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Konami Digital Entertainment has revealed its plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Konami Code, which will formally fall on April 25, 2026. The celebrations will also mark the same anniversary for the Japanese Family Computer (NES) release of Gradius, which was the first game to have the secret code implemented.
To mark the anniversaries, Konami has released six original soundtracks for digital purchases and streaming on platforms like Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and Spotify. In addition to the first Gradius, the company also released soundtracks from Gradius II (FC/NES), Gradius III (SFC/SNES), Nemesis (Game Boy), Nemesis II (Game Boy), and Salamander (FC/NES).
Konami also worked with the manga artist Shota Hattori to publish two short manga pages celebrating Gradius‘ 40th anniversary. In addition, the company collaborated with Amazon to release T-shirts via Amazon Merch on Demand, although the latter appears to be available exclusively in Japan.
The Konami Code made its debut with the release of Gradius for Family Computer (NES) in Japan on April 25, 1986. Pressing “Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A” in succession in the paused game would reward the player with most of the upgrades available for the unit. The same code is more recognizable in the West via the NES release of Contra in 1988, where inputting it on the title screen lets players start with thirty lives instead of three.
