The Konami Code began as just a combination of button presses that would unlock cool stuff in the company's video games, the most popular example being the thirty lives "Contra Code" that would give players an edge in a game that was pretty much impossible to beat otherwise. It's since filtered through into popular geek culture, appearing in other games as a jokey easter egg as well as merchandise like t-shirts, mugs and posters. Some of those geeks were also behind some of the most popular sites on the internet and, so, entering the Konami Code - up up down down left right left right b a - in countless places online will throw up something cool, or weird, or funny, or all of the above. Doing it on the main BuzzFeed homepage will change the whole site to be about sloths, the front page of fashion magazine Vogue will reveal a series of velociraptors wearing fashionable hats dashing across the screen, and Facebook used to let you generate a lense flare wherever you clicked after entering the code. We guess JJ Abrams had something to do with that. Even lesser known sites have secret Konami Code features, as Full Sail University will add glittering unicorns to the screen each time you type it in, and obviously gaming websites like Gamespot and Giant Bomb have their own versions. Once again, however - and we swear they're not paying us off or anything - our favourite might have to be Google's Konami Code easter egg. Rather than unlocking a secret page or feature or whatever, going to voice search and saying the code out loud will...well, just see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDSjX6BZQjo
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
