Honestly, playing a Grand Theft Auto game without the cheat codes is like eating a burger without the bun. It works, sure, but you're getting your hands messy for no reason. When GTA Liberty City Stories hit the PSP back in the day, it was a technical marvel. Bringing a fully realized 3D Liberty City to a handheld? Insane. But let’s be real: we weren’t all playing for the deep, Shakespearean narrative of Toni Cipriani.
We wanted the tanks. We wanted the fire-breathing chaos.
If you've dusted off your old handheld or you're running this on an emulator in 2026, you've probably realized that gta cheats psp liberty city stories are a bit different than the ones you remember from San Andreas. There’s no "Hydra" jet here. No jetpacks. It’s a grittier, more compressed experience, but the button combos are just as satisfying to punch in.
The Big Three: Health, Armor, and That Sweet $250k
Look, the economy in Liberty City is brutal. You’re doing high-stakes hits for the Leone family and getting paid peanuts. That’s why the money cheat is usually the first thing people look for.
To get a quarter-million dollars instantly, you’re looking at:
L1, R1, Triangle, L1, R1, Circle, L1, R1. It feels good. It feels like winning the lottery without the taxes. But a word of warning: while the money is great, it doesn't buy you out of a 5-star wanted level. For that, you need the health and armor codes.
- Full Health (and car repair): L1, R1, X, L1, R1, Square, L1, R1.
- Full Armor: L1, R1, Circle, L1, R1, X, L1, R1.
Fun fact? If you’re inside a smoking, beat-up car and you trigger the health cheat, the car instantly fixes itself. It’s a literal lifesaver during those annoying chase missions where the AI drivers decide to play bumper cars with your fenders.
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Why Some Cheats Are Actually Dangerous
Most people think cheats are just harmless fun. Usually, they are. However, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories has a few "trap" codes that can genuinely mess up your save file.
You’ve probably seen the "Pedestrians Attack You" or "Pedestrians Riot" codes. They’re hilarious for about five minutes. Then you realize you can't turn them off. If you save your game while a riot is active, that riot is now part of your world forever. You won't be able to finish certain missions because the mission-critical NPCs will be too busy trying to beat you to death with a golf club.
Expert Tip: Never, ever save your game after using a pedestrian-altering cheat. Keep a "clean" save file and a "chaos" save file. Trust me.
The Arsenal: Weapon Sets Explained
You don't just get one set of guns. You get three. Each one is tailored to a specific "vibe" of violence.
Weapon Set 1 (The Thug Set): Up, Square, Square, Down, Left, Square, Square, Right.
This gives you the basics. Brass knuckles, a knife, a shotgun, and the flamethrower. It’s for the player who likes to get up close and personal.
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Weapon Set 2 (The Professional Set): Up, Circle, Circle, Down, Left, Circle, Circle, Right.
Now we’re talking. This swaps the knife for a katana and adds the M4. It’s the "I actually want to finish the mission" kit.
Weapon Set 3 (The Nutter Set): Up, X, X, Down, Left, X, X, Right.
The chainsaw. The Minigun. The Grenade Launcher. If you want to see how many frames the PSP can drop before it catches fire, this is the set for you.
Exploring the Weird Side of Liberty City
The PSP version of this game had some weird hardware limitations, which led to some even weirder cheats. Have you ever tried the Bobble Head World?
Input Down, Down, Down, Circle, Circle, X, L1, R1 and suddenly everyone has a massive cranium. It’s terrifying.
Then there’s the Cars Drive on Water cheat (Circle, X, Down, Circle, X, Up, L1, L1). In a game where Toni Cipriani sinks like a stone the second his toe touches the harbor, this is the only way to explore the water without a boat. It basically turns your car into a clumsy jet ski.
Traffic and Weather Hacks
Sometimes the grey, depressing weather of Liberty City gets to you.
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- Sunny Weather: L1, L1, Circle, R1, R1, Square, Triangle, X.
- All Green Lights: Triangle, Triangle, R1, Square, Square, L1, X, X.
- Chrome Vehicles: Triangle, R1, L1, Down, Down, R1, R1, Triangle.
The chrome car cheat is particularly cool because it doesn't just make cars shiny—it affects the textures of almost everything metallic in the world, including some weapons. It's a weird graphical quirk that collectors love to mess with.
The Tank: The Rhino Spawn
We can't talk about gta cheats psp liberty city stories without mentioning the Rhino. It is the ultimate power trip.
L1, L1, Left, L1, L1, Right, Triangle, Circle. Once that tank drops from the sky, the police are basically just minor inconveniences. You can't be shot out of it, and you can blow up anything just by touching it. It makes the Vigilante missions (which you need for 100% completion) a total breeze.
Speaking of completion, did you know some "cheats" aren't codes at all? They're rewards.
If you finish Level 12 of the Ambulance missions, you get Infinite Sprint.
If you drop off 100 passengers in a Taxi, you unlock the Bickle '76—a bright red, super-fast cab that’s a nod to the movie Taxi Driver. These are the "legal" cheats that actually help you reach that elusive 100% stat without "cheating" your way there.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Playthrough
- Check your version: If you’re playing the PS2 port, most of these work, but the multiplayer-specific skin unlocks are exclusive to the PSP.
- Order matters: If you want to raise your wanted level for a challenge, use L1, R1, Square, L1, R1, Triangle, L1, R1. Just make sure you have the health cheat ready for when the FBI arrives.
- Visual bugs: If the screen goes upside down (yes, there's a cheat for that), don't panic. Just re-enter the code or restart the game.
- Save Strategy: Only use weapon, health, and money cheats if you plan on saving. Anything that changes NPC behavior or the game's physics should be for "temporary fun" only.
The beauty of these codes isn't just about making the game easier. It's about breaking the game in fun ways that the developers clearly intended for us to find. So go ahead, spawn that tank on a bridge and see how long you can last. Just don't blame me when your save file gets "riot-locked" because you got too cocky with the pedestrian codes.
Next Steps:
To maximize your Liberty City experience, try combining the Cars Drive on Water cheat with the Perfect Handling code (L1, Up, Left, R1, Triangle, Circle, Down, X). This allows you to treat the ocean as a high-speed highway, bypassing the bridges entirely and reaching locked islands early in the game without triggering a 4-star wanted level.