Do you remember the feeling of swapping Game Genie codes with your friends at school or looking up codes over your dial-up internet connection? Do you remember the feeling of inserting your Super Nintendo cartridge into a Game Genie and watching Mario jump off the screen while enjoying infinite lives and cape feathers? If you share these nostalgic feelings, prepare to have a retro flashback as the Game Genie returns this summer.

A company called Hyperkin is debuting a Game Genie device for the PlayStation 3 at this year’s E3. The device is called Game Genie: Save Editor, and works by modifying existing save data for games. Hyperkin has already released a Game Genie-branded product for Nintendo DS systems.

The PlayStation 3 Game Genie comes on a USB flash drive which contains software that allows users to transfer their game saves to a PC. A PC program must them be used to edit “cheats” into the save files, which can then be loaded back onto the console. As you can see, the product is a simplified game-save editor with Game Genie branding. Hyperkin is, however, promising customers access to a “comprehensive, continuously updated cheat database.”

“The Game Genie is a simple to use, affordable, and powerful tool for unlocking the secrets of every PS3 game,” stated Steven Mar, Hyperkin’s executive director. “The Game Genie allows even the most novice gamers to breeze past the hard or boring parts of games, leveling the playing field for a more enjoyable experience.”

I’m not entirely sure what playing field Mar is referring to. Hyperkin is marketing the Game Genie as a device that will help gamers beat games faster with overpowered characters. However, modern video games are designed to be an experience, not something to simply be beaten. The multiple difficulty settings, as well as the overall lower difficulty of modern games are what made cheat codes a relic of the past. In addition, the modding community for most PC games is large enough that the fun, game-breaking experiences a Game Genie used to enable now seem quaint and simple.

(Picture courtesy Hyperkin)