The Contra Code on FB

As a kid growing up during the "Family Computer" age of the 80's and early 90s, I was one of those who got to experience the action-packed (?) game of CONTRA. Since most video game users back then were guys (girls were usually limited to MARIO or TETRIS, or preferred to remain in the lowtech fantasy world of BARBIE), we didn't really care whether or not there was a nice story or a good ending. All we knew was to kill the bad guys, be they ghosts, monsters or aliens.

CONTRA remains to be one of only a minute few that had a special cheat code for game enhancement. This cheat code came even before the invention of any GameShark or GameGenie or what not. It came as a hidden trick to the game itself. All you had to do was get this code ( press UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT -B- -A- -START-) in during the Video game intro to get an instant 30 lives (sometimes it's as many as 99 lives). For 2 players, you had to make sure you pressed the -SELECT- button prior to -START- so the option would move to "2 Players". Here's a vid I found on Youtube :

This code would become a certification for any guy to prove that he had played CONTRA. The Masculine Game. This and other codes would increase your level of Coolness. Other codes or cheats involved pressing on the -SELECT- button in between rounds in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out to gain more energy and a certain coin trick to warp thru stages in Star Wars (I've never done this one). However, once you have done these, especially in front of others, you would be considered super cool.

Moving back to the current date, The Contra Code of way back has risen from the ashes of Obscurity and Time and made its way to the most popular Social Networking Site, Facebook. Little is known about how such code came to penetrate the pseudofantasy world of Facebook, but if you've got time and are curious, go to your "home" page and press UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A and start scrolling up or down.

Suddenly everything will be so clear and bright.