Edwin Chase (Feat. Bastendorf) - The Forbidden Grimoire

The Forbidden Grimoire Before every cheat code was a search away, knowledge had gatekeepers. There was always that one kid with the cheat book. The magazine. The sacred collection of button combinations, fatalities, level skips and secrets passed around the playground like forbidden scripture. Then some of us got internet access. Suddenly, I didn't have to wait. The Forbidden Grimoire is a 90s gaming-memory anthem about the moment the old order collapsed: dial-up modems, Cheat Code Central, inkjet printers and freshly printed A4 sheets carrying tomorrow's playground knowledge today. Of course, access to the sum of human knowledge didn't necessarily make us any wiser. Was Mew really under the truck? Was MissingNo. actually real? Could you get the naked Lara Croft cheat? Somewhere between genuine secrets, playground bullshit, mods, glitches and somebody's brother's mate who definitely saw it, an entire generation learned that the internet could answer almost anything. And naturally, we used this revolutionary technology to look up videogame cheats. The Information Age had fucking arrived. Written by Edwin Chase Co-written by Bastendorf Inspired by a conversation about the cheat-code websites we grew up with, and the realisation that an A4 sheet fresh from the printer could once make you the most useful bastard on the estate.