savestate

A savestate is a snapshot of a video game's exact condition at a specific moment, allowing players to return to that precise point later.

Unlike in-game saves at designated checkpoints, savestates capture everything—position, health, inventory, enemy locations—and can be created anywhere.

The feature originated with emulators but has spread to official retro game collections: I made a savestate right before the boss fight.

Savestates enable practice runs and protect against difficult sections, though purists consider them cheating.