Several cheats work with both a gibberish string and a readable phrase:
| Cheat | Gibberish PC code | Readable phrase |
|---|---|---|
| Spawn jetpack | YECGAA | ROCKETMAN |
| Clear wanted level | ASNAEB | TURNDOWNTHEHEAT |
| Infinite ammo | WANRLTW | FULLCLIP |
| Six-star wanted level | LJSPQK | BRINGITON |
| Weapon Set 2 | KJKSZPJ | PROFESSIONALSKIT |
Modding references say many of the intended phrases took years to track down. Today both kinds work on PC. Our San Andreas PC cheats guide goes deeper on the typing quirks.
On PS2, San Andreas kept the classic approach and pushed it to its limits. The jetpack code alone is sixteen inputs long. HESOYAM’s console version, R1, R2, L1, X, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up, is one more echo of the GTA III health code.
The PS2 playground: magazines, guides and rumours
It is easy to forget how cheats travelled before every code was a search away. In the PS2 era, you learned them from:
- Gaming magazines that printed cheat pages and pull-out code cards.
- Official strategy guides, which often listed codes in the back.
- Early fan sites and text FAQs, typed up by players and shared on forums.
- Word of mouth at school, where half-remembered combos and pure myths spread together.
That culture explains why GTA cheats became a shared language. Plenty of players can still recite the San Andreas jetpack combo or HESOYAM from memory twenty years later. It also bred fake codes and urban legends, a tradition that is alive and well with today’s GTA 6 cheat rumours.
The PSP and DS games carried the button tradition into the late 2000s. Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories use tidy eight-button codes built around the PSP’s controls, while Chinatown Wars on iOS swapped buttons for words spelled on a safehouse whiteboard.
GTA IV: cheats move into the phone (2008)
GTA IV (2008) changed the rules. There are no button combos at all. Every cheat is a phone number you dial on Niko Bellic’s mobile, the same on every platform. Health, armor and a car repair is 482-555-0100; clearing your wanted level is 267-555-0100.
The 555 prefix nods to the fictional phone numbers used in American film and TV, and the whole system fits GTA IV’s grounded tone. Using a cheat also blocks achievements and trophies for that session, the first time a mainline GTA tied cheating to a platform reward system in such a visible way. Our GTA 4 cheats hub lists every number.
GTA V: every method at once (2013 onwards)
GTA V launched on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2013 with button combos as the only cheat method. The 2014 PS4 and Xbox One release, and the 2015 PC release, added phone cheats using 1-999 numbers, such as 1-999-887-853 for max health and armor. PC players also got a cheat console, opened with the ~ key, where they type words like PAINKILLER or SKYFALL.
GTA V carries the old DNA forward. SKYFALL’s button code, L1, L2, R1, R2, Left, Right, Left, Right, L1, L2, R1, R2, Left, Right, Left, Right, mirrors the shape of San Andreas’s jetpack code. As in GTA IV, using a cheat disables trophies and achievements for the session, and none of it works in GTA Online. Our GTA 5 phone cheats guide explains the dialling method.
The Definitive Edition: old codes, new hardware (2021)
GTA: The Trilogy, The Definitive Edition arrived in 2021 on PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch and PC. It kept the original cheat lists for GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas, so the classic combos work with only the button names changed. PC players still type the codes. Using cheats can disable trophies and achievements. The Definitive Edition hub has the per-console button mapping.
The patterns behind 30 years of cheats
| Era | Main method | Why it fit |
|---|---|---|
| GTA 1 and GTA 2 | Name entry | The name box was already a text field |
| GTA III to San Andreas | Button combos and typed PC phrases | Long combos were hard to stumble on by accident |
| PSP and DS games | Short button combos and touch input | Handheld controls had fewer buttons |
| GTA IV | Phone numbers | Kept cheats inside the game world |
| GTA V | Combos, PC console and phone numbers | Served every audience at once |
Three trends stand out. Cheat entry has moved steadily into the fiction of the game. Rockstar has recycled signature patterns, so muscle memory carries from one game to the next. And cheats have become more tightly fenced off from achievements and online play.
What might come next?
As of November 2026, Rockstar has not said whether GTA VI will have cheats. The game is due on November 19, 2026, and history suggests codes will exist in some form, probably tied to the in-game phone. But that is an educated guess, not a fact. We track the latest on the GTA 6 cheats page and will only add codes once they are verified.
If you want to relive the classics in the meantime, our list of the best GTA cheats of all time is a good place to start, and the cheat trainer will get those PS2-era combos back into your thumbs.
Frequently asked questions
What was the first GTA game with cheat codes?
The original Grand Theft Auto from 1997 already had cheats. On PC and PlayStation you entered a special word as your player name to unlock effects, such as IAMTHELAW on PC to turn off the police.
Why are GTA San Andreas PC cheats gibberish?
San Andreas stores its PC cheats as hash values rather than plain text, so the game checks what you type against those numbers. Different strings can produce the same hash, and short nonsense words such as HESOYAM and AEZAKMI became the codes everyone knows. Some cheats also have readable versions, like ROCKETMAN for the jetpack.
When did GTA cheats become phone numbers?
GTA IV, released in 2008, was the first mainline game to use phone numbers for cheats, dialled on Niko Bellic's in-game mobile. GTA V kept button combos but added 1-999 phone numbers in its PS4, Xbox One and PC versions.
Do old GTA cheats still work in the Definitive Edition?
Yes. The 2021 Definitive Edition of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas uses the original cheat lists, entered with the same button sequences on console and typed on PC. Using cheats there can disable trophies and achievements.
Will GTA 6 have cheat codes?
Rockstar has not confirmed any as of November 2026. Every mainline single-player GTA so far has had cheats, so their return is likely, but no real GTA 6 codes are known yet.