Contra number of lives = 30 ?

Nadia · Post by **Nadia** » Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:29 pm

I can recall when I played "Contra" for the first time, I got to hear from people around that a particular combination of buttons, when pressed in order at the Introduction screen of contra, will increase the number of lives to 30(which is normally 3). How is this possible? Does pressing this special set of buttons invoke a glitch in the program that amends the number of lives?

mic_ · Post by **mic_** » Sun Jun 06, 2010 11:40 pm

It's called the Konami code, and it was purposefully put in the game by the developers, so it's not a glitch.

MetalSlime · Post by **MetalSlime** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 5:34 am

mic_ wrote:It's called the Konami code, and it was purposefully put in the game by the developers, so it's not a glitch.

I didn't know that code worked on google reader and facebook.

MottZilla · Post by **MottZilla** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 1:43 pm

Lots of games have push button codes. They've lost popularity in recent years though. But for a time they were hidden in many games.

Interesting thing about Contra is that Contra 3 on SNES had the 30 lives code removed from the US version. The japanese version has it making it much easier for them if they knew the code. No clue if the European version had the code or not.

Nadia · Post by **Nadia** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 9:22 pm

MottZilla wrote: Interesting thing about Contra is that Contra 3 on SNES had the 30 lives code removed from the US version. The japanese version has it making it much easier for them if they knew the code. No clue if the European version had the code or not.

I tried this on a Contra ROM in an emulator and nothing happened!
I have seen a version of Contra(and other games) wherein when we start the game the number of lives, without pressing any hidden key combination, is more than normal(i.e. in case of contra =30). How can this be achieved?

mic_ · Post by **mic_** » Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:47 pm

MottZilla wrote: No clue if the European version had the code or not.

I recall it (Probotector) as having the code, since I've beaten the game as a child and that's semi-impossible with the standard 3 lives.

MottZilla · Post by **MottZilla** » Tue Jun 08, 2010 11:46 am

mic, you know I meant the Euro version of SNES Contra 3 Alien Wars right? I think that all the NES Contra games had the 30 lives code. I just wanted to be clear.

Same thing to you Nadia, which do you mean, NES Contra or SNES Contra 3?

If either of you are thinking Konami Code, then I'd know you mean the NES version as the SNES Contra 3 which has codes for Japan doesn't use the Konami Code.

Nadia what do you mean how can this be achieved? All your Lives are is a variable which has to be set somewhere in code to a specific value which can easily be changed by altering a single byte of ROM.

Kasumi · Post by **Kasumi** » Tue Jun 08, 2010 1:34 pm

My game Galaxy NES includes this code. It sets the number of lives to 30 (like Contra) and sets the score to 1337000000 in the HUD but does not allow you to play the actual game this way. It just allows you to make cool bullet patterns by allowing you to shoot a much higher number of bullets since there are no enemies using the sprites.

I felt like throwing it in, since it's such a famous code, and these kind of push button codes remind me of old games.