Konami Code

The Konami Code.

The Konami Code, known in Japan as the Konami Command (コナミコマンド, Konami Komando), is a cheat code thats appears in many Konami video games. The code also appears in some non-Konami games. The code was first used in the 1986 release of Gradius for the Nintendo Entertainment System but was made famous in North America in the NES version of Contra. While pausing the game or during the title screen, the player presses the following sequence of buttons on the game controller:

↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A

This is the original version of the code, designed for the NES controller. In many popular representations of the code, "Start" is added at the end of the sequence. This is because in many of the early occurrences of the code, "Start" had to be pressed before any effects of the code could be seen. In these cases, "Start" either started or unpaused the game. "Select" is also sometimes inserted at the end of the code, but in this instance, the code would be input at the title screen, and pressing "Select" usually switched the players option from one to two for cooperative play (as in Contra). The player can actually press "Select" before inputting the code and it will still take effect. The exact sequence varies from game to game, and has been adapted to fit the button layouts of different video game consoles. In mobile phone games by Konami, B and A are substituted with 9, 7, and 3 on the numerical pad, which is the goroawase pronunciation for "konami."

History

The Konami Code was created by Kazuhisa Hashimoto, who was developing the home port of the 1985 arcade game Gradius, a scrolling shooter released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986. Finding the game too difficult to play through during testing, he created a code which gives the player a full set of power-ups, which are normally attained gradually throughout the game. The code has continued to be present in Gradius sequels and spin-offs, including the SNES version of Gradius III, which actually destroys the player's ship upon entering the original code (however, substituting Left and Right with the L and R triggers of the Super Famicom controller powers up the ship).

The Konami code was introduced to many gamers in the 1988 NES version of Contra. Due to the game's intense difficulty, many Contra players became reliant on the code, which increased the player's lives from 3 to 30, to finish the game, earning the title "The Contra Code."

Impact on popular culture

References to the code have appeared in other contexts; the web comic Real Life has used the Konami code; Penny Arcade sells a t-shirt that features the code; while social news aggregation website Digg.com allowed users to type the full Konami code into the site to expand and display all comments on a page. . In music, the song Anyone Else But You by The Moldy Peaches featured in the movie Juno contains a reference to the code. There is a band featuring Mike Kinsella called "Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start" who released an album named "Worst Band Name Ever" in 2007. . Finally, the alternative metal band Deftones released a song named "U,U,D,D,L,R,L,R,A,B,Select,Start" on the 2006 album Saturday Night Wrist - however, this reference to the code transposes the A and B commands.

See also

• List of Konami code games, a list of all known games where this code has an effect.
• Konami, the game company

References

External links

• "Cracking the Code: The Konami Code," 1UP, October 2003
• Video of the show Cheat! on G4 about the Konami Code