Xploder CD 9000 Score: 85% Developer: Blaze Device Type: Accessory

Function: In the beginning, Sony created the PlayStation. Hackers and cheaters looked at the PlayStation and they saw that it was good... Then came a PlayStation with no parallel port. This put a stop to even the most innocent of activities, such as entering cheats to get unlimited ammo and infinite lives. Enter the Xploder CD 9000. As a CD-based cheat system, the CD 9000 allows you to use cheats with your games without a cheat cartridge. Unfortunately, it?s much more limited in scope than some of the other Blaze products. If you merely want to be able to use cheats with your games and you have a newer PlayStation, the CD 9000 might be just fine for you. If you really want to get into your PlayStation and find your own codes and such, I suggest getting your hands on a PlayStation with a port and scooping up a Blaze Xplorer Professional. Viva la difference! The Xploder CD 9000 is a brilliant solution for cheating on a PlayStation with no parallel port. However, it?s very easy to see that it?s a modified version of the Blaze cheat cartridges. The cheat part is great. The ?VMS? feature is carried over from some of the cartridge based units. This feature is a ?virtual memory system.? Basically, there was some memory in the cartridge which could be used to store copies of your most important memory card data. You couldn?t load a game directly from the VMS, but you could use it as a ?vault? to keep a backup of important game saves. This feature is reproduced on the CD 9000, but requires a 1 MB memory card. Now, I admit that since the VMS uses a compression routine, it is nice to be able to backup (up to) 120 saved games on a single memory card, it feels a bit strange to have to copy a saved game from your ?X-key? formatted memory card to a normal memory card through the CD 9000?s menu before you can actually USE the saved game.

Performance: Blaze?s Xploder CD 9000 itself is very simple to operate. When navigating through the on-screen menus, everything is self-explanatory and user friendly. As far as cheat devices go, the CD 9000 is pretty tame. The interface is nice and the CD player feature is alright, but don?t expect anyone to be impressed at your ?hacking? ability with the CD 9000. There?s not a lot to the CD 9000, but because of this, there?s not much to learn. Jump in, choose your game, activate the codes you want, and go. The game tells you when to insert your game disc. All in all, it?s pretty easy to pick up on. If there are any questions, the eight page instruction booklet should straighten it out. When installing the Xploder CD 9000, make sure your PlayStation is off. Then pop in the CD 9000 disc. If you want use of the VMS feature, put a blank memory card into slot 1. WARNING: the CD 9000 will attempt to format the memory card in slot 1 when you turn the system. DO NOT leave a normal memory card in slot 1 when booting with the Xploder CD 9000! Okay, now turn on the PlayStation and follow the on screen instructions. This will work with any PlayStation; a parallel port is not needed. For the VMS feature, a blank 1MB memory card is also required. NOTE: Testing with the PS2 has shown that the Xploder CD 9000 is NOT compatible with the PS2. (I have not yet tested the CD 9000 on the new PSOne unit.)

Features: Enhanced menu system Use with Xplorer, Action Replay, Equalizer, and Game Shark codes Built-in enhanced memory card manager Virtual Memory System (Save Game Vault -- NEEDS 1 MB memory card) CD music player with selectable audio VU meters Highly customizable appearance

Drawbacks & Problems:: The Blaze CD 9000 is definitely the ?vanilla? of cheat systems. The interface is nice, but anyone familiar with the multitude of cool features Blaze?s cheat cartridges have to offer will be somewhat disappointed. ON THE OTHER HAND, with the lack of a parallel port on the new PlayStations, Blaze?s hands were tied to some degree. You can only do so much through software alone. If you have a new PlayStation, your choices are, well... limited. The Xploder CD 9000 will let you cheat in your games. That?s about it, but that?s a whole lot more than any cheat cartridge will do for you.

-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins