Google hid one of the oldest cheat codes in video game history on the back of its new Stadia controller

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  • Google announced its new game-streaming platform, Stadia, along with a compatible controller on Tuesday at the 2019 Game Developers Conference.
  • During the presentation, we noticed a popular gaming reference located on the back of Google’s Stadia controller: The Konami Code.
  • The cheat code (↑,↑,↓,↓,←,→,←,→,B,A) has been referenced in video games and pop culture for decades.

Keen-eyed gamers who watched Google’s announcement of its new Stadia game streaming service on Tuesday will surely have noticed a tribute to historic video game lore.

The “Konami Code” is hidden in plain sight on the back of Google’s new Stadia controller. It’s a series of button presses that activates a cheat in certain games. That code is “up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A.”

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It’s most directly associated with the game “Contra” developed and published by Konami in 1987 on video arcade machines. The game was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System a year later in 1988.

It’s a little piece of gaming culture that’s pretty well known within the gaming community, but the sort of thing that could go easily unnoticed by anyone who’s never played a video game before.

You can learn more about the history of the Konami Code in the video below, courtesy of the Gaming Historian YouTube channel.

 

SEE ALSO: Google just unveiled its vision for ‘the future of gaming’ — here’s everything it announced

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