Exploiting a video game for personal gain is a time-honored tradition. Like Destiny's now-defunct "Loot Cave", there's something special about finding solutions to problems so creative that they just might have to be outlawed - even though everyone is technically playing by the game's own rules.

Never intentional, though occasionally embraced by developers, exploits have a rich history in video games proper thanks to their always beneficial (and sometimes hilarious!) consequences. And though we must say goodbye to the most loot-filled of caves, thanks to Bungie's recent hotfix, we take this moment to reflect on some of our favorite exploits with fond remembrance.

Note that we’re not considering cheats, hacks, or mods here. After all, everyone’s been mysteriously killed by the space-and-time bending bullet of a hackers gun.

So long, Loot Cave, this one's for you.

The shot heard round the world… of Warcraft. Way back in the early days, the Paladin talent Reckoning functioned slightly differently than it does today. In its earliest incarnation, Reckoning allowed players to save up an extra attack every time they were critically hit, with no time limit, and then unleash those extra attacks in a single, soul-cleaving bomb of righteous fury. This all culminated in the now-infamous moment where a lone Paladin sauntered casually up to the 40-man raid boss Lord Kazzak, and unloaded nearly 2000 pent-up attacks, unceremoniously murdering the demon and basically winning World of Warcraft for the day. The ability was hotfixed within 24 hours – but the legacy survives.

We could fill the pages of many leather-bound books with all the crazy exploits on tap in Skyrim. Whether you’re interested in unlimited experience gains with the Oghma Infinium, the Skeleton Key that opens every door forever, purchasing any house free of charge or just picking up an endless stream of arrows, Skyrim is more exploitable than corporate tax law.

But the best of all these well-documented shenanigans is by far the bucket* head exploit. Aptly named for the two ingredients required, one head and a bucket on which to gingerly place it, the stunt is so simple it’s the perfect crime. Like an eternal game of hide-and-seek that never lurches into the second phase, players are free to skulk about the room, pilfering anything that isn’t nailed down with total impunity. Just take the bucket off when you’re done – it’s so very dark.

*Baskets are also acceptable substitutes

Pop Quiz: An elite commando is hauling straight at you with Olympic-caliber speed, hoisting a beast of missile launcher and screaming like psychotic wild man. What do you do? If you answered, “I shoot him, obviously, and immediately die in the fiery inferno that consumes us all,” you’re correct.

The Javelin Glitch was an exploit that briefly rocked the multiplayer community of the hyper-competitive Modern Warfare 2. Resourceful players learned that if you equipped the launcher, then held the grenade button and immediately switched back to the launcher, you could run around the map as a primed, human-shaped explosive, detonating upon death and taking out nearby players in an infuriating blaze of rage-inducing glory. It was made all the more terrible by the fact you could knife opponents while in this state, which not only made you incredibly lethal, but a total jerk. Of course, it was quickly patched, but the ire and scorn generated will live on forever. Good riddance.

For an entire generation, the 1985 classic Super Mario Bros. was the first real home gaming experience. One of two games packaged with the original Nintendo Entertainment System, it was the gateway into a fledgling hobby that would become the juggernaut industry it is today. Looking back, Super Mario Bros. might seem like child’s play, but for kids across the world taking their first shaky steps into the medium, it was a genuine challenge.

Any game that’s lived a life as long as Super Mario Bros. is bound to have a few discovered exploits, even prior to the all-knowing internet age, the ability to jump over the flagpole or the World -1 glitch were almost common knowledge. However, the endless lives exploit in World 3-1 that found Mario racking up points and unlimited lives, and using a Koopa Troopa as his personal punishment sponge in process, certainly takes the cake as the best exploit. Even now, all this time later, enterprising players are still finding unique ways to exploit this granddad of console gaming.

The most recognizable track in the Mario Kart series, and arguably the hardest, Rainbow Road has appeared in many iterations of Nintendo’s flagship racing series. While they all feature some sort of shortcut, starting with Super Mario Kart on the SNES all the way up to Mario Kart 8, it’s Mario Kart 64 that houses the slipperiest exploitable shortcut of them all. At the beginning of the track, speedy racers can bank left just as they’re approaching the top of the first downhill section, hopping over the guardrail and catching serious hang time to sail to a lower stretch of the road. If done correctly, the stunt bypasses about a third of the total track length, and shaves off significant seconds in a bid for the fastest time.

The original Mega Man is a relic of the days when games were brutally hard, and it’s a go-to example of that fine lineage. While every boss fight features tricky timing, the first major obstacle on the road to Dr. Wily’s fortress is borderline ridiculous. With a name like The Yellow Devil (also known as the Rock Monster thanks to Nintendo of America’s issue with religious references), it’s no surprise this guy is both A) yellow, and B) a complete pain in the ass.

He’ll disassemble, lob parts of himself at you, and reform only to blast you with his eye and repeat the process until one of you throws in the towel. Fortunately, he’s got a soft spot for the Thunder Beam, and exploiting Mega Man’s notorious “Select Trick” will allow you to fire one clean shot, and hammer the Select button after it lands, causing the charge to continuously cause damage. If done correctly, the fight should last about three seconds, which is about as long as you’re likely to last without it. The bad news is he’s mounting a comeback in the forthcoming Super Smash Bros., and odds are pressing Select this time around isn’t going to cut it.

In the age of arcades, there were a few games better suited to chewing through your pocket full of quarters than Galaga. The waves of insectoid enemies hurling themselves toward you in artful kamikaze attacks were bad enough, but as the game ramped up these ships started wailing on you with a barrage of well-placed shots. Those of us that had to make a few dollars-worth of credits last an entire afternoon soon learned through hushed whispers that if you let two specific ships live, and dodged their fire for long enough, they’d eventually stop firing at you – and all subsequent waves would follow suit. Needless to say, if you nailed the relatively easy exploit early on, a quarter became more valuable than gold. Even back then, 45 minutes of entertainment for twenty five cents was an amazingly good deal, and by today’s standards, that’s almost unheard of.

Item duplication is as old as video games themselves. Literally dozens of games have been discovered to carry exploits that allow for manipulation of the saving structure in order to generate duplicates of equipment, items, or just stacks of cold, hard currency. While Diablo and most of Bethesda’s massive role-playing games perfected the seedy undertaking, it was the more recent Elder Scrolls Online that serves as a prime example of how dangerous item duplication can be.

By placing half-stacks of valuable items in guild banks and then withdrawing them with furious speed, players could essentially double up on their goods and sell the newly materialized wares for a quick cash injection. The practice was reportedly so easy to perform that players could do it accidentally, which unsurprisingly, absolutely devastated the economy within days of the practice going viral. Zenimax Online Studios subsequently disabled guild banks as a temporary relief, then patched the practice into oblivion and banned many offending players, but the scars are still visible. In solo play, duplication bugs can be fun, sure, but in an open, online economy, they’re the stuff of free market nightmares.

There's no end to the number of notorious video game exploits discovered throughout gaming history. Below are 4 more quick hits you might remember:

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 - Jesus Shot

These two EA Sports exploits are notable thanks to EA owning up to bugs. The company turned lemons into lemonade by creating viral videos out of both issues.

Grand Theft Auto 3 – The Flying Tank

Hilarious? Check. Ridiculous? Yep. Exploit? Sure. But, really, once you got your hands on a tank in GTA 3 you were at a point where getting around wasn’t that big of a deal.

Mario 64 – Back Jumping to Bowser