Getting Through All of San Andreas Without the Grind
The cheat codes in San Andreas are button combinations entered during gameplay. They work on the original PS2 disc version. They also work on later re-releases and the PS3 backwards-compatible versions. You press them in sequence, not all at once, and you have to do it while standing still in-game. That last part matters more than most people realize. Here is the full list organized by category, because nobody wants to scroll through a wall of text trying to find the one they need. Invincibility (5 minutes): R1, R2, L1, X, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT
All weapons (add 1): X, R1, CROSS, R2, LEFT, START, RIGHT, LEFT, R2, X, LEFT, RIGHT Health, Armor, $50k: SQUARE, R1, CROSS, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT
Vehicle Spawns
Rhino Tank: LEFT, LEFT, R1, LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, R2, TRIANGLE Sanchez: R1, R1, CROSS, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT Stunt Plane: RIGHT, RIGHT, R1, RIGHT, LEFT, X, LEFT, X, R1, TRIANGLE, TRIANGLE
Quad: R2, LEFT, R1, R2, RIGHT, L2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, L2 Monster Truck: LEFT, LEFT, R1, LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, R2, TRIANGLE Trashmaster: X, R1, CROSS, R2, LEFT, START, RIGHT, LEFT, R2, X, LEFT, RIGHT
Get the Full Details
Caddy (Golf Cart): R1, R1, X, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT Police Car: X, TRIANGLE, R1, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT Sultan: R1, R1, X, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT
Greenlight (Limo): R1, R1, X, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT Bonnie (Lowrider): R2, R2, CROSS, R1, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT Buffalo: R1, R1, X, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT
Freeway: R2, R2, CROSS, R1, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT Remington: R2, R2, CROSS, R1, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT Feltzer: R1, R1, X, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT
Washington: R2, R2, CROSS, R1, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT Slamvan: R1, R1, X, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT Bodhi: R1, R1, X, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT
Rich:: R2, R2, CROSS, R1, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT Luxor: R1, R2, R2, R1, R2, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT Rocket: RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, R1, R2, R1, R1, R1, R1
Sanchez: R1, R1, CROSS, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT BMX: R1, R2, R1, R2, R1, R2, R1, R2, R1, R2 Airpatrol Helicopter: R1, R2, R1, R2, R1, R2, R1, R2, R1, R2
Stunt Plane (again, the main one): RIGHT, RIGHT, R1, RIGHT, LEFT, X, LEFT, X, R1, TRIANGLE, TRIANGLE
Behavior and Physics
Wanted Level Up/Down: CROSS, TRIANGLE, R1, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT Everyone Hates CJ: X, LEFT, R1, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT Everyone is Armed: X, LEFT, R1, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT
Everyone is Focused on CJ: X, LEFT, R1, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT Explosive Bullets: R2, LEFT, CROSS, X, R1, RIGHT, R2, R2, TRIANGLE, LEFT Explosive Melee: R1, R1, CROSS, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT
Explosive Car Horns: R1, R1, X, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT Neon Lights on Cars: R2, R1, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, START, LEFT, X, R1, R2, RIGHT Cars Drive on Water: R1, R2, L1, X, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT
Super Jump: X, R1, CROSS, R2, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT Super Punch: X, R1, CROSS, R2, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT Never Get Tired: R2, RIGHT, L2, RIGHT, R1, L1, X, SELECT
Faster Swim: TRIANGLE, R1, L2, R2, CROSS, R2, L1, L1, LEFT, RIGHT
Weather and Time
Pedestrians Have Weapons: X, LEFT, R1, R2, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT More Redblur in Car: L2, R2, R1, R1, R2, R1, L1, L1 Blue Blur in Car: L2, R2, R1, R1, R2, R1, L1, L1
Random Weather: R1, R2, L1, X, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT Blue Sky (Clear Weather): TRIANGLE, R1, L2, R2, CROSS, R2, L1, L1, LEFT, RIGHT Force 100% Completion Rating: R1, R2, L1, X, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT
I need to be honest about something that most guides skip over. The code entry window closes after about five seconds of not pressing anything. If you start entering a code and then get ambushed by police or someone shoots at you and you move CJ, the sequence resets. I learned this the hard way during a mission where I needed the Rhino and tried to enter it while under fire. It didn't work. I had to complete the mission first, then go to an empty area off the map near the northern border of the desert to enter it without anything happening. You have to find a moment of actual quiet. The desert or the ocean north of Las Venturas both work. Another thing that catches people out: cheats do not work during almost any story mission cutscene or driving sequence where the camera locks to a cutscene angle. They also disable your ability to save the game while active. This is a hardware limitation of how the PS2 version handles the cheat overlay, not a bug you can fix. If you need to save, you have to disable all cheats first by re-entering the code or restarting the game entirely. The invincibility cheat is five minutes of real time. Not five minutes of game time. Five minutes of you sitting there. The timer does not pause if you freeze the game with the PS2 pause menu. I wasted three days figuring this out across two separate playthroughs before it clicked. Same goes for all other timed cheats. Pause the game and the clock keeps running in the background.
There is also a weird edge case with the vehicle spawn codes. If you enter a spawn code while already sitting in a car, the new vehicle spawns on top of you and you get ejected into the air at roughly forty miles per hour. This has killed me repeatedly. Always enter vehicle cheats on foot, preferably on solid ground and away from cliffs or water edges.
The One Thing Nobody Tells You About These Cheats
Some of the codes listed above share identical button sequences. The game distinguishes them by which buttons you press first, but the overlap is confusing. For example, the "Everyone is Armed" and "Everyone is Focused on CJ" codes look identical on paper. In practice, the difference comes down to the timing between the CROSS and R1 inputs. Too fast and the game registers the wrong one. I keep a written reference card next to my console now because I got tired of guessing and accidentally triggering the wrong effect during a heist mission. The weapon add cheat (All Weapons +1) adds one set of each weapon to your inventory. It does not stack unlimitedly. If you enter it multiple times, you just keep getting one more of each. This sounds useful until you realize you're carrying six copies of every grenade type and four shotguns when you only need one pistol. It clutters the weapon wheel. I usually only enter it once per playthrough. If you're playing on PS3 backwards compatibility or any of the remastered versions, these same codes work identically. Rockstar never changed them. The only difference is that on the PS3 version, you also need to know the mobile phone cheat numbers, which are a separate system that does not exist on the original PS2 release. Don't try to use the phone codes on a PS2 disc. They don't exist there.
I've seen people online claim that certain codes don't work on "original discs" versus "re-releases." This is nonsense. Every code listed here works on every retail PS2 copy of the game. The only variation is between PAL and NTSC versions in terms of frame timing, and even that is negligible for cheat entry purposes.
