Welcome to the 32 Dangerous Cheat Codes, a brand new series that will run daily between November 24 and December 25. Join us as we discuss the hazardous ramifications of some of your favorite cheat codes. Today we're taking an exhaustive look at all of the Sega Activator cheat codes featured in the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly. Every single one of them. Find out how long this Activator coverage lasted when you discover today's episode of the 32 Dangerous Cheat Codes.


Romeo and Juliet. Cleopatra and Mark Antony. Joanie and Chaci. These are some of the greatest love stories of all time, and even they pale in comparison to Electronic Gaming Monthly's love affair with Street Fighter II.

This may sound like hyperbole, but let's weigh the facts. Between February 1992 and November 1993, EGM featured Street Fighter II on the cover 17 times. And that doesn't even account for the previews, move lists, special codes and console coverage we saw in every single issue over the course of three years. EGM was constantly looking for ways to sneak Street Fighter II into their issues, even if it meant creating a fictional Sheng Long as an April Fool's joke.

This is a magazine that reviewed the incomplete Genesis port close to six months ahead of release. A magazine that published multiple stories on the making of Street Fighter II. A magazine that promised questionable boss codes month after month. A magazine that spent years posting rumors about Street Fighter III. Sometimes it felt like there wasn't a Street Fighter story Electronic Gaming Monthly wouldn't print.

But as it turns out, there was a line EGM wouldn't cross. In their 51st issue, the magazine started what they suggested would be a regular look at Street Fighter II moves by way of the Sega Activator. This was the silly hands-free device where you punched and kicked the air to pull off attacks. It was a novel concept that didn't sell well, and both Sega and Electronic Gaming Monthly quickly forgot about it.

But before it slipped their mind, EGM published the way to pull off fireballs, hurricane kicks and torpedo attacks. For example, if you want to perform one of Ryu's dragon punches, you would need to wave your hand over 3H, 5L, 5L again, 3H twice and then 2H. If all this sounds like gibberish, the magazine added a visual guide to keep things straight.

This obviously wasn't practical, and nobody was going to go to all that work to pull off a simple dragon punch. I guess Electronic Gaming Monthly agreed, because they axed the feature after one issue and never published another Activator code. EGM felt no shame in hyping up Street Fighter II cameos in the Japanese quiz game Capcom World 2, but refused to publish more than one month's worth of Activator moves. They probably made the right call.