You're standing in the middle of Route 110. You’ve been hunting for a shiny Electrike for six hours, and your eyeballs feel like they're starting to melt. We've all been there. Whether you're playing on an original Game Boy Advance SP or firing up an emulator on your phone in 2026, the grind in Hoenn is real. That's exactly why gba pokemon ruby cheat codes became the stuff of playground legend back in 2003 and why they’re still being typed into search bars today.
Honesty time: using these codes isn't just about being lazy. It's about bypassing the tedious RNG (Random Number Generation) that Game Freak baked into the code twenty years ago. But if you just start slapping lines of hex into your Cheat menu without a plan, you're going to end up with a "Bad Egg" or a save file that crashes every time you try to enter the Hall of Fame.
The Reality of GameShark and Action Replay in the Modern Era
Most people using gba pokemon ruby cheat codes nowadays aren't using physical hardware. If you are, I salute you; those chunky plastic cartridges are getting expensive on eBay. Most of us are using mGBA, VisualBoyAdvance, or RetroArch. The way these programs handle "cheating" is by essentially "injecting" new data into the game's RAM.
You have to understand the difference between a "Master Code" and a functional code. In Ruby, the Master Code is the bridge. It tells the game to look at the memory addresses you're about to change. If the Master Code is wrong, or if you're trying to use a Sapphire code on a Ruby ROM, nothing happens. Or worse, the game glitches out because you're trying to write data to a space that’s already occupied by the music engine or the sprite rendering.
The Essential Master Code for Ruby
For most versions of the game (specifically the v1.0 and v1.1 North American releases), you need this enabled first:
- 0000B138 000A
- 10008F48 0007
Without this, you're just screaming into the void.
Walking Through Walls and Breaking the Sequence
The "Walk Through Walls" code is basically the Holy Grail of gba pokemon ruby cheat codes. It lets you skip the entire puzzle in the Sootopolis Gym or bypass the guys blocking the way to the Power Plant. But here's the kicker: the game’s script triggers are tied to specific tiles on the map.
If you walk around a scripted event—like the one where Wally catches his Ralts—you can actually break the game's progression. The game might still think you’re in the "tutorial" phase forever. I’ve seen saves where the player walked through the trees to reach the Elite Four early, only to find the door to the Champion's room permanently locked because the "Flag" for beating the previous trainers never tripped.
The Code:
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- CE2CCC56 166D8E11
- 8E883DFD 49DB151D
- 4B050680 79AD7604
- 26FE666D 387D8D30
Use it sparingly. Seriously. If you use it to walk out of bounds into the "black void," your game might freeze, and if you save there, that's it. Game over.
Rare Candies and the Economy of Hoenn
Leveling up is a chore. Nobody actually likes grinding their level 20 Zubat up to a level 50 Crobat by headbutting Geodudes in a cave for three days. The Rare Candy code is the most popular of the gba pokemon ruby cheat codes for a reason.
The standard way this works is by replacing the first slot of your PC Storage (not your bag, usually your PC) with 99 Rare Candies.
Code: 280EA266 88A62E5C
One thing people get wrong: they think they can just keep this code on forever. Don't. If you leave the "Infinite Item" code active, you can’t pick up other items or organize your bag properly. Turn the code on, withdraw your candies, save the game, and then turn the code off. This is the golden rule of GBA cheating.
The Myth of the "Infinite Master Ball"
Everyone wants 99 Master Balls. In Pokemon Ruby, the Master Ball is technically item ID 0001. Using the code BFF956FA 2F97B010 (for Action Replay) usually does the trick.
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But have you ever tried to catch a legendary and had the game crash the second the ball hits the Pokemon? That happens when the code is trying to overwrite the "Capture Success" calculation at the same time the ball is being thrown. To avoid this, generate your Master Balls while you're in a PokeMart or standing in a Pokemon Center. Get your items, verify they're in your bag, and disable the cheat before you actually head out to face Groudon in the Cave of Origin.
Shiny Pokemon: The 1 in 8192 Problem
In the original Ruby version, the odds of finding a shiny are 1 in 8,192. Those are terrible odds. You could play the game for your entire life and never see a gold Magikarp.
The shiny cheat for gba pokemon ruby cheat codes works by modifying the "Personality Value" (PV) of the Pokemon you encounter.
The Shiny Code (Warning: Long):
- F3A9A86D 4E2629B4
- 18452A7D DDE55BCC
When this is active, every encounter is shiny. However, there is a side effect. Often, these "forced" shinies will have terrible IVs (Individual Values) or a "Gentle" nature every single time because the code is hijacking the generation process. If you’re a competitive player using these for a Battle Tower run, you might find your shiny Rayquaza is actually weaker than a standard one.
The "Bad Egg" Warning
If you use a code to "spawn" a specific Pokemon—let's say you want a Celebi in Ruby—you are playing with fire. Pokemon Ruby has a checksum system. It checks if the Pokemon's data matches its "fingerprint." If you use a sloppy spawn code, the game realizes something is wrong and converts that Pokemon into a "Bad Egg."
Bad Eggs cannot be hatched. They cannot be released. They sit in your PC like a digital cancer, sometimes spreading to other slots or corrupting the sprites of your legitimate Pokemon. If you see a Bad Egg, do not save. Reset immediately. To avoid this, always use a "DMA Disabler" code if your emulator supports it, which prevents the game from shifting memory addresses around.
Specific Encounter Codes
If you're hunting for specific mons that aren't in the Ruby dex natively, you'll need the encounter codes. You activate the Master Code, then the "Encounter" prefix, and finally the specific ID for the Pokemon.
Encounter Prefix: 67C11314 8301886C
- Bulbasaur: AD86124F 2823D8DA
- Mewtwo: 4C77BA31 037D30D6
- Lugia: B6130C72 4D2F9F7E
It's tempting to just spawn a level 100 Mewtwo at the start of the game, but remember: if you don't have the gym badges, it won't obey you. You'll just spend every turn watching Mewtwo "loaf around" while a level 5 Zigzagoon tackles you to death.
Common Mistakes and Troubleshooting
Why isn't your code working? Usually, it's one of three things.
- Wrong Format: You’re trying to use a CodeBreaker code in an Action Replay slot. They aren't the same. mGBA usually auto-detects, but older emulators don't.
- Regional Conflict: You’re using a code meant for the Japanese version (Pocket Monsters Ruby) on a European or American ROM. The memory offsets are different.
- Too Many Active: If you have "Infinite Money," "Walk Through Walls," "No Random Encounters," and "Shiny" codes all running at once, the GBA's virtual CPU will choke. It can't handle that many overrides simultaneously.
Actionable Steps for a Clean Experience
If you want to use gba pokemon ruby cheat codes without ruining your 40-hour save file, follow this specific workflow:
- Backup your Save: Before entering any code, export a
.savbackup or create a Save State in your emulator. - One at a Time: Only enable one cheat (like the Rare Candy one), perform the action, and then disable it.
- Check the Summary: After spawning a Pokemon or using an item cheat, check your Trainer Card and the Pokemon's summary page. If the sprites look like garbled blocks of color (glitch pixels), do not save.
- Avoid the PC for Spawning: It is always safer to use "Wild Encounter" codes rather than "Spawn in PC" codes. Wild encounters let the game generate the rest of the Pokemon's data (like its moves and origin) more naturally.
- The Hall of Fame Check: Many cheats break the end-game credits. If you've cheated extensively, turn everything off before you fight the Elite Four.
The beauty of Pokemon Ruby is the world of Hoenn itself. Cheating should be a tool to remove the friction, not a way to delete the challenge entirely. Use these codes to get your favorite team together, but play the battles yourself. That’s where the fun actually is.
If you're looking for the specific hex strings for the remaining 386 Pokemon, make sure you're sourcing them from verified databases like the Project Pokemon archives or the long-standing GameFAQs community threads. The older the source, sometimes the better, as those codes were tested on original hardware back when the game was new.
Next Steps for Your Hoenn Adventure:
Verify your ROM version by checking the internal header—most cheats are designed for the v1.0 English release. Once you've confirmed that, start with the Master Money code (EF6BB9F3 A0F17D37) as it's the least likely to cause game-breaking corruption. After you've successfully added max cash, move on to the more complex encounter or "walk through walls" modifiers one by one.