Kazuhisa Hashimoto, the developer who created what's rightly thought to be the most famous cheat code in the history of gaming, has passed away at the age of 79. Hashimoto is best known for the Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A hack that could have been found in many old games.
Cheat codes aren't really being used by gamers nowadays, but they were considered a must-have back in the day. It's said that the famous "Konami Code" was a hack accidentally left in the Famicom port of Gradius as Hashimoto wanted to test the game, which was too difficult to go through normally - for him, at least..
The code wasn't discovered until the game was released but Konami opted to leave it in for fear its removal could cause problems with other elements. It went on to become the most famous cheat code of all time, with Konami going on to use it in many other titles; it was also part of plenty of others that didn't come from Konami.
"I had one guy under me, and he played through the coin-op version. That one’s really tough," Hashimoto told GlitterBerri in 2003. "I hadn’t played that much and obviously couldn’t beat it myself, so I put in the Konami Code."
The news of Hashimoto's death was announced by his friend Yuji Takenouchi, a composer and game sound designer.
"Programmer Kazuhisa Hashimoto, the creator of the Konami command “Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Left, and Right BA”, died last night," Takenouchi tweeted on Wednesday morning. "We pray for his soul"
Konami also tweeted the following: "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."
Hashimoto's contribution might not seem all that great to the casual gamer yet he's responsible for one of the most iconic bits of gaming history and, if that's all he's ever going to be remembered for, it's more than enough.
TheGamer sympathizes with the deceaseds family and friends during their period of bereavement.
Rest in peace, Kazuhisa.
Source: Twitter/Yuji Takenouchi