You’re standing in front of the PWT, your team is underleveled, and you’ve already burned through every Trainer on the routes. It’s frustrating. Pokemon Black and White 2 are arguably the peak of the 2D era, but man, the grind is real. That’s exactly why cheat codes for pokemon black and white 2 are still being looked up over a decade after the games launched on the DS. People aren't necessarily trying to "break" the game; they're just trying to bypass the tedious parts of a masterpiece.
Honestly, the Gen 5 sequels are packed with so much post-game content—the White Treehollow, Black Tower, and the World Leaders tournament—that spending forty hours just grinding Audinos feels like a waste of time. Whether you're playing on original hardware with an R4 card or using an emulator like DeSmuME or MelonDS, Action Replay codes are basically the only way to play the game on your own terms. It’s about the freedom to build a competitive-grade team without sacrificing your entire week to the RNG gods.
The Action Replay Legacy
Back in 2012, if you wanted to mess with the game’s code, you needed that physical yellow or red Action Replay cartridge. You’d snap it into the DS, slot the game on top, and hope the pins actually connected. Today, things are way simpler. Emulators have built-in cheat databases. But the logic remains the same. Most cheat codes for pokemon black and white 2 function by intercepting the game's memory addresses. You’re essentially telling the game, "Hey, instead of checking if I have a Master Ball, just assume the value is 999."
It’s a bit of a digital sleight of hand.
If you’re using an emulator, you usually have to enable the "Master Code" first. This is a specific string of hex that tells the software to allow external overrides. Without it, your codes for Rare Candies or Infinite Money just won’t trigger. It’s the gatekeeper. Sometimes people forget this and wonder why their game keeps crashing or why nothing happens when they press Select + L. You gotta give the emulator permission to rewrite the rules.
Breaking the Level Barrier
Let’s talk about the Rare Candy code. It’s the big one. In Black 2 and White 2, the level scaling is aggressive. If you swap a new Pokemon into your party late in the game, catching it up to your level 60 Samurott is a nightmare.
The most common Rare Candy cheat puts 900 of those sweet treats in your medicine pocket. To activate it, you usually press Select. Boom. Instant level 100. But here’s the thing—and this is where most people mess up—Rare Candies don’t give you Effort Values (EVs). If you level a Pokemon from 1 to 100 strictly with candies, its stats will be significantly lower than a Pokemon trained through battle. It’ll be "weak" for its level. If you’re just playing the story, it doesn't matter much. If you’re heading into the PWT to face Red or Cynthia? You’re gonna get wrecked.
You also have the "Exp. Multiplier" codes. These are actually a lot more fun because they feel less like "cheating" and more like a "Fast Forward" button. You can set it to 2x, 4x, or even 100x. It allows you to actually play the battles and watch the growth happen without the mind-numbing repetition of the same three routes.
The Mystery of Event Pokemon
One of the biggest tragedies of older Pokemon games is that Nintendo "timed out" the best content. If you didn't buy the game in 2012, you missed the Genesect giveaway. You missed the Liberty Pass for Victini. You missed the shiny trio.
This is where cheat codes for pokemon black and white 2 become a form of digital preservation. By using "Event Trigger" codes, you can force the game to behave as if you’re standing in a GameStop in 2012. You can unlock the Zoroark event in Lostlorn Forest or finally get your hands on Keldeo.
There are also "Wild Pokemon Modifier" codes. These are a bit more dangerous. You input a specific hex ID for a Pokemon—say, 0270 for Reshiram—and then walk into the tall grass. The game gets confused and generates that specific encounter. It’s awesome for completing the Pokedex, but be careful. If you catch a "fake" legendary and try to transfer it to a modern game like Pokemon Home via the Poke Transporter, the legality checker will likely flag it. The game knows that a level 5 Mew shouldn't be chilling on Route 19.
Managing the Risk of Crashing
Cheating isn't without its headaches. The Gen 5 engine is actually pretty robust, but it has limits.
The "Walk Through Walls" code is the most notorious for breaking saves. It’s incredibly tempting to just clip through the gate and head to the Nature Preserve early. However, the game uses "flags" to track your progress. If you skip a story trigger—like a rival battle or a cutscene with Team Plasma—the game might get stuck in a state where it thinks you’re still in Floccesy Town while you’re actually in Opelucid City.
If you do use the walk-through-walls cheat, never save your game while you’re inside a void or a black space. If you turn the game off, you might load back in and find yourself trapped in the geometry of a building with no way out. Always walk back onto a legal tile before hitting save.
And then there's the "Complete Pokedex" code. This one is tempting but messy. It often marks every Pokemon as "caught" but doesn't actually give you the diploma or the Shiny Charm correctly because the game didn't see the individual "caught" events happen. It’s better to just give yourself 999 Master Balls and go catch what you need.
Why the "Shining" Code is Tricky
Everyone wants a Shiny Haxorus or a Shiny Lucario. There are codes that force every wild encounter to be shiny. These work by modifying the Trainer ID (TID) and Secret ID (SID) calculations that the game runs every time a battle starts.
Here’s the nuance: when you use these codes, the Pokemon's IVs (Individual Values) are often recalculated to fit the "Shiny" requirement of the code. This means most of your forced shinies will have terrible stats. They look pretty, but they hit like a wet noodle. Plus, the game’s "anti-cheat" for the PWT and Battle Subway can sometimes detect these impossible PID/IV combinations and bar you from entry. It's usually better to use a code that generates "Shiny Leaves" or simply increases the base shiny rate rather than forcing every single encounter.
Making the Game Better
Sometimes, the best cheat codes for pokemon black and white 2 aren't the ones that give you infinite power. They’re the quality-of-life tweaks.
- Infinite TMs: In Gen 5, TMs became infinite use for the first time, so you don't actually need a cheat for this! It was a revolutionary change.
- Medicine/Items: Giving yourself 999 Max Repels is a godsend. No more stopping every twenty steps to spray another can.
- Move Tutor Items: Black 2 and White 2 rely heavily on Shards (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green) for move tutors. Grinding for these in the Join Avenue or Funfest Missions is a chore. A quick code to give yourself 99 of each shard lets you actually customize your Pokemon’s moveset without the busywork.
Technical Execution on Emulators
If you are using DeSmuME, you go to the "Tools" menu, then "Cheats," then "List." You’ll see a button for "Action Replay." This is where you paste those long blocks of letters and numbers.
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MelonDS is slightly different but follows the same logic. The key is to make sure you have the right version of the code for your specific ROM. There are "US," "Europe," and "Japan" versions of these games. A code meant for the Japanese Pokemon Black 2 will not work on a US Pokemon White 2 ROM. It’ll just crash the emulator or do nothing at all. You can check your ROM’s internal ID (like IREO for Black 2 US) to make sure you're matching the code to the data.
The Actionable Path Forward
If you're ready to jump back into Unova with a bit of an edge, don't just start spamming every code you find on an old forum.
Start by getting a reliable "Master Code" for your version of the game. Enable it first. Then, add one code at a time—maybe the "Fast Text" or "Running Shoes Indoors" first. Test it. Save your game frequently, but keep a backup of your save file before you use anything major like the "Walk Through Walls" or "Pokedex Filler."
The real magic of Black and White 2 is the exploration and the massive world. Using cheats to skip the boring stuff lets you focus on the gym leaders, the story, and the legendary hunt. Just remember that once you hit "Level 100" on everything, the challenge vanishes. Use the tools to enhance the experience, not to delete it.
Keep your save files clean, don't save in the void, and maybe—just maybe—don't take that level 100 shiny Genesect into a legitimate local tournament if you don't want to get some very side-eyed looks from the judges.
Next Steps for Your Journey:
- Check your ROM version ID (usually found in the emulator's 'Game Info' tab) to ensure code compatibility.
- Create a "Pre-Cheat" backup save file in a separate folder.
- Priority-enable the "Item/Medicine" codes first to reduce grinding without breaking the combat balance.
- If a code fails, restart the emulator and ensure the Master Code (Enable Code) is the first entry in your list.