Journal
Mint Easter Egg
29 October 2005 › 13 comments
Via the site Peppermint Tea, I heard about a hidden bit of humor, often called an Easter Egg. For any of you who are old enough to remember the original Nintendo Entertainment System, you no doubt played a game here or there by the company Konami. This company was “famous” for having the same embedded code in many of their games. Often times, if would allow you to skip to any level, get 30 lives, or other such benefits. Oddly enough, on the old SNES game Graduis, if you entered the code your ship would explode!
Well, Shaun Inman has embedded the same code into the admin interface of Mint. If you enter it, you will see a brief stamp of Jason Santa Maria, saying “Stan Tested, Stan Approved.” The code seems to be abbreviated a bit, and is not the full Konami string. This is probably for the best, as there’s no “Start” button to finish off the input. So, that being said, here’s the secret code:
Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A
Discussion + Dissension
Comments closed after 2 weeks.
#1 Chris Tingom
AWESOME! Hey, wasn’t that pattern on one of the old SNES games? I remember it from Mario Bros. or Zelda or something. Just sayin’.
Duh, just read the rest of your post. So you’re right, it’s Graduis. I remember that game!! This is better than mint bubble gum!
#2 Nathan Smith
Yeah, it was in most every Konami game. In Contra and Ninja Turtles, it gave you extra lives and let you warp to any level. I think Konami got tired of people using it all the time, instead of playing their games, so they made the Gradius spaceship self-destruct instead. It’s so hillarious being in Mint.
#3 Yannick
Haha nice! I bet this is going to start a trend now. But it is still cool nonetheless.
#4 Lea
That rules. Geeks will inherit the earth!
#5 Bryan
Haha, that’s so awesome. :D
#6 Elliot Swan
Hahaha that’s great.
#7 Nathan Smith
For some odd reason, this makes me glad I purchased Mint, and didn’t hold out until Measure Map. I think that small thing like this, the personality of it all, are what I appreciate. That, and the fact that it’s hosted on your own server!
#8 Darice de Cuba
I’m feeling more stupid by the minute. I suppose you have to press the arrows while on your mint page but how do I get B A?
#9 Nathan Smith
Darice: You’re right, just use the arrow keys, and then type the B + A on the keyboard. Don’t feel bad, I didn’t understand it at first either!
#10 Rob Soule
I love it dude. Contra was such a cash money game. ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US…. and i’m a dork. :)
#11 Nathan Smith
Haha, but Contra didn’t have the All Your Base intro. I catch your drift though, NES nerds unite! All we need are 2 red buttons, rocking the old school style.
#12 Bennet McLean
Actually that is the full Konami Code, the Start at the end wasn’t part of the code, it is just the button you need to press to either start the game or to unpause. Some people thought it ended with Select Start in Contra, but that is simply the buttons you need to press to select a two player game and the… start.
#13 Nathan Smith
Ah, gotcha. I stand (actually sitting at this moment) corrected. I’ve had several people point out my Konami ignorance, so I’ll fess up. I thought Select Start was part of the code. There, I’ve said it. Ninja Turtles, forgive me. ;)