When FBI raids and a rare SNES cheat device collided: The Game Wizard’s mysterious history
The Game Wizard exemplifies why retro gaming is as much about stories as it is about the hardware
For years, I had a Game Wizard for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) tucked away in my collection, without realizing how mysterious it truly was. I originally owned it as a kid in the 90s, likely purchased on a whim through GamePro or a similar magazine. Years later, I discovered it again while selling off parts of my vintage collection on eBay. When I went to write its product listing, I found almost no reliable information about it—no definitive product descriptions, no big reviews, and hardly any forum or Reddit posts. At the time, I simply wrote a quick mention that it was a cheat device, put it up for sale, and didn’t think about it again.
