Honestly, looking at the Johto region through the lens of a 2026 gamer is a bit surreal. We’re well over a decade removed from the original release of these DS remakes, yet here we are, still obsessing over how to skip the Miltank-induced trauma of Whitney’s gym. Pokemon HeartGold is masterpiece-tier, but the grind? The grind is real. That’s usually when people start googling pokemon heartgold cheat codes.
You want the Rare Candies. You want the Master Balls. Maybe you just want to walk through a wall because you’re tired of the Ice Path puzzle. I get it. But there’s a massive difference between "this code works on my emulator" and "I just nuked my 100-hour save file on a physical cartridge."
The Action Replay Reality Check
Back in the day, we had those chunky Action Replay (AR) cartridges. You’d snap the game into the AR, snap the AR into the DS, and pray the pins didn't get bent. Nowadays, most of you are probably using Delta on your phone or maybe an old R4 card.
The thing about these codes is they don't actually "add" items to the game. They rewrite the memory. Basically, you’re telling the game’s RAM, "Hey, instead of zero Master Balls, there are now 999." If the code is slightly off or written for the European (EUR) version of the game and you're playing the US version (IPKE-4DFFBF91), things get weird.
Fast.
The Heavy Hitters: Items and Money
Let's look at the stuff everyone actually wants. Most of these require you to press Select or L+R to trigger the script.
- Max Money: 94000130 FFFB0000 62111880 00000000 B2111880 00000000 00000088 000F423F D2000000 00000000 (Press Select).
- 999 Rare Candies: This is a multi-line monster. It usually targets the first slot of your medicine pocket. If you have something valuable there, move it. If you don't, the code might just overwrite your only Potion with 999 Candies.
- The Master Ball Cheat: A classic. Usually, this replaces your first item slot in the Poke Ball pocket.
The "Infinite Rare Candy" code is a frequent offender for bag glitches. I’ve seen countless threads on Reddit and old forums like Project Pokemon where people end up with "phantom" items. You try to scroll, and the game crashes. Or worse, your medicine pocket becomes a void of glitch-text. If you’re on the Delta emulator, you’ve got to be specifically careful with "Codebreaker" vs "Action Replay" types. Pick the wrong one, and the code simply won't fire.
Making Every Encounter Shiny
Shiny hunting is a grind that some people find meditative. I find it exhausting. The "Wild Shiny Pokemon" code is arguably the most popular pokemon heartgold cheat codes entry. It’s a "forced" modifier.
When you toggle this on, the game’s RNG (Random Number Generator) is hijacked. Every encounter—whether it’s a Pidgey on Route 1 or Lugia itself—will be shiny.
Important Note: Pokemon caught this way have "hacked" PIDs (Personality IDs). If you ever try to move these to a modern game like Pokemon Home, they might be flagged as illegal. They won't explode your Switch, but they won't be "legit."
Why Your Game Keeps Crashing
You’ve entered the code. You’ve checked the box. You walk into the tall grass, and... black screen. This usually happens because you have too many "Active" modifiers running at once.
If you have "Walk Through Walls," "Always Shiny," and "Max Speed" all running, the DS’s limited processing power just gives up. It’s like trying to run 40 Chrome tabs on a laptop from 2005. Turn them on one at a time. Get your items, save the game, then turn the code off before you go back to playing normally.
The Walk Through Walls Trap
Walking through walls (WTW) is the ultimate sequence breaker. You can skip the guards, bypass the whirlpools, and generally go wherever you want.
But HeartGold is heavily "event-flagged."
If you walk through the wall to get to a legendary Pokemon before the story says you can, the encounter might not trigger. Or, even worse, the game might "flag" that you've finished a quest you haven't started. This can soft-lock your save file, meaning you literally cannot progress the story because the NPC you need to talk to thinks you're already at the Elite Four.
Safe Usage in 2026
If you’re dead set on using these, use a backup.
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- Emulators: Use the "Save State" feature before you even open the cheat menu. If the code breaks your bag, you just reload the state.
- Physical Hardware: Honestly? Don't use AR codes on a physical copy of HeartGold you spent $150 on. Use a flashcart like an R4 or use CFW (Custom Firmware) on a 3DS.
- PKHeX: If you have access to a PC, don't use codes. Export your save file and use PKHeX. It’s a save editor. It’s way cleaner, it doesn't crash the game, and you can give yourself 999 Rare Candies without risking a "Blue Screen of Death" on your Nintendo DS.
The Johto journey is about the bond with your Pokemon. Cheating is fine—it’s your game—but don't let a bad string of hex code ruin a save file you've spent weeks building. Stick to the "Select to Activate" codes rather than the "Always On" ones. They are significantly more stable and less likely to corrupt your overworld sprites.
If you’ve already messed up your bag, try the "Medicine Reset" code. It sometimes forces the game to recalculate the item count and can "un-stick" a glitched inventory. Otherwise, you’re looking at a fresh New Game.
Next Steps for Your Johto Journey
- Check your Version: Ensure your codes match the Game ID (IPKE for HeartGold US).
- Test on Fodder: Try your "Master Ball" code on a cheap item like a Poke Ball first to see if it overwrites the slot correctly.
- Avoid Save States with Active Cheats: Don't create a save state while a "Walk Through Walls" code is active, as it can occasionally bake the glitchy collision into the state itself.
- Export Your Save: If you are playing on an emulator, keep a "Clean" backup of your .sav file on your desktop once a week.