The first X-Wing game I played was the 1993 floppy version that a I "borrowed" from a friend. I remember perfectly that you could progress in that game with all cheats on.
However, I also remember that version was cracked, because the copy protection screen appeared at the beginning and immediately disappeared by itself. I bet the crack also enabled progression with the cheats on.

I loved the game and a couple of weeks after I got my own legal X-Wing Collectors' CD, that came without copy protection. Of course it wasn't cracked and it was much harder so. :D