Disk Djinn

The Disk Djinn was a heavily modified cheat cartridge designed to accommodate most consoles at the time of it's release, featuring multiple extensions to allow it to alter practically any game. What separated the Disk Djinn from many of it's competitors, as well as the source of much of its infamy, is the degree to which it changed the cartridges it was attached to. There is no definitive record of the company that produced the Disk Djinn, or if there even was a company behind it, making its origins shrouded in mystery. In December 1998, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission ordered a recall on all Disk Djinn products, and in March permanently ended production of the device. The exact reasoning behind the sudden decision is not public information, but the most commonly accepted narrative is that after multiple lawsuits from families of children who suffered severe brain damage, or in some instances experienced fatal seizures caused by playing games altered by the Disk Djinn. Most of these individuals had to be hospitalized for the rest of their life, and eventually given euthanasia.

Marketing and Advertisements

Advertisements for the Disk Djinn supposedly were common in comic books and magazines centered around gaming, but no physical proof of these ads exist. Individuals that claimed to have read a Disk Djinn ad often describe these ads as having similar premises and text to one another. A recreation made by a former owner of a Disk Djinn reads as follows:

TAKE YOUR GAME TO NEW LEVEL - NEW BOSSES - NEW AREAS - NEW POWERS - NEW GAME GAME ON with new and improved DISK DJINN for only $19.99!

Notable effects

As mentioned previously, the Disk Djinn was seemingly able to change the code of games in ways that were uncharacteristically complex, leading many to believe that the creators of the Disk Djinn made pre-generated hacks that came with the device. However, there was no way at the time for the Disk Djinn to be receiving these premade hacks without physical add-ons being delivered in the mail to owners. Any evidence of such add-ons is little to none. Additionally, the changes made by the Disk Djinn showcase knowledge of the games being modified that wouldn't be at all possible for a computer, such as knowledge of the personalities of the game's characters as well as it's in-universe history.

Examples of effects

game-breaking glitches capable of causing damage to hardware
original assets appearing in-game that don't exist in the original product's source code
dialogue and cutscenes unique to hacked copies
levels appearing in different orders or with different tilesets
increased/decreased difficulty
enemies showcasing unusually complex behavior
death animations show more realistic animations
texture glitches resembling offensive, eerie, or graphic imagery
original music and sound effects that accompany and/or replace existing instances
modifications to source code
entirely new levels