GTA PS2 Cheat Codes PS2 Buttons vs PC Words

A GTA cheat has two skins: a DualShock 2 button trail on PlayStation 2, and a typed word on PC. They are not interchangeable. Original PS2 games from 2001–2007 never open a keyboard. If a guide tells you to type HESOYAM on a DualShock 2, that guide is for a different SKU. This page is the translation layer. How to tap the pad is in how to enter cheats. Per-disc buttons are on the codes hub.

PS2 buttons versus PC typed words

On PS2 you press a sequence during live play. On PC you type a string during live play without a console window. Same effect, different alphabet.

Common San Andreas PC words that must not be typed on original PS2:

• HESOYAM — health, armor, $250,000, and a vehicle repair. PS2 uses a shoulder-and-compass combo on the San Andreas codes page, not letters.
• AEZAKMI — never wanted / wanted lock depending on list wording. PS2 has a button version. It is a world-state cheat; keep it off a 100% slot per save-file warnings.
• BAGUVIX — near-infinite health on classic San Andreas. Not a DualShock 2 word. Also one of the effects The Definitive Edition later removed.
• PROFESSIONALSKIT — weapon set 2 on PC. PS2 weapon sets are R1/R2 prefixes listed on weapon sets.
• ROCKETMAN — jetpack on PC. PS2 uses the button trails on how to get the jetpack. There is no PS2 text entry for it.

GTA III PC uses strings such as GIVEUSATANK, GUNSGUNSGUNS, and IFIWEREARICHMAN. Vice City PC uses its own dictionary (weapon words, health words, PANZER for the Rhino). None of those strings are DualShock 2 input. Vice City on original PS2 still has no money cheat and no god mode, even though some PC or later lists look richer. If a blog pastes HESOYAM under a Vice City header, it is mixing San Andreas into 1986. Fake codes is the dumpster for that.

Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories on PS2 are button games as well. Their PSP siblings use L and R where PS2 uses L1 and R1. That is a shoulder-name change, not a PC word.

Definitive Edition removed original San Andreas cheats

The Definitive Edition remaster is not a PS2 disc. Rockstar dropped several classic San Andreas effects for engine reasons. Do not expect these on DE, and do not be shocked when original PS2 still has them:

• Infinite (near-infinite) health
• Never hungry
• Adrenaline
• Invisible cars
• Free aim in cars
• Floating cars (cars float away when hit)
• Always midnight

If you are on a fat PlayStation 2 with the 2004 disc, those codes can still exist as DualShock 2 sequences. If you are on DE, they will not fire, and a copied “classic complete list” will look broken. Use a list that labels the SKU. The cheat finder is only as honest as the disc you pick.

DE also still disables trophies on a cheated save. Original PS2 has no trophies to disable, which is why forum threads argue past each other. Both can ruin a file; only DE shows a trophy lock. See save-file warnings.

Big Head is not on original PS2

The Definitive Edition added Big Head Mode: the Konami sequence plus Circle, X (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Circle, X). That extra is a remaster gag. Original PlayStation 2 San Andreas, Vice City, and GTA III do not ship it as a DualShock 2 cheat. Entering Konami plus Circle, X on a 2004 PS2 disc will not give CJ a balloon head. It may nibble the buffer and do nothing, or it may graze some other compass-heavy code if you keep going.

Do not “upgrade” an original PS2 list with Big Head because a DE video showed it. Do not tell a DE player that Big Head proves their infinite-health combo should work. Those two SKUs diverged.

PS3 ports invert L1/L2 and R1/R2

PlayStation 3 ports of the trilogy invert the shoulder mapping for cheats: L1 swaps with L2, and R1 swaps with R2, relative to original PS2. A PS3 table that starts R2, L2 is often the PS2 table that started R1, L1, rewritten for that port.

If you copied a PS3 or “PS3/PS4/PS5” block onto a DualShock 2 plugged into a fat PS2, long combos fail in a confusing way: prefixes almost look right, then the sting never comes. Translate shoulders back. Original PS2 uses the sequences on this wiki’s per-game pages, not the inverted port tables.

PS4/PS5 Definitive Edition is another mapping again (and it includes Big Head, excludes some classic SA effects). When in doubt, match hardware + SKU, not the word “PlayStation.”

DualShock 2 controls shows which physical buttons you are pressing on PS2 so the invert is visible: L1 is the upper left shoulder, L2 is the lower trigger. On a PS3 rewrite those roles in the cheat listener are swapped.

How to pick a list for the disc in the tray

1. Read the plastic. GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, Liberty City Stories, and Vice City Stories are five listeners.
2. Confirm it is original PS2, not a PS3 port, not DE.
3. Use button sequences, not PC words.
4. Enter them in live play with the D-pad.
5. Keep world-state cheats off the story slot.

Then open the matching page: GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories. Spawn pages stay specific: tank for Rhino hulls, jetpack for San Andreas only.

PC words are fine if you actually launched the Windows build. They are noise on this wiki’s DualShock 2 path. A useful mental rule: if the code is pronounceable, it is probably PC; if it is a row of shoulders and Circles, it might belong here.

The tier list hub still applies after you pick a SKU. A working HESOYAM equivalent on PS2 San Andreas is convenient. A working riot is a save-file problem. DE’s missing infinite health is not a reason to invent a Vice City god mode that never existed on PS2.

When a friend texts you PROFESSIONALSKIT, answer with the DualShock 2 weapon-set combo for that disc, or send them this page. When they text Big Head for a silver 2004 disc, tell them to keep the Konami code for the remaster. That is the whole difference between a sting and a shrug.