Multiface

The Multiface was a hardware add-on released by Romantic Robot UK Ltd. for various 1980s home computers, like the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC 464. The device allowed you to save the contents of memory to tape or disk, allowing you to create backups of your software. Piracy was prevented by requiring the same unit to be present on loading the games. This was eventually worked around by a public domain program called "Anti-Multiface".

Another feature was the ability to view and edit the contents of memory. This made cheating especially easy - magazines used to print codes every month. Competing devices included the Mirage Imager, Disk Wizard, and Action Replay. At the time, none of these could save as many games, or offered the cheats. Action Replays for cheating have since been released on newer systems. Other competing systems were a wide array of software-based transfer programs.

Some games tried to detect the Multiface, and refused to load if it was present. The earliest models had no ability to "hide". Later revisions either included a switch, hid if you opened and closed the menu before loading the game, or automatically hid.

How to cheat with a Multiface 2

Multiface Pokes look something like this:

Laser Squad 4652 00 Infinite money.

To apply the cheat, follow these steps:

• Load the game
• Press stop (the red button)
• Press "T" to get the toolkit
• Press "*" to make sure you're editing the game
• Press "H" to use hexadecimal input
• Press space to input
• Type in the 4-figure address (e.g. 4652)
• Type in the 2-figure value (e.g. 00)
• Press return
• If you want more cheats (or the cheat needs multiple codes), enter those from the space step
• Press "ESC" to go to the menu
• Press "R" to return

Some games (e.g. Daley Thompson's Supertest, Barbarian 2) suffer screen distortion after this process. Entering and leaving the Multiface's menu a few times will fix this.