Konami code found in Castlevania N64 game 25 years after release

Twenty-five years after Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness launched for Nintendo 64, someone has discovered a new Konami code lurking within — and it’s a pretty useful one.

Found by two fans on the Castlevania 64 speedruns Discord server, this code unlocks all characters, plus their alternate costumes, plus a hard mode, on the spot. Previously, fans earned these unlocks after beating the game twice.

But wait, there’s more. The fans also discovered another two cheat codes very helpful to one’s playthrough, especially if it’s a speedrun. One code completely fills the player’s inventory, no matter what character they are using, and another only for the Japanese NTSC and PAL versions max out their weapons’ power and give them a max number of jewels. Players have since tweaked the game’s code to make them available in their versions, although some report minor bug issues.

YouTuber JupiterClimb has all of the details, including how to access the codes, the video above. But the content unlock code is pretty simple; it’s basically inputing the classic Konami Code (for Nintendo 64) twice at the game start menu.

See for yourself in this condensed video posted to X:

New KONAMI CODE discovered after 25 years!!

In Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, you can unlock all characters and costumes from the start: pic.twitter.com/ZkueeXCNeb

— JupiterClimb (@JupiterClimb) April 15, 2024

Originally a development tool for the 1986 home port of Gradius, the Konami Code has been used  in console games (by publishers other than Konami, too) for nearly 40 years. Sometimes, it’s a developer secret and sometimes it’s used as a deliberate Easter egg for players to find.

Creator Kazuhisa Hashimoto, who died in 2020, said he used it because he hadn’t played much Gradius in the first place, and was having a tough time beating it when developing the home port.

Probably its most well known use came in 1988’s NES port of Contra, where it granted players 30 extra lives, indispensable for the notoriously challenging run-and-gun platformer.

Featured Image via Ideogram

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