SHANGHAI, WV — A retro game collector has discovered a rare malfunctioning Game Genie that adds a cruel ironic twist to any cheat codes it performs.

“I still can’t believe I managed to find an irregular unit like this out in the wild!” exclaimed collector Albert Supper. “Game Genies are easy to find, but most of them work as expected. Enter the code, get a cheat. The evil variety really adds a new level of unpredictability to your gameplay. For example, I entered the code for infinite lives in Mega Man 2, and now every day I’m killed in some horrific agonizing way only to resurrect the next day. It’s the real jewel of my collection!” The ceiling fan directly above Supper then fell down and crushed his head.

While these cursed cheating devices can often fetch hundreds of dollars from resellers, they are not without their detractors.

“People don’t like to hear it, but this is exactly why we tried to put a stop to these Game Genies back in the 90s,” said former Nintendo attorney Sharon Azad. “Modifying intellectual property without our permission is bad enough without the use of bound magical spirits forced to grant wishes. When players use the Game Genie, not only are they creating unlicensed derivative works of our own copyrighted games, but there’s a thin chance when you enter the walk through walls code for The Legend of Zelda you’ll lose your real-life corporeality and be unable to touch anything ever again. Frankly, the only way they should’ve ever been allowed to sell these is if they were all evil.”

While most resellers view these cursed Game Genies as a cautionary tale on the dangers of attempting to cheat fate, these warnings have done little to dissuade collectors.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard all the stories about wishes gone wrong,” said Herbert White, another cursed Game Genie owner. “I’m cultured. I saw Leprechaun 2. I’m sure these stories are why most people don’t use genies to grant their wishes, but if you ask me I think ‘cursed wishes’ are just a bad attitude. ‘Oh no, you gave me the thing I want most of all! How horrible! Woe is me!’ A wish is a wish, and I’m glad I found one of these things. Sure, I’ll never be able to remove the clothes I was wearing when I entered the infinite armor code for Ghosts n Goblins, but I still don’t have to play the game normally, so ha!”

At press time, another collector lost several fingers to a cursed GameShark.