Saints Row (2006) - New Game+ Glitch Found?

Hello, Saints!

Got an interesting find here. This game is 18+ years old as I write this, so I'm very reluctant to name myself as the founder of this glitch, but I've done a lot of searching. I haven't found this glitch to have been referenced or documented anywhere, both on this site and through external sources.

So, what is this glitch that I am currently speaking of? Well, here's a short video of the glitch itself that I made, largely composed of raw footage. The steps to perform this glitch, along with all of my notes (identical to the ones in the description of this attached video; those are written in bold text) can be found below. Found circa January 2025.


Done on my Xbox One (the original fat model, not the Series X or S). Console specs shouldn't have any effect on the following info, but I thought I'd put it out there. No mods, cheats or other glitches were applied. In my 12+ years playing this game, I don't recall ever seeing this happen once. Initially found to be working with the Pimp Cane, and then other unlockables such as the Hitman reward weapons as I did some further testing. Unlockables such as unlimited sprint (achieved by spraying all of the gangs' tags) can also be carried over using this glitch.

Useful for: carrying unlockable Weapons Cache weapons to newer saves, even those saves where the player has just unlocked the first crib in the Saints' territory after the "Back to Basics" mission. Works with other unlockables, too.

New Game+ Glitch Steps:

  • Start up your Saints Row game.
  • Have a saved game handy in which you already have your desired unlockable(s) and/or unlockable weapon(s) unlocked (also works for unlimited sprint).
  • Load this aforementioned save first (must be the first save loaded).
  • Quit to the main menu, then start a new game.
  • Progress up until the first in-game crib is unlocked in this newer save, check the Weapons Cache for any unlockable weapon(s) that have been carried over to this newer save. Other unlockables should follow suit.
**Doesn't work for existing saves. The newer second save must be a new game that was started AFTER the unlockable weapon(s) (i.e. the Pimp Cane) were unlocked in a previous, older saved game.

Explanation (from my understanding):

  • The game doesn't reset the player's unlocked weapons, those can be acquired in their cribs via their Weapons Cache, upon starting a new game, after either; 1) Completing an activity that unlocks a weapon for resupply via the player's cribs (saving is optional, yet recommended), OR 2) Loading a saved game where the conditions of the prior step have already been achieved beforehand, then starting a new game, progressing up until the first crib is unlocked in the Saints' territory, then accessing their Weapons Cache to acquire the weapon(s) unlocked from the save that was initially loaded (in this case, this was most notably the Pimp Cane).
  • In short, the game doesn't fully register that the player has started a new game and fails to reset their list of unlocked weapons that are accessible via their Weapons Cache in their crib(s), instead carrying them over from a previously loaded save where such weapons have been unlocked.
**Hitman unlockable weapons work with this method.
***To combat instances where one may accidentally glitch unlockable weapons onto newer saves (saves where they may not want these weapons to be unlocked), then I would advise that you close down your game completely (quit to the Xbox dashboard), then start the game again, followed by loading your desired saved game. Saving an earlier saved game (one without the unlocked weapons) after having a later saved game (one with the unlocked weapons) loaded beforehand may result in one unintentionally having certain weapons unlocked a lot earlier than they should (i.e. the Pimp Cane, etc.). Another less stressful alternative to this is to just refrain from using any of the aforementioned unlockable weapons in the case that they pop up in your crib(s) a lot earlier than they should.
****Cheats do not trigger any of the instances above as acquiring weapons via cheats (via the in-game cellphone) doesn't unlock any spawned weapons through the Weapons Cache in the player's crib(s).
*****Quitted to the Xbox One dashboard, then restarted the game between tests. My hypothesis behind this is that this would prevent me from accidentally carrying unlockables over to saved games that I don't wish to have them on.
******Not for vehicle unlocks.


I'd love to hear what others are able to find from testing the above steps out in their own games.

On that note, I appreciate you giving this a read. Many thanks!

Yours, Jacob.
 
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