The creator of the Konami Code, Kazuhisa Hashimoto, has died. The news was announced by composer and former Konami collaborator Yuji Takenouchi.
Takenouchi shared a message on Twitter that states that Hashimoto died last night (February 25), and that the composer hopes the legendary programmer and developer continues to “keep making games in heaven”. He was 61 years old.
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Hashimoto worked at Konami in the 80s and 90s on classic games such as Snatcher, Gradius, Life Force, and ISS, but he is best known for the creation of the Konami Code; a combination of button inputs used to activate powerful cheats.
The code – up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start – was first implemented by Hashimoto into the NES version of Gradius as it was found to be too difficult during playtesting. The code would give players a complete set of power ups. The code was subsequently added to dozens of other games over the years. It is perhaps best known for its use in Contra, where it would grant players 30 lives.
The Konami code can be found outside of Konami games, too, thanks to its evolution into a pop-culture icon. Fortnite, League of Legends, and Rocket League all have a Konami code, and even Netflix has a secret settings menu that can be accessed by inputting an almost identical code. It also is referenced by Disney’s video games themed movie Wreck-it Ralph.
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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com The Creator of the Konami Code Has Died