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Clarify sources on cheats
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tetracorp committed Sep 21, 2024
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Expand Up @@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ According to Backdoor Cheats, 5 April 1995, there is a cheat in Knightmare:

Testing it by memory-editing in apples and rabbit pies appears to show that the
cheat is completely fake. While I haven't fully verified it yet in the game
code, this cheat appears to be false.
code, in the context of other research, this cheat appears to be false.

### Source

Expand All @@ -30,26 +30,17 @@ known version of this cheat:
>
> Throw all five apples into the quest shield and then make each character
> consume two rabbit pies from the inventory screen. Now continue with your
> quest and you should find tha your hit points never go down!
> quest and you should find that your hit points never go down!
The language used clearly shows that this is an ancestor of the popularly
circulated version; e.g. "involves the woodland section on the first level".

Given that it's the magazine's April 1st issue, it seems likely that this was a
fake. The submitter's name is also a clue: "Uli Ingit" = "U lie, innit".

The cheat nevertheless circulated to other magazines. _Zero_ issue 34, August
(1992, at best guess), page 56:

> Here's a bit of a tip to make this game less of a nightmare to play (not that
> it is a nightmare in the first place, you understand). Er... anyway, in the
> woods on the first section, use your spade to find five apples. Take the
> apples and hurl them at the quest shield on hanging on the wall, then make
> each of your group eat two rabbit pies from the inventory screen - whether
> they like them or not! Now your hit points won't sap your energy levels.
_The One_ May 1995, page 72, repeated the cheat, exactly as worded in _Backdoor_
but with correct spelling:
The cheat nevertheless circulated to other magazines and cheat disks.
[Postcard Man's cheats list](https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/26759/AmigaElysianArchive.iso/games/spoil/pmcheats.lha/pmcheats.txt)
added a version of the cheat between 10 February 1992 and 16 July 1992:

> This cheat involves the woodland section on the first level. Use the spade to
> help you find the five apples. Take these apples and throw them at the quest
Expand All @@ -60,7 +51,28 @@ but with correct spelling:
Note how it's slightly re-worded from the _Games-X_ version, erroneously
interpreting that there are only five apples in the section.

It was re-phrased in _Zero_ issue 34, August (1992, at best guess), page 56:

> Here's a bit of a tip to make this game less of a nightmare to play (not that
> it is a nightmare in the first place, you understand). Er... anyway, in the
> woods on the first section, use your spade to find five apples. Take the
> apples and hurl them at the quest shield on hanging on the wall, then make
> each of your group eat two rabbit pies from the inventory screen - whether
> they like them or not! Now your hit points won't sap your energy levels.
The Postcard Man wording of the cheat was repeated in this form in various
cheats disks and magazines, including _The Ultimate Cheat Disk_ dated 10 June
1993; _The One_ May 1995, page 72; and _Backdoor Cheats_, the latter of which
added misspellings. A
[Discmaster search](https://discmaster.textfiles.com/search?q=%22quest+shield%22&qfields=filename&qfields=ext&qfields=content&sortBy=ts)
shows it repeated in various cheats compendiums between 1992 and 2001, including
some repeating the misspelling "KNIGHMARE".

![Quest One: The Shield of Justice](../images/Knightmare_quest_1.png "Quest One: The Shield of Justice"){:width="640" height="400"}
{:.center}

The phrase "quest shield" presumably refers to the Treguard thing on the wall
in the woodland area, which reads "Quest One: The Shield of Justice".
in the woodland area, which reads "Quest One: The Shield of Justice". A
particular quirk to all of the versions of the cheat is the claim that you have
to eat from the inventory screen, but in _Knightmare_ you eat from the main
screen by equipping the food in a hand.

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