This is the culmination of the entire month of codes. Today’s code is one I wanted to share many many many times. It would have been the easiest code to use on those days when I couldn’t think of a single code to use. Instead of falling back on this code I instead dug through my entire collection to find a game with a code that was worthwhile, and sometimes I wouldn’t even find that (again I direct the attention of the class to Cybernator). Still somehow I was able to make it through the first Twenty-Seven days of the month and save this code for day Twenty-Eight.

Day Twenty-Eight

Various

1986 / Various

The Konami Code

Code: “Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left Right, B, A, Start”

This phenomenon of the Konami code began with the NES port of Konami’s Gradius. During play testing the game was deemed to hard so the programmers added a code which when entered while the game was paused gave the player a full-set of power ups. Fortunately for the annals of gaming history those same programmers forgot to remove the code and thus the most influential code in all of Video Games was born… The Konami Code.

Though the code had its start in Gradius it didn’t receive real notoriety until the release of another arcade port to the NES: Contra. Again playing an arcade game built to coax the quarters out of the pockets of America’s youth was somewhat lackluster on a home console, luckily with the use of the Konami Code you could go from the measly Three lives that was initially given at the start of the arcade game, you could start off the game with Thirty lives which is more than enough to give the forces of Red Falcon a run for their money. Not only that but the code could be utilized in a Two-Player game by adding in the Select button before hitting Start on the title screen.

After Contra the Konami Code or small variations thereof found themselves in video games across almost all of the platforms from appearing in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time on the SNES to be able to choose to start the game with 10 lives in the options menu. Castlevania: Bloodlines on Genesis to access expert mode. Nemesis on Game Boy will give the player full options. The code has even been adapted to be be entered on the Nintendo Wii, Playstation and TurboGrafx 16, with “B” and “A” being replaced by “1” and “2,” “O” and “X,” and “II” and “I” respectively. Perhaps my favorite is in the Game Boy Advance Castlevania title Harmony of Dissonance  where entering the code would allow you to play as the original Destroyer of Dracula Simon Belmont in the Boss Rush Mode.

In fact calling the code the Konami Code could almost be considered obsolete as the code has now become so ingrained in the American Culture that it is now featured in games that aren’t produced by Konami in Homage. There are also a number of websites on the internet that will yield interesting results if you enter the code on them, substituting the Enter Key for Start.

Truly the Konami Code is one that has had a long lasting effect on the entire topography of gaming. In fact this month February 2012 Twenty-Six years after Gradius was released on NES the code was featured in Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS where entering the code will unlock access to touch screen selection in the PES shop.

The next time you play yourself a video game then take the time to enter the Konami Code, you never know what it might unlock and you will be taking Four seconds to show your respect and admiration for the history of gaming.