Liberty City is a miserable place. It’s gray, it’s raining, and the Leone family is probably trying to shotgun your Banshee into a fireball because you dared to drive through Saint Mark’s. If you grew up playing this on a chunky PS2 or the original Xbox, you know the struggle. Cheats for Grand Theft Auto 3 weren't just a way to mess around; for a lot of us, they were a survival mechanic.
It’s weirdly nostalgic. Entering those button combinations felt like inputting a secret language into the universe. But there's a lot of bad info out there, especially with the release of the Definitive Edition. If you use the wrong code at the wrong time, you’re basically nuking your 100% completion run. Let's talk about what actually works and why you need to be careful.
The Muscle Memory of Liberty City
Back in 2001, we didn't have smartphones to look up codes. We had scraps of notebook paper. You probably remember the health cheat by heart: R2, R2, L1, R1, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up. It healed your car, too. Honestly, that was the most important part. If your engine was smoking mid-mission, tapping that sequence saved you a trip to Pay 'n' Spray.
But here is the thing people forget: cheats in GTA 3 are permanent in ways modern games aren't. If you save your game after using certain codes—specifically the "Pedestrians Fight Each Other" or "Pedestrians Have Weapons" cheats—that save file is cooked. You can’t turn them off. The chaos becomes a permanent part of the city's DNA. Imagine trying to deliver a mob boss to a meeting while every grandma on the sidewalk is carrying an M16 and trying to blow up your tires. It’s impossible. It’s funny for ten minutes, then it’s a nightmare.
Why Some Codes Just Aren't Worth It
The "All Weapons" cheat is the gateway drug. You get the bat, the pistol, the uzi, the AK-47, the sniper rifle, the M16, the flame thrower, and the rocket launcher. It feels great. However, using the "Blow Up All Cars" code (L2, R2, L1, R1, L2, R2, Triangle, Square, Circle, Triangle, L2, L1) while you are standing in a parking lot is a fast track to the hospital screen.
The tank is the real prize. Getting a Rhino via the cheat (Circle, Circle, Circle, Circle, Circle, Circle, R1, L2, L1, Triangle, Circle, Triangle) is the only way most players ever saw the vehicle before reaching the end-game. But the physics in the original version of GTA 3 are famously "bouncy." If you drive the tank too fast and hit a curb, you might just launch into the stratosphere.
The Difference in the Definitive Edition
When Rockstar released the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, things got a bit messy. Most of the classic cheats for Grand Theft Auto 3 still work. They even added a few new ones, like Big Head Mode (the Konami code, basically).
But there’s a massive catch.
If you’re playing on a modern console like a PS5 or Xbox Series X, using cheats will immediately disable your Trophies or Achievements for that session. The game warns you. Listen to it. If you’re a completionist, you need to keep a "clean" save and a "chaos" save. Don’t mix them. I’ve seen way too many people lose 40 hours of progress because they wanted a faster car and hit "Save" out of habit.
Also, some old glitches became features. In the original PC version, you could type "CHITTYCHITTYBB" to make cars fly. It was janky. In the new versions, the flying car physics are slightly more stable, but it still feels like you’re trying to pilot a brick through a hurricane.
The Weather and the Vibes
Sometimes you just want it to stop raining. Liberty City is depressing enough.
- Clear Weather: L1, L2, R1, R2, R2, R1, L2, Triangle
- Foggy Weather: L1, L2, R1, R2, R2, R1, L2, X
Changing the weather actually changes the handling of the cars. It isn't just visual. In the original PS2 engine, the "fog" was actually used to hide the draw distance so the console wouldn't explode. When you use the "Clear Weather" cheat, you can actually see the blurry low-poly buildings across the water. It sort of ruins the mystery, but it makes flying the Dodo (the world's hardest-to-fly plane) slightly less of a suicide mission.
✨ Don't miss: Kevin Miller: Why This Voice Actor Still Defines Sly Cooper
Hard Lessons from Portland to Shoreside Vale
The "Lower Wanted Level" cheat is your best friend when you accidentally clip a police car. But be careful. If you’re in the middle of a scripted mission where the wanted level is "locked," the cheat might trigger, but the stars will just pop right back up a second later.
And let's talk about the money cheat: "IFIWEREARICHMAN." It gives you $250,000. In 2001, that felt like an infinite amount of cash. But in GTA 3, money is actually kind of useless after a certain point. Once you unlock the weapon icons at your hideout by collecting hidden packages, you don’t really need to buy anything.
The hidden packages are the real "legal" cheat. Finding all 100 is a grind. It’s a massive, exhausting chore. But once you do it, you get a rocket launcher and a sniper rifle spawning right outside your front door for free. That’s better than any code.
Managing the Chaos
If you are going to go full-chaos mode, here is the hierarchy of madness you should follow:
- Increase Gore: This was a big deal back in the day. It made the combat feel more "M-rated."
- Improved Handling: (R1, L1, R2, L1, Left, R1, R1, Triangle). This makes your car jump when you press the horn. It’s the best way to get over the bridge to Staunton Island early if you’re impatient.
- Pedestrians Riot: Just... don't save. Seriously.
Practical Steps for Your Next Playthrough
If you’re booting up Liberty City tonight, here is how you should handle your cheats for Grand Theft Auto 3 to ensure you actually have fun without ruining the experience.
First, disable auto-save if you are playing the Definitive Edition. The auto-save can be aggressive. If you trigger a cheat and the game saves during a mission checkpoint, that "Cheats Enabled" flag might stay on your file forever.
Second, learn the Dodo. You don't need a cheat to fly. You just need to understand that you have to hold the nose down to gain speed, then let it glide. Most people try to pull up immediately and stall.
Third, focus on the Hidden Packages first. Use a map from a site like GTA-Stats or the classic BradyGames maps if you can find a PDF. Getting 10 or 20 packages early on gives you armor and a pistol at your hideout, which makes the early Portland missions a breeze without needing to input a code every five minutes.
Finally, if you’re on PC, look into the "SilentPatch." It fixes a lot of the broken timing issues in the original game, like the way the frame rate limiter affects car physics. Cheats are fun, but a game that actually runs at a stable 60fps without the cars vibrating into pieces is even better.
Basically, play smart. Use the tank for the "Vigilante" missions to get your police bribes at the hideout, but keep that save file clean. Liberty City is a cycle of violence, and while cheats make you the king of that cycle, they can also turn you into a prisoner of a broken save file.