contra
Konami Code - 01

The Konami Code (コナミコマンド Konami Komando?, lit. "Konami Command") is a special combination of buttons that appears in several Konami games. It was widely popularized due to its inclusion in the NES home version of Contra (1988), where it allowed the player to obtain 30 free lives. Since then the code has become part of popular culture in general, even appearing in many non-Konami games and diverse media, such as clothing, advertisements and non-gaming related software.

History

, creator of the Konami Code.

Kazuhisa Hashimoto, creator of the Konami Code.

The code was first used in the 1986 release of Gradius for the Nintendo Entertainment System but was popularized among North American players in the NES version of Contra, for which it was also dubbed both the "Contra Code" and "30 Lives Code", because of its nearly necessary use in the game.

The Konami Code was created by Kazuhisa Hashimoto, who was developing the home port of the 1985 arcade game Gradius, a horizontal scrolling shooter released on the NES in 1986. Finding the game too difficult to play through during testing, he created a cheat code to give the player a full set of power-ups (normally attained gradually throughout the game). The code was still present in the released version after Hashimoto forgot to remove it. Players discovered and shared the code. The Konami Code was thus included in the series' other sequels and spin-offs.[1]

Input

The code is usually entered during the title screen before the game demo begins, and the player must press the following sequence of buttons on the game controller to enable the cheat:

Konami Code - 02

Variations

Konami Code - 03

The original version of the cheat code was designed for the NES controller. The exact sequence varies from game to game and has been adapted to fit the button layouts of different video game consoles, mostly the A and B buttons. For example:

Usage in the Contra series

Note: Some of the following codes may not have a similar input to the classic Konami Code, but are included here for completion sake.

Contra (NES)

Operation C

Contra III: The Alien Wars/EX

Note: The following codes only work in the Japanese versions of both games.

Contra: Hard Corps

Note: The following codes only work in the Japanese version of the game, Contra: The Hard Corps.

Contra: Legacy of War

PlayStation

Contra: Shattered Soldier

Neo Contra

Contra 4

There are two methods of entering the code that each result in a different outcome:

Note: The code works only in Arcade Mode and can't be used for Challenge Mode.

Hard Corps: Uprising

Contra: Rogue Corps

Contra: Operation Galuga

Usage in Konami franchises

Castlevania

Dance Dance Revolution

The Konami Code has been referenced in routines for some songs on Konami's Dance Dance Revolution series, and has also been an unlock mechanism on some versions:

Gradius

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Other Konami games (in alphabetical order)

Gallery

Trivia

The Konami Code in the  parody.

The Konami Code in the Robot Chicken parody.

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Konami Code | Full Supported Konami Video Games List at Dmarket.
  2. In Japanese, 3 can also be pronounced "mi" depending on the context, especially when using counters, like Mitsubishi (three diamonds), Mittsu (three people), etc. This is the reason for 3 being used to represent "mi" in "go-na-mi".
  3. @Konami at X (February 26, 2020).

External links