It's funny cheating came up. When I was a kid, I played games almost exclusively with cheats. In fact, whether a game had cheats was a huge factor in whether I'd even get it. Started with game genie on the NES, and ended when I started going to LAN parties and you obviously couldn't cheat in multiplayer. After that I always beat games legit.
So it was enormously fascinating, in my recent retro play time, experiencing these old games again that I only ever beat with cheats. Quake was legit about constant spatial awareness, resource management and survival. All I remember as a kid was gibbing everything with the rocket launcher and trying to find all the secrets. Without cheats, the rocket launcher was of sparing use, especially since so many enemies close in on you, and secrets are a lot more difficult to find without noclip.
StarCraft as well. With cheats, I just turtled until I reached pop cap with the strongest unit available to me, and then methodically uncovered the entire map. Air units were always preferable, no matter how weak they were, because they moved quicker and with fewer restrictions. Also, weakness doesn't matter with cheats turned on. Without cheats, I would literally limp across the finish line of a few missions, severely resource constrained, battered by the AI's superior use of special abilities like PSI storm, plague or stasis. Exploring, securing additional resources, and trying to build up a force while fending off opportunistic attacks was extremely engaging.
I don't regret cheating as a kid. I definitely did not have the patience or skill to finish most of those games. But I'm glad as an adult I can go back and beat them legit, experiencing them as they were meant to be experienced.
Win95/DOS 7.1 - P233 MMX (@2.5 x 100 FSB), Diamond Viper V330 AGP, SB16 CT2800
Win98 - K6-2+ 500, GF2 MX, SB AWE 64 CT4500, SBLive CT4780
Win98 - Pentium III 1000, GF2 GTS, SBLive CT4760
WinXP - Athlon 64 3200+, GF 7800 GS, Audigy 2 ZS