GTA PS2 Cheat Codes Riot, chaos mode, and other save-killers

Chaos DualShock 2 codes are the reason this wiki exists as much as weapon sets. They turn a calm city into a brawl, a beach party, or a sky full of cars. They are also the fastest way to lock a story save into a state you cannot reverse. Use them after you copy the file. Never use them as a warm-up for a mission you still need to pass.

This page is the F-tier companion to the tier list and the opposite of mission-friendly cheats. The toys below appear across GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, Liberty City Stories, and Vice City Stories, but the buttons are not shared and some effects cannot be toggled off. Confirm strings in the cheat finder and keep save-file warnings open in another tab.

A tank and a jetpack are spectacle, not always chaos. If you only want a Rhino in an empty parking lot, use how to spawn a tank. If you only want to fly in San Andreas, use how to get the jetpack. Those guides assume a spare slot too.

Make a throwaway save first

1. Beat or skip to a quiet safehouse.
2. Save to a slot named something you will not mix up with the story file.
3. Confirm the disc name on the boot screen so you do not enter a San Andreas riot string on Vice City.
4. Enter chaos codes only on that slot.
5. When the city is unplayable, delete the slot or overwrite it on purpose.

If you skip that ritual, Vice City’s pedestrians-attack combo is the one that usually teaches the lesson. Many lists print “cannot be deactivated” next to it because it is true. Reloading the same cheated save will not restore a polite Vice City.

Riot and pedestrians attack

Riot codes tell the city to fight itself. Pedestrians-attack codes tell the city to fight you. Both belong on this page. GTA III has a riot string (Down, Up, Left, Up, X, R1, R2, L2, L1) and a separate attack string that swaps the last shoulders. Vice City attack is Down, Up, Up, Up, X, R2, R1, L2, L2 and should be treated as permanent for that save. San Andreas riot is R2, Circle, R1, L2, Left, R1, L1, R2, L2. Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories have their own shorter L1/R1 riot and attack shapes.

Attack codes cancel the point of a story mission. You cannot stand on a sidewalk for a cutscene trigger. You cannot wait for a partner. You cannot take a quiet taxi. If you came here because a random list called attack “funny,” it is funny for about 90 seconds.

Chaos mode, vehicle of death, destroy all cars

San Andreas chaos mode (L2, Right, L1, Triangle, Right, Right, R1, L1, L1, L1, L1, L1) is a blender. Pedestrians, gangs, and traffic stop behaving like a city and start behaving like a crash reel. It is the correct code if you already finished the story on another slot and want the map to scream.

Vehicle of death — cars explode when they bump you — is the same idea with a fuse. The San Andreas string is L1, L2, L2, Up, Down, Down, Up, R1, R2, R2. It will also punish you if you graze a parked taxi. Destroy all cars is even blunter: every loaded vehicle dies, including the one you are driving. GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, and the Stories games all ship a version. Do not enter it during a mission that spawned a unique car. You will fail and you may not get that spawn back without a reload.

Six stars and flying cars

Max wanted is chaos even though it uses the “raise wanted” family of codes. GTA III and Vice City raise with Left, Right repeats after a shoulder opener. San Andreas raises with Right, Left repeats. Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories use compact L1/R1 or D-pad locks. Six stars turns every tunnel into a roadblock. That is a sandbox toy, not a way to skip a chase mission.

Flying cars are the other crowd favorite. GTA III and Vice City share Right, R2, Circle, R1, L2, Down, L1, R1. San Andreas uses Square, Down, L2, Up, L1, Circle, Up, X, Left. Liberty City Stories does not ship a flying-car combo; it has drive-on-water instead. Vice City Stories has no flying-car pad code on PS2. Flying cars fail checkpoints, break camera rules, and make controls feel alien because the vehicle is now an aircraft with car wheels. Keep them off the mission-friendly file.

Beach party, Elvis, and other population swaps

San Andreas beach party (Up, Up, Down, Down, Square, Circle, L1, R1, Triangle, Down) puts the state in swimwear. The Elvis code (L1, Circle, Triangle, L1, L1, Square, L2, Up, Down, Left) replaces the crowd with one joke. Both are delightful on a Friday night and hostile to missions that need a specific pedestrian or a gang member to spawn. Clothing and skin codes in III and Vice City are milder but can still hide the outfit a cutscene expected.

Suicide codes exist in several games. They are a reset button with a hospital bill. Using suicide to skip a fail state is slower than loading the throwaway slot you should have made.

After the fun

When you are done:

• Do not save over the story file.
• Do not assume a second entry toggles the effect. Some do. Attack often does not.
• If you want a structured rampage instead of a broken map, spawn a Rhino or the San Andreas jetpack on the same throwaway slot and leave pedestrian AI alone.
• If a website told you chaos mode also gives money in Vice City, that site is lying. Check fake codes.

Chaos cheats are part of why people still boot these discs. They are not part of a 100 percent run. Rank them F on a story save and S on a slot you are willing to delete. That is the whole rule.