You've finally made it back to Johto. The nostalgia hits like a truck when you hear that New Bark Town music. But let's be real—grinding a team of six up to level 80 just to stand a chance against Red on top of Mt. Silver is a nightmare. It's a slog. Nobody has forty hours to spend thumping wild Tangela in the grass anymore. This is exactly why pokemon heartgold action replay cheat codes still exist.
Honestly, the DS era was the Wild West of cheating. You had these little plastic cartridges sticking out of your console, praying they didn't crash your save file. Today, whether you're using a dusty original Action Replay or just typing strings into an emulator like Delta or DeSmuMe, the logic is the same. But people mess this up constantly. They activate ten codes at once, the game freezes, and suddenly their Typhlosion is a "Bad Egg."
Don't let that be you.
The "Must-Have" Basics That Actually Work
If you're playing HeartGold, you probably want two things: unlimited Rare Candies and Master Balls. It’s basically the starter pack. The most reliable code for this involves checking your bag after a button press.
Unlimited Rare Candies (Press L+R)94000130 FCFF0000B2111880 00000000E0000B74 000000A003E70032 00000000D2000000 00000000
Once you trigger this, you’ll usually find 999 Rare Candies sitting in your medicine pocket. A quick word of warning: sometimes this overwrites the first slot of your bag. If you had 50 Full Restores there, they’re gone. Poof.
Master Balls in Slot 1 (Press L+R)94000130 FCFF000062111880 00000000B2111880 0000000000000D14 03E70001D2000000 00000000
I’ve seen people complain that these codes "break" their game. Usually, it's just because they didn't realize they had to press the shoulder buttons (L and R) at the same time while standing in the overworld. It doesn't just happen automatically when you boot the game.
Dealing with the "Money" Problem
Buying vitamins and TMs at the Goldenrod Dept. Store gets expensive. Fast. Instead of spamming the Amulet Coin against the Elite Four, use the Max Cash code. It’s a classic.
94000130 FCFF000062111880 00000000B2111880 0000000000000088 000F423FD2000000 00000000
Press L+R, and your wallet hits 999,999. It’s sort of satisfying to never worry about the cost of Ultra Balls again.
The Legendary Event Codes: Getting Arceus and Shaymin
This is where things get interesting. HeartGold had some of the coolest scripted events in Pokémon history, like the Shinto Ruins event where you can literally watch Arceus create a new Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina. The problem? Those events were tied to physical Nintendo distributions from 2010.
Unless you have a time machine, you need a code to trigger the "Green Man" in the PokéMart.
The Arceus Event Trigger
To get the "Toys 'R' Us" or "Cinema" Arceus that unlocks the Shinto Ruins, use this:94000130 FCFF000062111880 00000000B2111880 00000000E0009E4C 0000010400000001 00000001
How to use it: 1. Activate the code.
2. Enter any PokéMart.
3. Press L+R.
4. Talk to the man in the green suit.
5. He’ll hand you the Arceus.
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Take that Arceus to the Ruins of Alph with only it in your party. The game will recognize it as a legitimate event Pokémon. It's way cooler than just spawning a level 100 Arceus in the wild because you actually get the cutscene.
Why Your Codes Keep Crashing (And How to Fix It)
We've all been there. You put in the "Walk Through Walls" code, try to skip the Sudowoodo, and the screen turns blue. Or the music keeps playing but your character is frozen.
Here is the deal: Action Replay works by "hooking" into the game's RAM. It overwrites specific lines of code. If you have a code that modifies your movement and another that modifies wild encounters active at the same time, they might fight for the same memory address.
- Rule of thumb: Never run more than two "heavy" codes at once.
- The Save Hazard: Always, always save before you activate a code. Never save while a code like "Walk Through Walls" is active if you are standing inside a wall. You will get stuck. Permanently.
- The Bad Egg Myth: You won't get a Bad Egg just by having 999 Rare Candies. You get Bad Eggs when you use "Wild Pokémon Modifiers" and the checksum of the generated Pokémon doesn't match what the game expects.
If you do get a Bad Egg, don't panic. Just don't save. Or, if you're on an emulator, use a tool like PKHeX to delete the corrupted data.
The "Walk Through Walls" Code
This is the most famous/dangerous code in the book. Use it sparingly.94000130 FCFD02001205DAA2 00000200D2000000 0000000094000130 FCFD01001205DAA2 00001C20D2000000 00000000
To use this one, you usually hold R+B to enable it and L+B to disable it. If you leave it on during a cutscene, the NPCs might walk off into the ocean and soft-lock your game. You've been warned.
Shiny Pokémon: The Easy Way
Let's talk about the shiny hunt. Some people love the 1-in-8192 odds. Most people don't. This code makes every wild encounter a shiny.
5206E128 4284FE81E2000108 00000060021D15A8 41C64E6D00006073 02111880E92D40F0 E51F0010E5900000 E1D018B4E1D028B6 E0217002E1A071A7 E51F1034E51F2034 E51F3034E5910000 E0243290E0253294 E0246005E1A069A6 E156000711A00004 1AFFFFF8E5810000 E8BD80F01206E116 0000F792E206E118 00000010F7B1E800 1C05FE13FE10F7B1 430504000206E128 E0001C28D2000000 00000000
It's a long one. Be careful typing it in; one wrong letter and it won't trigger. Once it's on, every Pidgey and Rattata will be sparkling.
Just remember that Pokémon caught this way often have weird "trash data" in their underlying code. If you try to transfer them to later generations (like moving them to Pokémon Home via a series of old consoles), they might get flagged as "illegal" and blocked. If you're just playing for fun on your DS, it doesn't matter.
Final Thoughts on Cheating in Johto
Cheat codes change the vibe of the game. Sometimes you just want to breeze through the story to see the Kanto post-game. Other times, you realize that having 999 Master Balls makes the game feel a bit hollow.
If you are using these on a physical cartridge, be gentle. Those old Action Replay units are prone to hardware failure. If you're on an emulator, make a backup of your .sav file before you do anything. It takes five seconds and saves you from losing a hundred-hour journey.
Go grab that Arceus. Finish that Pokédex. Just make sure you turn off "Walk Through Walls" before you try to enter the Hall of Fame.
Next Steps for You:
- Backup your save file immediately before entering any long-form codes.
- Test one code at a time to ensure your specific version of the game (US vs EU) is compatible.
- Verify your Bag slots to make sure you aren't overwriting important Key Items like the Bascule or the SS Ticket.