Any gamer worth their salt will be familiar with the Konami Code. And it is unfortunate that we discover that the one who invented it, Kazuhisa Hashimoto has recently passed away, at the age of 61.
Kotaku reports that the first person to announce it was Japanese composer Yuji “TECHNOuchi” Takenouchi. Konami itself tweeted the news a little later, who acknowledged him as “a deeply talented producer”.
The Konami Code was first invented by Hashimoto in the 1980s, when he was making the NES version of Gradius. A 2003 interview with Siliconera indicates that he thought of putting the code in the game as an entertaining puzzle. And because he was the one who will be using it, he made it easy to remember.
We are saddened to hear about the passing of Kazuhisa Hashimoto, a deeply talented producer who first introduced the world to the "Konami Code".
Our thoughts are with Hashimoto-san's family and friends at this time. Rest In Peace. pic.twitter.com/vQijEQ8lU2
— Konami (@Konami) February 26, 2020
Konami itself would go on to use the code in its other games. And sometimes variations will be employed, especially on non-Nintendo systems that may not necessarily have the A and B buttons. PlayStation systems come to mind, where they are replaced with triangle and square, respectively.
Whatever we may feel about Konami as a publisher now, the fact remains that it was where this piece of gaming history was born. And it’s good to see the company acknowledge the work of those employed by it. This was not exactly the case during Hideo Kojima’s final days with the company
While it may not be walking the path of redemption exactly, it may still have two Silent Hill games in the works.
(Source: Konami, TECHNOuchi / Twitter via Kotaku, Siliconera)
