Stacy Conradt
The Quick 10: Konami Code Sites
by Stacy Conradt - September 3, 2010 - 3:37 PM

q10

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A. To some of you, this will mean nothing, but I bet if you’re an old-school Nintendo gamer, your ears just perked up. It was a cheat code used in several Konami games, but most notably, it gave you 30 extra lives in Contra. This super-secret (…or not) code has a special place in the hearts of geeks who have since grown up and used it to code fun stuff in their websites. Here are 10 of those websites – I’ll tell you where to go, but I won’t tell you what it does until after the jump. That way you can try it for yourself if you want, but if you don’t have time or happen to be somewhere with restricted access you can still be in the know. Here goes:

1. This one is my favorite. Go to the GeekStuff website and enter the code. If you’re at work, don’t do it without headphones (unless you work someplace really cool).

2. Enter it in Google Reader. This only works if you are signed in, so if you don’t have a gmail account… sorry. You can read what it does after the jump.

3. Double geek points for ActivateMedia for what the code results in. After you enter the code, you have to hit the enter key for it to work.

4. Darkscribes.org capitalizes on a certain Internet meme from a couple of years ago…

5. A little daily affirmation for you over at Lekevicius.com.

6. Even Marvel Comics gets in on the act. Press enter to activate this one as well.

7. It’s Shark Week every day at Qiwi. Keep hitting enter once you key in the code.

8. Some old-school Nintendo nostalgia for you at virtualNES. Enter to activate.

9. Just when you thought the bacon craze had reached its limits, SoundClick takes it to another level.

10. Fittingly, GameSpot.com has one too.

1. It’s the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song.
2. It gives your sidebar a ninja theme.
3. You get to enjoy the Truffle Shuffle scene from The Goonies.
4. Rickrolled!
5. A pixilated Mario declares how awesome you are.
6. Squirrel dressed in Deadpool mask, which probably means something if you’re a Marvel fan.
7. Pictures of sharks continue to pop up every time you hit enter.
8. The old Nintendo World Championships logo comes up.
9. A slice of bacon is slowly chomped into nothingness.
10. Just in case you didn’t know the other Contra cheat codes, GameSpot links you to them.

You never know what site up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, will work on. Rumor has it Newsweek even got in the act for just one day earlier this year – entering the code supposedly turned all stories to articles about zombies. This no longer appears to be active. If you’re like me, you’ll probably spend all weekend entering the code on every site you come across. Enjoy.

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Comments (23)

  1. Check out Kirby Krackle’s ode to the Konami Code. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg2kDtJZos8 It is Awesome!!

    posted by Paul on 9-3-2010 at 3:55 pm

  2. Neat! The Google Reader one also apparently changes all the “unread” numbers on your Reader to 30, which is cute.

    posted by Matthew on 9-3-2010 at 4:29 pm

  3. On the Juno soundtrack, they had the song “Anyone Else But You” by the Moldy Peaches. The song included the lyrics:
    “Up up down down left right left right B A start. Just because we use cheats doesn’t mean we’re not smart.”

    posted by Ian on 9-3-2010 at 4:34 pm

  4. Ooohweee, that just brought back a flury of memories…mostly of controllers being hurled across the room. Ah memories

    posted by Dustin on 9-3-2010 at 5:30 pm

  5. mentalfloss should have one… who’s with me :)

    posted by Cassy on 9-3-2010 at 6:28 pm

  6. can’t stop now!

    posted by Tess on 9-3-2010 at 6:34 pm

  7. Cassy yes MF really needs to add it too.

    posted by xanderjones on 9-3-2010 at 6:35 pm

  8. OK maybe I’m an idiot but I can’t figure out where to put this code… Help?

    posted by Dave on 9-3-2010 at 9:26 pm

  9. @Dave, when you’re at the page, just use your arrow keys (not the ones on the number pad, but just the arrows), then B, A, and enter for some of them.

    posted by Jamie on 9-3-2010 at 10:29 pm

  10. if you click the old nintendo championship logo, it loads a game… but I couldn’t make Mario jump :)

    posted by maja on 9-3-2010 at 11:47 pm

  11. With a little experimentation, I’ve found that X lets you jump :)

    posted by curiousgeorgie on 9-4-2010 at 12:44 am

  12. http://www.speccedforawesome.com/forum/ Try the code, then hit enter a bunch of times.

    posted by nh344 on 9-4-2010 at 1:47 am

  13. Ian, you beat me to it. Funnily, I just put that as my facebook status before checking mentalfloss.

    posted by KC on 9-4-2010 at 5:00 pm

  14. The code is also part of Fitness for Nerds by John Green!:-)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H0ctnAL3jo
    starts @ 7:05 if you want to skip right to it, but really the whole thing is pure awesome…

    posted by rayvensmoon on 9-4-2010 at 11:29 pm

  15. Mental Floss should have it so that if you do it on other parts of the site it brings you here!

    posted by Angela on 9-5-2010 at 12:19 am

  16. Totally not working for me! I’m using the arrows and then B,A into the search bar. What am I doing wrong?

    posted by Teresa on 9-5-2010 at 10:34 pm

  17. I agree with Casey.

    Teresa, you don’t type into anything. Just use the arrows, B, and A keys whenever the page fully loads. Some may require you to hit enter.

    The Deadpool squirrel is pure awesome!

    posted by Ben on 9-6-2010 at 12:21 am

  18. Go Wikipedia for listing many websites that take this code: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Konami_code_websites

    posted by Christina on 9-6-2010 at 12:56 pm

  19. Also, on the Qiwi website, click on the shark that appears and more sharks appear.

    posted by Queen of Thieves on 9-6-2010 at 4:30 pm

  20. For the Virtual NES site, it’s not just the logo, you get to play Super Mario Bros. use the arrows to move and ‘x’ to jump. :)

    posted by Jen/prismkitty on 9-6-2010 at 10:06 pm

  21. @maja x lets you jump and z shoots the fire balls when you get the plant.

    posted by nancy pants on 9-6-2010 at 10:32 pm

  22. Try this site: http://www.aqworlds.com/

    posted by JenM on 9-7-2010 at 1:18 am

  23. You can also do this on facebook. Well you could anyway, I haven’t tried in a long while. Big red circles appeared across the screen.

    posted by DJ on 11-10-2010 at 3:15 am

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