5 things that made GTA San Andreas one of the best games of all time

Rockstar released GTA San Andreas way back in 2004, and a big part of the community still agrees that it is one of the best games of all time. Well, several things make this title so iconic and memorable, like the protagonist as well as the music. Now that the developers are planning to release the first official trailer of the next installment in the series, fans can't help but reminisce about San Andreas.

While GTA 5 has outsold every other title in the Grand Theft Auto series, it still fails to capture the vibe and charisma of the old-era games. This is the reason why fans were excited about the remastered version of these titles.

This article will highlight five things from Grand Theft Auto San Andreas that make it iconic and one of the best in the series.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinion.

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5 things veterans reminisce about GTA San Andreas

1) Witty and humourous dialog

Good dialog not only allows the voice actors to give everything that they have, but also flushes out the character to give them more personality. This was one of the best things that GTA San Andreas handled perfectly.

Not only did CJ (the protagonist) have good lines, but the supporting characters in the game were equally hilarious. Big Smoke's iconic quotes are a prime example of how good writing can make a character memorable even after so long. San Andreas ensured that the dialogs were funny without getting cringy, which most video games seem to forget these days.

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2) Great main and supporting characters

Nobody remembers a bland, uninteresting protagonist, and side characters with such a personality suffer even worse. However, Rockstar Games did a phenomenal job with CJ and other NPCs in the game.

Players remember CJ as an intelligent and charismatic character who started from zero and worked his way to the top. All through his journey, his brother as well as several other friends helped him out. This not only solidified them in the plot, but also made them very memorable.

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3) Features and gameplay mechanics

GTA San Andreas has various gameplay mechanics and features that did not return in the future games in the series. This is quite unfortunate because they made the title very iconic and would have fit perfectly with the newer titles.

One such feature is the dynamic body shape, where CJ can become fat or muscular depending on how much time the players spend in the gym. This was also not just for aesthetics as they would fail certain tasks due to the excessive fat in their bodies. Rockstar Games abandoned this feature, which should have made its way to GTA 5.

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4) Iconic soundtracks

Soundtracks are another great thing that makes Grand Theft Auto San Andreas one of the best games of all time. The theme song has a special place in every fan's heart.

Apart from that, the title also has several other memorable soundtracks, like Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, which is still a great meme song. Along with it, It Was a Good Day by Ice Cube created great memorable moments for all the veterans as they cruised through the city while these songs played on the radio station.

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5) The cheat codes

While the previous Grand Theft Auto titles had a lot of cheat codes, San Andreas was way ahead in terms of sheer number. On top of that, the codes in the game were very helpful and allowed the players to complete some of the missions with ease.

There are also several fun cheat codes that players can simply use to turn the pedestrians and other NPCs into ninjas or max out CJ's s*x appeal, allowing him to get a girlfriend easily. These things made the original game way better than its GTA San Andreas Definitive Edition and other titles in the series.

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GTA San Andreas has several other features that make it so iconic, including the beautiful skies and atmosphere that fans wish to see in the upcoming title as well. However, according to some rumors, Rockstar has allegedly made some changes to the GTA 6 map and removed certain weather conditions from the game.