Konami Code



The Konami Code is a special combination of buttons that appears in several Konami games, including the Frogger series. Since it was first revealed, the code has become part of popular culture in general, even appearing in many non-Konami games and diverse media, like clothing, advertisements and non-gaming related software.

History
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, an 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.

The code has been subsequently re-used in a large number of other games and is now used in the Opera web browser to activate hidden advanced settings.

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:



Usage in the Frogger series

 * Frogger's Adventures: The Rescue (PS2) — In order to have 99 lives, pause the game then enter: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, L1, R1.
 * Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand (GBA) — Enter the following at the main menu to unlock the final level, the Magician's Realm: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.
 * Frogger 25th Anniversary (Xbox 360) — When selecting to play 1 or 2 players, input the directions of the Konami Code (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A) this will make Frogger bigger. This code does not work when playing with the original graphics.
 * Frogger (Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced) (GBA) - The game has a two player mode with a second orange frog that uses updated graphics. These graphics can be unlocked in the single player mode of Frogger by entering the Konami Code at the title screen.